Sandwiches and Sides at Picnic House

After a matinee showing of the Dark Knight during opening weekend, we visited Picnic House again, this time with sandwiches in mind for our late lunch.

We ordered three sides… and as the waiter pulled up another two-top to join the two-top table we were already occupying at, he explained that he does this all the time. The simple white plates Picnic House does use are rather large- even when the food occupying it is in the “small plate” section. From our previous visit, Picnic House has greatly increased their small plates options on their menu, giving us a lot of choices- we wanted more than the three we ordered, but we had to leave room for sandwiches I guess.

The three small plates: Warm Beets, tossed in gremolata compound butter, which I liked though I wish the pieces were a bit smaller so that they could have had more exposure to the roastiness; Roasted cauliflower with sherry vinegar macerated golden raisins and shallots which was definitely our favorite of the three dishes, there was nothing left on the plate for that one; and the Asparagus and new red potatoes, roasted and served with preserved lemon and caper aioli, of which I think a spinkle of salt and pepper was needed.

Sandwich-wise, we went with the Grilled Cheese sandwich, with aged white cheddar cheese and slices of apple and fig butter, gooey delicious between thick crusty bread with a contrast of fig to highlight against the oozy cheese; and the more tame in flavor Ratatouille sandwich (served grilled but can also be cold- I ate half hot there, and half cold the next day and both were fine) with marinated vegetables, sweet pesto & ricotta salata. The marinated vegetables had good flavor, but a more generous slathor of pesto would have been appreciated as some of it got absorbed into the bread.

The highlight was dessert again. Already pretty full from the above, we wrapped some up for dinner later and thought we would try that chocolate cake again and just eat half and take the other half for a future dessert. It never happened- the next thing you know, that cake was completely gone.

The cocktail during lunch I had was the Sauvie drink, composed of Rogue’s hazelnut rum, seltzer water, and hand-mixed Coca Cola made from original syrup recipe rather than bottles or cans. Similar to the Fleur De Lis drink I had my first visit (a mix of Indio Blood Orange vodka, hand mixed 7up with edible flower), this two was a light refreshing drink which was bubbly and clean without any syrupy sweetness from using a normal soda mixed drink, fulfilling its promise of effervescence.

This time I remembered to snap a photo of their cocktail offerings- as with all the photos click to view larger. They have also just updated their website, which now has much more information, with the main annoyance that their lunch specials are each individual thumbnails sized so small that you have to click to read each one, and also that they hide their hours of operation by not listing them at all. Props for having the main food and beverage menu at least on the website and not pdfs like so many other annoying eatery websites- it was bad enough that they did that before smartphones in the 2000s, but even worse now when looking up a place to eat on your phone is so ubiquitous. And, it looks like their jolly looking bar bear is becoming their icon.