the road | the food | a new direction
Two writers for Pensacola Today tried eight burgers around town, looking for the city’s best. They agreed that The Blue Dot, a barbeque joint, is the source of Pensacola’s finest burger (they loved the buttered bun). The Tin Cow, a burger specialist, finished second (the garlic aioli won them over). They also sampled burgers from Jerry’s Drive-In, open since 1939, and Tops, where the Tater Tots “are a must.” See the story and photos here.
The Maine Human Rights Commission ruled last year that Moody’s Diner, of Waldoboro, Maine had discriminated against an employee on religious grounds, retaliated against that employee for pursuing the matter legally, and altered the conditions of her employment as a result. As the parties were in the process of trying to settle the matter out of court, Maine Governor LePage stepped in. He wants the Commission to reconsider the case, and is withholding revenues due the commission in order to coerce the commission into acceding to his wishes. The Commission will discuss the possibility of reopening the case on Monday.
Parkside Candy was founded in Buffalo by George Kaiser in 1927. In the 1980s current owner Philip Buffamonte purchased the historic candy store and ice cream parlor from Mr. Kaiser’s estate. He is now sole owner, and a hands-on owner at that – you might see him molding Easter bunnies or making lollipops. The Buffalo News spoke with Mr. Buffamonte about Parkside, and what it’s like to run one of Western New York’s classic candy stores. Read the interview here.
Betty Lassard agreed to run her family’s fish shack on Minnesota’s North Shore, but only for two weeks. It was 28 years before she left. Along the way, Betty began selling donuts, added a grill, and then, with a decision that would change her life, made and sold pies. By the time she sold the business in 1984 Betty’s Pies, of Two Harbors, MN, had become one of the region’s major destinations. Even after selling the business, Betty could often be found in the kitchen, giving the current owners pointers and recipes. Betty Lassard, whose license plate was once PIELADY, passed away Thursday night at the age of 90. We send our condolences to the family and friends of Ms. Lassard.
The first branch of Graeter’s west of the Mississippi has recently opened in the Forum Food Court on the casino floor of Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. Gamblers, or gamers as they like to call them here, will now have the chance to drown their sorrows in Graeter’s unique French Pot-method ice cream, made two-and-a-half gallons at a time. Apparently, every good place to eat in America will eventually have a branch in Sin City.
Last month Kreuz Market of Lockhart, Texas opened a second location in the town of Bryan, a little less than two hours east of Austin. Kreuz owner Keith Schmidt has family connections to the rapidly growing Bryan-College Station region, and it seemed like a good spot for expansion. Lucky Houstonians have just saved about an hour-and-a-half off their round trip to the sauceless, forkless Kreuz! Read more in The Eagle of Bryan-College Station.
Food travelers know well the pleasures of dining on a Silver Butter Knife steak at the 69-year-old Murray’s of Minneapolis. But do you know how that Silver Butter Knife moniker originated? The Minneapolis Star Tribune raids its historical files on Murray’s, resulting in some fascinating reading about the original purchase of the building in 1946, the developing reputation of Murray’s, the use of 30 pounds of butter a day just for its famous garlic toast, and, yes, the man who went around the country awarding silver and gold butter knives to steak restaurants.
Canlis, in its own words, is “the swankest, dressiest restaurant in Seattle.” When we dined there we were won over by the luxurious cuisine and seduced by the stunning views and caring hospitality. They’ve been open for 64 years and are about to make only their fifth chef transition, as Brady Williams, formerly of Roberta’s in Brooklyn, New York will take over the kitchen at Canlis on April 13th. Read more about Canlis’ search for a new chef, how they came to hire Mr. Williams, and how they plan to balance tradition and relevance on the menu in this Seattle Met story.
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.
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
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!
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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