Moosewood

As tonight is going to be my last night with Rob (this trip anyway) we decided to treat ourselves to a nice dinner at the best restaurant in Ithaca. I'm not calling Moosewood "Ithaca's best" based on having seen that ranking in a paper or on a banner somewhere, but because it is impossible to imagine that similar ingredients could ever be combined in a better way anywhere else. So, maybe Moosewood is not only Ithaca's best, but the universe's best as well.

Moosewood is kind of a hippie restaurant. It has been continuously run by a collective of 19 individuals (a few of whom remain from the restaurant's beginnings in 1973) who rotate through various jobs from busser to cookbook writer and always strive to keep the business effective and the food delicious. It serves a strict vegetarian/vegan menu, though at least one fish choice is available per day, and the meal options change from lunch to dinner and day to day. Before going you can download a copy of the daily menu from their website to see if one of the entrees suits your fancy, though it's difficult to imagine anything they serve as being less than utterly delectable.

Rob and I had eaten lunch here a couple of days ago and both his Vegetarian Lasagna and my Pecan-Encrusted Salmon were to die for, but I think that tonight my Fish Nicosia was slightly outdone by Rob's Spinach & Cheese Ravioli. At this point I'll just have to admit that I could never be a food critic...pretty much all I can say about dinner is that it was fresh, colorful, and YUMMY!

Shortly after we were seated, Mark, a buddy of Rob's who's visiting from Caltech this week, was also seated near us. He tapped Rob on the shoulder as he walked by, and then hurried over to his table where he immediately pulled out a laptop and started working. "Just like a typical numerical relativist", quipped Rob. We had finished our food before he'd even received his and as we awaited dessert (which I'll get to in a minute) Rob leaned over to me and said "I thought about sending him an email suggesting the ravioli". I guess emailing someone 10 feet away would also be typical of a numerical relativist! Mark eventually came over for a more substantial hello and I gave him a hearty thumbs up after learning he'd gone with the ravioli even without receiving an email.

Now for dessert...

When we'd had lunch the other day, I couldn't resist trying the chocolate mousse (made with real ricotta--blew me away!) and Rob enjoyed an equally delectable peanut-butter chocolate tart. Tonight I wanted the tart all to myself and Rob ordered what is billed on their dessert menu as the #1 customer favorite for 30 years: the chocolate fudge brownie...a la mode...mmm. I thoroughly enjoyed my tart, but after stealing a bite of the still-warm brownie bathed in creamy home-made chocolate ice cream, I have to admit I can understand its rating. Rob obviously enjoyed it as well...

We walked home hand in hand with satisfied, if slightly overfilled, stomachs, and now to top off the evening are about to sit down and watch an old Hitchcock gem: "The Man Who Knew Too Much"...just as soon as I finish writing this blog!