Posted by Bruce Bilmes and Sue Boyle
, October 01, 2009 22:33
Ayersian did a wonderful series of writeups about the Rochester portion of the Roadfood tour. There’s really little else for us to say about it, but we do want to add a couple of notes. At Nick Tahou, home of the Garbage Plate, you are offered a slew of garbage plate options. Not only do you choose the sides, you also choose the central item that serves as the focal point of the dish. Choices include red or white hots, sausages, burgers, haddock, etc. Bruce’s sisters, Pete and Dee, chose to go with a grilled cheese garbage plate. We aren’t sure what led them to that decision. Did they think it was the health-conscious option? Who knows?
The point is, a grilled cheese garbage plate is the sleeper winner. Two straight-ahead grilled cheese sandwiches replace the standard meat; otherwise, the plate is exactly the same, with mustard, hot sauce, chopped onions… the flavors and textures just seem to be made for each other, and the toasted bread soaks up the juices (read grease) beautifully. A brilliant choice that we highly recommend! The fact that it is also the least expensive garbage plate on the menu doesn’t hurt, either.
We also want to give a shout-out to the chocolate almond custard at Abbott’s:
This is another example of WNY’s nut consciousness when it comes to ice cream, because we watched as they dished this stuff out. See, what they do is they make a big tub of chocolate custard, not chocolate almond custard. Every so often, the server would take a big bag of fresh nuts and dump a mess into the tub, then work it in a little with the spade before grabbing a serving. The result? Extremely fresh and crunchy almonds, and lots of them! It was really quite extraordinary; the chocolate almond custard at Abbott’s, as we see it, is the reason to pay them a visit.
We are not ones to pine for the “good old days.” We recognize that there is much about the modern world that puts the olden days to shame. But the converse is also true. It is so common these days for the sizzle to be greater than the steak that we almost expect to be taken. We assume the salesmanship will exceed the product. And that’s one of the reasons we love Roadfood. In what has come to be a Stephen Rushmore Jr. trademark, far more was delivered than was promised. That these Roadfood tours are full of fun, good food, and camaraderie is now expected. That local apples which were picked yesterday were handed out to everybody, and there were tubs of iced, locally brewed Genesee, and New York State cider, thoughtful touches that were not even mentioned in the publicity for the tour, well that just made the tour extra-special (big thanks to Greg Marshall of VisitRochester for providing the apples and beer!). But it didn’t end there. Because after all was said and done in Rochester, and we boarded the bus back to Buffalo, we were greeted with yet another surprise: we were taken to an outdoor Cornell chicken feast put on by the East Shelby Fire Company!
We were taken to the Orleans County Fairgrounds in Knowlesville, about equidistant from Rochester and Buffalo. The atmosphere was “small country fair and flea market.” The chicken and pies and hospitality were extraordinary!
Cornell chicken, for the uninitiated, is a chicken-cooking method developed some decades ago by a Cornell University professor. It’s based on an egg-enriched vinaigrette with poultry spice that is used both as a marinade and a basting sauce. The result, especially when cooked outdoors over hot coals, is amazing and unique. Cornell chicken is found at fairs and festivals throughout the western half of the state. As one poster to the Roadfood forums pointed out, there is also a Buffalo company called Chiavetta’s that markets a marinade, and catered prepared chicken, to be sold in similar venues. The poster suggested this chicken might have been Chiavetta’s, given the proximity to Buffalo. Never having tasted Chiavetta’s we cannot say with certainty but, as we understand it, Chiavetta’s marinade has an Italian accent, and this chicken tasted exactly like what you want and expect from Cornell chicken, so we’re putting our money on Cornell.
How can you beat the serving style? The grilled chicken halves were torn in two and dropped into a foil-lined garbage can. As you passed through the serving line a piece of chicken was taken from the garbage can and placed on your tray. Beautiful! That other New York State classic, salt potatoes (small potatoes boiled, skins on, in heavily salted water, then put in a melted butter bath), were offered, along with homemade slaw and potato salad, and rolls. And, as if that weren’t enough, there were pies. Lots and lots of homemade pies!
Did people enjoy themselves? Decide for yourself:
Roadfood was lucky to have Jeanne Martillotta from the Orleans County Tourism Agency coordinate the barbecue with the East Shelby Fire Company. The event came off flawlessly. On a personal note, we enjoyed (a whole lot) every one of the stops on the tour (when the question was asked on the bus, each place had their many partisans), but we both pick the chicken barbecue as the highlight of the day (Sue feels it was her own highlight of the entire weekend; Bruce’s single favorite stop came on Sunday in Buffalo). Everyone finally rolled themselves to the waiting bus and cars, and we headed back to the hotel, filled with barbecue and garbage plates and apples and cider and beer and steak sandwiches and frozen custard and Cornell chicken and salt potatoes and homemade pie. Thoughts of tomorrow’s Buffalo tour would have to wait as we basked in the glow of a perfect Roadfood day.
Most of the photos in this report were taken by Stephen Rushmore Jr. and the most lovely and talented Judy Rushmore.
