Diary: To Rome? Chilling Again. French Fry Survey.

Sunday, August 13, 2017. Mary Ann tells me that she might leave town for Rome again this week. To ease the blow, she offers to be hosted for dinner. In the past, this would have been reason for going to La Provence. But they're not open in on Sunday evenings anymore. After ML rejects a few more suggestions, we settle on making this our third visit to Due North--the former N'Tini's. I am there first, and Mary Leigh's dog Bauer is not with us today. So we dine in the freezing-cold main dining room, which MR says feels perfect to her. The chill is something Due North inherited from N'Tini's--and Rockefellers and CriolA before that. Our order is all backwards. I am the one who eats a hamburger, not either of the Marys. I was just in the mood for it. Before it comes, I get a bowl of turtle soup. In he earliest days of Legacy Kitchen (the generic name for this five-location local chain), they actually had the flavors for this nailed down. The don't have the touch today, and it tastes like beef or veal. Which are probably the main ingredients. They can't be blamed too much: there's not a lot of authentic turtle meat available these days. Next we get a dozen grilled oysters, which are excellent. MA says they are the best she's had in months. The chef held back on the salty ingredients (notably the Parmigiana cheese), which is what was needed. Most makers of Drago's original oysters use far too much Parm. And the burger is good in every detail except one: the spongy bun, which is the worst problem in burgers these days. The people who own Legacy/Due began in the restaurant trade by opening the New Orleans Hamburger and Seafood chainlet. After the millions of burgers that outfit has cranked out, they have it down. Except--again I tell you--for the bun. I'm feeling a little low this week. Most of this is about the endless rain. To avoid it, I hosted the radio from home five days instead of the usual three. Nobody seemed to notice my absence. Meanwhile, MA digs into a salad called (hold onto something solid) Kale Caesar. (Say it out loud.) Monday, August 14, 2017. A Potato Survey. It's supposed to be National Potato Day this week sometime. The PR firm stoking this sent several lists of American preferences for potatoes. I don't often pass along stories from other sources, but this is pretty interesting. Here it is: With National Potato Day coming up on August 19, a survey definitively proves Americans are addicted to a fried potatoes. Only 0.8% of Americans don't like them. Here's the full ranking of America's favorite potato dishes: 1. French fries (16%) 2. Mashed potatoes (15%) 3. Baked potato (12%) 4. Hash browns (11%) 5. Tater tots (8%) 6. Potato salad (8%) 7. Potato wedges (8%) 8. Twice baked potatoes (7%) 9. Potato skins (6%) 10. Potato soup (5%) America's Favorite French Fry Joints: 1. McDonald's (34%) 2. Arby's (13%) 3. Five Guys (10%) 4. Chick-fil-A (10%) 5. Wendy's (9%) 6. Burger King (9%) 7. In-N-Out (7%) 8. Sonic (4%) 9. Carl's Jr. (3%) 10. White Castle (2%) America's Top Five Favorite Types of Fries: 1: Curly fries (22%) 2: Chili cheese fries (15%) 3: Cheese fries (13%) 4: Standard cut (10%) 5: Waffle fries (10%) 6. Potato wedges (7%) 7. Sweet potato fries (6%) 8. Crinkle cut (6%) 9. Shoestring/matchstick (5%) 10. Belgian fries (1%) Source: https://nationaltoday.com/us/national-potato-day/. If this makes you scratch your head, I offer this fact: this survey leaves out the best fries of them all: the hand-cut, fried-to-order, house-seasoned fried you get in real restaurants.