Potlikkery

number one in palm beach county

Quite against my will I ate at a chain restaurant our first full day in Palm Beach County. I had something good picked out, something Thai, but once Ian heard there were two Cheesecake Factories within six or seven miles of us north or south, he determined that was where we'd eat. Cheesecake Factory thrilled me about twenty years ago, but now? I prefer it not. Their menu is too varied to do anything well. Their cheesecake usually disappoints. It attracts a certain crowd. Yet, it is familiar. And I had a decent time eating at its Boston location's bar. But that was only because the bartender was excellent.

Anyway. Cheesecake Factory in West Palm Beach is located at Cityplace, an up-scale shopping and dining monstrosity smack downtown near the city's convention center. Quite lovely if you're upwardly mobile, into spending lots of money on designer products, and don't need any integrity or authenticity of architecture to revel in.

But I digress. Actually, I'm building up to a rather poor experience. Parking is free on Sundays. We found a spot within a block. We were seated quickly outside on a patio adjacent to a large (20+) table of early twenty-somethings. They were loud. Their voices, singing, and obnoxiousness echoed. The service was slow. Our food was cold. Well, the endive salad I ordered, after learning that they were "out of" my first choice Market Salad, was supposed to be cold. So what took so lon to slap those few ingredients together? They were also "out of" diet coke, Ian's drink of preference.

The bread was good. As was the butter. My unsweet iced tea hit the spot.

The view was boring. We watched random luxury vehicles mixed in with some plebeian forms of transport search for close parking. We counted the different cab companies. One bit of excitement was the horse-drawn carriages. Actually, Cityplace is quite lovely. At night it is illuminated by lots of bulbs. And all the facades are shiny and new. And there are enough people not speaking English around you to lend a sense of exoticism or "not in Kansas anymore."

My salad was good, but bitter. Somehow I didn't realized just how bitter the endive would be. I suffered through. Felt as though I had to "take my medicine" in the form of this bitter salad so that I could indulge in the real reason I'd ever come to Cheesecake Factory: For the cheesecake.

Ian's grilled chicken sandwich was okay. It was supposed to be jerked. But tasted Bland to me. His fries were cold. Problems with the kitchen? Or with the service? Actually our waitress was serviceable. And we weren't in a hurry. But I couldn't help but notice that two men seated quite some time after we were had their pasta dishes promptly and had paid and left the joint before our cheesecake arrived. And I noted another unhappy couple; another issus of poor service.

Ian ordered the chocolate peanut butter cookie dough cheesecake. He complained that is was dry. The only peanut butter on it was the swirl of fondant (?) topping its edge. On the other hand, my cheesecake was grand. Very rich though. With a name like chocolate coconut cream one might think that there was lots of chocolate going on.

Thankfully not! The chocolate referred to its crust. The rest was coconut cream cheesecake over a bed of coconut. I'd liken it to a mounds bar. But better. The coconut I scraped off the bottom chocolate crust was gooey and rich; reminded me of the kind of coconut that accompanies German Chocolate Cake. Ian tried mine, and he thought my choice of cheesecake beat his hands down.

I reminded him that I have great taste. I married him, didn't I?

And yet our 2007 Zagat survey listed Cheesecake Factory as the most popular restaurant. It tops the list which includes other chains like Houston's, P.F. Chang's, Morton's, Ruth's Chris, Bonefish Grill, and Melting Pot. I've been to all but the last and prefer not to haunt chains of any kind. How can Palm Countian's prefer Cheesecake Factory when there is a wealth of authentic cuisine to choose from in Florida's largest county? Perhaps abundance makes them immune to good taste and they seek out the plain, the boring, the chain?

Ah well. I've several more days to spend sampling Palm County's restaurants and Cuban is next on our agenda. And something I've "learned" about my dining preferences is that I like an aesthetic view and I require quiet, or a romantic environment. Good food is important too, of course.

florida's oldest restaurant

Last year while we spent a week at Flagler Beach, FL we popped up to Saint Augustine for a day. The city is one of our favorites, though the new bridge saddens us. The old one featuring the lions had such charm, such character. Now there's just the concrete and metal bridge.

That visit I searched for ceviche. Surely a Spanish restaurant served it. But no, the person at the host station at the Columbia said it was not on their menu, nor did they know any other restaurant in Saint Augustine that served it.

We left Columbia, but I can't recall where, or what, we ended up eating that day. All I remember is how inviting the Columbia was. It was cool. Tile under our feet, hand -painted tile decorating the walls.

So Saturday we ate at Columbia. Our waitress was great. She anticipated our requests. She served us Cuban bread along with great scoops of butter at exactly the right spreadable temperature.

My cheap sangria was okay. The trouble with sangria is that I cannot and should not drink a pitcher it alone. Ian enjoys the hard stuff, so fruity wine holds no appeal for him at all. The better sangria was imported and mixed at your table and priced at about $20 a pitcher. I sucked down my $5 glass in no time and then made do with tap water. That's right.

The Columbia is the oldest restaurant in Florida and though it got it's start in Ybor City, surely it is appropriate to operate in Saint Augustine as well. Something else I learned is that its in its fourth and fifth generation of family ownership and operation. The newest restaurant is in West Palm Beach, near where we're staying.

Inside there's a mixture of bright sunlight and delightful shade  to suit any diner. Our table was at the edge of a courtyard filled with light from the skylight overhead. The noise was bearable. The service was quick. Perhaps there was light Spanish music playing in the background, but I cannot exactly recall it.

We studied the menu. We both love plantains and don't get them often enough to suit our cravings for them. I eyed the Paella. I've never had good paella. But as I recalled, it's a large dish. And this was lunch. Something light maybe? I ordered the boliche: "Sliced eye round of beef prepared with chorizo and roasted in a flavorful gravy. Served with white rice, black beans, and platanos."

Yum. My meal was so good. Great flavor. The beef was tender. The chorizo was rather bland though. Didn't have the zing I'm used to from my local taqueria. White rice, black beans, and diced onions were marvelous. They gave me two pieces of plantains. I gave one to Ian and gobbled down the other. Aaaaahhhhhhh, heaven.

Ian chose the black bean soup. They ladle it table-side. A server approached our table and flipped over a small bowl containing rice into a larger bowl. Then she ladled three generous ladles full of black beans out of the blue speckled pot over top of Ian's rice. Sure, it was basic, but it, too, was darn good. All he needed was cornbread, which I didn't see on the menu.

Dessert. Naturally my eyes stuck to the guava cheesecake description. But cheesecake is so ubiquitous that I try not to order it anymore. The two items that I debated between was the flan or the bread pudding. Server said that the flan is the best, if you like flan. I can take it or leave it. Of late, bread pudding floats my boat. So we went with that.

It was unlike any bread pudding I'd ever had. I expected it in a ramekin. But no. It's appearance was more akin to french toast. There were no raisins or nuts. However, two sauces battled for dominance: a rich rum sauce and a white chocolate. The pudding was terribly dense, in only the very best sense of the phrase. It's made with Cuban bread. I asked our server if it was pound cake. And that's when I learned it's true identity. The things that the chefs at Columbia can do with Cuban bread is astonishing. We didn't eat it all. It was far too rich, but quite satisfying.

And there's a cookbook! Didn't buy it though. But maybe next time through Florida's oldest city, I'll stop by the Columbia gift shop and take one home with me. I checked its contents though. That bread pudding recipe is in there. But it calls for Cuban bread, and where exactly shall I find Cuban bread in upper east Tennessee? Not likely.

succoring trough and glaze huffing

Almost any trip we make leads us south through Spartanburg, SC. And anytime we go at all near Spartanburg our lunch plans include a stop at Wade's. Spartanburg's heat is something else. It hits you like a skillet right in the gut and makes you almost have to walk bent-over when first exiting the air conditioning of your car.

Then Wade's offers succor. For years I've heard tales of the trough, as Ian and his co-workers call Wade's Express Lunch. Mostly we miss it. It's gone at 1:30 p.m. and only available through the week. For one price, around $7 a person, you get dessert, veggies, meat, and non-fountain drinks.

We stopped there Friday. They were out of fish. Out of perch, actually. But the woman working the meat area said she thought they had flounder. She returned with a plate of three strips of fried flounder and as many hush puppies. They weren't piping hot, but still serviceable.

Once you reach the vegetable area on this cafeteria-style trough line, you're on your own. Yup, you ladle or serve up the amount of veggies you can fit in your mouth. Don't think there are seconds, so you ought to fill up first time out.  I sampled the cole slaw (a winner!), mac n cheese, steamed cabbage, sweet potato souffle, and collard greens. Actually, I exclaimed upon seeing the greens, "They've got collard greens!"

Ian had many of the same sides as did I, yet also brought their potato salad, creamed corn, and black eyes peas to the table.  Potato salad was better than store-bought, but not my favorite. It wasn't creamy enough, maybe not enough mayo. Black-eyed peas were okay, but that's not something I regularly eat. Didn't try his creamed corn.

Neither of us got pie. Lemon, apple, and maybe pecan were offered. But none appealed to us, and a mere two days later neither Ian nor I can quite name the pie selections. Wade's has divine peanut butter pie, but that, and their other deluxe desserts don't accompany the Express Lunch.

The real winner was the sweet potato souffle. It was so sweet and yummy. Real butter in there. Melted marshmallows on top. Ummm. No nuts, not too heavy-handed with the spice. Pecans stud the top crust of the sweet potato souffle recipe I use, that's why I mention the lack of pecans. I can take them or leave them, but prefer most food nut-free.  I doled out a small portion of souffle on my plate, because I know there's very little nutritional value in this dish; other than beta-carotene. And when this sweet potato bliss converged with the cabbage and collards, let me tell you, everything tastes better with sweet potato souffle topping it! I finished off Ian's portion that he left uneaten. That souffle was better than any dessert I've had in recent memory.

And their tea is good, too. The only sweet tea Ian drinks is Wade's. And being calorie-conscious (he's lost about ninety pounds since March), he went with the un-sweet tea. He's also a bargain hunter, so even though he spends lots of grocery money on diet sodas, he didn't want to pay extra for the diet whatever that didn't come with the Express Lunch.

Before quitting Spartanbrug completely Ian drove us over to the Krispy Kreme store. No donuts for us. But oh that KK merchandise? He's gabbed about how great their t-shirt and sweatshirt selections were for months. Once we walked through the door, there was none found. They had a few t-shirts behind the counter. And one in his size. He bought it despite the bit of donut glaze dried to i's front. Since we remained donut-free we got our jollys by huffing the shirt from inside its plastic bag as we found our way back to I-26.

Ian wore the shirt next day on our stop at Saint Augustine, FL. Women were drawn to it. One looked at him, and his shirt and said "Krispy Kreme, mmmmmmmmmmm." Another said "Oh, Krispy Kreme would be so good right now." He reported that she was hot.

I've written of Wade's in the past. How can one resturant be so special and yet so ordinary all at once? Many folks could easily pass it by. Wade's offersd good quality food at great prices. Sure, some of it is fried. But my cabbage was steamed. And those greens weren't fried. Wade's is a treat.

got zagat

Got my Zagat in hand and headed for the door. Come Friday I'll be halfway to Miami and the dream of fine Floridian food will become a reality.

street food

Of late street, or festival food is on my mind. Surely because I got a copy of Street Food (2007). I've read it, and browsed its photos and recipes. But was slightly disappointed that everything inside is so exotic. Oh, that's not bad. But it's nothing I can relate to. It's beyond my experience. Thus, it's lovely to look at, but a fair number of ingredients called for within its recipes are not readily available in my local grocery store.

At first glance, this is one of those coffee table cookbooks. The author is Tom Kine, of London, and this is not his first book. There being a large Indian population in London, Kine forwent the travel to the far east and sampled Indian food on his own streets. Isn't that cheating, a bit? Surely the Indian food one eats in England has been Anglicized? Much as Mexican and Chinese food are dumbed down for us Americans.

I took the book along to my podiatric appointment; there's some funkiness in my foot and Blogless Amy recommended her seersucker-suit wearing podiatrist. I cannot resist a seersucker suit.  When the podiatrist saw what I was reading he asked what I was making for dinner. Unfortunately, I answered "Nothing from this book," quite because of the aforementioned reason of lack of access to ingredients.

Kine's book covers India/Sri Lanka. Always loved saying Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka. Then on to Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Southern Europe, and lastly the Middle East and North Africa. What's missing? Oh, the United States, of course. That made me wonder whether there isn't any tasty street food in our country. Having never lived in a metropolitan urban environment, I've never dined street-side from a vendor. But I saw those hot dog men pushing their Lucky Dog carts round New Orleans. Didn't get one. I mean, a hot dog pales in comparison to a po boy or a beignet.

Street food, in my experience, is associated with fairs and festivals. Of late, the turkey leg makes an ominous appearance at my local fair. They've always appeared at the more historic fairs, like the eighteenth century trade faire at Ft. Loudon. But the local fair has regular food: Hamburgers, fries, hot dogs, corndogs, and an assortment of deep-fried sugary things like Oreos, Twinkies, and other snack foods. Can't say I've dipped into that. And yet, my favorite festival food is one that I don't often indulge in anymore. The funnel cake. Funny that it's associated with the PA Dutch when I've always considered it the ultimate southern treat.

Over the weekend I spent two days hanging out at the Sycamore Shoals Celtic Festival where the fare leaned toward the Scottish. One of the vendors offered Scottish Eggs, which I didn't try. Fish and chips was another menu item.

Yet I went whole hog and tried the Haggis and chips. They cannot legally sell traditionally prepared haggis in the sheep intestine. So my haggis was a blend of meat with grain. I didn't ask for the specifics.

Next day Ian and I indulged in one of our most favorite things: The Corndog. These weren't footlong Fannie Farkles, but they were hot out of the deep fryer and easy to polish off.

Besides the emphasis on deep-fried, there were other vendors at the festival. Barbecue was on hand. Another tent offered wraps, gyros, taco salads. And there was a baker. I bought Eccles buns for my in-laws and had a scone with strawberries and cream for breakfast. It was good, but I'd rather not have strawberries swimming in sauce. There was no choice in the matter. Must say the scones were not as good as the ones that I make. But none of the baking was done on site. It was bagged up and ready to go home with a buyer.

But back to the book. One of the Latin American/Caribbean recipes is for Pudim de abobora or,  pumpkin pudding. It's almost pumpkin time. We love pumpkin here. And the recipe is super easy. I have the ingredients on hand, except for the light cream/half & half. It's baked in a ramekin which makes it super easy for portion control. I know what I'm making for tonight's dessert.

The photos and food styling in this book are awesome. Mouth-watering, even. And I love an index. It's a necessity in a cookbook. Instead of leaving you with just a bunch of recipes, Kine finds common threads among disparate cuisines and pulls them together in a series of menus compiled in the last few pages.  His anecdotes are fine, as well. The sensory descriptions are just enough to make you feel as though you're making a personal connection with the food and its people.

points south

In preparation for my upcoming jaunt to Florida I've scoured Chowhound and Roadfood to identify likely eateries.

I jotted down dozens of places to eat between Palm Beach and Miami and the number one place on my list is Green's Pharmacy. It's a breakfast and lunch counter inside a working pharmacy. I've eaten at at least one other of those vanishing beauties in my life, the drugstore in Erwin, Tenn. on Main Street. I mentioned Green's to Ian last week and he was all for it. One of our favorite things to do is to sit at counters and watch the short order cooks display their skills.  Yeah, we're sappy. But we're okay with it.

And here's a list of results from Roadfood (mostly for my benefit to refer to later):

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

1)	Barbara Jean's - Ponte Vedra Beach,                 FL                 Food Items: "She Crab" Soup - bowl, Bread Basket, Broccoli & Rice Casserole, Catfish Sandwich, Chicken Fried Steak, Cooked Cabbage, Crab Cake - 7 oz, Dirty Rice - bowl, Eight Shrimp Breaded In Coconut, Pot Roast, Squash Casserole, The Chocolate "Stuff" - Bowl
2)	Blue Heaven - Key West,                 FL                 Food Items: banana heaven dessert, banana pancakes, barbecued shrimp, jerk chicken, Yellowfin Tuna Sandwich
3)	Bob Roth's New River Groves - Davie,                 FL                 Food Items: Boiled Peanuts, Coconut Patties, Coconuts, Coffee, Fruit Juice, Key Lime Pie, Key Lime Pie, Key Lime Tarts, Mangoes
4)	Catalina's On the Beach - Ft. Lauderdale,                 FL                 Food Items: Black Bean Soup (Bowl), Breaded Steak, Empanadas, Enchilada Plate, Fried Chicken Chunks, Pork Filet, Skirt Steak (Luncheon Portion), Whole Red Snapper (Baked or Grilled)
5)	El Siboney - Key West,                 FL                 Food Items: Cuban mix sandwich, garlic chicken, Key Lime Pie, roast pork
6)	Frank 'n Stein - Stuart,                 FL                 Food Items: Bratwurst, Draft Beer, Large Mug, Frank 'n Bun, Frank 'n Chili, Frank n' Kraut, The Monster
7)	Half Shell Raw Bar - Key West,                 FL                 Food Items: conch chowder, Florida grouper, oysters
8)	Havana - West Palm Beach,                 FL                 Food Items: Media Noche Sandwich, Pan Con Bistec, Sandwich Cubano
9)	La Teresita - Tampa,                 FL                 Food Items: Banana Flan, Cuban sandwich, ropa vieja, Vaca Frita
10)	Louie's Back Yard - Key West,                 FL                 Food Items: Arugula Salad, Grouper, Key lime pie, shrimp, yellowtail
11)	LuLu's Waterfront Grille - Ponte Vedra Beach,                 FL                 Food Items: Fried Shrimp Dinner, Hushpuppies, Intracoastal Scampi, Ocean Platter, Oysters On The Half Shell, Tropical Slaw
12)	Lums Family Restaurant - Davie,                 FL                 Food Items: Beer Steamed Hot Dog, Ollieburger
13)	McDuffy's - Key West,                 FL                 Food Items: Hawaiian shave ice
14)	O'Steen's Restaurant - St. Augustine,                 FL                 Food Items: Cole Slaw, Fried Chicken, Fried Shrimp, Hush Puppies, Minorcan Clam Chowder, Rice With Gravy
15)	Pepe's Cafe & Steak House - Key West,                 FL                 Food Items: coconut bread, mashed potato cake, Sunday night barbecue
16)	Skopelos on the Bay - Pensacola,                 FL                 Food Items: baked grouper, Grecian salad
17)	The Coffee Cup - Pensacola,                 FL                 Food Items: Naussau grits, omelet, Pie, Soup
18)	Whitey's Fish Camp - Orange Park,                 FL                 Food Items: Catfish Sandwich, Froglegs, Gator Tail, Hamburger, Hushpuppies, Red Beans & Rice, Turtle, Whitey's Famous All-U-Can Eat Catfish
19)	Wolfie Cohen's Rascal House - Miami Beach,                 FL                 Food Items: borscht, Chocolate Bobka, chopped liver, Corned Beef and swiss, Egg Cream, Grilled Frankwurst, Kasha Varnishkas, pastrami sandwich, Plain Cheesecake, short ribs

someone want my cheese paper?

What I've come to relish, foodwise, is what is readily available and what was readily available when I was young. Give me diner food and I'm fine. I grew up practically on top of a grill anyway. Oh, I love gourmet, organic, nouveau southern, whatever. But it's just not here.

I love it. It's honest. It's cheap. It's mostly made with fresh ingredients. I prefer it to chain restaurant food of any ilk from McD's all the was up to Cheesecake Factory.

Last night Ian and I had a touch of it at the Betsy Dairy Cream in Elizabethton, Tenn. Cheeseburgers, an order of fries, and we split a swirled frozen custard. What a treat. 

We both dreamed of having a small diner to call our own. BDC reminds Ian of the ice cream shop across the street from his grandmother's house in Canton, Ohio. He and his brother spent a few summer weeks staying with both grandmothers, but it was Elsie's house that was across the street from the ice cream shop. He said it looked almost identical inside to the BDC. Walking across the street at dusk was part of the Cantonese routine and one he recalls with great fondness.

Ian thinks that setting up one of those trailers, like they have outside Lowe's (the home improvement store, not the grocery), is a no-brainer. Selling corn dogs, hot dogs, apple pie and whatever else seems like an easy thing to do. And starting out on a small scale such as trailer-sized wouldn't require much financial outlay. And then he talked about driving the festival circuit. Maybe when we retire. I reminded him that my friend Anna, and her boyfriend, now husband, followed the Dead and sold mongo burritos from their VW bus. Surely they would be a great resource for that type of endeavor.

cheesepaper. yummmm.