The wonderful foods of the Golden Era

[2jakes]

Thank you @Fading Fast !

Now Myrna Loy will be on my mind all night long...

 

[Fading Fast]

That's why you need to move to New York City...
best pizza in the whole wide world!

Sweet dreams Trenchy!

One of the reasons I love NYC is that you are never more than a block or two from a decent slice. Yes, NYC has several great "historic" pizza places founded in 1910, 1930, etc., that have coal-fired ovens, wood-fired ovens, blah, blah, blah and most of them are incredible (I've been in everyone and the list ain't short) and, of course, we now have all the new "foodie" ones (haven't tried too many of them, but they are good if, sometimes, a bit overwrought) - but for my money, it's the prolixity to a solid good slice (see avatar) no matter where you are that makes this a great pizza city.

 

[Fading Fast]

Thank you @Fading Fast !

Now Myrna Loy will be on my mind all night long...

She isn't usually?

 

[2jakes]

She isn't usually?

No, it's Audrey!

 

[Zombie_61]

In Pasadena, California, there is a small diner called Pie 'N Burger--literally a dining counter and maybe five or six small tables. They've been in business in the same location since 1963, but every time I've eaten there I've had the feeling that they could just as easily have operated the same as they do now if they had been there since the 1930s. Viewing their menu you can see they serve relatively simple meals that, for the most part, wouldn't have been out of place in the "Golden Era". Nothing fancy, but the fresh products they use elevate the quality of the meals to above average, and you get a plate full of food for your money.

 

[2jakes]

In Pasadena, California, there is a small diner called Pie 'N Burger--literally a dining counter and maybe five or six small tables. They've been in business in the same location since 1963, but every time I've eaten there I've had the feeling that they could just as easily have operated the same as they do now if they had been there since the 1930s. Viewing their menu you can see they serve relatively simple meals that, for the most part, wouldn't have been out of place in the "Golden Era". Nothing fancy, but the fresh products they use elevate the quality of the meals to above average, and you get a plate full of food for your money.

Those are the places which I fondly recall but no longer exist.

 

[LizzieMaine]

A popular egg-bread combination in New England in the Era was a "Trilby," a sandwich consisting of an egg fried hard and a slice of onion, doused in ketchup, salt and pepper, and served on a split bulkie roll. I can't eat the version with the onion on it, but it's just as good with the onion omitted. Egg, bread, and a lot of ketchup are the fundamental ingredients. Some versions also add a slice of ham.

A bulkie roll, by the way, is not the same as a kaiser roll, although they're often used interchangeably. A bulkie roll, which you can only get in New England, is much softer than a kaiser roll, with a soft crust not unlike that on a loaf of commercial white bread. It's a fundamental ingredient in many New England specialities, including the round version of the Maine Italian Sandwich. When I was little it was also used to represent the Body of Christ during Communion, with the minister tearing off little bits of a bulkie roll and giving it to you as you filed past to sip from the little glasses of Welch's Grape Juice.

 

[Zombie_61]

Those are the places which I fondly recall but no longer exist.

There is a restaurant in my home town of Whittier, California, called "Jack's" which has been in business since 1933, but not in the same location. They've moved and expanded (both the restaurant and the menu) over the years and have lost that "diner" feeling along the way, but it's one of those places that all of the "locals" are familiar with.

But, yeah, it's sad that so many of those types of places have been lost to us over the years. The other day my wife and I drove through an industrial area just outside of downtown Los Angeles where we both worked a little over a decade ago, and so much has changed that we barely recognized it except for one business that was still in operation. There was a corner "breakfast and lunch" shop called Mike's Hockey Burger that had operated in that location for decades, and we were saddened to see the building boarded up and covered in graffiti. We're both well aware that nothing lasts forever, but it was a little disturbing to see such a drastic change in only 11 years.

 

[BlueTrain]

Pizza used to be called "pizza pie" and our token New Yorker here at work still uses the term "pie." Actually she's from Brooklyn but that's close enough.

My father used the expression "cold cuts" to describe what was served on Sunday afternoons in the army, same as was still served twenty years later when I was in the army. Twenty years doesn't sound like a very long time now. Once we had an outdoor event on organization day when I was in the army, the food served on tables under a tent. It was a warm day where we were and the next day, half the unit got sick. I happened to be on a bus at the time, too, on he way back from visiting Schloss Neuschwanstein. and in the half that got sick. I've never heard anyone use the expression otherwise.

I do a fair amount of cooking at home. Something I make is French toast using Italian bread. It doesn't look like French toast but again, it's close enough. I'm the only one that eats bread at home anyway in any shape.

I also make meat loaf, which is about my speed. My wife says she like mine better than her mother's, who put chopped up green peppers in it. But I still think most restaurant meat loaf is better than mine. They usually serve about three or four times as much as I would otherwise eat, too, and with gravy. I've never made gravy but that was almost an essential sauce when I was growing up. The drink of choice all summer long was ice tea.

 

[Fading Fast]

Pizza used to be called "pizza pie" and our token New Yorker here at work still uses the term "pie." Actually she's from Brooklyn but that's close enough.

My father used the expression "cold cuts" to describe what was served on Sunday afternoons in the army, same as was still served twenty years later when I was in the army. Twenty years doesn't sound like a very long time now. Once we had an outdoor event on organization day when I was in the army, the food served on tables under a tent. It was a warm day where we were and the next day, half the unit got sick. I happened to be on a bus at the time, too, on he way back from visiting Schloss Neuschwanstein. and in the half that got sick. I've never heard anyone use the expression otherwise.

I do a fair amount of cooking at home. Something I make is French toast using Italian bread. It doesn't look like French toast but again, it's close enough. I'm the only one that eats bread at home anyway in any shape.

I had forgotten it until your post, but my dad used to refer to it as a pizza pie not pizza or a slice. And (very shaky memory here), didn't a lot of pizza places advertise using the term pizza pie not pizza as in "pizza pie served here," or "fresh, hot pizza pie," not "pizza" the way we do today?

 

[BlueTrain]

Good question. I worked in a pizza (and sandwich) shop as a freshman in college but I don't remember what it may have been called. I had trouble remembering a lot of things that year and I had to take a few years off before coming back again. By then, however, there were chain pizza places around, like Pizza Hut and Pizza Inn. I don't think they're quite as popular as they used to be but the carry-out and delivery pizza like Dominos where I live may be a reason why. The frozen pizza from the grocery store isn't bad but don't tell that to my New York neighbor.

At the moment, one fast food place that I especially like is Subway, mainly because the bread is fresh and they make it right in front of you. It helps to cultivate a good relationship with the employees, too.

 

[2jakes]

A popular egg-bread combination in New England in the Era was a "Trilby," a sandwich consisting of an egg fried hard and a slice of onion, doused in ketchup, salt and pepper, and served on a split bulkie roll. I can't eat the version with the onion on it, but it's just as good with the onion omitted. Egg, bread, and a lot of ketchup are the fundamental ingredients. Some versions also add a slice of ham.

A bulkie roll, by the way, is not the same as a kaiser roll, although they're often used interchangeably. A bulkie roll, which you can only get in New England, is much softer than a kaiser roll, with a soft crust not unlike that on a loaf of commercial white bread. It's a fundamental ingredient in many New England specialities, including the round version of the Maine Italian Sandwich. When I was little it was also used to represent the Body of Christ during Communion, with the minister tearing off little bits of a bulkie roll and giving it to you as you filed past to sip from the little glasses of Welch's Grape Juice.

I've always wondered what that guy with the long pointed hat gave
the folks kneeling at the front.
The whole mass was in a strange
language. (latin)
This, from my first grade at a Catholic school. 2nd grade and
up, went to public schools.

I loved the small glass bottles of
chocolate milk which they sold
in the school cafeteria.
Wednesday was "tamale-pie Day".
A concoction of left-over tamales
and enchiladas.
Would've been ok except I could
taste the onions .

 

[LizzieMaine]

Phil Rizzuto -- a Brooklyn Italian born in 1917 -- on his Yankee broadcasts frequently referred to his fondness for "pizza pie." The noted linguist Red Barber once pedantically corrected him on the air, pointing out that "pizza" is Italian for "pie," and thus "pizza pie" is a redundancy, but the Scooter didn't know what he was talking about.

 

[Trenchfriend]

Phil Rizzuto -- a Brooklyn Italian born in 1917 -- on his Yankee broadcasts frequently referred to his fondness for "pizza pie." The noted linguist Red Barber once pedantically corrected him on the air, pointing out that "pizza" is Italian for "pie," and thus "pizza pie" is a redundancy, but the Scooter didn't know what he was talking about.

"Pizza pie", that's exactly the thing, I always wondered, too, when I heared it in any songs.

 

[vitanola]

Ah!

The haute cusine of the 1940's!

Now I am hungry for one of those delicious and elegant menus of yore:

"Victory Meat Patties" (a mixture of whatever meat one might find, egg, oatmeal, and stale crumbs)
Boiled Potatoes with parsley. No butter, of course.
Beet greens with Oleomargerine
Whole Wheat Bread and Oleomargerine
Rice Pudding with Imitation Toffee Sauce
Coffee and Milk (No sugar, of course!)

 

[ChiTownScion]

Phil Rizzuto -- a Brooklyn Italian born in 1917 -- on his Yankee broadcasts frequently referred to his fondness for "pizza pie." The noted linguist Red Barber once pedantically corrected him on the air, pointing out that "pizza" is Italian for "pie," and thus "pizza pie" is a redundancy, but the Scooter didn't know what he was talking about.

Where I come from, calling it a "pizza pie," or even as a "pie," is verboten. Like putting ketchup/ catsup on a hot dog: if you're under five they might let you get away with it. Maybe.

 

[ChiTownScion]

Not Chicago deep-dish thick, but thicker than that which became popular in the Northeast after the war.

Bear in mind that deep dish is NOT a traditional Chicago style, despite the stereotype. The guy who originally peddled it here was a transplanted Texan. Not that I don't enjoy it on occasion.. but we have a thin crust here that's been around for a longer time.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Where I come from, calling it a "pizza pie," or even as a "pie," is verboten. Like putting ketchup/ catsup on a hot dog: if you're under five they might let you get away with it. Maybe.

We serve hot dogs at the Super Bowl party we host each year at work, and I always buy ten pounds of franks, a big jar of Gulden's mustard, a jar of Cain's Relish, and NO KETCHUP. One of the office people chewed me out about this, and I gave them a withering look of derision. NOBODY I would care to know puts KETCHUP on a HOT DOG.

 

[2jakes]

Bear in mind that deep dish is NOT a traditional Chicago style, despite the stereotype. The guy who originally peddled it here was a transplanted Texan. Not that I don't enjoy it on occasion.. but we have a thin crust here that's been around for a longer time.

I found the pizza in Florence, Italy to be very different from where I
come from.


And I would have to be very hungry to eat a hamburger with ketchup
on it.
Although I'm guilty on occasions when I will add chili sauce on top of a
hot dog that has mustard & relish.

I've never have gotten past one bite when eating a crispy taco.
Afterwards, it crumbles and I find myself using a plastic sporf
to finish eating it.
At home I use my fingers and tastes better!

 

[vitanola]

I already started....
I'm mixing the meat with bread
crumbs and also what ever I can
find in the pantry.

Polo just keeps smacking his lips
waiting in anticipation.


lips ???

Actually, "Victory Meat Patties" can be pretty tasty. A little tomato sauce, or a tiny splash of Tabasco can make them quite exotic. Where did your meat come from? Aqueduct? Santa Anita?


The "flatness" of the American war-time diet largely was due to the scarcity of butter, mild tasting cooking fats, the absence of sugar, and the unpredictable availability of stuffs which were not necessarily subject to strict rationing.