So, I was given gift certificates (Restaurant Association of Maryland, BTW) worth $100 for being the 20,000th poster to D@L.  How do I spend this unexpected money?
 
The responses to the announcement on the blog reinforced my intention to share this gift with the membership of the sandbox, (not excluding anyone who rejects the term), but I remembered in past attempts to form meet ups, most boxers’ schedules don’t allow enough flexibility to gain a substantial critical mass at any one time; not that the meets didn’t have substance.
 
Adding to the dilemma was the fact that I live 550 miles from Baltimore.
 
Of course, I complicated the problem by vowing in a somewhat rational response to an anti foie gras incite-ist (word?) that I would use the certificates in Baltimore to have a meal including the dastardly offal and would wear a fur hat and take a picture.
 
My search began for a restaurant that served FG, and it had to be one we had never been.  Many were downtown and after having attended a wedding reception at the Belvedere on a Saturday night in September, I decided it was too busy in downtown for us to comfortably search out new places and worry about where to park.  The search ended at the Milton Inn as it served the foie gras. They had it on the lunch menu, it was convenient to where we were staying, and we had never been there.
 
This decision meshed nicely with my intent to take a dear sweet friend who had been my secretary in a previous work life more than 25 years ago.  This vivacious young thing is nearing 80 and was widowed a few years ago.  When I told her where we were going, she was very excited and told me she had had her first date with her husband there, had gotten engaged there, and had had her 40th anniversary celebration there.  She would have been married 58 years had her husband lived.
 
We had a magnificent luncheon experience.
 
We were seated in the hearth room, a picture of which was recently posted in connection with restaurants with fireplaces.  We started with a bottle of Piper Sonoma Blanc de Noir, which was perfect for a festive beginning to the occasion as well as a crisp accompaniment to the meal.
 
While we waited for the wine to arrive and be poured, we reminisced about the many restaurant lunches we had when we worked together.  While we were mentioning some that were now closed, Marconi’s came up and Peter Angelo’s plan to reopen it elsewhere.  The maitre d’ who was serving the wine joined our conversation (we had joked around with him upon our arrival) to say that certain restaurants would not be the same if they were moved and Marconi’s was one. 

We then moved on to Martick’s, and he agreed and then started telling Morris Martick anecdotes from the past.  We were all laughing.  He finished his discussion by mentioning another Mulberry street restaurant that wouldn’t/couldn’t be the same if moved, and that is the famous Mee Jun Low and the “Lone Waitress” Irene.  They sure don’t make them like that anymore!  (The restaurant or Irene.)
 
The Milton Inn has a great menu for lunch including a prix fixe menu with a choice of an appetizer, entrée and dessert for $18.  The ladies ordered from it; both having Caesar salad, one having the veal offering and the other the trout.  From my observation and their comments the dishes were great.
 
From the standard lunch menu, I had the Star Anise Dusted Foie Gras that was a nice-sized portion of the “forbidden fruit” of some, squash brulee and a micro fennel salad.  Excellent!  My main course was a grilled fillet cooked perfectly to the requested medium rare/rare topped with a Gorgonzola butter accompanied with potato and veg.
 
The ladies finished with desserts and coffee.  They were pleased.  I was full.
 
As I intended, the bill came to a little over $100 before tip.  Had I skipped the wine and ordered from the prix fixe menu, it would have been an excellent 2-and-1/2 hour experience for three for less than $50.  A good deal!
 
This meal brought to mind the importance of the “front of the house” to the overall restaurant experience.
 
We left after a fine early afternoon repast on a glorious mid-October day and moseyed through My Lady’s Manor horse country to Jarrettsville Pike into Dulaney Valley Road to return our guest to her condo in Towson.  What a fine meal and memorable experience; Thanks, Sun!

(Photo of Milton Inn chef/partner Brian Boston by Barbara Haddock Taylor/Sun phtoographer)