A promise of a short drive culminated
in a left turn in Jefferson Heights to the Catskill Country Club and the
newly re-organized club restaurant.
As an area golf
club restaurant, Bistro 27 strays not far from the tried and true area
palates, even as it advertises as a destination restaurant, not just a
golfing sidekick.The menu is comprised of a dozen appetizers and nearly twenty entrées,
reflecting a range of the American menu.The seven choices at our round table included:

Our drink list consisted of a bottle
of Malbec and one more of pinot noir for the four red wine drinkers, in
addition to the two sodas, and a water.

Service
by Jamie was the best part of the evening. She pleasantly fulfilled our
requests, bore with us while the music played, was personable and
available without hovering. We were greeted and thanked as we entered, and
thanked again as we left—one of the most overtly appreciative
restaurants we have encountered.

The 30x40 main room is a classy
and elegant room, holding about ten tables, including our
eight-place round table that is our favorite type. Comfortable banquet
seats ringed the table topped with white linen, three piece silverware set
held by a white linen cloth, white bread plates, and salt and pepper
shakers.Water was promptly poured, with a carafe of water left behind. Two
baskets of Italian bread soon appeared, with a ramekin each of softened
butter and olive oil accompanying. (perhaps the culinary highlight of the
evening)A diagonal-cut wainscot of four feet circled the room, topped by
another four feet of designed painting, topped by another six to eight
feet of light green pastel, except for the fireplace of pastel blue.
Lighting came from the recessed light strip ringing the room at the eight
foot level. The lofty ceiling allowed two bold and dramatic chandeliers to
gracefully fill the upper reaches. The bar and entry way lay visible above
the wainscoting on two sides, with spindles acting as dividers. Another
open wall leads to a more casual room with casual design, and where the
band would perform its 7-10 pm Saturday night schedule, a circumstance
that came into play this Saturday evening.Water was filled, Ken’s coffee was attended to, and several notes
about non-hot food temps were made but none severe enough to coerce any of
us to send back.Now, the 800
pound gorilla. As we sat down, the band started. We all agreed they were a
good band but… 100 decibels is not in our comfort zone. Diners wanting
loud music while eating got it, those wanting to dance while dining or
just to dance got it, and those (us) wanting to dine and converse did not
get it. That is, until the hour break the band mercifully took that lasted
until nearly our departure. We scratched our head trying to figure out the
strategy of luring diners to enjoy a Saturday night dining while having a
band blaring music forty feet away. We were a bit more appreciative as we
were leaving but we had spent our first forty-five minutes near-yelling to
the person next to us. It definitely affected our scores that would have
been higher otherwise. We recognized a worthy attempt to draw people in,
just bad timing for a table that did not want to hear music louder than if
a running vacuum cleaner had been placed in the middle of table.

Our bill for
the evening came to $75 per couple, including tax, tip, and
drinks—an economical evening. I’d even go back but maybe an hour
earlier on a Saturday night to enjoy the food and then the music.

The evening had started at the
Karneses’s abode, with Kalli needing a few minutes for a Kalli-esque
greeting. Deb had prepared a platter of celery, pepper slices of three
colors, and carrots; a side dish of dip; a plate of cheese; and a bowl of
two types of crackers. Meanwhile, Chay kept the thirsty throats quenched
– a red, a white, a white zin, beer, and soda.Topics for the evening—at the house, at the restaurant, and on
the road—was topped with the big “man” event of the night. However,
not being there, I will have to depend on the veracity of the reports from
the other three. The garage door opener needed fixing, and the three
huskies stepped outside from the kitchen. Stories were told that Ken
pounded the crap out of the motor housing with a 2x4, bets were made, and
someone was supposed to buy dinner. Never did hear the end of that one.Otherwise, we were entertained by: Dennis’s trip to Newfoundland
in Sept-Oct; Kriss’s report on her house-sitting experience in Kaui,
flights there and back, cloudy weather, and more; health of mothers;
status of the singles’ relationships (next generation); the next Florida
home for the Monteverds; one of the nicest Novembers in memory; power
outages, and Dennis’ alleged influence; Christmas shopping; a computer
virus suffered by the Karneses; golf; development on Weed Rd; flooding in
the Charleston area a couple months ago; the Adamses’s trip here in
December; Christmas office party; Don’s cemetery digging; and the rest
has escaped the grasp of my synapses.Tonight was the first dinner of Year #14. Wow!