Leftovers night

Stopped at LeSoups in Ferndale for a lunch today. I had the crab/corn chowder with some bread. The chowder was pretty good with real pieces of crab in it. It was peppery, pretty potently peppery - I am kind of a wimp with spicy things, but this was peppery enough for a normal person, but not so peppery that I couldn't handle it. The bread was OK, French they said, and it had a crispy crust though the inside was insubstantial. Sadly, when I looked in the bag back at work I realized they put two containers of margarine in there. The bill was about $4.75 for a 10 oz. cup with bread and margarine and a nice bag to carry it back to work in. LeSoups is on the south side of Nine Mile, a couple blocks west of Woodward in downtown Ferndale.

Much of Metro Detroit believes that the Red Coat Tavern in Royal Oak serves the finest burger in the area, in the state! in the world! Knowing this, I stop in there every few years hoping that I will notice what seems so obvious to every one else. I did so again recently. I now believe that Red Coat makes a decent burger. The one I got was rare, though I ordered it medium rare, and the bottom of the bun was soggy. The fries were crisp and hot. Service was competent if not the friendliest. My bill for a cheeseburger, fries and iced tea, with tip, was $16.72. Red Coat Tavern is on the east side of Woodward Ave between 13 and 14 Mile Rds.

Here is one terrific meatloaf recipe I copied off Chowhound.com.

1/4 lb pancetta, diced
1 cup minced onion
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1/4 cup 1/2 and 1/2
1-1/2 TBS worchestershire sauce
1/2 tsp hot sauce
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
3/4 pound ground veal, pork or turkey
3/4 lb 85% ground beef
ketchup
shredded parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cook the pancetta in a skillet until the fat renders. Pour off most of the fat and saute the onions and garlic in the fat until they soften and the pancetta starts to crisp. Mix all the other ingredients together in a bowl, add the onion mixture, and mix well with your hands. Form a loaf and place on a rack so it doesn't sit in grease while it cooks.
Cook 40 minutes of so until the internal temp is 155 degrees F.

Note: I used 1 lb of 80% chuck, 1/3 lb ground veal, 1/3 lb ground pork sausage.
Note also: I have one of those electronic thermometers with the long cable so I can watch the temperature rise outside of the oven. Take the meat out of the oven at 155F; if there's a little residual heat temperature rise, it's OK.