This past Friday, Walker, Corby and I rode our bicycles over to Carolinas, a local restaurant that has been around forever.  My father’s office building is right across the street, and literally, he goes there every day for lunch.  And much to their enjoyment/chagrin, he has the same thing every day.  He orders a chopped Caesar salad and a small scoop of ice cream.  Chef Jill Mathias has tried desperately to get him to change things up a bit- maybe try kale instead of his usual romaine lettuce.   But he will not waiver because if you find something good, stick with it.  I think the whole thing is pretty funny, especially when Walker’s favorite dish there is salmon and risotto.  But, back to Friday- we went there for a tasting as Carolinas is doing some of the food for our wedding, and we pick some of the appetizers that will be served.  We ended up with a lamb medallion with a little creme fresh and capers, and a trout salad on brown bread.  They were both delicious- well I didn’t actually try the trout because I don’t like fish, but Corby said it was great as did Walker.  However, one of the things that we tried was goat cheese on their house baked ciabatta bread drizzled with honey and topped with a green.  It was really wonderful, and if we hadn’t already chosen a brie and fig appetizer, that definitely would have made the list.  It seems like such a simple concept which in fact it is, but I would not have thought to put it together.  I am going to try it for my next book club meeting.  I will obviously have to buy the bread instead of their house made stuff- but other than that, I think recreating it will be pretty simple. Here is a version of the recipe I found on www.sarcasticcooking.com.

Goat Cheese and Honey Appetizer

Ingredients:

1 French Baguette- sliced

1/3 cup of goat cheese

Honey

Fresh mint or basil

Directions:

Set the broiler on low to toast the slices of the baguette for just a few minutes until crisp.  Top each piece with desired amount of goat cheese and drizzle with honey.  Top with fresh herbs.