Left at the Fork

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Category: 4 Cars (Page 3 of 3)

There's more cheese than it appears at first glance on this large tomato pie topped with sausage and roasted peppers, because they put most of the cheese directly on the crust before adding the tomatoes and toppings. They then add a light sprinkle of mozzarella over the top of the pie. Still, this is not the place for pizza heavily gobbed with cheese.

De Lorenzo’s Tomato Pies, Robbinsville NJ

March 30, 2015 / / 0 Comments

REVIEW

Start with one of America’s finest pizza makers: De Lorenzo’s Tomato Pies on Hudson Street in Trenton, NJ. Add a selection of salads and a bathroom (there was none on Hudson). What do you get? The finest pizzeria in New Jersey, and one of the top ten in America, De Lorenzo’s Tomato Pies in Robbinsville, NJ. Yes, Robbinsville may be the suburbs, and the new restaurant sure is spacious and modern, but the pizzas that emerge from those ovens are identical to the ones formerly served on Hudson Street. Continue reading

At the register you'll encounter a collection of filled cookie jars. Don't try to resist. They're terrific!

Dorset Union Store, Dorset VT

January 24, 2015 / / 0 Comments

REVIEW

The Dorset Union Store was started in 1816 as a member-owned cooperative. Then-owner Perry Peltier changed the name to Peltier’s in 1955. When the current owners purchased the store in 2007, the name reverted back to its original Dorset Union Store. We like the ring of it. We also like how the store has achieved a perfect balance between old and new. Continue reading

Do NOT leave Mammy's without sampling a dessert, or three.

Mammy’s Cupboard, Natchez MS

December 14, 2014 / / 0 Comments

REVIEW

Mammy’s Cupboard is a classic piece of vernacular architecture and, as such, is well worth a visit for that reason alone. How often do you see a restaurant in the shape of a mammy? She’s been spruced up, and made ethnically vague: if you mixed all the different peoples of the world in a jar, and shook them up, you might get today’s Mammy. But here’s the kicker: this Esperanto mammy serves some superlative pies and cakes! Continue reading

This particular Vermont-style bagel features fresh dill, red onion, and melted Havarti. Scoff if you will, New York City, but Heather's bagels are wonderful.

The Wild Fern, Stockbridge VT

December 4, 2014 / / 0 Comments

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The hours are brief and variable, the menu limited (and, likewise, variable), so it’ll take at least a little forethought and checking to pay The Wild Fern a visit. The small effort required, however, will be more than repaid, for this is one of the most unique restaurants in Vermont. Calling it a restaurant, in fact, doesn’t feel quite right, because it’s about as close as you can get to stepping into someone’s personal vision (that of Heather Lynne) without actually trespassing. Her blog states, “No Hostile Vibrations!” Yes, you have entered Crunchy Vermont. Continue reading

Fig gelato and prickly pear gelato. There were fig trees on the property of our villa, and the fruit was perfectly ripe (we harvested and consumed many pounds). So it made sense that all the local gelaterias featured fig gelato. The prickly pear is called, in Italian, fichi d'India (Indian fig), interestingly enough. The flavor has some similarity to strawberry. Both tasted intensely and honestly of the fruit itself (well, the fig did - don't think we've ever eaten prickly pears, but it did taste great).

Carabé, Florence Italy

November 28, 2014 / / 0 Comments

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From the left: apricot, "fruit salad," banana, melon, and fig. It's all called "gelato," but the quantity of dairy greatly varies, depending on the flavor and gelateria. Fruit flavors tend to have less milk, and the flavors we tried had little or none; they seemed to be, essentially, sorbets or cremolatas.

From the left: apricot, “fruit salad,” banana, melon, and fig. It’s all called “gelato,” but the quantity of dairy greatly varies, depending on the flavor and gelateria. Fruit flavors tend to have less milk, and the flavors we tried had little or none; they seemed to be, essentially, sorbets or cremolatas.

Continue reading

You can almost feel the thick dairy texture of Woodside's ice cream in this close-up of a dish of raspberry chip.

Woodside Farm Creamery, Hockessin DE

November 22, 2014 / / 1 Comment

REVIEW

Woodside Farm calls their ice cream “Farm Fresh,” and this is literally true. The ice cream they make and sell is produced from milk provided by the Jersey cows right here on their farm. This ice cream is extraordinarily thick and dense, with an almost chewy texture. It’s not too sweet, and as it warms up it softens rather than melts into a puddle. The milk from the small Jersey cows on this farm is especially rich in butterfat and protein, and the resulting ice cream, no matter which flavor you choose, tastes most of all of dairy richness. This is among the finest ice creams we’ve ever had the pleasure of spooning into, but its creamy intensity might be too overwhelming for daily consumption. Continue reading

This late summer burger features Cloudland's own Angus beef garnished with house made sauerkraut, Russian dressing, and Spring Brook Reading cheese, served on a marble rye bun.

Cloudland Farm, North Pomfret VT

November 17, 2014 / / 0 Comments

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Here’s our idea of a perfect Vermont evening: we first drive to Lebanon, New Hampshire, pick up a growler or two of Dooryard Cider from Farnum Hill Ciders, then drive north of Woodstock, towards Pomfret, on winding dirt roads through the forest until we reach Cloudland Farm. We arrive earlier than our reservation so, on a pleasant summer evening, we sit in rockers on the porch as the kind folks at Cloudland bring us glasses. Continue reading

Arizona pistachios adorn the pizza known as Rosa.

Pizzeria Bianco, Phoenix AZ

November 16, 2014 / / 0 Comments

REVIEW

Many have claimed that Pizzeria Bianco serves the best pizza in the land. As it’s also been one of the most difficult restaurants in which to secure a table, for years we’d been unable to see for ourselves what all the commotion is about. Things have changed. Hours have been expanded to cover midday, and Chris Bianco opened a second restaurant in Phoenix, and a third in Tucson, so that it is now possible to join in the fun without enduring an hours-long wait in the Arizona desert sun. Continue reading

Stop in at Farnum Hill Ciders, bring a growler or purchase one there, and get it filled with dry cider from the keg after tasting what's available that day.

Farnum Hill Ciders, Lebanon NH

November 15, 2014 / / 0 Comments

REVIEW

Cider is experiencing a renaissance in the U.S. By cider, we’re referring to hard cider, fermented apple juice, not the fresh-pressed sweet brown juice sold in plastic jugs in the fall (which we also love, particularly if it’s that ever-more-rare unpasteurized stuff). Hard cider’s golden age in America was colonial times, when it was easily made at home, on the farm. Interest died out long ago, and only very recently has America’s interest in hard cider been piqued. Now it seems as if every major brewery has a bottled cider offering. They tend to be sweet and simple, with flavors that lean more towards Jolly Ranchers than real apples. Continue reading

This is The Same: potatoes, beans, bacon, and cheese in a homemade flour tortilla. The same as what, you might ask?

Helen’s Casa Alde, Buda TX

November 14, 2014 / / 0 Comments

REVIEW

Migas, a savory amalgam of eggs scrambled with torn bits of corn tortillas and perhaps some combination of chiles, onions, tomatoes, cheese, and/or meat, is the breakfast dish of Austin. Its fame is justified, and no visitor to Austin should neglect it, but even more popular, if less glamorous, is the breakfast taco. Continue reading

Can't say we've seen a more irresistable-looking dish than these homemade chicken pies

Allentown Fairgrounds Farmers Market, Allentown PA

November 12, 2014 / / 1 Comment

REVIEW

We tend to think of farmers markets as a source for locally grown tomatoes and corn, sweet and pristine berries picked that morning, and root vegetables still caked with moist soil. So a farmers market in Pennsylvania steel and coal country, in December, would turn up little of interest, right? Not so! Continue reading

A clam roll overflows with beautifully fried belly clams.

White Cottage Snack Bar, Woodstock VT

November 11, 2014 / / 0 Comments

REVIEW

The remnants of Hurricane Irene passed through Vermont, along the Connecticut River valley, on August 28th, 2011. The storm dumped massive amounts of rain on the region, swelling creeks and streams to powerful torrents which washed away bridges and businesses that were unlucky enough to lie in their paths. One such business was the White Cottage Snack Bar, a Woodstock summer tradition since 1957. We’d seen pictures of the damage to the White Cottage and, five weeks after Irene, we had a first-hand look at the devastation. It was clear to us that the White Cottage’s days were over forever. What do we know? It was back in business for summer 2012! Continue reading

Maple French Toast, garnished with caramelized bananas, bacon marmalade, and walnuts. Stunningly good!

Original General Store, Pittsfield VT

October 30, 2014 / / 0 Comments

REVIEW

What’s happening to the Vermont general store? It’s actually quite simple. They are becoming unnecessary, made obsolete by highways and easy access to the big boxes. It’s amazing that they’ve lasted as long as they have. And yet… there are large constituencies that mourn their continued disappearance. There are the old-time Vermonters who have grown up with general stores, the Vermont newcomers who came here, to some degree, precisely because this was a region that had clung to the old ways, and the tourists (fueling a large part of the local economy), who want to experience the Vermont of legend and lore. Continue reading

Barnacles on a weather-beaten lobster are a good sign, indicating that the creature hasn't shed its shell in a while.

Beal’s Lobster Pier, Southwest Harbor ME

October 16, 2014 / / 0 Comments

REVIEW

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

Willis and Tina Wood run one of the last remaining boiled cider production facilities in the country.

Wood’s Cider Mill, Springfield VT

October 9, 2014 / / 0 Comments

REVIEW

Boiled cider. Not cider syrup, or essence of apple, or apple nectar. Boiled cider. Why boiled cider? Because, with true New England logic, it starts with cider. And then it’s boiled. What remains after the volume is reduced about 85% is dark and opaque. It’s sold not in the kind of sleek and sexy bottle indicative of a rare and prized delicacy found in expensive urban food emporiums, but in a utilitarian jar that might hold generic white distilled vinegar, basic square black and white label, with red inverted triangle in the middle, glued front and center.  Continue reading

They were out of the extra-wide zep rolls, so they built our large zep using regular long rolls. Since they also came from the Conshohocken Bakery, they had that distinctive soft/chewy texture.

Lou’s Steak Shop, Norristown PA

September 22, 2014 / / 1 Comment

REVIEW

We’re sitting at the counter enjoying our sandwiches when the cook addresses the old man eating soup and crackers to our left: “You doin’ OK? Are these people bothering you?” He motions toward us. The man smiles and continues spooning into his bowl of soup. “What kind of shake you got?” Now he’s talking to us. Our waitress fixed us a superlative chocolate shake. He scrunched up his face. “I only like banella shakes. You know banella? The little kids down the street, they come in here asking for banella, now they got me saying it.” Continue reading

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