The Fox Pub and Café

A couple of months ago we stopped by The Fox Pub and Café for a drink and checked out the menu, after my dad mentioned he had eaten at the Peoria pub a few times.

The Fox is hidden a bit off the beaten path, in the strip mall on N. Sommer Street next to the former K's Merchandise.

The decor was comfortable, kind of like what I would want my home library to look like with dark wood furniture and rich colors, but of course I would want brown leather chairs instead of tapestry dining chairs. There were a few beer mirrors and other things hung about, but nothing overdone.

Reading the menu, the Ploughman's Cheese Board caught my attention. Paired with one of my favorites, a Rodney Strong Cabernet, which they had by the glass, this could be quite a treat.

The Duke of Wellington also sounded good, a slow roasted beef brisket sandwich with cheddar and a horseradish sauce.

A customer stopped by the bar and asked if the salsa was homemade, to which the bartender said yes. She then proceeded to rave about how good the salsa was.

After finishing our drinks, we headed out, agreeing to come back soon.

We visited The Fox again a couple of weeks ago to sample the fare.

I opted for the Wellington ($7.95) and StfRon selected Ye Olde Fish and Chips ($8.95), deciding to go with the pub sauce for his chips.

Our "Dining Companion" and her husband soon joined us and ordered chili cheese fries, a side of homemade cole slaw and a burger.

The food arrived shortly. The tender brisket indeed tasted slow roasted, with a liquid smoke flavor. The cheddar melted on top was real cheese, none of that pasteurized processed food product. The Fox fries turned out to be skinny fries, hand cut and cooked to a lovely crispiness.

The fish my husband had was meaty and mild, nicely battered and the tangy pub sauce made a nice accompaniment to the chips.

The menu also features appetizers, wraps, salads and more and they provide live entertainment every Wednesday and Saturday night.

Local produce

We hit the long-awaited farm market yesterday morning at the Methodist Atrium. By the time we arrived, all the veggies were gone save for some herb plants, and Organic Pastures had a small amount of meat left. We picked up a pasture-raised beef roast, and look forward to trying it this week.

I'm glad to see there was such a great response and plan to get there earlier next month!

Speaking of garden plants, I didn't buy any at the market as I had already bought mine and planted them a week or two ago. Our local greenhouse, Washington Greenhouse, grows the plants themselves each winter. So far we bought oregano, peppers, rosemary, eggplant, cabbage and are growing carrots and leeks from seed.

We also asked them about red onions, which I thought would be nice to try this year, but they said they don't grow them anymore because they weren't a popular purchase, and most got thrown away.

The Riverfront Market in Peoria will start back up in June, and the Metro Centre market begins in May.

Bone Appitit

Enjoy my husband StfRon's review of Bone Appitit, as I've been a bit swamped ;-). — Peoria Peepers

A somewhat unfortunate name, Bone Appitit...the last part of the name brings memories of Beavis and Butthead.
Bone Appitit is the new BBQ joint just east of the square in Washington. We had heard rumor of a possible rib joint over a year ago, and it came to fruition this month.

Stickers placed on the window last year indicated breakfast would be available, but the hours changed and the breakfast part of the menu had a large ink "x" over it. Chicken, a huge favorite of my wife, was also sadly not available.

No worries for me though, this rib joint had RIBS. I chose the six rib meal with two sides ($7.50) and the wife chose the three rib meal with two sides ($6.50). We both opted for slaw and baked beans as sides, and a cornbread muffin came with, too.

As BB King wailed in the background, our meals were shortly presented. The ribs had a nice distinguishable smoke ring and a light hickory flavor. Dry ribs were not on the menu, so I ordered the "Sweet & Spicy" while my wife got the "Sweet and Tangy"

I must say, the spicy ribs had a very nice kick, and were presented with Jalapeno slices on top ( a nice touch I've never seen before on ribs) but my favorite was my wife's "tangy" ribs. The rib end pieces were a little dry, but I think the cook knew because my six rib combo had eight ribs, and my wife had five ribs in her three rib meal.

Overall the BBQ was decent and the prices reasonable. Hopefully a liquor license is in their future as tasty beer would have been nice.

July 2012— Bone Appitit is closed.

Round up

My recent local outings have taken me to Mi Familia (Peoria) for tacos; Leaves-n-Beans (Peoria Heights) for a lunch wrap and an iced cap; Apple's Bakery (Peoria) for chicken salad sandwiches and coffee; Super Liquors (Peoria) where I scored some decent sale wine; Heading Om (West Peoria) for some much needed yoga; Maria's (Washington) for dinner and dessert; the C-Note (Washington) for a glass of wine and Washington Greenhouse for some spring plants.

Sherman's

At long last, our house is graced with a new couch.

Pretty sure it would not qualify as a davenport though, which is one of those words Grandma always used.

Thanks to my readers, I got several good local furniture store ideas. The couch we decided to go with came from Sherman's in Peoria.

We visited Sherman's in early March. Willie, the gentleman who approached us, was very helpful, friendly and gave us no pressure. He had all the right answers at hand about where the couch was made (in the US, of course) and gave us print outs and final quotes on two couches we were considering.

We then went to a big box store where the salesman didn't seem to be listening to what we were saying we wanted and couldn't give us answers about where their couches were made, nor did he offer to go find out for us.

We were back at Sherman's later that day and made our fabric selection for both couch and pillows, paid and arranged delivery for a Sunday.

We ended up not choosing leather as our fabric, even though it was available. It didn't quite fit the look of this couch.

Plus, my friend D mentioned that leather is cold to sit on, which is one thing I hadn't considered, having never owned one before.

After she said that, I had visions of summer when you sit in a vinyl restaurant booth with shorts on, then feel like you left half the skin from your legs on the booth when you get up. Yikes!

Last Sunday, the appointed delivery day, we heard the delivery truck pull up outside and within 10 minutes our new couch was right at home in our living room.

Everyone we dealt with from Sherman's was friendly and helpful, and so far we're pleased with our purchase.

My only regret is that Grandma isn't around to give it a try.