The Ship Inn

Join us Weds, November 3rd for our annual  Guy Fawkes Night.
Guy Fawkes was convicted of attempting to blow up London’s Parliament in in 1605. His goal was to shift political power from the Protestants to the Catholics. Each year England celebrates the foiling of his plot with a “Guy” burned in effigy. We continue the celebration here at The Ship with a burning of the Guy and 1600‘s period costume feast.
Event begins at 6:30
Reservations required. $40 per person. 1 round house beer included.
Cancellations must be submitted before Oct. 26th to avoid the cancellation fee

This summer has seen a number of important changes at The Ship Inn. We’ve sourced food locally: vegetables from Open Acres CSA, and  beef, pork, and lamb from Swift Farms, all within 5 miles of the restaurant. We’ve  returned our compostable vegetable and brewery refuse back to those farmers. We’ve also purchased bio-degradable drinking straws, to-go containers and sauce cups instead of plastic ones we’ve historically used.  We’ve decreased our electric usage two years in a row.  It has been a pleasure to convey this news to our customers, who also share our enthusiasm for sustainability and support for community.

We’re just about through our first steer, Number 27, from Swift Farms and the second one is scheduled for the end of August. What have we learned so far?  For one, a single steer weighing 740 pounds butchered provides about a week’s work of ground beef (100 pounds) and four weeks’ worth of steaks and roasts. This is problematic when most of your beef business is in burgers. On occasion, we’ve gone back to Dickson’s Farmstand Meats and the local Amish Market to bolster our supply.
So we started looking at other cuts of the animal and wondered what else we could use besides the chuck.  Chuck comes from the front of the animal and when all is said and done, provides about 15% fat into the grind. A bit of fat is helpful in creating a pleasing texture in addition to flavor.  Furthermore, it helps keep the burger from falling to pieces while on the grill.
Other parts of the animal are leaner. Roasts from the back end of the animal do not contain quite as much fat but we would rather grind them up for burgers instead of the filet or the prime rib. At the end of the day, we need a few hundred pounds of ground beef per month, not just one hundred in order to make our burger business work. We’ll be sampling and savoring our burgers over the next month to see how the different cuts nuance our burgers.
We’ve also been reminded that grass-fed beef is really really delicious but can get tough when cooked inappropriately. Steaks don’t do well past medium. Braises and roasts take a little bit longer to cook to improve tenderness. As you tuck in, please be reminded that you may need to chew a little bit more than you would with a feedlot-raised animal. The animal got exercise and so shall you.
We’ve also just bought a whole hog and a whole lamb. We’ve ground up almost the entire lamb, except for the chops and a leg, because we feel that at least SOMETIMES, you should have a Shepherd’s Pie with lamb. Up until now, it has been very difficult to get ahold of  ground lamb for this purpose. Lamb Shepherd’s Pie will be a dinner special soon.
The pork has already started to make an appearance on our menu in the form of bacon and ham. The other cuts, like braised pig’s feet, smoked hocks, and even a home-made pâté will appear soon.
It’s very rewarding to use the whole animal. It reminds us that it is a local resource to be respected.  It exercises our cooking skills, provides a much wider palate for creativity, and more dining choices for the customer.  We are happy we made the leap to locally pastured meats.

Soup of the Day ~ Potato Leek
Starters

Chicken Skewers
Diced, marinated chicken on a skewer with sweet plum sauce served with seaweed salad ~ $7.95
Shark Bites
Cajun seasoned, Mako shark bites served with salad greens ~$6.95

Main Course
Chicken Ravioli
Sauteed chicken with proscuitto and swiss chard in a pink stilton sauce over vegetable filled ravioli ~$15.95

Today’s Catch
Grilled,  wild caught Costa Rican King Klip fillet with fried plantains, waffle fries and papaya salsa ~$16.95

Oyster Salad
Cracker crumbed plump oysters over Vidalia
vinaigrette dressed mixed greens ~$14.95

Pork Chops
Local brined pork chops with sauteed apples, mini potato pancakes
and apple sauce (2)~$14.95 (3)~$16.95

Pan Scallops
Pan seared, fresh, dry sea scallops with spinach
and pine nuts in a butter sauce ~$17.95

Vegan  Selection
Fresh, organic zucchini cakes with butternut squash sauce served with salad greens and hummus~ $12.95