Roadfood_ Revised Edition - Jane Stern [52]
Bonus: Doug’s is a source for excellent soft-serve custard, dense and alabaster-pure. Throughout the warm-weather months the custard is a foundation for warm fruit sundaes. The available compote, made right here from the fruit of the season, begins with strawberries and blueberries early in the summer, then moves to peaches, and finally to apples in the fall. Glorious!
Gargiulo’s
2911 West 15th St.
718–266–4891
Coney Island, NY
LD | $$$
Here is a style of big-city dining that gastronomes have come to know as Italian-American but is, in fact, unique to the Northeast United States, its repertoire as humble as spaghetti and meatballs and deluxe as lobster tail fra diavolo. Indeed, lobster is very important at Gargiulo’s (which happens to be only yards from the Atlantic Ocean); big ones are held in a tank in the vestibule opposite the bar. Between ten-dollar spaghetti entrees and thirty-dollar lobster are a vast number of preparations of veal, chicken, seafood, sausage and steak…and—oh, wow—glorious pastas.
For the pasta alone, we would list Gargiulo’s as a great Coney Island destination. Whether meaty ribbons of linguine or slim strands of spaghettini, the noodles are al dente delicious. On the linguine, we savored a luxurious white Bolognese sauce (“You get your meat and Alfredo in one!” declared our friend George, the Brooklyn native who took us here), and the fine spaghettini was served Sorrento-style, which means laced with nuggets of juicy sirloin steak and chicken and sauced with nothing but garlic and oil.
Veal is big here, with twelve different varieties of cutlet on the menu, not including veal chops and the daily specials. After a barrage of appetizers that included mighty pasta e fagioli soup, baked clams, and manicotti, we appreciated the simplicity of veal Milanese—thin, crisp, and flavorful.
Located in an otherwise honky-tonk section of Coney Island (across the street from Nathan’s and a short distance away from one of the nation’s last remaining freak shows), Gargiulo’s is quite deluxe, its waiters outfitted in tuxedos, its tables covered with thick white linen. It’s a special-occasion weekend date place and a regular dinner haunt for people from surrounding neighborhoods. We love it on a Saturday night when the pageant of customers is a great cross-section of New Yorkers, young and old, tough and tender, all gathering for a good time and a fabulous meal in a party atmosphere.
Glenwood Pines
1213 Taughannock Blvd. (Route 89)
607–273–3709
Ulysses, NY
LD | $
Glenwood Pines has been a destination diner for Cornellians since it opened in 1946. The primary attraction of this friendly roadhouse overlooking Cayuga Lake is a Pinesburger. That’s a six-ounce beef oval topped with a couple of slices of cheese wedged into a length of Ithaca Bakery French bread with lettuce, tomato slices, onion slices, and your choice of Thousand Island dressing or mayonnaise. Connoisseurs told us that we had to have it with the Thousand Island, and it would be hard to argue against that. The sweetness of the dressing is a grand complement to the smoky meat and all its dressings. On the side, good companions include ultra-crunchy fried onion rings and creamy coleslaw.
We said the Pinesburger was the primary reason to visit. The secondary one is the fish fry. A huge, thick length of haddock is breaded and fried crisp and served with either tartar sauce or cocktail sauce. It is sweet, moist, flavorful fish, and a giant meal.
Ambience at Glenwood Pines is old-time tavern. When you walk in, you see a few pinball machines and a bowling game on the right, a pool table ahead of you, and, beyond that, the bar where some folks sit and imbibe beers with (or without) their Pinesburgers as a TV in the upper right corner delivers sports broadcasts. To the left are tables and a small separate dining