Historicon 2002

Restaurants and Restaurant Fires

by Russ Lockwood


The one rule I have at a convention is that I may eat a continental style breakfast and a fast food lunch (when I remember), but dinner has to be something more than the chains up and own Route 30. Yes, I understand that it deletes open gaming time, but dealers need an outlet outside the LHR. So, here is the MagWeb.com Restaurant Ratings for 2002.

The square in the center of Lancaster. My guess is few wargamers ever venture into the city. The square holds a monument dedicated to the ACW.

The Lemon Grass

The Lemon Grass, east on Rte 30, has been a favorite spot for years. This Thai restaurant serves impressive appetizers and entrees. I had the crab tulips and shrimp rolls dipped in plum sauce to start, with the "Evil Jungle Princess" for the main course (a chicken seafood mixture in outrageously excellent sauce). You end up stuffed. Pricey, about $25-$30 per person, as most Thai restaurants in suburbs are, but good.

We discovered an Italian restaurant and ice cream parlour on Greenfield Ave years ago, and went there enough for the owner to recognize the company logo on the shirts. Tragically, it closed, even though it had been open at Cold Wars. So there we are, standing outside. The deli next door would be great for lunch, but I wanted dinner. A family had come out, and seeing us milling around discussing where to go, suggested an Italian place on Route 23, accessible via back roads. We got to 23, but couldn't locate the place. Travelling down the highway, we spotted another Italian restaurant, Gregorios.

Gregorios

We walked in, and it is the typical hole in the wall. This is not a bad thing. Tibor and I often would go to a hole in the wall in West Paterson, even though there was a white tablecloth Italian restaurant next door. Anyway, we started to place our order and the waitress shrieked, and another one yelled in a panicky voice that the kitchen was on fire.

There's a serious moment of time stopping when you think you hear the word "fire" and start to think about exit routes. The cook went running into the kitchen, followed by another, and followed by some muted Italian language. A moment later, everything is OK, the cook has a sheepish grin, and we're not heading for the door. It turns out someone's cigarette fell in the receipts bag and started the cash on fire.

Gregorios' sauce (and floor show) was superb, but he needs to use real veal, not processed patties. The garlic bread sticks were outstanding. Very filling and very reasonably priced at about $10-15 a person.

The PressRoom

The last night, and after a solid day of ribbing from the aforementioned Steve Phenow about my recon and foraging skills, we set out for another restaurant. We had no idea where to go, but I figured to head into Lancaster and see what we could find. We ended up at a place off the town square called the PressRoom.

We were certainly underdressed with shorts and our logoed shirts, considering that many of the people arriving after us were in suits and dresses, but for a Saturday night, it was rather empty. They even did the old restaurant trick of sitting the six of us in the front window to show passerbys that they were a hopping place.

The food was universally excellent. Appetizers rocked. Crab stuffed shrimp melted in your mouth. Some other shrimp thing was also exceptional. Other things were around, too, but I can't quite remember what the others had. The salad was fresh and the lemon-whatever dressing was a delight.

As for the main course, I opted for a modified Black and Tan. Guinness over Yuengling (no Bass or Harp--pagans!).

Oh wait, I forgot the food. I opted for a rack of BBQ ribs, lathered with a delectible sauce. Steve went for the filet minon, and it was as good as it can get. Tibor's chicken was brilliantly illuminated by a light sauce, and Susan's shrimp and scallops diablo dish was exquisite. Mark had a pedestrian hamburger. Todd ordered the seafood crepes, and found it quite good too. The only disappointment was the side dish: sweet potato (not regular potato--indeed, you can't order regular potatoes) with some honey butter and about 4 green beans. The honey butter almost cracked my tooth it was so sweet, and actually proved distasteful. And the beans were boiled to within an inch of disintegration--they might have been canned for all we knew.

Service was a little slow, I suspect a little shorthandedness here, although the waitress put up with enough barbs to make up for it. For example, Tibor asked "how is the (chicken entree)?" She answered that it was good.

I couldn't help myself. "Of course she's going to say it's good. What do you expect her to say? That it was rancid and the last person who ate it was carted off in an ambulance?" We had her laughing at "rancid." He ordered the chicken.

The company was as pleasant, intellectual, and jovial as one could ask for. Two hours went by in a flash. Pricey, about $200 for the six of us. Much of that was appetizers at $10 a pop, entrees about $20-$25. Even Steve was impressed that I was able to find such a place. Now if I ever go to Hollywood, I can hold my head high.

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