Roadfood_ Revised Edition - Jane Stern [38]
On the side of the classic vacation meals, you can drink a soda, a lemonade, a milkshake, or a frappe. Ever curious about the obscure taxonomy of New England soda fountain beverages, we asked the person behind the order window to explain the difference between a milkshake and a frappe. Here, a frappe is made with hard ice cream, a milkshake with soft ice cream.
In fact, ice cream is big in this place. (Vermont is a dairy state.) They serve Gifford’s brand, available in several dozen flavors, in cones and cups, in floats and freezes, and in handsome banana splits made with three ice cream flavors and three toppings, plus whipped cream, nuts, and a cherry.
Delaware
Charcoal Pit
2600 Concord Pike (Route 202)
302–478–2165
Wilmington, DE
LD | $
We were tipped off to the Charcoal Pit by a Roadfooder who believed they hadn’t changed their recipes since opening in 1952: “Everything has all the cholesterol and great taste from the old days.” He recommended malts, sundaes, burgers, and fries.
Sure enough, the hamburger exudes midcentury Americana: a modest patty with a charcoal taste served on a spongy bun either plain or in the deluxe configuration, which adds lettuce, tomato, and pickle. For those who crave extra meat, there is also a double-size eight-ounce hamburger, but in our opinion, that’s too late twentieth century, not really 1950s in spirit. The fries on the side are savory, normal-size twigs with a nice tough skin and soft potato flavor. And the milkshakes come in their big silver beakers that hold at least two glasses full. (The shakes are so thick that a long-handled spoon is provided to help you get it from the beaker into your glass.) We even enjoyed the crab cakes, which were a couple of hardball-shaped spheres with crusty outsides and a fair measure of crab filling the interior.
It’s an old-fashioned kind of place with comfy maroon booths and vintage menus decorating the wall. Waitresses go about their job with aplomb and attitude that make customers feel part of a cheap-eats ritual that has gone on forever.
There are other Charcoal Pits at 5200 Pike Creek, in the Fox Run Shopping Center, and in Prices Corner at Kirkwood Highway and Green-bank Road.
Countrie Eatery
950 N. State St.
302–674–8310
Dover, DE
BLD | $
Breakfast is swell at the Countrie Eatery: buttermilk pancakes or shillings (silver dollar ’cakes) filled with bananas or blueberries, or hefty biscuits topped with sausage gravy. The gravy, like creamed chipped beef, is also available on regular toast or an English muffin. There are two noteworthy styles of French toast, one made with cinnamon bread, the other with seed-dotted sunflower bread. The latter is served as three long, thick pieces that are soft, moist, and nearly as eggy as pudding, dusted with powdered sugar. We got ours with a side order of scrapple—two thick slices from the loaf, fried until crunchy on the outside, but moist and porky within.
At lunch you can have a sirloin burger, a hot sandwich made with turkey, pork, or beef and real mashed potatoes, or a terrific crab melt loaded with hunks of pearly sweet Chesapeake Bay crab meat. Every day the Countrie Eatery offers one all-you-can-eat special. Monday = chicken ’n’ dumplings, Tuesday = stuffed peppers, Wednesday = lasagna, Thursday = beef stew, Friday = fried chicken, Saturday = chicken livers.
Ambience is country-craftsy Colonial with primitive art and old-time farm implements on the wall.
Dog House Sandwich Shop
1200 DuPont Hwy. (Route 13)
302–328–5380
New Castle, DE
LD | $
“Our dogs go out with the nicest people!” is the house motto here, where a large percentage of business is take-out. Placing and picking up to-go orders in the vestibule is an adventure unto itself, not