Love is in the air at Track's End. And it's being served up by the train load.
The restaurant's new summer-inspired Chef salad, for example, boasts an enormous serving of chopped lettuce, tomatoes, onions,hard boiled eggs, ham, turkey and mozzarella and cheddar cheeses. There is also a new cold plate comprised of a huge scoop of either tuna or chicken salad plus a scoop of creamy cottage cheese and two thick slices of tomatoes served over a bed of crisp lettuce with a bowl of fresh-cut fruit.
"Ladies love it. But there's so much of it, it's hearty enough for a man, isn't it?" laughed manager Stacy Cofer. Just then, from her left ring finger, something sparkly caught my eye.
Formerly Stacy Parsons, she recently tied the knot. "I've known him since I was 6. We grew up on the same street," she said of her new husband. "I'm so lucky. And I finally have such a phenomenal staff, I could actually go on a honeymoon." She smiled kindly at head cook Julie Hudson. "I can just step aside and let Julie take full creative lead in the kitchen."
Julie has been with Track's End for nearly two years. She says her recipes are often inspired by her grandmother." My grandma was from up north," Julie told me. "But she could just cook better than any person I knew. I hung around her a lot as a kid."
In addition to her new summer salads and cold plates,this season Julie is cooking up squash casseroles and tossing cool cucumber salads made with tomatoes, bell peppers,onions and cucumbers splashed in house-made dressing.On the sweeter side, she has also concocted an incredible new pie.
"I thought about doing a banana cream, then I found this recipe for a banana coconut cream and I thought, you know,I could chop up some pineapple and sprinkle it on top and make it a pina colada pie," Julie said.
It sounds delicious. And dreamy. So if you like pina coladas and getting caught in the rain, be sure to stop by Track's End, where the staff is currently serving up all sorts of happy.
TRACK'S END
ADDRESS: 3435 Amnicola Highway
HOURS: 24/7
PHONE: 321-8010