Straight Up Or On the Rocks; Blue Plate Special & Blue Ribbon Chefs

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STRAIGHT UP OR ON THE ROCKS:
THE STORY OF THE AMERICAN COCKTAIL
by William Grimes
186 pages, hardcover, $20
1995 by Simon & Schuster
2001 by North Point Press, Farrar, Straus & Giroux

   William Grimes recently promoted this book on the New York Times's NEW YORK CLOSEUP show on cable tv channel NY1.  His face was distorted, proving that he's either a restaurant critic or a mobster.
   David Shulman told me that he contributed to the 1995 book, but was given neither money nor credit.  I don't know the extent of this.  The 1995 book was okay.  It was well-researched; Bonnie Slotnick told me that Grimes is a regular customer at her cookbook store.  The key books were all cited.  The 1995 book was well written.
   The 2001 edition seems to be exactly like the old book, but with a different publisher.  For example, Harry Craddock's great THE SAVOY COCKTAIL BOOK (1930) was been reprinted in 1999.  Why not give the date of the recent reprint--the one people can buy on Amazon.com?
   Updated, huh?  One web site is given for a bibliography:  www-rci.rutgers.edu/~edmunds/barman.html.  One.  Amazing.  All those drink web sites (Bartender.com, Webtender.com, Cocktail.com), and Grimes cites NONE of them?  Recipes are on pages 127-163, but we can get all that and much more for free on the web!
   The book Grimes should have written is a COCKTAIL DICTIONARY.  State each cocktail, give the recipe, give historical references, explain the origin of the name, and maybe add a photo.
   "Black Russian"--which I just explained--is not here.  "Sex on the Beach" is not here, either.  What is Grimes doing?
   Maybe someday, if Oxford University Press decides to cover American drinks....

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BLUE PLATE SPECIALS & BLUE RIBBON CHEFS:
THE HEART AND SOUL OF AMERICA'S GREAT ROADSIDE RESTAURANTS
by Jane and Michael Stern
228 pages, hardcover, $24.95
Lebhar Friedman Books, NY
2001

   The Sterns have been down this road before.  They've done ROADFOOD and GOODFOOD, and are at www.roadfood.com.  They're in GOURMET and on NPR.
   An interesting book on 1950s food, also by the Sterns, is in the NYU Bobst Library.  (Any relation to NYU's Stern School?)  It doesn't have page numbers.  George, how did NYU get that?
   This book reads like a part of their others.  It's like they re-arrange notes and files and come out with a "new" book.  If you must buy just one, it's gotta be ROADFOOD.  This is probably the weakest.
   "Blue Plate Special"--a phrase I've done some work on--is not explained.
   I found the book of interest for two items:

SCHWABL'S (Buffalo, NY), Roast Beef for Beef on Weck--On pages 179-181.  A guess is made that the dish is from 1910s-1920s.  See the ADS-L archives for Beef 'n' Weck.

C&K BARBECUE (St. Louis, MO), Snoot Sauce, St. Paul Sandwich--What does the next DARE have for these???

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BEN & JERRY'S APPLE CRUMBLE (NEW!)

   About eight years ago, all the Ben & Jerry stores had a flavor contest.  I entered "Big Apple"--apples, cinnamon, raisins, walnuts.  Each store had monthly winners, and I entered in several stores.  I lost.
   Ben & Jerry's was on sale this week, and I spotted:

new!
BEN & JERRY'S
APPLE CRUMBLE
Brown Sugar Ice Cream, Cinnamon Streusel, Apples & a Caramel Swirl.

   I'm taking my idea to Edy's.