the road | the food | a new direction
Those who love them look forward to spring with great anticipation. Many fans have a prized, secret spot for harvesting their own. Those who do not love them have probably never tasted them. We are talking about that honeycomb-headed mushroom known as the morel. This coming weekend, you can join the annual celebration of the fungus at the National Morel Mushroom Festival in Boyne City, Michigan, and maybe learn a thing or two about hunting them and cooking them. Continue reading
The dining room is packed and virtually every table is covered with brown paper and Callinectes sapidus in various stages of disassembly. These are old-hand locals, capable of locating the choice crab nuggets while devoting only half their attention to the hard-shelled creatures, the other half devoted to watching their beloved Orioles clobber the Red Sox on one of the TVs perched on the walls around the dining room. We love tearing apart steaming hot Old Bay-plastered crabs as much as the next guy but, today, we’re feeling lazy, and tired from the long drive. So crab cakes it is, without shame. Continue reading
Kiki Maraschino (whom we know as Elise) traveled to Seattle and made four visits in three days to the Mad Menesque 13 Coins, where she took in the old-fashioned ambiance (“trippy Barbarella lighting” says Kiki!) and sampled everything from clam chowder and shrimp cocktail to salmon Benedict, stopping at steak and eggs, fried zucchini, and retro relish trays along the way. If you enjoy urban classics with a ’60s sensibility you should take a look at Kiki’s report.
Homemade ice cream and strawberry shortcake, plus homemade old-fashioned sugar cookies, at the Chapel Hill United Methodist Church; strawberry pancakes and sausage at the First United Methodist Church; rib eye steak sandwiches and strawberry shortcake presented by the 4-H on the Episcopal Church lawn; homemade strawberry shortcake offered by the ladies of the local American Legion. Yes, it’s time for the West Virginia Strawberry Festival in Buckhannon, which began Saturday and continues through Sunday, May 17th. Continue reading
On April 11th, a fermenter over-pressurized overnight and exploded, rupturing a gas line and blowing through the wall to the outside of the restaurant. Thankfully nobody was injured, and the fire department arrived in time to shut off the gas before it had a chance to ignite. Trap Rock managed to reopen for dinner that night but they have not been able to brew beer since. Repairs to the brewing system are ongoing. This was our first visit to Trap Rock since the accident, and everything seemed as it always was. Continue reading
French has its Roquefort, Italy its Gorgonzola, Brits are proud of their Stilton and, yes, America has as much reason as anyone in the world to boast of their own blue cheese, made by Maytag Dairy Farms of Newton, Iowa. The superlative cheese has been handmade since the first batch emerged from the aging cave in 1941. Kiran Sood, writing for The Gazette, an Eastern Iowa newspaper, takes a look at how blue cheese is made on the peaceful 600 acres of the Maytag Dairy.
The 69th annual Strawberry Festival in Adairville, Kentucky began yesterday, and continues through next Saturday (March 16th 2015). The Little Miss Pageant and the Senior Miss Pageant will take place Tuesday. Rides, crafts, and karaoke begin this Thursday, with live music, a pet show, a kiddie parade, and the opening of the Strawberry Shoppe (homemade strawberry ice cream, strawberry shortcake!) to follow on Friday. Continue reading
If you choose to eat at Food at Fishers Station, you will wait in a line. Absolutely, no doubt about it, you will. If it’s your first time, and you let that be known, you’ll receive all kinds of info from your fellow standees: “they always have a special called 2-2-2, which is supposed to be two pancakes, two eggs, and two sausage patties; when it arrives there are usually way more than two pancakes, and they’re the best pancakes you’ll ever have”; “oh, great, now it’ll be even harder to get in” when we let slip that we might write about it on the net; “everything they make here is fantastic.” It’s all true. Continue reading
Seattle’s Cupcake Royale is introducing their new Chef Series ice cream flavors on Monday, and to help celebrate the event, they will be holding an Ice Cream Social & Free Scoop Day at all locations from 2 p.m. until 8 p.m. Four of their six locations are scoop shops – the other two will be offering free ice cream sandwiches. The new Chef Series flavors include Smokey Rocky Road with Salted Marcona Almond Bark, Smoked Maple Old Fashioned with Luxardo Cherries, and Honey Ricotta with Pistachio Brittle.
Each year in Windsor, CT (a little bit north of Hartford) shad (the state fish of Connecticut) swim up the Connecticut and Farmington Rivers to lay their eggs in fresh water (similar to salmon). The people of Windsor observe this biological fact with their own annual event, the springtime Shad Derby Festival. The festival is really a series of sponsored events spread throughout the month of May (this year, from the 1st through the 16th). Some of the events that have already taken place include the Fishing Tournament, the Shad Derby Gala, and the Coronation Ball. Continue reading
Harold’s Deli is a large, brash restaurant that serves enormous portions of food. Don’t be fooled by those comically large servings; quantity is not all at Harold’s. Owner Harold Jaffe, once of the legendary Carnegie Deli in New York, sells some of the finest Jewish deli dishes to be found in the New York City area. Continue reading
At Northern Waters Smokehaus of Duluth, Minnesota, they handcraft smoked fish and meat and create artisan salumi. You can even get imaginative and beautifully constructed sandwiches built around their exquisite products. There’s just one problem. It’s all take-out only. That’s soon to change, as the owners are opening a second Duluth location, this one to have table service, in the Mount Royal Center. They are designing new dishes that incorporate their smoked fish and meats, all of which will be available at their planned September 1st opening.
Primanti Brothers, the growing Pittsburgh chain famous for sandwiches with the fries and slaw between the bread slices, is planning to open in Beavercreek, Ohio. Beavercreek is just outside of Dayton, between Cincinnati and Columbus, and would be Primanti’s first Ohio location. The restaurant has to first be approved by the city planning commission, and then the city council. In February, we heard that the first Ohio location would land in Boardman, pending zoning board approval. We haven’t heard anything further on those plans.
The heart of the strawberry season is upon much of America and the strawberry festivals are popping up all over! Tomorrow, Saturday, May 9th, 2015, Stillwell, Oklahoma (“The Strawberry Capital of the World”) will host their 68th annual strawberry festival. Over 30,000 folks are expected for the shindig. Continue reading
The scenario: two flavors in one cup (or on one cone). The question: is it important to coordinate the flavors? That was the discussion between Sue and Bruce as we exchanged spoonfuls of our cup of lemon coconut topped with peanut butter and jelly. The lemon in the lemon coconut was gentle, evoking the light lemon flavor of lemon cake rather than the tart lemon of, say, lemonade. The jelly in the peanut butter and jelly was strawberry, a better choice than grape, even if it evokes the sandwich less accurately. Continue reading
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