Hot child summer in the city...

It has been brought to my attention that I have been remiss in posting blogs, so here is an update on what has been going on at the Darjeeling (which explains why I haven't had the chance to blog much lately).

The music business at the Cafe is booming. At this point I have so many bands that want to play that I have decided to have music nights on Mondays as well as Friday and Saturday to accommodate all of the musicians that will be coming through this summer.

We have started doing a trivia night on Tuesdays that is really starting to take off. With the grand prize being a $25 dollar gift certificate, we have been getting a lot of regulars in to compete. It really is a blast and I would highly recommend stopping by at 7 on a Tuesday. I would play if I could, but a $25 GC here does me very little good.

One of my only gripes about Staunton is that there is nowhere to get ethnic food in town.
Being someone of action I decided that Wednesday nights are now ethnic food nights at the Cafe. Sushi nights have been such a success that we will do them every other week and on "off" weeks we will do foods from another country as well. We have done Moroccan which was fun and have Indian night coming up very soon. In June we will do Hungarian and Thai nights in addition to two Japanese nights.

We are also in the middle of creating a tapas menu for the patio during the summer. I am working with the health department and City to see if I can have an outdoor grill in which to entice people up the block and expand my menu because of the spacial limitations I have in the kitchen. So if you notice some great smells wafting through Newtown, more than likely they are coming from the Darjeeling Cafe. Regardless of the outdoor grill, we will have a tapas menu and I have greatly expanded the beer and wine lists to include a wide variety of high quality beverages at affordable prices.

Every other Thursday we will host a writer's group. It is open to all ages and people of all writing backgrounds. I know I am looking forward to having an open forum in which to share my work and recieve constructive criticism.

And speaking of writing, my boyfriend, Jack, and his friend Jason have started a new arts and culture magazine for the valley. Blu will include articles of human interest, a calendar and dining guide (by yours truly) and many other wicked awesome things. It's free and wonderful so check it out. www.theblumag.com

The Blu launch party for over 100 is being held here next week, so I have been running around like a chicken with it's head chopped off. Stop by the unveiling, hors d'ouvres and a champagne toast.

So that's that. The Darjeeling Cafe is in a constant state of evolution. I have the coolest staff in town and we are working really hard to make the Cafe an artistic community and eclectic place to come for health conscious and local foods, fair trade locally roasted coffee, organic and exotic teas, world class beers and wine, local artwork, and great music. It's finally all coming together. Come check it out.