Pepe Pizza Artifact

Gathering material for our forthcoming Popular Plates pizza magazine, we came upon this blotter (for when people filled pens with ink) printed in 1938, the year after Frank Pepe moved from his original location (now The Spot) to the current address next door. The “delicious Italian food” headline is interesting because as far as anyone knows, there was nothing served other than Neapolitan tomato pies and clams on the half shell. Note the closing time! We asked Frank’s grandson Francis Roselli if the late hours were to accommodate second-shift workers and he replied that grandpops stayed open that long because, at the time, Wooster street was a thriving neighborhood and the pizzeria was a place people came to socialize as well as to eat.

Grimaldi’s Evicted From Brooklyn?

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Grimaldi’s (Roadfood.com review) is facing eviction from its under-the-Brooklyn-Bridge site for non-payment of rent.  A judge will hear the case Friday.  Even if Grimaldi’s wins that battle, they have apparently lost the war, as they no longer have the right to renew their lease and will have to be out by the fall anyway.  Either way, owner Frank Ciolli has plans to open a branch in Manhattan, and they continue to expand around the country (the restaurants outside of the Tri-State area are owned by Mr. Ciolli’s son).

The Great Plate Lunch

I recently scanned a few thousand 35mm slides and as I look through the digital images, I am getting very nostalgic for some Roadfood landmarks that are no more. Hap Townes was Nashville’s premier plate lunch place for decades; our story about it in January, 1994, was the first column we wrote for Gourmet magazine (like Hap’s, gone). In that story, we described a meal of “big silk‑textured butter beans shimmering in their juices, peppery puffs of hominy, sheaves of limp steamed cabbage with a jolt of fatback flavor, tomatoes stewed with shreds of toasted bread and sugar until the whole mélange becomes a zesty relish, apples cooked with cinnamon so they transform into translucent caramel candy, diminutive crowder peas whose insides wanted to burst from their taut skin, real mashed potatoes seasoned and swirled into a lumpy mound, and toothsome stewed raisins. Of course there was cornbread (there is every day at Hap's) ‑‑ a griddle-cooked tan oval cake with a fetching sour tang of buttermilk; and for dessert there was hefty cherry cobbler dished out steaming hot with an orb of ice cream quickly turning into rivulets of cream on top. The meats included country fried steak smothered in gravy, roast beef smothered in gravy, and chicken 'n' dumplings served in a bowl of thick, sunny gravy.” The story concluded with a quote from Hap: “I tell you, the meat-and-three business is wide open today. There are so few people doing it, and so many who long for it. I've told those I helped open restaurants, 'It's wide open IF you serve good food. You've got to make that cornbread hot and serve it straight off the griddle. You've got to put the fatback in your cabbage. You've got to mash those potatoes every day.'” Amen, brother!

19 Southern Guilty Pleasures

In the world of Roadfood, the South always seems to head the list for pleasurable eating, though we haven’t noticed a whole lot of guilt associated with that pleasure.  Nonetheless, The Tennessean, with the help of their readers, having been inspired by this weekend’s RC Cola & Moon Pie Festival in Bell Buckle, TN (the South also leads the way in wonderful town names), has compiled a list of 19 “guilty pleasure” Southern foods.  The list ranges from Nashville’s hot chicken, and fried chicken in general, to warm Moon Pies (11 seconds in the microwave) and Dr Pepper with salted peanuts poured in the bottle.  GooGoo Clusters, fried pickles, blackberry cobbler, and cheese grits also made the list.  For the complete roster of guilt, complete with mouth-watering photos, click on this link.

Pictured above, from ayersian’s Roadfood.com review of Price’s Chicken Coop of Charlotte, NC, are two more Southern specialties that made the list: Cheerwine and fried pie (that there grease-stained box filled with chicken?  Then Chris and Amy managed the hat trick of Southern decadence!).

13 Summer Treats in the Twin Cities

The Pioneer Press of St. Paul, MN has published a list of 13 of the best summer treats to be found in the Twin Cities region, and it’s tempting us to plan a long weekend there soon.  Here’s a sampling: house-made pineapple ginger ale by the pitcher at Brasa; blueberry pie at Lucia’s Bakery; ribs and greens from Pastor Hamilton’s Barbecue in front of St. John’s Church; a cone of the best ice cream in town at Izzy’s; and, a 90-minute drive away in Pepin, WI, a meal at the Roadfood-recommended Harbor View Cafe (that’s a photo, up top, of a dish called The Bishop’s Fish Pudding, from the Roadfood.com review of Harbor View) .  See the whole story and list here.

P&J Oyster Succumbs to the Oil Spill

The P&J Oyster Company of New Orleans, the oldest in the U.S. and the gold standard for fresh oysters in The Crescent City, has succumbed to the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.  According to the New York Times, the Sunseri family, who has owned and run the business since 1876, announced that today will be their last day of business.  This is a tragedy for the Sunseri family and their employees, and also a disaster for oyster lovers in New Orleans and the rest of the country.  Will the trials New Orleans has been put through these past years ever end?

100 Southern Things to Eat Before It’s Too Late

We’re sure that Jane & Michael Stern won’t mind our above adaptation of their timely tome, the wonderful 500 Things to Eat Before It’s Too Late. But we’re more than a little ashamed to have just stumbled upon this article from the November 2008 issue of Charleston, South Carolina-based Garden & Gun Magazine, fearlessly titled “100 Southern Foods You Absolutely, Positively Must Try Before You Die.” We love lists as much as anyone, so naturally the first thing we did was figure out how many of these places we’ve visited ourselves. 22 of these gems are reviewed on Roadfood.com, though we’ve only enjoyed a miniscule 12 of them! We were tickled pink that author John T. Edge also does something that we’ve only been made fun of for committing: he (along with his son, no less!) smuggles real maple syrup into Waffle House because their Pecan Waffles “deserve better than the sorry corn syrup Waffle House pours.” As usual with articles of this type, the readers’ comments at the end offer even more eateries to explore. The photo above is a steaming bowl of okra soup from Bertha’s Kitchen in North Charleston, which is included among such Roadfood royalty as Southside Market, Galatoire’s, Doe’s Eat Place, Bowens Island, O’Steen’s, Cozy Corner, Snappy Lunch, and many, many more.

Best Hot Dogs in America

Parade magazine this week (5/30/10) features a round-up we wrote about America’s best hot dogs. Try doing that in 1000 words or less! You can read the article, plus additions that didn’t fit the print version, at Parade's website.

Jane and Michael Stern/Saveur/Tucson

You’ve probably heard that Jane and Michael Stern will begin writing for the food magazine Saveur at some point in the future.  Well, the future is now.  Their first story appears in the new issue, as they take readers on a tour of Tucson’s 12th Avenue, sampling pico de gallo, agua frescas, Sonoran hot dogs, and much more as they travel down the avenue.  There are seven places discussed in all, three of which have yet to find their way into a Stern book or this website!  You’ll probably want to subscribe to the magazine if you haven’t yet done so, but you can also read the story online at Saveur’s website.

Do That VooDoo That You Do… in Eugene

Maple Bacon Bars in Eugene!  That’s the plan, and it’s coming to fruition soon, as Portland, OR’s VooDoo Doughnut (Roadfood.com review) will be opening their third location, in Eugene, just off Kesey Plaza (which sounds about right).  Read the story in The Register-Guard of Eugene.  Don’t worry, there are no Ray Kroc fantasies going on here.  As VooDoo co-owner Cat Daddy says, “We’re not really interested in total doughnut domination.”