Dinner with Out of Town Guests

Last night after work I met with my friend Art and his wife from ADF for dinner at Brick Ridge Restaurant in Mt. Airy. Talk about more upscale than I am used to.

The restaurant was built from an old brick schoolhouse, but was beautifully done. Very capecod or “shores of Maine” decor with white walls trimmed with the old brick walls from the school house and wooden beams in the ceilings. It was extremely cozy and the lightning was very warm and ambient. It was definitely more fancy than I was expecting, but not so much that I felt too out of place. It felt more like a treat.

The food was more expensive than your usual restaurant, but not so much that you’d feel too intimidated to eat there. I had the cream of crab soup which was amazing. Very thick with a really intense flavor that, as Steph put it, just keeps going. I also had their homemade lemonade which was really sweet and a flavor comparable to what you’d find in an italian ice. Then I had their Chicken Delmarva which was a roasted chicken breast stuffed with blue crab, ham and cheese served with a very intense basil cream sauce.

We all tasted each others dishes which was a huge pallet of flavors I don’t even know what half of them were I just know they were all good. I think Steph had Venison and Art has steak with horseradish and both were very tender. They even had pomegranate soda.

The restaurant had little signs on the tables that talked about how their dining experience usually lasts 1.5 hours so you can enjoy the meal, but that if you needed things to be quicker that all you had to do was ask. Well, there was a couple there that arrived shortly after us that must not have read it because they started complaining to the waitress about the wait. They eventually said that they just wanted their food to go, which they got, but I really dislike it when people raise their voices when I’m trying to enjoy dinner.

Another older couple arrived later that I could tell were well off just by the way they dressed. The husband actually looked like he was dressed for some fancy affair with a cigar jacket (I don’t really know what it was called). They had ordered a bottle of wine (I don’t remember which) that the waitress said has to be ordered by the bottle instead of the glass. He said that was no issue. They also go their meal a -lot- faster than anyone else, which doesn’t bother me any, I’d probably do the same thing if I was serving rich people.

The woman was smiling at me a lot and they seemed really friendly and like they were just enjoying themselves.

When we got up to leave they commented on Art’s utilikilt, and it turns out they were from Scotland (they had cute little accents). The woman was also admiring my necklace and they were tickled pink to find someone wearing a kilt and curious about the style of it. When we left I saw an older modeled Rolls Royce parked right out front and knew it had to be theirs. While we were out chatting in the parking lot and Art was presenting me with a bottle of blueberry wine to celebrate my new house, I saw the couple leave in it.

All in all, it was a very special treat with very special people. Not something I could afford to do everyday, but I don’t think I’ve ever eaten somewhere that fancy so I’m glad I did.