Roadfood_ Revised Edition - Jane Stern [31]
Polly’s Pancake Parlor
Route 117
603–823–5575
Sugar Hill, NH
BLD (closed in winter) | $$
New England boasts prolific maple sugar trees and a long tradition of grain cookery, and thus it is home to some mighty fine pancakes. Top of the line is Polly’s Pancake Parlor in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Polly’s was opened in 1938 by “Sugar Bill” Dexter because he thought a tea room would provide him the opportunity to show passersby all the good things that could be done with the maple harvest on his farm. Named for his daughter and now run by his progeny, Polly’s remains maple paradise.
Of course, pancakes are the specialty of the house; they are made from stoneground flours or cornmeal, either plain or upgraded with shreds of coconut, walnuts, or blueberries. One order consists of a half a dozen three-inchers, and it is possible to get a sampler of several different kinds. They come with the clearest and most elegant fancy-grade maple syrup, as well as maple sugar and mouthwatering maple spread. You can also get maple muffins, sandwiches made with maple white bread, a gelatinized dessert called maple Bavarian cream, ice cream with maple hurricane sauce (syrup and apples stewed together), and all sorts of maple candies to take home.
Polly’s is a beautiful restaurant in a breathtaking location. It is surrounded by maple trees hung with taps and buckets in the spring, but the most wonderful time to visit is autumn, as the sugarbush starts to turn colors. The dining room has a glass-walled porch that overlooks fields where horses graze, and its inside walls are decorated with antiques and tools that have been in the family since the late eighteenth century, when Sugar Bill’s ancestors began farming this land.
Rhode Island
Allie’s Donuts
3661 Quaker La. (Route 2)
401–295–8036
North Kingstown, RI
B | $
Allie’s is Rhode Island’s premier donut stop, so popular that it has two doors, funneling into two lines of people who wait at two separate counters to place their orders. The waiting area is fairly small, but the open kitchen behind it is an immense workspace where powerful mixers whir and deep-fryers bubble.
The variety of donuts made each morning is vast, including honey-dipped, glazed crullers, raised jelly sticks, plain cake donuts, coconut-strewn solid chocolates, and colorful jimmies-topped extravaganzas. None are fancy-pants pastries; these are big, sweet, pretty things to eat. Regular customers love them so much that it is common to see people buy a dozen in a box (to take to the office), plus a bag of two or three to eat in the car—or in the parking lot on the way to the car—before the dozen is opened.
Aunt Carrie’s
1240 Ocean Rd.
401–783–7930
Narragansett, RI
LD (summer only) | $$
Aunt Carrie’s, at Point Judith on the ocean, has been a summertime destination since the 1920s. It remains one of the few places in Rhode Island that still lists a full shore dinner on its menu. It starts with chowder: your choice of white, red, or Rhode Island–style, which is clear and bacon-flavored. That’s accompanied by crusty gold balls of deep-fried clam-flavored dough called clam cakes as well as steamers with broth and butter for dipping. Then come fillet of sole with corn on the cob and French fries, accompanied by homemade bread and butter. After that you get a whole lobster and finally warm Indian pudding topped with ice cream or a slice of pie. Abbreviated versions of the big feed are available (without the lobster or without the fish),