Onlywood Revisted

It was a lovely summer day in November and my wife and I had finished our business just at lunch time so when my wife said she didn't want to make any choices I chose. I enjoyed Onlywood so much last time with George I figured my wife deserved a shot at this real Italian food.

They have this funky four sided gazebo bar thing in the middle of the room and you can eat there too if you want but it was warm enough outside our waiter directed us to a table underneath the fan at our request. He pegged that right and we enjoyed the cool breeze through lunch, with started with a bread basket and olive oil and vinegar.

After the bread basket we shared a plate of shellfish, classic Italian mussels and clams in a salty lightly tomato flavored broth. I really liked how they served this dish first bringing us a bowl with a fork and spoon so when the shellfish came we used the bowl for the shells. It was simple and elegant and the appetizer was perfect. Much enjoyed.

The restaurant isn't huge but the windows open on the garden so hardy visitors can sit outdoors and bake. And wilting indoor diners can enjoy some natural light. I can moly imagine how pretty the garden is under a full winter moon on a cool January evening.

The second course was a shared pizza and I enjoyed the one George ordered so I figured my wife might like the four pork pizza, with ...four different meats. The drink pictured was iced tea which glass was replaced as fast as I emptied it.

A group of French diners were enjoying their lunch and they were going the full nine yards with all courses. We skipped the rather interesting desserts but I think a nice ice cream cassata might be an excellent way to end a meal here.

The pizza comes from a wood oven in the corner of the restaurant and in proper modern Italian style the crust is thin but pliable and the toppings aren't thick enough to create a pool of melted grease.

Training a new cook the owner was busy with a heat sensor explaining the fine art of enough but not too much heat on the baking pizza.

We enjoyed our meal but we couldn't finish theists which my wife generously ordered boxed and I took the last slice to work. We also ate the pizza Italian style with a knife and fork, in civilized fashion.

A solo meal would be great at the bar.

I am really enjoying Onlywood, good value decent food and real Italian cooking. If you want to see how modern Italians eat out check this place. It's growing on me and I can't help it. Oh and we paid $36 for the food and my bottomless iced tea, tax and tip.

Key West on Dwellable

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Cheyenne In The Cold

It has been a tough ten days for me, being at home with no dog, going to,work and coming home to an empty house. Poor me. This was what was missing:

I am told Cheyenne had a pretty good time Up North in the Florida panhandle where temperatures dropped to near forty degrees, historic lows for Key West but merely brisk in that part of Florida which gets winter frosts.

My wife knew Thèrese when they lived in Birmingham decades ago and my wife being the social butterfly she is has kept in touch ever since and when Thèrese retired from her globe trotting life and settled in Pensacola the two old friends decided Thanksgiving was a good time to spend together as my wife, not retired got the week off from teaching. And she took my dog to the frigid north where Cheyenne, who usually seeks the cold spot on the floor, got into sleeping in warm spots.

Apparently she even burrowed under a blanket at one point so one has to assume the harshness of the climate got through her thick Labrador fur. From the pictures I was sent you'd think my Labrador did nothing but sleep however I am assured that is not the case...

On Monday they took an overnight trip to New Orleans where my wife tells me Cheyenne wore herself out sniffing and walking. Tuesday morning, without me my wife breakfasted at the Café du Monde, where from previous experience she knew Cheyenne had to stay outside the fence.

At a guess I would say she preferred the idea of the beignet rather than the cafe au lait but considering how much beignet my wife woofed I wonder if poor Cheyenne even got a taste.

Doesn't look like it, poor thing.

New Orleans has often been described as picturesque but you wouldn't know if you walked Cheyenne there as she always seems to drag you to the industrial zones or the backs of restaurants where all the best smells are.

Eventually my wife got her to where she needed to go in the middle of a wild rain and wind storm which was freezing cold she said so this is the best picture I got of a night of debauchery (avert your eyes Cheyenne).

Whatever they did in the French Quarter wore her out because she wouldn't budge from the doorway of the elevator back at the hotel, thus holding them all in the lobby. Good dog.

That was a well worn out dog.

Home at last and that is a good thing.

Key West on Dwellable

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Posted with Blogsy