Country Cat Dinnerhouse (7937 SE Stark)

There's this Christmas song called the Cat Carol. It's all about this cat that no one would let in on Christmas Eve. She makes friends with a mouse who is also stuck outside and tells the mouse to come near and she will keep him warm. So the mouse huddles with the kind cat in the cold. Then Santa comes and wakes up the mouse. They try to wake up the cat. But, that's right folks, the cat is dead. Merry Christmas.

Anyway, everytime I hear about the Country Cat Dinnerhouse, that damn song starts going through my head and before I know it, my eyes are tearing up because the cat is dead and Santa can't wake her up.

Tonight though, there was no reason to cry. We got to the restaurant on time for our reservation (restaurant group tonight), but they weren't quite ready for us. So, we hung out at the bar for a while and talked to Daniel the bartender, who was very knowledgeable about the food. He told us how they butcher their own lamb now and that the arctic char on the menu is so fresh - only 24 hours old. The potato dumplings are the best appetizer, he said.

When we were finally seated about 25 minutes later, I thought I was well prepared enough to choose what I wanted, but alas, the menu, though small, looked great from every angle. There was just no way to go wrong. I skipped appetizers (I munched on Sara's potato dumplings and Jeff's warm trout potato salad, both amazingly delicious) and ordered the braised beef with sour cream mashed potatoes and chanterelle mushrooms. The beef was so tender it fell apart at the mere suggestion of my fork touching it.

I had bites of the pumpkin sour cream crepes and a sweet cream biscuit. The biscuit was so flaky - as flaky as my flakiest of friends. With honey on top. The pumpkin crepes were almost like a dessert. Which I had. One bite of a chocolate truffle cake. Which it really was. A giant chocolate truffle. With orange sauce. Delicious. One bite was all I needed.

Now at least I have a happy memory to replace that cat song.