The second day of marathon eating started an hour later at 10:30 when we piled on the bus, already old friends and were on our way to
Schwabl's for my second bout with
Beef on a Weck. The first was a few nights ago when a bunch of us found our way to
Eckl's which allowed me to have a base to compare to Schwabl's.
I think I liked the beef better at Eckl's since it was as rare as I wanted, but Schwabl's was better. The weck at Schwabl's was less salty, letting the caraway flavor come through, but the gestalt of what was on the plate sold me. The sandwich came with luscious and rich cole slaw along with warm and wonderful German potato salad. The combination of flavors was what made it special to me. Our beef came out a bit too well done since we were sitting in the back and got served last from a second hunk of beef. That's not to say it wasn't wonderful...it just could have been more wonderful. I'm splitting hairs though since if one was a 99 the other was 99.1.
Next we were on to
Ted's Hot Dogs another Buffalo institution. The dogs were cooked over charcoal and you could taste it in the meat which was moderately spiced encased in skin that gave a good crunch when biting into it. I shared a footlong with everything on it, which meant, hot sauce, relish, mustard, pickles and onions. You can toss a frank on a grill but it won't come out anything like Ted's. They have it down to a science. This was one of the best grilled dogs I've ever had. Along with it we had an order of onion rings that were anything but round. They were more like an uncompressed onion loaf and admirably treaded the thin line between screaming taste and a bit of grease. This was good stuff. We had loganberry juice, which we were advised to try. Ehh. Sort of like Kool-Aid (which we were told by Michael, it would be like) but with soul. Not my favorite libation, but you never know until you try, do you?
A Roadfoodie has to be brave so we teased death by dodging cars to get across the street and walk the minute or two to
Andersan's Frozen Custard for a scoop of pumpkin custard. I felt that this beat Abbotts, in Rochester by a mile. The setting wasn't as nice, but you can't eat the scenery. It was smooth, creamy and perfect.
From there we went to
Parkside Candy, a Victorian jewel box of an ice cream parlor and candy store. I had a sundae with maple walnut ice cream, hot fudge, whipped cream and nuts. It was impressive, but Antoinette's, the side trip we took yesterday, was better when it came to hard ice cream. At Antoinette's the whipped cream was pushed out of bag and the ice cream was much creamier. It must have been the high fat content.
The candy at Parkside I felt was a bit better.
The sponge candy which is the only thing I really had to compare, was ambrosia. It had its own table since I'm sure they sell tons of it. If you haven't tasted one, I can liken it to a Butterfinger made by God. Perfect milk chocolate encased in spun sugar, or at least that's what it seemed to be. I walked out with half a pound of this manna, as if I needed it.
Lastly was the
Anchor Bar where the Buffalo wing was invented in 1964. We were shepherded into a side room and sat at tables where were brought platters of mild and medium wings with hot sauce on the side. The wings had a great crunch and weren’t at all greasy, the downside of many wings. The taste was exquisite. I don't know if they were the best wings I'd ever eaten but if not, they were damned close. It really went well with a couple of pints of Guinness which it turned out WAS what my right hand was for. I would have preferred being out in the bar, but since this was the day of a the big game, which seems to happen most Sundays, we didn't have that opportunity since many Buffalo natives make it a habit of sucking up wings with their football.
On the bus back, JoJo from Miami, in a nine year long distance relationship with Michael from Hawaii, proposed marriage over the microphone. No pressure there
and he accepted to great applause. This seemed like a perfect ending to a perfect Roadfood trip.
The next one is back in New Orleans at the end of March, when Roadfood vendors, not just from Louisiana but from all over the country will be showing their wares. This just keeps getting better and better.
I hope to see many of you there.
David
<message edited by david_winograd@mac.com on Sun, 09/20/09 8:37 PM>
