Spring Goose - Epilogue

Undeniably, spring is here and immediate thoughts of spring goose came to mind.  It was a year ago that I wrote my first post on this blog with the title "Spring Goose".  That post had 137 page views, one of the more popular posts on this blog.  Is that an indication of the popularity of goose?  Hard to tell but it is certainly still one of my favourites, from way back in my youth when I would forgo sitting for hours with adults at a banquet to have a quiet evening at home in front of the TV.  My mom would give me money to go down the street to the local BBQ place for a BBQ goose leg for dinner - still one of my fondest childhood memories.

So it was with great anticipation that I planned today's shopping trip so we would end up at First Markham Place for lunch at Van's for roast goose.  To my utter disappointment, this was what greeted us when we got there - 

It was a bit of a shock but thinking back, we are not really surprised.  There is another BBQ place two stalls down and that place always has a lineup - because it's just marginally cheaper , has more variety and has a less picky owner.  Van was very good to us but he was also temperamental and had a bit of an ego - not your most customer friendly guy, if you didn't know him.  Far be it for me to judge what works and what doesn't for a business, but in my hierarchy of needs at 12:30 pm today, my greatest was for roast goose, failing that, I would take roast duck for a substitute.  So we joined the lineup at Van's competitor, with a mild (but easily overcome) sense of betrayal.

Our verdict - meat was tender and lean but skin was not crispy like Van's.  The redeeming grace was the al dente noodles - definitely one up on Van's.  So much for customer loyalty - well, we didn't have a choice in this case.  Here's to spring and a new start!