Month: March 2015 (Page 4 of 8)
Rebuilt Helen’s of Machias, ME to Open Mid-April
The great, old far-Downeast restaurant Helen’s of Machias, Maine (blueberry pie! fresh seafood!) burned down last July. The owners have been rebuilding a new Helen’s, which will be smaller and will seat fewer people. Opening is planned for mid-April. You can see the construction progress in this video.
St. Louis Fried Chicken Bracket
The St. Louis Post Dispatch is beginning a fried chicken bracket competition today (by the way, is the food bracket competition the big media gimmick of 2015?). Nothing especially unusual about that, except they managed to fill out four divisions of 16 each, for a total of 64 places that serve fried chicken! Keep in mind they are limiting the bracket to local places, with no chains or drive-thrus. When did fried chicken become such a big thing in St. Louis? Continue reading
Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes
Sioux City, Iowa’s Daily Grind is known for their terrific homemade cinnamon rolls (as well as, of course, their coffee drinks). But we just read about a variation on the cinnamon roll from Daily Grind that we’re anxious to try: the cinnamon roll cupcake. It’s made with a cinnamon batter and topped with cinnamon/sour cream frosting. One of those with a double espresso and our day in The Hawkeye State would be off to a grand beginning!
Testicles, Rattlesnake, and Yak
Denver’s Buckhorn Exchange is more than a restaurant. It’s a piece of history from the American West, founded in 1893. Bill Dutton, GM of the restaurant, says, “As great as our steak is, you can have steak as good or better in many other cities.” His point is not to denigrate his restaurant’s steaks, but to point out that you really should order Buckhorn’s exotic meats. Larry Olmsted, in his story about the Buckhorn for USA Today, agrees. He loves the place but it’s for the entire, mounted-animal-head, Buffalo-Bill-Cody-ate-here package that he is won over: “[W]ith exceptions like the prime rib and Rocky Mountain oysters, nothing was stunning (except the crazy good hot Dutch apple pie).” We’d agree, except to say we did not fall in love with the fried testicles. Every visitor to Denver should go to the Buckhorn at least once.
American Sardine Bar, Philadelphia PA
REVIEW
Our mini-cheesesteak tour of Philadelphia brought us to American Sardine Bar. Now we understood that the Sardine is by no means a cheesesteak joint – it’s an anti-hipster/hipster pub with a reputation for quirky quality bar food. Nonetheless we’d read that they served a mean cheesesteak done Pittsburgh-style with fries and slaw on the steak, and we felt like a beer, so here we were. And, of course, there was no cheesesteak on the blackboard menu. Continue reading
LAF in the A.M. March 19th, 2015
A Morning Menu of LAF-Style Food News and Stories to Begin Your Day
HAPPY NATIONAL POULTRY DAY!
Cupcake Royale of Seattle Hosting Donut Pop-Up
Local Gallery Helps Restore Memorabilia Damaged in Nu-Way Fire in Macon
Bring Banana, Get 1/2-Price Banana Split at Woodside Farm in DE
Garden & Gun’s Ultimate Barbecue Bracket
Cupcake Royale of Seattle Hosting Donut Pop-Up
The restless and creative bakers at the Cupcake Royale located in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle, Washington are opening a donut pop-up within Cupcake Royale. Every morning from 7 a.m. until the donuts are sold out Rodeo Donut will produce half a dozen flavors using their scratch-made brioche dough as the donut base. They intend this venture to be several large steps up from standard and even hoity-toity donut shops, sourcing ingredients for their glazes and toppings from area farms, just as Cupcake Royale does. Opening day is Saturday, March 28th. The address of the Ballard Cupcake Royale is 2052 NW Market Street.
Local Gallery Helps Restore Memorabilia Damaged in Nu-Way Fire in Macon
The fire that gutted the original Nu-Way Weiners of Macon, Georgia last Friday also damaged 100 years of memorabilia representing the restaurant’s, and a piece of Macon’s, history. Elizabeth Maffeo, and her gallery Ocmulgee Arts, is storing and helping to restore items damaged by water and smoke until Nu-Way rebuilds. See more in this video.
Woodside Farm Creamery of Hockessin, Delaware (just outside of Wilmington) makes good ice cream. Really good ice cream. From the milk from their own cows. This ice cream is so good that we always get it straight, with no sauces or toppings or whipped cream to interfere with the enjoyment of ice cream perfection. We make one exception to that rule, however. That’s on opening day each spring, when Woodside Farm runs their BYOB special: bring your own banana and get half off a banana split! That happens this Saturday, March 21st. See you there – we’ll be the ones with a whole banana bunch for those sad banana-less souls.
Garden & Gun’s Ultimate Barbecue Bracket
Garden & Gun is running a bracket competition between 32 Southern barbecue joints, covering pretty much all the regional traditions in Southern Q. We didn’t do the detailed work to know for sure but it appears that every Southern state is represented in some way, which is as it should be. First round voting is going on now. Our pick for most evenly matched first round battle: Kreuz of Texas vs. Craig’s of Arkansas. Biggest mismatch: Lexington of North Carolina and Chaps Pit Beef of Baltimore. We like pit beef just fine but we don’t see it lasting long among these heavyweights.
First Day of Spring Means Free Rita’s Italian Ice
It’s been an annual tradition for 23 years. On the first day of spring, all of the hundreds of Rita’s locations will distribute free Italian ice (or water ice as it’s known around Philadelphia), from noon until 9 p.m. That day, this year, is Friday, March 20th. Don’t know where your nearest Rita’s is? Check here. If you live anywhere in Eastern Pennsylvania or New Jersey we can guarantee there is a Rita’s near you. Their coverage in the rest of the country is spotty.
5 Great Metro Detroit Burgers
Here are five great hamburgers in the metro Detroit region, as selected by a writer for The Michigan Journal, the student newspaper for the University of Michigan-Dearborn. His choices: Redcoat Tavern in Royal Oak, Miller’s Bar of Dearborn, Krazy Jim’s Blimpy Burger of Ann Arbor, Jay’s Stuffed Burgers of Plymouth, and Mercury Burger in the Corktown neighborhood of Detroit. Eat up!
LAF in the A.M. March 18th, 2015
A Morning Menu of LAF-Style Food News and Stories to Begin Your Day
HAPPY NATIONAL OATMEAL COOKIE DAY!
First Day of Spring Means Free Rita’s Italian Ice
5 Great Metro Detroit Burgers
A Look at Cozy Corner’s New Temporary Home in Memphis
Peters’ Drive-In of Calgary Opening in Red Deer
A Look at Cozy Corner’s New Temporary Home in Memphis
Cozy Corner of Memphis opened yesterday inside Encore Cafe, with a smoking trailer out back. See the setup in the video above. Cozy Corner, across the street from Encore, suffered a devastating fire in January and it will be many months before their own restaurant will be ready for a move back across the street.
Peters’ Drive-In of Calgary Opening in Red Deer
After over 50 years of building up its iconic status at a single location in Calgary, Alberta, Peters’ Drive-In is planning to open a second store in the city of Red Deer, about halfway on the route north to Edmonton. They are hoping to be open this spring. Peters’ owners are also considering restaurants in Edmonton and Saskatoon in the future. They are not franchising, however. These are all to be company-owned stores. Peter’s Drive-In was founded by Gus Pieters, who emigrated from The Netherlands about 10 years before he founded the restaurant specializing in burgers, dogs, shakes, and sundaes.
Taste of the Sea & Sandy Shoes Seafood Festival, Fort Pierce FL, March 21st 2015
Long-time and former residents of Fort Pierce, Florida have fond memories of a festival that was held in town for many years: the Sandy Shoes Festival. The cattle ranches to the west of Fort Pierce played a big part in Sandy Shoes, especially during the annual Cattlemen’s Parade. Awards were given for the best horsewoman and horseman, most beautiful horse, and best ranch unit. Five years ago, with the rebirth of downtown Fort Pierce, the Sandy Shoes Festival was resurrected and combined with a seafood festival. The fifth annual Taste of the Sea & Sandy Shoes Seafood Festival takes place this Saturday, March 21st, in Veterans Memorial Park, along the Fort Pierce waterfront. Continue reading
LAF in the A.M. March 17th, 2015
A Morning Menu of LAF-Style Food News and Stories to Begin Your Day
HAPPY NATIONAL CORNED BEEF AND CABBAGE DAY!
Yes, You Can Still Enjoy Jewish Cuisine in NYC!
San Antonio Breakfast Taco Madness Bracket
Voodoo Coming to Austin
A Piece of Lexington NC Barbecue History Uncovered
A Piece of Lexington NC Barbecue History Uncovered
Here’s some exciting news for those with a passion for America’s culinary history. Workers renovating a part of Lexington (NC) City Hall were surprised to uncover a series of barbecue pits. Researchers have determined that the pits date to the early 1950s and belonged to Alton Beck, who ran Lexington’s first barbecue restaurant. The city has changed their renovation plans as they intend to preserve and highlight this important piece of city history. Lexington today is known across the country as one of the epicenters of great American barbecue. Read more on the uncovered barbecue pits here.
Yes, You Can Still Enjoy Jewish Cuisine in NYC!
No, there is no longer a Jewish deli on every street corner, and yes, the descendants of the original Jewish immigrants have long since assimilated. Be that as it may, the cuisine of New York City still retains some of the identity of its early Jewish settlers, just as the cuisines of all its immigrants over the centuries have forever been imprinted upon the New York City palate. You can enjoy hand-carved deli at Katz’s and appetizing at its finest at Russ & Daughters, or feast on kosher steak at Le Marais or, believe it or not, kosher sushi at Butterfish. Read about these and other New York City Jewish restaurants here.
