see you in the funny papers

Dagwood Bumstead is more like me than I thought. He said two things this week that could have come out of my own mouth instead.

As a kid, I used to read the comics every day. Now I mostly read the newspaper online, only glancing at the comics when I have access to the dead-tree edition. Most comic strips are available online (including my current favorite, Bizarro) but who has time to visit each strip's website? It's not the same as scanning two whole pages of newsprint to see if something makes you laugh. I have long wondered if comic artists need to draw a new set of pictures for each strip or if they can use stock images and put new words in the speech and thought balloons, especially for heritage strips like Blondie.

On Thursday, Dagwood was griping about the amount of money Jerry Seinfeld got to do those odd Microsoft commercials. I identified with his answer when Blondie asked him what products he could endorse. I also would gladly do commercials for pillows, recliners, homemade pies, mattresses, hamburgers, hot sauce, cakes, pizza, ice cream parlors and BBQ joints. It makes perfect sense, just like the time I endorsed a company that sells and installs high-def TVs.

I spotted another similarity with Dagwood yesterday. Like me, he's a fan of naps. Unlike me, he claims there's a difference between sleeping and napping. When I take a nap, I do it right, changing into sleepwear and crawling into bed, not to be disturbed for three hours.

more leftovers

The cracker crust makes St. Louis pizza unique. During our road trip last month, my wife and I went to Imo's Pizza to sample some. The crust was okay but I didn't love the creamy sauce under the cheese. Some contributors on Chowhound suggested that it's the Provel cheese I didn't like. They mentioned a place called Pi that I should try next time.



We had a better meal at the City Coffee House & Crêperie. We ordered both a savory crêpe and a sweet one to share. They used a small rake-like utensil to smooth the batter over the griddle. The crêpes get stuffed with almost anything you can imagine.



The Cardinals were playing a home game as we drove out of town. During the radio pregame show, I heard a testimonial commercial for Kutis Funeral Home. Who did they get to voice the spot? Jack Buck's widow.

when Hamptons wasn't cool

The Penny Candy Shop has gone out of business, reports my sister. She was visiting one of my favorite places on Earth, the east end of Long Island and saw the sign in the window. According to the real estate listings, the former Penny Candy Shop is for sale. The price? 200 million pennies.

The P.C.S. now joins Kathleen's Bakeshop on my list of former favorites in the Hamptons. Kathleen's sold the famous Crutchley's Cruller hearts (doughnut holes), which you would drop into a bag of powdered sugar and shake. Like the original Crutchley's Bakery, Kathleen's is closed now, as we discovered when we were in the area last summer. I saw online that Kathleen lost the rights to her own name. She has a new business called Tate's Bake Shop but there's no mention of whether she still sells the hearts.

One of my parents favorite restaurants in the Hamptons was Herb McCarthy's. It closed in the '80s. The microbrewery now in that location named a beer after Old Herb. It was the least they could do.

As far as I can tell, the Candy Kitchen in Bridgehampton and Sip 'n Soda in Southampton are still open and doing fine, even after the recent death of one of Sip 'n Soda's owners. And so is our local choice for pizza, La Parmigiana in Southampton.

palate pleasing pallet place

Internet surfers frequently find their way to my site when searching for the best BBQ or pizza in Knoxville. I've written about both, although I have to admit that my BBQ postings are a bit outdated. At least two new joints have opened around my end of town since I last visited the topic. There's one on Walker Springs and one on Middlebrook Pike that I would like to try when I can afford both the cash and the calories. Plus I don't eat meat on Fridays in Lent.

This time last year I wrote about having cheese pizza as a Lenten meal. A couple of Fridays this Lent, I timed a salad-buying trip to Sam's Club to coincide with lunch. A slice of their pizza is pretty good, inexpensive and about the size of two slices elsewhere. I got one today and put it in my shopping cart before sitting down at one of their little tables.

two simple words in the English language

It was too dark to take a picture of the network sports banners hanging near the ceiling at Big Ed's Pizza the other night. They have banners from CBS Sports, ABC Sports and NBC Sports. The NBC banner features the 1970s era logo with the N shaped like two trapezoids. I forgot that Big Ed's son Dave told me that the banners had been given to the pizza joint by former UT players who had gone on to the NFL. Dave had heard that the NBC banner was collected by Hacksaw Reynolds after a game in San Diego. Speaking of pizza, TV hottie Stacy McCloud posted a comment about gluten-free pizza at Roman's.

After writing my All Souls Day entry about "The Undertaking," I found a link to an article about the Body Farm. As an unofficial clearing house of Body Farm information, I debated going back and adding an update to my post. I guess I forgot.

When I wrote about my conversation with Pat Godwin, I forgot to mention that I've been seeing another former Comedy World employee on TV a lot lately. Lou DiMaggio is on a commercial for Bristol-Myers Squibb talking about his heart attack. Fortunately he's doing well now.

cheese and oxygen

The best known pizza place in East Tennessee used to be off limits to me. I had been to Big Ed's Pizza in Oak Ridge when I was new to the area but found the place filled with cigarette smoke. Despite my love of pizza, I knew I could never return. Fortunately the smoking ban that went into effect last month has opened some doors for me. The giant caricature of Big Ed in the window is probably inviting to most, however it was the no-smoking sign on the door that said "welcome" to me.



I asked our waitress if I could order a salad. "We only sell pizza," was her response. Without any acrid smoke to interfere with the taste, I could finally understand why everyone loves Big Ed's. The pizza was really good, especially the crust. They make their own dough at Big Ed's and it shows. The tiny paper plates and super thin napkins make eating a little more challenging than at most restaurants.



On my first trip to Big Ed's, I got one of their famous t-shirts. At the time I needed size XXL, which is now way too big for me. The thought of the smoke kept me from going back to get a free shirt on my last birthday. Now that the air is smoke-free, I can make plans to pick up a size L shirt next year.

twist, lick, dunk, chop, blend, freeze, bake, fry

Something is happening with Oreos. They seem to be everywhere lately, morphing into different dessert items. I was recently asked to submit something for a local charity cookbook. They want the recipe for the Oreo Truffles that my wife made last Christmas.

I have yet to buy any of the Oreo Cakesters that caught my eye during our road trip last month. Back at home, I saw a great looking Oreo cake in the bakery department at my local Food City.

A few minutes ago I saw a TV commercial for the Oreo Sundaes at Baskin-Robbins. The commercial has received some online criticism. The sundaes are only a small part of a partnership between Oreos and Baskin-Robbins.

Perhaps the most unusual Oreo treat is the Oreo Dessert Pizza that debuted this week. It was featured in a Domino's flyer that arrived in my mail the other day. I wonder how many laps I would have to swim before I could try a slice. It looks like they make you buy a regular pizza before you can get the Oreo pizza.

Lastly, it's the time of year when deep fried Oreos are likely to be available at Boomsday or at the Tennessee Valley Fair. Of all the deep fried treats I tried in my heavier past, I remember that Oreos held up best to the deep frying. The Twinkie and the Snickers bar weren't as impressive.

meet and treat

It was hot at the Smoky Mountain Invitational swim meet but not quite as uncomfortable as it was last year. The schedule of events showed that our son had a six hour wait between his first and second race. We could have cooled off by taking a cold shower or by paying a dollar to jump into the "free swim" area of the pool. Instead we got in the car and went to a movie in an air conditioned theatre.

We saw "Ratatouille" at the Carmike Foothills 12. All of their screens have digital projection. I am now spoiled and only want to see movies that way from now on. The movie was very good, quickly overcoming one part that I thought was a little slow. It's completely G-rated but the subject matter sailed over the head of the littlest kids in the audience. In fact, they left early. They could have been turned off by the drama of a restaurant losing a star from its five-star rating or by the legal ramifications of a character's paternity.

After the movie, it was back to the Springbrook Pool and the SMI. Like at every meet, many kids had their event and heat numbers written on their arms. At all the meets so far this year, I've noticed a lot of swimmers, mostly girls, with the phrase "eat my bubbles" written on their backs. I'm still waiting for somebody to change it to "breathe my bubbles." Doesn't that make more sense? Several swimmers had their team names written on their bodies. I saw things like "Go Gators," "Go Sharks," "Go Dolphins" and so on. My favorite team name is the "Smokin' Salmon." They swim for a Jewish community center. At a swim meet last month, I noticed a sign posted by the guy who lives next to one of the neighborhood pools. Apparently his name for the local swim team is "Sprinkler Heads" as he implores: "Please, sprinkler heads, do not drive on the grass."



My son swam his last event around 6 p.m., eleven hours after we had arrived at the pool. We rewarded his performance with a trip to Brooklyn's Original Pizza in Lenoir City. Nick, the owner, remembered us from our last visit and probably from the Knoxville Yankee picnic. He also said that he just saw me on stage at the radio station's Fourth of July concert.

hey youse guys

The weather was perfect. The people were great. The food was fantastic. I wish we could have stayed a bit longer at the Knoxville Yankee picnic this afternoon. Thanks to Wes and his wife Jenn for organizing the event.



The main attraction was the pizza from Brooklyn's Original Pizza in Lenoir City. The guys from the restaurant and I had a good laugh about the time they thought I was a corporate spy.



Wes' aunt flew down from Yonkers with a load of Drake's cakes, Stella D'Oro cookies and Zurro's bread. She told me that she won't be able to do it again because she's going to move to Tennessee. When I first saw Knoxville Yankee's preview photo of bread from a bakery that started with "Z" and ended with "ro's" I got excited that they might have some corn rye from Zaro's Bread Basket in Grand Central Terminal, a favorite of my family. I have no complaints about Zurro's though. It tasted great. A lot of people were most psyched about the stack of Junior's Cheesecakes. Overall, the highlight for me had to be the Devil Dogs but as I look at this photo, I can't believe I forgot to have a Yodel.

clicking away in Margheritaville

While eating lunch today (five ounces of chicken and a salad), I flipped back and forth between WBIR and WATE. Channel 10 was showing an episode of "The Beverly Hillbillies" I had already seen. Meanwhile on Channel 6, one of the questions on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" asked what type of food was featured on the website SliceNY.com. As a fan of New York pizza, I wrote myself a note to take a look at it when I turned on my laptop. The people who run the site heard about their "Millionaire" mention second-hand.

Slice is mostly about pizza parlors in New York City. So far I haven't found any reviews for Roma or Albanese's, the pizzerias that my family frequented when we lived in Westchester County. Thanks to one of their reader tips, I found a mention of a pizza place in Northern Virginia that I will have to try on my next visit. I wonder if any of our East Tennessee pizzerias will ever make the site. My current top three are Mangia, Brooklyn's Original and Roman's.

say cheese

It must be the hot stone. At the urging of a blog reader (more about him later), my family and I stopped for dinner at Brooklyn's Original Pizza in Lenoir City on our way home from Atlanta. It says on the front of the menu that they are East Tennessee's only hot stone pizzeria. The crust was the perfect thickness, or maybe I should say it was the perfect thinness. It was the perfect softness too. My first slice drooped exactly the right way before I pressed down on the center and folded it the way New Yorkers do.



In the past few weeks, I've written about trying the pizza at Mangia Pizza & More in the Turkey Creek shopping center and at I ♥ NY Pizza in South Knoxville. A comment on one of those earlier pizza posts directed me to an online review of Brooklyn's Original Pizza, which in turn, prompted me to visit the place this week. The reviewer is right, the pizza at Brooklyn's Original is just like you'd get in New York. I loved it and will go there again when I can. Because Mangia is closer to my house, I'll go there more often. Mangia's crust has a delicious breadstick flavor to it that strays from true New York style but I liked it a lot. A whole heckuva lot.

The guys behind the counter at Brooklyn's Original Pizza were happy have me take their picture. They told me how they are now world famous because of the online review I had read at KnoxvilleYankee.com. They asked if my photos were for the Internet. I said yes without realizing that they might have thought I was going to post them on the Knoxville Yankee site rather than my own.



The author of Knoxville Yankee has written a very entertaining recap of what happened next. Here's my favorite part of his post (which you must read in its entirety):

Apparently some guy showed up that evening, claimed he knew me, knew my name, and spent about an hour there taking photos and talking to them all the while saying it was 'for KnoxvilleYankee.com'. Now there is the possibility that my friends at Brooklyn's Original heard wrong - they were short-staffed this week - but if they heard right, that's some creepy stuff because I have *NO* idea who that guy was. He certainly wasn't affiliated with me.

And so I'm putting a call out to identify this mystery Yankee who claimed he was down with this set. Here's what we know (pardon the 'Clue' like description):

• He was estimated to be in his early 40's
• He has a beard and glasses
• He was with a woman and younger teenager who were assumed to be his family
• The 'son' was described as around 14 - I didn't hear about the 'wife'
• He has a 'northern accent' which could either mean a real accent or the absence of a southern one.
• He has a nice camera, and spent a great deal of time setting up food shots, getting pictures of the guys tossing dough, etc.
• He ordered a large pie with oregano and three salads (good taste - nice).
• He was nice.

They may have gotten a few details wrong (I never claimed to be from Knoxville Yankee, I only said that I had heard of it) but at least they said I was nice. I've been recognized a lot lately, so I need to be on my best behavior.

abstinence

A fellow parishioner (and radio personality) told me his family was getting tired of eating fish on Fridays during Lent. He wondered if I had any ideas for other meatless meals. I started rattling off suggestions. He seemed interested in trying Amy's Texas Veggie Burgers. He was surprised at himself for forgetting about cheese pizza, which my parents often ordered on Friday nights back in Crestwood. Like me, my friend was puzzled that eggs can be eaten on Fridays since they could grow up to become chickens, which are not allowed.

My wife is the one who had told me that eggs are permitted by the Church. When I questioned her about it, she said that she had previously looked it up on the Internet (no wonder I'm crazy about her). Turns out that Pope Paul VI gave eggs the okay back in 1966. I wonder if the American Egg Board asked Pope Paul for a blessing, similar to the way KFC asked Pope Benedict to bless their fish sandwich.

Since it was Friday and since my wife and I were going to be in South Knoxville on business anyway, we planned today's meals so that we could try a pizza place we have heard good things about. With a place named "I ♥ NY Pizza," my hopes were high. As a former New Yorker, I'm always looking for pizza that reminds me of the ones I ate while growing up.

I immediately liked the atmosphere at I ♥ NY Pizza. One wall is covered with graffiti and several of the ceiling tiles are decorated. The contents of the dessert case made me want to plan a return visit after Lent when I can eat sweets again. My wife and I ordered a whole pizza so we'd have leftovers to bring home to our son. Our meal began with a house salad. Instead of the cheap stuff we eat at home, our salad was made with fancy greens, similar to the Newman's Own package I've seen at Sam's Club. Their balsamic vinaigrette had the consistency of gravy but tasted great. Our pizza arrived just as we finished our salads. While it was very good, it had almost twice as much cheese as the pizzas of my youth. The crust was thin, the way I like it but the thick cheese oozed out when I folded a slice to eat it New York style. As we were leaving, we saw that the people at the next table had ordered some zeppole, which they were nice enough to let me photograph.



Would I go back to I ♥ NY Pizza? Absolutely. In my ongoing search for my favorite Knoxville pizza, I currently rank I ♥ NY as number three. Roman's is number two and Mangia is still number one. Another pizza place that I tried in September was mentioned on the news today and not for a good reason.

fromage homage

There's no such thing as bad pizza but some pizza is better than others. If I still lived in New York, I would always get my pizza from Roma Restaurant in Tuckahoe. Instead, I try new places hoping to find one that reminds me of my childhood favorite.

I thought I had found a new pizza place at Turkey Creek last night but the manager said that Mangia Pizza & More has been there for five years. I guess I don't get to Turkey Creek that often. The restaurant is delightfully smoke-free, an instant improvement over Big Ed's in Oak Ridge. The pizza was so good that I asked the manager if he or the owner were from New York. Turns out they are both Tennesseeans with an appreciation for thin crusts, good sauce and good cheese. They gladly put some extra oregano on my pizza, unlike most places. Whether because of Valentines Day or Wednesday church services, my wife and I were the only customers between 8:00 and 9:00 p.m. The manager told us that they are busiest on Friday nights.



While we were eating our pizza at Mangia, my wife told me about the "Desperate Housewives" episode she had watched earlier that day. Pizzeria Scavo is about to open and my wife remembered that Doug Savant, who plays Tom, used to work at Dino's Pizza in Burbank. He was already a regular on "Melrose Place" by the time we became regulars at Dino's

The next time they come to visit, my sister and her husband might want to include a stop at the new restaurant opening soon right next door to Mangia. It appears to be the first Tennessee location for Five Guys Famous Burgers and Fries. The Five Guys in Centreville, Virginia is one of their family's favorite places. I ate there with them just before starting my weight loss program seventeen months ago.

phone call for Pete Zaria

Da Vinci's Pizza was closed the first time we wanted to eat there. Yesterday was Tuesday so we gave it another try before the Einstein Simplified show. The pizza was pretty good but the atmosphere left something to be desired. The front of the shop was so dark that I thought the place might have been closed again. The only other customers were smoking cigarettes while they waited for their carry-out calzone order. We picked a table as far from the smokers as we could. I got the special: two slices and a bottle of water (or soda) for $5. The crust was thin and flexible, which is the way I like it. Rather than pizza lovers like me, their target audience might be people looking for a late night snack after an evening at the various drinking establishments in the Old City.

thin crust, no toppings

There are two types of pizza: good pizza and great pizza. When a new pizza place opens nearby, you have to try it to find out if it's just good or if it's great. Before the Einstein Simplified show two weeks ago, I spotted a new pizza place in the Old City called Da Vinci's Pizzeria & Calzones. The lettering in the window promised "New Jersey Style" pizza by the slice. Since last night was a show night, my daughter suggested that we get pizza before the improv show. My wife and I planned our meals so that we could have a slice and a salad for dinner. Once you get it in your head that you're going to have pizza, nothing else will satisfy. We arrived downtown about half an hour earlier than usual and saw something disappointing. Da Vinci's was closed. The way restaurants open and close around here I worried that the place had already gone out of business. Fortunately the sign on the door says they will re-open tomorrow once an electrical problem gets fixed. But that didn't help my pizza craving last night.