the road | the food | a new direction
What makes the Sonoran hot dog? Is it enough to wrap a dog with bacon before cooking it? Does it have to be inserted into a bolillo? Or does it only become a Sonoran dog when the strangely compatible array of toppings — beans, tomatoes, onions, mustard, crema and/or mayo — lands atop the package? Dalina Castellanos writes about the Sonoran dogs’ origins in Hermosillo, Mexico, how it took hold in Tucson, Arizona, and Los Angeles’ eventual bastardization of the concept. Check it out.
Voodoo Doughnut has just opened their first store outside of the U.S., in Taiwan in a repurposed old tobacco factory warehouse that now features local artists and designers (sounds like the perfect spot for Voodoo!). They hope this will be the first of up to 20 Voodoos in Japan and Taiwan, although Dunkin’ Donuts, Mister Donut, and Krispy Kreme have not exactly taken the region by storm. One early report: liked the doughnuts, not the premium prices.
The Alabama state tourism department has declared 2015 the Year of Alabama Barbecue, and as part of the promotion they have created the Alabama Barbecue Hall of Fame, which features 29 veteran barbecue restaurants in its inaugural class. From Golden Rule Bar-B-Q in Irondale (which is the oldest barbecue restaurant in Alabama – they opened in 1891!) to Whitt’s Barbecue in Athens (opened in 1966 – they bent the rules slightly) all 29 inductees have been smoking meat for 50 years or more. I see a road trip in our future! Check out the entire list here.
A couple of decades ago it seemed as if every American chef with a name and a reputation to promote set up shop in Las Vegas, NV. A more recent trend has taken that idea to the country’s regional food specialists. As difficult as it once would have been to imagine, you can now find branches of Buffalo’s Anchor Bar and New York’s Di Fara pizzeria in Sin City! Do a little digging and you’ll also find Michigan pasties, Detroit-style pizza, and even the towering pastrami on rye sandwiches of Manhattan’s famed Carnegie Deli. Read more about this new twist on the Vegas food scene in Larry Olmsted’s piece in Forbes.
One of our favorite dishes will soon be available in three locations in suburban Milwaukee! Hoppel poppel is a Midwest breakfast specialty of eggs scrambled with chunks of potatoes and salami, and sometimes other vegetables. What makes the hoppel poppel at Benji’s deli so special is the use of kosher salami, which scents the whole mish-mosh with a touch of garlic. We like to order ours in the super configuration, which adds peppers, onions, and mushrooms (and cheese, but we ask them to hold it – cheese don’t go!). Continue reading
We learned over the winter that Gus’s World Famous Fried Chicken planned to open in Atlanta this year, as part of their big national rollout, and we learned exactly where. The latest news is that the good people of Atlanta will be tearing into Gus’s thighs and breasts by the end of the summer. It’s an eagerly anticipated opening in these parts, though it’s not as if there’s any shortage of great fried chicken in the ATL.
Carnegie Deli of New York City has been closed since late April, which is when Con Edison (the New York utility) shut off gas to the building when it discovered that the Carnegie had been stealing about half of its gas, for over five years, by diverting the supply before it reached the meter. The Carnegie has been in the process of paying for the stolen gas and paying various fines, and then they will have to have work done on the building before Con Edison will turn the gas on. The deli’s lawyer said the Carnegie will remain closed for at least two more weeks.
There are two kinds of goetta fans: those who live in or come from the Cincinnati area, and those who have received their advanced degrees in regional eating. Yes, for some reason goetta (pronounced as if the “o” wasn’t there), unlike its close Philadelphia cousin scrapple, has never ventured beyond its hometown. Goetta is a loaf made with ground pork and/or beef and pinhead oats (which are the coarse oats also known as steel-cut or Irish). It’s then sliced and fried, often for breakfast. Continue reading
We are very saddened to pass on the news that George Nopoulos, owner of perhaps the oldest soda fountain in the country, passed away Sunday at the age of 95. The Wilton Candy Kitchen, of Wilton, Iowa, was founded in 1860 and purchased by Mr. Nopoulos’ father in 1910. George started working at the fountain in 1925. He met his future wife, Thelma, there, and proposed to her in the Candy Kitchen in 1949. Continue reading
“[N]o Southern road trip itinerary brings more pleasure than a west-to-east trek across North Carolina.” So says Bill Addison, as he and two cohorts from Eater made that trip, sampling the fare from 26 restaurants, both rural and urban, along the way. They check out the two major regional styles of barbecue, fall for the Tar Heel State’s way with biscuits, and enjoy boiled peanuts elevated by the regions chefs into risottos and ragouts. Want “the best damn mac and cheese in the country”? It can be found as macaroni au gratin, made with cheddar, Jarlsberg, and Grano Padano, at Poole’s Diner of Raleigh. Essential reading for any LAF fan.
Cheap gas, 69 cent a bag ice, live longhorns, donkeys, zebras, and camels, karaoke nights that require off-duty cops to direct traffic — and if that’s not enough, some of the best, and cheapest, tacos to be had in the Lone Star State. Yes, Fuel City in Dallas is not your ordinary gas station. Word has traveled and made the concept a success, so that a second Fuel City opened in Lufkin, and a third will open later this year in Mesquite. Latest news is that a fourth Fuel City will open in Fort Worth next summer, with a fifth to follow near Joe Pool Lake. A cheap-gas-and-tacos dynasty in the making — God Bless America!
The avian flu has decimated the Midwest egg-laying flock, and the result has been skyrocketing egg prices that are not expected to subside for a year or two. Garcia’s Kitchen, for instance, expects costs, in eggs alone, to increase about $45,000 a year. For now, at least, Albuquerque restaurants like Frontier and Garcia’s are resisting raising menu prices, choosing instead to absorb the increased egg costs. For more on how ABQ restaurants are dealing with rising egg prices, see this Albuquerque Journal story.
One of Chicago’s big deep-dish pizza specialists, Giordano’s, is planning to enter the Denver, Colorado market with a company-owned restaurant by summer of next year. A location has not yet been chosen but downtown is a likely landing spot. That first Denver restaurant will be followed by additional franchised stores. How’d they choose Denver? They judge suitability by the volume of mail-ordered frozen pizzas that get sent there! Read more here.
Fall River, Massachusetts is one of our favorite towns to enjoy a day grazing. From urban hot dog joints topped with sweet-spiced chili to substantial British pork pies to the Portuguese specialties emblematic of its cultural heritage, there’s no dearth of options in Fall River for the adventurous omnivore. At the end of the day’s buffet (and probably smack in the middle of it, too), a visit to one of the region’s many ice cream spots sounds like a terrific idea. Here’s a story from The Herald News detailing ten worthy candidates.
Eater spoke with Gary Bimonte of Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana (originally of New Haven, CT). If you are a pizza fanatic who swears by Pepe’s pies (we are and we do!), it’s required reading. Some key points: the current expansion to eight restaurants was spurred on by the fact that Frank Pepe has seven grandchildren, and one store won’t support seven families. They hope to open a new store every 18 months, reaching a total of 20-30 restaurants in the northeast (not, in our view, the “massive expansion” of the Eater headline, but significant). They’ll focus on college towns, with three to five total in the Boston region.
The first Arizona Shake Shack will open in Scottsdale next year, in Scottsdale Fashion Square at the corner of Scottsdale and Camelback. No word yet on the special concrete flavors planned for this desert location.
Can there be any doubt that Portland, Oregon is America’s donut capital? Apparently spurred on by Voodoo Doughnut‘s national acclaim, local entrepreneurs have attempted to out-Voodoo Voodoo. And judging by the results of the first ever Donut Deathmatch, held by Portland company Roundhouse, a “creative agency” (we don’t have a clue either), they have succeeded. Roundhouse rounded up donuts from seven of Portland’s finest donut artisans, including Voodoo, and the winner was declared to be Blue Star Donuts. Helen Bernhard Bakery finished second, and Pip’s Original was third. See the video below to witness the competition: Continue reading
Foursquare has analyzed, in some arcane and inscrutable way, the massive trove of data generated by their users for that eater’s paradise known as Charleston in South Carolina to produce a list of the 50 foods to eat along with the best places to eat them. You know what? Having recently spent a week in the Low Country we can say that, perhaps surprisingly, it’s not a bad list at all. We’d start with the addictive oyster sliders at The Ordinary and follow that up with Hominy Grill‘s benchmark shrimp and grits. After that, you’ve got 48 directions in which to head!
The Cookie Jar has achieved a reputation for its freshly made cookies that extends far beyond their Sioux Falls, South Dakota hometown. Cookies (and pies and cakes and cupcakes, which they also bake with particular expertise), of course require eggs. Unfortunately, the recent bird flu has resulted in the destruction of 40 million laying hens, creating a severe egg shortage that may take up to a year to ease. Watch the video below to see how The Cookie Jar is coping with the shortage of eggs and disappearance of its suppliers: Continue reading
We like to go to Abbott’s Lobster in the Rough of Noank, CT once each spring, get a giant lobster, and share it. We’ve gone as large as the 5- to 6-pound range, which is A LOT of lobster, probably too much for two hungry lobster lovers. But 18 pounds?! A lobster that large, they say, is probably about 40 years old. It’s quite a sight, and something about a lobster that large seems to make some folks a little sympathetic to its plight (Bruce = sympathy, Sue = dinner time!). Abbott’s, as they do each year, released an 18-pounder into the Long Island Sound on Wednesday. A video of this amazing creature follows: Continue reading
© 2024 Left at the Fork
Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑
