Spoon #50: El Centro

Here we are with a milestone swap - the big five-oh!  At this point, we have swapped fifty spoons over the course of three years! 

Swap number Fifty took place at El Centro, in midtown.  Ms. Dish and I were in the neighborhood to see the hit Broadway musical Cabaret! 

I always have apprehensions about eating in the Times Square / Broadway area, but El Centro was a great cozy Tex-Mex joint! 

Swapping spoons at Mexican restaurants can be tricky business as there's usually not a lot on the menu that would come with a spoon.  Even the old standby of ordering a coffee can seem out of place.  Fortunately we were able to make Swap 50 happen with a bowl of Tortilla Soup. I'd never had Tortilla Soup before, but I am now a fan! 

And now with out further ado, here I present, Spoon NVMBER L!

A true classic, #50 sports the markings "Winco Stainless 18-10", of course with the mysterious "8 in a circle".  A quick look at our records identifies this spoon as a Winco Continental.  I will have to wait until we receive the official numbers from the archivists at SpoonSwapper HQ, but I believe with this swap the Winco Continental may have regained the title of "Most Swapped Spoon". 

Hurry archivists!  This highly contested title hangs in the balance! 

UPDATE!  After careful review, it appears that the Winco Continental is now TIED for Most Swapped Spoon with the ubiquitous Qualite Dominion!  

Spoon #34: Freemans Restaurant

Just off Rivington Street is Freeman's Alley:

And hidden away at the end of Freeman's Alley is Freemans Restaurant:

On a mysterious tip, Ms. Dish and I decided to sneak in for dinner not too long ago.  As the website says, "the idea of the restaurant was to make rugged clandestine colonial American tavern" and well, that's about as good a description of Freemans as any! The motif seems to be "hip backwoods cabin" from the pewter bar to the collection of animal heads/antlers.

If you stop in I would have to recommend, as was recommended to us, that you try the artichoke dip and the "devils on horseback".  These seem to be some of the most popular dishes, as we saw several walk past our table.  Our anonymous tipster was correct - everything was de-licious!

Now what type of spoon do you suspect we swapped at Freemans?  Well, here it is:

The popular Winco Continental!  Not too much to say about this one - simply marked "Winco Stainless 18-0" with the "mysterious circle-8" toward the bowl.  Like running into an old friend in an exotic location.

Spoon #19: Fraunces Tavern

Earlier this week Ms. Dish and I stopped in to Fraunces Tavern in the Financial District:

Fraunces Tavern is an old building with a new restaurant.  In fact, many sources say Fraunces Tavern is the oldest building in all of Manhattan, originally built in 1719 as the home of Etienne "Stephen" DeLancey.

It seems that any building of such age falls into the "George Washington's Axe" category.  Do you know all about George Washington's Axe?  It's one of my favorite anecdotes, so I'll remind you.  Essentially it revolves around someone saying "This is George Washington's Axe!  The handle has been replaced three times and the head has been replaced twice, but it's his original axe!".  Another example is the Ship of Theseus which will have the philosophers arguing until they are replaced!  Fraunces Tavern certainly falls into this category.  Over the years the building has seen a lot of action; opening as a tavern in 1762, pre-Revolutionary War cannonballs through the roof, George Washington's farewell to the Continental Army, multiple fires, and a bomb attack by Puerto Rican terrorists!  In all that time the building has undergone many changes.  It seems no one knows exactly what it looked like originally, but the current manifestation is the best guess. Many more details can be found on Wikipedia and the Fraunces Tavern Museum website.

All of this history aside, last year a new restaurant operated by Ireland's Porterhouse Brewing Company opened for business at Fraunces Tavern, serving typical pub fare with some fancier options to suit the financial district patrons.  As the Porterhouse Brewing Company name would imply, they have several of their own brews on tap and if you enjoy a nice whiskey this seems to be the place to go.  Fraunces Tavern is a stop on the American Whiskey Trail and their "Dingle Whiskey Bar" is home of the "Fraunces Tavern Whiskey Society".

Now here we have Spoon #19:

We know all about this spoon, because it is identical to Spoon #3, a Winco Continental! 

Do you know what this means?  It means with two occurrences, the Winco Continental is tied with the Oneida Baguette as our most commonly swapped spoon!

Spoon #3: Les Halles

Before leaving town for Christmas, Ms. Dish and I decided to stop by Les Halles for dinner:

Les Halles is a darn good French restaurant, particularly given that it's way down in the Financial District on John Street.  It always seems to be packed with all sorts of people;  financial types, tourists, locals, and so on.  I can personally vouch for their specialty, the classic "Steak Frites".

We encountered Spoon #3 accompanying a cup of coffee:

Spoon #3 features the markings "Winco", "Stainless 18-10", and "8" in circle near bowl

Spoon #3 looks quite a bit like Spoon #2, but appears to be part of Winco's "Continental" family.  I suppose a "continental" spoon is more appropriate for a French restaurant like Les Halles.  Here's a picture of it with it's brothers and sisters:

Winco seems like a pretty no-nonsense restaurant supply company.  According to the website, their philosophy is "we win when our customers win".  Also of note, their distribution center is in Lodi, NJ - home of famous rock and roll band The Misfits!

I don't have any idea about this "8 in a circle" on the back - perhaps a hallmark or model number?