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There are more than frittatas on the Mother's Cupboard menu. The omelets are fine, especially when sided by toasted Italian bread.

Mother’s Cupboard, Syracuse NY

December 16, 2019 / / 0 Comments

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Ever hear of a frittata? Of course you have! Who hasn’t? It’s an Italianish open-faced omelet. Wait a second, though. We’re not speaking of THAT frittata. We’re talking about the frittata as served in and around Syracuse, New York. Also known as a fretta, a Syracuse frittata is a jumbled amalgam of eggs, potatoes, peppers, onions, sausage, pepperoni, and broccoli, or some subset of those ingredients. Cheese is optional. The other distinguishing feature is that it’s usually a massive plate of food, so much so that, unless the diner is accepting some sort of challenge, everyone orders a half or quarter portion.

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Consol's does a good job with the Italian/American standby veal parmigiana.

Consol’s, Endicott NY

December 12, 2019 / / 0 Comments

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If you ask around in Endicott for the best Italian restaurant in town, you’ll hear about two restaurants repeatedly: Oaks Inn and Consol’s. It’s local sport to debate the relative merits of the two restaurants. Both are many decades old, both serve old-time Italian/American food, and they are just across the street and down the block from each other. If you dine in both to see what’s what for yourself, however, things become less, not more, clear. Why are these two restaurants compared at all? They don’t even play in the same league.

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Looking to maximize your calorie and deliciousness per dollar quotient? Order the Fat Buck Fries.

Buck Hill Brewery and Restaurant, Blairstown NJ

December 6, 2019 / / 0 Comments

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We ordinarily restrict ourselves to the liquid refreshments at brewpubs. It’s not that we think brewpub food is bad, per se, it’s just that there’s usually more interesting things to eat elsewhere. We’re glad to have broken free from our usual habit at Buck Hill, however, as we were afforded the opportunity to indulge ourselves with the Fat Buck Fries. This poutine cousin tops fries with beer-braised brisket, cheddar and mozzarella, and beer gravy. Not only does it supply you with your minimum daily requirements for calories for the day, it’s also dizzily delicious.

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Orecchiette (little ears) with broccoli can be found wherever Italian food is made, but they're a particular favorite in the city of Utica, where the pasta is known as hats. At Top of the Morning, the hats are homemade.

Top of the Morning Cafe, Utica NY

November 11, 2019 / / 2 Comments

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Apparently, the New Jersey/metropolitan NY diner tradition of a late-night sandwich or burger with a plate of onion rings doesn’t exist in Utica. Oh, there are diners, alright, plenty of them, in fact, but try finding one that’s open past 7PM. Seems most of them close after lunch, while a few push it to early evening. We searched hard for a diner open past 8PM on a Friday and were led to Top of the Morning Cafe.

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Befitting a diner owned by the Nikolados family, the spinach pie is a big winner.

Miss Monticello Diner, Monticello NY hi

October 16, 2019 / / 1 Comment

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If you find yourself motoring through the Catskills in New York when hunger strikes, we suggest locating a diner and settling in for a quick meal of American classics. We like to think that much of the appeal of diners is their fungibility and predictability, but in all honesty that probably overstates the situation. Yes, if all you want is an omelet or a burger, just about any diner will do, but some diners really do a better job than others. One of the most reliable of the breed is the Miss Monticello. Continue reading

One of the more unusual omelette fillings at Charlie's is crisp fried potatoes. The standard potato omelet also includes jack cheese and a topping of habanero salsa but Sue chose to forgo the fiery salsa. We also enjoyed a potato omelette variation called the Southwestern, which adds chorizo to the mix. The photo was unusable but, with the salsa, believe us, if you can take the heat, this is the way to go.

Charlie’s Cafe, Norfolk VA

August 30, 2019 / / 0 Comments

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The omelets are fluffy, the neighborhood is vibrant, and the restaurant has character. Reasons enough for Charlie’s Cafe’s success. How do they get those omelets to billow as they do? They run the eggs through a milkshake blender. It’s not clear who originally thought of doing that, although some think it may have been Charley himself, three owners ago.

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The Smithfield Inn menu has three tasting plates well suited for sharing. The Classic Southern Tasting features fried green tomatoes, pimento cheese and baked crostini, deviled eggs, and bread & butter pickles. All good! Sue was especially fond of the tomatoes combined with the cheese.

Smithfield Inn, Smithfield VA

August 24, 2019 / / 0 Comments

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The Smithfield Inn was built as a residence in 1752. Seven years later it was converted to a restaurant and inn. Like any restaurant over 250 years old, it’s obviously gone through many owners and had its ups and downs. For a long time in the 20th century it was well-known for traditional home-style Southern cooking. It was eventually even owned by Smithfield Foods, the giant pork processor and home of the world-renowned Smithfield Ham. Continue reading

We thought the peach ice cream was too light on the peachiness.

Chesapeake Bay Farms, Pocomoke MD

August 22, 2019 / / 0 Comments

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Have you noticed how dairy farms have taken to making and selling ice cream on site to the public? It’s part of their struggle to survive as small farms, like much of America, participate in the gig economy to make ends meet. From an ice cream lover’s perspective, it’s a welcome trend, bringing not just the chance to sample homemade ice cream, sometimes even made from the milk of the cows grazing on that farm, but also the opportunity to get out and enjoy rural life for a few hours. Continue reading

What do you call a plate of home fries, topped with scrambled eggs, ham, peppers, tomatoes, mushrooms, sausage, and onions, crowned with Monterey Jack cheese and bacon? The Mess!

The Shack, Groton CT

August 18, 2019 / / 0 Comments

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When The Shack opened in East Lyme in 1989, it was practically a shack, albeit a shack that quickly became known for the quality of its breakfasts. Thirty years have come and gone, and there are now two additional Shacks not all that far from the original, in Waterford and Groton, and that first Shack has found a new, more modern home in East Lyme. They’ve also expanded their hours, now serving all three meals (except on Sundays, when it’s still breakfast only). Continue reading

We love the flaky-crusted, made-here onion rings.

David’s Place, Oakdale CT

August 17, 2019 / / 0 Comments

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We love coastal drive-in restaurants, even more than we love diners. There’s something about dining on fried seafood and inhaling the inimitable aroma of onions and potatoes and vaporized cooking oil mixed with the salt air that gets our juices flowing. If we’ve just spent the day in the sun, within sight and sound of the water, it doesn’t even matter if the drive-in is ten miles inland, as David’s Place of Oakdale, CT is. Our memories supply the salt air. Continue reading

Smakosh's potato pancakes are in the top tier of restaurant versions of the dish (and very different from the ones we make at home)

Smakosh Restaurant, Uncasville CT

August 13, 2019 / / 0 Comments

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The name of the restaurant is Smakosh, which doesn’t sound familiar to American ears. Is it someone’s name? What ethnicity is it? Turns out that it’s a Polish word for gourmet, and if you figured that out ahead of time you might assume that Smakosh is a Polish restaurant. There are a smattering of Polish dishes on the menu, although most of the offerings are straight-ahead American breakfast and lunch foods like Benedicts, western omelettes, burgers, and tuna salad. It’s those Polish dishes, however, that brought us here, as well as the fact that they, like us, consider pierogi a more than suitable breakfast option. Continue reading

Seaside Heights' unique twist on the Philly cheesesteak is the use of pizza bread in place of the hoagie roll.

The Original Steaks, Seaside Heights NJ

August 5, 2019 / / 0 Comments

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Philadelphia cheesesteaks are traditionally served on long rolls. While it’s rare to encounter one on some other kind of bread, it’s not unheard of. One of the best cheesesteaks in the region is served on a round hard roll, just across the river in Camden’s Donkey’s Place. And here in Seaside Heights, the dueling cheesesteak joints known as The Original Steaks and Steaks Unlimited, across the street from one another, employ pizza bread as the absorbent vessel for the thinly sliced beef, goopy cheese, and well-cooked onions. Continue reading

You can smell Italian sausage and frying onions up and down the boardwalk. Dentato's is among the best.

Dentato’s Clam Bar, Seaside Heights NJ

August 3, 2019 / / 0 Comments

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There’s something about dining within view of the ocean that stimulates the appetite for some local shellfish. And at Dentato’s Clam Bar on the boardwalk, the shellfish is … well, we don’t have a clue. We’ve never sampled any, and anytime we’ve been there we’ve never seen anyone else sampling any either. We’ve HEARD of people eating clams at Dentato’s, and they may well be wonderful. But as long as they keep delivering one of the best Italian sausage sandwiches at the Jersey shore, those clams will just have to wait. Continue reading

On a warm Cincinnati afternoon we had the opportunity to sample a most refreshing iced tea made with Churchill's Starfruit Green Tea, which also includes papaya and mango.

Churchill’s Fine Teas, Cincinnati OH

October 24, 2017 / / 0 Comments

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Even if you’re not a tea drinker, we urge you to step inside Churchill’s Fine Teas in Cincinnati’s Findlay Market, for at least a moment or two. The heady aroma of tea leaves, spices, and herbs is fairly intoxicating, and the shop is an oasis of calm amid the bustle of the market. Look around, admire the tea sets and tea cups, all the while inhaling, inhaling, free of charge. Continue reading

Sliced and browned, Eckerlin's goetta has a meaty flavor and a pleasantly nubbly texture thanks to the oats.

Eckerlin Meats, Cincinnati OH

October 23, 2017 / / 0 Comments

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Cincinnati has a number of signature foods, but perhaps the most exotic and regionally focused of them is goetta. First things first: it’s pronounced as if the o wasn’t there, i.e., getta, and it has German roots. OK, so what is this goetta? It’s a sausage-like loaf of meat and oats that is sliced and fried in a pan, usually for breakfast. Continue reading

Gold Star's chili seasoning profile is a bit different from most others. Sue prefers it.

Gold Star Chili, Cincinnati OH

October 18, 2017 / / 0 Comments

We well remember our first taste of Cincinnati chili. We were summering in Washington, D.C., our first jobs out of college, and a friend told us about a place that recently opened up in the ‘burbs (Virginia, we think) that served something called Cincinnati chili. Chili, we knew – spicy hot, cumin-scented, but what did Cincinnati have to do with it? Continue reading

The two-meatball bowl with marinara sauce. We chose one beef and one chicken parm meatball. They also had something called RWB, which was a beef meatball with sundried tomatoes and Cajun seasoning. Other available sauces included parm cream and Buffalo. We tend to be poultry skeptics in dishes where beef or pork are the norm but, we have to admit, we really loved the chicken parm meatball. Vibrant marinara as well.

Taste of Cincinnati, Cincinnati OH, May 27th through 29th 2017

October 16, 2017 / / 0 Comments

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Either you love urban street festivals or you don’t. They’re not for everyone. We’re street festival veterans and you can put our names down among the lovers. In our New York days in the ’70s, we’d never miss the annual Feast of San Gennaro in Little Italy, or the Ninth Avenue International Food Festival. It usually takes years of festival-going to learn each festival’s strengths and weaknesses. Continue reading

Are cheese coneys an appetizer, a side dish, or the main course? Yes!

Chili Time, St. Bernard OH

October 11, 2017 / / 2 Comments

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It was 1943 when Pete Vidas opened Chili Time on Vine Street in the Cincinnati enclave village of St. Bernard. Of course, chili was on the menu but Chili Time was by no means a chili-only establishment. The burgers, especially the big production Timeburger and Big Time, were famous, far if not wide. Eventually, Chili Time moved across the street to its present location. Continue reading

Underneath that mound of whipped cream is a peanut butter sundae made with vanilla soft serve.

Annie’s Ice Cream, Jim Thorpe PA

October 10, 2017 / / 0 Comments

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We prefer driving trips to flying trips. It’s true that the “getting there” eats into the “being there” time, but we are diehard proponents of the old saying, “Getting there is half the fun.” We enjoy the driving itself just fine but we take it slow, stopping often along the way wherever and whenever we please. Sometimes we stop for local sights, or a state park, or a bit of local history. Most of the time, though, we stop for food. Continue reading

The McGregor VFW has been opening the Saturday festivities with a wild rice pancake breakfast for years.

Wild Rice Days, McGregor MN, August 31st through September 4th 2017

October 4, 2017 / / 0 Comments

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It’s funny to consider the luxury foods of your childhood. Of course, that all depends on the era, and the part of the country, in which your childhood falls. For us, that would be the proverbial ’60s in the Northeast. What were the luxuries to us? Port-wine stained cheese spread in ceramic crocks, from WisPride and Kaukauna Klub; little metal-lidded glasses of refrigerated Sau-Sea baby shrimp cocktail in sauce; Rice-A-Roni wild rice pilaf. Continue reading

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