It’s been a quiet weekend here in rural East Vineland. I was in a fine mood all day Friday, buzzing with weekend anticipation. Next Saturday we’re going up to New Brunswick for a quick overnight visit with Aaron. We’re going to dine out at Casa Ragazzi before he heads out for social activities. I’m looking forward to taking some pictures and having a nice dinner with him. It’s a three-day weekend for us next weekend, so that will make Sunday a nice treat, too. We can push off the scaries for a day and enjoy the weekend.

Wandering Rose Grill and Café

We recently found that a former Chinese restaurant in town, which was briefly a Jersey-style diner, is now a Turkish restaurant. This got my antennae up right away: we’ve never had a Turkish restaurant in town, and I’ve never had Turkish food. Upon our first investigation, I was pleased to see entirely unfamiliar dishes on the menu, as opposed to a dinner-adjacent menu with a few Turkish dishes. (There are plenty of American-style items, too.)

We’ve been a handful of times, and the food has always been good. We’ve tried the Mezze table appetizer a bunch of times, which is a collection of small dishes to share, including hummus and baba ghanoush. Joe has tried the pide a few times, while Rhonda is serially drawn to the Köfte. I’ve wandered around the menu, and Friday night I tried a special, which was a kind of beef stew over a creamy version of their baba ghanoush.

Needless to say, we take a couple of bottles of Bellview wine with us on our visits to the Wandering Rose.

Coco Larkin Cooks

Rhonda discovered Coco Larkin Cooks on social media, and she was inspired to try a few of her recipes. Many of her recipes skew French, so there’s some heavy cream and butter involved. Rhonda has made her chicken thighs au poivre for dinner a few times, and it’s been a hit (and an unexpected one at that; I wouldn’t have thought that chicken thighs au poivre would be a thing).

My TikTok and Instagram feeds are full of comedians and guys doing dumb shit, but Coco Larkin Cooks is a welcome addition to the mix.

Bellview Winery’ Gruner Veltliner

Speaking of wine and Bellview, since they don’t have any dry whites on tap, I’ve been picking up a couple of their reds on tap. Last week, I got a small growler of their Chambourcin, which is a dry, more acidic red. They blend it in all kinds of things, but they have it straight up on tap right now (I think it’s almost gone). Their Cabernet Franc recently replaced their excellent Saperavi on tap, the latter of which is being bottled. After comparing the Chambourcin to the Cab Franc, I can definitively say that I prefer the Cab Franc.

Anyway, a lack of on-tap dry white options has been trying bottles that I haven’t tried in a long time. I’ve been enjoying their Mixtape blend for a while, and that one holds up over repeated tastings. I eyeballed the bottle yesterday while we were having some salami and cheese with some wine on prem at the winery, and realized it’s about 50% Gruner. A couple of recent bottles of the Gruner proper have cemented it as a favorite, which explains why I like the Mixtape blend so much.

Their Traminette is also featured in the Mixtape blend, and so I tried that a few weeks ago. Alas, it’s “off-dry” or “semi-sweet,” and hence not a go-to for my tastes. Their Pinto Grigio is excellent, I’ve learned over repeated tastings, and a tasty companion for dinners out.

But boy do I love their Gruner.