Gert and I haven’t been out to dinner in a while. A few weeks ago she suggested we have a date night. With Aunt Kitty in town, the children were all geared up to kick the ‘rents out of the house. We selected the Centerton Inn for dinner. It’s been a couple years since we dined here. We don’t expect to return any time soon.
Over the years Gert and I have dined here four or five times. We spent a couple New Year’s Eves here. I don’t think either of us would call this a favorite restaurant of ours, but dinner has been good. Last night, little could be called good.
We arrived right on time for our reservation. It was clear one was not needed. Despite it being Saturday at 7:00, there were only two other tables seated. Nonetheless, we were placed at a deuce in the walkway between the two dining rooms. That meant that our meal constantly had every patron and employee tromping by our table . . . save our waitress (more on that in a moment). We didn’t have to sit there with the plethora of empty tables, but so we were placed. We also noted, it was dark, really dark, at our table. I am not 21 any longer and I struggled seeing the menu. This was just the beginning.
Denise showed up after several minutes. She took our drink order, returned, and provided the specials. After some thought, Gert and I opted for the two specials. She selected the Flounder Francoise and I the leg of lamb.
Gert’s lobster bisque was served relatively quickly. No bread was served. The bisque was adequate. I was not terribly impressed, but there wasn’t anything inherently wrong with it . . . just a bit thin. After the bisque was finished, the busser inquired whether we had had our salads yet. We hadn’t. She cleared the empty bowl.
Several, as in a few too many, minutes later, our salads were served. The salad fork was on the plate under the lettuce. It was evident all had come immediately from the refrigerator. While that is good for a number of reasons, it also had the appearance that the salads had been prepped well ahead of time. The lettuce was not as crisp as it should have been. We were quickly reminded of the love of garlic the Centerton Inn has. It is no issue for me, but there is quite a bit of garlic in their salads.
Again, no bread was served. This bothered us. Furthermore, our waitress was MIA. A few more tables were seated by now. She seemed to have three tables across two rooms. Perhaps there were others, I am not certain. Denise did not visit our table for about 30 minutes.
Again, the busser asked about whether or not we had had soup. She didn’t appear to be the brightest bulb. Nevertheless, our salads were cleared. And we sat. And we sat. We had a lengthy wait before our entrees were served. Another waiter served our food. That in itself does not bother me, but it seemed like he was helping out, not that this is a usual occurrence.
Gert’s flounder was good. It was in a garlic-caper sauce. The fish was cooked properly. The presentation was nothing remarkable, but all was fine.
My lamb, on the other hand, was a disaster through and through. The lack of light made it hard for me to see what I was eating. I did see the mountainous glop of sauce that covered the lamb. This sour cream sauce was rather bland. There was entirely too much of it on the plate. The lamb was served over a bed of carmalized red onions. They were good. Again however, there were entirely too many on the plate. I figured there were three whole onions under the lamb. There was an adequate amount of lamb. Unfortunately, it was overcooked. Actually, one slice was perfect. That was the center slice. It took a while to find that. I would prepare a forkful of food not knowing if there was lamb, onions, or both on it. It was a crap shoot. As the meal wore on, the sauce further obscured what was being eaten. Sheesh . . .
About halfway through dinner, our waitress on her way to run a credit card from the other table in our dining room asked us how our meal was. She didn’t come to a full stop to ask us that question.
Once we were done the entrees, I was ready to leave. The Centerton Inn serves a dessert platter. There were six or eight individual mini desserts on the tray. None were good. All tasted as though they were just on the edible side of frozen. We did not complete the tray. The pecan dessert that looked awesome, was so rock hard it could have chipped a tooth.
We paid our bill and left disappointed. Our dining dollars are scarce these days. There is no reason to spend them at the Centerton Inn. Our next meal will be some place else.
This is the second show I have seen at Appel Farm. I have seen several other programs of theirs at school. I am always impressed. Tonight’s show was the first I saw in the theatre. I love that the seats are old church pews. No kneelers, which is fine by me.
The guys came on at 8:00 along with a bassist. I was about the youngest attendee. One lady had her son. The girl next to me was younger. She had never heard of the group before, but was a fan of Simon and Garfunkel. Aztec Two-Step are touring now playing Simon & Garfunkel’s songbook.
These guys have talent, no doubt. I enjoyed the two-set, two-hour show.
At the end of the first set, they played two of their original songs. These were the highlight of the night. While there was absolutely nothing wrong with the S&G covers, the soul of the musicians shone while playing Baking and The Persecution & Restoration of Dean Moriarty (On The Road). These two songs had me longing for more originals.
There were about 120 in attendance tonight. After an hour, the guys took a 10-minute break. They were accessible in the lobby.
Back on they came to continue with Simon and Garfunkel. They played most of the hits and interjected some history. I was hoping to hear American Tune. It wasn’t played. That was the only song they didn’t play that I was “expecting”. The guys did cover the Everly brothers Let It Be Me. The Everly Brothers were a big influence on S&G.
I enjoyed the show. If they ever come back this way playing their original stuff, I would definitely go see them again.
Since I was a guest for the evening, I did not record any of this. Looking on YouTube, I see plenty have. I wonder how the guys would have felt about it. Sitting right snack in front, there was no way of being discreet.
They are hosting the party at the Centerton Country Club. The problem with that is that Centerton is in Salem County. Does that preclude them from having the fundraiser there? I guess not, but it’s a rather poor public relations move. How do you purport to represent Cumberland County’s interests but not do business in the county?
Is there no suitable venue to host a $100-plate dinner? Would Winfield’s not appreciate the business? Not big enough? How about the Cosmopolitan? The North Italy Club in Vineland would do. How about the county college?
Why isn’t Cumberland County good enough for this dinner?
Frank LoBiondo is the keynote speaker. LoBiondo came to D.C. during the Contract With America.
Looking at GE before heading out, I knew this flag and VX35-DAKA were going to be touch-and-go. Both appeared about 100 meters from the road. We had success at VX35-DAKA; unfortunately, for this flag we were stymied.
We drove through beautiful Salem County with the sunroof opened and just enjoying the afternoon. Fritz was in great spirits and was loving the sights.
As we approached we noted the farm is a preserved historic farm. We pulled over to let a Wrangler zip by. We banged the U-y and got as close as we could, 126 meters, in front of the house there at the farm. If I didn’t have my son, I may have gotten out and walked down the driveway to ask permission. But I didn’t. It’s tough being so close but unable to score the flag.
We continued on our way content with having been there. We continued our afternoon with a nice hike through Parvin State Park before dinner.
Today was such a beautiful day the outdoors called us. Fritz and I piled into the Jeep and headed for a tour of Salem County. First up was this vexillum. I missed my road and with a trooper on my heiny, decided not to bang a U-y. I ended up going a little out of our way as we circled back to Olivet Road.
Soon enough we were on the farm. It’s all farm out here. We drove past, turned around, and settled 94 meters away. We were between 479 and 489 Olivet Road. We were pulled over on the side of the road next to the farm. The farm may be a sod farm. Sod is a popular crop here, although other sod farms seemed more mature than this down. I am not good at identifying things, so it could be cabbage for all I know.
Whenever the camera is turned on, Fritz calls “Cheese” and insists on his photograph being taken.
