My girlfriend and I made our trip up to Central NY (Syracuse and Rome) for the holidays and had a great time with my family and we especially enjoyed watching my niece get excited for Santa to come. It was a pretty relaxing time and I really was glad we were able to spend some quality time with my family. I wasn't feeling particularly Roadfood-ish on this trip, but my instincts kicked in and I managed to knock out some visits to a few places:
As you can see, we were in snow country this time around. This shot was in a shopping plaza near Great Northern Mall on Rte. 31 in Clay, NY.
One of the local neighborhoods.
My girlfriend arrived the day after me and I gave myself enough time to stop at
HEIDs of Liverpool for a hot dog. Despite the snow, they are open year round. Unfortunately for me, this story takes a bit of a left turn (and not at Albuquerque!)
91 years and still going!
Some of the condiments: I think the two on the left might be pepper relishes, then pickle relish and chopped raw onions.
My Hofmann German frank with chopped onions, chili and mustard. I had the Texas Hot on my last visit, which is a white coney. This German frank had a nice snap to it and the combination of the onions, chili and mustard is nothing short of pure comfort. The soft Freihofer's split-top bun just seals the deal for me.
As I was deciding on a side, I thought of
The Travelin' Man and went for the mac and cheese. I wish I could say I really liked this. It was creamy and the noodles had a nice texture to them, but it lacked any real cheese flavor. Particularly disappointing as I had asked "Where do you get your mac and cheese from?" and they replied that they make it in house. Glad I tried it, but I'd probably opt for the potato salad, mac salad or beans (my favorite) next time.
I thought I'd try something different with the strawberry milk. It was okay, but something I think would be more enjoyable for kids than adults.
The money shot of my meal. I decided to forego a table and just stood at a small counter enjoying my meal. Here is where things got weird. About 2-3 bites in, something just didn't feel right. I reached into my pocket and discovered my phone wasn't in it's usual place. I lose my phone once, maybe twice a year, so I went through the place and the car two times before the flop sweat started to appear on my forehead.
Like a nightmarish version of "Twas the Night Before Christmas", visions of calls to Bora Bora and Asia by some sticky-fingered pickpocket danced in my head! The nice people at HEIDs let me use their phone to call mine, in the hopes that some rube would actually pick up. No such luck. Frantically, I tossed my food in the trash! This was not a time for food! I had to mobilize the National Guard to find my phone! I went out to the car again and upon opening the passenger door, there, like a willful pet playing hide and seek, it was tucked in between the seat and the car door. Arrrggh! I just threw out a really good hot dog and my zest for food in my present state was AWOL, so I made my way to the station to pick up my girlfriend.
The day after Christmas, we set about finding some post-holiday deals and went out in a small blizzard. The weather was very odd throughout the entire trip. We experienced snow, freezing rain, 50mph winds, 60 degree days and most of the snow had melted by the time we left for NYC. We did get in a bit of cross-country skiing, which I love to do every chance I get!
On the 27th, we made our way to Rome to meet my mom her husband for dinner. We left early so I could finally get to do a report on a much beloved place of mine,
Ebeneezer's Cafe & Creamery in Sherill, NY. Sherrill is also known as the smallest city in New York and is just around the corner from Oneida Silver and the Oneida Community. Ebeneezer's has been around for about 16 years and they do keep somewhat short hours, so I called ahead, lest I end up getting
Travel-Manned!
In true cafe style, they are only open for lunch (with the exception of dinners on Fridays and Saturdays).
I do so love the pies here and coming here was partly an homage to those Colossuses of Coconut Cream, those Rajahs of Raisin, those Sultans of Shoo Fly and those Bambinos of Butterscotch pies...
CajunKing and buffetbuster!!! I was somewhat disappointed that they didn't have the Peanut Butter pie that I have come to know and love, but no matter!
Dayna's Very Berry slice. Not sure exactly what berries are in this, but it was really good. Check out the homemade crust. It was a wonderful balance of tart and sweet and not too many seeds, which is off-putting for me. Dayna wished that the crust was baked a bit more to give it that darker hue, but this was still a great piece of pie.
I thought I had left something in the car and while I was gone, the waitress had mentioned to Dayna that the Bread and Butter pudding with custard sauce was to die for. I had my heart set on pie, but I took her advice. Boy, was I ever glad!! This was everything I had ever hoped bread pudding could be! Free form, chewy at the edges and custardy soft in the middle. The bread and the custard were warm, teetering on the edge of being hot. And the buttery flavor mixed with the bread and the sweet custard? Seriously, have they been reading my diary? I imagine little adolescent bread puddings passing this one on the street and telling all of their bread pudding friends, "That's gonna be ME someday, just you wait and see!!". I've eaten a lot of bread pudding in my day and this truly was the best I have ever had!
In another nod to
buffetbuster, I couldn't be satisfied with just one dessert and I had to try a slice for myself, so I picked up a slice of French Silk (chocolate), Lemon Meringue and Apple to go for my mom and her husband to have after dinner. Naturally, I'd be sampling some of these for myself. Unfortunately, I didn't get a pic of the French Silk, nor did I try it, but it looked mighty fine to me.
Lemon Meringue Pie
Apple Pie
At home, I cut the Apple and Lemon Meringue slices in half to try them and also leave some for the others. The Lemon Meringue was tasty and tart and the Apple was good too, but I felt that it lacked the tartness that I like in my apple pies.
I struck up a conversation with the owner and told her why I was taking pictures and she offered to open the case for me. She was very sweet and very nice. When we were eating our desserts, I overheard the waitress asking a fellow diner how her mom was doing. Ebeneezer's has many regulars and locals coming in for full meals or just dessert and they get to know them pretty well.
I've been coming here with my family for a number of years and the pies and the sandwiches (particularly the comically huge fried fish sandwich and the Evan's Special (roast beef, cheddar and sauteed mushrooms)) are winners in my book. The day that Ebeneezer's became so special to me was when I went there with my grandmother for lunch. She was suffering from Alzheimer's disease and there she didn't get out often by then. She did love the fish sandwich and the peanut butter pie there and the staff were so nice and so patient with her. On subsequent visits, they would ask my family and I how she was doing. It made her day and it made mine too.
A shot of the old plaza. I hope the writing in the picture is readable.
And a partial of the plaza today.
Tomato sheet pie from a
Roma Sausage Co. on Bleecker Street in Utica, NY. A friend of mine works there and gave a pie to my sister and brother-in-law to bring home to the rest of the family. This box only holds half of the pie.
A side shot of the slices.
And a shot of the crust. I've rarely seen this outside of the Rome/Utica, NY area and it's something I grew up with since I can remember. Every birthday party/office party/potluck had at least one of these and mostly they were found in Italian bakeries and sometimes pizza joints. I put a pretty big dent in half of that pie for a few snacks and for breakfast the next morning. The crust is similar in texture to focaccia, the tomato sauce is like crushed tomatoes, possibly cooked with some herbs and spices (but not much, if any) and a healthy sprinking of grated parmesean cheese. Very addictive and hard to stop eating. It's usually served cold or at room temperature. Perhaps a Tomato Sheet Pie challenge is on the grid for this summer?!
On our way to Rome, Dayna and I stopped in at
The Only Cafe in
Vernon, NY. I had been here back in August when fellow Roadfooder
Lexi had told me about it. Her brother, Dave, runs it. We popped in for a few minutes and Dave showed me this book that I thought many Roadfooders would be interested in. He also introduced us to a man named Bill, who as it turns out, was the man who supplied him with the rhubarb he used in the excellent
Blueberry-Rhubarb Crumble I had on my last visit. We promised to try to make it back the next day.
These shots are just some of the odd and wonderful bits of memorabilia Dave has in the cafe.
Dave tempted our collective "sweet tooth" with some homemade pralines. These are Bourbon-Pecan and they were just melt-in-your-mouth. Crunchy, buttery, sweet and the bourbon flavor came through at the end. Dayna and I were eyeing each other to see if one had taken more than the other.
A tin of the pralines. On the top are ones made with scotch, I believe. To the right are the Kahlua pralines. Very rich and dark! In the bottom left corner is the most interesting one and quite good as a matter of fact: a green chile and tequila praline. The tequila hits your mouth right away, then the creeping heat from the green chiles slowly builds. What an inspired creation! My first pralines ever and I loved them!
Dave doesn't have a menu, or as he says, "I collect menus, you can look at one". Just to give you all a picture, both times I have been there, only one other person besides Dave was in the cafe. It's not a place busting with customers, yet. I do hope they do come from miles around though. For my money, it was great to be able to relax, listen to some interesting music (I never know what he'll have on-it was old-school country this time) and have some truly wonderful conversation and food that matches it. He said he had smoked brisket today and I was sold. He warmed it up in this well seasoned pan with some well browned onions.
My sandwich. He piled the smoked brisket, browned onions and homemade barbeque sauce into a pita-like bread made from his own sourdough starter. WOW! Dayna and I both were in love with this sandwich. Smoky and tender this was easily one of the best brisket sandwiches I have ever tasted. And that bread! Tangy, nutty from the sesame seeds, chewy and it held up nicely to the meat and the sauce. He gave us a couple of pockets to go and I had a ham salad sandwich on it the next day. I honestly think that this bread would pair well with just about anything. Note: a couple of days after getting back to NYC, we couldn't decide what to have for lunch and we were both seriously jonesing for this sandwich!!
Dayna's bowl of red chili. A mixture of ground beef and (sirloin?). Topped with cheese and chopped raw onions, this was thick, stick to your ribs and very good. A little too much cumin for me (I prefer some fruity/sweet notes in my chili too), however, I didn't stop eating it and then I had the idea to spoon some over my brisket sandwich and it elevated them both to another level altogether! I truly hope that Roadfooders from all over have an opportunity to experience this place!
The Savoy Restaurant in
Rome, N.Y. I've been coming here with my family when I was still carrying my teddy bear to dinner with me. We had dinner here on December 28th for my mom's birthday and I've found it to be somewhat hit or miss over the years, but they're on, they have some really amazingly inspired Italian food. They are known for their
East Rome Greens, Chicken Riggies (two local specialties),
Fried Meatballs and a
Linguine with Clam Sauce recipe from the Rome Fire Department. This was a night of hits.
The rules of the Savoy. I like Rule #6.
This is their 100th year and the Destito family turned out some great food on this night. I didn't take any pictures as the group I was with isn't really down with the whole Roadfood thing. We started out with a couple of Savoy Starter Samplers for the table that included crispy zucchini, mozzarella marinara, calamari fritte and fried meatballs. The calamari and mozz were pretty good, but the zucchini was cut into long strips, rather than rounds and had a nice sweeteness under the crispy coating and the meatballs had a wonderful crisp shell and were moist and tender inside. No sauce needed here.
I had
Uncle Rosie's Pork Chops (bone-in pork chops sauteed with sweet & hot peppers in a quite rich pan sauce and served with
Home Fries Savoy). The chops were moist and so tender, the peppers had me mopping my brow by the end and the home fries were round cut and paper thin, almost like Saratoga chips, but these were so soft and complemented the pork quite nicely. Add the pan sauce and I barely spoke while I ate. They really knocked this one out of the park! This recipe was one of eight family recipes that made up their 100th Anniversary Favorites on their menu. I'll definitely be coming back as the menu has so many regional things I have yet to try and got hungry just looking at it for this report. Oh, they have some excellent garlic toast too! Fresh garlic, butter and herbs, only toasted on one side so that it is both crispy and soft. Great for soaking up that delicious pan sauce!
I think this might be a picture of some of the Destito boys.
A batch of rolls on the left and a batch of Kummelweck rolls on the right. Where is this? Buffalo, N.Y.? Nope. Wegman's on West Taft Road in Liverpool, N.Y., part of Syracuse.
A few hours before our train left for the city, my girlfriend and I set about stocking up on cheap groceries from CNY at Wegman's and I picked this one as it is the only one I know of in the area that sells "beef-on-weck" in their cafe. Camera in hand. I snapped away. I didn't bother to ask the girl about the doneness of my beef as it was looking good to me. Some might enjoy more pink but this was "Goldilocks" (just right!) for me.
A closer shot of the beef. This was really tender, the beef flavor came through and I asked her to dip the top roll in the gravy which just put it over the top for me. Now, I realize this isn't the same as eating at Schwabl's and getting the whole Roadfood experience and character, but for me, it was the next best thing. If you can't "shuffle off to Buffalo", then I'd recommend trying one here.
It came with a pickle and some horseradish sauce, which I found to be somewhat weak on this visit. I think they may have had an in-house made version the last time I was here and it was rather sinus-clearing, which I loved!
To wash down this lovely sandwich, I found something I had never seen before:
Mint-Chip milk. Well, I just had to try this, having consumed many a bowl of mint chip ice cream in my youth. Pretty darn good! The only thing missing were the little bits of chocolate chips mixed in. I have a feeling though that milk with little hard bits in it wouldn't be a big seller for some "odd" reason!
These are some stock photos that I had on hand, but when we were shopping in Wegmans, I scoped out the 1/2 price Christmas candy section and they had
Turkey Joints 50% off!!!!!! I hardly see them outside of Rome and I've never seen them marked down that low. They run about $16.50 for a 12oz jar (which I think is a bit steep), but the clouds parted and the angels wept when I saw this. I snagged a bunch of jars to put in my luggage and went back to NYC a happy boy!
Been around for 90 years and there is always a jar under the Christmas tree from Santa since I can remember. I have one as part of my Christmas morning "breakfast of champions"!
They are chocolate with Brazil nuts coated in a crunchy, sugary shell. Mmmmmm!!
It was really great spending time with my family and I'm glad I did manage to squeeze in a few stops as I truly do love Roadfooding and think that CNY doesn't get a lot of press for some of the great RF bounty that it has to offer.
1.) HEIDs of Liverpool 305 Oswego Street
Liverpool, NY
Ph# 315-451-0786
Website:
http://www.heidsofliverpool.com/index2.htm Roadfood review:
http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Overview.aspx?RefID=5179 2.) Ebeneezer's Cafe & Creamery 624 Sherrill Road
Sherrill, NY 13461
Phone # 315-363-4537
No website
3.) Roma Sausage Co. 2029 Bleecker Street
Utica, NY 13501
Ph# 315-792-1445
4.) The Only Cafe 5253 West Seneca Street (aka Rte. 5)
Vernon, NY 13476
Ph# 315-829-3030
5.) The Savoy Restaurant 255 East Dominick Street
Rome, NY 13440
Ph# 315-339-3166
Website:
http://www.romesavoy.com/index.asp 6.) Wegmans (supermarket)
4979 West Taft Road
Liverpool, NY 13088
Ph# 315-457-0514
Website:
http://www.wegmans.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/StoreDetailView?langId=-1&storeId=10052&catalogId=10002&productId=347851 7.) Nora's Candy Shop 321 North Doxtator Street
Rome, NY 13440
Ph# 315-337-4530
Website:
https://www.turkeyjoints.com/catalog/index.php Thanks for tuning in.
"Eating is an adventure, enjoy the ride!"-bb
