Wet Shoes; Stifado (1896)

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WET SHOES

   I left this out of my "wet fries" discussion.  I saw it in a small new
book callled  HUNGRY? NEW YORK.  It appears to be popular in Ithaca and
Buffalo.
   From a web site for Max's, Holiday Inn, Ithaca, New York:

WET SHOES  $4.99
   Max's Original!  The ultimate combination of hand-cut fries topped with
serious chili, cheddar cheese, a dab of sour cream and scallions.

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STIFADO

   OED has 1950 for "stifado."  However, see its 1688 "stuffado" and 1771
"stuffata."    The latter two are probably Italian.  This dish is
Greek--perhaps useful for my big fat Greek wedding (although I'm not Greek
and no one will marry me).
   From the NEW YORK HERALD, 10 May 1896, pg. 27,  col. 3:

_GREEKS ARE GOOD CITIZENS._
(...)
_CHARACTERISTICS OF THEIR RESTAURANTS._
(...) (Col. 4--ed.)
      GREEK EATING HOUSES.
   There is a large number of Greek restaurants in and adjacent to Madison
st.  These are interesting places.  They are plainly furnished; deal tables
and cheap chairs are the principal furniture.  But for 25 cents a Greek or
any one else can get a large amount of nourishing food at one of these
restaurants.  The greatest delight of all is the nargile, the Turkish pipe,
from which delicious draughts of smoke are drawn through cooling waters.
When the Greek has leisure, as he does on Sundays (Never on Sunday!--ed.), he
will use the nargile by the hour and play cards for additional pastime.  Of
course, he must for pay extra time spent in the restaurant.  But for 25 cents
will afford him a good dinner and a considerable amount of tobacco.  Turkish
cigarettes are also smoked with the coffee, which is served black.  Roast
lamb and meat and vegetables stewed together are the favorite dishes.  The
Greeks do not fancy potatoes, and none are to be found in a Greek restaurant.
 Bread seems to take the place of potatoes.  It is said that the Greeks eat
more bread than any other people.  In their restaurants here they make a soup
which is regarded as a great delicacy by them.  In this eggs and lemon are
beaten together, making a cour compound.  Rice is added to it.  This soup is
called "manestra."  Another dish is meat stewed with celery on which this
mixture of lemon and eggs is put as a sauce.
   Another esteemed dish is a broth of chicken, in which rice is boiled until
the broth is absorbed by the rice.  Then the combination is put on top of a
stove.  Butter is added, and then to the rice a kind of sour clabber.  Some
eat the clabber separately.  Still another dish is made of whole onions and
meat stewed together and called "stiffato."  For dessert fruit and pastry
made with butter and milk are used.