The Happy Eater Can Write Too!
Written: Sep 07 '01
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Product Rating:
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Pros: A wonderful book, chronicling adventures in eating across America.
Cons: None at all.
The Bottom Line: Reading this fabulous, mouth-watering book will put an imaginary 30 pounds on you. But they're only imaginary. And the enjoyment is real.
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| muffin13's Full Review: American Fried |
The subtitle to this book is "Adventures Of A Happy Eater". It's the perfect description of a book that's made to browse through over and over again.
And the dedication is just about as good. "For Alice and Sarah and Abigail (who, when she was four, reacted to polishing off a particularly satisfying dish of chocolate ice cream by saying "My tongue is smiling").
But keep reading, because you are in for a treat. If you have never read Mr. Trillin's work before, I can promise you that after you read this book you'll search out all of them to add to your library.
The book begins "The best restaurants in the world are, of course, in Kansas City. Not all of them; only the top four or five. Anyone who has visited Kansas City and still doubts that statement has my sympathy: He never made it to the right places." Since he spends much of his professional life traveling, and doesn't live in Kansas City anymore, he has hit upon several formulas to make sure he finds the best food possible in any given city.
They include:
1. Don't eat in a restaurant the Chamber of Commerce brags about.
2. Avoid restaurants at the top of office buildings, especially those that revolve.
3. If the locals are embarrassed by a restaurant, it's probably wonderful.
4. Develop a system of working the Yellow Pages; go with small listings, or places called by a first name.
5. Follow your nose, especially if you suspect barbecue may be a specialty of the region.
6. And find out which nationality controls the City Council. If they are predominantly Italian, for instance, Italian restaurants are likely to be good.
Of course, this is just a small sampling of the techniques he has worked out over the years. And they are in my words, which means they don't read as well as they do in the book.
His friend Fats Goldberg (who owned Goldberg's Pizzeria in New York City, the neon sign of which is now in the Smithsonian) plays a large part in this book. Fats actually lost 160 pounds, and now weighs 160 pounds. He accomplished this by an extremely stringent diet, and allows himself to go all out only when he returns to Kansas City for a visit. He says that he can put on 17 pounds in one week. Here's some of their conversation:
"'Just what did you eat on a big day in Kansas City the week you gained seventeen pounds?' I asked. I was prepared to make a list.
'Well, for breakfast I'd have two eggs, six biscuits with butter and jelly, half a quart of milk, six link sausage, six strips of bacon, and a couple of homemade cinnamon rolls,' Fats said. 'Then I'd hit MacLean's Bakery. They have a kind of fried cinnamon roll I love. Maybe I'd have two or three of them. Then, on the way downtown to have lunch with somebody, I might stop at Kresge's and have two chili dogs and a couple of root beers... Then I'd go to lunch.'"
He eats double cheeseburgers and Frosty Malts at Winstead's, banana splits at Zarda Dairy, barbecue at Arthur Bryant's (the best restaurant in the world), a stuffed Italian loaf at Mario's.
Whew.
Mr. Trillin's descriptions of chasing the perfect smoked salmon and cream cheese on bagel sandwich forced my husband and me to try the same quest in Minneapolis. It didn't work. But that doesn't stop me from reading this chapter over and over again.
He writes "Making a quick, hard decision about which crowd looked less lethal at the moment, I would plunge into Ben's or Tanenbaum's, stagger back out to Houston Street, and plunge into the other one -- emerging at the end carrying Ben's homemade cream cheese with scallions and Tanenbaum's fresh pumpernickel bagels, both of which would be combined with my Russ & Daughters' Nova Scotia to create the single perfect Nova Scotia and cream cheese on bagel available in today's depleted market."
And then there's eating in Cincinnati with a calliope-restorer as his guide, searching for the best six-way chili. And Alice's wonderful ability to cook (especially a dessert made from Italian "cheese-in-the-basket, strawberries and Grand Marnier" that caused a dinner guest to ask if she would adopt him), and the Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival, and Buster Holmes' spectacular garlic chicken in New Orleans...
But I'm giving it all away!
Take a look through this book, and you'll be inspired to go on a few food quests yourself.
There's really no better way to see the country.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
muffin13
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Location: Minnesota
Reviews written: 9
Trusted by: 1 member
About Me:
I'm a Home Economist with Pillsbury and an Editor at Webseed Publishing.
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