Lunch at the museum

Thursday, November 29, 2012 Museum Cafe http://jcsm.auburn.edu/cafe/index.html

If it’s ambience you’re after, upscale tableware, light and lucious brunch-style fare, even lunch music if you time it just right, the Museum Café at the Jule Collins Smith Museum should be on your list. 

The menus are posted on their website a month or two at a time.  We chose this week because of the vegetarian option.  I ordered the mushroom quiche with citrus and avocado salad and honey vinaigrette.  The quiche was well-prepared, cooked to a firm but smooth consistency.  The crust was the best part, as it often is!  The salad of baby greens included grapefruit and feta along with avocados.  The dressing was a little on the sweet side.

Anne had the chicken salad panini which came with a side of chips.  "The salad had tender chunks of white chicken and was quite tasty although a little salty.  The bread was great, just the right texture and not too crispy as is sometimes the case with a toasted sandwich.  Served on the side was a pickle which looked like the typical dill pickle many places serve beside a sandwich.  However, my tastebuds got a bit of a surprise when I bit into it -- it was neither a dill nor sweet pickle; it tasted a bit like "bread and butter" pickles I've had before but not exactly.  I have to mention the muffins the museum serves as you wait for your meal.  We didn't ask what kind they were but I think they may have been pumpkin.  I could have easily eaten two but Julie didn't offer me hers!"

Many weeks the museum has offerings that are “almost” vegetarian, or could be with slight variations, and this is one suggestion we have for the Museum Café.  Offer the croque monsieur with or without the ham, for example, or the turkey-pear-brie panini with the turkey optional.  Possibly the café would accommodate such requests, but if posted on the menu, guests might feel like they’re not imposing.

During our visit, flute and guitar music from the adjacent rotunda was at a perfect volume to enjoy without interfering with conversation.  If you want your visit to coincide with lunch music, keep an eye on this link: http://jcsm.auburn.edu/cafe/lunch_music.html.   We can’t think of a better way to impress an out-of-towner!