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| - If all goes well in the next couple of weeks, Beechview will become my new domain, and if it does, Crested Duck Charcuterie will become a new spot for Kay and I.
Smoked and cured meats seduce your nostrils as you walk into the tiny establishment. A chalkboard lists the offerings of the day in stylized lettering. Behind glass and underneath lights are meats and cheeses, freshly and locally farmed, aged, preserved, deliberately displayed with the intent to tempt.
I had a Beef Bresaola sandwich that within a slim baguette contained a dry, salty protein not unlike a hybrid of bacon and beef jerky along with tomato, greens, a fried egg, and Toma Celena; a dense, intricately flavored, nut-like cheese. Egg Yolk oozed throughout the insides of this gourmet grinder, permeating the sandwich with moisture and richness.
A chicken soup thickened with rice and topped with bean sprouts flanked the haute hoagie that laid on an oblong plate. Upon one sip, I immediately felt loved by someone I did not know. Its healing powers, real or imagined, became one with my bloodstream. Large coins of cooked carrot floated to the top. However, the real treasures were the chunks of chicken meat that were supple and in abundance.
A trio of housemade Molasses Crackle cookies were shared by Kay, her mother, and I. These caramel-dark snickerdoodles were encrusted with rocky sugar and were only slightly pliable, crying out for a hot beverage to be immersed in.
Old-fashioned in many ways and modern in others (CDC utilizes an iPad cash register that emails receipts to customers instead of wasting paper and accepts credit cards via a plug-in Square card reader), CDC is a daringly different deli that will hopefully stick.
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