Feeling social

So, honestly, I have been avoiding this post because my pictures for this restaurant did not turn out. Although I feel that words cannot do this place justice, I will attempt to write visually enough to compensate.

While in Louisville, I ate at so many different places it is difficult to take the time to write about each one, even if it is only somewhat in-depth.

However, I visited so many special and memorable places that I feel it is almost my duty to talk about them: places like 732 Social.


The local restaurant serves organic food and wine, and locally grown/raised food whenever possible. The food is prepared in a rustic, French style and the menu changes with the season.

What really drew me into 732 Social, however, was not the food.

While dining at another restaurant, I asked the waiter where I NEEDED to visit while in town. He told me that the drinks at 732 Social were amazing and made like cocktails used to be. In other words, the drinks were old-school, and I was interested.

He was definitely right. Drinks like the "Long Stem Rose", a mixture of brut champagne, Peychaud, orange, grapefruit and peach bitters, rose water, sugar cubes, St. Germain elderflower liqueur and lemon zest, really are reminiscent of an earlier time.

While the drinks brought me to the restaurant, the food made me want to come back.

The menu I sampled was made up of fall flavors and hearty textures.

I had Tasmanian Ocean Trout that was baked in parchment paper with preserved lemon, heirloom carrots, fingerling potatoes and salsify.

Salsify is the root of a purple-flowering plant sometimes called "oyster plant" and has a very unique flavor. While some people say that it tastes like oysters, hence the nickname, I have to disagree. The vegetable has a sweet component to it; I think it almost tastes like a more savory and less intense fennel flavor.

Basically, the flavor is hard to describe, but it worked perfectly with the dish.

The trout was some of the best fish I have ever eaten. I want to say it is in the top five fish I have ever eaten. Baking fish in parchment, and even foil, leaves it so moist and tender that you barely have to chew it.

It was delicious.

I also tried the the "Mac-n-Cheese". Although I usually don't like when people re-invent macaroni and cheese (I am a stickler for the classic Old South recipe) this was an exception. Made with cavatapi macaroni, which has a unique spiral shape, bechamel sauce and rock shrimp, this rendition of the classic did not offend me.

The pasta was a huge portion, especially by French restaurant standards; it was served browned and buttery, overflowing from a large souffle dish. The flavors blended perfectly and actually created an umami flavor. Thinking about the small amount I tasted is making me crave the dish right now; it was that good.

The only let-down of the whole meal was, unfortunately, the dessert. My sweet tooth was definitely not satisfied by the red velvet and carrot layered cake that was available that night.

Visually, the cake was delicious. I was staring at the damn thing the whole night. Precise layers of red and cinnamon-laced brown layered perfectly between ribbons of cream cheese icing called to me from across the restaurant.

But my taste buds did not agree with my eyes. The cake ended up having a weird coating of crushed peanut butter cups, which I did not feel married well with the rich flavors of the cake. Also, the red velvet cake suffocated my mouth with its dry and crumbly texture. While the layers of carrot cake were tasty, the other components drowned the one good tasting element out.

I can forgive one night of bad dessert, however, with food and drinks as good as I tried that evening at 732 Social. Along with a unique atmosphere, open kitchen and friendly service, the night was fantastic.

I can definitely say that if I am ever in Louisville again, I will be back.

A step in the right direction

In big cities, quirky, one-of-a-kind eateries are not uncommon. In Ocala, however, finding an interesting and original place to grab a bite to eat can be quite the challenge.

I often write food reviews for my college newspaper and I try to think out of the box and try relatively unheard of restaurants. I just feel like many Americans, especially in more rural areas, have been sucked into a trap of chain restaurants and low-quality food.

So in my quest to find somewhere worth reviewing, I remembered a small place I had once seen downtown, Endless Baskets Edie Gourmet Fromagerie. I recalled that this place sold gift baskets as well as specialty and gourmet food products including imported cheeses, so I stopped in to check it out.

I was pleased to see that lunch was available and vowed to come back and try it out.

Since my first encounter with the “Fromagerie” I have been back on two separate occasions for lunch. Fromagerie is the French term for a cheese shop, and although calling Endless Baskets a Fromagerie might be a bit of a stretch, it is what the owner originally set out to create.

According to the owner, she once dreamed of selling a large variety of cheeses on a daily basis, but the clientele for such a place just doesn’t exist in Ocala.

The restaurant ended up being a mix of a European style café and a gourmet gift shop. The café aspect is what immediately caught, and held, my attention. Growing up half-German and shuttling back and forth between countries gave me a taste for good cuisine early on in life, and little cafés hold a special place in my heart.

Although the place isn’t an exact representation of a café or restaurant one would find in Europe, it’s about as close as Ocala is going to get. With only four or five small tables, and fresh air wafting through the open door, it has the laid back feeling reminiscent of a place you would run across in Paris or Florence.

There were obviously aspects that were more American in nature, like plastic silverware and kitschy “café” decorations, but the overall idea is there.

One thing I particularly liked was that the drinks, even sodas, are served in glass bottles and that Italian orange and lemon infused mineral water, San Pellegrino Aranciata and Limonata, are available. My favorite, coffee, is also available.

The menu, also reminiscent of a French eatery, changes daily, and has about five different choices varying from soup, salads, sandwiches and other specialties. I really like this style of menu; it’s constantly changing and full of surprises.

On my first visit, I sampled escarole and sausage stew, Boudin sausage with a soft pretzel and artisan cheese with a croissant. Both the cheese and the sausage dishes came with a salad of fresh greens and fruit compotes.

My favorite part of the whole meal had to be the salad. It was tossed in a light vinaigrette and had little black olives scattered throughout it. It was the perfect complement to the Prima Donna cheese, which had a flavor profile that was buttery and nutty.

And I love soft pretzels and sausage, so that dish was an obvious hit with me. I especially liked that it was served with a mushroom pate, mustard and little gherkins. The flavors married perfectly.

The owner makes everything fresh and everything herself, including the fruit compotes that are served with just about everything. I am impressed with her ability to serve a a different menu everyday with so little in the way of customers. I would love to see that food order.

The meal was finished off sweetly, with a dark chocolate covered macaroon. The dark chocolate was infused with orange, and it had just enough of a citrus flavor to make the taste of coconut really pop.

My second experience at Endless Baskets was even better than the first. This time around, I decided to see what the sandwiches were all about.

I sampled both a Tuna Nicoise sandwich on Ciabatta bread and a baguette with a variety of cheeses and meats stuffed inside. Once again, these dishes came with the delicious salad. Both sandwiches were very good, and satisfying, so much that one half of either sandwich would have been enough.

The best part of the meal that day, however, was by far the soup. Chicken soup often ends up bland and unappealing, but the chicken and vegetable stew served that day gave the soup a new name.

What was so special about this particular soup? Among the vegetables simmering alongside the chicken in the broth, were chunks of sweet potato. This addition was something I never would have thought of myself, but it really added something special to the soup. The tiny pop of sweet that crept up at the end of each bite gave it a whole new dimension.

This restaurant will definitely become one of my lunchtime favorites in Ocala. There are many aspects of Endless Baskets Edie Gourmet Fromagerie that I find irresistible, and I am excited to see what menus are produced in the future. Also, it might be a good place to stock up on Christmas presents that just about anyone would be grateful to receive.