Friday, November 8, 2013

God is great; God is good...

Today's post will be quick, but it will also include two Monadnock-area restaurant reviews, so you're not really likely to do a lot better than this.

Tuesday night, RI and I went to Piedra Fina in Marlborough, NH, which has been open about three weeks. If you are local, please, please go to this restaurant, for two reasons:

  1. You will like it, and
  2. I need it to stay open.

The food (Latin American) is fantastic. The service is pleasant and fast. The atmosphere is lovely. It's comfortable. It's pretty. It's not too loud. It's delicious. It's not that expensive (I had the most expensive special, for $16, and RI had the most expensive meal on the menu, for $13, which even by New Hampshire standards is excellent for a really good meal). It's different from everything else in the area. I never wanted to eat anywhere else again.

And yet, the next day, for lunch, I did.

I went to Shack 'n' Cheese, on Main Street, in Keene. It has a very different vibe than Piedra Fina, which is by any reasonable local standard a fancyish place. Shack 'n' Cheese's counter is made of stacked firewood. There's a counter you order at, and a couple of tables to sit at, and it's in pretty much the back room of the Piazza. But also, you can get delicious macaroni and cheese there (with mix-ins! And crunchy toppings, if you want!), or a burrito, which has been missing from Keene since Armadillos closed. It's been open two weeks. Please, if you're local, go there, too.

Day 8 of our month of gratitude: I am thankful for food, both in its abundance and in its transformative power. We've had a complicated relationship, food and me, and sometimes still do, but that is all on me. Food, itself? Is good.

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