Ashland, Sept. 17—
ONE OF OUR FAVORITE sandwiches is the jambon beurré: a baguette spread with butter, with a slice of ham on it. Because of the butter, you don't need cheese. The sweet butter brings out the essence of a simple boiled ham; it needn't be prosciutto. And the baguette texture, if it's a good one, completes the thing.
The baguette was good, and why not? It was made in-house, for we were at perhaps my favorite Ashland pit stop, Mix. Established and run by the pastry chef of Amuse, one of Ashland's better restaurants, it's concerned with quality and consistency, and it expresses those values generously. (Hmm: the three virtues of the pastry chef: quality, consistency, generosity.)
DINNER WAS AT a new place in town, Loft, an upstairs dining room in a corner of the old Masonic Lodge. The menu is basically bistro; there's a full bar; the wine list is interesting. I had roast chicken, nicely salted and cooked and set on a bed of mashed potatoes, subtly but effectively flavored with garlic and surrounded by a delicious buttery gravy. The accompanying salad had a nice thick Green Goddess-type dressing, heavily flavored with tarragon; the pot de crème was enormous, a little grainy, but a convincing bistro-like finale.
Minervois
•Mix,57 N Main St Ashland, OR 97520-2725 - (541) 488-9885
•Loft American Brasserie & Bar, 18 Calle Guanajuato, Ashland; tel. (541) 482-1116
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