Oct 17

Diners

Diners are a primarily Northeast phenomenon. You rarely find them in the South or on the West Coast. I’m not sure why this is. It could be due to the proliferation of fast-food and family restaurant (e.g., Applebee’s) franchises, where everything is prepackaged, portion-controlled, and lacking creativity. There’s also the cafeteria culture in the South that swamps almost everything else. (Word to the wise: When planning a trip to a Southern cafeteria for Sunday lunch or brunch, go before or well after the local Baptist churches let out. Momma and Granny deserve a Sabbath from cooking, too.)

The diner experience follows a particular pattern. Some diners resemble silver railroad cars; others are large freestanding buildings. The exterior is often festooned with neon lights (or LED’s, for the more eco-conscious). The decor is usually lots of red vinyl booths along the walls with tables in the middle of the floor. You can sit at the bar near the kitchen as well. A glass case featuring a wide variety of desserts greets you at the entrance, a blatant invitation to overconsumption.  The menu features everything from breakfasts to burgers to full meals. There’s always a kids’ menu. The paper placemats feature ads for local businesses. Some of the waitstaff have worked at the same diner since The Beatles first appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show. As a result, they can steer you to the right item on the menu. And, of course, they will counsel you to save room for dessert!

The epicenter of diner culture is downstate New York and New Jersey. Any self-respecting town will have at least one diner. We went to two on this last trip; one in Goshen and the other in Nanuet. Many diners in the area are run by Greek families. At the Goshen diner, I had a Greek omelet with feta cheese. Curiously, there were few other Greek items on that menu–and no baklava in the dessert case.

The closest thing to a diner I’ve found in the Seattle area is the Wedgwood Broiler, in our old neighborhood. It’s the anchor business at the north end of a strip shopping center, adjacent to the QFC grocery store. The Broiler is a throwback to the 1950’s, and the menu hasn’t changed much since then. The menu features diner standards such as liver and onions. No molecular gastronomy, no swizzles of sauce on a plate, or arugula in the salad.  It’s just straightforward food that my grandmother would recognize as such. That may be the reason behind the staying power of diners in the metro New York area: After you’ve dined at some fancy expense-account restaurant in the city, you can relax with some real food.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2015/10/17/diners/

Oct 16

The Energizer Pepper Plants

I disposed of the tomato and basil plants before we left on vacation, and I was sure that the pepper plants would be compost by the time we returned. Surprisingly, there were 6 peppers on the padron plant and several blossoms on the cubanelle. I tend to doubt that the latter will have time to set fruit before the first frost, but a woman can dream.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2015/10/16/the-energizer-pepper-plants/

Oct 12

The Cookbook Store Pilgrimages

The beauty of New York is that I know of two cookbook stores there to feed my fix. On Saturday we visited Kitchen Arts and Letters on the Upper East Side. I’ve been visiting them for nearly 20 years. Since Julian said, “You buy them, you schlep them”, I restrained myself. I saw a new volume by George Greenstein: A Jewish Baker’s Pastry Secrets. His Secrets of a Jewish Baker is one of my favorite books. Unfortunately, Greenstein died in 2012. His daughters and grandson constructed the newer book from computer files. Julian has already requested a babka out of the book.

On Sunday we went to lower Manhattan in search of Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks. Bonnie deals mostly in used editions. Her store used to be on 10th Street in the West (Greenwich) Village, but she lost her lease last year. A fan of hers offered her a space on East 2nd Street, between Bowery and 2nd Avenue, for an unheard-of ten year lease. I got four books from her two years ago and had them shipped back to Seattle. This time I bought three books: The Cooking of Southwest France by Paula Wolfert; Dori Sanders’s Country Cooking; and Recipes into Type by Joan Whitman and Dolores Simon. The first was because of our trip to southwestern France in June. Dori Sanders is the originator of the One True Cobbler®, which was the topic of an earlier blog post. Finally, the last book should be required reading for anyone even pondering writing a cookbook or recipe blog. I have kvetched in another post about the sorry state of cookbook editing these days. When I approached the counter with my booty, Bonnie wisely asked, “Can I ship them for you?” How did she know? Now once we get home I need to figure out where to put these new tomes. Might be time for another cookbook cull.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2015/10/12/the-cookbook-store-pilgrimages/

Oct 12

Suggestions for Driving in New York City

DON’T! At least if you value your sanity and your car. The trains, buses, and subways can get you around relatively painlessly. You won’t have to worry about parking on the street or in a sketchy garage for an exorbitant price. When we went into Manhattan on Saturday for my honorary niece’s Bat Mitzvah, we took the train to and from Tarrytown. We then took the subway from Grand Central Station to the Upper East Side. We didn’t have a long wait for the train out of town.

On this trip to New York, we noticed a new after-market option to make parallel parking a little less risky to your paint job: the Bumper Bully. This is a black rubber mat that attaches inside your car trunk and hangs over your rear bumper. Bumper Badger is another brand we saw around town. As one reviewer on Amazon said, it may be better than nothing. However, my suggestion is to reduce the need for a Bumper Bully and take mass transit.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2015/10/12/suggestions-for-driving-in-new-york-city/

Oct 12

A Philosophy of Hotels

When we’re just traveling from point A to point B and need a place to flop for the night, our requirements are simple: Clean, comfortable, quiet, and convenient. Cheap doesn’t hurt, either. Free Wi-Fi is essential, especially for blog and email purposes. Complementary companion animals, i.e., insects, are NOT welcome. We once stayed at a motel in Waterton, Alberta (just north of Glacier National Park) where the room was infested with mosquitoes. My nephew and his wife were besieged by bedbugs when they stayed at a hotel in Tampa.

When we’re staying somewhere for a longer period of time, amenities are useful. Most of the time we’re out and about, so we don’t need anything fancy. We never use room service. Having a complementary breakfast is good, but not essential. An indoor pool is helpful, especially when I was training for triathlons. One year we went to Harrison Hot Springs for Memorial Day weekend and I was able to swim indoors and outdoors in naturally-heated pools.

We occasionally stay at bed and breakfasts in unfamiliar areas to have local guidance about things to do and see. I mentioned in an earlier post the wonderful B&B we stayed in during our trip to France in June. We’ve also stayed at B&B’s in remote places such as Jasper National Park in Canada and Bozeman, Montana. Sometimes B&B’s come with the right kind of complementary companion animals: cats and dogs.

I’ve never been a fan of all-inclusive resort hotels. I stayed at one outside Orlando for a conference once and developed claustrophobia. The hotel and the grounds were literally under a bubble. I didn’t rent a car on that trip, so I couldn’t escape. It made the travel reimbursement easier because everything was on one bill, but I’d rather have some opportunity to explore between talks and poster sessions–or at least have a meal at a local restaurant.

Finding accommodations on the road can be a crapshoot, even if you limit yourself to chain hotels. We try to make reservations well in advance for popular locations like San Francisco or Washington or for holiday weekends. We take advantage of reviews on TripAdvisor and other sites to winnow down our options. For the Nyack part of this trip, many hotels in the area were booked solid. The hotel we wound up staying at was a wedding factory. They hosted guests for at least three receptions and one high school reunion on Saturday. Fortunately, our room was far away from the reception halls so I could sleep.

The most important consideration in choosing a hotel is how you spend your time on the road. If you enjoy the full-service treatment, a resort hotel may suit you better than it does us. People with kids need different amenities than singles. If you get around in a wheelchair, you should make sure that the hotel can accommodate your needs prior to making a reservation. If you express your lodging needs during the reservation process, you’ll be able to select a hotel that will work for you. Enjoy the trip!

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2015/10/12/a-philosophy-of-hotels/

Oct 08

Nostalgia Day

We left Hannibal this morning to spend the day in Ithaca. Julian and I both got degrees from Cornell, and this is where we met. So how much nostalgia can two people cram into one day? Plenty!
We started off in Collegetown, which has a few leftover establishments from our time here. First we went past the (literal) ruins of the Chapter House and the Royal Palms bars. We had lunch at the Vietnam Restaurant, one of my default dining options from grad school. Aladdin’s, site of our first lunch date, is still in town.
After lunch we wandered around campus. For the first time, he showed me his old haunts in the physics department. I went to visit the nutrition building and ran into one of the administrative assistants from my time there. We also checked out the campus store and got swag at 20% off.
Dinner was at a Turkish restaurant north of downtown with friends. After that we got caffeine at a local chain called Gimme Coffee. We had to make one last foodie pilgrimage for the day, to Wegman’s. For those of you not from the northeast, Wegman’s is the killer grocery store chain hereabouts. If one was built in Seattle, it would clean up. Our beloved Central Market looks like a convenience store in comparison.

Tomorrow morning we’ll make one last trip to an old haunt, Collegetown Bagels. We had many breakfasts there back in the day. After that, we’ll head to Nyack.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2015/10/08/nostalgia-day/

Oct 08

Rudy’s!

Rudy’s (generally referred to in my family as the fish fry stand) is an institution in Oswego. Generations of locals and more than a few tourists have made pilgrimages there during the seven months that the restaurant is open each year. Naturally, we had to do so on this trip.

When I was a kid, the menu consisted of burgers, fish sandwiches, Texas Hots, Coney (a pork-based hot dog similar to bratwurst) Hots, fries, and onion rings. More recently Rudy’s has diversified its menu to include other fried seafood and sides. Rudy’s put its nearest competitor, Jack’s, out of business years ago. The soft-serve ice cream stand down the road, Bev’s, seems to be next given that Rudy’s has added an ice cream concession.

The ordering experience at Rudy’s hasn’t changed in 50 years. You belly up to the counter and place your order. The counter person writes it on a receipt and a paper plate. The paper plate goes back to the fry stations, and the guys (I’ve never seen a woman staff a fryer) fill the order. When it’s ready, the guy running the french fry fryer calls out the order and the counter person who placed it: “Two fish and chips, one coney hot, Linda.” (Linda was Rudy’s wife–he passed away many years ago.) Rudy’s does not do credit cards or checks. There’s a handy ATM at the edge of the parking lot to help you pay for your meal.

While there are a few tables inside Rudy’s, most folks eat in their cars or at picnic tables. With the latter, you get a view of Lake Ontario. You also get harassed by seagulls (aka flying rats). The specimen posing behind me in the below picture left disappointed. Some of the gulls will not take no for an answer, especially when small children are involved. Dodging gulls is just another part of the Rudy’s experience.

Last year my high school class had its reunion and made a pilgrimage to Rudy’s. I wasn’t able to make it because I was scheduled to visit town two weeks later for my nephew’s wedding. My former third grade teacher (and mother of one of my classmates) was befuddled that her daughter made a beeline from the southern part of the state

At Rudy's, with one of the locals.

At Rudy’s, with one of the locals.

just to go to Rudy’s. “Is it a nostalgia thing?” she asked me. In a way, yes.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2015/10/08/rudys/

Oct 07

Bad News for Leaf-Peepers

People who drive around Central New York to gawk at falling leaves this fall could be sorely disappointed. In years past, the leaves would be near peak color at this time of year. However, climate change has left its mark. The leaves are slow to change color and are relatively muted. My brother-in-law has been clearing trees on a property outside town for a future home, and he’s noticed that the leaves are just falling off the trees without changing color. Julian thinks that the trees are just scared that Stan is coming after them with the chainsaw. This pattern reminds me of what passed for autumn in Dallas. The trees might be colored for one day, and then fall off the trees.

The view from the parking lot of Mom's apartment. The leaves are pretty muted in color.

The view from the parking lot of Mom’s apartment. The leaves are pretty muted in color.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2015/10/07/bad-news-for-leaf-peepers/

Oct 06

Destiny and the Dinosaur

No, this is not a post on evolution, creationism, or anything in between. We are visiting my mother and sister in my hometown of Hannibal. This is a small farming town north of Syracuse that hasn’t changed much in population since I grew up. Several of my high school classmates and a few former teachers still live in town, but for the most part I can come here without recognizing or being recognized by anyone in the grocery store or on the town square.

Yesterday Julian had a hankering to have lunch at the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que in Syracuse. On the way we stopped at the Destiny USA mega-shopping mall. When it first opened, it was called the Carousel Mall because of the antique carousel installed near the food court. As enclosed shopping malls fell out of favor, the developer morphed it into a shopping and entertainment venue and renamed it Destiny USA. It has an electric go-kart track, ropes course, bowling alley, and several video game arcades along with the same mall stores you’d find in Sheboygan or Seattle. This strategy can make sense in Syracuse, since the climate is not conducive to outdoor recreation other than hunting, cross-country skiing, and snowmobiling 5 months out of the year (if you’re lucky). However, getting out of Destiny USA reminds me of the lyrics in Hotel California

: “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.” It took us a good 20 minutes to get out of the parking lot and back onto route 81. Do not rely on your cell phone’s map application to get you out of that mall alive.

The Dinosaur started out as a couple of guys and a smoker serving food at biker rallies, but they settled down and bought the restaurant in downtown Syracuse in 1988. (The Dinosaur still caters; they did the BBQ lunch at my Cornell reunion 12 years ago.) They’ve since added restaurants in other cities in the northeast. They even have a restaurant in Chicago now. They have live music on the weekends, mostly blues and rock. We originally parked our rental VW Beetle in the motorcycle parking space, but thought better of it when we realized that a couple of bikers could turn the car upside down with their bare hands. The ambiance is decidedly roadhouse-biker bar. The walls have old posters of blues concerts from juke joints near and far, with old license plates. The waitstaff, bartenders, and cooks are liberally festooned with piercings and tattoos. They had a variety of beers on tap and in the bottle, but they had the most important BBQ lunch beverage from my point of view: Unsweetened, unflavored iced tea–with refills.

The bar at the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que.

The bar at the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que.

As for the food, we did a divide and conquer strategy. Julian ordered the ribs and I had a brisket sandwich. Each order came with two sides. He got black beans and rice and pulled pork collard greens, while I got french fries and homemade applesauce (Syracuse is in apple country). Both meats were cooked with the requisite amount of smoke. The collards were superb, especially cut with pulled pork. The applesauce was made the way I do: Apples cooked with the peels, then ground through the coarse filter of a food mill. We definitely ate our fill.

Any self-respecting barbecue joint has its own sauces and condiments on the table and for sale, and the Dinosaur is no exception. It has two sauces, Sensuous Slathering and Wango Tango. The latter is a bit spicier than the former. The garlic chipotle and habanero table sauces were both excellent. They also have a seasoned salt rub called Cajun Foreplay. We bought some of the rub and habanero table sauce (Devil’s Duel) for our refrigerator’s Arsenal of Democracy on our way out. The Dinosaur also has a cookbook, which I bought several years ago. Definitely getting lost for.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2015/10/06/destiny-and-the-dinosaur/

Oct 06

The Central New York Car Culture

Some places are known to have large numbers of a particular type of car. Seattle, for example, probably has more Priuses than anywhere else in Washington state. Here in my birth turf of Central New York, the major vehicles on the road are trucks and SUV’s. I can understand trucks since this is a rural part of the state, but the preponderance of SUV’s is baffling to me. In my family, about the only one with a car is my nephew’s wife. Even my mother has an SUV. Nevertheless, our rental VW Beetle sticks out like a sore thumb in most parking lots hereabouts.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2015/10/06/the-central-new-york-car-culture/

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