Posts tagged Lexington

10 In 20 - A Lexington recording project

“Ten groups of established Lexington musicians each spend two days collaborating on an original track with producer Duane Lundy at Shangri-la Studios. An organic process affirms artists’ distinctive songwriting and musical roots, while painting a broader creative landscape. Monthly debuts of new songs build toward a vinyl album release in 2012.”

Love this idea! And the first three bands? Three of my favorites: Coralee And The Townies, Matt Duncan, and Sunday Valley!

Ha Ha Tonka at Cosmic Charlies

Today is my buddy Paul’s birthday. Last night, to celebrate his 29th year on this planet, he invited a bunch of his friends to join him at local music venue, Cosmic Charlies to see one of his favorite bands - Ha Ha Tonka.

My previous exposure to Ha Ha Tonka consisted solely of seeing them on my favorite tv show, No Reservations:

Frankly, that was all the endorsement I needed. If Anthony Bourdain wants to hang out and barbecue with you, I feel like I have no excuse not to like you.

It ended up being a great night. Ha Ha Tonka perform the kind of new folk/americana stuff that I’ve always been a sucker for. I’m officially a fan. And they were exceptionally nice guys - going so far as to sing Happy Birthday to Paul and then letting him join them on stage during their encore for some of the best tambourine playing Lexington has ever seen. Here’s a video of Happy Birthday, unfortunately I didn’t video the encore:

I love Paul. He brings a unique energy and personality to everything he does. I’d be lost without him. And now I love Ha Ha Tonka.

Anniversary meal - 2011

As I posted a few days ago, last year Sara and I decided to make a completely chef-chosen meal at local fine dining restaurant, Azur, our new anniversary tradition. Thursday night we celebrated our three year anniversary with eight courses, designed on the spot by Azur executive chef, Jeremy Ashby. Ashby is a gifted and inventive chef - and a really nice guy. Here’s what he made for us (I was scrawling down descriptions on my iPhone as the waitress served us, so hopefully I got everything mostly right):

First course
Red chile and guava shrimp in a coconut lime sauce (what a way to start…)

Second course
Smoked salmon with pacific rim vegetables and avocado butter (Butter! With avocados! Genius!)

Third course
Fried green tomato with country ham and buttermilk dressing

Fourth course
Halibut w/ mushrooms and cilantro chipotle gnocchi in corn butter sauce (This one was probably my favorite - soooo rich, but not overpowering)

Fifth course
Chicken stuffed with andouille sausage and spinach in tomato and fontina cheese sauce

Sixth course
Olive oil poached beef with fontina cheese wonto in truffle oil (I’d never heard of poaching beef - or poaching anything in olive oil, but the result was a really tender, buttery piece of meat)

Seventh course
Watermelon with cayenne, mint, and melon liquor (We both loved this, but when it came out, Sara looked at me and said, “By the way, this doesn’t count as desert.”)

Eighth course (BONUS)
Blackberry cake with vanilla sauce and ice cream

So much food. We could barely move when we left. But a lack of mobility us a small price to pay for that kind of great food. We wondered if people noticed us taking pictures of all of our food and furiously typing in the names of the dishes into my phone. I’m sure they did and I’m sure they thought, “Tourists…” but I give exactly one flying frick about what the other patrons thought. I love food and I love documenting the things Sara and I get to try together. I’m already anticipating next year.

In Anticipation of Thursday

Monday is Sara’s and my three year anniversary. We’ll be celebrating this Thursday by spending the night in a cabin near Cumberland Falls. Before that, though, we’ll be partaking in what we decided last year would be our new tradition - a multiple course, chef-chosen meal at Azure.

Last year we did five courses. This year we’re doing seven. I know what you’re saying: “Five courses wasn’t enough? You barely finish a meal as it is! Darn you for being so handsome!” Let me take these one at a time. No, five isn’t enough when it comes to new interesting dishes prepared by a talented chef. Yeah, I tend to eat like a bird, but these are small plates and I plan on fasting all day. Thank you for noticing.

Here’s what we ate last year:

Seared ahi tuna on salad with mango mascarpone cheese

Angus beef spring roll with bok choi over guava sauce

Foie gras and passion fruit soup with avocado tempura.

Elk rack and tiger prawn over smoked cheddar and leek risotto with portobello au jus!

Awesome, right? It was all delicious. I’ll be tweeting our meal on Thursday just because it’s the mindless posting of thing we eat on the internet that separates us from animals.

I won’t, however, be tweeting from our cabin at Cumberland Falls. Sorry pervs.

These United States

Yesterday, during one of Crossroads’ morning services, at a point where I’m sure my full attention was needed on stage, I was checking Twitter. Man, it feels good to get that off my chest.

While checking Twitter I discovered that one of my favorite bands, These United States, was going to be playing a surprise show, later that night, at a local bar called The Green Lantern.

Score!

I texted my friend Dan (yes, during the service - hey, nothing went off the rails, get off my back) and made plans to meet him there after our the final service of the night.

Best decision I made all day.

Apparently the band was driving to Lexington to do some recording this week over at Shangri La Studios and realized they had no place to rehearse - so they called up The Green Lantern and asked if they could use their space in exchange for doing an impromptu show. The result was forty or so people sitting around watching the band practice some new songs, play with some covers, and blast out some old favorites.

It was awesome.

Here’s a poorly lit iPhone picture:

It’s been a great spring/summer for live music so far - The Mountain Goats in Nashville, a table at the foot of the stage for Vandaveer, and now an intimate night with These United States! And it’s not over yet! This week and next there are shows by local favorites Coralee and The Townies and Sunday Valley. Then later in the summer Okkervil River and maybe Mates of State! (I haven’t told Sara about that last one yet… Sssssshhhhh!)

Nicaraguan Latin Grill

There’s a part of Lexington where a lot of the Latin immigrant population lives. Some locals have taken to calling it Lexico.

Clever.

When you drive through that part of town, the thoughts that come immediately to your mind probably have a lot to do with what kind of person you are. I know one guy for instance that immediately assumes everyone he passes on the street is in this country illegally. This guy is what we call a right-wing douche bag.

I know another guy who can’t drive past the area with out launching into a soliloquy about the hardworking immigrants and what we can learn from them and their culture. This guy is what we call a liberal douche bag.

Then there’s me. I drive through that part of town and want to stop and eat at every broke down looking, ex-Lee’s Famous Recipe building with a shingle out front. I am what we call a hungry douche bag.

Last night, Sara and I visited one such establishment. We’ve made it our mission to try and go out on Friday nights and find restaurants that are new to us. This led us to The Nicaraguan Latin Grill.

Please know, I’ve never had Nicaraguan food before, so I have no idea if what we ate was authentic. I tend to believe it was, after speaking at length with the waitress. What I can tell you, with absolute assurance, though, is that IT WAS AWESOME.

Our waitress recommended we try the Fritanga platter as a way of sampling a lot of different items. It had skirt steak, chicken skewers, fried cheese, pork rinds, plantains, slow cooked pork chunks, beans and rice, slaw, yucca, and blood sausage.

Here’s what it looked like:

Everything was good. Everything. Even the blood sausage, which is basically just pig blood and rice made into a sausage patty. Gross to think about? Yeah, but hotdogs are full of pig anus, so let’s not get all high and mighty, anus eater.

There were also three complimentary salsas. One was made with carrots, onion, and habanero peppers, one was a customary tomato salsa, but reeeeeally spicy, and one was a chimichurri that tasted like God made it. I’ve made chimichurri before and it tasted nothing like this, so I asked the waitress how they made it and she told me. SUCKAH!!

Here’s the salsas:

I don’t know if you like Nicaraguan food, and let’s be honest, you probably don’t know if you do either - but I highly recommend you leave whatever family function, funeral, church service, court hearing you’re at right now and go eat at this restaurant. Sara and will probably be there.

No Reservations

Okay, here’s the plan:

Tonight, Sara and I watch the season premiere of No Reservations in which Anthony Bourdain visits Cuba. As usual, I will sit and watch and suddenly find myself craving foods I’ve never even necessarily tasted.

Then, on Wednesday, Sara and I will accompany Freddy and Erin Acevedo to Old San Juan, Lexigton’s favorite (and only?) Cuban restaurant, and enjoy some Cuban food, hopefully informed, somewhat, by No Reservations and Freddy (yes, he’s Dominican, but I’m lead to believe there are more than a few similarities in the food). It will be glorious.

We may also go see Horrible Bosses, afterwards, but that doesn’t really have anything to do with the food part…

Vandaveer

Last night Sara and I went to Natasha’s for dinner and a concert by one-time Lexingtonian, Mark Charles Heidinger, also known as Vandaveer.

It was a great way to cap off a busy, but very fulfilling day. The food and music were both incredible. At one point during the show I kind of felt like my soul was being nourished - which is, to say the least, a good feeling.

Here’s a pic from the show. Our table was touching the stage:

Also, here’s the video to Dig Down Deep, the eponymous single from the new record. In which you can see some other Lexingtonians and members of These United Sates