Betsy the Devine eats, reminisces and delights us all:
Agawam Diner–hot dogs, baked beans, warm cherry pie:
Love this place–in Rowley, MA, at the intersection of Rte 1 with Rte 133. Or maybe I should say, at the intersection of the 1950s with your memories of childhood comfort food.
She gave us a link to the review on RoadFood:
Here is a review on Chowhound:
You can enjoy their food here:
Agawam Diner: Routes 1 & 133, Rowley, MA
Google Map
Phone: 978-948-7780
Two years ago, my sister was looking at the display of Huckleberry products in the gift shop in West Yellowstone. She had a few bottles of huckleberry jam in her hands. Mike and I looked at her, but I was the one to break the news, “You probably don’t want to get that for your friends at work.” She shrugged, “Why not?” Mike shook his head, “Because huckleberries are everywhere. Laura and I took Cory to a gift shop in Utah and there was the exact same brand of huckleberry stuff there.” Stacey looked at her bottles of jam, “I can get these in Utah?” We nodded. “Why would I buy them here?”
Truth is, I’ve seen huckleberry products in Utah, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and California. Huckleberries grow in all of those states, but if you’re visiting Oregon from Utah, what’s the point of bringing back huckleberry jam? Are huckleberry gummy bears any different when I buy them in Utah?
Are huckleberries even real or are they just a cutsey name for blueberries? According to the Wikipedia entry on huckleberries, they are related to blueberries, but they are actually their own plant:
Huckleberry is a name used in North America for several plants in two closely related genera in the family Ericaceae: Gaylussacia and Vaccinium. While some Vaccinium species, such as the Red Huckleberry, are always called huckleberries, are closely related to blueberries but are not the same. Similar Vaccinium species in Europe are called bilberries.
You mean to tell me they even have huckleberries in Europe, but they just call them a different name? Which tourists are going to buy all this huckleberry crap? Why is it being marketed as a special at all?
The answer might lie with these folks:
This is an excerpt from their Mission Statement:
The mission of the Western Huckleberry and Bilberry Association is to create a vital, thriving industry built around huckleberries and bilberries through information, education, and networking. The Association will achieve this mission by:
- Providing educational programs to members
- Supporting basic and applied research
- Encouraging sustainable huckleberry culture techniques
- Promoting improved production and marketing of huckleberries
- Serving as an advocate and voice for the huckleberry industry
Why do huckleberries need an advocate and voice? It looks to me like huckleberries are just a product that are stuck in all these gift shops across the western United States to just take advantage of tourist money. Next time you’re tempted to buy a bag of chocolate-covered huckleberries, remember you can probably buy the same bag at home and it will be just as stale.
With a recommendation like this, I don’t know why everyone doesn’t go to New York for tacos?
Missbhavens takes us to Viva El Mariachi restaurant in Astoria, New York.
It’s like porn you can swallow.
Where: Viva El Mariachi 3311 Broadway Long Island City, NY 11106 Google Map Phone: (718) 545-4039
Tom Negrino is one of those lucky guys who has good friends. His buddies, Marc and Stormy, know of a good bunch of eating and wine places and they took Tom with them when they hit them. He gives us the wrap-up here:
His favorites were as follows:
I wish he had recorded all the spots that Marc and Stormy took him too. I bet it’s an amazing road trip!
Josh Leo is going to take you to the Grand Haven Salmon Festival:
The best advice came from one of the participants when asked how he chooses:
“I look for the long lines.”
Apparently, the fish and wine people with the longest lines have the best food. That makes sense.
I love Josh’s evaluation:
“Meat on a stick. I don’t think there’s anything better in this world.”
Josh invites us all to come next year:
“Come down next year for yourself and enjoy all the awesome salmon and wine craziness that’s going on here in Grand Haven. Yeah, it’s a great time! Good food, good people, good wine: thumbs up all the way around!”
I just love Josh’s reviews of the events in Grand Haven, Michigan. It shows me that no matter where you live, there is something exciting going on to enjoy.
With a setting that looks like a postcard, the Casa Rio sits on the Riverwalk attracting tourists with the scent of their food and their singing. I live in a town with excellent Mexican food, so I expected touristy faire at Casa Rio and to be honest, that’s what I got. The food was good, but nothing was even near the spiciness that I’m used to. I enjoyed the enchiladas and queso sauce on my chips, but nothing brought tears to my eyes.
What I enjoyed most was the singing.
We were surprised at the reasonable prices of the food, so we sprang the ten bucks for a song. We figured we would have paid twice what we were paying in any other touristy place, so we were happy to splurge. The group singing played typical songs that are requested all the time like La Bamba and Tijuana Taxi, but they did it in such a congenial manner that I had a blissful moment when they were playing. Friendly AND professional, all at once, I felt so grateful that I had paid for a song. It was worth it for that moment of Zen.
Where: Casa Rio
430 E Commerce St
San Antonio, TX
Google Map
Phone: (210) 225-6718
Fax: (210) 225-2216
Hours:
Sunday – Saturday
11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.
In January
Scattered across San Antonio, are the humble Bill Miller BBQ restaurants. They are a casual oasis of BBQ that beckons to me at every few street corners. We finally stopped at Bill Miller to see if it was all that Texas BBQ was supposed to be.
I was told long ago that the hallmark of good Texas BBQ is that they cook the meat without sauce and let you add the sauce to your liking. That’s exactly how they did it at Bill Miller. I had a piece of brisket and some chicken. Both were tender and moist before we used any of the sauce on it.
For me, though, it’s all about the sides. I can’t eat too much meat, but I can enjoy good bread, potato salad and coleslaw all day long. Fortunately, Bill Miller BBQ had enough of those as well.
Bill Miller has a bakery where fresh pies are baked every day and brought to the stores. We had a choice of at least three different pies. When there is that much variety, it’s hard to choose just one. We had two and stole bites from one another’s.
After I had loaded up on food, the service was efficient and friendly. They served us up what we wanted and checked us out quickly so we could eat it. I really liked that I could just go through the line, get my food quickly and immediately go to my table to eat. It smelled so good, I don’t think I could have waited for traditional sit-down service. Luckily, they served cafeteria-style, so I didn’t have to wait any longer than it took me to get through the line.
In fact, I couldn’t wait. I forgot to take a picture of my food until it was all gone.
Want to know the best part? It was cheap. For both Mike and I to eat, it was around ten bucks. We had more food than the two of us could eat plus dessert and we only spent around ten dollars. They have locations in San Antonio, Austin and Corpus Christi. If you find yourself in Texas, make sure you try out Bill Miller’s BBQ. You won’t be disappointed and you’ll be surprised how much food you get for your buck.
Where: Bill Miller BBQ
P.O. Box 839925
San Antonio, Texas 78283-3925
Phone: (210) 225-4461
Fax: (210) 302-1533
E-mail: hq@billmillerbbq.com
Restaurants all over San Antonio, Austin and Corpus Christi:
San Antonio: Google Map
Austin: Google Map
Corpus Christi: Google Map
While we were in Las Vegas, we stopped at the Vosges Haute Chocolates shop at The Forum Shopes in Caesar’s Palace. Stacey and Dan bought a large box and Mike bought a small box of the expensive treats.
Sadly they were nothing more enjoyable than the chocolates we can get at home at Xocolate for half the price. Additionally, there are some irritating things about their service that make me want to avoid the store from now on.
The store has a pretentious feel. I didn’t really feel “rich” enough to buy the chocolates there, even though I have plenty of money. I don’t need a snooty atmosphere to keep my chocolate fresh.
The girls behind the counter weighed no more than 110 pounds. I have a hard time believing the clerk when she says she eats the chocolate all the time and she is rail thin. I can’t believe her when she says a particular truffle is good because it looks like she has never eaten chocolate in her life.
They write up a directory for you so you can tell the different truffles apart. That’s great, but if your chocolates drop off of the back of the car and get all jumbled up, that directory is useless. A pre-printed guide with pictures describing each truffle would be MUCH better.
In the end, I liked the chocolates, but they weren’t better than ones I had eaten at half the price. I detested the snooty atmosphere and I’ll probably never go there again.
Where: Google Map
Vosges Haute Chocolates
Forum Shops at Caesars
3500 Las Vegas Blvd South Suite R04
Las Vegas, NV 89109
Ring: 702.836.9866
Hours: Sun-Thurs. 10-11, Fri-Sat. 10-midnight
“Let’s go to that restaurant with the beer.”
“Which one is that?” It’s not like Salt Lake City has such few restaurants with beer that I could tell which one he meant.
“You know, you asked the guy to pour the beer while you filmed him with your camera…”
“Oh yeah… The Bohemian. Yeah, let’s go there!”
Music Credit: Experimental Royalty Free Music – Laid Back Guitars
It was one of those moments when everything is beautiful. Our waiter had poured one glass of beer and I asked if it was okay if I filmed him while he poured the other. We sat on the shady east side of the restaurant outdoors and enjoyed the mild weather.
The beer? Yeah… it tasted like beer…
All beer tastes like teenaged drunken parties and vomit to me. This beer was no different. It looked so pretty, though. It was a cruel joke, looking like a frothy root beer float. Instead, it tasted like beer you should chew.
It made quite an impression on my friend, though…
Where: The Bohemian Brewery and Grill – 94 E 7200 S (Fort Union Blvd) Salt Lake City, UT 84047 Google Map Phone: 801-566-5474
A grand opening for a restaurant is usually a quiet affair. A few friends of the restaurant owners show up and they give tours of the kitchen. When Pawit opened his new restaurant, however, it was filled with people, eager to once again eat his delicious food. It was a raging success!
Pawit had been a partner at Thai Garden, but when the business arrangement went sour, he searched for a restaurant to call his own. When he left Thai Garden, the food quality dimished rapidly, so all his loyal customers have been waiting for months for his new restaurant to open up.
Pawit is a perfectionist in the best sense of the word. Not only does the kitchen need to be immaculately clean (take a tour and you’ll feel as if a doctor could perform surgery in his kitchen), but the rest of the restaurant needs to be beautiful. The grand opening of Pawit’s Royal Cuisine was nothing short of artwork.
He had a small staff the opening night and the restaurant was full, so our meal took a couple of hours to complete. We were happy to wait because it was the first time in months that we were able to eat his delicious Massaman Curry and Num Tok Salad. We sipped our Thai Iced Teas and enjoyed the appetizers.
When the food came, we weren’t disappointed. The curry was spicy and creamy. The Num Tok was a refreshing salad of beef and mint. The sticky rice was perfect. The mango and sweet sticky rice was moist and delicious. Once we asked Pawit how he found the best mangoes and he said, “I go all over the city looking for the best. I found these ones at Costco.” He was so proud of his find. Mike and I can never find fresh mangoes in the city, but Pawit keeps searching until he does.
When you come to Salt Lake City, Utah, you cannot leave until you’ve tried Pawit’s Royal Thai Cuisine. It’s the kind of restaurant that is a testament to Salt Lake City’s diversity.
Pawit’s Royal Thai Cuisine
1968 East Murray- Holladay Road, Salt Lake City, Utah 84117 Google Map
Phone: 801-277-39658
Hours:
Lunch: 11:30 am – 3:00 pm
Dinner: 5:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Friday and Saturday close at 10:00 pm
Closed Sunday
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