We went camping this weekend and it was quite wonderful! OK I am 41 years old and really done with tent camping and sleeping on the ground and walking to the bathroom at 5am BUT for $20.00 a nite we were waterfront on a beautiful lake in the Adirondacks. And with the money we saved on accomadations we treated ourselves to lunch out in the charming town of Saranac Lake. And what a lunch it was! Morgans 11 its called and its right on the Main street in the “business district”. It doesnt look like much from the outside and while the wood fired pizza oven is beautiful and the counter/bar you can sit at and watch him make your pizza is cool the interior isnt overwhelming. But thats good when you’re camping because we choose a kayak ride over a shower and shorts were the uniform for the weekend. there is a little deck out back; which is where we sat. And perused the menu. There were some very yummy sounding appeteasers as they called them. No wings which are the obligatory upstate NY appetizer so that was a nice change. An interesting sounding shrimp starter caught my husband’s eye but i had my mind set on the artichoke prosciutt graten. Artichoke hearts wrapped in prosciutto in a lite cream sauce was the description. I love artichokes and i love cream sauce so i was set with my entree. Since I am watching my calories and my fat intake I opted for a house salad to start with a house made honey chipotle dressing. My husband had a harder time with his entree. Torn between the corned beef sandwich and the hamburger with smoked gouda and bacon he turned to me for advice. Since he loves smoked gouda it seemed like a no brainer to me. He chose the house salad as well. Since we were camping you gotta get greens when you can. Our daughter chose the pepperoni pizza and the italian sausage soup to start. Soup has become a good way for her to expand her taste buds without breaking the bank. and its a little healthier than our usual order of chicken wings. The salads came and i was immediately impressed. It was a nice assortment of fresh salad greens and the dressing was delicious. The honey chipotle was spicy but not overly so. My daughter’s soup was amazing. Thick and tomatoey with big chunks of sausage it reminded my husband of a creamy pasta sauce. Then she set down some homemade garlic bread with some roasted garlic butter/oil to dunk it in. the roasted garlic was so good we were soon fighting for the melty roasted pieces of goodness to spread on our hunks of bread. The rest of our dishes came and I was swooning at first bite. Six artichoke heart halves wrapped with a small piece of prosciutte nestled in a bed of the most delicous cream sauce. There were toasted baguette slices to go with the artichokes. I savored every bite. My husband’s burger was excellent but the real surprise were the pub fries served alongside. they were slices of potato that initially he was bummed about since he isnt a steak fry fan. then he bit into it. He and our daughter raved. Something between a hash brown and french fry was their best description. We followed up with 2 desserts; the triple chocolate cheesecake and the irish bash and they were both delicous. the waitress even put 3 cherries on each serving cuz she knew we were sharing! If you get up to the Saranac Lake area try camping at Rollins Pond state campground and with the money you save enjoy a fantastic meal at Morgans 11.
