Little Moir’s Leftovers Cafe and Some Thoughts About Blogging

Last Friday, P and I, along with #Johnnifer, visited what has become a Jupiter institution – Little Moir’s Leftovers Cafe, the sister restaurant to the much loved and adored Little Moir’s Foodshack.  After spending the week as Little Miss Migraine, it was a relief to have an evening out of the house, especially because it included good food and good friends.

Between flashes of light, seeing the aura, and a dull throbbing in every part of my head and face, I also managed to do some blogging research this past week, which was a wee bit overwhelming.  I learned about “self-hosting,” something that has been in the back of my mind but I couldn’t really wrap my head around it.  A self-hosted blog is one where you download, install, and host the software yourself, which allows you full control of the website with the potential to earn money directly from your blog.  I currently use http://www.wordpress.com (obviously), which is FREE and hosted but may keep my blog from growing and limit my earning potential… which I have not even begun to explore.  So, amid my migraines, I also had a mini-meltdown about how I was going to pay to self-host my blog and then figure out all the technical mumbo-jumbo to transfer JUP Girl from http://www.wordpress.com (FREE, hosted) to http://www.wordpress.org (costs $$$, self-hosted).  Any guidance on this would be much appreciated – but that’s another post for another day.

Back to Leftovers Cafe…

If you are looking for delicious food in northern Palm Beach County, look no further than the Little Moir restaurants.  I probably should have started with a post about Little Moir’s Food Shack because it’s where Leftovers originated.  According to legend, and the Leftovers website, owner Mike “Little Moir” was with head chef Mike Murgio in a refrigerator at Food Shack when he declared “We should call this place leftovers,” because of the mish-mash of random food in there.  Chef Murgio thought that Leftovers would make a great restaurant name so, five years later, they opened a second eatery and voila, Little Moir’s Leftovers Cafe.

Before I go any further, let me also preface that this was a great learning experience of WHAT NOT TO DO when you get the chance to write a blog post about an awesome restaurant in your area with fun friends who are willing to do most anything to help you out.

First of all, we sat outside.  This totally ruined the concept of Leftovers, which is a colorful, noisy, stoner-inspired food mecca that encompasses all that is beautiful about the JUP.  We missed out on the live music, a chance to see into the kitchen (where all the magic happens), and some great photos of the hub-bub of a busy restaurant on a Friday night.  Instead, we got bugs and a very noisy fan… which to be honest, encompasses life in Jupiter too.

We ordered this beautiful guacamole.

A secret about Leftovers guacamole (actually, it’s about their “chips”):  These “chips” are in fact not chips, but instead fried pitas.  DELICIOUS.  Do yourself a favor and order a second helping before you even dig in to the first.

Now, something else you may notice about this photo is that it’s BLURRY.  That is because I turned my camera flash off – at night, on a outdoor patio, the mood lighting does make for some good food photography.  However, if like me, you are coming off of a week-long migraine bender, you may not be able to hold still long enough to make a great shot happen.  And, I’m inexperienced and my photography skills stem from being on the yearbook staff in the 11th grade.

Moral of the story:  All my photos are out of focus.  I apologize in advance.

   

Leftovers has two menus to choose from: the regular dinner menu and the hand-written daily specials, which I recommend reading in great detail.  And, of course, I cannot forget the dessert menu.  ALWAYS read the dessert menu.  Someday, I’m coming back for the Stoner’s Delight, a decadent mixture of Nutella, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, and homemade marshmallow.  Don’t ask questions, just eat it.

Now, for some more of my out-of-focus photos:

I ordered the chicken pad thai without mushrooms, which unlike the take-out variety, has a surprising amount of vegetables: scallions, broccoli, and carrots.  The portion was so large that I have eaten two more meals from my one order.  The splurge is totally worth it.

J#1 ordered the blackened fish taco wrap, which came with a generous portion of sweet potato fries.  She is also a professional writer/editor/magazine expert extraordinaire, which naturally makes her a pro at styling food photos.  Coincidentally (or not) notice how this is also my only photo close to being in focus.  She has the MAGIC touch.

J#2 ordered the “Friday Plate,” an impressive platter of fried hogfish encrusted with a mixed nut panko, tandoori shrimp, island style sweet potato gratin, jicama pear, and nectarines.

And last, but certainly not least, my darling P enjoyed the sweet potato encrusted wahoo over greens, green beans, and assorted fruits and veggies with a key lime garlic dressing.  WOW.  Besides being the largest piece of fish I had ever seen in a restaurant, the wahoo melted in your mouth.  Like butter.  That is a HUGE deal coming from me because I don’t eat fish (unless you caught it yourself on your boat that morning and are having a fish fry that afternoon… then, by all means, invite me and I’ll dig in).

Hopefully someday soon P and I can head on back to Leftovers for some wine and live music and I can take some photos that will give you the JUP “vibes.”  Our patio experience didn’t really do the restaurant justice.

However, this post taught me some important blogging lessons:

1. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there.  This applies to me in so many ways, but especially with my blog.  P always tells everyone that I’m a native Floridian, a JUP Girl, and I have a blog they should totally follow.  My usual follow-up is “Oh, it’s just a little thing I do for fun.  It’s really only in its infancy.  It’s not that cool.”  Au contraire.  I have to OWN IT.  It is cool.  I am cool.  If I want to take 20 pictures in the middle of a restaurant, then gosh darn it, I’m gonna do it!  (Without bothering other paying customers of course).  If someone asks me what I do for fun, I’m gonna tell ’em – I BLOG.  I am JUP Girl.
2. Take a million photos.  Yes, take them with the flash on and the flash off.  Don’t be afraid to take photos from all different angles.  Don’t worry, go ahead and move things around.  Experiment.  Have fun.  That’s what this whole blog thing is for, right?
3. Know what’s going in in your community and write about it.  Fill a niche.  Jupiter tends to always get left out when it comes to fun things to do.  I know, West Palm Beach, Delray Beach, and Lake Worth are so much more exciting.  But if you want Old Florida, if you want nature, and if you want free beach parking, then you need to come up north to the good ol’ JUP.  There’s nowhere else like it – I just have to prove it to you.

xo,

JUP Girl