The Watercolor Cafe: Jazz, Food and Fun
There’s an oasis from the stress of daily life tucked away right on the busy Boston Post Road in Larchmont, NY: The Watercolor Cafe. Inside, you’ll find soothing decor, an upbeat vibe, great music, and, even more important, excellent food.
The deceptively small entrance opens onto a deep restaurant, with tables tucked into windows, a long bar, and more tables stretching down the length of the room. There’s a tandem feeling of both intimacy and community. The window’s painting of a wine glass filled with artist’s brushes is just one of the signs that this is no ordinary resting place. The colors are warm and vibrant without being intrusive. One can stop by for a quiet lunch on a weekday, a busier brunch on a weekend, or, in the evenings, mix a great meal with some terrific music.
I’ve eaten there several times, and each time the food was outstanding, as was the presentation. Chef Marco Veiera, a native of Brazil, has put together a cacophony of flavors that are simultaneously exciting and soothing; the staff is always helpful with suggestions, too.
As an Eggs Benedict aficionado, I can recommend all three of their variations: The regular Eggs Benedict, with Canadian bacon and hollandaise; the Eggs Maltese, which uses smoked salmon instead of bacon and orange hollandaise; and the Eggs Royale, with filet mignon instead of Canadian bacon and lobster hollandaise. There are one or two places I’ve found in this country that serve better Eggs Benedict, but that’s about it.
One of my favorites on the appetizer menu is the grilled chicken and beef sate. The spicy peanut-ginger sauce has just enough bite, but not too much to overwhelm the chicken and beef, and enhances the tang of the mango-papaya salsa served over the greens. My other favorite is the roasted sea scallops with pecans, shitake mushrooms and spinach in a white-wine lobster sauce. The wine sauce has the perfect balance — not too sweet, not too dry, and boots the flavor of the meaty scallops.
They’re no slouch in the sandwich department, with an assortment including: Maryland crab cakes on a roll; curried chicken with arugula; grilled mozzarella, tomato, and arugula on a baguette; and grilled turkey with sauteed onions and melted brie on seven grain bread. The fries are thin, crisp, light, and perfectly salted. The assortment of salads is almost delectable enough to convince me to eat goat cheese. The pastas are lovely, with perfectly blended sauces, especially the orecchiette with grilled chicken, served in a vodka sauce with pecans and spinach. I admit I pushed the pecans around on the plate at first, wondering what why they were there; however, they added a perfect crunch and unique flavor to the dish. The only disagreement I have is a charge of $3.95 if one wishes to split a plate.
The wine list is varied, and has wines both by the glass and the bottle, along with special wines of the day. The wine prices are reasonable for the area, and every wine I’ve tried has been excellent. The dessert menu includes chocolate mousse cake, tollhouse pie, Grand Marnier-flavored crŠme caramel and apple strudel.
However, the Watercolor Cafe is not simply a feast for the body, in the traditional restaurant sense — you can soothe your soul with jazz, folk, and blues/pop — with Sundays being the day for a jazz brunch from 12 noon to 3 p.m. The schedule on the Web site kindly lists the schedule in a color-coded format: jazz in red, folk in green, and blues/pop in, fittingly, blue. They started hosting jazz about five years ago, and then expanded into folk, etc. Recently, owner Bruce Carroll, a singer/songwriter himself, added a Master Songwriters Workshop Series. Visiting artists usually hold workshops on a Tuesday or Wednesday afternoon, later performing as part of the Folk Poet series at the Cafe in the evening. Artists leading workshops include Ellis Paul, Steve Forbert, Susan Werner, David Roth, Cliff Eberhardt, John Gorka, Vance Gilbert, and Sloane Wainwright. Since the artist creates the workshop, rather than fitting it into a previously-dictated format, each one is unique to the artist who leads it. (A single workshop is $100, while a series of five workshops is only $300.)
The Watercolor Cafe is a beautiful, energizing and delectable haven tucked in Westchester. It is located at 2094 Boston Post Road in Larchmont, NY. It’s open seven days a week from 11:30 AM until midnight. Major credit cards accepted. Telephone: 914.834.2213. At the time of the writing, prices ranged from $8.95 appetizers to $17.95 for the Eggs Royale to $9.95 for a classic turkey club to $23.95 for the grilled veal chop. : The Watercolor Cafe
Tips for Terrific Travel Journals
A travel journal is one of the best ways to re-live a wonderful trip. People who don’t consider themselves writers often find them intimidating or worry keeping a journal becomes a chore during the course of a trip; however, applying a few easy techniques will help make it a fun and fascinating process and something to re-read for years to come.
It takes only a smidgen of commitment, but you (and your descendents) can reap the rewards through generations.
Book Size. The journal should be a size to easily fit into a purse, backpack or even a coat pocket, yet large enough to write in comfortably. It doesn’t have to be a fancy, leather bound volume with soft, seductive paper (although it can be, if this is what makes your writing feel good).
If you’re on an outdoor adventure, sometimes a simple spiral bound notebook is the best choice. A book too large will be difficult to carry around. You’ll leave it in the hotel and forget to get around to writing in it regularly. A book too small is uncomfortable to write in, and you’ll put off keeping up with entries.
Try a simple 6 x 9 blank book that opens easily and lies flat when writing. Or you can carry a smaller book in your purse or pocket to jot quick notes and then expand on them within your journal later in the day. Use a book that works for you, something comfortable and will make you look forward to writing in it every day.
Date Every Entry. The only hard-and-fast rule of diary-keeping is to date the entry. You think you’ll remember the when’s and where’s of an event, but our lives have accelerated. In two or three years, details will get fuzzy — which is one of the reasons you keep the journal in the first place! First, put down the day of the week, the month and date (the year is on the front page of the journal, along with the name of the trip).
In addition, you can make a note of the weather. Since the weather affects moods and has an impact on the events of the day, it is interesting to include this information.
Use Sensory Details. When it comes to travel journals, don’t be afraid of adjectives and adverbs. You’re writing for yourself and your family here, not for publication. If you decide to pull material from the journal to use for publication, then you can polish it. But in the moment, use as many sensory details as possible. Describe the sights, the smells, the sounds, the textures, the tastes. Write about the atmosphere of place. Each destination has its own emotional landscape, as well as geographical landscape. Investigate and experience it. Write about your response to it.
This journal is a safe space in which you can overwrite, over-describe, and over-indulge. A passage about feeling cobblestones under your feet on Candlemaker Row or the scent of beer, whiskey, and salted snacks as you set foot in Bannerman’s will take you back into the sights and sounds of Edinburgh as quickly as a time machine. A windy, rainy day on top of Tintagel in Cornwall or sitting by the large stone fireplace at Jamaica Inn drinking brandy feels quite different than the same experience on a sunny, cloudless day. The quality of light changes in St. Ives from moment to moment — you want to remember whether you were there right after breakfast or on your way to tea.
A Journal Isn’t Only Words. Don’t be shy about adding a quick sketch in the journal, even if you don’t consider yourself an artist. Add in ticket stubs, programs, a bit of ribbon with special meaning, anything able to bring back a precious moment from the journey. You can write lists, paste in menus, tuck in the coaster from a favorite pub. Some of these items might migrate from the journal to a scrapbook or photo album later on; some will stay within these pages. Tangible objects help capture otherwise intangible memories.
Write Every Day. Because the book is easily tucked into a purse or pocket and you can carry it with you, it is easy to jot things down while riding a bus or waiting for a train or sitting on the ferry. You can write sitting in a pub or relaxing on a park bench. Or, you can save your impressions and write them out before you go to bed at night.
Even if it’s a list of places visited and things done during the day, put something down in the book every day. The longer the time between experience and pen-to-paper, the more the memory will fade. And you want to capture the immediacy of the experience so you can relieve it whenever you choose.
Be Honest About Feelings. There are frustrations and bad days in most trips. Not everything is an idyllically happy excursion. It’s okay to vent in your journal. It’s yours. And the negative experiences shape the entire trip as much as the positive ones.
Also, by writing them out, it helps you work through them, see another side, and perhaps gain additional perspective. Your feelings in the moment matter, even though they are likely to change over time, and even via the process of writing about them. You’ll feel better for pouring your feelings onto the page, and you can meet the next day with renewed energy and optimism.
The Travel Journal can be a trusted companion on the adventure, and a tool for remembrance after. It takes little effort in the moment, and rewards the writer for years.
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