December 6, 2012 - Lulu's, Sylva,NC

Lulu's is located on Main Street in Sylva. They are still in their original location they opened in several years ago (I think). It is a cozy restaurant with the focus on fresh, handmade and organic items. There are numerous selections where you can chose no meat or tofu to add to your dish. Always nice to have choices. All their food is quite delicious. They have had the same menu since they opened, which is a bit odd. But they do offer about 3 or 4 specials each evening. These are usually quite spectacular. I typically order a special, as I have already been through their menu. But, everyone seems to have their favorite on the menu, so I guess that is one reason they don't change it. 

One great thing Lulu's used to do is they would have a Mardi Gras menu. Greg and I always made it a point to hit Lulu's during that time. Gumbo, Etouffee, Jambalaya.... the list goes on. It was fantastic. But, sadly they no longer have that. I guess it was just too popular, as you had to get their early or dishes would be completely sold out. 

You also usually see someone you know at Lulu's as most of the locals go there often. If you don't want to be seen, don't go here. And if you've had a spat with someone, don't  go here.... until you're spat is over, cause chances are you will see them here and then you all will be glaring at each other across the room, making everyone at both tables very uncomfortable. Just saying....

We had a hard time getting together tonite. It seems that everyone had something to do.... plus it is getting close to Christmas and there are lots of parties, office functions and last minute work tasks to close out. This is especially true for Pam and Lisa who have finals, final grading, tests and presentations for their students. In fact, Pam could not join us tonite as she is at City Lights bookstore listening to stories her students had to write as assignments. Hopefully,she will get finished early and be able to come join us. Robert and Beth also could not join as due to a family function. Pam tried to rope us into coming to the bookstore to listen to the student stories.. but I think I would really rather have my fingernails pulled out. So, like the good friends we are.. we left her to the wolves. 

THE SIDE DINNING ROOM WITH BAR IN BACKGROUND 

THE FRONT DINING ROOM NOOK LOOKING OUT AT MAIN STREET

So tonite it was just me, Greg , Rosemary and Lisa. The restaurant was not crowded tonite, and we got a table in the front room. We all seemed a bit sideways due to just stuff. You ever get that feeling, where it seems you are just busy with STUFF, and on the other end, you can't remember why it was so important. Well, that is where we were at.
I had been in Asheville all day at my booth, Greg was supposed to meet in at Lulu's but ended up having to go back home and then come back. Rosemary is getting ready for Advent and Lisa is trying to finish up the semester. The dinner was a nice relief. I looked and felt like a street urchin as I was so dirty and grimy from working my booth. Or actually, I wasn't even clean enough to be a street urchin...more like a bridge troll. 

SALAD WITH HOMEMADE SCHEZWAN DRESSING - YUMMY 

HOMEMADE BREAD... CAN YOU SAY DOUBLE YUMMY?

SALAD WITH HOMEMADE GORGONZOLA DRESSING... CAN YOU SAY YUMMY?!

On a side note - Greg, Beth, Robert and I had just finished taking a glass blowing tumbler class at the Jackson County Green Energy Park a couple of night before Lulu's. It was great fun and we all came away with a handmade glass tumbler...or in my case.. thimble. The glass studio furnaces are powered from the methane gas produced at the landfill. This is only one of a handful of glass studios like this in the country. How cool is that? The JCGEP is a very neat place, offering different classes in glass blowing, blacksmithing, and others. The classes are reasonably priced and you can even rent the studio for independent practice if you wish. Beth and I had stopped by a couple of days earlier to pay our fee and were able to watch a some ladies in action making Christmas ornaments and stemware.  We were very excited about the prospect of coming away with a nice, hand blown glass for use in our home. 

OUR HANDMADE CREATIONS... STARTING FROM LEFT.. GREG, SUSAN, ROBERT AND  BETH (THEY HAD TO MAKE MATCHY MATCHY ONES)



As you can see from our end results, the final product did not match up with what was in our heads as what our glasses would look like. Glass blowing is very hard and involved numerous steps to achieving your product. There is a lot of blowing involved; yes, but also a lot of slinging, rolling, blowing, cupping, tonging (that's tonging, not tonguing)  blowing, heating, blowing, paddling and blowing. Let me just say for the record, it takes a big set of lungs to blow glass. We all felt like our lungs, hearts and eyeballs were going to burst from the strain of blowing..... all except for Greg,who had to be told to quit blowing or he would blow the bottom out of his glass. That comes from all the singing he does. He has big lungs. The rest of us, on the other hand, apparently have lungs the size of peas. 
 We got to choose what colors we wanted our glasses and of course the lovey dovey newlyweds had to make matchy, matchy ones. So cute.. We all had a great deal of fun and hope to take another class soon. 

 MARINATED SHRIMP SKEWERS WITH COUSCOUS & ASPARAGUS.

OK, back to the dinner at hand. Tonite, I ordered one of Lulu's specials, and while I can't remember the official name for it, it was marinated shrimp skewers with sides of couscous and grilled Asparagus. The shrimp was very good, with loads of flavor. The couscous was a shock at the first bite. I love couscous and was anticipating a nice, taste filled bite of warm couscous. But, what I got was cold couscous...like a salad. I tried it again later just to be sure I  didn't like it and sure enough... I didn't like it cold. The asparagus was OK..a bit bitter. I guess from it being out of season. Lulu's has terrific specials and they change almost every night. But, my weird tastes aside... the meal was good. 

PESTO PASTA WITH TOFU

PESTO PASTA - PLAIN

Greg and Rosemary order the Pesto Pasta. Greg got tofu with his. It is one of the regular menu items,  and is standard fare for Lulu's. It is tasty, colorful and you can opt for Tofu, or Chicken. Very good dish. Nothing fancy, but still a favorite. I believe that is Spinach Linguine. I was too tired to find out the details.

SALMON, RICE AND BLACK BEANS


Lisa ordered another menu staple. The grilled salmon with cream sauce, rice and beans. Again.. nothing fancy, but still a good hearty dish with loads of flavor. One of the favorites too.
As you can see from the dish presentations, Lulu's does offer some mighty tasty fare. The presentations are nicely done... with some being downright pretty. They offer a large selection of organic foods, which  I try to buy as often as possible. That is why I shop at a regular basis at Earth Fare in Asheville or Amazing Savings in Asheville. That reminds me... I need to get my Christmas turkey ordered from Earth Fare. Not frozen, fresh, local, organic.. how can you beat that? But... a word of caution, you just about have to be a millionaire to eat healthy. What is wrong with that picture? Only the wealthy deserve to be healthy? I think there is a bigger issue at hand here, but I will let the reading audience go with that. 

We had a nice surprise tonite towards the end of dinner. Pam called to see if we had eaten yet. Her readings at City Lights did not last as long as she thought. We told her to get on down and she could at least drink some tea with us. She was down in a jiffy and sat and talked with us awhile. She reported on her class readings, which were not as erotic or gross as some in the past. 
I had brought a small token dessert which were truffles and turtles. We each sampled a truffle, with some being better than others and the turtles really were not that good. But I got them at TJ Maxx, so what can you expect? 
I packed up the leftover chocolates and sent them home with Pam, who had not had anything to eat. Nothing like some store bought chocolates, which have been in transit or on a shelf for months to tide you over til your next meal. Can you say Yummy? 
Well... onwards to our next destination. 
Brio- one of the restaurants in Harah's Casino in Cherokee. Come join us! Sorry for being so behind. Its not like I have a life that makes me get behind. It just takes a lot of energy to blog. 

Also.. if  any of you readers have any comments, please post them. Its' always nice to get feedback.
Later!