blog

Dear Friends and Customers of Solo Bistro:

Over the weekend the maple behind the restaurant has suddenly leafed out. The leaves have gone from indistinct lint balls on the limbs to fully formed leaves 3 inches across, and already a late-spring look is taking hold, especially as one moves away from the ocean. The difference is noticeable even between Arrowsic and Bath, but at the speed green things are growing now, the differential will not last – spring is rolling up from the southwest like the tide up the Bay of Fundy – smoothly, rapidly and inexorably covering the naked bones of the bottom in a uniform sea of green. In a space of hours it will cover all, then deepen. It is a fabulous time to be on the coast of Maine!

When it comes to food though, regardless of the season, Wednesday’s are pretty fabulous in this little slice of the coast, for the obvious reason that that’s the day for the three course $17.99 Wednesday Special at Solo Bistro!

Wednesday Special

This week’s $17.99 Wednesday Special starts out by blending the zing of Tarbox Farm spicy greens with delicious bits of applewood-smoked bacon, all drizzled with a sweet balsamic vinaigrette. That will be followed by chicken sautéed with asparagus, grape tomatoes, and Kalamata olives in a shallot wine butter over torchio pasta (so called because it resembles the base of a torch) with feta cheese and toasted bread crumbs! For dessert we’ll enjoy a strawberry panna cotta with a wild Maine blueberry sauce.

Friday Night Jazz May 17

This week the donna of the double bass, Ms. Xar Adelberg, returns to the New Space in the company of newcomer Tom Luther at the keyboard. The eclectic Ms. Adelberg is well known to devotees of Friday Night Jazz. Her skills on the bass dependably delight and dazzle. Composer and pianist Tom Luther has lately been pursuing improvisational jazz with his acoustic quintet, which recently released its first CD, “Everything Is Blue.” Doubling down on double bass and piano jazz this Friday, May 17 from 6:30 – 9:30 PM!

As always, we look forward to seeing you on Front Street in downtown Bath, where though we may be captive on a carousel of time, you never get the run-around!

Pia & Will Neilson, Owners

Posted in weekly email | Comments Off

Dear Friends and Customers of Solo Bistro:

A second week of beautiful weather is about to come to a necessary end, as things are noticeably drying out. Coincident with the beautiful weather, various viral vectors seem to have been exceptionally busy in Bath of late, but hey, at least it’s not raining frogs!

In such circumstances, I have always liked to quote the brief speech of a rheumy Bilbo Baggins in Lake Town: “Thag you very buch.” Just yesterday I happened to read — in a copy of The Hobbit retrieved last December upon the opening of the first of the overstuffed installments of the cinematic version — the last words of a dying and repentant Thorin Oakenshield, which I had not remembered: “If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world. But sad or merry, I must leave it.”

Feeling (and sounding) not unlike Mr. Baggins during his Lake Town sojourn, I shall attempt to emulate his example and rein in my proclivity to be prolix, merely noting the wisdom of Thorin’s valedictory sentiment in connection with this Sunday’s Mothers’ Day brunch and dinner, tomorrow’s $17.99 Wednesday Special, and Friday Night Jazz.

Wednesday Special

This week’s $17.99 Wednesday Special commences with a simple salad of Tarbox Farm spicy greens dressed in a sweet balsamic vinaigrette. The main course will be a ragu of mushrooms, roasted red bell peppers, shallots over toasted focaccia bread, topped with a poached egg and fresh parsley, comfort food for a foggy spring evening! Dessert will be a peach cobbler with a shortcake topping. A king could do no better!

Friday Night Jazz May 10

This week Ralph Norris, tenor sax supremo, returns to the New Space accompanied by Mickey Felder at the keyboard. They’ll be playing from 6:30 – 9:30 PM this Friday. May 10. Be there or be square!

As always, we look forward to seeing you on Front Street in downtown Bath, where an occasional “code in de nose” doesn’t mean we’re stuffy!

Pia & Will Neilson, Owners

Posted in weekly email | Comments Off