2010 Jul 10 - Alder Market Basque Night

2010 Jul 10 - Alder Market Basque Night
Stockton, CA

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It is 5:00PM on a Saturday evening. The Lunch Bunch is breaking tradition for another early dinner. The Alder Market has started a Saturday evening Basque Menu. There are just three of the Lunch Bunch, Patti, Elsa and me. But Joe, Elsa's husband has decided to join us.
Joe reading the menu in front of the Alder Market


Patti and Elsa are messing with the mannequin as usual


We have not had Basque dining in Stockton since Villa Basque closed its doors over 20 years ago. In the hey day of Basque restaurants in Stockton we had five open at the same time.

We are the first to be seated as our reservation is for 5:00PM which is when they open.
This is shot from the bar looking into the dining area


Now this is not a Basque restaurant, but rather a Basque family style meal served in a white tablecloth restaurant. It does not have the raucous atmosphere of a Wool Growers in Los Banos or a Noriega's in Bakersfield.
Tonight's dinner items


The Relish Plate


The Oxtail Soup was wonderful, tender oxtails in a deliciously flavorful soup



The Beef Tongue was also very, very good. We had seconds.



Pickled Pig's Feet served warm in a savory sauce was extremely tasty and all gone



Augustina's Potato Salad was okay



The assorted sausages were a nice touch


I missed taking a photo of the Alder Torta which was excellent.
The Chopped Salad was not one of my favorite, but I don't care for brocolli



I was looking forward to the Roast Leg of Lamb. It was a disappointment. A lot of gristle and not very tender.



The vegetables were prepared very well and very tasty


The Chicken with Creamy Polenta was passable. Creamy Polenta is not a favorite of mine either. I prefer regular old polenta.


Then the young lady, not our waitress brought out the dessert tray. While they were very tempting we had already exceeded our calorie intake for a meal by plenty so we all passed on dessert.


Very tempting desserts

The oxtails, torta, beef tongue, sautéed vegetables and pigs feet were excellent. As was the Genova French bread. The rest was good except for the Roast Leg of Lamb. Maybe it was a bad leg of lamb with a lot of gristle.

Of course whenever we ate at the old Ospital's Villa Basque we would go on Pig's Feet night and have the waiter wrap our main course to go. We would just "pig out" on the pig's feet.

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