I travel a lot on business, and I frequently end up dining on my own.  The staff at restaurants often don’t know what to do with the single diner.  They either ignore you, I assume the best and figure it’s because they don’t know what to do, or they pace the meal as if you were dining with a pleasant companion.  The pace you’d like when you’re eating with someone makes for an interminable evening when you’re by yourself.   I always take a book with me as defense for a slow paced meal by myself.

Last week I found myself wandering about the Hillcrest neighborhood in San Diego, killing time before a redeye back home.  Hillcrest is rich with restaurants, and I was attracted to LaVache.  They had a prix fixe menu posted outside that looked good, bouef bourguignon was on the list, and that seemed to hit the spot.  Of course, June and San Diego and boeuf bourguignon are hardly a reasonable combination, but I was 4000 miles from home, and beef stew is comfort food.

So LaVache it was.  I went in and ordered up a glass of Jaboulet Parallel 45, a splendid Cotes du Rhone.  Excellent.  But the point of this post is single dining, so I won’t go into the meal, which was all quite nice.  If you’re ever in San Diego, LaVache is worth a visit.

No, this post is about single dining, and my server handled it as well as I’ve seen it done.  She (I don’t know her name, didn’t want to ask and seem like a middle-aged lech) was attentive, kept the courses coming, but didn’t rush me.  At one point my glass of wine was getting close to empty and I glanced up just for a bit of recon so when in 10 minutes or so I needed a refill I’d know where to find her (yes, I know that’s a particularly alcoholic tendency, to panic when you don’t know where your next drink is coming from) and she caught my glance and came over to see if I needed anything.  Just an example of paying attention to the single diner.

LaVache uses butcher paper tableclothes and gives you crayons to draw on them with.  I left the URL to this site on the tablecloth, so I hope, fine server from LaVache, that you visit here and see that your everyday work made my world a better place.  Thank you.

The best meal in the U.S. was just served at my house. We had gotten some nice shrimp at Fresh Market and I took a Paul Prudhomme recipe for blackened redfish and blackened the shrimp in the same way. I took my second favorite cast iron skillet and got it smokin’ over the Dacor, tossed the shrimp in the Prudhomme blackening spices, and then sprinkled them into the skillet. Meanwhile, we sauteed some squash and onion and garlic with salt and pepper and lemon juice.

Mmmmmm, I’ve written elsewhere how a meal can sometimes transport you to a perfect place where all the universe is aligned to you. This was one of those moments. The fiery, peppery, shrimp, the salt and pepper and lemony acidic squash, a fine cold fizzy American beer…. I was at one with the infinite….

And there’s a peach pie cooling on the counter. Last summer’s sunshine captured in pastry.

Life is very, very good.

Located in the heart of downtown Decatur, about a half hour south east of Fort Wayne, Markos is serving up the best food in the area. We went there last weekend to celebrate with the family, and the place was packed. It’s good to see a restaurant that’s doing an exceptional job being well supported by the community.

I had a coffee rubbed New York strip steak, served on a sweet potato puree. The coffee rub gave it a nice charred flavor. The fried green tomato appetizer has to be tasted to be believed. Several in our party had the low country shrimp with grits and tasso gravy. “…a time to every purpose,” while you’re eating this you’ll be in that one perfect moment, aligned to the purpose intended from the beginning. Yeah, yeah, I hear you saying, “what a load of pseudo-mystical hooey,” but you try it and see if I’m not right.

The wine list is modest, and modestly priced. We had a delightful Beckman Syrah-Gernache for 28 bucks.

I’ve been to Markos three times now and it has been exceptional every time. You can’t do better than to visit Markos.

http://www.markoson2nd.com/