Archive for the ‘food’ Category
June 15, 2009
The fifth and final project in the “Roadside Giants of the Lincoln Highway” series is an antique truck celebrating farming heritage. Designed by the Franklin County Career & Technology Center students in Chambersburg, the 1920 Selden Apple Truck replica truck is fully dimensional and features a steering column and bench seat plus wheels that spin. The 11-foot tall, 2-ton antique truck is located at Shatzer’s Fruit Market along U.S. 30 heading east. A dedication was held Tuesday, June 9, 2009.
The hood sign reads “Lincoln Highway Fruit Growers Serving Franklin County Since 1907.”
Read more in the Chambersburg Public Opinion HERE.
And read about other Roadside Giants across the U.S. in Roadside Giants the book, available from Amazon by clicking HERE.
Tags:Adams County PA, apple monument, Chambersburg PA, giant apple truck, Lincoln Highway, roadside giants, rural life monument, student project
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June 5, 2009
My Lincoln Highway Companion book hit Amazon and bookstore shelves a couple weeks ago. It’s literally a companion to my Greetings … book but also, I hope, a companion to anyone thinking of traveling the road. Reaction has been overwhelmingly kind, like this from LHA president Bob Dieterich:
This book is fantastic! The color maps are clear and easy to read. The photos are excellent. And the contents are superb. The places described in this book are unique and fascinating.
A couple tiny errors have shown up, one being the location of Stosh’s Barber Shop – the description correctly places it in Batavia, Illinois. So why in the photo caption did I write Rochelle?! Don’t know but if we produce a revised or updated edition, I’m ready.
Route 66 News also gave LHC a positive review — read it HERE. Ron Warnick kindly writes that it “truly shines with descriptions of choice motels and restaurants by Butko and a slew of contributors.”
He notes that some locales just don’t have people able to review motels or restaurants, most glaringly in Reno and Sparks, Nevada. This was surprising to me too but shows how the Lincoln Highway is still in the early stages of providing for modern tourists. Route 66 handles this with a volunteer program, Adopt a Hundred, that monitors places for inclusion in the Route 66 Dining and Lodging Guide.
For those considering buying it, Lincoln HIghway Companion does include both state maps plus regional maps that cover every mile of the road at 1″ to every seven miles. There are also selected city maps at 1″ = 1 mile.
Tags:book review, Lincoln Highway, my new book, road guide, Road trip, Route 66 News, travel, vacation planning
Posted in food, highways, history, Lincoln Highway, lodging, Road trip, roadside, travel | 2 Comments »
May 22, 2009
This Sunday, May 24, Paxton, Nebraska, will celebrate the centennial of its incorporation as a village. The celebration will include a community pageant recalling Paxton’s history and a chuck wagon feed. Paxton, on the Lincoln Highway/US 30 west of North Platte, has a population of just 614. and one flashing red traffic warning light.
Russell Rein sent a link to a North Platte Telegraph story that gives details. The pageant —with 48 cast members and 30-voice choir — is at 3 p.m. at the Paxton High School with the chuck wagon feed at 5 p.m. in the high school’s bus barn. Tickets for the pageant and feed are $10 for adults; $5 for children, under 5 free.
Among Paxton’s businesses, there are three that have been serving the village for more than half the town’s existence. Kildare Lumber began serving the town and its rural farming and ranching population even before Paxton’s incorporation. Hehnke’s, a meat market and grocery on Paxton’s main street, has served the village for nearly 90 years. Ole’s Big Game Steakhouse and Lounge, in business for more than six decades along main street, has long been known throughout the United States.
Tags:big game steakhouse, centennial, highway town, Lincoln Highway, Nebraska, Paxton NE, rural America, steakhouse, US 30
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May 13, 2009
The Cleveland Plain Dealer recently profiled Rita Shisler, owner of the wonderful Shisler’s Cheese House along the Lincoln Highway in eastern Ohio. It’s a fun read and an inspiring story.
Rita’s advice on running a successful business:
Work hard and hire people who are a good fit for your business. You have to love what you do. It reflects back on to your business. People like doing business with happy people. They want to be part of it.
Shisler’s Cheese House is on the corner of US 30 & Kidron Rd., Orrville, Ohio, (330) 682-2105.
Tags:cheese house, food store, Lincoln Highway, Ohio, old-fashioned service, Orrville OH, Shisler's, US 30, vintage road stop
Posted in food, highways, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, roadside, travel | 1 Comment »
April 27, 2009
Sunday’s Cedar Rapids Gazette ran a story about the Lincoln Cafe, along the Lincoln Highway in Mount Vernon, Iowa. Owner and chef Matt Steigerwald won the Cochon 555 competition held in Des Moines on April 19. Below is the story and a photo of the place by PBS producer Rick Sebak.
Cochon is French for pig, so 5 competing chefs prepared a Heritage Pig for judging and public tasting. Steigerwald was the only chef not from Des Moines. The chefs prepared the pigs in their own restaurants and transported them to the competition—for Steigerwald, a 2-hour drive. Some of the items Steigerwald made were pozole (a Mexican soup made with pork and hominy), a pork belly confit, biscuits made with lard, head cheese and Carolina pork barbecue.
Steigerwald took home a bottle of Templeton Rye and a trophy that declared him the “Prince of Porc.” The competition is traveling nationally and will be in Chicago next on May 24. For more information go to www.amusecochon.com/.
Tags:cafe, food, historic highway, Iowa, Lincoln Highway, Mt. Vernon IA, pig cooking contest
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April 7, 2009
With Spring travel not yet here and snow surprising many of us, there’s not much news from the road, but my editor just sent some good news – a few honest-to-goodness samples of my Lincoln Highway Companion book have arrived! These go out to booksellers that want a look before ordering, and perhaps reviewers. I’m hoping to see one too — he says “Looks great!!!” but I’ll still be anxious till I see it myself. Here’s a photo from it of the Frazer Diner that Stackpole Books posted on Facebook. Click it to see it a bit larger.
Tags:1930s diner, 1960s Chevy convertible, classic Chevy, Diner, Frazer Diner, Lincoln Highway, new book, PA, Road trip, travel
Posted in food, highways, history, Lincoln Highway, Road trip, roadside | 1 Comment »
March 21, 2009
The Pennsylvania Chapter of the Lincoln Highway Association is hosting an informal get together on Saturday, April 4, at 2:00 p.m. at the Blue Parrot Bistro, 35 Chambersburg St (Lincoln Highway) in Gettysburg. There will be games, prizes, refreshments, and lots of old road talk. There is no charge to attend, but please R.S.V. P. by April 1, 2009, and bring a friend.
R.S.V.P. by April 1 to Mindy Crawford at mindygc@earthlink.net or (717) 880-6275.
Tags:Blue Parrot Bistro, Gettysburg, LHA, Lincoln Highway, meeting, Pennsylvania
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March 3, 2009
The recession has not slowed development east of Lancaster PA, on a strip that has not stopped reinventing itself for a half-century. Lancaster Online reports that among the projects being considered is redevelopment at 2331 Lincoln Highway East, site of a Rodeway Inn. It would mean the demolition of the former Italian Villa East Restaurant whose motto on old postcards was “A touch of Italy in Dutchland.”
According to a follow-up today, the owners plan to demolish the restaurant and build an 83-room hotel to connect to the existing 39-room Rodeway Inn. The 122 rooms would be operated Rodeway Inn and another chain owned by the same company, sharing a breakfast area between them.
The township engineer expressed concerns regarding an access drive, curbing, excess lot coverage, and that the old building might have historic value.
But the developer “said after a search on the Internet and talking with Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, he couldn’t come up with any records that the dwelling would be eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. The supervisors, however, still recommended the owners look into somehow reusing materials from the dwelling in the new structure to give it a local flavor.”
The site is across from and very close to the former Congress Inn, a vintage motel that’s set to be demolished and replaced by newer accommodations as I reported a half-year ago.
Tags:inn, Italian restaurant, Lancaster PA, Lincoln Highway, motels, PA Dutch, redevelopment, US 30, vintage restaurant
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January 26, 2009
An article in Sunday’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that the Mountain View Inn near Greensburg, Pa., had not gotten the loan it needed and was closing.
“First Commonwealth Bank on Friday refused to renew a revolving line of credit the innkeepers said they needed to see the hotel through the four slowest months for the hospitality industry,” according to the article.
Despite 60 weddings booked this year (a 50% increase), the owners of the Lincoln Highway landmark said they needed the funds to “see the hotel through the four slowest months for the hospitality industry.” They also cited competition from numerous national hotel chains that have opened nearby. In recent decades, the Boohers invested $4 million in building two new wings, doubling the inn’s capacity to 90 rooms.
Famous guests included Harrison Ford, the Dalai Lama, Fred Rogers, Arnold Palmer, Bernadette Peters, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and Guy Lombardo.
Tags:Greensburg PA, historic hotel closing, hotel, Lincoln Highway, Mountian View Inn, recession, roadhouse
Posted in food, highways, history, Lincoln Highway, lodging, roadside, travel | 1 Comment »
January 22, 2009
The Mountain View Hotel & Conference Center, a historic hotel and restaurant founded 1924, is expected to close on Sunday, saddening not only fans of roadside rests and historic hotels, but shocking brides and others who have receptions planned.
Located between old and new routings of the Lincoln Highway east of Greensburg, the popular local landmark was one of the last old-style county hotels along the LH in Pennsylvania. Situated atop a small ridge, it also was part of the tradition in the state of roadhouses that located on mountaintops to serve the boiling radiators of early autos. The P-G and Trib both carried the news. Updates ran here and here.
The Trib noted that owner Vance Booher III blamed the recession as the most recent factor hurting business, and that his bank “has refused to extend a line of credit that would keep the hotel open. Unless he can obtain an emergency loan by the weekend, he will have ‘no feasible alternative but to cease all major operations.'” That does leave a slim window of hope for continued operation.
The inn’s 89 guest rooms are each uniquely decorated, from elegant 18th century to early American country. The original part of the inn survives along with its knotty pine paneling and great stone fireplace
Vance Booher purchased the inn in 1940 when only one of the original 40 upstairs rooms had running water. Private baths were added by knocking out walls and reducing the number of original rooms to 26.
Vance III took over in 1983 along with his wife Vicki. He has been recognized as an Advanced Certified Wine Professional by the Culinary Institute of America, one of only 16 such individuals in America and the first to be so recognized on the East Coast. Their sons were making it a fourth generation enterprise.
The Mountain View and its original 1925 outdoor pool (removed in 1973) served as a retreat for the wealthy of Pittsburgh until WWII, when it also served as the social headquarters for Army Air Corps cadets training at the nearby airport in Latrobe, now Arnold Palmer Regional Airport (which lays atop the Lincoln Highway).
The website is still operational, with upcoming events listed. Let’s hope financing comes through to keep it going. It’s also a good reminder to patronize locally owned businesses when you can.
Tags:Greensburg PA, historic hotel, Lincoln Highway, roadhouse, roadside
Posted in food, highways, history, Lincoln Highway, lodging, roadside | 6 Comments »
Lincoln Highway News 