Man v. Food

On last night's episode of Man v. Food Adam Richman invaded the city of hopes and dreams in search of some good eats. Now I normally don't watch the show (despite my dream to one day be a competitive eater), but you better believe that I tuned in last night.

If you aren't familiar with the show, this guy goes from city to city and eats at three local hotspots. At the first two he just houses the signature dish and at the third he partakes in some sort of eating challenge. On last night's episode he dined at Dinosaur Barbecue, Heid's, and ate a six pound frittata at Mother's Cupboard.

In terms of picking the local hotspots from the city of hopes and dreams he did okay in my opinion. Dinosaur Barbecue probably has the most cachet out of any other Syracuse restaurant, Heid's is a very popular spot (although I'm a little surprised that it was chosen), and I don't know of too many eating challenges in the Syracuse area, so I guess he found a pretty good one at Mother's Cupboard (a tiny place that I've driven by thousands of times and have never been to).

If it were up to me I would have sent Adam to the two places that I miss the most when I think about Syracuse food: Tully's and Brooklyn Pickle. I would have loved to have seen Adam down some Tully's Tenders while enjoying a tall boy and then demolish a corned beef sandwich with loads of Russian at Brooklyn Pickle, but that doesn't mean that the episode didn't have highlights.

Case in point, look who showed up.


Not only that, but one of my brother Pat's best friends was one of the guys talking to Adam at Heid's.

Also, even though it didn't really fit in at all, Adam threw on some Syracuse lacrosse gear (including a #22 jersey....of course) and tossed the ball around with some laxers for a bit.

Now that Man v. Food has been to Syracuse (and Hartford), all I'm waiting to see is when he makes his way to Fairfield, CT.

Believe it or not, there's been talk among my college friends for a food related reunion of sorts in the town of Fairfield. The way it would go down would be very similar to a bar crawl, but instead of getting loaded at a bunch of different bars we would eat at all of our favorite establishments. This event would not be for the weak of heart. I'm talking at least six places over the course of one day.

The food crawl would start where we started many a morning during our college days; The Country Cow Deli. While there you would be required to eat a bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich of some kind (with ketchup for me) as well as drink an Arizona Iced Tea or and an Arnold Palmer.

Breakfast would then continue at the sloppiest diner in America; The S&S Dugout, where this man would slop about a pound of butter onto whatever you ordered.


The S&S man

Actually I think his only responsibility nowadays is the toast. FYI- I'd order two eggs over easy with white toast, french toast, and corned beef hash.

Lunch would then commence at Archie Moore's right by the Fairfield train station. While there you'd start things off with an appetizer that many a man has turned into a meal. Just be sure not to spill the barbecue sauce.



After devouring some delicious wings, you'd be off to 1 of 2 Italian Deli's: A&S or Pranzo. A general consensus could never be reached as to which place was better (so maybe we'd have to do both?). Either way, if A&S was the choice I'd order a meatball parm with fresh mozzarella and get a death stare from the Italian guy with the mustache. If Pranzo was the pick, I'd no doubt go with The Trooper.

Post Italian deli, it'd be time for some Mexican. Where better to get authentic Mexican cuisine than Senor Salsa (La Salsa back in my college days)? At Senor Salsa I'd go with any of the following three options: the Quesadilla Grande without any black beans (trust me, I have enough gas), the Grande Burrito, or El Champion. If Adam Richman from Man v. Food chose Senor Salsa (and if he ever goes to Fairfield he should), he'd be required to get El Champion.

Next on the crawl would be Rawley's to get a delicious burger. Rawley's actually reminds me a lot of Heid's in Syracuse. I've even heard some people say that they've had "the best time ever" there.



Last, but certainly not least on the Fairfield food crawl would be the Ash Creek Saloon. They are known for their ribs, but I'd go with either the wings or the guacamole burger.

In the event that two people are still standing at the end of this all day eating affair, the score could certainly be settled with some dessert at Sunny Daes or with a trip to Duchess.

Now what I just ran through would be the varsity team's slate for the Fairfield food crawl. In order to increase attendance (because that's a daunting challenge), a JV schedule would also need to be created. Without going into too much detail, here is what that would look like.

Breakfast- Village Bagel AND Circle Diner
Lunch- Firehouse Deli (chicks got off to this place) AND Senor Salsa (it's a must)
Dinner- Joe's American Bar & Grill

My apologies for not mentioning the San Diego Chicken challenge at What's Cookin', but I've heard that it's out of business.