The Ten Year Itch

             For little more than three weeks I've been giving alot of thought to fast fast chains and I was laying in  bed trying to remember when the last time I walked into a White Castle. It probably had to have been around 2002 or 2003 when I was attending Fordham University, and there is one located on Fordham Road. That doesn't mean I haven't had any White Castle burgers since that time, I have eaten some as a result of them being made available at a party or some type of social gathering. As for setting foot inside a White Castle, ordering up some of their vintage micro hamburgers, and dining in, that had to have been about ten years ago. Although there is another White Castle located right where I live, for some reason the Fordham Road White Castle seems the most authentic of White Castle experiences, so I was going to make my return there.

             With red lights and more useless roadside construction projects that will take the next five years to complete, I arrived at Fordham Road with my car and luckily this location offers a parking lot in which there were plenty of spots. The outside looked completely different from what I remembered, which sported a brick European castle-look in place of the old white siding (that was growing ever more filthy). The inside was renovated and re-arranged as well. The counter and kitchen used to be in the middle, hidden behind thick protective glass. The rest of the inside had those grimy benches with a harsh and cold feeling to go along with the meal. This new 2012 version had a completely different look and feel to it. First of all, the counter and kitchen area was moved to the left of the building, opening more space to comfortably seat more patrons. The soda machine was on the outside and is self-serve, similar to what Burger King does. In keeping up with the times there is free Wi-Fi available, and overall that harsh grimy atmosphere has been replaced with a clean homely environment. In terms of fat and calories, the White Castle hamburger might actually be the best option in terms of portion of nutritional score. Each burger only goes for 140 calories, with a side of small fries that are higher at 350. In order to keep my aorta from shutting down, I kept my order to three hamburger sliders, a side of small fries (which I was only going to eat half of), and a diet coke. White Castle sprinkles their burgers with small onions tips, and of course there is that annoying pickle which gets removed automatically. I was finished in less than five minutes and found myself wanting to get more, but I maintained the line I drew before I walked in that I would only get three. I took a final look at the inside and still needed to adjust to all the changes that were made. I wished it was that nice ten years ago when I was across the street almost every day.

             My appetite had been awakened, and with more White Castle burgers out of the question, I knew there would be other options on Arthur Avenue, just a few blocks away. The area, known for its Italian heritage and wide variety of Italian cuisine and pastry, always comes through when someone wants something good to eat. My first stop was at Cosenza's Fish Market, not to buy any fish, but in the front during good weathered days, they offer a raw bar out front in which you can eat oysters and clams on the spot. I slurped down two blue point oysters at $1.50 each and continued on my way. The next stop was the Arthur Avenue Retail Market, a large indoor market with over a dozen different vendors selling pasta, meat, pizza, cheeses, cigars, clothes, and more. I saw myself perhaps spending too much money if I stayed in there, so I made a quick circle inside and was out there door before I allowed anything to entice me. Anytime I go to Arthur Avenue I can't leave without a stop at De Lillo, in my opinion the best of the bakeries in the area, although all of them are rather solid, but I find the dessert options and setting inside De Lillo to be the top of the line. I felt cheesecake might be a little to much since I just came from White Castle, so I went with a lighter slice of strawberry shortcake with a cup of coffee. Del Lillo has both indoor and outside seating, but even in the nice weather, I still prefer to be inside and in view of shelves and shelves of cakes and cookies. There was one last stop I needed to make before getting into my car and heading home. I haven't made ravioli in nearly two months, so a visit to Borgatti's to pick up some fresh ones couldn't have come at a better time. A staple of the neighborhood, Borgatti's has been making fresh pasta and an assortment of other foods since 1935. Their ravioli are their signature item and that's all I had on my mind when I walked in. They offer a box of twenty-seven large cheese ravioli for thirteen dollars, perhaps a few more bucks than average, but the taste and quality of Borgatti's is always worth it.

              With White Castle and Arthur Avenue fresh in my stomach, the first thing I did when I got home was grab my bicycle and burn off those calories.....

Special Video Edition: Burgerdog Quesadilla Done My Way

             
                 Ever wish you could combine hamburgers, hotdogs, and quesadillas all into one? 

      

                                                               Now you can!!

                                              Check out my latest video to learn how. 

                                   

                                   CLICK HERE to be brought to YouTube to view video

   Special thanks to Casey and CIII Productions for lugging the late hours in putting this together.

Eating the First Hamburger Ever Made

            That would be somewhat gross, but I took the next closest step in having a freshly made hamburger at Louis Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut, credited in the food world as being the birth place of what is today known as the hamburger, back in 1895. I found out about the place around two years ago after watching a show on the History Channel that traced back the early days of hamburgers and hot dogs, and always wanted to make the trip up to New haven to have one myself.

            The day actually started out with quite a bang that awoke me from my sleep around 7am. At first I couldn't tell what was wrong, then I heard someone out on the street yelling that he was beeping his horn and another guy claiming he didn't hear it. This could only mean one thing, there must have been a traffic accident. As mentioned in my November 18th blog of 2011 titled, "Fighting Grey Hair, Dumb Australian Family, and a Motorcycle Accident", there are frequent accidents and near-crashes with vehicles near by corner all the time. It was also raining in the morning, so it was difficult to see what was going on outside my window, but I did see both drivers inspecting their cars for damage. From my vantage point it didn't seem like there was much damage at all, so I just went back to sleep. I didn't hear any further yelling or police sirens, so with little visible damage, I think both drivers just agreed to part ways without filing any reports. When I'm jolted out of my sleep like that it usually messes me up, and as a result I didn't wake up again until a little after 11am. I still felt dead tired, but figured it was almost mid-day and I couldn't keep sleeping. As I fought myself to get out of bed, something inside me made me think about the burger place in Connecticut that I always wanted to visit, and that gave me the final push to leave my warm covers.

            The weather wasn't too great as it was still raining, and according to Google Maps the drive to New Haven was about an hour and a half. I contemplated putting it off until next week, but the more I thought about it the more I wanted that hamburger today. Despite the weather conditions, the drive was very easy as I made my way north on the I-95 and the roads were quite empty. Getting off the highway, the place was only a few blocks away and I ended up parking my car in a lot since parking spaces were scarce that time of the day in downtown New Haven. For a moment I thought I would have to walk a few blocks to get to Louis Lunch, but as soon as I left the lot I parked my car at, the place was right next store. When I went inside everything looked the same as I saw it on TV a few years earlier. It was rather crowded with other people, but there were still some open seats and tables. When the inside was originally built in the remaining years of the 1800's, it wasn't meant to hold the number of tourists and hamburger enthusiasts that frequent the place. There's a counter with a few stools to sit on, one big table, a smaller table, and then these wooden chairs with their backs to the wall and a small table on the armrest for people to eat off of. Behind the counter holds the original grills that were used when the place very first opened and are still used to this day. There's the grill that cooks the hamburgers and another machine that toasts the bread.

            Their menu is quite simple, either hamburger or cheeseburger, and its garnished with onions and a tomato. The original owner back in the day felt those are the only items worth putting on a burger. For sides there are just two choices, potato salad, served in a cup with a spoon, or a bag of potato chips. There's Snapple and other type of bottles of soft drinks to go with the burger as well. The order is taken from the person behind the counter, they ask for your name, and you pay before getting the food. It was a difficult decision whether to have cheese on the burger or not, but in order to get the pure taste from those hundred year old plus grills, I figured cheese would be a distraction and opted for a standard hamburger. I passed on any sides and had a Snapple iced tea to go along with it. The total for everything only came out to $7.25, which means the landmark hamburger only costs about five dollars, which is very reasonable. All burgers are cooked to medium-rare, there's no option to pick and choose how cooked a person wants it to be. I sat down at one of the wooden chairs that made me feel like King Arthur in King Arthur's Court and noticed all the names and marks scratched into the wood over the decades. This too was highlighted on the television show, that people who visit Louis Lunch are encouraged to scratch their mark into the wooden areas inside the place, without being too obvious about it. While I waited for my burger to be ready, I took my house keys out and made sure to make my mark into Louis Lunch eternity on my table.

             I'm guessing its due to the old fashion process in which they cooks the hamburgers, but the wait for mine was nearly twenty-minutes. In most diners or resturants, burgers are cooked and served within ten minutes. As I waited and two old ladies where standing near me on line for the bathroom, I found it ironic the 70's hit "Brother Louie" by Stories started to play from the radio. The radio was playing music from a local rock station, so it wasn't planned, just a funny coincidence. Finally my hamburger was ready and I couldn't wait to have a bite of history. I immediately removed the tomato, but left the onion. Instead of a hamburger bun, the burgers are served on toasted slices of white bread. If it took me twenty-minutes to wait for the burger, it only took me about three-minutes to eat it. Overall I can't say its the best tasting burger I ever had, but the manner in which its cooked gives it a softer texture than the typical grilled burger at a diner or resturant. If anything, its the nostaglia and history of the place more than the burger itself. It was certainly worth the drive and I would be open to having it again in the future. The last thing that was on my mind was the bathroom, was it modern or old fashion as well. Once I got inside the bathroom I saw everything was quite modern, except for the door. This too had a bunch of scratch marks and writing on it, so I took out my keys once again and initialized my girlfriend and mine's names with a heart in the middle. It was either going to be that or the word "fart" by itself.

            This was my first time in New Haven, so instead of immediately heading for home, I decided to walk around some and get to know the town. I first passed a old-looking smoke shop and cigar lounge that made me wish I knew how to smoke a pipe. Then next I came upon a small public park, and inside the park were about a dozen or so tents, it reminded me of Haiti. I walked closer to see what it was and it turns out it was the last standing participants of the Occupy New Haven movement that must have started a couple of months ago, spurred on by the original Occupy Wall Street movement of the fall. As I moved on I realized most of the people walking on the sidewalks were in their early-twenties or late teens, plus there were very old buildings and churches all over, then it struck me that I must be in  the midst of a college community. When I took a closer look at one of the signs in front of a church I saw I was on the grounds of the prestigious Yale University. There was one section were a gate was open for students or people to get across campus from the street entrance, so seeing this would be the only way I could get accepted into Yale University, I went in to have a look. I'm sure the old architecture and rainy weather had something to do with it, but frankly the place was depressing and the students walking around looked miserable robots. Instead of taking in more of the building around Yale University, I just wanted to get out of there.

           As I was heading for the exit, there was a tour for possible incoming students looking to apply to Yale, so as a real Yale student gave them the tour, I saw some of the people had their attention towards me, so I strutted by as if I too as a Yale student. When I was off the grounds it gave me thoughts that I had zero jealously for ivy league students and I was so happy I was finished with college year ago. The only attraction the town had for me was the numerous amount of bars and resturants. The bars near a college is understandable and expected, but there were wonderful options to eat such as Turkish, Ethiopian, Mediterranean, Japanese, and all sorts of fancy fusion combos. In addition, there were alot of nice coffee houses and lounges which cater to the Yale students to have a place to study, or copy a term paper off of someone else. I went inside one of the coffee spots to get myself a rich cup of hot chocolate. It came out just right were it wasn't too hot and I was able to start sipping on it right away. With the old buildings and the grey skies, the town as a whole had a very European look to it. I passed by my friends again at Occupy New Haven as well as Louis Lunch and went to the lot to retrieve my car.

             The best thing about the day was the two hours of parking only cost two dollars...

Another Chance at Tailgating Food

            The victory of the New York Giants football game I attended last week gave the team an opportunity to enter the playoffs and play the Atlanta Falcons in the first round. The initial weather forecast predicted high 30's with the strong chance of rain or even snow. I didn't have a ticket for the game, and although it was an important match-up, the prospect of sitting out in the cold with rain coming down, made me feel it was better to watch the game from the comfort of my couch.

            The previous week's game had similar weather and nearly everyone except me contracted a cold. Surprisingly, that morning when I woke up, the sun was beaming through the window, what a great day it appeared to be. Since the weather outlook was much better, and it was the playoffs, and there was going to be a tailgate party before the game, I went online early in the morning and purchased a ticket for a reasonable price. As usual, I met up with my uncle and his football friends and we headed over to Metlife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ. On the drive there I was able to see the Manhattan skyline, including the Empire State Building I visited the night before. Once we got there, we had the grill fired up and started to throw on all sorts of meats. There were hotdogs, hamburgers, buffalo wings, marinated steaks, and even close to twenty feet of linked sausage. While those were cooking in segments, there were snacks such as potato chips, pretzels, pepperoni, and a cooler filled with beer. We also brought a bean-bag game along with us to pass the time as we waited for the food to cook. A few pieces of food that wasn't eaten ended up on the road nearby to the delight of the birds overhead.

             When it grew closer to game time we had to take the long march from the parking lot, to the stadium, up the escalator, and to the seats. As I was going up the escalator I looked out to the stadium entrance and saw thousands and thousands of fans waiting to enter. I even looked down and noticed a small kid had gotten lost amongst the hoards of people and was being helped by two New Jersey State Troopers. Once I sat in my seat, the stadium was rocking with fans screaming and waiving their towels, I didn't get one for some reason. The recorded attendance was a little over 79,000 people, so it was rather loud, and the playoff atmosphere made it quite intense. The game is itself was a nail-biter early on as the Giants were behind 2-0 to the visiting Falcons, and only up 7-2 by halftime. Happily, the second half of the game the Giants scored seventeen more points and ended up winning the game 24-2. For the Giants, they get to advance to the next round of the playoffs while the Falcons' season is finished. The way the scheduling for the playoffs work, all remaining games for the Giants will be on the road, so that was the last tailgate party of the season.

            The birds in that area are going to have to find somewhere else to eat until the next football season begins...