Hey Serious Eaters, in case you follow the Food Lab and have a radio, I'll be talking with Michael Harlan-Turkell of the Heritage Radio Network's The Food Seen this afternoon at 3pm for the last episode of the season. We'll be talking pizza, burgers, and all other manner of serious eats.
Check it out by going to their site and clicking on the "Listen Live" button on the top right corner of the screen. If you miss it, the show will also be archived on their site.
[Photographs: Ed Levine]
Having written an entire book about pizza, I'm kind of embarrassed to admit that I've never been to Zuppardi's Apizza in West Haven, Connecticut. My brother Mike, who's been eating New Haven–style pizza for almost 50 years, has been telling me for years that Zuppardi's is a top-notch joint. So driving back from Providence with Alaina Browne, we had the perfect opportunity to finally visit.
On our cell phone from the LaCrosse we ordered a large sausage and mozzarella pie. Fifteen minutes later we found ourselves in a residential neighborhood looking at a white wood frame house with a Zuppardi's sign in red.
When I walked in the door, current co-owner Cheryl Pearce (she owns it with her sister Lori Sweeney—it's been a family business since 1934), was boxing and cutting our pie. Perfect timing! One look at what she was cutting and I knew that all was right in my pizza-loving world.
I practically ran outside with the box, placed it on the hood of the car, and picked up a slice.
Chef Tony Maws. [Photographs: Carey Jones]
When the good folks at Buick handed over the LaCrosse for our Serious Eats road trip, we talked about "value-driven world-class dining" as the theme—and it was that guidance that led us to Cambridge, Massachusetts, for dinner at Craigie on Main. Yes, we drove 200 miles for dinner cooked by chef-owner Tony Maws, who serves cuisine that Serious Eats columnist Kenji Alt has aptly described as "homey with a touch of mad science."
On my last visit to the Boston area with my wife and son, I had dragged them to Craigie on Main for both brunch and dinner on the Sunday we arrived in Boston. But having dictated those plans, I couldn't bring myself to tell them what to order. Please don't feel sorry for us—my son, Will, ordered Craigie's transcendent burger and fries, and I got to try an equally special lentil soup with disk of crisp lamb shoulder smack in the middle of the bowl.
But we did miss out on the $39 four-course chef's whim dinner, in which you put yourself at Maws's magical mercy for an entire meal. Four courses by one of the nation's most exciting chefs for less than $40? That sounds like the definition of "value-driven world-class dining."
When we left our keys with the valet, we also left our entire evening in Maws and company's capable hands, and man, they didn't disappoint. Those "chef's whims"? They're delicious impulses that can't be test-driven by many home cooks or even chefs.
Grilled cheese from Farmstead. [Photos: Ed Levine]
Here's an equation I bet you've never seen in a math class:
Buick LaCrosse + Providence at lunchtime = Serious Sandwiches.
Let me explain. Alaina and I cruised out of Boston at around 11:30. Our plan: head to Providence for a mini sandwich tour. (That'd be a limited tour of Providence sandwiches—not a tour of Providence mini-sandwiches.) I've been hearing a lot about the sandwiches made and sold at the the food store-cum-cheese shop Farmstead, by husband and wife chef team Matt and Kate Jennings (owners of the highly regarded bistro La Laiterie).
I figured that we would take our sandwiches and eat them in our roomy LaCrosse as we made our way to our second Providence sandwich shop, Hewtin's Mobile Hot Dog Truck, owned by another Providence based husband and wife team—Matthew and Kristin Gennuso of Chez Pascal. What better time to visit a food truck in New England than on a sunny day in mid-March, with wheels at your disposal? And since we'd left Carey behind in Boston, we rendezvoused with one of our terrific Serious Eats interns, Brown student Leah Douglas.
Sounds like a pretty cool itinerary, doesn't it?
[Photographs: Carey Jones]
From Walter's Hot Dogs in Mamaroneck, we zoomed up the road to Port Chester's Tarry Lodge. (But not before Ed had tuned the XM satellite radio to the '60s station and regaled us with tales of his concert-going past, complete with sing-alongs. He does a mean "Light My Fire"—and the car muffles highway noise so well, we got a full Ed audio blast loud and clear. You haven't heard The Doors until you've heard Ed Levine as backup vocals.)
But where were we? Ah, yes, Tarry Lodge. Opened in the fall of 2008 by chef Andy Nusser (opening chef at Babbo) and GM Nancy Selzer (Bar Jamón, Casa Mono, Babbo)—with Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich—it's a less urban incarnation of that team's now-familiar aesthetic.
If you're familiar with Otto in New York's West Village, you'll walk in and feel right at home. (Despite the lack of a train display or cheese counter.) Everything from the antipasti selection to the small-print back-of-the-menu wine list to the font of the menu lets you know whose restaurant you're in.
But Tarry Lodge has an energy all its own, as was clear at 1 p.m. on a Tuesday—when the place was packed to the brim. Older Italian men in suits at the bar, ladies in hats sharing Prosecco and pizza, a lively table of well-dressed office folk digging into plates of pasta. We hadn't expected lunchtime to bring out the crowds, but according to our waiter, it was pretty much par for the course.
Our chariot (right) in front of Walter's Hot Dog stand. [Photographs: Carey Jones]
Ed, Alaina, and I had plenty of fine dining scheduled for our food road trip from New York to Boston. But the first stop on our eating itinerary, less than an hour north of the city, was about as old-school roadside snack stop as they come: Walter's Hot Dogs, in Mamaroneck, New York. Opened by Walter Warrington in 1919—and at its current location since 1928—it's still in the family, now owned by Gene Warrington, Walter's son.
Even if you're unfamiliar with the area, the hot dog stand is impossible to miss: just look for the pagoda. Yes, the pagoda, complete with a copper-tiled roof, and the lanterns and toothy carp to flank it. "This building typifies the attention-getting styles of roadside restaurants in the 1920s," reads the Westchester County historical marker beside it. (You don't say.)
When we arrived on a beautiful springlike morning, just ten minutes after their 11:30 AM opening, a line already stretched around the side—and the smell of butter-browning hot dogs already hung in the air.
I've been dreading today's weigh-in ever since I found out that our food road trip was taking place on a Tuesday and a Wednesday. I suppose it could have been worse. (Our road trip could have taken place on a Wednesday and Thursday.)
Still, there's no escaping the fact that it was tough diet sledding in our Buick LaCrosse. We started with a noon stop at Walter's, a great pagoda-shaped hot dog stand in Mamaroneck, New York. I took one bite of a single, a bite of the double dog, two sips of a chocolate malt, and a single sweet potato fry. So far, so good. But we still had eight stops to go.
Houston, I think we have a problem. Perhaps a garden tour would have been a healthier alternative
On Tuesday Alaina, Carey, and I are driving to Boston in a Buick LaCrosse being lent to us by the good folks at General Motors. The theme of the trip is: Value-Driven World Class Dining. We are totally psyched. I love food-oriented road trips. We have the basic outline of an itinerary, which includes the following stops:
Tuesday, March 9: NYC-Boston
Wednesday March 10: Boston-NYC
So that's our plan, but the best-laid plans and all that, so we'd love to hear any ideas from the serious eaters just in case we can eke out another stop or two. Plus, there's always another road trip to go on. Maybe they'll let us keep our LaCrosse.
