Road Trip 09 - Detroit / Buffalo / Lake Keuka / Cleveland

Last week, in an effort to enjoy our leisure time before the miniature Zurer / Peterson arrives on the scene (Oct 17 - just one short week before Baconfest Chicago!) Kerensa and I went on a 9-day jaunt in the Hyundai, overnighting in Detroit and Buffalo on the way to Keuka Lake (one of the finger lakes in upstate new york) with an evening in Cleveland on the way home. With threads like this one and this one and this one and a sneak peek at Rene G's upcoming Buffalo magnum opus, and an overworked copy of google maps on my palm pre, there was little doubt that I'd eat delicious things. And so I did. And here's what they were:

Kalamazoo - Sweetwater's Donut Mill - Strawberry Fritter: not quite the epic scope of the Old Fashioned Apple Fritter, but really well done, not overly glazed, could be a touch crispier, but overall, I would not hesitate to recommend it.



Ann Arbor - Zingermans - A brief stop to pick up fancy pasta, mostarda and olive oil as house-warming presents, punctuated by a call to Ari Weinszweig to discuss getting him out to Baconfest http://www.zingermans.com/Product.aspx? ... D=P-ARI-10



Then, there was Detroit. We scored a $60 room on the 61st floor of the Renaissance Center. As we drove into town, the city center was hopping - there was a soul festival happening on the lakefront, the hotel was packed with family reunions, conferences (the Nat'l Assoc. of Funeral Directors) and merry-makers.

We ate at Roast, the Michael Symons restaurant that was under construction in one of Rene G's earlier threads. The beast of the day was goat. Despite (or perhaps because of) having enjoyed the birria so much at Zaragoza the previous week, I passed on this option and went for a charcuterie plate (including house-made head cheese and speck from La Quercia) and a hangar steak rare. Kerensa had a cold tomato soup and a plate of fish (details elude me). We split a side of creamed corn with bacon and I finished up with a trio of cheeses - taleggio, point reyes blue and a french sheep cheese whose name escapes me. Overall, very delicious, an unexpected pleasure. Only a few mis-steps, so trivial as to almost be unnecessary to mention, but it establishes my foodie credentials when I nitpick the finer things so: 1. too much mustard on the charcuterie plate. Every time I had a bite of meat with the mustard, the pork faded into the background. I left a half-cup of mustard on the board. 2. The cheese plate was too cold! Too cold I say! I want my cheese room temp. What an outrage!



Afterward, we ambled back to the hotel and collapsed.

The following day, we did a desultory architecture tour: Tigers Stadium is almost totally demolished now, the Central Depot remains a monumental ruin. But Downtown Detroit is a wonder - well worth a visit (as documented in prior threads) and full of surprises. I’m sorry that we didn’t arrive in time to check out Eastern Market, which even when closed seemed giant and interesting, but we were there on the wrong day of the week. Fodder for another visit.

One thing that surprised me is that people seem to like eating Detroit-style Coney dogs. On our way out, we stopped at Lafayette Coney Island, ostensibly the exemplar of the local wiener culture. I found it befuddlingly bad. Under-seasoned sausage, dinty-moore-esque chili, brusque service from middle eastern countermen who appeared to have brought more delicious lunches from home than were available on the menu. So, one miss for me on that one. I guess I've been totally brainwashed by the more aggressively spiced and dressed Chicago dog.



Then it was time to go. Given that my traveling companion had no passport, we took the long route, south to Toledo on the interstate, then along the lake road to Sandusky.

En route, we made a stop at a farmstand that had uncommonly delicious apricots (picked when ripe – do you hear me Chicago Farmers Markets? PICKED WHEN RIPE!) and a few tasty donut peaches. I wished we’d been staying in appropriate accommodations to sample their sweet corn but it was not to be.



Then we drove. There are surprisingly few glimpses of lake on this stretch of lake-side highway. Until you get into Port Clinton, you’d think you were on a regular old country road. But it’s scenic enough, and worth a detour off the interstate.

In Sandusky we stopped for a half-pound of fried lake perch and fresh hush-puppies at the New Sandusky Fish Company and sat at a picnic table while devouring our catch. Eh. My Chicago fishing buddies may have ruined me for commercial lake perch, the same way the Gary and Low&Slow ruined me for restaurant BBQ. These filets with big and thin, a touch over-fried, and not overly meaty. The hush puppies were good though.



After a bit more driving, we pulled into Buffalo, where we had two nights allotted thanks to the $50 priceline room we landed at the downtown Holiday Inn.

Dinner on arrival was at Schwabl’s for that Buffalo institution (actually just outside of town in West Seneca), the Beef of Weck sandwich. Rene G had singled out Schwabl’s as the sandwich that most closely resembled the beef on weck of his youth – a crusty roll, rosy beef not piled to excess, authentic horseradish dispensers with bakelite tops. Let it be known – although online sources suggest that Schwabls’ is open till 8:30, they fasten the deadbolt at 8:00 sharp, and only the most pathetic begging will get you a table at 8:01.

I liked this sandwich. I liked this place. I learned when we got there that Anthony Bourdain had visited for an episode that aired two nights before our dinner. This was apparently a choice that chagrinned some locals. http://www.buffalochow.com, an extremely helpful resource if you take his recos for national chains with a grain of salt, resented Buffalo being lumped in with Rust Belt blight, and felt that Bourdain chose places that met this theme of ruined antiquity instead of seeking out the actually tasty.

But, I’d go back, no doubt. The beef may not have been as picturesquely rare as Charly the Butchers or as refined as Eckl’s but I think the place is a hoot, a remnant of 1950’s suburban restaurantdom kept miraculously preserved.

That night, we collapsed. The following morning, after a slow start, a strong coffee and a blueberry bear claw from Spot Coffee, Buffalo’s Starbucks Alternative, we made out way downtown and explored Buffalos architectural heritage. This heritage is considerable. Sullivan’s Guaranty building is splendid; City Hall is at once imposing and inviting, with a great 28th floor observatory and charming council chamber, the county building is a fortress of bureaucracy and the Ellicott Square courtyard is an airy palace of steel and glass, whose scope, size and natural light out-performs the Rookery’s courtyard in Chicago.



We had an appt for a tour of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Darwin Martin House at 2, so we hightailed it out of downtown and stopped for a decent basket of wings at the Central Bar and Grill on Main, an undistinguished meal, aside from its proximity to the house. Wright had a significant flowering of his career in Buffalo, in large part thanks to the Larkin Soap Corporation, whose now-demolished administration building is widely accepted as one of the highlights of Wright’s non-residential repertoire. Martin was a Larkin executive, and commissioned Wright to build him a house at considerable expense, then sat back and let Wright do his thing, as considerable further expense. Years behind the timeline and vastly in excess of his budget, Wright produced a complex of buildings on a suburban lot that are marvelous to behold. The house is a massive Prairie style masterpiece with a beautiful pergola leading to a peaceful conservatory packed with plants. There is another more modest home on the same site and a gardener’s cottage. Amazingly, the organization that maintains the house has re-constructed the pergola and conservatory from scratch – they were demolished. It’s an amazing building and so worth a visit. Book early or you’ll miss out on the extended two-hour tour.



A snack to tide us over - ice cream sundaes at the miraculously preserved Parkside Candies, the sponge candy was delicious, but didn't do too well in the heat of the car.



Dinner was Duff’s Wings, loudly trumpeted as the better alternative to Anchor Bar. The wings did not seem considerably better than the ones I’d had for lunch. I’m not sure I’m on-board as a Buffalo-wing-lover but I’m glad I did the sampling, for science’s sake. The beef on weck I ate there was an impulsive mistake – food service roast beef on a spongy doughy bun.

The next morning was devoted to Niagara Falls. Lot of water over there.

On the way out of town, we stopped at the local gold standard for hotdogs – Ted’s. Sorry to belittle the hotdog cultures of foreign lands, but this dog too was a miss for me. I liked the char, I liked the crowds of loyal suburbanites lined up out the door, but I found the sausage itself under-seasoned and the hot sauce overly sweet. Onion rings were tasty, on the other hand.



Then it was on to the Finger Lakes region of Upstate NY, to a house on Lake Keuka.



There are a few special things to eat in this area: #1 blueberries. In U-Pick Land, Lake Keuka is King. I went and removed 14 lbs of ripe tart berries from eye-level bushes at the Hill View Blueberry Farm – $1.29 / lb. Those went into Blueberry pie, blueberry shakes, blueberry sorbet, fruit salad and my first ever batch of blueberry jam.




#2 Special thing to check out above Lake Keuka is the wineries – this has been a center of NY State wine production for 100 years. Originally it was mostly concord grapes, but the current quality is in white wines. Chardonnay & Riesling from Heron Hill are good, Dr. Konstantin Frank makes adecent chardonnay as well. Reports from my brother are that MacGregor winery on the east side of the lake also produces excellent whites. The Heron Hill tasting room is fun to visit and has spectacular views of the vines and the lake. Bully Hill has a reputation for undrinkable wines, but has an excellent restaurant on a breezy terrace perched on the hillside, where I had tasty steamers and a nice smoked brisket sandwich. Their tee-shirts are also fun.

Keuka has recently gotten its first craft brewery as well – Keuka Brewing Company – which has a tasting room just below Dr. Frank’s winery. I liked their hefeweiszen and their IPA. Beer is available for takeaway in growlers, but is not yet bottled for mass distribution. Worth a stop, especially around 5:00Pm right before closing when the crowd gets a bit rowdy.

In Penn Yan, at the top of the lake, there is an ice-cream shack worth a visit – Seneca Farms – that does intense Ben & Jerry style renditions of hyper-fatty, chock full of candy bars sweeter than sweet ice creams.

Then it was back toward home. We went fairly directly from Keuka into Cleveland, with a brief detour into Salamanca en route for an Italian sausage near the Seneca Reservation – Heron Brand Tobacco Products! Dirt Cheap!

In Cleveland we had just enough time to catch the tail-end of the West Side Market – a civic treasure, amply documented elsewhere on this site – where we bought some bacon and sampled some Cambodian noodles.



$50 bought a room in the Hyatt Regency in the Arcade downtown, but a reservation at Lola or Lolita could not be had for love or money, so instead we went to Balaton, a roadfood pick for Hungarian & pan-Eastern-European food.

There comes a moment in every road trip when you finally hit capacity. If I’d been at Balaton 5 days earlier, I’d probably be rhapsodizing about the crispy wiener schnitzel, tender paprikash, horseradishy beet salad and toothsome spaetzle. But I’d had enough and ate my share with workmanlike diligence and little pleasure. Next time, I’ll have to hit Cleveland on the way east, instead of the way back. I didn’t even have the energy for a cocktail at the Velvet Tango Room.

Our last day featured a pleasant surprise in the form of fried bluegills and strawberry pie at Clay’s Family Restaurant in Indiana’s Lake George resort, ten minutes off of 80/90 right on the Michigan border. A homey, comforting place with a salad bar and accommodating waitresses.




That’s it.

Sweetwater's Donut Mill
3333 Stadium Dr.
Kalamazoo, MI
(269) 372-3636

Zingerman's Delicatessen
422 Detroit St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
(734) 663.DELI

Roast
1128 Washington Blvd
Detroit, MI
(313) 961-2500

Lafayette Coney Island
118 W Lafayette Blvd
Detroit, MI 48226
(313) 964-8198

Bench Farm
9151 Jerusalem Road (St. Rte. 2)
Curtice, OH 43412
(419)-836-9443

New Sandusky Fish Company
235 Shoreline Dr.
Sandusky, OH 44870
(419) 621-8263

Schwabl’s
789 Center Rd
West Seneca, NY 14224-2240
(716) 674-9821

Spot Coffee
227 Delaware Ave
Buffalo, NY 14202-2103
(716) 332-2299‎

Duff’s Wings
3651 Sheridan Drive
Buffalo, NY
(716) 834-6234

Ted’s Buffalo (Tonawanda)
2312 Sheridan Drive
Tonawanda, NY 14150
(716) 834-628

Hillview Blueberry Farm
9990 Bean Station Rd.
Prattsburgh, NY 14873
(607) 522-7055

Bully Hill Vineyards
8843 Greyton H. Taylor Mem Dr.
Hammondsport, New York 14840
(607) 868 3490

Heron Hill Winery
9301 County Route 76

Hammondsport, NY 14840

1-800-441-4241

Dr Konstantin Frank
9749 Middle Road
Hammondsport, NY 14840
(607) 868 4884

Keuka Brewing Company
8572 Briglin Road
Hammondsport, NY 14840
(607) 868.4648

Seneca Farms Ice Cream
108 E Lake Rd
Penn Yan, NY 14527
(315) 536-4066

Balaton
13133 Shaker Square
Cleveland, Ohio 44120

(216) 921.9691

Clay’s Family Restaurant
7815 N Old 27
Fremont, IN 46737
(260) 833-1332

Great post, Seth! Thanks for posting your pictures and impressions-especially the pictures of Buffalo architecture. The Darwin Martin house is worth planning a day around.

Of the beefs on weck I sampled in Buffalo, Schwabl's came out on top, (though I missed out on Charlie the Butcher's downtown location by moments.) The quality of the beef and the kummel weck roll were tops.

I have to agree with you on the superiority of the Chicago-style dog, but I found the char and the bread-and-butter pickle relish at Ted's to be to my taste.

The last time I was in Cleveland, I learned that Mr. Farkas makes the pastries for Baloton Hungarian Restaurant. Sounds like you didn't make it to dessert. Next time. perhaps.

Hi Josephine - thanks for the kind words. I had the pleasure of Mr Farkas' napoleons on my last swing through Cleveland in April. If you like whipped cream like I like whipped cream that pastry is a no-brainer. So good!

Returning from Holidays in Syracuse, Mrs. JiLS and I made a short detour up I-290 to try out Duff's for some wings. We got there around 11:30 (30 minutes prior to opening), and a line was already forming in the snow. Why? Answer: The space is very small, and the numbers will only keep getting bigger. We made the right choice and jumped into line, getting a coveted first seating table. I was nervous as a debutante in a strapless dress on a blind date on a cold night when I entered the Duff's temple of wings, but the friendly waitrons soon put me at ease, and we were enjoying our meal within 10 minutes or so.

We ordered the 20-wing special (pitcher of soda and enormous bowl of french fries included), with "medium light" heat level (that's about 3 on the Duff's 0 - 10 + scale of scorch). While enjoying these plump, crisp and well-dressed winglets, as delicious and perfectly prepared as they were, I was pleased and reassured to learn that I'd not really been missing anything much with my fave Chicago version of the B-Wing, namely that served by Philly's Best on Milwaukee. That is, with respect to the wings themselves. Duff's wings were really great, but they were not any better or worse than what I get regularly from Philly's Best ... similar plumpness/meatiness, similar crispiness, similarly flavorful sauce. Less driving time. Where Duff's has it hands down, however, over PB or any other I've tried in Chicago is the accompanying blue cheese dressing; why cheap out on this ingredient? Duff's doesn't, and it shows, and was appreciated.

Anyway, as we left, a man in the bar actually declared us "true heroes" for being the first to leave and make way for the next wave of wing lovers huddled in the cramped entryway and spilling outside Duff's door. Given the lack of sports bar paraphernalia (one measly 32-inch TV in the bar doesn't count), it was apparent that the crowds swarming into Duff's were just there for the food and each others' company.