Eatin': Dominic Episcopo
"United Steaks Of America" - A photographic series. Check out the slide show over at huffingtonpost.com.
Check out more of his work at episcopo.com.
Posted in Eatin'
Comments (0) [posted by Jimbo] Email This
Eatin': Hillbilly Hot Dogs
If you've checked out our blog befo', you know we take our eatin' pretty seriously. And while a few of us around here mainly live on the three B's: Barbecue, Bacon and Bourbon, we do occasionally find sustenance outside that comfort zone.
Hillbilly Hot Dogs, the wildly popular dog house in Lesage, West Virginia serves up fare like “Stacy’s Flu Shot” (a hot dog loaded with jalapenos and topped with homemade chili sauce), “Taco Dog” (complete with sour cream, crunched up nacho chips and more) and “The Homewrecker”, and even offers a “Home Wrecker Challenge” – consume this 15-inch pure beef weenie in under 12 minutes, and you get a free Home Wrecker t-shirt.
Hillbilly Hot Dogs was born in 1999, after owners Sharie and Sonny moved from Sharie’s home state of California back to Sonny’s home state of West Virginia. The weenie stand was built with the help of family members, and the family room area is full of old family relics like 8-track tapes and license plates. There’s even a “Weenie Song”, sung to the tune of the old vaudevillian hit “That’s Where My Money Goes.” It all adds up to quite the scene there in West Virginia.
Hillbilly Hot Dogs has proven so popular that Sharie and Sonny opened up a second location in Huntington. And the original stand even got a lot of national love recently, with The Food Network’s hit show “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” stoppin' by with the cameras to see what was cookin’. So if yer ever in their neck of the woods, and you hear a banjo, run. Otherwise stop on in and take a crack at becomin' the Weenie King by tacklin' the Homewrecker - The current king did it in 4 minutes. Or you can have a homewrecker shipped to ya in the big city.
You can check out Hillbilly Hot Dogs for yerself at www.hillbillyhotdogs.com. Heck, they’re even on Facebook now at www.facebook.com/hillbillyhotdogs.
Posted in Eatin'
Comments (0) [posted by Lil Bubba] Email This
Eatin': Suuuuueeeeeeeet. Part II
We're sittin' on top of the world...thanks to the beautiful and talented chocolatier, Katrina Markoff at Vosges Haut-Chocolat. Bacon Caramel Toffee. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Posted in Eatin'
Comments (0) [posted by Jimbo] Email This
Eatin': Pig Candy
That's right, candy made out of bacon.
Suuuuueeeeeeeet! Check out the recipe from instructables right here.
Posted in Eatin'
Comments (0) [posted by Rooster] Email This
Eatin': Everything should taste like bacon.
Well you know how fond of bacon we are here at Southern Brand, so when we stumbled upon J&D's site, life just got a little bit better 'round here. Justin & Dave are two fellas out of Seattle who left their Tech jobs to follow their dream of makin' everything taste like bacon. Including mayonnaise. Sweet Jeeeesus! Bacon-flavored mayonnaise! Check out their behind-the-scenes video of their appearance on Oprah. Ya can't help but root for 'em. We just ordered up some of the "Baconnaise." We'll be servin' up Baconnaise, lettuce and tomato sandwiches on Friday, swing on by if you're in the neighborhood!
Posted in Eatin'
Comments (0) [posted by Jimbo] Email This
Eatin': Mo’s Bacon Bar
Quite possibly the world's most perfect food! If ya haven't tasted this lil' sucker, you haven't lived. From the beautiful mind of Katrina Markoff and her wonderful company, Vosges Haut-Chocolat, comes Mo's Bacon Bar. Applewood smoked bacon + Alder wood smoked salt + deep milk chocolate, and boasting 41% cacao (that's the fancy way they're ratin' top-shelf chocolate these days.) Here's the lowdown on how they ended up with THE two great tastes that taste great together!
"I began experimenting with bacon + chocolate at the tender age of 6, while eating chocolate chip pancakes drenched in Aunt Jemima® syrup, as children often do. Beside my chocolate-laden cakes laid three strips of sizzlin' bacon, just barely touching a sweet pool of maple syrup. And then, the magic—just a bite of the bacon was too salty and I yearned for the sweet kiss of chocolate and syrup, so I combined the two. In retrospect, perhaps this was a turning point; for on that plate something magical happened, the beginnings of a combination so ethereal and delicious that it would haunt my thoughts until I found the medium to express it—chocolate.
From there, it was just a matter of time…and what began as a love of salt and sweet quickly unraveled into an obsession. No sooner could I wait to unveil the royal coupling in solid bar form, a deep milk chocolate with bits and pieces of applewood smoked bacon and just a sprinkling of Alder salt. Really, what doesn't taste better with bacon?"
– Katrina Markoff
Available at vosgeschocolat.com. $7.50 a pop, but worth every finger lickin' cent.
Posted in Eatin'
Comments (0) [posted by Skinny Earl] Email This
Eatin'/Livin': Coop’s Favorite NYC Waterin’ Holes
The clip above is the promo for a new reality series in development by Jake Catchpole.
It's easy to get lonesome and lovesick in our nation's big bad cities. And every time I step out to New York City for a bit of big city bidness, I get a lil homesick and wind up walkin' after midnight like a ghost from a Patsy Cline song. They say you're never really in a city till you've had a drink there, but NYC is so full of uptight waterin' holes with doormen givin' you the stink eye, it's not easy for a country boy to know where to drown his sorrows.
So consider this a Southern Brand primer on a few joints that put a bit of country back in the city, in a genuine and heartfelt way. No corporate rat traps here, just rowdy people, cold beer and JD on ice. I'll name 6 joints. Good and bad. Half I tried and half I heard about and aim on visitin' next time around. Feel free to chime in buckaroos. Ready? Saddle up.
Red Rock West Saloon
457 W. 17th St., New York, NY 10011
www.redrockwestsaloon.com
On NYmag.com, Henry Tenney wrote, "When you walk into Red Rock West you think, 'I might get my ass kicked in this place' "— and went on about how it becomes a hillbilly burlesque show with dancing barmaids spitting shots into customers' mouths. And sure enough, smack dab in the middle of fancy pants Chelsea is what The New York City Bartenders & Patron Guide's says is consistently the wildest bar to make it onto nycbp.com.
Now, me, having had my shirt torn off by the bartenders in there, having had shots poured straight in my mouth there, having met quite a few darlin's there, having seen every single gal in the place - including wall street lawyers, lady cops and female Harley riders - all clog dancing on the flaming bar to the sounds of the Charlie Daniels Band, I can honestly say it's like nothing else in New York City, and like no place I (and in all likelihood, you) ever been.
All those girls that ran away from your hometown cause they were too great too be contained wind up here, as redneck bartender superheroes. Whatever you do, don't mention Coyote Ugly, unless you want a beer bottle broken over your head. They hate that corporate evil thing there. And DON'T touch the girls, the place has some mean-ass bouncers. I know about them too. Don't ask.
Doc Holiday's
Manhattan/East Village
141 Avenue A
New York, NY 10009
Alphabet City ain't no joke boy, you got about a hundred different people that look like they've completly lost their way, and they're on every corner, intermingling with all the pretty folk making the New York scene. And in the middle of all that is a bar pumping David Allen Coe and Billy Joe Shaver with that familiar aroma of dirt, sweat and Natty light. Cowboy boots and western ephemera everywhere it looks like a joint lifted straight outta Southwest Texas. You got your college kids in there lookin' to get their hurt on them $5 dollar 'all the beer you can drink' Tuesday nights. You got your $2 PBR's and at Happy Hour you got your 2 for 1. Way I figure it, that's a buck a Pabst. C'mon now New York.
Standing at the bar and by the pure country jukebox are the regulars. Ornery, down on their luck, out-for-kicks-or-thrills, outlaws lookin' for a dust-up, who could give a hoot 'bout the frat kids who find this "quaint" and "invigoratin". If yer young and fulla piss and vinegar, it's a blast. If you're older and you been around some, you can probably sense there's danger in the air. 'Cause there is. But it's worth doin'. A drink or two and then travel on, cause ain't much good gonna come out of this. Still gotta be done at least once. If you're fearless and don't mind throwin' the bones, hang out all night. You'll get a story or two outta it.
Rodeo Bar
375 3rd Ave
New York, NY 10016
www.rodeobar.com
Now I don't know nuthin' firsthand about Rodeo Bar - I think I was there one time to see Lee Rocker (fella that used to be in Stray Cats, helluva rockabilly wildman) bang the heck out a standup bass and rock the place like a real memphis hillbilly - but truth be told, I was more than a few Lone Stars into the night when I arrived or as I heard a city boy from Boston once say, ' was half in the bag, man, wicked pissed.'
But I remember tryin' to text message to Ray Ray to the rockabilly beat. I remember it was a country-ass place in the middle of the world capitol of city-ass slick. Now according to Drew Pisarra at citysearch NYC Rodeo Bar is a roots enthusiast's dream, featuring local and national honky-tonk, alt-country, bluegrass and rockabilly acts every night of the week and "real Texas BBQ". Yes, the Tex-Mex decor is fetchin'. The bar, built into a converted horse trailer, serves Lone Star and Negra Modelo in bottles. A good time, but best when a band is playin'. Which is every night at some point I guess.
Trailer Park Lounge NYC
Trailer Park Lounge
www.trailerparklounge.com
271 W 23rd St
New York, NY 10011
Waitresses that look like that sexy 'ol Bettie Page (or was that Patti Page?) I'm not sure if this place is celebrating us or makin' fun of us. But they got Champagne in a Can and Tator Tots. The menu also had moonpies and mac and cheese on it as well as a veggie burger (?). It's across the street from the Chelsea Hotel. Which is historic all right, but best of all it's next to Rub BBQ.
Rub BBQ
208 W 23rd St
New York, NY 10011
Yup across the street from Trailor Park, more or less, is some of the best BBQ in NYC. Here's tha Rub. (sorry) There's this fella, lives in Brooklyn - goes by the handle WhitetrashBBQ on blogger and he writes real good bout BBQ in NYC (and BBQ elsewhere too). He laid it down on what he calls the BBQ triangle:
"The other night me and old friend, Peter Vermaelen, and corporate chef Mark Slutsky, both of McCain Foods, went to RUB for part of our grazing through New York City's downtown barbecue triangle. What's the downtown barbecue triangle? Well, it's the triangle formed by RUB, Hill Country NY and Blue Smoke. All three are within walking distance and make a great BBQ crawl. (More on that later!) And yes, there are other BBQ triangles in NYC." Further readin' is on his blog, just click here.
Dinosaur Barbecue
www.dinosaurbarbque.com
646 W 131st St
New York, NY 10027
Now, I been in New York City a whole gaggle of times but I ain't always made it to the best BBQ joints. I've stared dumbfounded as my city friends went to town on BBQ'd eel, while I fumbled with those fiddle sticks. I've sipped cold-ass rice wine and puked on those damn Cosmos tryin' to pick up a Sara Jessica type gal (She said my boots didn't "make it for her", whatever that means). Most of the time I'm eatin' in NY, I get a hotdog, or I get an apple and a Coffee - Regular while I walk down the street. I feel like McCloud when I'm out there. But even a lost cowboy has heard about Dinosaur BBQ in Harlem. I never been there, like I said, big city friends would rather take me out to "arty shows" where some dude with only one name (usually a name like Gotan or somethin' who is actually a refugee from Missouri) has cut up a cow and called it art. Which, hell, it might be if it was smoked for 14 hours and served up with some cheddar cheese, pickle slices, raw onion and white bread. But anyway, Ray Ray lived off of the grub at the original Dinosaur BBQ up in Syracuse in the early 90's. Says he went in 170 lbs. soakin' wet, came out four years later, 205 sweatin' sauce. He still orders the "slatherin' sauce" from their site.
Well that's my take on the Southern side of NYC, if you got any tips for me, gimme a holler.
Comments (0) [posted by Coop] Email This
Eatin': Hey Jimmy Dean, Don’t Mess With A Texas Man’s 16OZ Sausage!
If it ain't broke, then don't fix it.
Comedy gold.
Posted in Eatin'
Comments (0) [posted by Jobro] Email This
