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Have you eaten great food at cafes that were so run down and dirty you were surprised the health department didn’t close them?
In Kansas City we have a small diner in the Downtown area called Town Topic (a/k/a "Town Toxic"), which has been in business since 1937. It's a thorough dive and looks like it hasn't been cleaned since 1937. Some people say they have the best hamburgers in town. In fact, they have 4.5 stars on Tripadvisor in the restaurant listings. I know someone who moved here from Seattle. He is obsessed with Town Topic. Claims they make the best hamburgers in the world. Most people go there at 3 am when they're drunk.
Well this is a little different, but I lived in a small town in western NY that was pretty run down and there was a bakery in the center of town near some abandoned storefronts. The ladies that ran that place worked very hard and really knew their craft, and that place had amazing pies and scones that were sold in better restaurants all around the area. I recall visiting Oxford, England, and telling some locals that I was disappointed in the scones because oddly, the ones in my small hometown were better, and the Brits were boiling! I wasn't trying to be rude, but I must say I was a little amused by how upset they got "It's not possible! We invented scones!!!"
I think most Brits would agree that different restaurants and cafes use different recipes, and it's down to personal preference.
Some people prefer savoury cheese scones to sweet scones, others prefer strawberry jam (jelly) and cream with their scones, served with tea.
There are also local cakes and deserts, in the Oxford area, the Banbury cake, which is similar to an Eccles cake is popular.
As for the history of the scone, it has a strong association with a number of areas, although none so more than the South West of England, with it's clotted cream.
As for Oxford it has some very old cafes including the Queen’s Lane Coffee House which dates back to 1654 and the Grand Cafe which was mentioned by Samuel Pepys in 1650.
As for the history of the scone, it has a strong association with a number of areas, although none so more than the South West of England, with it's clotted cream.
As for Oxford it has some very old cafes including the Queen’s Lane Coffee House which dates back to 1654 and the Grand Cafe which was mentioned by Samuel Pepys in 1650.
Thanks for that background! I quite enjoyed my visit to England, which was charming - Oxford was beautiful, and I took some extra time after the conference to look around some of the other towns nearby there, like Salisbury, and touched on the coast a bit. I moved from western NY in 1998, so sadly it's been a long time since I had those yummy scones. Never had anything close to theirs anywhere else. As I recall anyway, they would typically make them with chunks of dried fruit, like apricot or ginger, and while the taste was very fine, the most distinctive - and in my experience, utterly unique - thing about them was the texture, which was wonderfully dense, firm and crumbly. Their pies, also, they worked magic with, and while the fruit filling was excellent, it was the fine flavor and texture of the crusts that really distinguished them from lesser pies.
Last edited by OutdoorLover; 04-21-2021 at 07:32 AM..
Picadilly aka Morrison’s had good food. Though they were only a bit run down at the end. They served hearty and full course meals. It was neat the way it was set up.
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Some people say they have the best hamburgers in town. In fact, they have 4.5 stars on Tripadvisor in the restaurant listings. I know someone who moved here from Seattle. He is obsessed with Town Topic. Claims they make the best hamburgers in the world. Most people go there at 3 am when they're drunk. 
