Spoon #16: Skinner's Loft

Good Mornin' Captain...

This weekend Ms. Dish and I stopped by Skinner's Loft in Jersey City for brunch:

These were uncharted waters, but Skinner's Loft proved to be downright delicious.  As an added bonus, Ms. Dish and I got to continue our trend of eating Huevos Rancheros in Jersey City.

Here we have numero dieciseis, which is marked "Oneida 18/10 New York" and "56-11":

Oneida describes their "New York" pattern like this: 

This richly sculpted, plume-like design is finely crafted in lustrous stainless steel. New York is bound to noticed and appreciated by your patrons for its beautiful finish and exceptional quality.

 

I have to say that, extravagant descriptions aside, this spoon is pretty fancy.  Here is a picture of the whole family:

Searching for information on the Oneida "New York" pattern turns out to be pretty difficult because, wouldn't you know it, all the results come back for Oneida, New York!  

Spoon #15: Loreley

Earlier this week Ms. Dish and I took a trip down to Manhattan's Lower East Side to visit one of our favorite German restuarants: Loreley. 

There's not much better than sitting in the Loreley beergarden with a currywurst and a Gaffel Kolsch sharing in the "gemutlichkeit" of old Cologne!  Loreley's website points out that out of over 17,000 restaurants in New York City, there are less than twenty German restaurants.  To me that is astounding! 

Spoon 15 came to us with a cup of "Kaffee":

Marked "Winco Stainless 18-10", Spoon 15 also features the mysterious "8 in a circle" mark.  Looks like Spoon 15 is from Winco's "Stanford" collection:

I should point out that Ms. Dish swapped this spoon, exemplifying the stealth and cunning of a cool-headed spoon-swapper!

Spoon #14: BXL East

Worry not Spoon-Swappers - Ms. Dish and I are still on the prowl!  I know it's been a little while, but just this past weekend we excecuted another swap, this time at BXL East:

Ms. Dish and I went to BXL East to celebrate that festival of Belgiumish culture that is cycling's Ronde van Vlaanderen a.k.a. Tour of Flanders.  In between watching Belgium's own Tom Boonen sprint to victory and Fabian Cancellara's quadruple collarbone fracture we enjoyed a delicious taste of Belgiumese cuisine.
Here is our new Spoon Number Fourteen:

Fourteen was a tricky swap, as it is nearly identical to Spoon Thirteen.  It is differentiated by the marking "Qualite Dominion" on the back.  As with Spoon Twelve, I found no information about a "Qualite" manufacturer.  Are they defunct?  Anti-internet?  Also, as with Spoon Twelve, it appears that other manufacturers make a very similar "Dominion" spoon, including ABC Valueline, Walco, and Winco.  Isn't that suspicious?  Is there one huge factory out there somewhere stamping out "Dominion" style spoons with different manufacturer's names on them?  Or if you tell someone in the spoon business that you need a "Dominion" spoon, do they nod knowlingly and pull out a catalog of "Dominion" manufacturers?  And in fact wasn't it Spoon Number 4 that we identified as an ABC Valueline Dominion?  It was!