King of Prussia

Donna, having been a bit stressed over the state of the economy, combined with the fact that rain hit us about 6 am today, and dropped over 3 inches before 9, resulted in us making a change of plans. Some 20 miles west'ish of Philadelphia is the town of King of Prussia. Pretty cool name, no? The village has a population of about 20,000 residents and takes it's name from a local tavern named after King Frederick II of Prussia. Established in 1719 and converted to an inn in 1769, it did a good business since it was about a days ride by horseback from Philadelphia, and operated continuously until the 1980's when US202 was constructed through town, marooning the building in the median between lanes of traffic. In the early 2000's the building was moved and renovated and is now open to the public. General George Washington visited the Inn on Thanksgiving day, 1777, just before he and his army bivouacked at nearby Valley Forge.

Trivia: As well as being home to the King of Prussia Mall (remember the worry about the economy?), which is the largest mall in the country by space and and size, the town of King of Prussia is also home to the Nuclear Regulatory Agency. In light of recent developments in the Mid-East, the staff may be spending too much time shopping…..

So anyway, we decided to visit the Mall, since it is air-conditioned and out of the rain.

Typical in its layout, the mall does have a great many upscale stores and restaurants: Neiman-Marcus, Dicks Sporting Goods, Nordstrom, and Lord and Taylor. Restaurants include Ruths Chris Steakhouse, Cheesecake Factory, Morton's and Legal Sea Foods. We walked most of the mall, but we missed the Tesla Dealership and a handful of others because we needed to stop for lunch. After 3 miles, we needed a break! Legal Sea Foods had great reviews, so we dropped in about 2, and chatted with our server, Laura, for a bit.

We started with a half-dozen "Merry" oysters, which have a crisp taste and a sharp finish. Don't get the idea that I'm any kind of an expert.  I just order different types pretending that I know what I'm doing!
Then Donna enjoyed a Lump Crab Cake sandwich.

And I managed to stuff down a Lobster Roll.

We split our lunches and shared, and I should note that the Crab Cake was the better choice. The Lobster Roll was served on a nicely toasted bun with braised Lobster basted with butter. Kinda like a Lobster Tail, but easier to eat! Way, way to rich for a country boy like me, but this is the part of the country that seafood rolls have their most popularity so we needed to sample it. We'll try it cold next time to see if that's better. Don't get me wrong, for $28, it was delicious, but didn't quite live up to it's reputation!