Review: Brooklyn Pickle (Far West-Side)

Name: Brooklyn Pickle (Far West-Side location)
Address: 1600 W Genesee St, Syracuse, NY
Phone: (315) 487-8000
Neighborhood: Far West-Side
Website: www.brooklynpickle.com
Menu: View Menu
Cuisine: Sandwiches, Soups
Restaurant Hours: Monday to Saturday 9 AM - 7:30 PM.
Parking: Private lot
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Take-Out: Yes
Outdoor Seating: No (Yes after Spring '12)
Delivery: No

The Brooklyn Pickle franchise is one of the longest running deli operations in Syracuse and has been serving up hearty sandwiches since appearing on the deli scene in 1975. Opened two years after its predecessor in Eastwood, the Westside location first opened at the current Byrne Dairy building along W Genesee St only to move kitty-corner to its present location a couple years later where it's sat since 1984.

Perhaps more so in its heyday than now, "Brooklyn Pickle" is typically mentioned within the same sentences as "Dinosaur", "Heid's", and "The State Fair" whenever the topic of local food is brought up around out-of-towners. Still, the local chain has rolled through the decades and continues to be a popular sandwich destination for Syracuse lunch and dinner goers.

The Westside location is general small inside. Roughly 10 booths or so round out the seating. Orders are placed and picked-up at the counter.

I'm partial to the atmosphere of the Burnet Ave location to this one, but that's not to say it's bad. It's small and cozy enough for a quick meal alone or with the family. They're also expanding very soon, with a large patio deck out front facing W Genesee St which will be nice for the warmer months (I believe a sign on door said ready by Spring 2012, unless I'm mistaken).

On the menu: salads, homemade salads, coleslaw, baked beans, pickles, knish, soups, cookies, puddings, cookies, chips, and plenty of sandwich and sub choices like roast pork, pastrami, capocollo, seafood salad, liverwurst, and meatballs, as well as all of your traditional delicatessen meats.

The order...

Neptune Stew (cup): $2.80
Sour Pickle: $1.35
Brooklyn Pickle Special (half): $4.35
Total Money Spent with Tax & Tip: $9.18

From the looks of the handwritten sign below the menu, Neptune Stew appeared to be one of their specialties. It contains shrimp, clams, onions, mushrooms, green peppers, and tomatoes*. So, as an avid seafood lover, you can't go wrong, right? ...Right?

Quite the rich color for a busy soup (or stew), but I found the whole thing to be fairly unappetizing and essentially a giant mess. The stew had a slightly peppery flavor and was mixed with flavorless veggies, scraps and shreds of leftover pasta noodles, a few tiny shrimp that were saturated, rubbery, and lacked any seafood taste, and a tomato broth that was very close to concentrated tomato juice rounding everything out.

*Also not listed on the menu is that it contains carrots and pasta.

I mean, I know we're in upstate New York here and really good seafood-style soups may be hard to come by, but would it be so much to ask for a bold, maybe spicy tomato broth, with fresh onions and peppers, a couple plump shrimp, littlenecks (maybe a few still in the shell), and maybe some chopped celery? (in other words, fresh, minimalist, and nix the carrots, pasta, and mushrooms?).

It's very possible I got it on an off day, but at least judging from this experience, I wouldn't order it again.

The sour pickle, pictured to the right of the soup, was indeed sour but I found the brine to be a little unpleasant and even a bit metallic in some hints. Fresh and colorful from the outside, but not much snap, crunch, or good flavor to it.

On the other hand...

Pictured above is the Brooklyn Pickle Special, garnished with pickle slices and along side a sour pickle.

I picked the Brooklyn Pickle Special blindly, not knowing exactly what it was. I could've asked, but figured if it's a house special and at the top of the menu, it's worth a shot in the dark. Tomatoes, lettuce, and onions were added upon request.

I'll be the messenger here since I wasn't able to find information about this sandwich online. Essentially, it's corned beef and Swiss with a Miracle Whip style dressing. Which leads me to something that I can't believe I've never mentioned on this blog before...

I LOVE MIRACLE WHIP.

Ahem. Yes, it's true. This may not have been the exact brand, but it was a slightly tangier and vinegary version of mayo perfectly dressed on white bread (I think I asked for this too, but in hindsight, probably should've ordered it on rye) with Swiss cheese and plenty of delicious corned beef stacked in the middle. The lettuce, tomato, and onions were nice additions (especially the onions), but this could hold its own without them, I think. Definitely the best sandwich I've had at Brooklyn Pickle and something that I'd return for.

As for the little additional pickles on top, presentation-wise, they look good and even the novelty of getting a few free pickle slices with your order at a place that has "pickle" in its name is fun, but I just wasn't hooked on them like I wanted to be. Very lightly brined for the most part, but taste-wise, they were flavorless and kind of detracted from the sandwich.

A bad review is tough here because I remember loving Brooklyn Pickle when I was a kid. I even have a T-shirt from one of my first visits. I know my taste buds weren't lying to me then (I loved the food at Dinosaur too). I think the franchise could use an overhaul of their menu, try to simplify things, and focus on what tastes best. Sandwiches seem to be AOK for the most part and who's going to complain about getting a pretty hefty one for about $4, but I think quality, which is a major factor, really isn't hitting the mark like it used to.

Return for sandwiches: Probably.
Return for anything else: ...that's a tough call.

My rating of Brooklyn Pickle:

Review: Darwin

Name: Darwin
Address: 211 N Clinton St, Syracuse, NY
Phone: (315) 373-0484
Neighborhood: Downtown
Website: www.darwinonclinton.com
Menu: View Menu
Cuisine: Deli
Restaurant Hours: Monday to Friday 9 AM - 3 PM
Parking: On-Street
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Take-Out: Yes
Delivery: Yes (with a $40 minimum to businesses)

A rare, early nice day in the year called for a trip to Darwin for lunch, the little deli tucked away on Clinton Street just north of Clinton Square. I went there once last year after they had just opened, but figured they were about due for another trial. Walking in was like night and day compared to a year ago. While it's still a really small place, what was once a slightly awkward and cramped setup is much more streamlined and open-air feeling. The cooking and prep areas take up a large portion of the interior, but they've managed to make enough room for stacks of soda and chips for the customers to grab on their way to the pay station, display cases for drinks and deserts, separate ordering and pick-up stations (on the right and left, respectively), and a quaint counter by the window for seating, eating, and people watching. The counter is a really nice touch and is about a 7 foot long clean chopping block-style counter top with about 5 stools underneath. Overall, a much more cohesive and functioning interior for both the customers and workers.

Displayed overhead is a large chalk board with the daily happenings. Their menu changes weekly and typically borrows flavors from New York, Chicago, New Orleans, Texas, Boston, and California, just to name a few. On this particular visit, some of the main selections featured were The Big Easy muffaletta (with thin layers of capicola, salami, mortadella, and provolone, covered in a homemade marinated olive spread), the Bikini Bottom Crabby Patty (fried Maryland-style crab cake on a Harrison roll with homemade tartar sauce, lettuce, tomato, and red onions), Pork Cubano (shredded pork with Virginia baked ham, melted Swiss, dill pickle spears, spicy brown mustard on a French loaf), Darwin's Rock Shrimp Po' Boy, Two Ships Passing in The Night, for the vegetarians (mozzerela, marinated portabello mushrooms, red onions, parmesean crusted tomato, fresh spinach and basil on stretch bread with homemade creamy balsamic dressing), and their best seller, Darwin's Midnight Train to Georgia (prime rib roast on Pasta's stretch loaf topped with Swiss cheese, frizzled red onions, and horseradish mayo). Darwin also features homemade soups and salads, homemade sides like sesame noodles, coleslaw, and mac-n-cheese, and chocolate chip and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. For Fridays, they offer a fish fry with breaded Fish Cove haddock and on weekday mornings, they offer Paul deLima coffee, fresh squeezed OJ, breakfast pizza, and blueberry and cranberry lemon scones.

They tend to keep many of the sandwiches and sides on the menu for a few weeks or so, but there's usually something new on the menu every week. A good suggestion is to view it online before stopping in.

The order...

NYC Lobster Roll: $11
Roasted Red Pepper Bisque: $3
Chocolate Chip Cookie: $2
Total Money Spent with Tax & Tip: $17.28

Clockwise from upper left is the Roasted Red Pepper Bisque, a piece of stretch bread from Pasta's, the NYC Lobster Roll, and a Chocolate Chip Cookie from Yum Yum Bakery. After I was handed my order, the cashier said, "Enjoy your lobster rolls!", I said something like, "Oh, I will!" but in my head I'm thinking "Rolls? As in plural? Are these going to be like the sad display of twin lobster rolls I received on a recent Red Lobster visit?" (For what it's worth, they were not good: salty, expensive, small, burnt, and filled with tasteless, shredded claw meat, which is half the reason why I needed to order them again at Darwin three days later). These mopped the floor with them. Actually, Darwin's lobster rolls were just about the best I've had anywhere here or in New England. First of all, it's a huge portion size of not just lobster meat, but of a roll in general. This is closer to a lobster sub. It was filled with extremely tender and fresh, whole pieces of lobster claw meat practically falling out at all points, thinly dressed in a light Hellman's mayo with pieces of chopped celery and scallions, fitted on a bed of fresh Romaine lettuce, and stuffed in a DiLaruo's sub roll that was lightly toasted with butter and a hint of garlic. TO DIE FOR. If you're craving a lobster roll in Syracuse, you may as well look nowhere else. This is about as good as you'll find anywhere around here. And $11 really isn't all that bad when you consider that this could easily be $20 in Boston or New York. But the highlight for me was really the great taste of lobster meat, how it wasn't ripped apart so much to look like scraps, and how it wasn't overly dressed with mayo and fillers. Just a great tasting lobster roll all around. If it's any consolation, I'm a little guy and consumed the entire thing in about 8 minutes.

The Roasted Red Pepper Bisque was really tasty: a somewhat thick tomato based puree with bits of onions, scallions, garlic, and roasted red peppers that overall was zesty, garlicy, and full of flavor. I'm not normally a soup person, but I would definitely order this again. I probably could've just gotten a bowl of this bisque for lunch and would've been content. And you really can't complain about getting Pasta's stretch bread as a garnish, which was perfect for dipping. Plus, it's always great seeing one local business supporting another.

On a whim, I picked up a delicious Yum Yum Bakery chocolate chip cookie on display on top of the counter. It was very good: chewy, not at all dried out, and had a perfect amount of sugar. Though, I'm a chocolate fiend and would've liked to have seen a little more chips in the cookie. A quick google search of the bakery suggests that it may have been gluten free.

Other notes...

- I would LOVE to see them open on Saturdays, but understand that there may not be a demand during the weekends like there is during the week.

- They do offer delivery, but specifically for Downtown and local business and a minimum of $40. Faxing can be made by signing up for their fax list every Monday morning. More details here.

- Darwin is an off-shoot of Riley's Restaurant, located at 312 Park St in the Northside.

If you're in the vicinity for lunch during the week, give them a shot. Now that the weather's getting nicer, Clinton Square makes a decent eating spot when the fountain is running as do the few tables right outside the restaurant when the warmth permits. Overall, it was a superb lunch. The chefs are really doing some cool things at Darwin with fresh ingredients, thoughtful and flavorful recipes, a menu full of weekly surprises, ideas that are perfectly executed, and best of all, they're all in good spirits and very friendly. With all of those things happening, it makes you want to go over there more often. This particular visit was definitely worthy of 5 stars, but I've only been there twice and really would like to try a few more things before placing them in the 5 star category. 4 for now and I'll definitely be back soon. I can't wait to try out their po' boy and fish fry Fridays.

My rating of Darwin:

Mini-Review: Darwin

Name: Darwin
Address: 211 N Clinton St, Syracuse, NY
Phone: 315-214-5036
Neighborhood: Downtown
Website: www.darwinonclinton.com
Menu: View Menu
Cuisine: Deli, Sandwiches, Breakfast
Restaurant Hours: Monday-Friday 8 AM to 2:30 PM
Parking: On-Street
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Take-Out: Yes
Delivery: No (will be available by Fall of '10)

Since the newly opened and little sandwich shop on N Clinton St will be evolving its menu every week until a final one is picked out in the fall, I'm going to hold off giving a rating and full review until then...

Darwin springs out of the mind of Terry Riley, owner of Riley's on Park Street (a sister restaurant, if you will). It's one of several new restaurants that have been making their way Downtown recently. While the place is small with no seating inside (at least on this visit), a couple of tables outside seem like a great spot to enjoy a meal along Clinton Street. A chalkboard above the counter displays the weekly menu items, as well as a salad of the week, brisket of the week, sides (like noodles, roasted potatoes), soups, a vegetarian option, and breakfast sandwiches. The chef's are all very friendly, so if you have a suggestion or any questions about anything on menu, they're glad to help.

Being that sign in the shop reads "If you've had the 'best sandwich ever' from somewhere in your travels, we'd love to hear about it.", may I shamelessly make a suggestion that the vegetarian option for one of the weeks be a pressed sandwich with heirloom tomatoes, fresh basil leaves, sliced mozzarella, olive oil, salt and pepper (as a nod to the best sandwich I've ever had). Simple ingredients, but if they'd could pull it off, I'd be there every day of the week.

The ingredients are home grown and homemade and what they don't make here, they try to incorporate from other local business like DiLauro's Bakery, Pasta's Daily Bread, Gianelli Sausage, and Liehs & Steigerwald, to name a few. In the coming weeks, additions such as a fish fry Friday and Riley's raspberry pie will be making an appearance. On this particular visit, a Chicago-style hot dog was available (made with Liehs & Steigerwald's and baked on fresh DiLauro's bread topped with mustard, onions, sweet pickle relish, a dill pickle spear, tomato slices, sport peppers, and celery salt). Extremely tempting, but maybe next time. For now, I decided go with the main sandwich...

Darwin's Week 1 Sandwich consisted of sliced turkey, cranberry aoli, sauteed spinach, and Swiss cheese on a freshly baked DiLauro's Bakery whole wheat roll (and served with a complimentary fireball candy).

Though I'm not big on whole wheat bread, this sandwich was extremely tasty. The melted cheese, warm turkey (roasted on the premises), and freshly sauteed spinach all went very well together and the aoli provided a really interesting and sweet kick. Surprisingly a great combination of flavors going on and a big portion too.

Also pictured is Riley's cranberry coleslaw (served in a convenient Asian-style take-out box).

I realize the monotony of picking out two items on the menu with cranberries, but I thought I'd go with it anyway.

Tender red and green cabbage, fresh carrots, chopped cranberries, and a not too overwhelmingly mayo taste (I'm picky about my coleslaw mix, sometimes it can be too mayo-ie or not enough - this was perfect). Great coleslaw.

They're really doing some smart and creative things here at Darwin. It seems like a little chef's science lab where they're trying out all different ideas from around the country to see what will work, all the while taking in suggestions from visitors. It's kind of fun to see how the menu changes from week to week. I'll be going back as the weeks and menu progress. Give them a shot if you haven't already.

Review: Boulangerie Ltd

Name: Boulangerie Ltd
Address: 526 Plum St Syracuse, NY Phone: (315) 466-3108
Neighborhood: Lakefront (Franklin Square)
Website: www.yelp.com/biz/boulangerie-ltd-syracuse
Menu: View Menu
Cuisine: Deli, Gourmet Sandwiches
Restaurant Hours: Monday-Friday 7 AM to 3 PM
Parking: On Street
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Take-Out: Yes
Delivery: No

Opened in 1991 (and not too long after the rebirth of Franklin Square in 1987), Boulangerie Ltd has been serving up gourmet sandwiches in the redeveloped area for almost 20 years.

The small eatery tucked away on Plum Street, functions a bit more like a sandwich shop that has predetermined menu items and less like a made-to-order delicatessen. Those predetermined selections however are really interesting and creative like the tuna salad with apples, nuts and cheddar, or the roast pork with cranberry mayonnaise, sliced apples and Swiss, or the turkey and salami wtih feta, marinated tomatoes and cucumbers, purple onion, spinach and hot peppers. There are roughly 20 of these creative sandwich items on any given day and each sandwich comes with your choice of bread: French, Sour Dough, Multi-Grain, Wrap, or Foccacia.

The interior is small, but large enough to enjoy lunch with a group. Seating consists of several tables with a long, cushioned booth along the wall. Windows cover about half of the place which provides it with a nice, scenic view of Plum Street as well as a good view of the old, New Process Gear tower.

Up front you'll find the counter (think cafeteria-style ordering) with a list of daily specials and a display case of other things like pasta and fruit salads.

It was relatively busy during lunch time with the higher-end business clientele getting their lunches to-go and hustling in and out of the place steadily.

The order...

Kiwi Strawberry Snapple: $1.50
Ham & Pasta Salad: $3.50
Turkey, Garlic Mayo, Tomato, Bacon, Swiss on French Bread: $5.65
Total Money Spent with Tax & Tip: $12.40

The pasta salad left a little something to be desired: bland dressing (that tasted essentially like mayo) with undercooked pasta was not an appetizing combo. It made the whole thing dense and unsatisfying. Also, I don't mind random vegetables in a pasta salad like peas or carrots, but corn and lima beans just seemed out of place. Thumbs down.

The turkey sandwich however, was great: perfectly cooked pieces of bacon (more chewy than crunchy), tasty garlic mayo that was delicious, on freshly baked bread that was the best balance of soft and crunchy French bread ever. The tomatoes/bacon/bread provided all the slightly juicy, fresh, and crunchy textures on their own so much that the sandwich itself didn't even need lettuce.

But to nitpick, the turkey wasn't your traditional, sliced turkey breast. It was more or less the pre-packaged stuff you would find at a grocery store. I suppose you can't expect any more at a sandwich place. I also suppose it's debatable whether or not Boulangerie is considered a deli, but either way, if I'm at a place that specializes in making gourmet sandwiches, I'd rather not eat something that is giving me the impression that it could easily pass as Airplane food.

End nitpick.

Other things of note...

- While I didn't see a soup menu of any kind, I much rather would have preferred that than pasta salad on a cold afternoon.

- Boulangerie offers a catering box lunch option (sandwiches, pasta or fruit salad, chips, cookies and soda). $10.59 per person with a minimum order of 10 and a 24 hours notice.

- They also offer wrap and sandwich platters for business lunches - orders can be faxed in.

Boulangerie had good things going for it: a clean atmosphere, quick and friendly service, a creative menu, and a really nice location. Given the quick service, options, and catering-focus, it seems like a great place for take-out if you work in the area. But I suppose nothing really blew me away about the place.

I'm kind of kicking myself because I feel like I may have played it safe with what I ordered (a turkey with bacon and garlic mayo isn't exactly too outside-of-the-box as far as their menu is concerned). They do have a lot of really interesting combinations here that sound tempting. I'd go back for lunch at some point to try some other sandwiches and breads on the menu.

My rating of Boulangerie Ltd:

Review: Brooklyn Pickle (Eastwood)

Name: Brooklyn Pickle (Eastwood)
Address: 2222 Burnet Ave, Syracuse, NY
Neighborhood: Eastwood
Website: www.yelp.com/biz/brooklyn-pickle-syracuse-2
Menu: View Menu
Cuisine: Deli, Sandwiches, Subs, Soups
Parking: Private lot
Take-Out: Yes
Accepts credit cards: Yes

On a Monday evening, looking for some cheap eats on my way out to the east side of the city, I figured I would stop in to Brooklyn Pickle. I've been to this place multiple times and each time have enjoyed my lunches. But this was my first time coming here at night and as fate would have it, I would have a fairly lousy experience.

I got there a little bit before 7 PM and pulled into the parking lot. There were only a few cars in the lot and hardly anybody inside. Upon entering, I saw one of the busboys stacking chairs on the tables. I was a little confused because there were workers behind the cash registers and some of the lights were off. It really just looked like they were closed or in the process of closing. I asked the busboy what time they close and he said 8, so I still had a good hour until they actually close. I made my way to the counter to order my meal only to see 3 workers behind the counter: One asked what I wanted to order and the other two were blatantly chatting away about their social lives at Syracuse University.

The order...

Roast beef on white with mayo, lettuce, tomato, and onions: $3.50
Can of root beer: $1
Total money spent with tax and tip: $4.82

This sandwich took incredibly long to make. Not only that, but one of the other workers was re-filling seafood salad into a container right in front of me. It was really rude. Just given the slow service, it made me feel like I wasn't even supposed to be there. Did I already mention how long it took to make a roast beef sandwich? I almost feel like I could have gone to the grocery store, made homemade mayonnaise, and stacked a sandwich at my house faster than it was made here.

After it was stacked, the worker started putting it into a brown paper bag and I had to inform him that I was going to eat here. I eventually got my sandwich put onto a tray and sat down at one of the nearby booths.

The proportions were out of whack. Way too many tomatoes and the roast beef was uneven and wasn't stacked properly. Though the portions are big, especially given the cheap prices, the roast beef just didn't do it for me. Maybe it's because I'm so used to the roast beef at Clark's Ale House. Again, just looking around, it looked like I was here after closing with half the lights being turned off and the entire staff cleaning up around me.

As for the complimentary pickles, they really weren't anything to rave about. You would think with a name like Brooklyn Pickle that they would at least offer a couple of gherkins or something instead of two tiny slices of pickles. Although I admit I didn't actually get a whole pickle, I think you can find much better pickles in the Northside (try Liehs and Steigerwald for starters).

While I was finishing up my meal, a cop walked in and was immediately served a sandwich. Evidently, if you have a gun, you can get a meal really quick here. Maybe I should look me into getting one of those for next time...

I know this wasn't exactly the ideal time to go to a deli, but even so, when you close your business at 8, make sure you close it at 8 and not 7 because you essentially just lost yourself a night time customer. The only thing Brooklyn Pickle really had going for it was the fact that I finished my meal and it was cheap.

My rating of Brooklyn Pickle: