It is amazing the number of people who visit Luray Caverns each year and miss the Town of Luray entirely. The Caverns does a great job of telling the world what they will discover at the Caverns, but there is a whole town here just waiting for you to discover it as well. You need to know that the Town hosts the local Visitor's Information Center, restaurants, movie and live theater, two fine galleries, gift, antique and what-have-you shops all just waiting to be discovered by those who do not know the Town exists. So, when you visit Luray Caverns, do keep an eye out for signs pointing toward the Town of Luray and take a turn down the road into beautiful small town America, a Town that will remind you of Norman Rockwell, visits to Grand Ma's and a time when folks waved at every car passing because they were sure they must know the folks driving past and did not want to hurt their feelings.
I'm always given pause when a guest asks for recommendations on where to eat while in Luray. We have one upscale restaurant...Artisan's Grill...and several much less formal choices. But when someone asks about baby back ribs, I always have a ready answer: "You'll get the best ribs in town at Uncle Buck's and the slab is huge!"
Uncle Buck's is one of the Norman Rockwell eateries in Town that offers breakfast, lunch and dinner...including prime rib on Friday and Saturday nights...and, amazingly for this far into the 21st Century, sports one bar for smokers and another for those who don't. Stop by Uncle Buck's for a quick snack or a full meal. But if you are looking for good ribs, make a beeline for Uncle Buck's. The slab is longer and has more meat than any slab I've encountered anywhere else in several years now. It usually comes slathered with BBQ sauce, so make sure you ask for it on the side if you want less sauce. No matter, you'll soon be enjoying the moist, fall-off-the-bone meat with your choice of sides...and busy depleting the extra napkins to keep the sauce out of your ears. As you can tell, I like their ribs. Before I went on the newest version of Atkins, I could put a pretty heavy dent in a slab of Uncle Buck's ribs! Now that I've been on Atkins for a while, I've found I can get two meals out of one slab and control the carb-reinforced sauce by getting it on the side.
So, the bottom line is, if you head to Luray Caverns, make sure you save time to discover the Town of Luray! It is only a mile from the Caverns parking lot, but easy enough to miss because the 4-lane bypass eases you right on past the Town. Come make a great discovery...the beautiful Town of Luray and Uncle Buck's baby back ribs! And of course, if you are headed in this direction, get a reservation with us here at South Court Inn and enjoy a great night's sleep on memory foam mattresses and soft-as-silk bedding, topped only by our great breakfast at 9AM each morning. See you soon, Tom
Showing posts with label South Court Inn breakfast. Show all posts
Showing posts with label South Court Inn breakfast. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Croissant French Toast Recipe
Welcome back to the South Court Inn B&B Blog. It has been a while since I last posted, but hope springs eternal and I'm hoping I'll be able to stick to it a bit better this Spring. As you can well imagine, cooking for the public is a real challenge. When we opened Memorial Day Weekend, 2000, (and yes, please note that we are coming up on starting our 12th year in business!) I quickly discovered that our guests had some very strong ideas on what a B&B breakfast was supposed to be, and, at least here in Luray, heuvos rancheros was not on their list of things they wanted to try! Recent discussion at the breakfast table seems to tell me that tastes have changed over the past 12 years, so I promise to give heuvos rancheros another try sometime in the near future. So don't be surprised if you are here during the week if you come down to a great plate of eggs over a mound of refried beans splashed with green chili sauce and chili con queso with Spanish rice on the side.
In the meantime, Saturday breakfast here at South Court Inn almost always features my version of French Toast and I want to share the recipe with you. This recipe is different from those you might be accustomed to in that I bake it in sheet pans, use croissants instead of French or other breads, put no sugar in the custard and give it a haunting flavor by adding ground cardamom to the seasoning. Note too that I do not salt to the custard because the croissants have enough salt to carry the whole dish. With that said, sound the trumpets...here is the much requested recipe for croissant French Toast as we serve it here at South Court Inn!
Ingredients:
1 large or 2 small plain croissants per person
2 eggs per person to be served
1 cup half and half
1 tblspn vanilla
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 can non-stick spray
Mixing and Cooking:
Put the eggs, spices and half and half into a blender and blend on medium speed for about 1 minute. Turn the blender off, remove the blender jar and set in the fridge until ready to dip the croissants. Slice each croissant lengthwise into two pieces and set aside until ready to pan for baking. When ready to prepare for baking, preheat your oven to 325F. Thoroughly coat your baking pan with non-stick spray and set it for convenience on your prep table. Remove the blender jar from the fridge and pour the contents into a bowl which is as wide as the croissants. Starting with the croissant bottom, dip them in the custard mix just long enough for them to become moist but not sopping wet. In fact, allow excess custard to drain from each bottom for a few seconds after dipping. Arrange the bottoms across the pan and repeat with the tops, placing each top over a corresponding bottom. Once completed, spray the top of all the croissants with non-stick spray. Transfer the filled pan to the preheated oven and cook for 45 minutes or done, according to your oven's cooking idiosyncrasies. When done, the croissants should be nicely puffed and browned across the top. Serve immediately with your favorite syrup or topping alternative.
Alternative Preparations:
During the fall color season, our guests really like the pumpkin version of this recipe I prepare. Add a cup of pumpkin puree to the custard while it is is in the blender and blend for another minute. Then (here's the hard part) put the custard through a fine strainer before dipping the croissant in it. The final product looks better without random strands of pumpkin fiber sticking up into the air. Serve the pumpkin croissant French toast with a sauceboat of caramel pecan syrup so folks can help themselves and stand back for the onset of a good case of MMMMMMMMMMMMssssssssssss to fill the room!
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In the meantime, Saturday breakfast here at South Court Inn almost always features my version of French Toast and I want to share the recipe with you. This recipe is different from those you might be accustomed to in that I bake it in sheet pans, use croissants instead of French or other breads, put no sugar in the custard and give it a haunting flavor by adding ground cardamom to the seasoning. Note too that I do not salt to the custard because the croissants have enough salt to carry the whole dish. With that said, sound the trumpets...here is the much requested recipe for croissant French Toast as we serve it here at South Court Inn!
Ingredients:
1 large or 2 small plain croissants per person
2 eggs per person to be served
1 cup half and half
1 tblspn vanilla
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 can non-stick spray
Mixing and Cooking:
Put the eggs, spices and half and half into a blender and blend on medium speed for about 1 minute. Turn the blender off, remove the blender jar and set in the fridge until ready to dip the croissants. Slice each croissant lengthwise into two pieces and set aside until ready to pan for baking. When ready to prepare for baking, preheat your oven to 325F. Thoroughly coat your baking pan with non-stick spray and set it for convenience on your prep table. Remove the blender jar from the fridge and pour the contents into a bowl which is as wide as the croissants. Starting with the croissant bottom, dip them in the custard mix just long enough for them to become moist but not sopping wet. In fact, allow excess custard to drain from each bottom for a few seconds after dipping. Arrange the bottoms across the pan and repeat with the tops, placing each top over a corresponding bottom. Once completed, spray the top of all the croissants with non-stick spray. Transfer the filled pan to the preheated oven and cook for 45 minutes or done, according to your oven's cooking idiosyncrasies. When done, the croissants should be nicely puffed and browned across the top. Serve immediately with your favorite syrup or topping alternative.
Alternative Preparations:
During the fall color season, our guests really like the pumpkin version of this recipe I prepare. Add a cup of pumpkin puree to the custard while it is is in the blender and blend for another minute. Then (here's the hard part) put the custard through a fine strainer before dipping the croissant in it. The final product looks better without random strands of pumpkin fiber sticking up into the air. Serve the pumpkin croissant French toast with a sauceboat of caramel pecan syrup so folks can help themselves and stand back for the onset of a good case of MMMMMMMMMMMMssssssssssss to fill the room!
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