What The Hell Happen?

[Deleted]

Clipper, some great Italian food can be found at Tony Sparagna's on Lenox Ave. The neighborhood ain't what it used to be, but the food is fantastic. Next time you're up here, check it out.

[stoney]

Lol, Corner!!

Yeah, I thought about you when his name came up, Ralph.

Is Tony's still good? I used to go there quite often when I lived in that neck of the woods. I loved their covered-mushroom sandwich & $1.00 shrimp cocktail. And Harry Hertline was always at the bar.

[Clipper]

Kracker, we ALWAYS make at least one trip to Tony Sparagna's when in town too. My son usually joins us for dinner there. We always hit the same places everytime we are in town, and that place is one of the best. We also always try to get to Aquino's in Rome. Can't get good Italian here so we eat Italian several times while in town up there, and also make the trip to the Knight Spot in Frankfort for their fabulous fish fry. Along with visiting friends and relatives, a trip to Utica is always a culinary tour also, haha. Breakfast at Denny's (we don't have a Denny's here) or at Jet Diner, chili dogs at Patio if he is open, donuts from Holland Farms and Star Bakery, and pizza from O'Scuinizzo's or Joe's in Whitesboro.

Then we fill the coolers and pack keilbasa from both Hap's and Pulaski Meat Market, hoffman's hot dogs, Chanatry's hot sausage, canned tomatoes from the warehouse on Broad St, and other little goodies, haha. I should not forget good cheddar cheese. Cheddar here is all the dark orange, dry and crappy stuff that tastes like Cheez Wiz. No such thing as a wheel of cheese sitting on the deli counter here. Last stop, Sunset Carbonic for dry ice. You guys just don't know how blessed you are to have all that stuff available all the time.

[Clipper]

You are right about the neighborhood on Lenox Kracker. I try to park where I can see the truck, and if I can't I check it every 10 minutes while we are there. I hate parking on the street to begin with, especially in that kiind of neighborhood. It has gotten pretty rough over there.

[stoney]

Yeah, it's gotten pretty bad alright.

[stoney]

Next time you're in town, just ask Corner to escort you around. Nobody will mess with him. (He be packin'...)

[Clipper]

Good idea Stoney. Do ya think he would sit in the truck with his gun drawn if we bring him a take out container when we come out? Either that or we could park my truck in a safe place and take HIS car, hahaha.

[Ralph]

Jan 17, 2011 8:11:20 GMT -5 corner said:

Jan 17, 2011 4:27:14 GMT -5 Ralph said:

It still tweaks me every time I hear them mention Rob as the Weed & Seed Coordinator.

He was never the Coordinator, he was simply the liaison between the program and the UPD.

'scuse me....I have a twitch now. Damn@!

he is still as useful as a 3 peckered goat!

There's that too Corner.

I have friends that live right across from Tony's. I remember when I helped them move in after they bought their house in 1981.
The neighborhood has gone right in the crapper since then.

[Clipper]

Hey, what the heck Corner, a three peckered goat and three nanny's would make for one hell of a goat orgy wouldn't it. ? I wonder if there is a three peckered goat in Greek Mythology? They seem to have had a lot of weird and kinky animal mutations in their lore.

[Deleted]

I never did understand why someone in the Italian community in Utica that can cook never opened a place down South. I always hear people say that you can't find real Italian food in the South. I know some who live in the South for the winter. Right now I think Italian restaurants are being replaced by Spanish and Asian places. I think Bleecker St is up to four Asian places and that does not count all the other Chinese restaurants. China food is not to healthy due to the real high salt content.Yhe Spanish place on the corner of Bleecker and Mohawk I was told is great--do a great goat--but food to spicy hot; a lady from Argentina told me that. There was another good Spanish place that was actually just the home of the people who cooked but I think it was closed down. It was very small I think only four tables. It was real Spanish Caribbean food, from what I heard.But again way to spicy hot for me.

[chris]

Spragna's still open? Wow!!! They've been around a long time.

Alan.....alot of people I know tried opening a place in the South for the same reason you stated but could not make a go of it because the South has their own food and do not appreaciate or recognize good Italian food.

Carribean and Chineese food...no thank you. (all you animal lovers hide your cats and dogs) ;D

[Clipper]

When we first moved here there was a place called the Vineyard that was owned by a guy originally from Syracuse. He did okay for a few years with the Univac people that moved down here when Univac closed in Utica. It was a regular meeting place for all the Utican's. He slowly lost ground after Univac closed, and many of the people originally from Utica either moved back or retired and didn't get out to socialize with each other after work any more.

A couple of the Utica guys from the old Univac crew still bowl with us. Jack Sardina, and Vern Drake. Jack's brother comes down quite often and keeps Jack supplied with good Italian cheeses and meats. I bowl with a guy that was originally from Buffalo on both Tues and Thurs nights.

You are right though. Southern people don't know good Italian food, and are more fond of Southern cooking. Pizza and Italian food here is not that popular. Pizza hut and Olive Garden with their canned and frozen crap is considered top of the line.

[bobbbiez]

Think it has something to do with the cost of transporting the right ingredients to make the good stuff. Every time we go to visit in the south I have a list of Italian items to bring to the folks that they can't get there.

[Deleted]

Gee that is interesting. One would think in this age of instant messaging, vast transportation network that food items from every region of the USA would be available. I mean how do we get cumquat's from Indonesia in the winter. I guess when that new high speed railroad finally get here in the old USA things will change. I mean look what happened after Pony Express.

I am not to big on Southern Food. Everything is fried and everything takes a bath in grease. Yuck. I can't even eat chicken wings because all that fat and greasy chicken fat is yuck. I alway thing people think I am weird when I tell them I haven't eaten chicken wings since the 1980's and still haven't been in a MacDonald's, Wendy's. Taco Bell, Burger King since the 60"s. I get a decaf. coffee at MacDonald's now and then but that it. I did go into a Kentucky Fried Chicken three years ago and had some of their fried chicken but I have to take off all the covering because I can't stand chicken skin, yuck.
Now donuts are another thing. I love the damn things. So I have to limit myself to just a few per year. I once went into a Duncan Donuts and after an hour an a half I ate a dozen of a variety. Luckily I stayed firm and left right then, that was two years ago. I guess I go over board.

Now there was a region in Italy where cat is a great food item. And there were several oriental women that left the Humane Society here in Utica with several large adopted dogs!

"This recipe for "Roast Cat as It Should Be Prepared" is from Ruperto de Nola, Libro de Cozina, 1529: Take a cat that should be plump: and cut its throat, and once it is dead cut off its head, and throw it away for this is not to be eaten; for it is said that he who eats the brains will lose his own sense and judgement. Then skin it very cleanly, and open it and clean it well; and then wrap it in a clean linen cloth and bury it in the earth where it should remain for a day and a night; then take it out and put it on a spit; and roast it over the fire, and when beginning to roast, baste it with good garlic and oil, and when you are finished basting it, beat it well with a green branch; and this should be done until it is well roasted, basting and beating; and when it is roasted carve it as if it were rabbit or kid and put it on a large plate; and take the garlic with oil mixed with good broth so that it is coarse, and pour it over the cat and you can eat it for it is a good dish.

Oh kittens, in our hours of ease
Uncertain toys and full of fleas,
When pain and anguish hang o’er men,
We turn you into sausage then.

Here is another one I like:

There was a jolly Dutchman, his name was Johnny Rebeck
He was a dealer in sausages and sauerkraut and speck
One day he invented a new sort of machine
And all the neighbors' cats and dogs, they never more were seen.

Oh, Mister, Mister, Johnny Rebeck, how could you be so mean?
I told you you'd be sorry you invented that machine
Now all the neighbors' cats and dogs will never more be seen
They're all ground up to sausages in Johnny Rebeck's machine

Customer: Is this meat fresh?
Cook: Of course - I personally heard it meowing yesterday.

www.messybeast.com/eat-cats.htm

And now for Italy

ITALY: ITALIAN CHEF PROMOTES CAT-MEAT DISH ON TV (FEBRUARY 2010)

Italian chef Beppe Bigazzi was suspended indefinitely from his position as food expert on national TV show "La Prova del Cuoco" (The Cook's Challenge, similar to Britain's "Ready, Steady, Cook") for telling the television audience about the wonders of "tender, white cat meat." The 77 year old chef explained how to tenderize cat meat by leaving it under running water for three days to tenderise it before cooking it in a stew: "Leave it for three days under a stream or running water and you end up with a delight, I've eaten its delicious white meat many times". The Italian Animal Protection Agency called for him to be permanently removed from the programme. Instigating others to commit an act of animal cruelty is a criminal offence punishable by up to 18 months in prison. Bigazzi later claimed he had been talking about a tradition in the 1930s and 1940s when wartime food shortages in Tuscany, Italy put cat on the menu. He claimed on the show that it was a long-held tradition in Valdarno, a town near Florence. Eating cat is illegal in Italy where 8 million cats are kept as pets, but up to 50,000 strays are either neutered or put down annually.

;D

[Clipper]

I doubt that it is a transportation or logistics issue. It is simply a case of what is popular here in the South. They would rather have mac and cheese and meatloaf than spaghetti and meatballs. They would rather have brown beans and cornbread than pasta fazzool (sp).

I have to think that one would go broke in upstate NY if their business was to bring in okra and grits and put it on the menus of the local restaurants. The same goes for the Southeast. It is just that here where the tastes run a little different, spaghetti is made with Prego and Ragu. Tomatoes are in a can with Hunts on the label, or Pomadoro. Our hot sausage comes from Johnsonville, a fact that cracks me up. It is like bratwurst with fennel seeds and paprika, hahaha. Pizza's here are often made with breakfast sausage if you simply order sausage on a pizza and don't ask for Italian sausage. I occasionally make a 10 pound batch of Italian sausage, although I have not made any in the last few months. I like Italian sausage patties done on the grill during the summer, placed on a bun with peppers and onions. Mmmm mmm.

Hey, I bring Italian ingredients back from NY, so I guess it is only fair to offer to bring Okra, hog jowl bacon, ham hocks, and grits when I come North if anyone needs them. I know Ralph likes a good smoked ham hock now and again to season a dish or two. If ya want a taste of Possum or creasy greens you will just have to come on down and do a little hunting or picking yourself. Possum is like a rather gamey tasting rabbit. Not bad if cooked correctly, but no something that I would want to eat more than once, lol.