A Morning Menu of Stories We Think You’ll Find Interesting
Eat Pizza, Drink Beer, Help the Community
The Portland Pie Co., based in Portland, Maine, was founded in 1997. PPC offers four kinds of dough, including basil, wheat, garlic, and beer, and exotic combinations of toppings. They also like to be good community citizens. They work with area groups by often designating one evening, usually a Thursday, when they donate a portion of their receipts to a designated charity or community group. Usually the donation is something like a buck a pizza.
This past Thursday, for instance, the Scarborough, ME PPC donated a buck a pie to Scarborough High School’s Oak Hill Players. The Thursday before, the Nashua, NH PPC donated a buck a pie to the Nashua Education Foundation. Next Thursday, the three Maine Portland Pie Co. stores will donate a buck a pie AND a buck a Shipyard beer towards the Scarborough Land Trust, an organization that preserves land in Scarborough for public benefit. Eat pizza, drink beer, help the community – not a bad deal.
Changes at Kentucky’s Bon Ton Chicken Joint
There once was a restaurant in Henderson, Kentucky named The Colonel’s Lair. Their fried chicken was said to be beyond compare. One of the people who worked at The Colonel’s Lair was a woman named Donna King. Eventually, The Colonel’s Lair was no more, and Donna King moved on to the Bon Ton Mini Mart, also in Henderson, bringing The Colonel’s Lair chicken recipe with her. People from far and wide sang the praises of Bon Ton’s fried chicken.
A few years ago, after working there for many years, Donna purchased the Bon Ton. Earlier this year, Donna King decided to retire and sold Bon Ton. The restaurant closed recently for major renovations and a deep cleaning. It’ll reopen on Monday with a new name: Colonel’s Mini Mart. The new owners say they obtained Donna’s/The Colonel’s Lair’s chicken recipe. The question is, did they? And is that enough? Comments about the fried chicken under the new owners, before the recent closure, indicate some mixed feelings. Some say the chicken is as good as ever. Others say that without Donna it’s been inconsistent. Even with the recipe, can the chicken remain the same without Donna? We shall see.
Frozen Crinkle Beats Fresh-Cut Fries!
Frozen crinkle-cut fries are returning to Shake Shack.
About a year ago, Shake Shack switched from frozen, crinkle-cut fries to fresh-cut Idaho potatoes, twice-fried. And you know what? Shake Shack customers clamored for the return of the crinkle fries. So the Shack announced that starting November, all Shake Shacks will be returning to the frozen, crinkle-cut fry (though these will be all-natural). Go figure!
Reporting Back from the Southern Foodways Alliance Symposium
A small section of the steam table at Silver Sands in Nashville. Silver Sands presented their cuisine at the symposium’s steam table lunch.
The Southern Foodways Alliance held their annual symposium in Nashville last weekend. Nashville writer Jennifer Justus reports back from the weekend event on the discussions and the food. Said Thomas Williams, ” Through the lunch line, everyone is equal.”
Max’s Italian Beef in Chicago Closing
After 35 years of serving Italian beef and ghetto fries to Chicagoland, Max’s is closing their doors.
Max’s Italian Beef announced just a couple of days ago that, after 35 years in business, they will be permanently closing today. They haven’t given a lot of explanation for the closure, other than business is tough. Max’s had become famous for their ghetto fries, topped with an assortment of sauces and gravies and cheeses, with peppers and onions.
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