A wonderful waterfall in town of Martinsburg and a no-frills garage that saves the day

The relentless power of nature was in full display at a wonderful park I visited in Lewis County, where a snow and ice-covered waterfall was a thing to behold. Just a few minutes later, a wonder of the manmade variety — a mechanic’s garage — provided a far different, but still interesting, view and perspective.

Friday was a good day to travel to Canton to pick up Daughter B and her Friend S from St. Lawrence University, which is on a weeklong spring break.  I made a quick pit stop at B&L Italian Bakery in Rome for a couple of pusties and a loaf of their fine Italian bread before heading to Whitaker Falls Park in the town of Martinsburg (not to be confused with the Whetstone Gulf State Park just a couple miles away).

The town park offers camping, a picnic pavilion, and a trail to the falls, which are spectacular.  The bedrock is cleaved straight down the middle, allowing the water to pour in from both sides as it works its way down one drop and then another. Tucker the New Dog and I walked along the edge to view the ice sculptures and to track the quickly flowing water as it dipped and dived under the ledges of snow. The water tumbled down  into a gorgeous gorge lined by evergreens dusted with snow.

Looking down the falls in Whitaker Falls Park.

The top of one of the waterfalls.

Tucker the New Dog walks along the water’s edge.

After taking in the views of the Black River Valley up top near the pavilion, we headed back to the car and quickly discovered a flat tire. I can’t remember the last time I changed a tire. And I can’t remember the spare tires getting that small. The doughnut spare worked, though, at least for the five miles it took me to get into the village of  Lowville.

When I do stop for directions, which Wife L will say is rarely, if ever, I don’t stop at gas stations anymore. Usually the kid working the register knows as much about the area as I do, and I’m the guy who is lost. Now, whenever I’m in need of directions or suggestions, I head to a diner or other locally owned eatery.  (It’s true, I’m not just trying to justify this post with a “food” connection).

I asked two guys who were yakking outside Lloyd’s of Lowville diner about where I could get the tire fixed, and one pointed me to the WalMart (bad suggestion) and the other pointed me to a local garage just down the street (good suggestion).

This is a garage like your grandfather might remember a garage. It’s white on the outside with an old, red Chevron sign. I thought if I breathed heavily I might force a wall to collapse. Paint peeled from parts of the ceiling, spare tires and parts were here and there and back over there again.  No fancy waiting room here. I milled around inside the two-stall garage and let Tucker jump from the car just as it started to rise — slowly — on the lift.  Glenn the mechanic, who reminded me of a bigger Wilford Brimley, was moving kind of slowly, too, but with determination.

At the Chevron garage in Lowville.

He had taken my car right away, no big explanation required. He found the hole in the tire, jammed a skinny screwdriver in it, and proceeded to plug it. A customer stopped by to ask if Glenn was free later that afternoon to work on his pickup. Glenn was.

When Glenn was done he ambled over to the well-used register and charged me $10.24. I was flummoxed. I handed him a $20 and thanked him for fixing me up right away.  I wondered how long I would have had to wait over at WallyWorld and how much they would have charged me.

Another customer jangled the bell on the door and came on in just as Glenn was guiding me out.  I was late getting  to St. Lawrence, but I got there on a real-sized tire that was repaired and holding steady.

Thanks, Glenn.

Shawarma, dim sum, and diners make for a great trip to Ottawa

It was diner-hopping with an international flair a couple weekends ago. It involved Phillips Diner in Ogdensburg, N.Y., U.S.A, and then just about 70 miles away the Elgin Street Diner in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

How can it get better than that?

It actually involved a lot more than that, as Wife L, Daughter B, and I crossed the border for a few nights stay in the capital of  Canada, a truly diverse city that offers eating options galore.  Daughter B earned this brief respite after a great start to her first semester at St. Lawrence University, just an hour and a half from Ottawa.

The Phillips Diner in Ogdensburg.

We  crossed into Canada at the bridge in Ogdensburg, but first we stopped for lunch at the Phillips Diner where we saw a horse and buggy tied up outside by  its Amish owner.  The city mainstay is almost directly across from the  gorgeous City Hall, which has a mini-museum just inside its doors and across the way a plaque that details some of the fighting that occurred there during the French and Indian War.

We had a good lunch that was incredibly inexpensive. The horse outside seemed happy; we weren’t sure if  leftovers had been shared.

I always find the crossing into Canada a little nerve-wracking. I think it stems from the many trips my Buffalo State classmates and I took from Buffalo to Fort Erie to buy cases of  Molson Brador. The crossing was much simpler, pre-9/11, and even though there would be four smirking guys in a dinged-up Ford Maverick that drank oil like we drank beer,  we would be whisked through and urged to have a happy day.  Now, I quietly hand over our passports, answer yes and no to the couple of questions, and drive  cautiously away while looking over my shoulder for Royal Canadian Mounties.  Just out of habit.

In Ottawa, we stayed at the Best Western Plus Victoria Park Suites at O’Connor and Gladstone streets.  It’s in a good spot: a doable walk to Chinatown, very close to the lively Bank and Elgin streets, and a quick ride to the Byward Market area.  It cost about $120 a night.

The Hung Sum Restaurant is worth finding on Somerset Street.

We had Googled and Googled in search of the best dim sum in the city. Our conclusion was the tiny Hung Sum Restaurant, at the fringe of the bustling Chinatown strip that is Somerset Street.  Our waitress explained in halting English how to choose our dim sum, and we marked a sheet with eight different selections that involved about four dim sum each and ranged in price from $2.50 to $4.50.

The wonderful creations came in bamboo steamers. We had several shrimp options that were delicate and delicious. A crisp pork dim sum was filled with flavor. We fought over the fried dumplings, and washed it all down with tea.  It was a real treat. All along Somerset there are tiny markets with ducks hanging in the windows, or tea shops, or Pho noodle soup places, or more dim sum restaurants, or  … .   You get the idea.  Throughout Ottawa,  really,  there are many Asian-influenced restaurants to pick from.

Dim sum at the Hung Sum restaurant is made to order.

Having sampled dim sum, though, we were ready for another type of food the next day. We tried, for the first time, shawarma, a Lebanese fast food. It’s a big deal in the city. My fellow travelers were worn out after shopping and eating in the bustling Byward Market area and then touring the stunning Parliament building, where we enjoyed views of the city from the Peace Tower.

So I walked over to Bank Street in search of something I could bring back to our room, and I came across Shawarma’s King Restaurant. It is styled after a small cafeteria, and while there is seating it seems like the place to go for food to go.

At this restaurant, shawarma referred to the huge blocks of beef and chicken that are roasted on a spit. The meat is sliced and heaped in a container with rice,  tabouleh salad, hot-pink (yep) turnips , and  hommus. It is a lot of food. The beef had a hint of vinegar that I liked, but Wife L thought was too strong. The chicken was moist and flavorful. The meals came with warm pita bread that we also enjoyed.

Looking down at the Ottawa River from the Peace Tower.

I ordered the full meals, but there also were pita-sandwich options that I could see definitely outdoing Big Macs any day. It was a great meal to end a great day in a city that seems to be filled with youthful energy and that has an eclectic urban feel while at the same time feeling safe and manageable. We strolled through residential neighborhoods that were close to a wild array of shops, restaurants, and cafes. Cranes and scaffolding were everywhere, as the city itself seems to be in the midst of a major renovation, a rare sight in the U.S.

Our final stop before leaving the city was the Elgin Street Diner. I needed some closure, as our trip to the Great White North had started at the Phillips Diner. The Elgin Street is open 24/7, and every booth was filled when we arrived Sunday morning. A manager offered us free lattes to make up for our short wait.

We weren’t able to sample poutine, which was on our food bucket list, but we did enjoy wonderful blueberry pancakes, eggs Benedict, and the special: two eggs, sausage ham, or bacon, home fries, toast, tea, and baked beans ($7.99). The baked beans were an interesting twist. I ate them out of deference to our waitress, but I could live without them so early in the day.

Up and down Elgin Street there were restaurants and pubs serving brunch, and we took a stroll before heading down to check out the Carleton University campus and heading back to the States.

Our international diner-hopping was indeed complete.

The Elgin Street Diner.

Route 20 Diner in Bouckville closes its doors

I have always felt a strong affinity for the Route 20 Diner in Bouckville. It has been a steady breakfast spot for me, and my in-laws regularly rave about their hamburgers.

It’s also the place that I had met Post-Standard columnist Sean Kirst for breakfast and conversation about what was then my relatively new blog, Unchained Restaurants. I had reached out to Sean in that summer of 2009 because I admire his work and because I thought he would be interested in my hopes for promoting restaurants, taverns, diners, and drive-thrus that were locally owned and that help define the unique attributes and flavors of this region we call home.

We had a great talk about Central New York, and it was fun to see our shared sense of place and love of CNY so well captured in his column.

I share this because Wife L flagged me this morning about a simple ad that appeared in the Mid-York Weekly newspaper. It said: Rt 20 Diner in Bouckville will be Closing for Good!

The ad says Sunday, Oct. 28, is the diner’s last day, and that the following day there will be a 10 a.m. sale of the dishes and glasses and knickknacks that made up the place, including all the Coca-Cola paraphernalia that the owner loved.

I don’t know why the diner is closing. I do know that it is a genuine loss to the community, and to the corridor that is Route 20.  I want to thank the owner and staff for all their wonderful work over the past few years, and just say that your place will be missed and your absence felt.

Barbecue in Wampsville caps exploration of Chittenango

Happy Bicentennial, Chittenango. The Madison County village is celebrating this milestone all year, and I did my part by participating in a folksmarch that was held in the home of all things Oz a couple of weeks back.

We ambled along — in hiking boots and not ruby-red shoes — the village sidewalks that have been decked out in yellow bricks for years and years and the Creek Walk that offers a wonderful path along Chittenango Creek. During our 5K walk we also visited some wonderful neighborhoods and strolled through Sullivan Community Park, a real gem of a public space that offers tennis courts, basketball, softball, pavilions, nature paths, and a large playground.

It never ceases to amaze me how much our villages, towns, and cities in CNY have to offer. There are fantastic public spaces and museums, like the Chenango Canal and Boat Museum, that provide wonderful outlets for exploration and prime targets for mini-excursions. Now, if we can only figure out what kinds of retail shops our small communities need and can support, we’ll be all set. Because Chittenango has too many empty storefronts downtown, and I just learned that a landmark in the village of Hamilton — Crowe’s Pharmacy — will be closing, its owner feeling the economic pinch and agreeing to work at a larger Kinney Drug’s just a couple miles away.

We all need to support local businesses as much as we possibly can, be it shops and markets or restaurants and diners.

Knotty Pine barbecue pit

On our way back from the folksmarch, Wife L, Daughter B, Father-in-law D, and I stopped to eat at the Knotty Pine Diner on Route 5 in Wampsville. We tried lunch from the barbecue pit, which is open Thursday through Sunday from noon to 8 p.m. The pit offers pulled pork sandwiches, steak sandwiches, ribs, brisket, and more.

For just under $9, I had the pulled pork sandwich with two sides: baked beans and cole slaw. I thought the pork was tangy and delicious, served on a fresh roll. Wife L and Father-in-law D had the steak sandwiches, which they both deemed delicious. There were plenty of other sides to choose from, too, like macaroni salad, salt potatoes, and potato salad.

Daughter B opted for, wait for it, a tuna sandwich on white bread from the diner. Not sure what section of the gene pool the love of the bland emerged from, but at least she got a cold and creamy chocolate shake with her sandwich.

We sat on picnic tables to enjoy our lunch and were able to watch two workers put up soffits as part of a major renovation of a huge, beautiful barn next to the diner and just off Route 5. A really beautiful bit of restoration happening there.

Pulled pork sandwich

See New York state carved up by food region

This was too fun to pass up. Thanks to Deb, a reader of Unchained Restaurants, for sharing this map of the Empire State broken down by food group. She found this on Facebook and shared it with me via email. (Click the image to enlarge)

I love how it reflects the Greek yogurt boom happening in South Edmeston, in northern Chenango County.  Popularity of the Chobani brand has skyrocketed, and the company will be adding more than 130,000 square feet to its plant.

I do take exception to Bark being the main food group in the Adirondacks, though I did get a chuckle out of that. I’ve had plenty of great meals in Old Forge, Speculator, and Lake Placid.  We didn’t eat poutine in northern New York but did enjoy the gooey concoction in Ottawa during a visit a few years back. Garbage bread? Not yet sampled that Rochester food basic.

Brooks barbecue chicken in Oneonta is awesome, and I agree with the chicken riggies and tomato pie designation for Utica. You’ve already heard me go on and on about Napoli’s tomato pie.  I”m not sure where that mozzarella sticks with raspberry sauce is all about in the Albany area. Which restaurant is known for that? I do know about the Saratoga Springs peppermint pig, and I have sampled the Croghan bologna.

We do love the pizza and bagels down in western Long Island, where I was born and raised. Vincents pizza in Albertson still rates as one of the best pizza places in New York, though I admit it’s been awhile. The Long Island Iced Tea seems too easy for the eastern half of the island. What about peaches or duck or potatoes or wine? Or is that mainly nostalgia talking?

And of course the age-old dividing line between those who say pop and those who say soda is dead-on. I never was able to say pop despite spending four years in Buffalo, where I did sample many a chicken wing.  Pop to me was my grandfather, the one with the Irish roots in County Offaly.

Anyway, let me know what you think is right or wrong about the food map. Don’t let this into the hands of any politicians, though, they will redraw the lines to some crazy configuration that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever.

– A quick note: It was with real sadness that I read  in the New York Times that the Miss Albany Diner will be closing. The diner was a mainstay of our capital city for many years, and I had the pleasure of eating there a couple times while I lived in Schenectady. The only thing to soften the blow was to see  that Friend A was quoted in the Times piece. She happened to be there eating what sounds like a wonderful French toast breakfast when the reporter was there.

The Caboose is loaded with delightful breakfast treats

I’ve been up and down Route 12 between Sherburne and Binghamton dozens and dozens of times, sometimes stopping in Norwich to shop at  McLaughlin’s Department Store or eat dinner at Nina’s or Gus’ Steakhouse.

Sometimes, though, you have to get off the old main drag, as the Pogues would call it, and see what lies beyond.  And that’s what we did last Saturday in Norwich, turning off Route 12 onto Main Street and finding our way to a little gem of a diner called The Caboose.

The Caboose, just off Route 12

This bright red boxcar of a building has been around for some 100 years, and gets its name from the nearby railroad tracks.  It defines cozy, and the food defines good. The owner/waitress/cook Kris used to work at the Colgate Inn in Hamilton, and that’s where she had told us about her place down the road.

There are six stools and four tables at The Caboose. There are railroad lanterns and other train-related bric-a-brac. The ceiling is arched and covered in wood panelling, and the small windows are the kind that slide across. The grill can’t be missed because it pretty much runs the length of the counter, and that’s where Kris was stationed after taking our order.

The Caboose does local like a locally owned eatery should. The eggs are from a farm in Norwich and the sausage is from Skip’s Market in Sherburne. The scones, muffins, and cookies are homemade. And from the conversation around the counter, you better get there pretty early to make sure you snare some of the scrumptious treats. At least one special is offered each day for lunch, too, which runs until 2 p.m.

I do love my pancakes, and I really loved the pancakes here. They have that hint of sweetness that I’m not sure is from a touch of malt or a bit of sugar. Wife L had eggs in a hole that came with a railroad moniker, and we both had the sausage.

We sat for a while and enjoyed our tea and enjoyed the fact that we had found this place that is only a couple hundred yards from Route 12 but felt like it was light years away.

We did have a second reason for going down to Norwich. 

I had been checking the Chenango SPCA website every weekend since last November. Don’t ask me why. We already have two cats, one of them from the SPCA,  and a dog.  It can be a fairly active household.  But once you get that bug you get that bug. And there was this face on the website and there was this 15-pound terrier-poodle mutt at the shelter, and there was the adoption form, and there was the signature, and there was a return trip for Finn the dog to meet this mutt with the mats, and there was the operation to have him neutered four days later, and there he is now, laying in the livingroom looking like he’s been here forever.

Call me crazy. But you gotta call him cute as hell, no?

Tucker the new dog