Sam's Grill began in 1867; the current owner purchased it three years ago.  There are rumors that the owner has been quietly looking for a buyer.  Read more in the San Francisco Chronicle.  Here's Michael Stern's Roadfood.com review.

The 62nd Annual Strawberry Festival in Adairville began last Saturday, and continues through next Saturday, the 17th.  You've already missed the 5K Run, the Car, Truck, & Tractor Show, the Little Miss Pageant and the Sr. Miss Pageant, and the Arts Affair.  Not to worry, however, there's plenty more still to come!  There'll be rides, entertainment on the square, Pets & Kids On Parade, a pancake breakfast, crafts on the square, a reenactment of a duel involving Andrew Jackson, and much, much more.  And of course, plenty of strawberry ice cream and strawberry shortcake!  For more info, click here.

Do you prefer the meatiness and ease of access of the tail?  Or the tenderness and succulence of the claw?  Or maybe you're one of those weirdos who like the tomalley best of all.  The never-ending debate over which parts of the lobster offer the best eating is continued in this AP article on the MSNBC website.  Our personal choice: the knuckles.

A chase scene set in 1957 from the new Indiana Jones movie was shot in New Haven, CT, and the city wants to celebrate.  They are planning an Indiana Jones-themed festival for this Saturday that will include music, classic cars used in the film, and contests.  Claire Criscuolo, owner of Claire's Corner Copia, has created a new scone for the event, named Kingdom of the Crystal Scone.  This scone will contain crystallized ginger, cranberries, and blueberries.  Sounds like reason enough to show up!

Read more about the event here.

The Chattanoogan has used the appearance of Zarzour's Cafe in the brand new edition of Roadfood as a jumping off point for an article about Zarzour's and the new book.  The cafe was opened in 1918 and has been in the same family ever since.  Says the Chattanoogan, "Just how Jane and Michael Stern initially found the café is anyone’s guess."  They also refer to Jane and Michael as "road-weary and asphalt-beaten"! 

A recent feature in the Washington Post led me to this website of the new Meatpaper magazine. It’s definitely not a recipe-filled compendium of sundry meat dishes. Instead, it flirts with ideas about meat, coupled with clever food art that challenges our view of carnivore-ness. In the piece titled “Sweat Sock: The Other White Meat,” the author asks a food stylist to arrange some rather non-traditional entrees to be photographed: a grilled tube sock, a charred stuffed animal, and a cooked thrift-store hardback novel. The article goes on to give professional tips on food photography, like using acrylic ice cubes when shooting beverages, or placing cardboard circles on top of hamburger patties to keep the top buns from drooping.

We doubt that we’ll ever resort to brushing canola oil on a steak from Cattlemen’s in Oklahoma City, or pouring glue instead of milk into a vanilla malt from Val’s Burgers in Hayward, California, just for that “money shot” photo…but we will remember to take food pictures with a sharper focus and underneath as much light as possible to minimize shadows.

Chubby's of Emmitsburg, MD received its first Roadfood review in the just-released revised edition of Jane and Michael Stern's Roadfood.  An extensive profile of Chubby's and owner Tom Caulfield can be found in the Frederick News Post.  The accompanying photo shows Mr. Caulfield standing proudly next to a framed display of the Roadfood book and his Roadfood review.

Roadfood Digest recently alerted readers to an interesting story in the Wall Street Journal about America's top hot dogs.  The author of that article, Raymond Sokolov, has written a follow-up article in the WSJ.  Seems readers took him to task for neglecting the coneys of Detroit.  It's fun reading.  Thanks to Russ Jackson for pointing the article out in the Roadfood Forums.

By the way, Michael Stern's photo, above, of a coney was taken at Coney I-Lander of Tulsa, OK.  Surprisingly, we have no good Detroit coney photos on the site.  Hopefully, that situation will be remedied before too long.

De Lorenzo Tomato Pies, the legendary 60-year-old Trenton restaurant, recently opened their first branch.  It's located in Robbinsville, NJ, a suburb of Trenton.  The original Hudson Street De Lorenzo's was started by the late Chick De Lorenzo.  Sam Amico (pictured above), Chick's grandson, is running the new Robbinsville location, while his parents remain at the Trenton store.  We put De Lorenzo's on the short list of greatest US pizzerias, but we've yet to try the new place.  Word has been that the crowds have been incredible.

ken8038 recently detailed a less-than-pleasant experience at the new store in the Roadfood Forums, but he also pointed out this rave review in The Newark Star-Ledger.  Biggest piece of news for old-timers: the new store has a bathroom!

The new Roadfood book is out, and newspaper editors all over the country are leafing through it to find the local spots that made the cut.  The Des Moines Register spoke with Michael Stern by phone about Iowa's Roadfood eateries, and Roadfood in general.  Our favorite quote by Michael: "food in a cultural vacuum is of no interest."  And, as so often happens, the Register refers to Jane as Jan.  Sorry, Jane; you just don't seem like a Jan to us.