Recently in Do IT: Eat Category

There may be no better way to end a weekend than by paying a visit to the Cafe Hon in Baltimore's Hampden neighborhood. After driving seven hours home from the Catskills this past weekend, I was starving, and recalculated the iPhone map to direct me to the eclectic eatery. Replete with a life-sized Elvis statue, a rack of neon sunglasses, and enough beehive hairdos to make you think you're an extra in Hairspray, this high-ceilinged restaurant anchors funky 36th Street and is easy to find thanks to the huge pink flamingo hung outside. Inside, the restaurant, with its attached bar next door, serves up a mix of American comfort foods with a Maryland twist. (One favorite element: the menu offers its own dictionary of 'Bawlmerese'.) I ordered the crab and shrimp pizza (which comes laden with cheddar cheese) and some mussels along with my cream of crab soup. So stuffed was I that I had to skip the pie, which I later learned was a huge mistake.

So what is a Hon anyway? The cafe's website defines it: "[T]he Bawlmer term of endearment, Hon, short for Honey, embodies the warmth and affection bestowed upon our neighbors and visitors alike by historic working-women of Baltimore." (And yes, my waitress utilized the phrase multiple times during our meal.) Every year, the restaurant's proprietor, Denise Whiting, holds the annual HonFest (pictured, above), a celebration of these women and their role in the community. This event basically manifests itself in the form of beehive hairdos, blue eyeshadow, leopard skin tights, and funky sunglasses, and appears, from the many photos, to be a complete hoot. HonFest just passed two weekends ago, but mark your calendars for next June.

Cafe Hon, 1002 W. 36th Street Baltimore, MD +1 410 243 1230

Photo: Hip2bDaniel via the Intelligent Travel Flickr pool

Contributing Editor Andrew Nelson gathers the gossip from his recent trip to Saratoga Springs, New York.

Longtime patrons will warn you, traversing the Saratoga Springs Farmers' Market is not for the fainthearted. At 8:30 a.m., a half hour before opening, parking is already scarce along High Rock Ave. where the market is held every Wednesday and Saturday. Beneath the pavilions, local farmers set out bunches of emerald-green broccoli, scarlet radishes and strawberries the color of rubies. By 9 a.m., shortly before a bell signals that the selling can begin, the produce-hungry are already lined up in front of their favorite stalls, elbows out and holding prize heads of lettuce still dewy from that morning's harvest while gossiping about life in this historic upstate spa town.

This summer the talk is of Saratoga's ongoing revitalization - the town of graceful Greek Revival houses and brick Victorian shopping arcades is filling with new downtown condos, restaurants and travelers lured here by its charm, its famed racetrack, a summer of music, and its proximity to New York, Boston and the Adirondacks. 

I spotted this NY Daily News story on ColdMud, an aggregator site I love that scours the Web for interesting food news. (Researcher note: "Cold Mud" is diner slang for chocolate ice cream).

Tired of cooking only for their own sometimes unappreciative families, eight Italian grandmas are taking turns in the kitchen of Enoteca Maria restaurant in St. George, Staten Island in New York City, and diners are praising the results, according to this article by Christina Boyle in the New York Daily News. 

New York state Senator Diane Savino is a regular. "It's kind of like having dinner at your grandmother's every day of the week," she said. "These are not fancy chefs, these are Italian women who know how to cook Italian food."

"My family have this everyday so they don't appreciate it anymore. I prefer it here, because the people love me," she added. "On Saturday nights the customers clap."

Enoteca Maria is located at 27 Hyatt Street, Staten Island, New York +1 718 447 2777 and is open from Wed-Sun.

Photo: via The New York Daily News

It worked for the Wright brothers, but what can wind do for beer? Sam Boykin shares the secret of the country's first wind-powered brewpub.

It was the Outer Banks' strong and steady winds that attracted Orville and Wilbur Wright to North Carolina's Kill Devil Hills. And while the Outer Banks Brewing Station may never measure up to the Wright brothers' landmark first flight, it too is using the wind to make history. When owners Aubrey Davis and Eric Reece erected a turbine above their laid-back little brewpub on Earth Day 2008, it became the first wind-powered brewery in the nation. And for folks traveling to the Outer Banks, a picturesque, 200-mile stretch of barrier islands along the East Coast, it's definitely worth a visit.

Davis and Reece first dreamed up the idea of starting a brewpub while volunteering for the Peace Corps in Thailand. Aubrey had spent many summers at his grandparents' place on the Outer Banks, and felt it was an ideal place to launch the business.

The pair, along with award-winning master brewer Scott Meyer, came up with a business plan for an environmentally-friendly restaurant that celebrated the uniqueness of the Outer Banks and its history. They eventually convinced nearly 30 friends and family members to invest in their dream, and in 2001 opened the Outer Banks Brewing Station in a two-story, 7,700-square-foot building inspired by turn-of-the-century lifesaving stations. Some of the custom design details include a boat-shaped bar and two pathways, made from local recycled bricks, which lead from the bar to the brewpub's big bay windows.

As executive chef and co-owner of two ingredient-centric Blue Hill restaurants in New York, Chef Dan Barber is a leading figure in the nation's farm-to-table movement. In May, Barber's reputation was boosted when he was voted to the Time 100 list of the World's Most Influential People, and by his James Beard Award win for the nation's top chef. Then of course, there was the highly publicized Presidential date night, where Barack and Michelle Obama dined at Barber's New York City restaurant while all the world watched.

While Blue Hill in Manhattan's Greenwich Village satisfies the urbanite's appetite for Barber's innovative cuisine, Blue Hill at Stone Barns, 45 minutes north of the city, has become a destination for food lovers of all sizes and stripes. The restaurant shares 80 acres of Rockefeller family land with the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, a diversified organic farm and educational center. The center's rich mix of programs and activities (cooking classes, tastings, farmer-in-training after-school activities) is complemented by the restaurant, which brings field to the plate by highlighting the pleasure of eating seasonal ingredients grown or raised just outside the door. Writer Pat Tanumihardja caught up with Barber at the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Sustainable Food Institute to chat.  

Did you have an "aha" moment when you knew you wanted to be a chef? How did the sustainability factor come into play?

I never had an "aha" moment. I wish I did. I'm still having a moment of figuring out what's the best place for me. The sustainability question happened kinda naturally over the course of my life. I grew up working on my family's farm where my grandmother was a proponent of open space and using farming to promote the natural beauty of the land. That's sort of what I became inculcated with. It informs the chef I became.

You are often called a celebrity chef and receive a lot of attention for the work you do to connect the farm to the kitchen, especially at Blue Hill at Stone Barns. How are you dealing with all this fame?

I like celebrating food. I don't know if I like celebrating myself [laughs]. People always talk about Stone Barns and me like I'm this leader leading everyone to a new frontier. I consider myself to be the recipient of a lot of attention based on an issue that has been forced to the forefront, not because of me, but because of visionary people: farmers, writers and serious academics. [These people] have taken fringe ideas and made them more mainstream. So I look at it like crashing a party. I'm lucky to have this canvas of Stone Barns to work on where what I say or do gets the light shining on it. It otherwise wouldn't have happened with our other restaurant in midtown Manhattan.

I spent last weekend wandering through Europe. Ok, so it wasn't really Europe, but it was easy to pretend while visiting the many EU embassies that opened their doors this past Saturday for Europe in D.C. week, which extends through May 16. One of the best parts about living in (and visiting) D.C. are the infinite ways to engage in the city's international culture, and this week-long event is one of my favorites. I toured the Czech ambassador's home, nibbled on Polish perogies, and happened upon a delicious pastry during my stop in Hungary (or the Hungarian embassy, if you will). Naturally, it was the pastry that rose to the top of the things that screamed out "this must be blogged."

The Kürtöskalács, or chimney cake, is a traditional Hungarian pastry that is wrapped around a wooden spool and slowly turned over an open fire. Its origins are from Transylvania, but they're now celebrated as the oldest pastry in Hungary, and they're often served as street food. The dough is coated with oil and sugar, and when baked it creates a crunchy, sugary outside crust, not unlike a hot pretzel, with a soft doughy inside. City Life editor Amy Alipio tells me that, "you can find them at folk fairs and festivals, they're kind of like the Hungarian equivalent of funnel cakes or corn dogs. They are best when they are just hot off the fire." I definitely have to agree. Delicious.

Read more: Check out the recipe here to make the cakes yourself at home, or order some online here. Read Don George's online Trip Lit column about book of the month, Valeria's Last Stand, which takes place in part in Hungarian markets. Or watch a video of bakers making the cakes and try to contain your appetite afterward. It's called Hungary for a reason.

Photo: Janelle Nanos

Wilo Benet is a busy man. He's the chef and owner of three restaurants in Puerto Rico: his flagship, Picayo, which bridges the gap between traditional Puerto Rican dishes and high end cuisine; Payá, a casual spot in the business district of Guaynabo; and Varita, the new rotisserie-style restaurant which opened a few months ago, and which happens to be where I met him last week. His other passions go far beyond food -- he's a drummer, photographer, and saxophonist in what little spare time he can muster -- but fortunately, I was able to see him at his best, serving up mouth-watering dishes and delightful Puerto Rican hospitality. "Puerto Rican food is all about the intensity of flavor," he said. "Things are well-seasoned, but not a single dish is intended to be spicy." With this well-seasoned chef helming these spots, you know you're in good hands.

Varita is Benet's latest venture, and here he says he's trying to serve the "comfort food of Puerto Rico -- roasted pork cooked on a spit over wood." The spit -- or varita -- in fact, inspired the name of the restaurant, but that's not the only down-home touch. Benet explained that the meals that you'd find in the small towns in Puerto Rico influenced everything from dishes to the design of the restaurant, pointing out the pressed tin walls that evoke the roofs of the food kiosks scattered along the beaches, the mustard and amber floor tiles that are reminiscent of a country house, and the recovered wood and coconut shells that have been refurbished into the tables and walls.

Next week is an auspicious event for beer lovers everywhere: American Craft Beer Week, which runs from May 11-17 and serves as a "national celebration highlighting the culture and contributions of craft beer." Freda Moon got a head start this past weekend, and offers up some other great places to snag a beer and celebrate.

An all-day downpour wasn't enough to keep a record crowd of 5,500 beer lovers from last Saturday's 13th Annual Legendary Boonville Beer Fest. Arriving en masse and in costume for the pirate-themed event, attendees paid $50 a person for four hours of all-you-can-drink access to over 100 beers from 43 craft breweries around the United States. Each was equipped with a five-ounce tasting glass and set loose to drink, dance and frolic in the mud at Mendocino County's fairgrounds in Boonville, Calif.

The festival, a fundraiser for local charities hosted by Anderson Valley Brewing Company, draws both connoisseurs and casual beer drinkers, people who come to taste and those that come to guzzle. Some arrived prepared for the festival's theme and Northern California's weather, wearing elaborate pirate garb or full-body rain gear. Many wore specialized glass holders around their necks to ensure they wouldn't break their irreplaceable, and therefore sacred, tasting glass. (The sound of one of these glasses breaking evokes a roaring, humiliating--if good-natured--howl from the beer fest crowd.) Others donned more eclectic ensembles, combinations of wigs, unicycles, kilts, star-shaped sunglasses and beer stickers on cheeks and foreheads. Because it was raining and the beer was flowing, a handful of participants paraded in nothing but mud and mud-covered skivvies.

I've been meaning to blog about my visit to Ray's Hell-Burger (get it?), a fantastic burger joint in Arlington, Virginia, which I visited the weekend before last. So imagine my surprise to hear that I missed spotting President Obama by just a few days! Turns out the POTUS and VPOTUS went out for lunch to the local eatery yesterday afternoon, surprising a long line of patrons who had turned up to grab a juicy burger and got a glimpse of the commander in chief instead. How's that for a burger endorsement?

It's obvious that Barack has good taste when it comes to burgers, and these are some of the best I've found in the D.C. area. The shop, which opened last fall, is a no-frills local spot decorated with B-movie posters; paper towel rolls stand in for napkin holders on the tables. The admittedly huge portions come laden with toppings, which range from the standard applewood smoked bacon and cheddar cheese, to highbrow selections like foie gras and truffle oil. The burgers themselves are made of the trimmings from the proprietor's other restaurant, Ray's the Steaks, which is just down the block from the shop, and all of them come served on a brioche roll, which does get a tad soggy if you're a slow eater. Best to grab it with both hands and dig in. No fries are served (apparently, the owner believes they detract from the burger experience) but you can get a side of cole slaw or potato salad, both of which are top-notch. Finish it off with a root beer and you might mistake Ray's Hell-Burger for heaven. 

Plan Ahead: If you're in the Washington area, you can check out Ray's by trekking across the river from D.C. to the Courthouse Metro stop in Virginia. If you arrive on a weekend, be sure to check out the flea market that pops up in a large parking lot nearby.

Ray's Hell-Burger: 1713 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, VA 22209; +1 703 841 0001.   

Friend of IT Freda Moon tells how she found culinary delights in a former mental hospital in California.

Whenever I return to California after a long absence, I'm struck by the state's juxtapositions--the way that cowboys and hippies coexist beneath the redwoods in the north, while movie stars, porn stars, and megachurches all thrive among the palm trees in the south.

I was reminded of this one afternoon last week, when I went in search of a vegetarian restaurant getting rave reviews in my native Mendocino County. I found myself listening to the cries of peacocks while enjoying a meal of seitan (wheat gluten), fried tofu, and curried vegetables on the sprawling campus of a former state mental hospital in Talmage, California.

The Mendocino State Hospital, originally Mendocino State Asylum for the Insane, closed in 1973. The property was sold and its 488-acre grounds were transformed into the City of 10,000 Buddhas, one of the Western Hemisphere's largest Buddhist communities. Today, the City, which is set against the foothills of the Yokayo Valley and framed by vineyards and fruit orchards, is as quiet as it is beautiful. But the buildings of the former mental hospital remain. Painted in a soft yellow, the warehouse-like structures have been re-purposed. They now serve as a temple and monastery, university, dining hall and dorms, elementary and secondary schools, and a bookstore and gift shop.

Grant Martin raises a glass to the charming class of cocktail mixers who don't phone it in on a Monday night.

There isn't much to do on a Monday night in Wellington, New Zealand.

As many travelers know, socializing is an important part of any cross-country trip - meeting new locals, absorbing culture and evolving your itinerary as you learn. Monday is just not a day for merrymaking; bars tend to close early, clubs don't open at all and everyone takes a collective breath from a good long weekend.

And so, at 9 p.m. on a Monday night, the traveler who is all caught up on email, postcards, journal entries and ramen noodles finds himself alone at one of the only open bars in town. In Wellington, you find yourself at Matterhorn.

Here you meet Claire, the Scottish bartender with dark flowing hair tied in a ponytail, wearing an olive drab, short sleeve, button-down shirt and tattoos from her shoulders to her elbows. Only Claire isn't busy like she is on Fridays, bouncing from snifter to dishwasher to customer, pouring Woodford or 42 Below. It's a slow night, and as you watch her patiently clean barware and meticulously line up bottles you know she's got time to talk.

Sidecar. Vodka tonic. Gin and tonic. With careful measure she pours each drink into a mixer, properly chills the concoction and deposits it into a prepared glass. "Where are you headed?" she'll ask you, in a light Scottish accent that's starting to fade into Kiwi.

No plans.

"It's poker night at Havana," she suggests. "Up Cuba Street, down a dark alley. You could walk right by it." She smiles. And so you go.

I'm a fan of both Tina Fey and travel, and as such, I find myself using her oft-used remark from 30 Rock, "I Want to Go to There," more and more lately. Most often uttered when Fey's character, Liz Lemon, is in a dreamlike, gut-response mode, "IWTGTT" is the feeling I get when I see or read something that makes me want to leave my desk immediately and jump on the next plane. So I figured that alone should make for a good feature for the blog. (Also, the line was a sentence her young daughter strung together, Fey fessed up at the SAG awards, making it that much more awesome.)

So what's my IWTGTT moment of the day? The Heuriger Hirt in Vienna, alluringly presented by the good folks at Spotted By Locals. Heurigen are essentially Austrian biergartens, only they serve wine instead of beer, along with locally-sourced cheeses and other savory snacks under the open sky. The word heuriger translatets to "new wine," which means that the spots typically serve whatever is the most recent blend. Because they're seasonal joints commonly located on the edge of vineyards, a bunch of pine twigs known as a Buschenschank is hung outside the door, alerting the passing traveler that the establishment is open and the wine is flowing. The Virtual Vienna site describes a delectable afternoon at a Heurigen:

A typical visit to a Heurigen goes something like this: it is late afternoon on a summer's day; evening is approaching, but it is still light out; you and your party find agreeable benches and a table, and are served white wine and mineral water, both in carafes, by a waitress (frequently wearing a country dress, like a Dirndl). Anyone serving as a "designated driver" can opt for a delicious "Kracherl," a sweet carbonated fruit-flavored beverage. Neither beer nor coffee is ever served at a Heurigen - if that is what you desire, you are in the wrong place! With your first few rounds of wine, you might begin the evening's consumption of food with some bread and butter or, more customarily, some pretzel-sticks (Soletti) and savory Liptauer cheese-spread. Later, as your appetite grows, you make a trip to the compact but wide-ranging buffet, with many varieties of meats, salads, vegetables, and other delights. The flow of white wine ceases around midnight, at which point you catch the last streetcar or hail a taxi, which returns you to your permanent or temporary abode.

Spotted's suggestion of the Heuiger Hirt comes with an added bonus beyond wine and homemade snacks - it also offers a fantastic view of the Vienna skyline and nearby Kahlenbergerdorf. I want to go to there.

Photo: Via Spotted by Locals, by Doris Neubauern

With the new visitor center opening at Monticello this week, now is the perfect time to plan a visit to Charlottesville, Virginia. IT Editor Janelle Nanos shares some of the highlights from her recent trip.

I'm no country bumpkin, but I do admit that I tend to feel a bit confined if I don't get out of the city from time to time. So a few weeks ago, when I was looking for a weekend away, my boyfriend and I decided to check out the rumors about Virginia wine country and packed up our car for the three-hour drive down to Charlottesville.

Home to both the University of Virginia and Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's quirky estate (did you know that both are World Heritage sites?), Charlottesville is a easy escape. Tucked in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, downtown C'ville, as it's known to locals, is a hip mix of independent storefronts, a local theater and ice-skating rink, and a funky outdoor pavilion with free live performances every Friday during warmer months. Huge chalkboards along one stretch of the main thoroughfare encourage free speech - and the vibe is distinctly warm and friendly, even in February when I visited.

Pulling up to downtown C'ville and a bit hungry after the trip, we stumbled upon one of the best finds of the weekend: The delectable dumplings from Marco & Lucas. Cheap and hot, with a line of hungry college kids spilling out the door, this spot is located along the downtown pedestrian-only West Main Street, and they're the best dumplings I've found in the (relative) D.C. area. When fried, they were like little crunchy pockets of heaven, and honestly, I've been craving them ever since. Unbeknownst to us, these dumplings would kick off the weekend's theme: food and drink, as many of the adorable clothing shops closed early over the weekend. But that turned out to be just fine.

We were hoping to stay in a bed and breakfast, as there are dozens in the area, and were fortunate to find at room (on short notice) at the High Meadows Vineyard Inn in nearby Scottsville. Immediately taken with the periwinkle home with chartreuse shutters, I was even more smitten with our host, Nancy, who was incredibly warm and generous with her suggestions about where to visit in the area. Plus, she and her daughter make a mean breakfast - if you haven't tried their broiled grapefruit drizzled with honey and cinnamon, book your reservation now (plus, they offer great mid-week deals).

Friend of IT Sascha Zuger explains how two New York hotels are exploring their heritage by bringing back vintage menus.

I once sat down to breakfast at La Posada, a beautiful Mary Colter-designed Harvey House hotel in Winslow, Arizona. Looking over the foam of a laughably large cappuccino, I watched an Escher-esque chain of tanker cars shimmy by, stretched from the limit of my vision to the right to disappear into the horizon on the left. My fork sunk deep into baked eggs smothered with peppers, onions, chunks of smoky sausage and medley of cheeses bubbled to a toasty finish, a Harvey classic from the early 20th-century railroad era, and the experience was complete.

A meal can make a memory. And sometimes memories can make a menu. Two multi-generational family-run properties in New York are celebrating big anniversaries this year by featuring vintage eats created with historic century-old recipes.

The Mohonk Mountain House celebrates the resort's 140-year history by plucking heirloom recipes from over the years to sprinkle throughout their 2009 menu. Down-home classic comfort foods like currant and cinnamon laced steel-cut oats start the day, while sauerbraten with German-style potato pancakes and braised red cabbage offer a hearty evening meal. The signature Mohonk-blend tea makes a nice accompaniment to a vintage cinnamon raisin bread pudding for a midday snack.

Visitors can get the ultimate throwback experience at the annual Fourth of July celebration, with highlights including log rolling, lobster bakes, a children's carnival with classic early 1900's games, square dancing, campfire sing-alongs and classic films under the stars.

When friend of IT and Nerd's Eye View blogger Pam Mandel saw Traveler's feature story on Austria's Lake Country in our current issue, it brought back fond memories of when she used to live in the area. So we asked her to dish on some of her favorite spots in the region.

When I lived in Austria, the Salzkammergut was sort of like the cool neighbor's backyard. We'd go over to their house to play -- it was a short and very scenic drive to the Salzkammergut from where we lived, in the Ennstal, a bucolic farming region smack dab in the middle of Austria. Guests who showed up to visit us were promptly bundled into the car, regardless of time of year, and taken to the locations listed in the April issue of National Geographic Traveler -- and then some. Depending on the season, we'd see the sights on skis or on foot, and where we sat to eat was seasonally dependent too -- in summer, it was balcony or garden seating, in winter, as close as possible to the fireplace, if there was one. The Salzkammergut is a great place to travel, so picturesque as to be cliche, loaded with outdoor activities that fit your style, and filled with great places to eat. Here are a few of my favorite things:
 
Bad Aussee Kurbad: This huge indoor swimming pool is the place to wait out inclement weather. Pay extra for the sauna privileges, though if you're of a modest disposition, be sure to ask if it's men, women, or mixed on that day.

Gasthof Zauner in Hallstatt: If you have the good fortune to be in Hallstatt around lunchtime on a September day after the tourists are gone, get a balcony seat, order the fish, and take in the scenery at this excellent historic restaurant and inn. It's also nice in winter - the cozy dining room may be empty and the waiter will let you taste new things that the chef is cooking up. Hey, it happened to me. It could happen to you.

It's no secret here at Traveler that we'll go just about anywhere for a good cupcake. So when our Geotourism Intern Christina Stockamore told us about an actual bike tour with cupcakes built in we immediately demanded she share the details.

Will work for baked goods: Christina, far left, poses with the group.

After purchasing my first road bike a few months ago, I was anxious for the weather to turn a little warmer to join a group bike ride. I noticed that City Bikes, a full-service shop in D.C., offers a weekly 18-mile bike ride called the Cupcake Ramble. The route starts at their shop in Adams Morgan, passes through Rock Creek Park and ends at their other location in Chevy Chase, Maryland. The best part: The ride is led by pastry chef Sol Schott, of the popular D.C. eateries Open City, Tryst, and The Diner.  

So on a recent weekend I decided to try it out, and I met the group at 11 a.m. on Sunday outside City Bikes in Adams Morgan. Sol arrived a few minutes later apologizing for his delay--he had just wrapped up his work in the bakery. I noticed we had a mixture of bikes--road bikes, hybrids, cruisers--and as we got moving, I was grateful that mine had gears.  

With Easter just around the corner, there's only one thing on my mind - chocolate. While I won't be traipsing around London tasting some of the world's finest chocolate anytime soon, I hope to live vicariously through my fellow chocoholics who find the time to do so.

For the Easter holiday, the four-star Mandeville Hotel is pulling out all the stops. You're welcomed with a chocolate gift, and the one-night stay for two includes a traditional English breakfast (sans chocolate), chocolate tea in the afternoon, and a chocolate martini in the Mandeville's bar. 

If you haven't had enough chocolate by the time you check out, head over to Fortnum & Mason, a 300-year-old shop located a mile from the hotel. The store is famous for its Easter egg collection, especially the Ultimate Easter Egg. The outermost milk chocolate shell opens to reveal three more shells of different types of chocolate.  And, at the center of this three-pound treat is a 100-percent dark chocolate egg.

I take great pride having roots in the Midwest. Unfortunately, the to-dos of everyday life keeps me from visiting Missouri as often as I'd like, but every once in a while I run across something that truly makes me miss the kindheartedness--and sometimes quirkiness--of the folks who live in middle America. Case in point: Lambert's Cafe.

In a barn-like structure a few hours south of St. Louis,  hungry patrons are catching their supper--literally. Lambert's Cafe dubs itself "the only home of the throwed rolls." And rightly so. At each of the three locations, guests simply raise their hand if they want one of Lambert's famous rolls, and the server throws one to them (the video above speaks for itself).

How did this wacky practice get started? Though Lambert's Cafe, in some form, has been around since the 1940s, Norm Lambert was passing around rolls to customers on a particularly busy day in the 1970s when an impatient man told him to "throw the #@$#@! rolls." And throw them, Norm did. A tradition was born.

The restaurant's traditional Midwest menu--chicken and dumplings, meatloaf, barbecue pork steak, and chicken wings--is mixed with somewhat more eclectic items, like chicken gizzards, livers, and hog jowl. Vegetarians, don't despair. Lambert's serves a few veggie-friendly items, and everyone ordering from the menu is entitled to the "pass arounds" as well. Servers waltz around with big bowls of fried onions and potatoes, macaroni, and fried okra, and diners can take large helpings of whatever looks good.

[Lambert's Cafe]

Do you have any wacky restaurants where you live?

Whenever I'm traveling, I'm eager to try the foods of a new place no matter where they're served; seat me at a restaurant with white-linen tablecloths or an oilcloth-covered table in a plastic lawn chair, and I'll eat whatever is in front of me. But my favorite kind of eating doesn't involves seating at all, the al fresco dining offered by a street vendors is my choice way try authentic eats.* Of course, this kind of dining can also be elusive, as it's apt to pack up and drive away, or move to another corner without warning. So I was psyched to learn that a new form of traveling food truck has emerged in Los Angeles. Both the LA Times and the New York Times have reported that Kogi Korean BBQ has created a brilliant business model which enables the hungry masses to track their truck via Twitter (@kogibbq). The New York Times piece describes the craze:

The food at Kogi Korean BBQ-To-Go, the taco vendor that has overtaken Los Angeles, does not fit into any known culinary category. One man overheard on his cellphone as he waited in line on a recent night said it best: "It's like this Korean-Mexican-fusion thing of crazy deliciousness."

All of which makes me think that the Twitter idea for street food make a lot of sense.