Trolley Bar Did it Right

My date and I wanted to dine out last evening, and then go see a movie at the Carmike 20 Cinemas in Fort Wayne. We went and saw The Big Short, which was excellent. It was an intelligent movie, about the real estate housing/mortgage fiasco that happened about ten years ago. We should all take lessons from this, to understand what happened in our country that made thousands of us lose homes and jobs. We have to learn from the past and from our mistakes so as not to repeat them. I haven't seen the other Oscar-nominated films, but that being said I'd still be happy if this movie won Best Picture.

I don't claim to understand all the complicated moves made by the banks, the bundled mortgage bonds, and the "shorts", bets made against the success of these bonds. The screenplay does its best to explain all of this but parts of it I didn't follow that well. It still does not take away for me the purpose and meaning of the film. The ensemble cast also gave outstanding performances.

But back to dinner. I've had several meals at the Trolley Bar over the years, and the food last night was the best. Our entrees came with a trip to the salad bar, and I tend to be very leery of said buffet-style choices. But it was excellent. The pewter plates were chilled. Lots of vegetables, dressings and other cold items were offered. Notable to me was the full crock of artichoke hearts. Just a small jar of them is so expensive! I took a ladle-full for my salad.

We chose a Cabernet Sauvignon from Paso Robles, California - made by the Slow Press winery. I found it to be excellent, and reasonably priced: some restaurants really make their margins on wine prices, but that was not the case here at Trolley Bar.

My date has the seared, sashimi tuna, and it looked beautiful: that is a photo of the plate above. Maybe the only thing less than perfect about our meal was the asparagus he ordered. I think you can see a bit of it on a separate plate at the bottom of the photo - it was a bit limp and overdone. But it was still edible. I also think maybe we lingered over our generous salads a tad long for the kitchen, and it being a typical Friday night in Fort Wayne, the restaurant was very busy. I'm glad business is good.

I had an almond crusted walleye, and it was wonderful. The outside was crispy, but not really fried, and the fish inside was perfectly tender and savory. It was served with a very large "head" of broccoli on the plate, and we thought it looked a little strange, but it was cooked perfectly. I took what I couldn't finish home in a box, as I usually do (unlike the French, so I have been told).

Our server "M" did a wonderful job. I know her name, but I'm not sure she'd like me to post it publicly, so I'll refrain from doing so. Trolley Bar, in my opinion you have improved. Keep up the good work. You have a very convenient location on DuPont Road on the west side of the diverging diamond at Interstate 69.