Chus On Chow

Syracuse in winter can give you cabin fever.  When I complained about having it on Friday night, Lonnie had the excellent idea of making a jaunt over to the west side of Syracuse for some barbecue.  I usually don’t say no to barbecue, unless I’m just finishing my third portion.

No serious discussion of barbecue in Syracuse can take place without mention of the Dinosaur, which has become the de facto standard of Syracuse BBQ.  Its excellence is taken for granted, and we go there a lot.  I don’t even bother to mention it much in my blogs, as it has mountains of publicity already.  But, as Yogi Berra might have said, it’s so crowded that no one goes there anymore.  So on this particular night we decided to try something new.

(more…)

As I was out gardening , a friendly fellow came by and told me about a new pizza take-out on the far west side of Eastwood. I asked him, “Another pizza take-out? Why??” His response, “Because this one is different.” He seemed genuinely impressed with the ingredients that were going into the hand-tossed pizzas at Friends & Family Pizza: fresh “Grande” brand cheese, sauces made on the premises, all fresh ingredients. So I took the menu he was handing out and stuck it somewhere. (more…)

Dave and I had been for a long walk, from our house to Sunnycrest Park and then up to the top of Lincoln Park. Walking home along James St. on a Sunday evening, we didn’t have much hope of getting something to eat right now - which was the way we wanted it. Just about every eatery (read: take-out joint) on James Street is closed on a Sunday evening. But as we continued east on James, past Midler, we saw a golden light ahead of us, just past Nichols. The Golden Crown! (more…)

UPDATE, May 12, 2009: Laci’s is now a cafe and burger joint, with a much more extensive menu and eat-in dining!

Back to the original post:

The other day we stopped in at Laci’s Burger Joint in Eastwood and were left with an overall positive impression. The menu is almost completely burgers, so you know they’d better be good! Dave had the Hot Mama Burger, which has jalapeños, pepper jack cheese, onion, lettuce and tomato. He said it was very good. Understand that Dave likes fairly spicy-hot food. I had the Empire Burger, with its apples, brie cheese, lettuce and tomato. The burger was large, cooked to order, and tasty. It was not the best burger I’ve ever had, but this may be in part due to the fact that I probably needed something with stronger flavors. The apples were an interesting addition but the brie got lost under the burger. And I was pretty much baffled by the combination of apple and tomato. It would have been better with cheddar and a chipotle mayonnaise instead. (more…)

Riley’s: 312 Park St, Syracuse, (315) 471-7111