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.