French Food, American History

On Friday night, Emily and I want to Gettysburg (by way of the East Berlin Road - always more scenic and less stressful than the Lincoln Highway) to see my friend Becky's aforementioned production of The Triangle Factory Fire Project for Gettysburg Stage. 

En route, we took a brief but obligatory tour of the Battlefield, i.e. parked at the Eternal Light Peace Memorial, took a picture, and then got back in the car because we were freezing our buns off with the wind. (WTF tourists! Where are your jackets?)

Last night's show was staged in the G.A.R. Building. By the time we found it (there was some block circling) and parked, we had maybe an hour for dinner, which necessitated an eating establishment in close proximity, which turned out to be the Café Saint-Amand (mad props to their website - no flash AND the menu AREN'T in PDF), located at the NE corner of Middle and Baltimore Streets (aka 48 Baltimore Street, a block South of the Square).

Ratatouille!

After perusing the posted menu outside, the deciding factor in opening the door - for me anyway - was the presence of a Monte Cristo sandwich ("Turkey, ham, and Swiss cheese encased between battered bread and garnished with confectioners’ sugar" = divinity). As it turned out, sandwiches were excluded from the dinner menu, which was more of an issue for Emily than for me.

I really wanted to try the ratatouille ("Zucchini, squash, tomatoes, sweet bell peppers, onions, and herbs de Provençal layered with eggplant, served with herbed risotto"), but again, since we only had an hour, we both ended up ordering hors-d'oeuvres. 

Commemorating Emily's first ever crêpe.

We each had a slice of the quiche du jour (it involved Parmesan and mushroom and I can't remember what else) and I had a cup of French onion soup.  Emily had originally ordered Scallop au gratin, but having been informed that the kitchen was out of scallops, she opted instead for Crêpe nutella banane.  And it was all très delicieux! Well, I thought so anyway, but even Emily ate all of her quiche, that is, once she'd scraped off the crème fraiche . 

(Read more reviews of Café Saint-Amand on Yelp.) 

The show itself was incredibly well-done. I wore mascara for the first time of ages and definitely shouldn't have, since by the end of the first act I was well nigh bawling.  Well done, all (But especially Becky and Patrick!)

For more information on Gettysburg Stage's production of the Triangle Factory Fire Project check out the following news articles:

• 'Triangle Factory Fire' remembers tragedy's 100th anniversary -  Frederick News-Post
•  Gettysburg Stage commemorates 1911 industrial incident - Flipside PA

I'd tell you (again) to go see it, but the last show is ending as we speak.