Good Luck, Bad Luck and Mandelpotatis

Residents and guests of Stockholm enjoy the nice weather during the 2009 Stockholm Marathon.

Last night, I decided we must have brunch at this gay restaurant that I read about, named Intakt. On Sundays they serve a late brunch, so it sounded perfect. I even read their menu on their website and knew just what I planned to order: Herring with Lingonberries and potatoes. I wanted this because it seemed particularly Swedish.
Well, I had already figured out the Metro enough to know the way to the vicinity of the restaurang (that's the Swedish spelling, btw) and figured I could just ask someone once we were close. Wouldn't you know it, of the many people I asked who were working in the area, nobody had heard of it. After about 45-minutes of wandering around I finally found it right within sight of the main street ... and they were closed. Apparently they are in the midst of moving to a new location nearby. Since I was in the mood for fisk (again Swedish spelling) we decided not to eat at some other restaurang in the area and headed back to eat in the restaurang at our hotel. We had eaten there the night before and it was quite tasty. They also had fried herrings with lingonberries and potato puree on the menu, so at least I got what I wanted to eat for lunch. Well, no luck on the gay restaraung, but good luck on the meal. Also, at the start of the hunt for Intakt, the first person I asked about it (a young woman cashier at the Espress0 House) asked if we were tourists and then informed us that we were quite lucky to come when we did since the weather was so nice. Apparently, it was very cold here just last week. I am very happy that our timing was auspicious. It would be a totally different experience if it was really cold out.
Our mixed luck, continued with dinner. Once again, I was determined to eat at either a gay or gay-friendly restaurang. I picked this place on Gamla Stan that has been in existence since 1922 called Cattelins. Once again, I consulted their menu online and knew what I wanted to have for dinner. I was planning to start with Carpaccio of Elk with Parmesan, Ruccola, Olive Oil and then, since we ate lunch so late, Rich and I were going to split an order of Swedish Meatballs and Mashed Potatoes served with Cream Ridge/ Lingon Berry Jam. Having decided all that I then noticed that their website said they were closed on Sundays :(
Ah, but then I noticed that the site was out of date and that it had their winter hours listed. So I gave them a call and sure enough they were open. They guy told me we did not need a reservation, we could just come on over. Well, once we stepped out of the Metro station nearest the restaurang, we saw a another restaurang flying a gay flag, so we asked a gentleman sitting out front if he knew where Cattelins was. He did. Thankfully, unlike our hunt for the late brunch place, we found Cattelins, fairly soon. But wouldn't you know it, THEY WERE CLOSED. The guy there told us that the chef had a family emergency and had to leave. The restaurang thang was just not happening today.
It worked out okay, though. We just headed backed to the place where we asked the guy for directions. It is called Torget. Rich had what they called a Seafood Casserole, but was actually a stew and I had a lovely Lightly Salted Cod with Potatoes.

They are very big on potatoes here in Sweden. Late last night, I raided the mini bar and discovered these wonderful potato chips that are made from little potatoes called, 'Mandelpotatis'. The name literally means, 'Almond Potatoes'. They grow them in the northernmost county of Seden called Norrbotten. The extreme cold from the long winters keeps them free from harmful bacteria and the midnight sun during the summer matures them to perfection. I asked my waiter if all the potatoes that they serve at the restaurants in Stockholm come from Norrbotten and he said "no". That they grow them all over Sweden. He didn't really seem very well informed about the 'Mandelpotatis'in particular.