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Post by Clipper on Nov 20, 2019 8:36:08 GMT -5
www.cnyhomepage.com/news/bye-bye-to-bergers-in-utica/I had not thought about Berger's in many years. My parents use to shop there often. It was where my siblings and I always went to see Santa. We would tell Santa what we wanted for Christmas, and lo and behold, much of that list would be fulfilled on Christmas morning. We may have had an advantage over most kids that sat on that lap. Yep. For several years my paternal grandfather was employed as Berger's Santa during the Christmas season. I suspect that our list of requests went home with Santa and he and my grandmother went straight to work to fill Santa's pack with most of the items requested by myself and my siblings.
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Post by dicklaurey on Nov 20, 2019 16:46:29 GMT -5
Also went to Bergers' often, as a kid. Walk in the front door and go downstairs. Not an especially attractive store, as compared to The Boston Store or Doyle Knower (spell?). Off the beaten holiday track of Genesee St, with its' holiday hustle, lights and displays. I did my holiday duty, as a Boy Scout, helping old folks across the street (froze my ass off). After a shift, there was watery hot chocolate in the basement of Grace Church. To a little kid, Christmas on downtown Genesee St. was like Vegas is to adults. Getting a whiff of hot Karmel Korn on the busy corner, while freezing, awaiting the bus that would take me west to my Dads' barber shop, on Varick St. (still had to walk a few blocks though). Good times.
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Post by BHU on Nov 20, 2019 20:43:13 GMT -5
Don't remember Berger's but I remember Ray Seaken taking over the building & turning it into an appliance store. My grandparents bought a refrigerator from him, that was more then 30 years ago. I went with them to pick it out, then the next day they delivered the wrong one. What a fiasco! Lol!
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Post by clarencebunsen on Nov 20, 2019 23:36:33 GMT -5
The last I remember after Seaken went out of business he couldn't find anyone else who wanted it and let the building go to hell. Leaking roof, partially collapsed, full of lead, asbestos and mold. The building has a negative value. Tear down and remediation would cost more than building new on Commercial Drive.
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Post by Clipper on Nov 21, 2019 8:05:27 GMT -5
I never bought any appliances from Ray Seakan but he also owned laundromats in Whitesboro and N. Utica. When we lived on Westmoreland St in Whitesboro his laundromat became a half way point where we would stop and get warm on winter days while walking to and from the high school. It was also the home of a cigarette vending machine where a friend and I would buy our 30 cent pack of Lucky Strikes on the way to school. Back then there was actually a designated student smoking area in the back of the school. He later opened the Hungry Boy diner in that building. I think it is now called the Boulevard Diner or Boulevard Restaurant.
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Post by dicklaurey on Nov 21, 2019 10:50:45 GMT -5
The Boulevard Diner, across the street from the Utica Casket Co., is the home of their famous cream of pepperoni soup, available only on Thursdays. I have been trying to duplicate that soup for years, with limited success. The diner won't give up the recipe.
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Post by Clipper on Nov 21, 2019 11:18:24 GMT -5
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Post by clarencebunsen on Nov 21, 2019 13:52:35 GMT -5
Was the Boulevard Diner once the Roma or something like that?
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Post by dicklaurey on Nov 21, 2019 14:39:53 GMT -5
Those recipes aren't even close to the Boulevards' version, which is very creamy. I am too impatient to follow those recipes. The closest I have come is very simple and fast. This is not health food!
Heat a can of Campbells' cream of potato soup 'til it starts to simmer. Add one teaspoon of butter. Stir in approx. 1 cup of grated pepperoni (this will make your grater a nightmare to clean, but, it's worth it),the amount is more or less to your taste. Grating the pepperoni allows the oils and spices within to mix with the hot soup immediately, unlike chopping or dicing.
Most of you folks are in town, I am 3,000 miles away, so,
can someone go to the diner, try the soup, and, report back your findings? Most are retired, so what else have you got to do (this is a joke!)?
Remember to phone first to make sure that it will be available when you get there. See if you can get the recipe! I believe that the cream part is just a basic, restaurant powdered cream sauce (just add water), plus the pepperoni, but, what else?
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