Offbeat Eats

(Closed) Every since I started going to Edwards AFB regularly several years ago, this place has been on my to-do list. Several people on Chowhound raved about it. Several area guides recommend it. And the place is photogenic to boot. But every other time I’ve come to the area, I’ve had to be out at Edwards early enough that I couldn’t do breakfast. But finally, on my 5th trip out here, I had a chance to go here for breakfast. And I’m glad I did.

(Closed) My experience at the Wickford Diner was a complete fiasco (in the second sense above), but the resulting comedy of errors was so entertaining that I just had to tell other people about it. This isn’t really a complaint, since in the end the humor of the situation greatly outweighed any of the inconvenience. This Memorial Day, I found myself in Wickford, RI, immediately before the morning’s Memorial Day Parade. Carol and I were hungry for a little breakfast (our earlier efforts at Allie’s Donuts failed, due to Allie’s being closed for the holiday), but the Wickford Diner was open. I’ve been to the Wickford Diner several times before in the last umpteen years (previously in 2001, 1996, and probably sometime before that), with pleasant memories of the basic staples of RI cuisine: corncakes and chowder…. It quickly became obvious that something wasn’t quite right that morning…

(Closed) Both my job-related travel and my volunteering as coach of the Lebanon Robotics Team give me plenty of opportunities to roam around downtown Manchester on a regular basis. One of the places that has always intrigued me is the Post Office Fruit Luncheonette. This is one of the those little businesses that seems like it is right out of the Twilight Zone. It’s basically a small convenience store style storefront, which used to sell groceries, magazines, stamps, and lottery tickets (the last of these apparently providing the bulk of their revenue). However, it’s plainly obvious that aside from lunch-counter related items, the grocery operation has been slowly petrifying over the last decade or so, with a few tired packets of aspirin and Pepto Bismol with a healthy patina of dust on them being the last major holdout.

For this week’s takeout lunch, I hit the Little Store in Lebanon, NH. This is one of those odd little convenience stores that are around the Upper Valley that we all drive by on a regular basis. Indeed, when I first mentioned the Little Store to most people, I got back a “where?” in response. But inside, it has a lot packed into a little space. In addition to the typical convenience store amenities (drinks, chips, some wrapped sandwiches under warming lights, and the ubiquitous McKenzie hot dog warmer), it also has a full meat and deli counter (mostly McKenzie products). And, most importantly, every day they have hot lunch specials, hand-written on a piece of paper taped to the front of the deli case.

(Closed) Detroit Burgers, Part Deux. As mentioned previously, the front desk clerk at my hotel in Michigan had some unusually strong opinions about the best burgers to be had in the area. Previously, he had recommended Bates Burgers (see review below), which was actually quite decent, but they were sliders, not the big, wrap your hands around them burgers I was craving. So I asked him the next best place to get a burger in Livonia. His second recommendation was Cheeburger Cheeburger, located just down the road from the hotel.

(Closed) It’s a White River Junction institution. We all drive by it. I’ve eaten there several times. I even have a t-shirt of it (from the Main Street Museum). But, somehow, I hadn’t yet reviewed it. I’m talking about the Polka Dot, which has been located on Main Street by the railroad tracks for a long time (I’m not sure when the Polka Dot name showed up, but the location has been an eatery of one sort or another since the 19th century). Sure, WRJ doesn’t have the train traffic it used to, and several other businesses have come and gone, but the Polka Dot has stayed on (even through the fire that demolished the rest of the block a few years ago)…

(Closed) here are several cuisines that are difficult for me to enjoy in rural NH, two of the most notable being Middle Eastern food and Vietnamese food. So whenever I’m travelling, I try to find good places to fill these gaps. Luckily, my September work travel ended up taking me to the western Detroit metro area, which is loaded with good Middle Eastern places. One of the more notable chains is La Shish (which I’ve been to before, although in a different location), which happened to have a location just down 6 Mile Road from my hotel.

(Closed) Today’s review is Wasp’s Snack Bar and Diner in Woodstock, Vt, which several UVScene readers requested that I review (and one person requested that I didn’t, more on that below). It’s been several years (and multiple owners, if I’m not mistaken) since my last trip to Wasp’s Diner, since Wasp’s isn’t open for business on weekends (which is my normal reviewing time), so it’s primary clientele is Woodstock locals. That, and the decidely low-key storefront really keep this place from showing up on too many tourists’ radars as well.

(Closed) Carol and I dropped by the new Farmers Diner location to see how things were going. Back in 2003, when Farmers Diner was in their former Barre, VT location, we had a fairly pleasant meal there, but not longer after that, they closed the Barre location. We’ve been looking forward to their return to the local restaurant scene. For those that aren’t aware of Farmers Diner, in addition to just serving food, they have a particular mission, to spend 65 cents of ever dollar on food that originated within 70 miles of the Diner at local farms and small scale producers. So, a substantial fraction of the menu is made from locally produced meat, cheese, and produce (and, with the current menu, they even highlight in red the items that were produced locally). The goal is to create a larger market for local suppliers, and not have to be bringing in our meat and produce from distant locations when we have good products already here.

(Closed) It’s not often that a restaurant draws me in right off of the street, but Mr Chicken in Watkins Glen, NY did exactly that. While heading to our camping spot at Watkins Glen State Park, right at the entrance to the park we noticed (and, just as importantly, smelled) Mr Chicken. The overall effect just screamed “chicken”, so we had to check it out.