On the other hand..

Having thoroughly disparaged a segment of the American populace for their love of coronary inducing deep fried food-on-a-stick, it is now time to celebrate all that is good about American food.  While for the most part the meals are seriously too big, this is not always the case and it is possible to find small, tasty plates.  This does not have to be in expensive restaurants or fine dining establishments. 

Smoked salmon tartine at Toni's

For example, while looking for breakfast in downtown Chicago and wanting something other than an over priced hotel buffet or a  Dunkin' Donuts, I happened on Toni Patisserie and Cafe on East Washington St.  While they offer a full range of light and flaky pastries, what catches my eye is  the range of tartines - open face sandwiches. The salmon is delicious: fresh bread with a light spread of cream cheese, thinly sliced but generous portions of elegant smoked salmon, topped with nicely acidic tomato, lemon and spring onion (In American speak) salsa.  Perfect. 

Sesame crusted seared tuna fillet

As I mentioned  a couple of posts ago when blogging about Maine, almost everyone who travels to this easternmost state eats as much lobster as they can.  I like lobster, though not as much as New Zealand crayfish, so seek other seafood pleasures.  I find a delicious sesame crusted tuna served in a beach side restaurant that is otherwise a tourist trap of gigantic proportions.  The tuna is perfectly cooked. More accurately, the outside is perfectly cooked and the centre perfectly raw.  This could have been a plate in a much more up-market restaurant, but the rather clumsy garnish and plastic pot of soy sauce tell the story of the restaurant's purpose  - serve them up and turn over tables.

Beef in a bun is arguably the food that defines America.  Well it isn't much of an argument: the argument is more around just how many burgers are eaten in the U.S. in a year.  McDonald's accounts for about 3 billion, and I find estimates for totals ranging from 14 billion to 58 billion.  Either way, it is a lot of minced beef, ketchup and buns.  

Bill's classic burger

Burgers come with all kinds of add-on ingredients including, as we know and love in New Zealand, beetroot, or  pineapple or egg.  In my opinion, basic is better. And at Bill's Bar and Burger in the Meatpacking District of New York, that's what we find. Bill's classic has a meat pattie (very juicy), cheese, pickle and ketchup and is pretty good, though maybe not the absolute best you'll ever eat.  I like it for its straightforward simplicity of flavours and easy-to-eat size - you don't need a hinged jaw to eat it. 

By the way, the Meatpacking District is now known as a fashion area rather than for its slaughterhouses, which was the case until the late 1990s. My New York  ex-pat Kiwi friend and I find ourselves on the lower west side as we have just walked the High Line.  This does not have anything to do with drugs.  Unless your drug of choice is the airy streets above the west side of Manhattan.

La Newyorkina ices

Initially built in the 1930s as part of a massive public-private infrastructure project called the West Side Improvement, the High Line lifted rail freight traffic 30 feet in the air, removing dangerous trains from the streets of Manhattan's largest industrial district.  However, no trains have run on the High Line since 1980, and in 1999 it was developed into a public park.  With attractive landscaping and planted out with hardy trees, shrubs, grasses and flowers, it provides a mile and a half long boardwalk (for walkers only - no bikes) giving a unique aspect onto the streets below.  No hawkers allowed, and only approved food sellers, such as La Newyorkina  - artisan ices inspired by Mexican flavours such as mango, chili, lime and tamarind. I was in two minds about trying the tamarind, but as it was such an unusual idea I went with it. I should've stuck with the mango.  The tamarind was a bit more insipid than I had expected, rather than that sharp, tangy flavour you expect.

Loungers at the 11th street end of the High Line

It is fortunate my friend has had a year in New York to locate drinkable coffee.  Finding good coffee was, of course, a major concern for a Wellingtonian moving to the Big Apple.  However, perseverance and multiple cups of terrible java consumed in pursuit of the Holy Grail, she found Sweetleaf, right there in her Long Island City neighbourhood.  She had even trained them to make flat whites!  This meant I was able to drink coffee again after two weeks of abstinence brought on by being faced with flavoured drinks masquerading as coffee (for example in the Seattle-based chain the name of which I do not speak), or bitter, thin beverages served in large mugs or massive takeaway containers.

Lobbying poster in a Dunkin' Donuts window

On that note, an interesting phenomenon has emerged in New York.  Mayor Bloomberg has been trying to introduce legislation that bans the super-size sugary drinks so favoured by "coffee" houses and fast food outlets.  Breaking news this week is that he has been successful, and despite lobbying by soft drink manufacturers, the Board of Health has a formal ban that restricts soda drink servings to a maximum of 16 ounces (475ml, close to half a litre) in fast-food and other restaurants and places of such as stadiums. A normal can is 330ml, yet some outlets serve a whopping 64oz (1.8 litre!) size drink, so this is a substantial reduction on the buckets that people commonly guzzle from in cinemas, sports arenas and so on.  The rule takes effect in 6 months time and attracts a $US200 fine for a breach.  

This cookie is half the size of my iPad

The purpose of the rule is to impact obesity.  While you have my support Mayor Bloomberg, good luck with that while everything else is still in super-sized portions. For example, cookies that are half the size of an iPad.

But any way, I digress. There is great food to be had across the US, it is just that the fast food joints out weigh (pun intended) the establishments that focus on quality rather than quantity.  You just have to seek then out. Sometimes it takes a year, sometimes it's just your lucky day. 

Food on a stick

Let me begin with a firm statement that I like the United States - a lot.  I like the American people in general and some of them in particular.  The ones I meet tend to be friendly, very hospitable, generous, kind and polite, and  I am sure the Americans I know represent the great proportion of others in that vast country.  

However there is a segment of the American population I just do not understand.  

I can best explain this through the following true story I read in Dining section of The New York Times on my recent visit.  The article relates to the Iowa State Fair and their annual effort to create new and exotic food, preferably on a stick, as food on a stick accounts for a 30 to 40 percent increase in sales.  I understand the economics, but the execution leaves me faint with disbelief.  It is not the 2012 treat that amazes me -  a "deep-fried pickle dawg". This concoction is a pickle slice, pastrami or ham and cream cheese. The creators of this treat were sadly defeated in their efforts to make it stay on a stick and had to serve it in a cardboard boat. 

Which makes the 2011 creation even more marvellous in both inception  and execution.  

If I give you 10 guesses I bet you will never come up with the answer.  

If I tell you the symbol of the Fair is a giant butter sculpture of a cow,  you may start to think along the right lines.  As an aside, the Butter Cow starts with a wood, metal, wire and steel mesh frame and about 275kg (600lb) of low moisture, pure cream Iowa butter. Layers of butter are applied until a life-size butter cow emerges - measuring about  1.67 meters by 2.4 meters (5-1/2-ft  by 8-ft ).

Is it an ice cream on a stick?  Too easy, besides, it has to be deep-fried to be truly delicious.  How about something cheese-y.  We all know melted cheese is good to eat.  No, let's go for gold.  

The Iowa State Fair PROUDLY brings you, for the second year by popular demand, at a price of just $4, DEEP-FRIED BUTTER ON A STICK.  If you would like to try this at home, take 60 grams of butter and put a stick in it, keep it close to frozen and dunk it in funnel cake batter (what the hell is this? I am afraid to google it) with cinnamon and spices, then fry in vegetable oil heated to 200 Celcius (400F).  Cook for 60 to 90 seconds then drizzle with a honey glaze - go on, I dare you.

Larry Fyfe, the brilliant man behind the concept

Kids, don't fry this at home.

In case you are thinking of a trip to Iowa in 2013, the website tempts you with a list of foods on-a-stick, but be warned - not all foods are deep-fried.
  

Here's the list of foods on-a-stick as of Fair 2012

Too many deep fried foods on-a-stick?

1. Chocolate-Covered Chocolate Chip Cannoli - NEW in 2012
2. Chocolate-Covered Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Pop - NEW in 2012
3. Fruit (with yogurt dipping sauce) - NEW in 2012
4. Double Bacon Corn Dog (a hot dog wrapped in bacon, deep fried, dipped in bacon bit enriched batter and deep fried again to golden perfection) - NEW in 2012
5. Bacon
6. Chocolate-Covered Frozen S'more
7. Fried Butter
8. Peanut Butter & Jelly
9. Chocolate-Covered Deep Fried Cheesecake
10. Griddle Stick (turkey sausage wrapped in a pancake)
11. Cake Pops
12. Fair Square
13. Chocolate-Covered Tiramisu
14. Chocolate-Covered Turtle Mousse Bar
15. Twinkie Log (frozen Twinkie dipped in white chocolate and rolled in cashews) 
16. Octodog (hotdog in the shape of an octopus)
17. Chocolate-Covered Peanut Butter Bar
18. Chocolate-Covered Key Lime Dream Bar
19. Carmellows
20. Pickle
21. Pork Chop
22. Corn Dog
23. Cheese
24. Cajun Chicken
25. Sesame Chicken
26. Carmel Apple
27. German Sausage
28. Teriyaki Beef
29. Corn on the Cob
30. Cotton Candy
31. Veggie Corndog
32. Turkey Drumstick
33. Nutty Bar
34. Hot Bologna
35. Chicken
36. Monkey Tail (chocolate-covered banana)
37. Honey
38. Ice Cream Wonder Bar
39. Deep-Fried Snickers
40. Deep-Fried Milky Way
41. Deep-Fried Twinkie
42. Breakfast Lamb Sausage (brat)
43. Deep-Fried Ho-Ho
44. Deep-Fried Cupcake
45. Dutch Letter
46. Chocolate-Covered Cheesecake
47. Pineapple (Fresh pineapple dipped in funnel cake batter and deep fried)
48. Hot Lips (breaded chicken breast smothered with hot sauce, served with blue cheese      dressing)
49. Cornbrat (bratwurst dipped in corndog batter)
50. Chocolate-Covered Ice Cream Cookie Sandwich
51. Rock Candy
52. Salad
53. Hard-Boiled Egg
54. Unicorn Lolipops
55. Rainbow Popsicle
56. Push-ups
57. Turkey Tenderloin