The Waffle

The NY Post reports that the owner of O’Casey’s Irish Bar and Tavern in Manhattan will be offering a new twist for the US Thanksgiving Holiday - using vodka as the main stuffing.

Dubbed the 100 proof turkey, it’s like Big Bird passed out on vodka.  The promotion is happily sponsored by Georgi Vodka, a brand from Star Industries.

According to the owner, Paul Hurley, the 20 pound birds are infused for 3 days before being served:

“It’s a turkey you can eat and drink at the same time.”

Now, the last item I saw that claimed to be a drink and a dish at the same time was Arby’s Jamocha:  ”You know, a drink can be a drink and a dessert at the same time.” stated Arby’s.   And, you know,  drinking a dessert is easier than drinking a turkey. Way to go, Jamocha!

To make sure the bird will be tasty, the 100 proof vodka is joined by Peach, Lemon, Orange, Cherry and Green Apple flavored vodkas as part of the infusion.  Ignored are Georgi’s other flavours, like French Vanilla, Pomegrenate, Raspberry, Grape Mango and Blue. Yes, Blue is a flavour.

Anyone who has cooked with alcohol knows that it evaporates fairly quickly, and the bird might sober up as it cooks.  It doesn’t matter - the chef has a couple of other tricks under his toque.  The chef,  Paul Loftus will serve the turkey with a vodka based-gravy, and add some more into the cooked gravy, which he’ll then serve with a straw.  Hmmmm, gravy with a straw. 

But wait, it’s not over.  More vodka will accompany the meal.  A fruit-flavored vodka shot will also be served, and, wait for it, it’ll be served in a turkey-embedded reservoir.  They are probably using the liver as reservoir.  It would make sense.

You can get the meal, which includes turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes and a cab ride to anywhere in Manhattan, for only $29.95.  You want to entertain your guests at home with this delicacy?  Pick up a whole drunken bird for only $69.

To make a reservation call 212-685-6807.

As per the tradition, we had to stop Chez Ashton for our usual fix of cheesy-gravy-goodness on our Quebec City trip.

This time, we stopped on the way in, at the St-Nicolas location, just before the bridges.

It was surprisingly busy, even though it was past lunch time. The staff was struggling to keep up, and the poutine was lining up on the counter, along with Expo burgers, Rostbif platters and other delicacies offered by Ashton.

Mel went for her favorite - a bébé poutine, sauce piquante.

I decided I would go with something different this time, another classic but not as well know outside Quebec borders, and, in fact, outside of Eastern Quebec.

La Galvaude!

Ashton’s Galvaude is the classic recipe, which was invented in Gaspesie, according to Charles-Alexandre Théorêt. 
Here, the french fries and the gravy are the same as in a classic poutine. But the cheese curds are replaced by chicken pieces and green peas. Some do add cheese curds, but really, it is not supposed to come with cheese.  And do not make the mistake of calling this a poutine galvaude.  It’s a galvaude, period. 

Think of a hot chicken sandwhich without bread. 

Ashton’s regular galvaude goes for $8.00.  Since they do not serve any other chicken dishes,  it won’t surprise you if I say the chicken is not fresh of f the bone.  Nevertheless, it was good enough, although a bit pricey.

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After a night of enjoying Alexandria Bay’s lively nightlife, our eightsome was in need of a greasy breakfast before hitting the alleys of the Thousand Islands Country Club. And we certainly could not find a greasy spoon quite like Beefer’s.

A breakfast buffet family restaurant, it is located on the State Route 12 just on the way out of Alexandria Bay, Beefer’s is open six days a week until at least 11h30 or until later if they are busy.  It is closed on Tuesdays, for some strange reason.

And, what do you know, the original “Beefer’s” is back, as Bobby Williams decided that the breakfast business in Alexandria Bay was too good to stay out of any longer.  He apparently “renovated everything and built a new state-of-the-art buffet area that is designed to impress.”  Well, some might be easily impressed, so good job Bobby W. Perhaps you could spend a little more time upgrading the bathrooms, though.  Just a thought.

The buffet is quite diversified for a breakfast-only place, but it certainly doesn’t have the quality you can find in upper scale hotels. It consisted of scrambled eggs - with or without onions and peppers, home fries - with or without onions and peppers, hashbrowns, pancakes - regular or blueberries, French toasts, pastries, muffins, a toast station, english muffins,  biscuits, fresh fruits, bacon, ham, corn beef hash,  sausages, sausage gravy.

Yes, sausage gravy.

I don’t know about you, but that item,  I didn’t even go near it.  I was actually afraid something would jump out of the grey slime and grab me. Oh, and there was a chocolate fondue fountain too!

For all-you-can-eat, you pay 9.99$, plus an extra 2.00$ for a bottomless drink.  I don’t drink coffee, so I ordered a Sierra Mist, Pepsi’s response to Sprite and 7 Up.  I have to admit it is a very good lemon-lime soft drink, quite refreshing and not too sweet, perfect to balance the fat I was about to consume.

I choose both my home fries and my scrambled eggs with peppers and onions.  The eggs were not bad, considering the mass production, and the veggies added a nice twist to the eggs.  It didn’t worked as well for the home fries, which were way too soft and way to soggy to be enjoyable.  Some of them were even burned, but yet not crunchy.  How that can happen is beyond me.

The corn beef hash were also soggy, but in that case it kind of worked - the moisture coming from the corn beef fat and not exclusively from steam.  The bacon was crisp and not overcooked, and was the highlight of my meal.  Not too salty either.  The sausages were small and a little dry by moment.  Not exquisite, not juicy enough, but nevertheless edible.  The ham was overcooked and chewy because of it.

I cleaned my palate with a serving of strawberries, bananas and pineapple.  No chocolate, I abstained on that one, so I can’t really tell you about it. But it was a very popular items with the kids, I can tell you that much. And, in the end, I survived Beefer’s Gorilla Buffet.  And I got the t-shirt to prove it.

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