Sunday, August 21, 2011

The Blue Mingo in Cooperstown comes up cooking (8-14-11)

Tonight we headed back to the Blue Mingo Grill after many years (www.bluemingogrill.com) located on the lake just about 4 miles north of town. The Blue Mingo has a funky feel and is a bit laid back with chalkboard menus, but the ambiance on a nice evening can't be beat. We had dodged the storms around us all day and managed to get through dinner as well...perhaps the rains will avoid us. Samuel perused the Kid's menu and went for the Bowtie pasta in marinara sauce will Daddy and Papa ordered Cooperstown Cosmos made with Absolut Peach, Pomegranate Juice, Triple Sec and Lime. YUM! We did have to wait a while for the blackboard to be brought over and it was a tough decision with so many wonderful choices. Will and I split two appetizers which were both super: ASIAN POTSTICKERS made with chicken in a lemongrass spicy soy broth were divine as were the PORK SPRING ROLLS with a sweet and sour dipping sauce and a light mustard glaze. A bottle of yummy LABOURE-ROI POUILLY FUISSE 2009 Vallon d'Or was super with my main course of Braised HADDOCK, Cilantro Pesto over Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Zucchini which was , yes, another monster size portion of fish yet superbly cooked and with yummy flavors. Will chose the PAD THAI with SHRIMP as our server recommended it and the new chef was Thai! It came as spicy as you requested and Will's was perfectly medium to hot, which was why the chardonnay may not have matched it so well. We wondered why the bread served hot and tasty was fruit bread which really does not work with these foods., especially for mopping. Some friends joined us for desserts and we experienced the KEY LIME mousse-like parfait, Cuban Pudding more like breaded chocolate pudding, a superb Vanilla Creme Brulee and I had the (you guessed)cheese platter of local cheeses including apricots, apples, sausages, coconut crumble, almonds, honeycomb, fig jam, bread (not the fruit bread) and cheese of course: Dutch Girl Summer Goat Aged Raw Goat Beekman Boy Goat-Cow and Mountview Monterey Jack all of which were quite nice but none of which were spectacular (I am so jaded even a month after returning from Europe!). We had a great time and good food and saw many friends in the restaurant adding to our pleasure as we continued our stay and saw more opera here at Glimmerglass.