Faster, better…

Archive for August, 2008

Eileen and I met after work one Thursday afternoon at Solomon’s Pier Restaurant in Solomon’s Island Maryland. We have eaten here many times over the years and keep coming back. Perhaps we take the spot for granted. This time I paid closer attention to the things I like and don’t like about restaurants.

We loved it! I couldn’t wait to say it. Our waitress was Megan. Megan ROCKS! The panoramic view of the Patuxent River at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay is awesome. Views from inside and outside the restaurant made this a preferred destination for us. The good news is that this restaurant is a great place to eat as well as one with ambiance and scenic views.

When we came in the front door an attentive hostess was there to greet us. No waiting or wondering just a pleasant greeting and NO pointing! We asked for a table outdoors since the weather was beautiful. Within a few minutes lovely Megan was there getting our drink order. Megan has this waitress thing down. She is attentive but not smothering, polite, positive, sure of herself and she knew the menu. Eileen always asks a difficult question about the menu. In many places what we get are blank stares but Megan gave my wife a direct answer. We observed that all of the staff at Solomon’s Pier enjoyed their work.

Eileen and I enjoyed the weather under a deck umbrella. We watched the boats and osprey and listened to the water lap on the piling below. You could hear yourself think. There was music from the bar on the deck but it wasn’t annoying. We also got a surprising benefit. The Patuxent Naval Air Station is on the other side of the river. Navy aircraft of all shapes and sizes land at the base. I enjoy observing military aircraft in flight. The vantage point at Solomon’s Pier allowed us to watch these great aircraft landing and taking off. Wow! Our own air show. It wasn’t too loud but I could understand how some who do not appreciate planes as I do might find the occasional passing roar an annoyance. No worse, and a lot less annoying than the roar of a diesel speed boat at Stoney’s up the road however.

I ordered the Pier Salad. Super presentation, meat cooked to specification, and fresh garden greens. The salad was served in a large red salad bowl dressing on the side. There was plenty in the bowl to eat. No skimping. No sir. It was more than a salad. It really was a great meal. Eileen had a crab cake and a house salad. I could tell she was absorbed in the flavor. The Solomon’s Pier is just a pleasant place to share an afternoon or evening and it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. We got more than our money’s worth. Part of the formula for running a great restaurant must be that you want the customer to take away good memories. We have always thought the Solomon’s Pier does just that.

Parking was plentiful near the restaurant. Set aside the time to walk through Solomon’s enjoying the sights and the shops. Take in the Calvert Marine Museum if its open. This little town also has some other exciting eating establishments. You will want to come back. You can’t go wrong at Solomon’s Pier.

I’m fed up listening to Democrats and Republicans arguing over the Federal Income Tax. The Democrats have ALREADY SIGNIFICANTLY RAISED taxes in Maryland. Other states on the East coast, like Maryland, are raising property taxes through the roof. The middle class and the quickly disappearing and struggling lower-middle class are taxed to death. We are the ones losing our homes, deferring one bill to pay for gas to get to work, struggling to pay health care deductibles while watching the government SQUANDER our money. The federal presidential tax debate is an obscene obfuscation.

In my Maryland county, Commissioners hype the so-called tax credit offered to persons earning less than $50,000 a year. Another obfuscation. You cannot own property in this county if you earn less than $50,000 a year living under this Democrat administration. It only applies to county related taxes and not the over-fed school system. Tax credit my foot.

The debate SHOULD BE regarding socialism and the redistribution of wealth.

My wife and I visited Harrison’s Chesapeake House while spending a B&B weekend on Tilghman Island, MD the weekend of August 17. We rated Harrison’s a 3 – These folks are having a bad day and we might choose to go back again someday. Eileen truly enjoyed her meal but as for me I intend to steer clear.

We arrived between 1:00 o’clock and 1:30 PM on a Saturday afternoon to have lunch. The first thing I saw was an entertaining sign about service just outside the front door. Maybe they believe it. We went inside and were greeted by five employees all sitting down enjoying a smoke. The ash trays were (yuk) full, and the place wreaked. One asked, “Would you like inside or out.” We asked for outside. The employee pointed – “Go that way.” What’s with the pointing thing? This is the second place we have been to where staff point.

We pointed ourselves in the same direction and walked around a hall corner finding ourselves in a maintenance corridor. At the end of the corridor near the exterior door we were apparently supposed to exit were two non-uniformed employees. The one to the right was holding up the wall behind him and the one on the left was reclining in a dirty linen basket just outside the washroom. Honestly it was like running customer-no-service gauntlet. Pushing open the door we found ourselves outside. It was not immediately clear where we were or where we were supposed to go. At this point I was ready to leave. I had a suspicion I was going to pay a premium for lunch but I really didn’t want to pay these people.

We came to the back of the structure and lo and behold there was the outdoor seafood-crab porch alongside the harbor that we had heard about. We walked up to the entrance and waited. There was no response to our presence so we assumed it was informal and found a place to sit. We then waited, and waited some more. About ten minutes went buy and someone finally said they would be with us in a few minutes. About ten minutes later sure enough. A drink order was taken and about ten minutes later we had our drinks and ordered a meal. About fifteen or twenty minutes later our meal was served.

My wife loved her shrimp. I ordered the Maui Fish Sandwich which was two pieces of fried fish on a white hamburger bun served with french fries. Nothing special and not worth the wait or the price. I had also ordered cheese and pickles as a side. The side dish didn’t show up until I had eaten the fish. The clincher for me was when the drink refill never came. As the waitress gave us the check she suddenly remembered the drink. “Don’t bother,” I said.

Now my wife is much more forgiving. In her view the two waitresses were very busy and the long wait for food was forgivable. She tipped the waitress after I had paid the exact amount of the bill. When “to insure promptness” doesn’t happen I believe in no tipping. Appreciate my predicament. We’re here celebrating our anniversary. The waitress got her tip and I paid sixteen dollars each for a lunch one might expect to purchase from a sidewalk vendor at a fisherman’s wharf. Pricey and not worth my time.

This outdoor facility is a very small part of the total business at Harrisons. I might go back some evening to see if formal dining is better than informal dining. My spouse certainly will. I did write the owner an email before I wrote the review and I would be very interested in hearing the experience of others.

Maryland painter Pamela Miller is offering her popular “Happy Hour Series paintings through fine art gallery, House of Frames and Fine Art in Prince Fredrick, MD.

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Mercedes Clemens is certified to massage humans, but she claims the state of Maryland is keeping her from her first love: Massaging horses. She shut down her equine massage practice in a Washington suburb after state officials told her state law only allows veterinarians to perform such services…

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Maryland worked with Disney Publishing Worldwide and its educational division last year to develop a pilot project to put Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck comics in eight third-grade classrooms.

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I’ve lived in Maryland for seven years. This last week I went back to California for a few reunions with friends and relatives. Much to my amazement driving in California was still safer and easier than driving in Maryland. There was an increase in the number of careless lunatics, but over all California is still safer. I found the most careless drivers in and around the San Francisco – Oakland areas. The unsafe drivers seem to prefer the BMW.  While I hate to profile anyone it was a common denominator that was hard to escape. What was really great to see was that California’s law enforcement officers in public safety vehicles still obey the traffic laws unlike those on the East coast. I hate to point that out having worked in public safety for twelve years but it is true from my experience – another very public observation that is hard to deny if you really open your eyes and look.

The roads in the SF Bay Area are much worse than they were seven years ago. The Sacramento area and the gold country seem to be in reasonable good shape. Highways like 680, 101, 80, and 4 are in terrible shape.  Driving the small rental car was like driving a bumper car at an amusement park, particularly on the levy roads of Highway 4 between Stockton and Antioch. Something I’ll never do again unless I have a larger car.

One thing that is very disconcerting about the 680 corridor between Oakland and the Carquinez Bridge is the amount of graffiti.  The vandalism on this corridor is extreme compared to 2001. It was hugely disappointing not to see  Contra Costa County Sheriff, Concord PD, and Pleasant Hill PD at the NoGraffiti Conference hosted by Santa Rosa Police and the NoGraf Network.  The NoGraf Network got it’s start in Pleasant Hill and once-upon-a-time Pleasant Hill was doing something about graffiti. <sigh>