Roadfood_ Revised Edition - Jane Stern [53]
Gus’s Restaurant
3 Cumberland Head Rd.
518–561–3711
Plattsburgh, NY
BLD | $
In the same phylum as the Coney Islands of the heartland and New York Systems of Rhode Island, the Michigan of New York’s North Country is primarily summertime food, but Gus’s serves it year-round. As to why this only–in–New York specialty is called a Michigan, our waitress at Gus’s didn’t have a clue.
Nomenclature aside, Michigans are addictive little porkers, and Gus’s is a good place to try them. It started as a dog stand in 1951, but it has grown to a three-meal-a-day restaurant with a full menu that boasts, “The restaurant features just about everything [even Lake Champlain perch], including their famous ‘Michigan red hot,’ which they invite you to try while dining.” One Michigan costs $1.85 and is presented in a cardboard boat. The heft of the sauce contrasts with the fluffy bun and fatty frank, and while each separate ingredient is inarguably ignominious, the combo is taste-buds magic—especially when topped with a judicious line of yellow mustard and a scattering of crisp, chopped raw onions.
Heid’s of Liverpool
305 Oswego St.
315–451–0786
Liverpool, NY
LD | $
Heid’s has been around since before the hot dog was formally invented, but for as long as any living human can remember, hot dogs have been its claim to fame. For a while there were branches of the original, but today only this one remains: a fast-food dog house with some tables inside and picnic tables outdoors under a tent.
The menu is totally wiener-centric. Hofmann-brand franks, made in Syracuse of beef, pork, and veal, are quickly grilled, a process you can watch after placing your order. They are handsome sausages with a delicate casing and plump, muscular insides. In the old days the one and only available condiment was mustard. But since John and Randall Parker started running Heid’s back in 1995, the topping choices have expanded to include chili, onions, and ketchup.
As always, the beverage list is a short one, including milkshakes, sodas, beer, and chocolate milk.
John’s Pizzeria
278 Bleecker St.
212–935–2895
New York, NY
LD | $$
Pizzerias all over New York call themselves “Original.” While John’s of Bleecker Street (and three offshoots on E. 64th, W. 65th, and W. 44th) makes no such claim of primacy, it is a Greenwich Village original and a source of true New York–style pizza in a setting that could be nowhere else. John’s is such a landmark that one time when we ate there, on a Sunday afternoon, a tour group of about a dozen Europeans came in off the sidewalk, did a walk around the dining room, and exited. They were sightseeing…and the pizza-eaters of Lower Manhattan were the attraction.
John’s looks extremely well lived-in and well eaten-in, its walls and the wooden backs of its rickety booths covered with a dense thicket of graffiti that represents the countless enthusiastic visitors who have dined here since 1934, when John’s moved to Bleecker from its original location (opened in the ’20s) on Sullivan Street. At the back of the front dining room, where two Italianate murals decorate the walls above the scarred wood, photographs of famous fans of John’s are displayed. They include former mayor Rudy Giuliani and the Chairman of the Board, Frank Sinatra.
Pizzas come large (eight slices) or small (six slices). There are no surprises on the ingredient list, except that the sausage is especially delicious, the mushrooms are fresh, and the mozzarella has a creamy goodness that makes magic with the brightly herbed red sauce. What makes John’s pizza taste special is its crust. Cooked in a coal-fired wood oven, it has a dough that turns almost brittle at its outer edges in places where it blisters and blackens from the heat, and yet just fractions of an inch inside that circumference, it has a wondrous chew. The best part of it is the underside. Take a peek at the bottom of a slice, and notice how it is charred