Roadfood Digest

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.

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.

Larry Roberts of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette recounts a life in hot dog eating, from asking his father to peel the natural casing off a Coney Island Nathan's dog as a five-year old, to wondering if there are hot dogs in heaven at one of his current Pittsburgh-area favorites, the Red Caboose in Rostraver.  Mr. Roberts even includes a recipe for a Spicy Pepper Glaze, which he suggests you brush on a batch of hot dogs before topping them with finely chopped sour pickles and raw onions.  Sounds great to us!  See his story here.

Those are two Coney Island Nathans franks in the above photo (Roadfood.com review).

The Portland, Oregon seafoodery and bar known as Halibut’s is the subject of discussion for Jane and Michael Stern’s visit this weekend with Lynne Rossetto Kasper, on her public radio show The Splendid Table.  Fish-frowner Jane actually likes the halibut-and-chips.  Michael is especially fond of the unusual salmon-and-chips, made with super-fresh Copper River salmon.  And, yes, the salmon is fried.  If you miss the show on radio, you can listen online.

Read Michael Stern’s review of Halibut’s on Roadfood.com.

Jane and Michael Stern answer some questions about Roadfooding for BudgetTravel.com.  Their best advice?  “Probably the biggest mistake is looking for something familiar. For us, the whole point of traveling is to experience the place we are, and that means eating the food people there eat, the way they eat it. That could range from Indian pudding in a Maine diner to carnitas tacos from a truck in South Tucson. In other words, be adventurous! Try new things! Meet new people!”

The photo shows fried chicken, macaroni and cheese, broccoli casserole, and fried green tomatoes at Mary Mac’s Tea Room in Atlanta, GA (Roadfood.com review), where they say they would begin a Southern culinary journey.

 

Bill Leslie has a blog on Raleigh-Durham’s WRAL-TV’s website, called Bill Leslie’s Carolina Conversations.  He’s written some columns and posted some polls to learn readers’ Carolina Q preferences.  The polls were divided between eastern-style and western-style (we’re talking North Carolina barbecue here).  In the Eastern-Q column and follow-up, he says “some of the very best barbecue can be found at church, school and VFW fundraisers.”  Here are the results of the Eastern-style poll.  Parker’s of Wilson (pictured above; see the Roadfood.com review) and Greenville won by a nose in front of Hog Heaven of Durham.  Other Roadfood.com-reviewed Q joints are 10th-place (out of 21) Allen & Son (Roadfood.com review) and 18th-place Short Sugar’s (Roadfood.com review).

In Mr. Leslie’s column introducing the Western-style poll, he says: “Now it is time to turn our attention to barbecue restaurants that add a touch of tomato to their sauces. It’s called Lexington-style or Western Barbecue.”  The landslide winner was Lexington Barbecue.  Other Roadfood-reviewed finishers are 4th-place (out of 15) Bridges (Roadfood.com review) and 2nd-place Stamey’s (Roadfood.com review).  Here’s Mr. Leslie’s column on the Western-Q results.

Danielle Centoni of The Oregonian has put together a fascinating survey of some of the unique summertime beverages available in Portland, Oregon.  Pok Pok spikes seltzer with yuzu vinegar.  The Sugar Cube offers lemonade smoothed out with vanilla beans.  Por Que No? offers a watermelon-jalapeno agua fresca.  Check out the article to find out where you can get Ruby Jewel ice cream shakes, cucumber-lime soda, a caffe shakerato, or a grapefruit fizz with basil.

Danielle also gives praise to the raspberry-rose sodas available at Sahagun Chocolates.  Michael Stern, in his Roadfood.com review of Sahagun, describes the hot chocolate pictured above as “pure, thick, intense, a pleasure for its physical gravity as well as its vibrant chocolate flavor.”

Kate Wood, of Southern California’s Press-Enterprise, tells of her visit to the Wheel Inn of Cabazon, California.  Folks come for the dinosaurs and stay for the good diner eats.

Michael Stern, in his Roadfood.com review of the Wheel, says: “Much of the food on the Wheel Inn menu is shockingly real.”

Jane and Michael Stern appear on this weekend's episode of Lynne Rossetto Kasper's radio feast known as The Splendid Table, where they praise the baked goods, from raisin pecan loaves to sticky, nutted morning buns (pictured above, from their Roadfood.com review), available at the pleasingly unadorably named Standard Baking Company in Portland, Maine.  If you can't catch the show on an actual radio, listen online.

Christopher Brooks writes about the  top-notch seafood served at the Sea Swirl of Mystic, Connecticut in today’s New York Times: “There may be no other roadside diner in Mystic that combines humbleness with lovability to such a degree as Sea Swirl.”

See Michael Stern’s review of Sea Swirl on Roadfood.com.  He says the “Sea Swirl is one of a kind, despite the fact that it is housed in a familiar-shaped old Carvel ice cream stand.”