Diners, fried food, and cheese

Kate and me at Roscoe Diner

Today, I woke up earlier than I normally do for work, to go on a road trip to Syracuse New York with the Ignatian Schola. (The schola is a Manhattan-based vocal ensemble made up of Jesuits and lay colleagues, like myslef, that I have the pleasure and honor of singing in! If you’re going to be in Buffalo, we’re singing in a concert on Sept. 17 at 7:30 PM at Canisius College).

Six of us piled into a minivan and drove for a little more than 3 hours before making our first stop for lunch at Roscoe Diner. The diner is infamous among the other schola members. Ever since I joined the group they have been regaling stories about their past trips to the diner, always highlighting the milkshakes. I decided to save the milkshake for the trip back, and instead ordered more fried food than any one person should ever eat. (But it’s a road trip, and calories don’t count then, right?) I started with the chicken fingers that came with the most delicious honey mustard I’ve had in ages. I also ordered a plate of my personal weakness…some people call it Poutine, others Disco Fries. Simply put, it is a plate of french fries smothered in cheese and gravy, and it was sinfully delicious.

Even though we were all suffering a bit of food coma, we still had to make the second-half of our journey. Before I knew it (thanks to being able to sleep just about anywhere) we made it to the Courtyard Marriott in Syracuse, had a rehearsal for tomorrow’s service and were ready for the next meal. This time at Ruby Tuesdays!

I’ve been to Ruby Tuesdays more times than I can count, and yet I always order the same thing: the salad bar and soup. The salad bar is wonderful, and it has my favorite pasta salad ever. This time my friend Everett also talked me into stepping slightly outside of my norm (though, there really wasn’t much arm twisting), and we split an appetizer: shrimp and cheese fondue. Minus the weird chilli powder sprinkled on the taco chips, the fondue was a cheesy bowl of guilty pleasure.

The group tells me that there is cotton candy in store tomorrow, and a trip to Liquor Square. I can’t wait!