The Plough, Rendezvous, Courtyard Cafe

[Joanie]

Unfortunately, they were out of the trout special that both me and my pesci friend wanted so I went with a burger which is about $12.50 now, seems a little high for the Plough. It was really flavorful and cooked correctly but I wish they wouldn't put that spice on their fries. They wouldn't make her a veggie cubano so she got the pizza with goat cheese, peppers (and no pancetta) which quite tasty and the dark & stormy was huge. A friend/employee also made Swedish meatballs since a band from Stockholm was playing (and two half Swedes were supposed to DJ but the equipment didn't cooperate) and those were pretty tasty, coming from an Italian girl and all.

Dinner Sun. at Rendezvous meant choosing from a 3 course father's day special menu at $38 which we didn't know in advance. I think I would have just gotten a few appetizers had that choice been an option. Started with crab cakes that didn't have too much filling but the pea sauce with a ton of basil kind of overpowered the crab. Was in the mood for steak frites but the steak was WAY below medium and I didn't feel like sending it back so gave a bit to a friend who likes it rare and just ate the edges and dealt with it. Fries were good but not what I'd call frites. Had a bite of the pasta w/ veal meatballs and mushrooms and that was very good. The cherry rhubarb crostada w/ lavender ice cream was delicious, hard to choose a dessert. Friend's standby lemon pudding cake was great and forgot to taste the espresso semifreddo w/ choc sauce. Nice service.

Tried the Courtyard Cafe in Dedham downstairs across from the courthouse on Sat. Nothing's over $9 and it was hard to choose but I had a breakfast burrito w/ bacon and homefries for $5.99. They had a bunch of grilled panini serve w/ fries for only about $6 or $7. Just a breakfast/lunch place, worth checking out. Don't get iced coffee from the bagel cafe, weak weak weak and I'm not even a real coffee drinker.