The sun was shining on the sea,
Shining with all his might:
He did his very best to make
The billows smooth and bright—
And this was odd, because it was
The middle of the night.

The moon was shining sulkily,
Because she thought the sun
Had got no business to be there
After the day was done—
“It’s very rude of him,” she said,
“To come and spoil the fun!”

The sea was wet as wet could be,
The sands were dry as dry.
You could not see a cloud, because
No cloud was in the sky:
No birds were flying overhead—
There were no birds to fly

The Walrus and the Carpenter
Were walking close at hand;
They wept like anything to see
Such quantities of sand:
“If this were only cleared away,”
They said, “It would be grand!”

“If seven maids with seven mops
Swept for half a year,
Do you suppose,” the walrus said,
“That they could get it clear?”
“I doubt it,” said the Carpenter,
And shed a bitter tear.

“O, Oysters, come and walk with us!”
The Walrus did beseech.
“A pleasant walk, a pleasant talk,
Along the briny beach:
We cannot do with more than four,
To give a hand to each.”

The eldest Oyster looked at him,
But never a word he said:
The eldest Oyster winked his eye,
And shook his heavy head—
Meaning to say he did not choose
To leave the oyster-bed.

But four young Oysters hurried up,
All eager for the treat:
Their coats were brushed, their faces washed,
Their shoes were clean and neat-
And this was odd, because, you know,
They hadn’t any feet.

Four other Oysters followed them,
And yet another four;
And thick and fast they came at last,
And more, and more, and more-
All hopping through the frothy waves,
And scrambling to the shore.

The Walrus and the Carpenter
Walked on a mile or so,
And then they rested on a rock
Conveniently low:
And all the little Oysters stood
And waited in a row.

“The time has come,” the Walrus said,
“To talk of many things:
Of shoes—and ships—and sealing wax—
Of cabbages—and kings—
And why the sea is boiling hot—
And whether pigs have wings.”

“But wait a bit,” the Oysters cried,
“Before we have our chat;
For some of us are out of breath,
And all of us are fat!”
“No hurry!” said the Carpenter.
They thanked him much for that.

“A loaf of bread,” the Walrus said,
“Is what we chiefly need:
Pepper and vinegar besides
Are very good indeed—
Now if you’re ready, Oysters dear,
We can begin to feed.”

“But not on us!” the Oysters cried,
Turning a little blue,
“After such kindness, that would be
A dismal thing to do!”
“The night is fine,” the Walrus said.
“Do you admire the view?”

“It was so kind of you to come!
And you are very nice!”
The Carpenter said nothing but
“Cut us another slice:
I wish you were not quite so deaf—
I’ve had to ask you twice!”

“It seems a shame,” the Walrus said,
“To play them such a trick,
After we’ve brought them out so far,
And made them trot so quick!”
The Carpenter said nothing but
“The butter’s spread too thick!”

“I weep for you,” the Walrus said:
“I deeply sympathize.”
With sobs and tears he sorted out
Those of the largest size,
Holding his pocket-handkerchief
Before his streaming eyes.

“O Oysters,” said the Carpenter,
“You had a pleasant run!
Shall we be trotting home again?”
But answer came there none—
And this was scarcely odd, because
They’d eaten every one.

This weekend – the beef tenderloin from Bastrop Cattle Co is back – it get’s served with frites and greens – we like it – we’re going to keep it on the menu headed into spring. One caveate – Patti hasn’t been able to supply us with enough – so come in soon if you want it. Once it runs out, we’re opting for a natural product that we buy through Central Market – but the BBC beef is really special.

You know when I think bison, I can’t help but remember time spent in Pawnee TX a number of years ago – my (former in-laws) had a couple of these magnificent animals on their cattle ranch – Buffy and Buffalo Bill. My dog Fender used to play chicken with Bill – he just couldn’t get over that such a creature could exist in a universe that he presumed to RULE over. Anyway – our Thunderheart Bison pot pie (ok it’s really a tart – we even use the same savory tart dough that we use for the rustic apple and cranberry tarts) is on the menu for a couple of more weeks while this cooler weather continues. We feel like we’ve really go it perfected now, and we’re excited about this final version – served with au jus and salad greens.

Likewise – homemade spinach pasta is going with some terrific mixed gulf seafood – shrimp, squid, fish, and maybe some scallops. It’s almost a cioppino, but better, because it’s got pasta too.

A final Dinner Menu will post on this site late this afternoon.

ALSO – and perhaps most importantly – our new faves, the Inheritance Trio, formed by Bruce Salmon (TFB alumn) – will be here this evening to play 20s and 30s era klezmer music and traditional Eastern European jewish folk songs. They are terrific and we’re excited to have them on a Friday – plan on me hitting you up for tips so I can try to keep these terrific musicians coming back for some return engagements in the near future.

Dear Friends,

SUNDAY NIGHT UPDATE
When we first planned Valentine’s Weekend, I assumed that pretty much everyone would want to celebrate the holiday on Saturday evening – Sunday is a school night. So I when Kara and I discussed booking them to sing, Saturday night seemed the logical time. But, I figured I’d send out an email just to check for interest about serving a few dinners on Sunday evening, though I doubted there would be enough response to justify opening. Boy, was I ever off base on that.

We have a few reservations for Saturday, but we’ve been inundated with requests for Sunday evening. Given that this is the case, Kara & Austin have been nice enough to play a second evening. They will sing songs of love, loss, and absurdity – which puts me in mind of the limo driver in Spinal Tap. I believe he said something like – “these kids today…. you know, they haven’t loved and lost like Frank.” If I’m not mistaken, K&A may sing a song or two that Frank used to sing. They’ll start about 7pm and there there will be no cover – it’s our Valentine’s gift to you. (So – that’s 9pm on Saturday, $10, and 7pm on Sunday, no cover.)

MENU
We’ve got a couple of new things on the menu that are cold weather and Valentine’s inspired. First – we do plan to offer a prix fix option. As it stands now, this will include a salad (featuring, if I understand this correctly, mesclun mix, romaine, parsley, mint, and fresh celery leaves), a second course of wild mushrooms with thin sliced parmesan, a main course of that will be a mixed seafood (gulf shrimp, pei mussels, drum, and maybe squid…) pasta dish, and a choice of desserts that will include our butterscotch budino, a warm strawberry shortcake, and a new chocolate mousse tart that we’re working on.

And/or come in tonight and try a couple of new items. Out bison pot pie is a response to Matthew Lee’s request for “shepherds pie” – eating ours last week, he looked rather disappointed and asked where were the peas and why didn’t it have a crust? Uhmm, I don’t know Matthew – and I certainly don’t want to get in the middle of all this, but – Ben Willcott says that’s not shepherds pie at all – if it has peas and a crust, that would be pot pie. I don’t have a dog, er.. pie in this fight, so I’m staying out of it. BW says he hates peas, but he will make ONE pot pie with peas that he is saving for Mr. Lee. The gauntlet is down, Matthew. But I do believe that shepherds pie is the one with the potatoes on top – pot pie has the crust…

Tonight’s menu will post about 5:30pm – the final menu for Valentine’s will post on Saturday afternoon after Ben has a chance to shop the markets.

Come join us,

Murph

Hey guys,

Kara Bliss will be singing for us – accompanied by Austin Haller on Saturday, February 13th. Cover is $10 after 9p. They have put together a set of awesome, playful, sad, and funny love songs to celebrate the day. Hope you can join us.

-mw

ps – we’re considering whether or not to serve dinner on Sunday (the actual Valentine’s Day) as well as celebrating on Saturday night. Please do shoot me an email if you are interested in coming on Sunday evening. Thx.

OK – we’re not literally pairing the mackerel with the grapefruit (although, now that I think of it, it sounds awfully good – BEN?) – rather we have a wonderful batch of seasonal ruby reds from south Texas. That’s where Ben spent much of his childhood, where our younger bro – Teo – got his name, and where I learned how to ride horses, shoot birds, drive, and be interested in girls. We also got a great looking batch of fresh west coast mackerel in from Quality Seafood. (I do love Quality Seafood – the space above their front door is festively festooned with the ditty “Everything from the Sea”.)

As usual, I digress – but all business from here on out, I promise – just the menu, ma’am:  Regarding said grapefruit.. (God. why are they called grape fruit? Honestly, they bear no resemblance to grapes. And are grapes not a themselves fruits?) In the words of that famous deep thinker Poo – oh, bother.   Onward… We thought we’d add a classic Italian salad to the menu.  Big slices of red grapefruit, sliced red onions and fennel, fresh mint, coarse sea salt and a dash of red pepper.  Ben’s debating whether to include a little radicchio and/or arugula – apparently the Italians do a good many variations on this salad.   And he’s made a champagne vinaigrette – ok, a prosecco vinaigrette – especially for the occasion.

Now the mackerel is also quite attractive.   Though I must confess, I spent a great deal of time this evening bent over the fillets with a pair of needle nose pliers de-boning them.  They are much bonier than their friends, the sardines.  However – like the sardine, mackerels are known to be sustainable (easy on the ocean), and very high in Omega 3 essential fatty acids.  Unlike the sardine however, the bony mackerels are thought to be quite snooty, and on occasion will simply turn fin and swim away from other fish mid-conversation. Even the humble flounder, who likes most all of the other fish, finds the mackerel to be quite a test. Ok – I made that last part up – just wanted to see if you were paying attention.

The point is this – we plan to sauté the the delightful, friendly, and charming little mackerels, coat them in super tasty high end extra virgin olive oil, and ply them with a side of onion relish.  The onion relish is a recreation of a dish I loved as a kid when my parents (back to south Texas) would take us across the river to Reynosa to dine at a really terrific restaurant called Sam’s (some people went to US Bar – we went to Sam’s, so I can only assume that Sam’s was vastly better).  At Sam’s, not only did they serve frogs’ legs (a culinary adventure I was toootally up for) – but they made this terrific onion relish that was very simple, but amazingly tasty, and I ate it by the boatload – diced white onions, soaked in lemon, and coated with crusty coarse salt. Loved it then – love it now.  The onions are pungent – the lemons sweetly acidic – and the salt cuts through, leveling everything out.

Hope to see you all this weekend.

Murph

for menu and further details, check under New Years Eve at left.

We will be open this week, although we’re still deciding about the evening of New Year’s Day – let us know if you are interested in coming in Friday evening.

thx,

Murph

Yes, we’re open all week this week except for Christmas day.  We’ll be open for Dinner Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday evenings. The new dinner menu is posted and I hope to see you all this week.  As we radical left wing proponents of poly-religious political correctness like to say -

Happy Holidays!

We’re going to mail cranberry loaves on the next two Mondays – they make a great gift.  Please call us at 512.499.0544 or email specialorders@texasfrenchbread.com to place an order.  ORDER FORM

For other holiday products – click on the Holiday  menu.

By the way – though few people came in to dinner last night – those who did were treated to a truly nuanced and beautiful performance by the Inheiritance Trio – they’ll be with us again next Thursday, so I hope a few more folks can make it that night – I was a little worried about the fit, but I have to say, from the first second they started playing, I was wildly impressed.

Tomorrow night, Thursday December 10 we will host the Inheiritance Trio, led by Bruce Salmon, TFB alum and international man of musical mystery. The Trio play Eastern European and standards from the 1920’s and 1930’s on accordion, violin and dobro (or is it a National?) – metal guitar if that clears things up. Should be really interesting. We’re hoping to work unusual events like this into the fabric of our regular business here, so we do hope you can make it.