http://www.roadfood.comRestaurant reviews from the most memorable local eateries along the highways and backroads of America.en-us(c) 2009, Roadfood.com. All rights reserved.30Although some Roadfood restaurants are unabashedly easy-to-find, given the vintage neon sign or oversized plaster-cast animal out front, others take the opposite approach. Kingdom of Dumpling is of the latter mindset. Far from the madding crowd of Chinatown, this small eatery is located on nondescript Taraval Street in San Francisco’s Parkside neighborhood. Given that literally only a handful of tables (maybe 5 or 6) fits within the shop’s tiny interior, the wait can be long if you arrive at a peak time. True dumpling devotees stake their spot on the sidewalk, however, and pass the time debating not which dumplings to order, but which to order first. Trying to decide between the nearly 20 dumpling types on the menu can be the one stressful part of a visit to Kingdom of Dumpling. Although each sounds only slightly different from the last (e.g., pork and cabbage, pork and celery, pork and spinach, etc.), the particular meat and vegetable combination selected can certainly make all the difference. When overwhelmed by the options before us, we often abide by the “more is better” mantra (i.e. “Who knows how long it will be until we are back? We had better order them all just in case!”). However, here one must be careful in ordering because every inch of the $6 plate is covered by a full dozen dumplings. On this visit, we were lucky enough to have friends Anna and John with us and therefore able to extend our sampling limits. Kingdom does not have a daily special per se, but the owner made a point to let us know that the chicken and corn dumplings had just been made (in fact, while waiting outside, we watched as a car pulled up, the driver unloaded large cookie sheets filled with fresh dumplings, and hurriedly carried them inside). We took his recommendation and also ordered plates of the pork and chive, lamb, and pork potstickers. All were top-notch with soft steamed skins wrapped around fillings that were not only flavorful, but moist and juicy as well. The pièce de résistance, however, was the Shanghai soup dumplings. This Eastern Chinese specialty is set apart from more traditional dumplings by the addition of a solid meat gelatin that melts into a soup-like consistency upon steaming. The pork filling was every bit as delicious as in the other house dumplings, but the additional treat of a spoonful of bold broth at the end left us craving these steamed dumplings long after we left. Not wanting to suffer from palate exhaustion, we also opted for a few items off the dim sum menu. The onion pancake (a thin flour pancake stuffed with green onions and fried), and cold, fresh cucumber salad were both simple yet appetite-whetting, and the salt & pepper tofu was what you would expect from the name—a heaping plate of golden brown cubes reserved for true fans of bean curd…or a very large group interested in sharing. Despite the simplicity of this dish, we were amazed at how soft the tofu remained inside the peppery crust, as we eagerly dipped piece after piece into the house chili sauce. Kingdom of Dumpling is not your grandmother’s Chinese restaurant. If you are looking for General Tso’s chicken or beef & broccoli, you are advised to head downtown. However, if authentic items like marinated radish cake, spicy beef tendon, and freshly made dumplings are more up your alley, Kingdom of Dumpling will not disappoint.http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Overview.aspx?RefID=6971Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:41:00 GMTI would have definitely driven by Zenders if it weren't for the big old sign that was placed above the door; despite having GPS I think it is still not as easy as some places to find. I parked in a nearby lot and made my way in to a rather empty and deserted restaurant. While I felt it took a little bit longer than I would have expected considering I was the only one in the restaurant, eventually I was rewarded by my patience with a heaping amount of food. I started off with their self-proclaimed, "Our Best Sandwich", which is a filet mignon sandwich. While I can't say it was a bad sandwich, I would definitely say it was my least favorite item of my entire visit. Before I finished off the filet mignon sandwich I dug into my Reuben and, boy, was I glad that I got this. All the parts were perfectly aligned with one another: the sauerkraut played well with the corned beef, and was not to overwhelmed by the Swiss cheese. In between bites of my Reuben I dug into my loaded fries. These were some mighty fine fries with plenty of toppings. The fries are skin on and freshly fried, and I wouldn't be surprised if they are cut in house. Next up was a piece of old-fashioned sugar cream pie. Every bit of this pie brought back memories of the first time I had sugar cream pie. I wish I could have eaten about five more pieces. The chocolate shake was an alright version that didn't blow my socks off, but it was certainly satisfying. Service was friendly and helpful so I could definitely see myself stopping by again if I was ever in the area.http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Overview.aspx?RefID=6964Sat, 06 Feb 2010 15:32:00 GMTLos Jarritos, a tiny 12th Avenue cafe, serves up such Sonoran classics as carne asada, nopalitos con chili (prickly pear cactus with chili colorado), and red or white menudo available in sizes from a pint to a gallon. Most meals are ordered to take out and tamales are sold by the dozen, but a couple of tables inside and a few on a small patio out front give regulars the opportunity to linger over long breakfasts of machaca and eggs or house-made chorizo and carry on conversations with each other and with strangers. "Praise God for corn from Mexico," declared one tamale-eating customer when he saw us glowing with joy over the sunshine-and-butter brightness of Los Jarritos' green corn tamales, which are always on the menu. Once strictly a late-summer, early-fall dish, when local corn was ripe and chile was harvested, green corn tamales now are available year-around thanks to trucked-in corn from the south and chilies that are frozen after being roasted. Another Los Jarritos denizen piped in to let us know how much work it is to make green corn tamales, pantomiming the effort it takes to carefully remove popping-fresh kernels from the cob, making sure you maximize the amount of juice retrieved, resulting in moist dough with earthy sweetness not found in ordinary masa milled from dried kernels. A member of the Los Jarritos staff told us that a few years ago they used to overnight green corn tamales to a restaurant in Connecticut for their once-a-week Mexican night. She recalled with bemused humor: "They paid the Fedex more than they paid us for the tamales!" Now back home in Connecticut, I am especially sorry the restaurant no longer gets the real thing from Tucson. Once you've known the soft, intertwined flavors of sweet corn, rich cheese and hot pepper steamed into opulent harmony, no other tamale quite measures up. http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Overview.aspx?RefID=6832Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:02:00 GMTWe love the New York City hero. We also love Philadelphia hoagies and Louisiana muffulettas and all their regional brethren. A muffuletta is defined by the olive salad garnish. A hoagie, unless otherwise specified, comes with lettuce, tomato, and onion (order a cheesesteak hoagie, as opposed to a cheesesteak, and you are requesting your sandwich to be garnished [however ill-advised] with lettuce, tomatoes, and onions). The hero, as we see it, is the least constrained of the group. A hero is a sandwich on a long roll or length of Italian bread. Fill it with hot sausage or meatballs, cold cuts, cheeses, tuna, roasted vegetables, anything you can think of, and it's still a hero. You, of course, don't want just a hero though, you want a great hero, so it's up to you to find a place with top-quality bread and primo ingredients with which to fill it, and then you have to select those ingredients wisely. Todaro Bros., an Italian deli that has become more of an international grocery and gourmet shop, is an excellent place to begin. Like most of the finest hero purveyors, Todaro's is take-out only (this being New York City, it's not difficult to find a bench or a park to settle into before unwrapping your feast). Make your way to the back of the store, passing shelves and counters and refrigerated cases loaded with olive oils and wine vinegars, fresh-cut meat and fresh produce, where you'll find the deli counter arrayed with a mind-boggling selection of prosciuttos, cheeses, and salamis. The menu above your head offers many suggestions, but the best way to go is to build your sandwich from scratch, selecting those meats and cheeses that most interest you. Begin by inspecting the roll selection. You want a good crusty roll, and if none of the rolls at the deli counter appeal to you, your sandwich man will look for options up at the bread counter. This not only ensures good bread for your hero, in our experience it also signals the sandwich man that you are serious about your hero. He will likely take extra care in its construction. Todaro carries a wide selection of first-quality imported cold cuts, and they are worth your attention, but even the domestic choices are far better than what you're likely to find at your local supermarket. Our suggestions: be sure to get the sweet and creamy fresh mozzarella, and the olive spread is a wonderful addition. We're also particularly fond of the Italian mortadella. Be careful with the oil & vinegar; the vinegar is balsamic, and we find that it clashes with the taste of many of the meats. Unless you absolutely must have them, avoid the pink tomato slices and skip the lettuce. A hero with two meats and fresh mozz can run you ten bucks, maybe even a dollar or two more, but when you unwrap your sandwich and wrap your jaws around this custom-built specimen, we think you'll agree it's worth every penny.http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Overview.aspx?RefID=4804Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:02:00 GMTSam's Grill is at the high end of the Roadfood budget. You easily can spend $50 on a meal. But it is a true and historic – and delicious – taste of San Francisco. Open since 1867, it is deluxe (executives come wearing expensive suits), and it is informal (tear at your sourdough bread with gusto, letting crumbs fall where they may). It looks the way you want a great old California restaurant to look: outfitted with yards of thick white linen, brass hooks for coats, and private wooden dining booths for intimate meals. Sam's menu is a benchmark of a splendid west coast cuisine that never goes in or out of style: fresh Pacific seafood, charcoal grilled or pan fried, accompanied by hearty salads, a loaf of brittle-crusted sourdough bread, and fresh vegetables. The kitchen also turns out a huge roster of straightforward American food, including two dozen specials and almost a hundred à la carte selections every day. It is possible to order charcoal-grilled steaks and chops, sweetbreads done three ways, or shortribs of beef with horseradish sauce, or just bacon and eggs. Nearly everybody comes to Sam's for the seafood, but one of these days we are going to branch out onto other tasty trails. As is characteristic of so much new California cuisine, most of Sam's seafood is plainly cooked. This is the place to sample Pacific rarities that seldom make it east, like genuine Hangtown fry (an omelette made with Northwest oysters), petrale sole grilled over charcoal; and the delicate, white-fleshed local fish called sand dabs – about a half dozen sweet little filets sauteed in lemon butter. Sam's is quirky, the way venerable oldsters are entitled to be. Open only on weekdays, only until nine at night, it caters to a clientele of people who work downtown and come every day for lunch, or for an early dinner before heading home. At noon, it hosts successful-looking types jockeying for a table or crowding three deep against the bar. Once you are seated, it is an immensely comfortable place to eat. The staff of impeccably-dressed waiters are consummate professionals, not even blinking when they bring a second loaf of bread to a certain greedy twosome who pocketed their loaf to take with them on the trip north up the coast. http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Overview.aspx?RefID=335Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:01:00 GMTWe arrived on a bleak and dreary Sunday afternoon. We were looking to fill our bellies with food and breakfast sounded delicious. While I have never been a big country-fried steak fan, I am certainly one now. The gravy that accompanied the steak was very good and there was plenty of it, and it makes me drool just thinking about what their biscuits and gravy might be like. The hash browns were pretty fantastic; they had edges that were nice and crispy but some parts that were slightly soft, a great mixture of both that could only be improved by adding some onions and cheese, which is what I will try next time. My mom was quite fond of the ham and Swiss omelet and she really liked her hash browns as well. This is high praise from someone who does not ordinarily like hash browns of any sort. While the omelet wasn’t quite her favorite version of ham and Swiss, she happily ate it up. The deal of the day came with my dad’s special, as it came with so much food and it all ended up being quite good. The pancakes were nice and fluffy. If I didn’t know better I would have sworn from the color of the pancakes that they used some sort of corn meal; they were fairly yellow. These were like syrup sponges. All in all a great deal of food for such a small amount of money. Makes us want to come back time and time again.http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Overview.aspx?RefID=6954Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:47:00 GMTI walked in, hung up my coat, and was told to take a seat anywhere that I wanted. Well, being that I like sitting at the counter and listening to the staff talking amongst themselves and with regulars, I bellied up to the countertop. I looked at the menu and found a lot of the types of food that you would find at a typical "diner" establishment: your typical burgers, pork tenderloin sandwiches, and a few other house specialties like the Dixie Burger. And of course, in true diner fashion, they serve breakfast all day long, which instantly made me like the place all the more. Got my chocolate milk shake first and it was a good solid version; decent chocolate flavor and it was the perfect consistency. Next up were the biscuits and gravy. I had mixed feelings about this one overall. The biscuits were a little bit over-baked or were just a little bit tougher than I like, but they weren't the worst that I have ever had. The gravy had good flavor and some nice meaty chunks of sausage but still needed some pepper to kick it up. The hotcakes were a good solid version and I would say they were probably around eight inches in diameter, so they were of good size, but the best part is that they had good flavor. While it may not have been the prettiest piece of coconut cream pie in the world, or my favorite in the Dayton area for that matter, it was a really good slice of pie. There were a good amount of chunks of coconut and you could tell that it was homemade, so it just warmed my heart. If I am ever in the area again I know I will stop by to try some of their other delicious-looking burgers that seemed quite popular with the regulars.http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Overview.aspx?RefID=6955Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:13:00 GMTWhat could define the term "road food" better than a traditional truck stop? For years, The Pine Cone has been feeding Wisconsin travelers. Known for their "Keep Smiling" billboards and their good food, the place has become a favorite of local travelers, and truck drivers. There are three Pine Cones in Wisconsin, associated with Shell gas stations, but don't let this fool you; the food is great. Classic truck stop fare means large portions, and a homey meat and potatoes menu. It also means 24 hour breakfasts. Steak is a big part of the menu, even the breakfast menu. I counted no less than six different steaks offered for breakfast. Similar offerings are on the lunch and dinner menu. Specials consist of stews, pasta dishes, meat loaf, roast beef, or similar offerings. There is also a selection of sandwiches, and burgers featuring butter, real onions, and toasted buns. I have never been disappointed ordering whatever the daily special is (there are always several). These tend to be traditional, heavy meals of the type everyone ate in the forties and fifties. The Johnson Creek Pine Cone features a traditional counter and booths, to the left, and a more comfortable dining room off to the right. After stopping at the glass fronted bakery counter, planted directly in front of the entrance, I generally turn left. The service is fast, and from this vantage, near the kitchen pick-up window, you can watch the wait staff rushing around; this is a volume business. The cook calls the waitresses by number, as the orders appear in the window, to be picked up. In classic truck stop fashion, smoking is permitted in this area, and ashtrays are on the counter. Though I have never left the table, or counter, hungry, the lure of that bakery counter at the door is sometimes too much, and I have been known to pick up some sweet rolls on the way out. The Pine Cone has been at its present location for a number of years, but some major changes have taken place here. Johnson Creek had been a small country town of about 600 people, partway between Milwaukee and Madison. The town's location, just south of an I-94 off ramp, brought a considerable amount of traffic passing through on the way to Jefferson, Janesville, and Beloit. The area has had a recent boom, however, as an outlet mall and several department stores have sprung up. This hasn't hurt the Pine Cone's business, as it makes a fine place to stop and eat, in the middle of a hard day of bargain hunting. The Madison Pine Cone is located on the bypass that skirts the city of Madison. This is where I-90 and I-94 part company, with 90 continuing west to Lacrosse, while 94 heads north to the Twin Cities before turning west itself. The food and service are very much the same as those of the Johnson Creek location. Here, however, there is no outlet mall, though the city of Madison is only a couple of miles down the road. The truck stop here is more extensive, offering a selection of goods, like a modern day general store. The store area takes up the space of the second dining room, though the single dining area here is somewhat larger than that of the Johnson Creek Pine Cone. The Madison Pine Cone is a favorite stop on the way to the Wisconsin Dells, and like its Johnson Creek counterpart, I have never known it to be slow. http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Overview.aspx?RefID=1165Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:32:00 GMTYou can get anything you want to eat at the White Front Café, also known as Joe’s Hot Tamale Place … just so long as what you want to eat is a tamale. The menu is one item, and one item only; and for it, this little wood-frame house by the side of Route 1 has become a Delta landmark to which people travel 100 miles from Memphis. Many customers buy them by the dozen to take home for supper. We enjoy eating here at one of four kitchenette tables in the front room of the café. Order three or four and they are served tightly wrapped in their corn husk. You can eat them one of two ways: pick up a tamale and squeeze out a mouthful of the succulent insides or peel away the husk and use a saltine cracker to scoop some up. (If you want saltines, you’ll need to walk across Route 1 and buy a pack at the convenience store. Joe has soda pop to drink, as well as a few jars of pickles and penny candies on the counter, but no other foodstuffs on his menu.) Joe Pope began serving tamales in Rosedale in the 1970s, and when he died in 2004 the business was taken over by his sister Barbara. When we interviewed him in 2002, he told us he uses a recipe he inherited from the daughter of John Hooks, who learned how to cook them from a Mexican from Texas who traveled through the Delta back in the 1930s. Today, tamales are a popular dish all along the Mississippi River from Memphis to Vicksburg. Most tamale cooks have their own way of doing things. Some use pork, some add chicken to the mix; some tamales are ferociously spicy. We believe Joe Pope’s are among the very best. They are all-beef (no pork), a well-nigh perfect blend of meat, cornmeal and just enough peppery spice to excite but not overwhelm your tongue. http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Overview.aspx?RefID=1371Sun, 31 Jan 2010 09:15:00 GMTIn the back of a solid old house on the west side of Mobile, pitmaster Bill Armbrecht has built a room-size cooker into which he piles hickory and pecan logs and smokes meats at the lowest possible temperature for the longest possible time: thirty hours for pork shoulder, twelve hours for ribs, six hours for chicken. During the slow process, the meats' natural fat becomes their basting juices; and by the time they are done, each piece of pork and chicken is virtually fatless, yet supermoist. Brick Pit pork shoulder is what we like best, pulled from the cooked roast by hand. It is presented as a pile of motley chunks and shreds – some as soft as warm butter, others with crunchy crust from the outside of the roast. The meat comes under a film of house-made sauce that is thick and tomato-based, with laid-back character that does not distract from the fineness of the smoky meat. Ribs are blackened on the outside but extravagantly tender, with many areas so gentled by the smoke pit that the lightest finger pressure causes pieces of their meat to slide right off the bone. The low-slung dining room at The Brick Pit is painted white and completely covered in signatures, tributes, and other assorted happy graffiti. Orders are taken at a back window; once you've told them what you want, you find a seat and in no time, a waitress brings the meal in a partitioned plate that holds the meat of choice separate from the beans and cole slaw that come with it. Above the breezeway that leads to the parking lot outside, a sign announces, "Welcome to the Best Damn Smoked Bar-B-Que in the Great State of Alabama". We concur! http://www.roadfood.com/Reviews/Overview.aspx?RefID=324Sun, 31 Jan 2010 09:12:00 GMT