We’ve recently eaten at two fine restaurants in the area. Last weekend we went to the Ironhorse in Ashland. After seeing in a local paper that the Ironhorse was under new ownership, and noticing the new owner was someone I went to college with, we decided to take a couple of friends with us. I felt it was pretty weird seeing a friend from college that I haven’t seen in 18 years. My face may look the same but my body is bigger and I’m way more grey than I was in 1990. Anyway, the new owner was caught giving me the look by the better-half but after he came over to the table to check on things, it was obvious he didn’t really know how he knew me. He’s worked in many restaurants over the years so I suppose people just start looking like people, if that makes any sense. I know when I was training all the time people would come up to me and say things to me like I was supposed to know them and nine times out of ten they were in one of my classes and I’d only get a vague sense of recollection.
The food was excellent even though I dead-panned to the owner/friend that his food was passable—I was going for a joke. It took him off-guard and I certainly made sure he knew I liked the food. I had a lamb shank that was prepared perfectly and the butter beans that came with were excellent and I don’t normally like butter beans. I had a raspberry lemon tart for dessert that was mind-blowing—it was fresh, light and delicious. Our table declared it the best dessert (someone else ordered the strawberry shortcake). We all shared in a charcuterie tray and oh baby it was good. Everyone else at the table had the ribeye with chimichurri. I had a bite of the steak and it was charred perfectly and was damn fine.
If you are in the Ashland area, stop by the Ironhorse. Just don’t tell the owner his food is passable.
Speaking of railroads (the Ironhorse is on the tracks in Ashland), last night the better-half and I tried the not-so-new Thai place in our own neck of the woods, the Pad Thai Restaurant. It’s been there for awhile now but we keep forgetting to go there. It is on railroad tracks as well and last night a train went by, shaking the place. A young boy sitting several tables away joyfully announced “Train†as it went by. The food was delicious and the place stayed pretty busy while we were there. One family came in and it was obvious they are regulars since they joked around with the folks who run the place and they got their appetizer without really having to order it.
The restaurant is in an old warehouse building that’s been there way longer than I’ve been on this earth. When I was a kid, they used to have auctions there and my dad and I would go. I always liked going there because it was dark and scary and it always seemed like the place was about to collapse. I once found an old German pfennig while wandering around so it was not only dark, scary, full of grown ups but also foreign coins just happened to be laying around in the shadows. The building still looks like parts of it may fall down but remarkably there are many businesses in the building so I guess it’s sturdier than it looks.
The food, as I’ve said, was delicious and prepared pretty quickly. We started with an order of fried crispy rolls and then moved on to pork drunken noodles for me. Although I think they put steak on instead. Either that or it was the beefiest pork I’ve ever had. The better-half ordered a shrimp cashew stir-fry. We ordered both medium hot and there was some sweating and nose blowing. The better-half heats up pretty quickly with Thai food. I, being a lady, merely glisten.