February 5, 2024

Hi folks!  Thanks for being a supportive part of our lives with Ott Street Eats.  Each week, more people sign up for this, which gives me a little performance anxiety.  But let’s just keep on going, shall we?

“Oh look!  They have a…”  It’s a phrase we have all uttered.  Usually, it involves some travel. We go to a city we have never been in, and we naturally look for something familiar to grab on to.  “Oh look, they have a … McDonalds, Olive Garden, Home Depot, Target”.  We view it as a sign of civilization. When we don’t see these things, we wonder, “Do we get out of the car here?”  We not only want to feel the safety of the known, but also feel the thrill of posing as a secret judge of those places.  “Let’s see if this McDonalds is as good as the one back home!” 

I watch the faces of those who read our menus.  I often see them grasping for an opportunity to say, “Oh look!  They have a… “ It rarely comes because we write our menus with exploration in mind.  Generally, one has to have a fairly broad culinary experience to say a phrase like that with us.  This has its pluses and minuses, of course.  For those who enjoy trying different foods, we are here for you.  We do this on purpose.  There are several food trucks in the area where you may get two tacos and a bottle of water for $5.00.  They serve quality food, and I will never say anything bad about them.  That is their business model, and it has worked well for them.  We are a bit more expensive, and so are our ingredients.  Sliced pork chop, that we brined, roasted, and cut on top of homemade pasta, with homemade sun-dried tomato pesto and burrata…well…speaks for itself.  We try to make as much as we can from scratch.

If there is something you see on our menu that you simply don’t know or understand, please ask!  We love to talk about food, especially ours.  When we first started Ott Street Eats, we made individual quiches.  Most people understood what that was.  Then, it was suggested to us that we should consider a gluten free option.  So, we took the quiche recipe and removed the crust…a frittata!  MANY people asked, “What exactly is a frittata?”  To which we reply, “It’s an individual quiche without a crust.  This week we put this and that into it!”  Several people became fans!  Recent questions have included, “What are potato ribbons?  What is an omelette tortilla wrap?”  But my favorite lately has been “What is a Cat Head Biscuit, or Kitten Head Biscuit?” 

Further South, a cat head biscuit is a real thing.  It involves large biscuits, roughly the size of a cat’s head.  So, we decided to play off that.  We have smaller biscuits (kitten head) and larger biscuits (cat head).  To take it even further, we got a couple of cookie cutters in the shape of…cat heads!  Silly, I know, but fun.  The kitten heads we offer with butter or jelly.  We make sandwiches out of cat head biscuits and try to make them different each week. 

All that said, yes, we do make the biscuits ourselves.  And we will keep making them because we like them.  More importantly, YOU ALL like them! 

Something you all might not know about us is that I, Johnnymac, am a diabetic.  I was diagnosed about two and a half years ago after moving back to Harrisonburg.  I needed to get set up with a local physician.  I found one and went in for a checkup.  Of course, there were many, many, many questions about my history, habits, and goals.  They weighed and measured me.  Then, as always came the time to donate lots of blood to be examined.  Let me pause here to say, “I HATE NEEDLES!”  Oh well, man up.  It seems that my blood sugar was so high that I actually got a phone call a couple hours later from the lab, asking if I was ok.  Yup, the lab.  I assured him I was feeling fine.  He said to expect a call first thing in the morning from the doctor.  Well, sure enough, I talked to an anxious doctor who immediately put me on a variety of medications, including daily insulin injections.  Let me reiterate…” I HATE NEEDLES!”  Manning up again, though. The process of self-discovery concerning my dietary habits was quick and profound.  It seems that for me, eating M&Ms while drinking a beer in front of the television may not have been good for me. 

I have a wife who loves me more than I deserve and quickly took me well in hand.  We got new cookbooks and learned what I could and should eat.  Within a few months, I dropped a little weight, but more importantly, I stopped the daily injections.  I got off the insulin!  I still take metformin, pills taken by most diabetics, but no more shots!!

Why are you telling us this, Johnnymac?  Because sometimes, we choose menu items that I can have.  And, knowing that there are a lot of quiet diabetics out there who would like a place to go eat, we need to have options for them, too.  Further, we try to keep them a little upscale and tasty, not just a plain salad.  We are certainly eclectic, we know.  But often we are so with a purpose.

Today’s ‘culinary tip’ comes straight from this week’s menu. Let’s talk about brining.  How many of you totally avoid buying pork chops because after you cook them, they are like good old fashioned shoe leather?  They get so dry; it takes a special knife to cut them.  Allow me to help.  Pork is delicious, and wonderfully affordable.  We should all have more, unless there are religious objections…which you might guess, I don’t have.

Today, I am going to brine a large pork loin.  I might cut it into a few large pieces, we’ll see.  I will then submerge that into a large pot filled with salt water and some herbs and spices.  When I say salt water, I mean VERY salty water.  That salt will penetrate the meat, and it will carry with it the flavor of the herbs and spices.  What happens when we eat too much salt?  Don’t we feel bloated, like we are retaining too much water?  Well, that is what we want to do with the pork.  Anyway, I plan to brine the pork for about 24 hours.  I will put it in the refrigerator during that time.  Tomorrow, I will pull it out and roast it.  When I slice it, it is going to be so juicy!  No shoe leather!  If you have some thin chops that you bought at the store, you can brine them for a couple of hours, and then grill them.  Trust me, you will be so happy.

I don’t have anything on the calendar for this week.  Though, we are starting to get a number of calls for catering in April!  Yeah!  So, we should be at our corner Wednesday-Friday 7:30-3:00, and Saturday 7:30-2:00.

This week’s menu!

February 7-10

Breakfast 7:30-11:00

Kitten Head Biscuit Menu (Kitties)

¨ Plain Biscuit with butter and/or jelly                 $3

Raspberry, Blackberry or Apple Butter & Sharp Cheddar Cheese

¨ Cat Head Southern Biscuit                          $8

With Country Ham and Red Eye Gravy

¨ Hash Browns                                          $1

¨ Omelet Tortilla Wrap                                  $8

Seasoned Egg, Mushroom, Tomato, Olive, Cheese

¨ Sourdough Pancakes                                 $5

With Strawberries and Cream

Lunch 11:00-3:00

¨ Tofu Tacos                                             $8

Red Pepper, Onion, Jalapeno, Avocado Crema

¨ Hearts of Palm Salad                                 $6

Red Lettuce, Hearts of Palm, Crumbled Cheese

¨ Soup and Sandwich                                  $10

Roasted Red Pepper Soup With Emmentaler Gruyere   and Fennel Melt on Rustic Bread

¨ Fried Potato Ribbons w/ Sauce                    $5

Choice of Ketchup, Mayo, Chipotle Honey Mustard or Malt Vinegar

¨ Soft Pretzels                                                  $5

With Beer Mustard Dipping Sauce

¨ Sliced Pork Chop on Homemade Pasta           $14

Spaghetti, Sun Dried Tomato Pesto, Burrata 

¨ Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookies              $5

And then…

February 14-17

Breakfast 7:30-11:00

Kitten Head Biscuit Menu (Kitties)

¨ Plain Biscuit with butter and/or jelly                 $3

Raspberry, Blackberry or Apple Butter & Sharp Cheddar Cheese

¨ Cat Head Southern Biscuit                          $8

With Fried Beef Bologna Swiss and Mayo

¨ Hash Browns                                          $1

¨ Side of Bacon                                         $3

Lunch 11:00-3:00

¨ Reuben Egg Rolls                                     $8

Beer Mustard Side

¨ Kale, Apple and Tarragon Slaw                     $6

With Candied Maple Pecans and Capers

¨ New England Clam Chowder                        $8

¨ Fried Potato Ribbons w/ Sauce                    $5

Choice of Ketchup, Mayo, Chipotle Honey Mustard or Malt Vinegar

¨ Soft Pretzels                                                  $5

With Beer Mustard Dipping Sauce

¨ Lamb Popsicles                                       $16

With Haji Spiced Cashew Wild Rice

¨ Baguette Sandwich                                   $14

with Roasted Grapes, Burrata, Prosciutto

¨ Homemade Brownies                                 $5

With Whipped Cream

Well, that’s it for now.  Thanks for reading.  I hope this has been at least entertaining.  Have a great week!

Johnnymac