Roadfood Digest

A new Shake Shack, in NYC, opens at 366 Columbus Avenue, near 77th Street, next month (October).  See the news in New York Magazine.  The photo above is of the original Madison Square Park location (at 23rd Street); see Stephen Rushmore Jr.'s Roadfood.com review.

Tourist stops in Le Mars, Iowa (known as The Ice Cream Capital of the World) feared a drop in business this summer, what with the high gasoline prices, and the completion of the Highway 75 bypass that allows north-south travelers to avoid passing through town.  Turned out business has been as good as ever!  North-south traffic through town has dropped, but east-west traffic has increased.  And “staycation” visitors have boosted business at places like Bob’s Drive-Inn and Blue Bunny Ice Cream Parlor.  Read Magdalene Biesanz’s story in the Le Mars Daily Sentinel.

That’s a Bob’s hot dog pictured above, with loosemeat topping.  Michael Stern, in his Roadfood.com review of Bob's, says "these dogs are natural-casing beauties with a real snap to their skin."  See also the Roadfood.com review of Blue Bunny.

Christopher Hirst writes about his pursuit of the perfect hamburger for London’s The Independent.  Along the way he throws in a good deal of history and research.  Some of the keys to a good burger: lots of fat, and added water.  Did you know that a third of Americans will have eaten ground beef in the previous 24 hours?  And that, in Great Britain, Burger King serves something called The Burger, which consists of Japanese Wagyu beef with white truffle, onion tempura prepared in Cristal, and Pata Negra ham?  It will run you £95.  Now that’s a Whopper!

Pictured above is a hubcap burger from Cotham’s Mercantile in Scott, Arkansas, from Michael Stern’s Roadfood.com review.

Kim Severson of The New York Times practically traces a Roadfood.com route through central New York, visiting a slew of Roadfood favorites (although Roadfood is never mentioned), including Jim’s BBQ in Candor (Roadfood.com review; see photo below), Dinosaur in Syracuse (Roadfood.com review), Sharkey’s in Binghamton (Roadfood.com review), Doug’s Fish Fry in Skaneateles (Roadfood.com review of the Cortland location), the Ithaca Farmers Market (Roadfood.com review; see photo above), and the Cornell Dairy Bar (Roadfood.com review)!  She might have added more than the very few seemingly token eateries that Roadfood hasn’t already written about, to help make it look at least a little more legit… nonetheless, it’s a fun read.

Bill Cosby eats free.  All others pay cash.  Mr. Cosby told the Washington Post about Ben’s Chili Bowl half-smokes: “You can describe it the same way a wine connoisseur would be able to tell difference between a pinot noir and a merlot."  Ben’s Chili Bowl celebrated 50 years of half-smokes this week with a show Thursday night at the Lincoln Theatre in D.C. featuring Mr. Cosby and Roberta Flack.  And yesterday, there was a block party celebration in front of Ben’s with Mayor Fenty and Ben’s founder Ben Ali.  Read all about Ben’s Chili Bowl in The Washington Post.  Here’s a companion piece in the Post.  And here’s a Washington Post photo gallery of Ben’s.  And Aamer Madhani here writes a post-block party ode to Ben’s for The Swamp, the Chicago Tribune’s Washington blog.

See the Roadfood.com reviews of Ben’s Chili Bowl.

The title of this post describes the burnt ends sandwich, pictured above, that can be found at L C’s Bar-B-Q in Kansas City, Missouri.  Crispy, drippy, and luscious can also describe this impossibly overstuffed “sandwich” and you’d be hard-pressed to find burnt ends any better in Kansas City.  Jane and Michael Stern tell Lynne Rossetto Kasper that L C’s is ready to take its place alongside the other Kansas City greats in the pantheon of definitive KC barbecue.  Where do they tell her this?  Why, on The Splendid Table, Lynne’s savory weekend radio show, of course!  If you can’t tune in this weekend, you can listen online.

Check out the Roadfood.com reviews of L C’s here.

 

Yakisoba noodles are big at the Oregon State Fair in Salem.  How big?  Last year, over 14,000 pounds of the noodles were sold to the 357,000 people that attended the fair!  This being Oregon, local wines and microbrews also take center stage, at the Beer Garden and the Oregon Wine Patio, where local cheeses are also available.  Don’t miss the stand operated by the Oregon Dairy Women, where you can enjoy their famous thick, rich, soft-serve ice cream.  They are said to make some kick-ass shakes, too. More...

The 139th Nebraska State Fair begins today (Friday, August 22nd) in Lincoln, and will run through Labor Day.  Some of the food-themed events that caught our eye: Jim Victor will be making sculptures out of 250-pound blocks of cheese (!); the UNL Food Products exhibition will showcase Nebraska foods; there will be a fiberglass milking cow; contests: corn-shucking, and watermelon, pie, and Jell-O eating competitions.  The most interesting-sounding things to eat include chocolate milk and strawberry milk from Legacy Dairy; Runzas; prime rib, roast beef, and beef hot dogs from the Nebraska Cattlemans Beef Pit; and homemade pie from the United Methodist Ministries.

The music’s all free (with paid fair admission) at the Nebraska State Fair, and there’s plenty of car racing, bull riding, monster trucks, and demolition derbies.  See the fair website for all the details.

Colorado green chile, Indian fry bread, menudo, burritos, barbecue, corn-on-the-cob, pork chops on a stick, nori rolls, margaritas: these are just a few of the Colorado and Southwest delicacies you can sample at this year's Colorado State Fair in Pueblo.  Show off your cooking skills in the Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie Crust Pie Baking Championship, the Ghirardelli Chocolate Championship, Hidden Valley Dressings Recipe Contest, or the SPAM recipe contest. More...

Michigan is said to have held America’s first state fair, in 1849.  That fair was held in Detroit.  The site has bounced around since that first fair, but it's been in Detroit since 1947.  Food-wise, the Polish Kitchen is always a big hit, with kapusta, dill pickle soup, pierogi, kielbasa, and golumpki.  We'd make a beeline on arrival for the dairy building, where 50 cents buys all-you-can-drink chocolate milk.  If that doesn't satisfy your chocolate tooth you can always head to Ryba's for some Mackinac Island chocolate pecan fudge.

Lots of eating contests: cherry pie, corn, spaghetti, donuts.  You can see the Royal Lipizzaner Stallions, or a bull-riding competition, or ride an elephant at the Anastasini Circus.  See the fair website for more information.