Albany
New York, USA
I'm ashamed to say that my trip through Albany wasn't a trip to Albany. I had heard of a few places to check out but I limited it down to one with another on the outskirts of Albany which I will write about in another post.
Does anyone like fish? anyone.... anyone.... Bueler? How about some Cusk? Oh, Noooow everyone pipes up!
When in Albany there is a place that, when they have it in, does some great Cusk. Apparently Cusk is actually harder to catch these days. When in Albany you need to check out Bob and Ron's and you want to order the Fish Fry. You are NOT ordering fried fish, its a fish fry. Very different. The difference is that fried fish is just the fish, where a fish fry typically comes with coleslaw, french fries, hushpuppies, lemon slices, hot sauce, tartar sauce and a dessert.
Bob and Ron's fish fry is fantastic. You can add the sides you want but it does indeed come with the sauces and they also have a special sauce. That being said, the lady I ordered from said you won't need the sauces and you know what, she was right. The cusk tastes great on its own. KUH-nowledge dropped everyone. Go get you some fish fry!
Frying with sides at the Two
Albany Area
Watervliet, New York, USA
Let's talk about Teeny Weenies. Just North of Albany across from Troy is a little town called Watervliet that sells Mini Hotdogs. Its a total greaser, biker joint that has a great feel to it.
What makes this tiny totem different than the Cincy mini is the fact that you get a little dog, mustard, onions and meat sauce. The Meat Sauce is what makes this unique to the Albany Area. Gus's has been called a staple of Albany cuisine for years.
Order one or order 100 (you get discounts the more you order). Then you can eat them in the really well manicured patio area if its a nice day or you can cram into the 5 seat bar inside if its cold or rainy. Good luck with those Itsby Bitsy Teeny Weenies!
Keepin it teenie weenie at the Two!
Atlanta
"ATL" or "Hotlanta", Georgia, USA
Welcome to Hotlanta! The first city not built near a water source. Atlanta was built because it became a huge train hub for the Southern States. I am here to tell you about another hub though that is awesome and you can eat there!
Welcome to The Varsity, What'll ya have? The Varsity was started by a man named Frank Gordy near Georgia Tech. It is the worlds largest drive-in. After Georgia Tech games it is the place to be and it is packed. The main question though is what to get. Well I'm gonna tell ya'll what to get!
You are most definitly going to want to order a number 1. Two delicious chilli hot dogs, some of the best onion ring I've ever had, and a Frozen Orange. The chilli is a little sweet but offset nicely by the little bit of mustard. The dog itself is actually really tasty and meaty. The onion rings are amazing, flakey, a little greasy and crunchy! The Frozen Orange is a huge sugar punch in the face and quite tasty. Have fun and enjoy all the yumminess!
See you next time from Team Two: Varsity Squad.
Baltimore
Maryland, USA
With the year coming to a close I had one more City in me before New Years. With the stereotypes that surround Baltimore, it seems like a place you would never want to visit for food or anything else for that matter. Originating in 1729 Baltimore got its name from Lord Baltimore, which in Irish Gaelic (Baile an Tí Mhóir), means “Town of the Big House.” Nearing the Millenium the city of Baltimore started to pour money into the Inner Harbour area and around Camden Yards trying to clean it up.
Fast forward to 2011 and the city has yielded some interesting options for fun and food. I have two places in Baltimore that will give you a good time. The Blue Moon Café and Stuggy’s.
Lets start with Stuggy’s (Stew-gees). They specialize in hotdogs and if you’re night ends before 2am they are the place to go. The hot dogs are always fresh like the ballpark franks you remember as a child and then throw some mac-n-cheese on top of that for the Mac-N-Cheese Dog. If fills up that hole in your face quite nicely and leaves you wanting little, except maybe another one if you can handle it. There are an assortment of dogs you can get but this one seems to be the most unique to Baltimore.
If your night is ending later than 2 or when the sun comes up, you’re in luck. The Blue Moon Café is open 24 hours on the weekends and you can waltz in there and order up an amazing Cap’n Crunch French Toast. You not only get your French Toast covered in yummy cereal, you get a few pieces of fruit and whipped cream to make it look like a first class meal. Hot damn is it good. I’ve also heard that the Sweet Baby Jesus is another wonderful dish. However I’ll leave that for the second night.
Hoping the 2 keeps you hungry Nevermore in Baltimore
Buffalo
New York, USA
Well everyone, put your drinking caps on, everyone I spoke to when I asked what to do in Buffalo was, "start with a drink." They wern't kidding either as I was there in winter and I experienced the full Lake Effect. The Lake Effect is basically the Lake dumping tons of wind and precipitation of all kinds on Buffalo. Other than the really awesome city hall and maybe taking in a game, there wasn't really much I could find to do in the winter but drink some beer and eat some really awesome food.
You have to eat two things while you are here. First off Buffalo wings started here but I'll get to them in a minute. You need to try Beef on Weck or Wick depending who is selling. It's orginally a german recipe of roast beef on a kemmelwick bun. kemmelwick or weck has a slight softness to it will salt on top of it. The best place to go for this in my opinion was Charlie the Butchers just 10 minutes outside of town. ps everything is just 10 minutes away, no joke! The original Charlies is on Wehrle Drive. I got the Beef on Weck and waffle fries with gravy then proceeded to dunk the sandwich in the gravy. WOW, heavenly!
The food you have to come for is the Buffalo wings at Duffs on Sheridan. The original Buffalo Wings started at Anchors but apparently Duffs perfected it. I'll check out Anchors another day but today was Duffs. They aren't lying when they say their medium is hot, their medium hot is very very hot and their hot is very very very HOT. I tried the death hot, on a fry and my hair got wet. You have to check out the wings!
Wingin it at the two
Cincinnati
"Cincy", Ohio, USA
Welcome to the rust belt Cincinnati. There is one thing and one thing only that you should/need to/have to get when you're in Cincinnati and it oddly comes from a chain restaurant. Wait... don't leave. This is different. I never go to chain restaurants but you have to make en exception here because it's local to only Cincinnati. Why, I have no idea because it's awesome. Oh okay so they do have a few in Indiana, Kentuky and Florida but bear with me here.
Skyline Chili baby. You can get a three way, a four way, and if you're feeling really energetic and ballsy you can go for the five way. You have to go with the original first and then work you're way up to the 5 way, theres a lot going on. The original consists of spaghetti, chili and a mountain of cheese. For the four way add in onions or red beans and for the 5, you're gonna take both. A wondrous time had by all.
Originally named because the first restaurant used to overlook the skyline of Cincy but they're everywhere now. If you want to get something else there because god forbid the 5 way wasn't enough go for the coney dog. It's what you would imagine it to be, chili and the mountain on your itty bitty dog. Just make sure you don't have to fly the next day, you may have back lash.
Vote for no back lash at the two, till next time (hoping you've survived).
Columbus
Ohio, USA
Have you met Jesus? How about Cheezus? I can’t speak for Jesus but I can talk to you about the religious experience of Cheezus. Ever been to Columbus Ohio? Well it’s a great place to visit, a smaller city with a lot of life to it. Columbus is large enough to carry the Crew and Blue Jackets but also has a nice waterfront and has a walk able downtown.
Mikey’s Late NightSlice is great place to check out later at night. My experience encompassed watching Adam West as Batman projected on a brick wall while dipping my Baby Cheezus in slut sauce. Mikey’s Late Night Slice started in Short North as a shack in a parking lot and has expanded to a food truck, and quite a few other locations. Do the original, Adam west might be visiting on the brick wall in the parking lot.
The Baby Cheezus is a folded in half lengthwise piece of pizza. The Cheezus Crust is two pieces folded on top of each other. Slut sauce is a mixture of all their sauces put together and it tastes amazing. Along with Plain Ass pizza or spicey ass pepperoni I would still recommend the Baby Cheezus or the Cheezus Crust with some slut sauce for a relaxing and very satisfying religious experience.
Only one Cheezus at the 2
Dallas
Texas, USA
The only place in America that dares to combine the power of the chicken, with the power of the Cow. Somewhere in Texas some genius/idiot? Decided to drop a steak into the deep chicken fryer. Dallas may not be the place where this originated as the history is a little fuzzy however there is a best place to get one!
Welcome to Ozona Grilland Bar, just north of the city. Notice how in the title the word Grill comes before the word Bar. This is simply because if you are going to get a Chicken Fried Steak, this is the best place to do it with an amazing side of Fried Pickled Okra. The whole thing is a wonderful way to have a heart attack, and I say bring it on, its worth it! The steak is nice and juicy, breaded well and has that great creamy sauce on top to pull it all together. If you have left over sauce you always have the big piece of Texas toast to mop it up with.
If you are in Dallas and need to try a local favorite then I say Ozona Grill and Bar is the place to be. Just for a kicker they have great margaritas too, Sha-Zaaam. I ask you, does it get any better?
Don’t Chicken out at the Two
District of Columbia
"Washington DC", Capital of the US of A
Did you see all the sites? Walk the Mall? Take in a Caps, Nats, Skins or United game? Or maybe you’ve just had a heavy night of drinking? Well you’ve come to the right place to recover. You are going to head where any respectable person in town goes, including the Prez, Ben’s Chili Bowl.
You have to get a Half Smoke. What is a Half Smoke you may ask? Well the name comes from the concept that it is a half beef half pork sausage. These were started around 1950. They are a little larger and spicier than a hot dog and after dumping some chilli on it, you have a Ben’s Half Smoke with potato chips on the side. The dark rich Chilli goes really well with the Half Smoke and really completes it. The atmosphere of Ben’s is fantastic, it’s a true establishment that has a great history since 1958.
Government approved at the Two
Denver
Colorado, USA
So we have a slight dilemma here. What I am about to tell you, I am a little ashamed of. First though, where are we? Ah yes, Denver. A place that gets more sun that San Diego at around 300 plus days a year. While you are gazing at the Rocky Mountains and trying to figure out why you’re always out of breath, may I make a suggestion for food? Rocky Mountain Oysters.
Ah Denver, city by the bay! Where oysters are everywhere! No bay you say, no oysters? What the hell are Rocky Mountain Oysters anyway? They are bull’s testicles actually. This is where my shame comes in. I have tried these delicacies when I was in Denver 10 years ago and I couldn’t bring myself to trying them again for you guys. They are good, that’s not really the issue, I just couldn’t do it again. I know I’ve let you down, and for that, I apologize…
You should try these though as I once did. You should try them at Buckhorn Exchange. Buckhorn has been sporting these little fry ups for quite a while. I mean hell, not many people serve them so they must have a massive selection to choose from and only get the best. You can have them done in a variety of ways, I recommend the sampler. Where else you gonna eat balls?
Growing a pair at the 2
Detroit
Michigan, USA
Detroit or (Deh-twah) if you're french. I'd like to introduce you to two competing very american restaurants. So american in fact that it's called American Coney Island which happens to be smack up against it's rival Lafayette Coney Island. You may be asking at this point why have I given American a link to their site and not Lafayette's. No, it's not because they're better it's because Lafayette doesn't seem to have a site. If you go to both places you can see why this makes sense.
Similar to the rival in Philly with Pat's and Geno's across the street from each other. Pat's being the down to earth; no glitts or glamour and then you have Geno's which has an electric bill that must be more than my monthly mortgage payment and tends to get more political. Lafayette is the kind of place that basically says "we do awesome dogs and we don't need anything else." Where as American does awesome dogs but seems to lean towards the merchandising more.
Here's what you're gonna get there. You get a dog with some chili and then a streak of mustard on it. They use different chili, different hog dogs, different buns, and if I'm not mistaken different mustard. So similar though that apparently most people can't tell the difference according to an employee. I personally loved Lafayette more. Their dog seemed to have just hint of a sweeter taste and I also prefer a restaurant that serves me food and not politics but hey thats me, and I did try both one after the other and they are both spectacular. Hey find out for yourself though, which one you like more.
C ya @ the II.