Between The Buns

November 23, 2013: the Doctor Who 50^th Anniversary. So, we headed to Between The Buns sports bar, hamburger and hotdog restaurant in our hometown downtown to celebrate! It was my daughter MJ’s idea, a supreme Doctor Who fan. And no, there is no connection between the restaurant and Doctor Who... at least as of this particular dimension’s writing. She just wanted an excuse to check out the new eatery and Julie was all for it, as was I.

 

At 6 Elm Street in historic downtown Potsdam, NY, the location is a neat, old, stand-alone building. Formerly a Masonic temple, it has large roman columns framing the main entrance frontage and was recently last occupied by La Casbah Moroccan food restaurant. I had only eaten there once (it was delicious!) before the Julie/Mom Project and don’t remember much at all of the interior downstairs. The upstairs had been renovated into a nightclub for live music and dancing. I went up there on several occasions only for Science Café community event presentations before those found a more appropriate home in the Civic Center.

 

Only the downstairs is currently used for regular seating. I think the upstairs is used for small private events. The walls and ceilings are covered over with “tin” paneling with metallic copper color paint on it and the exposed utility pipes. A triplet of interior passageways to a seating area off the bar room are ornately shaped with peaked curves. The copper-effect paint is accented with real copper paneling on the bar surface and a few other small areas such as the frames of the passageways. Overall, it is a pleasant, bright effect.

 

This is not your ordinary burger joint. Creative hamburgers and hotdogs is descriptive of the menu, which also includes a few specialty French roll sandwiches, salads and appetizers. All meals come with fries, a small side of coleslaw and house made bread and butter pickle slices (upon request). Though one can choose to eat the burger or dog held in hands, my experience is they are too loaded with their character toppings for this to be less than a totally sloppy, if still delicious, experience.

 

Julie got The Cuban specialty sandwich of house-roasted pork, bacon, bread and butter pickles with Swiss cheese and whole grain mustard. MJ ordered the Mac-N-Cheese hamburger, which is no longer available as of this writing. House made, creamy macaroni and cheese was pan-fried to top the burger patty along with a rosemary tomato sauce and real bacon bits. Mom (that’s me) also ordered a now defunct sandwich. The “Fish Sandwich” was composed of a patty of ground ahi tuna, seared with a black sesame crust and topped with pickled ginger and cilantro slaw and wasabi vinaigrette. A nice touch on the specialty sandwiches is a skewer to hold them together made of bamboo with a cute curly end.

 

Burgers are cooked to order doneness as red, pink or brown. MJ got hers brown. She likes well-done meat which is a good, safe preference. I ordered my ahi burger pink, as well-done sort of ruins the flavor and texture of fresh ahi. But truly, the fish was almost certainly not fresh, unless it was “fresh frozen”, a laughable term that has picked up in popularity in recent years. I am spoiled from my time in Hawaii where ahi tuna was caught offshore every day and we ate it raw with special seasonings as an appetizer called poke (pronounced poe-kay). I enjoyed my sandwich here, seared as it was with black sesame crust. It apparently wasn’t popular enough to keep on the menu and has been replaced by a southern style “Po Boy” sandwich of battered fried crabmeat with remoulade sauce (which I have since tried and it's yummy).

 

I am the only one who chose to have the side of coleslaw, though we all enjoyed our fries. I specifically made sure to get our sample of bread and butter pickles (which were a topping on Julie’s pork sandwich). The girls love pickles. These were heavy on cinnamon flavor and quite sweet with no onion as I generally associate with bread and butter pickles. They are very good, uniquely thick, wavy cut and crispy.

 

As for beverages, this is a bar, so I had a large mug of local beer, St. Lawrence Brewing Company’s Switchback Ale. It’s lovely, unfiltered pale ale and has become the mainstay of why I frequent Between the Buns as a regular now. More on that toward the end of this blog... the Mom Project, ha ha ha. Julie got a Sierra Mist, the brand they have here of her favorite flavor of soda pop, lemon-lime. It came served in a large, clear plastic cup with a straw. MJ’s favorite soda is root beer. This came from the bar in a bottle as the locally famous brand Saranac, presented with an ice-filled mug.

 

Not on the menu are desserts, but the waiter let us know they had a couple of options available. I cannot figure how I failed to write down what the option was that we didn’t choose, but I did manage to scribble what we did order, chocolate chip cookies. These came out as not just any old cookies. They were warm on a plate and drizzled with chocolate syrup. Mmmmmmmmm... I am not a big dessert fan, but these were delicious!

 

As we were enjoying our meal, MJ had her nose in a book (one with real paper pages, which she likes for the way they smell, among other things), I was writing in my spiral notebook for this blog and Julie was looking it over and talking to me as I consulted with her over various notes to take. A woman came up to us and said how she just had to express how refreshing it was to see people actually reading books instead of being absorbed in electronic gadgets!

 

Now really, MJ was the only one reading a book, but it’s true that many people who are absorbed in electronic gadgets are actually just reading e-books. It’s also true that Julie loves her electronic gadgets, but hadn’t brought any with her so she could immerse herself in the experience of what we were doing. It’s also possible that if I was typing my notes into some electronic gadget instead of writing with a pen in a spiral bound notebook, the woman may not have been inspired to approach us. But it was fun to hear a strangers’ impression of our behavior. And it’s a testament to how technologically challenged I am that I have no clue what electronic device would be most suitable for taking notes at a tiny restaurant table or how to use any such thing. I consider it a huge life accomplishment that I know how to write in cursive and type with fingers other than just two thumbs to use a word processor to compile my writing into a form that I can download to an internet blog site!

 

As any reader can tell from the first line of this blog, I have blown off the writing of this piece in typical Mom fashion! I have a thousand excuses, but I really had told myself that I was going to go straight home from our visit and write it up. However, I started the Julie/Mom Project as a no-rules thing. Something to inspire and enjoy, not to create unnecessary pressure out of a fun thing. And so it is!

 

The picture of Julie/Mom in front of Between The Buns was taken in November as the weather was getting cold, but it could easily have been taken not too long ago this spring. It is late May now and it finally feels like summer is on the way, though spring feels like it has just barely arrived here in the North Country, New York State. So, between the visit I just wrote about and now was winter. Between the seasons, Mom has been back to the Buns many, many times. The Mom Project at my new neighborhood hangout is just a few blocks walk from my house on Potsdam’s uneven sidewalks.

 

I blame my procrastination in writing this up on my frequency of visits... it’s like the visit was never over, so how could I write it up? Just an excuse for laziness, but here is what I discovered for my winter-long efforts: what a pleasant place to sit and read while enjoying tasty craft beer on tap! Maybe catch a sporting event if you don’t have cable TV at home? There’s a friendly manager who chats with you about local history and culture.

 

I am adding old photos of the building to the end of this. The original structure at the turn of last century was a mercantile, I have been told. Sometime after it was willed to the local Masons, the roman columns went up and the turret with the spiral staircase came down. It’s an interesting evolution of architecture. I wish I could remember more about the interior from its previous days as La Casbah. Apparently, the hardwood floor had been painted green. It was sanded and refinished for it's present use.

 

I noticed a few menu changes besides the fish sandwich. The Hangover isn’t listed, though one bartender insists they can make it if I wanted it. I noted it as a burger topped with applewood bacon, a sunny-side up egg and creamy cheddar. I haven’t been in the namesake state of being since coming here to inspire ordering one of these yet, but I’ll keep this in mind should the occasion arise.

 

I’m not sure what happened to the Mac-N-Cheese burger MJ had. Mac-n-cheese by itself had been on the menu at our initial visit under “Warm-Ups” but disappeared along with soup du jour and Pickled Goodness (b-n-b pickles, fire cracker carrots and marinated olives). But I swear I once saw someone having mac-n-cheese with something else that may have been a daily special. I hadn’t done a full accounting of the menu in my notes in November, so I have no objective idea of what all has been removed, switched or added.

 

There are some really unique assemblages such as The Saint and The Stoner. The former is a burger on fresh greens and roasted red peppers, topped with sweet chili pepper cream cheese mousse, shaved prosciutto, braised duck and balsamic reduction. I had this one and it was absolutely fabulous. The latter is a burger topped with swiss cheese, french fries, Michigan sauce, a hot dog and coleslaw. Yes, those are all toppings. I have never had this one and doubt I ever will.

 

And in case anyone is wondering about the namesake of these burger sandwiches, “Stoner” is short for “Sandstoner”, which is the mascot of the local Potsdam High School. Potsdam, NY is historically famous for it’s distinctive sandstone that is incorporated into so much local architecture as well as exported. I know readers that aren’t from here needed to know that. I mean why else would someone name a burger topped with a Michigan hot dog, french fries and coleslaw, “The Stoner”?

 

So, nearby St. Lawrence University’s mascot is a “Saint”. In town, Clarkson University’s mascot is a “Knight” (two burger patties, ham, mozzarella, banana peppers, fresh greens, red onion, chipotle mayo). And State University of New York at Potsdam is a “Bear” (turkey, ham, pepperoni, melted mozzarella, cheddar, swiss, banana peppers, red onions and b-n-b pickles). Acknowledging our local places of education and sports with these names, they are.

 

Last but definitely not least is the addition made at the turning of spring: 25 new beer taps! This is definitely the Mom Project part of this place, though truth be told, I still go for the Switchback pale ale. I have tried all of the varieties they have that are in my preference of styles and enjoy many of them, but I love a good pale ale and I have found one in a very local product. My favorite time is when I happen to arrive when they have just put on a fresh keg of Switchback. The unfiltered yeast is all stirred up from moving around and it looks as thick as a latte. It is so very yummy when it is like this.

 

So, that is that. A bit lengthy, but I could blather on even more with my pent up, winter long experience of this place. I had to go away to work for several weeks just after they got the new taps in. Now that I’m back in town for at least a little while, I think I’ll go down tomorrow and catch some first round French Open tennis and a couple of mugs.

6 Elm Street ca. 1949, copyright 2014 Potsdam Public Museum

From a postcard I bought locally. This was before it was the Masonic Temple, early 1900s.

First Crush

 

Ah, mid-September in Potsdam, NY and I was back at college. I am transported back to my college days in my mind as I experience my favorite season of autumn in my favorite place to experience it. But this day I was literally back at college. No, I wasn’t going back to school for a class. I was participating as an aged sorority alumna in the SUNY Potsdam Greek Summit.

 

It was lunch break for the summit, so my friend (and contemporaneous sorority sister) Charlotte and I went home and got Julie (future sorority wannabe) and headed to downtown. We would usually go to The Bagelry, but we knew it would be packed, so we went to a place I hadn’t been before, though Julie of The Project had. Coffee bar by day, wine bar by night, bistro whenever, First Crush is love at first sight.

 

At 32 Market Street, this cute business front is at the intersection with Elm Street. As we settled into the last empty table, Charlotte wondered what the location of this narrow space was at the time of our college tenure. I reminded her that it was quite literally a corner store where one could purchase, magazines, newspapers, cigarettes, sodas and beer, at greatly inflated prices than if you walked your butt further away from downtown. In the wintertime, which can be bitterly cold here in the greater St Lawrence River valley, the distance saved was well worth the higher prices.

 

They have morning, afternoon and evening menu options. Bagels, panini toast, oatmeal, rolls and quiche of special varieties are listed for breakfast. The take-out menu I have from our visit doesn’t include dinner, but I have seen the dinner options on the website. Because I am lazy and writing this four months after the fact, perhaps it’s a recent addition. Or maybe since delivery is only available for lunch hours, they don’t include the dinner on the paper, take home menu.

 

Gourmet salads, wraps, and panini sandwiches are the lunch options. The dessert list, Starbuck’s coffee drinks, and seasonal cold drinks are listed for any time of day. Julie ignored the children’s menu of simple traditional fare and went straight to the sweets! Apparently some of the morning menu is available afternoon because that is where her fruit and yogurt parfait with raspberry and blueberry is offered. She also had the Cookies ‘n Cream from the frozen, non-coffee drinks.

 

I got the Rubini, a reuben sandwich on rye panini bread and Charlotte got the Calabria sandwich of roasted chicken, mozzarella cheese, roasted red peppers, and pesto mayonnaise on rosemary focaccia. Those come with potato chips. Charlotte had water with lemon. A pint of Harpoon India Pale Ale washed down my Rubini most excellently.

 

We had to get back to the afternoon session of the Greek Summit on campus so Julie walked the short couple of blocks back to our house as we headed the opposite direction. It was a very satisfying lunch. I would like to eat here again, maybe even in the evening. Some of the dinner options look tantalizing.

The Lobster House

Well this is the lamest blog project ever, but at least I’m not a quitter! We’ve actually been to The Lobster House twice now, separated by over a year. This is what happens when the laziest people on the planet make a no-rules blog. We never get around to writing things up, though we certainly do the restaurant eating. I say “we” never get to writing, that would be me. The best I get Julie to contribute to this project is the eating part and MAYBE taking a few notes and suggesting things to include.

 

Julie and I love seafood and definitely lobster. Julie had been dying to go to the Lobster House in Norwood, just five miles up the road from Potsdam in the beautiful North Country, NY. She decided she loves lobster after our adventure buying live ones to do at home from Larry's Fish Truck (blog post 9/20/11), which is now out of business. Julie’s Dad is a vegetarian as far as land animals are concerned, but his issues aren’t about eating sentient creatures. He has issues of flavor and maybe stuff that I have no place to speculate about. MJ is not so big on seafood... again why this could never be the MJ/Mom Project!

 

The first time we tried The Lobster House, we had been planning to go for my birthday. As chance would have it though, I got called up for an out-of-state job and would be away on that date, so we went immediately. My lost camera still not replaced, and nobody with a working camera on their phone, we got no pictures. I was pretty upset because the tank of live lobsters next to the bar is a neat, if kinda sad, photo op. I also forgot my blog notebook, so I saved the itemized bill and scribbled some notes on that about what we had ordered.

 

For our latest visit, I had been out of state for almost five months, spanning the summer. The kids had just gone back to school. Julie was craving seafood from watching mermaid television shows, "H2O: Just Add Water" and "Mako Mermaids". I would think watching shows about human-like fish (or fish-like humans) should turn one into a pure vegan, but apparently Julie has no issues with sentient creatures as food either! Still no camera and all phones were busted for taking pictures except one. The photo quality is poor and the pic of the sad lobster tank isn’t good, but I posted what we got.

 

MJ’s first time meal here was the two-choice combination. She got the fried breaded shrimp (the only seafood she has ever liked) and the chicken alfredo with caesar salad and side of veggies. This time she went with just the chicken alfredo. Better to have the remainder of chicken alfredo come home in a box than fried shrimp, as happened the first time. House salad, no dressing, and criss-cross fries rounded out her meal.

 

Dad went with the catch of the day, cod, fresh from Boston Market. Both of us have always enjoyed cod since reading a book about the history of the fishery and its disastrous crash in the north Atlantic. Apparently, they catch enough these days to supply a specialty restaurant in the tiny village of Norwood, NY. Coleslaw, a baked potato and a very large draft beer of Blue Moon went with his endangered fish. The first time here, he got the breaded deep-fried shrimp and fish combo. The fish part of that was unidentified, but good enough with his side order of veggies and coleslaw.

 

I went with a combination lobster alfredo and the stuffed flounder the first time, which was filled with deviled crab meat, and was absolutely delicious! I might have gotten it again it was so good, but I like to do different things and Julie and I had a special plan this time. The lobster alfredo was good, but really didn’t do justice to the lobster meat, the flavor of which was drowned out by the creamy parmesan sauce and noodles. I got the cooked veggies side consisting of broccoli, carrots and zucchini. My criss-cross fries mostly ended up in a to-go box with MJ’s. A glass of chardonnay accompanied my food superbly.

 

Julie went with the name of the restaurant from the beginning and ordered a large Rock Lobster Tail our first visit. She loved it and I was almost regretful I hadn’t gotten one too as she dipped the pieces of succulent meat into the liquefied butter. Her sides were a cup of the chicken soup du jour and a garden salad with ranch dressing. She gave the tomatoes to her Dad.

 

Our appetizers on our first visit were the fried ravioli (consumed primarily by Dad and MJ) and the crab-stuffed mushroom caps topped with mozzarella, baked in garlic butter (consumed primarily by Julie and Mom). Julie and I each got a cup of the lobster bisque. We skipped the lobster bisque our latest visit because it really wasn’t that great. It was good, but I have perhaps been spoiled by the bisque at the Four Seasons on Lanai Island, Hawaii, which means I am unlikely to ever really enjoy a seafood bisque again in my life. This latest visit we repeated the successful appetizers of fried ravioli for Dad and MJ and the stuffed mushrooms for Julie and Mom.

 

The waiter had described some sort of mix-up with the lobster order from their supplier and instead of getting a certain number of lobsters, they got the same number of CRATES of lobsters. At least, that’s what it sounded like he said. Whatever the reason, the lobster was on special! Julie and I each ordered a whole lobster, the 1 ¼ lb size. We had great fun playing with cracking open our large insects-of-the-sea. There’s just something different about eating once-sentient creatures when you can still see their eyes on your dinner plate, or for that matter their whole bodies. Exoskeletal critters are still critters, but I suppose it’s no different than eating meat with the bones still in it. After all, isn’t it fun to play with a whole roasted chicken, waving a little wing at the person next to you or dancing it around upright on its drumstick legs? Julia Child seemed positively ruthless the way she flopped whole chicken bodies around and tied them up or skewered them in various ways. But then, she was equally detached with whole lobster bodies. See our blog post Larry's Fish Truck for memorable thoughts about lobsters as sentient creatures.

 

Caesar salad and criss-cross fries for Julie and rice pilaf and steamed vegetables for me were all consumed but the fries, the remainder of which made it into a to-go box. The lobsters were delicious and we had so much fun playing with them, we took their shells home in a to-go box at a waitress’s suggestion. (A few days later I washed them out and put them in the sun to dry as a souvenir of our dinner!) We had a pile of to-go boxes, one with the lobster shells (two bodies with heads and a couple of the cleaned out front claws), one with the remains of two orders of criss-cross fries, one with chicken alfredo, and two with desserts. Yes, everyone was too stuffed to have anything else to eat, but I let the girls get dessert to-go to eat later. I failed to write down what they got and the dessert options don’t appear on the menu to jog my memory. MJ claims she got something called lava cake with chocolate melty fudge on it and Julie says hers was some sort of Oreo Cookie concoction.

 

I needed to go home and crawl into bed. I can’t eat that much food, especially that much rich food, and not go into a food coma. I was lucky to make it the few minutes drive home without falling asleep at the wheel. The reader of this blog has probably been lulled into the same state of mind by my writing.

Murray's Old Irish Inn, Waddington, NY

Saint Patrick’s Day. This is a “must” day for the Julie/Mom Project. By blessed god or goddess we will celebrate this occasion! I saw adverts for a few places in the Julie/Mom Project hit list and considered some local places, but we we ended up on a different mission.

 

Well, we haven’t “officially” been to Scoopuccinos yet. I called them up, given their advertised specials in the North Country for corned beef reuben sandwiches and corned beef and cabbage dinner. It was JUST dinner. Julie and I wanted lunch and we wanted “traditional”. Side note here is that “corned beef and cabbage” is NOT “traditional Irish” fair but traditional “Irish American” fair. Look it up if you don’t care to recognize, this blog is about today’s world.

 

We briefly considered Maxfield’s (still on our hit list) and just as quickly rejected McDuff’s (written up last year). Also thought about Eben’s Hearth, where we love, but have already done for “the Project”. Looking through the “North Country This Week” adverts, we saw Murray’s Old Irish Inn.

 

It turns out that Murray’s is not listed in the North Country This Week Restaurant Guide that is suppooosed to be the guiding light of this blog. Well, I suppose we are off to new country then. We googled it, pretty much stop at main place and turn right. The St Lawrence Seaway was our guiding  sureness. We hit that and turned right! Turned right again and eventually found it.

 

The immediate survey found two small rooms adjoined in the center. The furthest room housed an inactive furnace fireplace and a mostly working pool table with over half the seating capacity. I honestly didn’t ask about the fireplace, it may well be in full force during the height of the winter season! It did not look disfunctional.

 

We were there for traditional American Irish corned beef and cabbage meal. Murrays promised it was there at lunch hour start for Sunday celebration and so it was! Julie and I headed out of town for not-quite Canada.  I joked about having our passports.

 

We found it eventally after realizing we couldn’t cross the seaway/border. Thank goddess for rural, sparse areas that make finding an establishment with a tiny, inobtrusive place an excercise in satisfaction.

 

The party was apparently over the night before... great for us, bad for traditional St Patty’s Day partiers. Not “bad” I suppose. I recall times in my younger days of St Patty’s Day celebration with too much revelry. So it was great for my day with my 11 year old kid, Julie, of the PROJECT.

 

We ordered our plates of corned beef and cabbage (supposedly profits offerered to a charity though i never caught what it was), then wondered about. There was a pool table Julie insisted on playing. I told her maybe and we did later.

 

The plates were piled high with corned beef, cabbage, baby carrots and potatoes, topped with a slice of buttered raisin bread. Julie asked about seasoning as we fished out large bits of flavoring, whole black pepper kernels and a bay leaf.

 

As we tucked into this smorgasbord, I considered our surroundings and presentation of the occasion. The large mirror backing the bar was engraved with “GUINNESS” as was other decor, including a proper dart board that was clearly not in use due to the presence of a structural pillar directly in the location of the throwing area. There was some typical green paperwaste garland and such, but my daughter and I were decked out in the most elaborate schemes for anyone there with our “I <shamrock> NY” shirts and green shamrock bead necklaces.

 

Julie got a green colored Shirley Temple, I ordered Guinness Draught. I looked for a tap and saw none. Out came my perfect draught. I noticed the empty box of nitrous oxide infused cans later. Works for me... beats the sometimes dirty lines in the places that serve the Guinness from a tap.

 

I asked about the process by which Julie ate her meal. I ate mine typically for me, a few bites of each item at the same time. I like to bolster the blandness of the potato (red skinned here) with a bit of corned beef and/or cabbage. Julie claims to eat each item in total, separately, in order of least favorite to most. I asked her how she felt when she then ate too much of her least favorite items and was too full to eat her favorite, “I hate it when that happens”. Curiously she claims also to save her least favorite item for last so as to use the excuse of being full to not eat it. The raisin bread went uneaten despite her claim to like it (two bites removed). The corned beef was second last to go and consumed in entirety! Both of Julie’s strategies seemed to be in play.

 

We shot one game of pool, poor Julie missing our rare lessons at my favorite bar in Hawaii. More lessons in how the table eats the que ball than anything else. The proprietor demonstrated a light-up silly hat from the party the night before and gave it to us, by which it failed soon after! Ha! I can fix it by soldering some electronic wires but it will have to wait for the next Vernal Equinox.

McDuff's on St Pat's Day!

McDuff's Tavern, 59 Market St. in historic downtown Potsdam, NY, was a regular haunt of mine back in the ol college days of the mid to late 80's. It was originally Morgan's when I first came to town my freshman year, but changed hands by the time I had joined my sorority a couple of years later. Though it had closed its doors for a short while sometime over the past 20+ years since I moved back to town, it is still a standby for the local college scene. There are several good taps of craft beer and the pub-style menu is diverse. They do good renditions of the upstate New York regional specialty chicken wings... here served with homemade bleu cheese dressing that is so chunky its hard to call it dressing.

So it was that I was wondering how I was going to find a good "family time" situation to bring Julie here for our Project, McDuff's being listed in the North Country This Week's Restaurant Guide. I have stopped in a few times since moving back to town, but never occasions to bring a 10 year old along. I even came down St Patty's Day 2011... by myself... to get my corned beef and cabbage fix. This year I was prepared to do the same, but then I thought to invite a dear friend (sorority sister) of mine that lives a couple hours drive away. My friend Charlotte is well loved by Julie and it all fell into place that we could all go and it would be a great post for the Project!

Now in my day at college here, all the bars would open at 8 am on St Patrick's Day, whatever day of the week it was. The hard core ones would do 25 cent or even 10 cent "progressions". The first hour, draft beer was 25 cents, the next hour, 50 cents, the next hour, 75 cents, etc. I have a good story of one St Patrick's Day, 10 cent progressions, 8 am bar opening, 100 cups of green beer in the middle of a table full of friends, and a political science class midterm at noon the same day... But that wasn't at McDuff's and this is a family blog!

McDuff's did open at 8 am this day. However, I had no desire to indulge in whatever beer specials they may have had going, though the breakfast specials looked tempting. Irish French Toast gets a dip in Irish Cream, 3 egg omelets with filling options including sausage, asparagus and smoked salmon are served with potato loxey, and the corned beef hash topped with two eggs is homemade. But I was only concerned with going in the afternoon for lunch. I had my own Guinness at home for breakfast. I have to say my mother is full blood Irish and my father is French decent, so the "Irish French Toast" name struck a chord with me, because that is pretty much what I am! ... the toast part being up for interpretation.

We ordered drinks first. I got a pint of Guinness on tap, Julie got a Shirley Temple that came out green and Charlotte got a glass of water that came out clear (thank goodness). There were three lunch/dinner specials and we each got one of them. Julie got the Bangers & Mash, mashed potatoes and white link sausage topped with onion gravy. Charlotte got the Corned Beef Reuben sandwich with potato chips, a tempting option for me. But I had to go with the full on traditional corned beef and cabbage. Julie has never had corned beef, or doesn't remember it, so I traded some with her for some of her bangers. Then the two of us scrounged remains of the Reuben... some bits of corned beef that had blackened on the grill... mmmmm.

While we were eating I tried to explain some of the basics of recent Irish history and culture to Julie. It turned out that the limited information on corned beef and cabbage I told her was kind of wrong, so its a good thing she really doesn't listen to me. I was just pulling up what I had heard or inferred from my Irish-American grandparents because this is very much an Irish-American tradition and not from the homeland. I was more familiar with potatoes and their relation to the homeland and subsistence and the Irish potato famine, but it was a disjointed history I shared. Better to just talk about my grandparents and the fun we used to have on St. Patrick's Day with all of our green stuff.

Julie saw the pool table in McDuff's and wanted to play, as I had occassionally played with her on the tables of my old favorite bar in Hawaii, which was also the last place I enjoyed St Patrick's Day corned beef and cabbage and Guinness in 2010 before McDuff's in 2011 and this year. I decided against it. We had come for our feast, sat in our protected booth and were done with our mission. The college crowd wasn't very much as of yet, but it was having some rowdy outbursts, spurred in part by some March Madness basketball on the TV. I finished my beer and we used the potty before we headed out on a stroll down Elm Street to my and Charlotte's old sorority house. We reminisced along the way while the college student, spring-break stragglers, decked out in green, partied in small groups in front of houses, enjoying the beautiful sunny day.

Ponderosa!

Ponderosa! The name evokes images of tall pine trees out west... ranches, cattle, STEAKS. Here in Potsdam, NY by the Canadian border and across America, it is a chain restaurant serving up the most basic sort of buffet food you can think of. I can't speak for ALL Ponderosas, but this local one is just like every other one I've been to.

The girls LOVE it, particularly Julie (pictured) of The Julie/Mom Project, who chose Pondersoa as her restaurant of choice to go out on her birthday this past New Year's Eve. Yes, that's how old this blog entry is as I watch the wet snow pile up outside in late February. I took the picture of Julie practicing guitar just a couple of days ago, though. I still hadn't figured out how to use my hand-me-down camera from my brother-in-law when we went out to Ponderosa.

Happy 10 years old to Julie as she, I and her sister MJ drove the few blocks up Main Street. Their father, my husband, Tony insisted on walking... as we all should have done, but... hey, we SHOULD'VE rode our horses there, too. Like, if we had horses, which we should to go to Pondersosa.

It was late afternoon... I can't decipher my notes... its either 4:00 or 4:80 pm... and its a Tuesday! Tuesday is kids eat free night (with a paying adult - after all this isn't a government social program)! Pretty good deal in the rural wasteland of the North Country. My only problem with this place is like any other buffet... I want to eat too much to get my money's worth and I end up in a debilitating food coma or IBS issue. I resolve to be more moderate at such places and take it easy... is that a New Year's resolution?

Julie gets a raspberry ice tea as a beverage, MJ gets a root beer. I forget my "Potsdam Sandstoner Discount Card" that would've got me these drinks free. Tony probably got coffee. I drank water.

Julie's first plate had nachos, green jello, croutons (yes, by themselves), grapes, french fry-chip stix, meatloaf and chicken pot pie. The meatloaf ended up left on her plate because she didn't like it. Grrr... I tell them to take only a small bit of something if they want to try it. Oh well... another drop in the great wasted food bucket that is America.

MJ gets pizza, grapes, mashed potatoes and gravy, onion straws and an ice cream cone. Tony gets broccoli, mashed potatoes, cheese pizza, herb-breaded fish, fried ravioli with marinara sauce and a bunch of salad veggies.

I get fried chicken, herb-breaded fish, stuffing and gravy, fried ravioli, broiled fish, mystery loaf (not the same as the meatloaf) with mushroom gravy and went back for salad: spinach leaves (NEVER pay buffet to eat head lettuce), gourmet greens in viniagrette salad mix, shrimp cocktail, seafood salad, red onion, green pepper and bleu cheese dressing.

We all go back for more.

MJ had "the shakes" from not eating all day before we arrived at the restaurant... which freaked me out a bit as all her strange popular cultural attitudes toward eating and food do... but she was doing just fine by the end of the meal being her usual, obnoxiously enthusiastic, healthy self.

Julie saved room for her Birthday chocolate cream pie back home in the fridge, I ate just slightly over enough (perfect - no ill effects) and Tony actually overate. This is something I didn't think was possible, but when he admits to such a thing, it is definitely true! He did power down the last bit of cole slaw on his plate for no waste and trodded his butt home while we drove back with no digestive issues over the three minute trip home.

Sergi's

Officially, it is Sergi's Italian Restaurant Pizzeria & Banquet Hall. It has been around in the exact same location at 10 Market Street since my college days in the mid 80's (originally established in the 60's I believe), in historic downtown Potsdam, NY. I swear I had taken a picture of its storefront the previous fall with my camera that is now lost, but this one of my kids in our yard with the paper placemat map of Italy from our visit will have to do (taken with new cheapo camera). That's Julie, of the Julie/Mom Project, on the left. I remembered I had my new camera with me after we already walked home. It is fun to look at the picture now, in the bleak of winter and remember fondly the fall weather that I love so much.

We actually went here for the Project on October 16, 2011 and I have just been too darn lazy to write it up yet. This is a "no rules" blog and that's just the way it goes. We originally started it to do restaurants listed in the North Country This Week's Spring Restaurant Guide, but since they just published a similar Fall Restaurant Guide, we'll just slide on into that. I think the Fall Guide has added some new places, but Sergi's is in both. The nearby town of Canton, NY also has a Sergi's.

I decided to take the girls out before I had to leave for out-of-state work and Sergi's was their choice. They have eaten here before and knew exactly what they wanted. I was feeling a bit under the weather and not really so hungry. I love their pizza, but haven't really tried much else. There are two sides to the restaurant... the banquet hall side, with some fancy chandeliers and nicer furniture (as I recall) and the diner style side that we sat in, with informal booth seating in two rows down the length of the skinny room to the kitchen. Beer and wine is served, though I was having none of that this day.

The girls both ordered the stuffed shells which comes with bread and a house salad, MJ's with no dressing and Julie's with ranch. MJ got her usual root beer and Julie a Diet Coke, not that the "diet" part of her beverage was going to save her much in the calorie total with this meal! I ordered water to drink and appetizers, bruschetta and the sampler platter which consisted of breaded, fried zucchini, mushrooms, mozzarella sticks and buffalo style chicken wings. All these appetizers were pretty standard and there truly is not much one can do to improve on such basics. But the bruschetta was average and has potential for improvement. It was just a mix of olive-oil seasoned chopped tomatoes, red onion, grated parmesan and garlic on toasted bread. The dried basil sprinkling was not very prominent, but the bread itself is home-made and the strongest part of this item. Julie enjoyed it, but was able to discern the considerable difference in quality with the bruschetta she made herself at home.

MJ picked through her salad, removing the tomato wedges and the cucumber. She doesn't like fresh tomatoes, but she loves cucumber. She said that the cucumber "tasted funny" the last time she ate them here. I ate them and they tasted fine. She ate the large, thin slices of carrot as well as the black olives and the bulk of the salad which was chopped head lettuce. She picked out the sparse gourmet greens including spinach and red lettuce, which I thought she liked. Strange kid. Julie picked out her tomato wedges and I ate them. She likes tomato, but I think is spoiled by the home garden ones we had from recent harvest.

Julie shared the appetizers with me and MJ ate one mozzarella stick, the only item palatable to her. Julie still needs to learn how to eat chicken wings like a New Yorker. She leaves too much meat on them. Usually they serve one wing each of the various spicy grades in the sampler platter, but I got them all mild so Julie wouldn't get surprised. She'll work up in the heat scale as she grows, I'm sure. She already does pretty well with spiciness. Julie loves mushrooms and had several of these breaded ones, but didn't venture into the fried zucchini. I bat clean-up and finished her salad as well as all remains of the appetizers. I wasn't very hungry to begin with and I was stuffed now.

Speaking of stuffed, the stuffed shells looked delicious in their boat dish filled with sauce and cheese baked to bubbling and slightly browned. The portion was quite large of such rich food and although MJ claimed to have eaten one of the stuffed shells, I couldn't tell that she had eaten any. Perhaps just not in a growth spirt at this time, since it wasn't like she had filled herself on appetizers. Julie, who had eaten appetizers, but purposely limited them to keep room for her main course, ate noticably more of the shells. Of course, she is stuck in growth spirt mode! All good. They leftover quite nicely and there was no waste.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention Sergi's pizza rolls. Though this is not intended to be a food critic blog, I can't help myself. Sergi's makes their pizza rolls in the deep frier. They have a huge amount of fried dough at their conically tapered ends which results in a very tiny pocket for the filling. The last one I had (brought to me take-out by my husband) was very skimpy on the pepperoni and sauce filling and struck me like a fried dough sledgehammer. I love fried dough, I just wish they could get less of that and more filling. Love you, though, Sergi's! You make really good pizza and your business space is comfortable and friendly.