the road | the food | a new direction
Located in a strip mall. No place to sit; take-out only. They make nothing but hot dogs. Want something on the side? Have a drink and a bag of chips. Nothing else is available. Yet there’s a line of people waiting to pick up their bags of 8, 10, even 12 dogs to go. Service is quick and businesslike at the small counter, but this place, with its quirky personality, does not in any way resemble a chain restaurant. Continue reading
Palermo street-snacks in Brooklyn! Yes, in the Italian neighborhood of Carroll Gardens, Ferdinando’s serves Sicilian specialties not commonly seen on this side of the Atlantic. Continue reading
Le Chien Noir is a French-styled bistro (with Belgian leanings) that serves such classics as onion soup, steak frites, and mussels. But what really attracts us to Le Chien is its sophisticated take on North American favorites, which can be accompanied by a bottle from the selection of Canadian wines and beers. Continue reading
In the Buffalo world of wings, there’s Anchor Bar, which everyone in America knows about, there’s Duff’s, which everyone in Buffalo knows about, and then there’s just about every other restaurant and bar in the city (where most Buffalo wings are actually consumed). Continue reading
Hoagies and heroes: regional terms for the same food item, yet so very different. The Philadelphia hoagie is served on a long roll, just like a hero, but the distinguishing feature is the lettuce/tomato/onion garnish, along with some combination of oil and/or vinegar and/or Italian spices. Lettuce/tomato/onion is so integral to a hoagie that it’s practically the definition. If you order a cheesesteak hoagie, it means you want your cheesesteak topped with LTO. If you want a hoagie without one of the three vegetables you have to specify that explicitly, i.e., Italian hoagie no onion. Continue reading
Taylor Gro. is a legend in these parts, and nationally, too. It closed down a while ago, but a new owner took over, and today it’s thriving. We never had the opportunity to visit the previous incarnation, but it couldn’t have been any more fun than today’s version. Continue reading
Sometimes LAF meals can be found in obscure shacks unknown to anyone beyond a five-mile radius. But not always. Take, for example, Teibel’s (pronounced Tee’-bls). Teibel’s is a local institution, well-known in the area as the place to celebrate those passages in life that often call for a banquet hall. While not particularly dressy, people arrive looking quite neat and presentable. These are the upstanding citizens of Schererville and beyond. Continue reading
Things are a little quiet here at Stanley’s after the lunch rush, so bartender Guy comes over to chat and do a little standup for the four of us. After every politically incorrect joke, each one filthier than the last, he slaps Sue’s brother Dave’s back and exclaims, “What! Ya killin’ me!” We like Guy. After he leaves to tend to other matters, owner Wanda, well into her 80s, sidles over, rolls her eyes, and sighs, “He’s a pain that no pill can cure.” Continue reading
Take a former USC quarterback who has completed his two years of missionary work for the LDS church, and place him in a pizzeria in a wealthy suburb of Las Vegas. This does not sound like a promising formula for pizza greatness. Yet that is exactly what owner Brad Otton has achieved at Settebello. Continue reading
Maine means lobster for many of us, but Maine is also a great place to try all manner of seafood, including the fine smoked versions turned out by Grindstone Neck. Located on the picturesque Schoodic Peninsula, Grindstone is not a restaurant, but a seafood smokehouse, owned by a local restaurateur/innkeeper. There’s a retail store on the premises, but you’ll have to take your purchases elsewhere to enjoy them. Continue reading
When we travel, we are tourists. We willingly accept that label, because it’s a simple fact. But like many tourists, we don’t always want to be around too many of our own kind. Myran’s Maison de Manger (Myran’s Eating House), in Arnaudville, is just the place for those times when you want to be the only outsider in the joint. It’s a local restaurant (not a “Cajun” restaurant) that tries to appeal to local tastes. Continue reading
If you plan to spend some time strolling around Brockville in southeastern Ontario (a terrific idea), make sure you also plan to be on West Water Street around lunchtime, for it is here you will find Don’s Fish & Chips, a traditional take-out only chip shop. Continue reading
We visit the somewhat decrepit Montgomery Cinemas pretty often because it’s the only place less than an hour’s drive from home that shows independent and foreign films. It’s not that we never noticed Ya Ya Noodles, in the same shopping center as the theater, before. It’s just that virtually every Chinese restaurant we’ve been to in central New Jersey seems to have been stamped out by a single Take-Out Chinese Factory. The food sent forth from these places ranges from dismal to just decent enough for delivery. We don’t remember what exactly finally brought us through Ya Ya’s front doors but we are surprisingly glad we did so. Continue reading
Do you really love catfish? Do you enjoy working for your dinner? If so, Whitey’s Fish Camp is the place to try fried catfish that have not been farm-raised. These beauties are caught wild, then fried up whole (but headless and skinless), and brought to you until you tell your waitress to stop. Continue reading
There’s not a lot of variables in a Philadelphia cheesesteak. In its classic configuration there’s a roll, meat, cheese, onions, and garnishes. While there’s some play in each of the five variables there’s really not much a cheesesteak joint can do to clearly stand out from the crowd, despite what most writers on the subject would have you believe. Some are better than others, sure, but we find that the day-to-day and month-to-month variation from the same joint is greater than the variation between joints. Which means your favorite today might not be your favorite if you compare tomorrow, or next month. So don’t get too bent out of shape seeking out the one place that someone claimed makes the best. Go to any of the dozen or so places frequently named and you’ll likely enjoy the results. Continue reading
If you spend a significant amount of time in Buffalo, it doesn’t take long to notice the large number of candy and ice cream shops scattered about the region. Buffalonians evidently have a penchant for eating sweets, and that’s good news for LAFers. Continue reading
Built in the late 19th century, Old Country Store was, in fact, an old country store. Today, it is a country restaurant serving a classic Southern buffet for very little money. Pull off Highway 61 in the tiny town of Lorman, north of Natchez, and park in front of what you would swear is part of a movie set depicting Mississippi circa 1920. Yet this is no movie set, or modernized, made-to-look-old theme restaurant. Continue reading
Chef Leo LeDoux’s menu utilizes an assortment of locally produced products, wild seafood, and antibiotic-free meats, prepared in whatever manner strikes his fancy. You’ll find plenty of Asian and Mediterranean influences as well as traditional comfort foods such as French onion soup and pasta and meatballs. Fresh vegetables abound. It’s a clean, pure, and vibrant cuisine that impresses more with freshness and quality ingredients than in-your-face excess. Continue reading
It was just a grilled cheese sandwich. That’s all we tried at Rubi’s, a single sandwich split between the two of us. But what a sandwich! Pullman slices enclose Comté and the optional tomato (which turns out to be roasted yellow specimens, full of flavor). The sandwich is wrapped up and THEN gets placed in the grill press. Press isn’t quite the right word, though, because while the sandwich is grilled on both sides simultaneously it does not get heavily compressed (unlike the grilled cheese we make at home, which gets pressed down hard in the pan as it cooks). Continue reading
Like many other folks who visit Vermont, we like to stay in inns and B&Bs. That presents a major obstacle to dining at places like Up for Breakfast, which really only serves breakfast. It stays open until 12:30 p.m. during the week and 1:30 p.m. on weekends, so your best bet if you want to enjoy both your inn breakfast and Up for Breakfast is to try to hit the restaurant on the weekend. Have an early breakfast at the inn, then plan for a second, lunchtime breakfast here. But weekends are also the busiest time for the upstairs eatery, so put your name on the waiting list about an hour before you’d like to dine. Continue reading
© 2024 Left at the Fork
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑