Text 18968, 77 rader
Skriven 2014-11-05 21:02:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: Aug trip 215
====================
Scratch Kitchen in Salem is a place I want to like and
want to prosper. It is an easy stroll from my friend
Bill's house, where I often stay when I'm in the north
of Boston area. It's got this self-induced reputation of
being gritty and southern-style and working class. It has
diner furniture, smokes its own meats, blah blah blah, and
serves Pabst for cheap, which nobody in his or her right
mind would bother to drink. What it actually is is a haven
for overage would-be yuppies pretending to slum it.

Enough nourishment is served here. You get a complimentary
basket of house-made potato chips as you sit down (these
are listed at $3 or something, but in fact even refills are
free with your meal). They're mostly good, of irregular
crunchiness, some more heavily cooked than others. 

I ordered the Hog Heaven, billed as smoked pork shoulder,
house-made ham, and house-cured-and-smoked bacon, with
fries and slaw. Sounded like a big plate of food, and, first
the good news, it was. The bad news was there was nothing
distinctive or interesting about it. The pulled pork was
cooked way too hot and was largely crusty in a bad way; the
ham was expertly done in the loaf ham style, and aside from
a wee bit of smokiness might as well have been Boar's Head.
Plus it came machine sliced thin. The bacon was thick cut
and had quite a bit - perhaps too much - chew; it too had
been cooked a bit too long and a bit too hot, so the fatty
lusciousness of bacon was missing. The fries had the same
issue of uneven cooking as the chips had, and though they
were well flavored and some were pleasantly crisp, many
were limp and greasy. Slaw was not too thick with dressing,
and I ate all of it. The best thing on the platter was a
scoop of pickled vegetables, pleasantly tart and made
intriguing by lots of black pepper. Though I was not too
impressed by the food, I ate most of it, chewing through
the pork like a trooper. I should have asked for some
discarded fat to make the job easier but didn't think to.

My nearly vegetarian buddy Link got a salad with goat cheese
(there are many such anomalies on the menu), and I gave away
some of my bacon (a huge clot of it came, at least a quarter
and maybe closer to a half pound) to corrupt her and to make
her meal tolerable.

Instead of PBR, we had the much more pleasant Octoberfest
draft from Berkshire Brewing Co.

The bill was fairly modest, and there was enough bacon left
for breakfast next day (along with some greasy potatoes).

US 522 BOS CLT 0945 1205 320 4C

Upgrade didn't clear. Slept through pretty much the whole
flight. Instead of paying the extortionate prices for salty
fried chicken at Bojangles (what I often do in spite of my
better judgment), I had cold bacon and fries for lunch. The
bacon had hardened into near unchewability, but at least
whatever fat there was had solidified whitely and was
noticeable.

US2078 CLT RIC 1246 1346 319 1F

Upgrade cleared. I sat by a very pretty blonde girl who
took one look at me and stuffed earbuds into her ears. So
much for my charm. At deplanement time, in a somewhat
friendly way she got my bag down for me, which made me
feel old.

The snack basket came by twice during the half hour flight.
The basket no longer offers the interesting stuff from
yesteryear, and I had what has become my regular - an ounce
of Kettle sea salt chips and 0.6 oz of King mixed nuts from
Solon, Ohio. Twice.

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