the road | the food | a new direction
What foods do you turn to when you want, no, need to have jangly nerves soothed; to enjoy the culinary equivalent of a leisurely back rub; to shut out the modern world for a quiet evening at home? A mug of hot cocoa? A big plate of macaroni and cheese? Yes, those might work, but how does a warm chicken pie sound? Better yet, one you don’t have to cook yourself. Like the kind you can bring home from Harrows. Continue reading
Yes, it looks fairly obvious that 51-year-old Benji’s Deli partisans stuffed the ballot box. Just the same, we’ve been to Benji’s and, it’s true, they DO make a good sandwich, and darn good hoppel-poppel for breakfast. So regardless of whether you accept OnMilwaukee.com‘s findings in their Best of Dining 2014 poll, we agree that Benji’s is well worth a visit, in the morning or the afternoon. And we’d like to try the editors’ choice, too, for a sandwich: the hipster-sounding Love Handle, where their namesake sandwich combines pork belly with egg salad and kale. Continue reading
Carla Hall’s being very resourceful while planning to open a Nashville-style restaurant in New York City. Not only is she attempting to raise capital through Kickstarter, she’s worked with Philadelphia’s Drexel University to set up a lab class for students in Drexel’s culinary arts program. The students will help with kitchen design, recipe development, and many of the other tasks that must be addressed prior to opening a new restaurant. The students gain valuable real-world experience and Carla gets their help. Ms. Hall said she’d like to eventually open a Southern Kitchen in Philadelphia.
With an absence of red tides and tropical storm activity in the area, Florida Keys stone crab fisherman are optimistic for a productive harvest. Unfortunately, prices are expected to be higher than ever. Stone crabs are (if you’re squeamish, cover your eyes) twisted off live crabs, which are then thrown back in the water, where the claws will regrow. Those claws are an expensive Florida delicacy, prized by many seafood aficionados. Currently, at Keys Fisheries‘ restaurant, a pound of jumbos (2-3 per pound) will run you about $37. Continue reading
Eaton’s is a tourist restaurant. Let’s state that right up front. Yes, almost anywhere in Vermont that specializes in things maple receives plenty of tourists but (and maybe we’re wrong here) we can’t imagine the local who would walk through Eaton’s doors. That doesn’t have to imply that there’s nothing good to eat under Eaton’s roof. In fact, there is, but you’ll have to choose carefully. Continue reading
Mariscos Chihuahua in Tucson, AZ is, of course, a seafood restaurant. If you know the restaurant, you know it’s for their ways with shrimp that most of the acclaim has come. But not only shrimp, by any means. Tucson Weekly‘s Best of Tucson 2014 has named Mariscos Chihuahua as the best place in the city to get fish tacos. You can get them made the usual way, with fried chunks of fish, or filled with grilled marlin, which sounds wonderful to us. They’ll also set you up with a shrimp taco if you’d prefer. Either way, at three bucks a pop you can’t go wrong. Continue reading
Round Rock Donuts, north of Austin, has been frying ’em up since 1926. They have as cultish a following around here as Krispy Kreme has in other parts of the country. One member of the cult, apparently, is Mary G. Ramos, who writes fondly of Round Rock donuts for The Dallas Morning News: “[T]hey . . . make wonderful, yeasty, glazed doughnuts that have a rich yellow color from the fresh eggs that are used in them, as they were used in the original recipe.” By the way, we’ve actually shared one of those Texas-sized donuts. We’d estimate that it contains about 8-10 donuts worth of dough. But how do they make them? Continue reading
The Little One (formerly known as Little Café Poca Cosa) was chosen as The Best Place to Eat Lunch Downtown by Tucson Weekly‘s Best of Tucson 2014 (Mi Nidito came in second). When you have that lunch you’d be advised to order a battered and fried, cheese-filled chile relleno because The Little One was also chosen for Best Chile Relleno. How can one city feature so many good things to eat, and so many good places in which to eat those things? Continue reading
Corned Beef Row. The name designates an area that was once the center of Jewish life in Baltimore. Today, Corned Beef Row consists of Attman’s Deli and little else. Seymour Attman, longtime owner of the deli, has passed on but the deli continues. This once thriving Jewish neighborhood can today seem a little intimidating to some, but a daytime trip to Attman’s (the only time it’s open) will make it worthwhile. Continue reading
El Charro is the most famous Mexican restaurant (since 1922) in Tucson, and Tucsonians love it, as evidenced by their voting it the winner of three categories in Tucson Weekly‘s Best of Tucson 2014. There wasn’t a category named Best Carne Seca (dried beef), probably because El Charro owns that dish in Tucson. They did, however, win Best Carne Asada, Best Carnitas, and Best Margarita. Meat and booze – sounds like a winner to us! Continue reading
When some people want to put down a chocolate in the strongest terms possible, they refer to it as “Halloween quality.” Whether you like Halloween candy or not (we do), you know what it means: mass-produced, waxy-textured or grainy, tooth-achingly sweet chocolate that appeals, mostly, to kids. But you know what? All Halloween chocolate ain’t Halloween quality! Here’s one example of a Halloween chocolate novelty that you’ll look forward to devouring the next day: Jacques O’Lanterns. Continue reading
The Best of 2014 lists from magazines and alternative weeklies are coming out fast and furious. Today, Tucson Weekly‘s Best of Tucson 2014 survey named Mi Nidito Best Southside Restaurant. Mi Nidito (My Little Nest) is a Sonoran restaurant first opened in 1952, and it remains in the family to this day. The eatery is famous for the time President Bill Clinton did some serious power eating at their tables. Tucson Weekly says, “For many locals, it’s a solid place to bring visitors and introduce them to Sonoran goodness.” Continue reading
Summer along the New England shore means seafood, but what about inland New England? What’s the great roadside food to be found at summer only stands in the Green Mountains of Vermont? How about seafood? Yes, improbable as it may seem, locals flock to Onion Flats in the Bethel countryside for belly clams, haddock, scallops, and lobster rolls. Continue reading
Are you planning a first-time visit to Kansas City? Or maybe you’re a frequent visitor, or even a resident, who would just like to get a better handle on, and a behind-the-scenes look at, the local Q scene. If so, you might want to consider taking a tour with KC Barbecue Tours. They offer two different tours. The midday Original Kansas City Barbecue Tour visits four Q joints. The four may vary but one recent visitor said they went to LC’s, Woodyard, Gates, and Arthur Bryant’s, all, in our opinion, worth a visit. Continue reading
John Burnett, writing for NPR’s Foodways blog, presents his thesis that the variety and authenticity of Texas’ small town eats is getting swamped by barbecue, Tex-Mex cuisine, convenience store fast food, and Sysco. We don’t know that we’d restrict the phenomenon to Texas. Hasn’t this been happening across the country for decades? Continue reading
Express Best of 2014 is out, with a lot of interesting food categories. We definitely want to get to TaKorean, a Korean taco truck which won in the Best Food Truck category. Arepa Zone, also a truck, led the Best South/Central American category. Don’t know arepas? The story describes them as “Venezuelan fried corn pockets, stuffed with meats and cheeses in combinations like shredded beef, queso fresco, plantains and black beans.” Continue reading
A longtime favorite of ours, Beal’s is a no-frills lobster pound on a working Southwest Harbor pier. Beal’s seems a bit more “permanent” than we remember it from our initial visit decades ago, when it was more working lobster pier than restaurant. Continue reading
So what is it with Texas’ infatuation with Chicago edibles? Not only is Al’s #1 Italian Beef coming to Dallas but Gino’s East, Windy City deep-dish pizza specialist, is opening their first branches outside of the Chicago region this year, in the Lone Star State. The four pizzerias will be located in Dallas, Austin, San Antonio, and the Houston suburbs. Like the Al’s restaurants, they will be franchises. Word is the pizzerias will add Texas barbecue pizza to the menu. Can Garrett’s be far behind? Continue reading
There are many signature Chicago street foods but our favorite, hands down, is the Italian beef. Thinly shaved beef is plucked from a trough of garlicky jus and laid in a fresh Italian roll. Hot? That’s spicy giardiniera, a chopped vegetable condiment. Sweet? Sweet red peppers. Dipped? They immerse the entire sandwich in the juice! We’ll take a beef, hot, sweet, and dipped. Continue reading
While Stan Sagner, in his Daily News review of New York’s famed 77-year-old Carnegie Deli, didn’t like everything, he loved the important stuff: matzo ball soup, corned beef/pastrami combo, and cheesecake. As do we. Really, is it even necessary to look at the rest of the menu? Continue reading
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