Offbeat Eats

One of the unfortunate facts of life is that, in general, air travel isn’t as convenient as it used to be. In these days of higher fuel costs and lower profits, most airlines have trimmed back their food service, mostly replacing it with expensive “buy-on-board” meals. We’ve got the silly TSA liquid ban as well, which also make it harder to bring stuff with you. Which makes it increasingly likely these days that on longer plane trips, you’ll be getting some of your sustenance from various food vendors at the airport. Unfortunately, in most cases, airport food sucks. While there are a few notable exceptions, the general airport fare is either poorly done versions of your basic fast food fare, ultra-expensive, or both. However, there are a few places that seem to fill the airport food niche decently. Recently, on a trip to Miami we had a nice long layover at Newark’s Concourse C, and we spied Garden State Diner and decided to give it a try.

(Closed) Last weekend, we had a free day, and decided to us this opportunity to go see some of the fall colors (due to our trip to Miami, most of the leaves will be gone by the time we get back). After discussing many possible destinations with good colors, we settled on Bennington, VT. We were planning on eating at the Blue Benn Diner (which gets really good reviews), but, unfortunately, the Blue Benn had a kitchen fire and was closed for several days. The guy in the parking lot recommended the Northside Diner as a good alternative.

(Closed) After years of visiting Manchester’s famous Red Arrow Diner, I figured it was worth checking out downtown Manchester’s other diner, the Manchester Diner on Hanover St. I recall that this place has been here as a diner for a while under other names (I think the last incarnation was the Golden Oldies Diner), so it’s one of those slightly gritty and worn-around the edges cozy diners that most any New England city like Manchester used to have dozens of, with your basic lunch counter and a few tables, and a few black and white photos and knick-knacks. It also appears to be owner-operated…

(Closed) It seems everyone is moving to Canaan these days. It’s like it’s becoming the new Enfield. In any case, it was time for another visit to Canaan to check out the food scene. So Finn and I met up with Chris and Val to try out on of Canaan’s newer restaurants: Mom and Dad’s Family Diner, right on Route 4. Mom and Dad’s is your basic diner, with an array of pancakes, waffles, omelets, and related breakfast fare, including some fairly interesting items such as the “Hangover Special” (a poutine-like assemblage of home fries with gravy), as well are the more usual items like biscuits and gravy and CBH.

(Closed) I’ve always had a fascination for old diners. And small restaurants with very small seating areas. So when I happen across a gem like Dot’s Diner in Bisbee, Arizona, it’s obligatory that I stop in and check it out. Dot’s is an authentic Valentine Diner care, originally built in Kansas bu the Valentine Manufacturing Company in Wichita. According to the literature they’ve got as a diner, Dot’s started life as a burger diner in Los Angeles before being purchased in the mid-90s and moved to it’s current location in the Shady Dell RV Park in Bisbee in 1997, with Dot at the grill.

(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) 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)…

One of the odd regional idiosyncracies about New England is that very few places actually have hash browns (“hash browns” defined as crispy fried shredded potatoes, as per the image below and right). Most places have “pan fries”, “home fries” or “american fries” instead, which are all variations of cubed or sliced potatoes deep-fried or grilled. Now, some of thes home fries are indeed delicious (for example, Daddypop’s Tumble Inn diner in Claremont, NH, or the Fairlee Diner in Fairlee, VT are both good examples of excellent homefries). But sometimes I just find myself craving good hash browns. Seeing that my last good HB fix was Al’s Breakfast in Minneapolis, it was time for another fix.

(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) Well, until the Farmers Diner opens next month, the list of Diners I haven’t reviewed has grown mighty short, so I figured I’d write up some diners that aren’t exactly local, but you might happen across in your travels. So, traveling down I-91, in Bellows Falls there is the Miss Bellows Falls Diner on 90 Rockingham Street (right in downtown). Miss Bellows Falls (MBF) is actually a fairly notable diner in that (a) it’s an almost completely intact Worcestor Diner Car (#771) n faithfully maintained condition , and (b) it’s on the National Register of Historic Places (and, like all the other diners on the Register, claims it’s the only one…). But, in addition to just the architectural and historical interest, it’s also a pretty good place to eat.