Spoon #36: South's

Well Spoon Swappers, I know this 'blog has been cold the past few weeks.  In fact, this swap happened well over a month ago!  The reason swaps have been few and far between lately is that Ms. Dish and I are on a diet!  Yes, the high life of dining and swapping is mighty fine, but every once in a while we all need to take a step back to re-fresh.  More swaps to come though - I promise!

Spoon 36 was swapped at Souths in TriBeCa.  A pressing downpour caused us to once again completely forget to take a picture for our records, so we must settle for a Street-View.

Ducking in from the rain, we found Souths to be the perfect refuge on a nasty Spring evening.  Cold beer, great food and a friendly atmosphere - who could ask for more?

This swap almost didn't happen as Spoon 36 was on the verge of being "too big".  I believe it came in a bowl of French Onion soup.  We were desperate, however, and made our move.  Here we have it:

Spoon 36 is only includes the markings "STAINLESS STEEL CHINA", so although we know what it's made of and what country it came from, that's about it! We'll have to toss it in the "Unidentified" bin.

Things to Do with a Spoon: Balance it on Your Nose!

Here is an excellent tutorial on a skill that every spoon-swapper should possess:

 

"How to Hang a Spoon on your Nose" via wikiHow.

Spoon #35: The Diner

The Diner:

Its name says it all!  And so last week when Ms. Dish and I found ourselves in the uber-trendy Meatpacking District, we got exactly what we expected at The Diner, and some fine people-watching to boot!

Here we have our new spoon, which I believe came with a slice of apple pie a la mode:

Marked "Winco Stainless 18-0" with the Winco "circle 8" at the bowl, this is a Winco spoon we have not seen before.  The internet reveals that it is from Winco's "Dots" collection:

Finally a spoon name that makes some sense!  Just as "The Diner" perfectly describes the restaurant, "Dots" perfectly describes this spoon!  

Oneida: The Band

Hey, did you know there's a band out there called Oneida?  You probably did because you are more hip than I!  Yes, it was maybe a year ago that I stumbled into a local record store, and among the other cards with band names that I have ignored or not noticed countless times, there is was: Oneida!  "Ah, a spoon band!" I thought to myself, and promptly looked them up when I got home.  I am pleased to announce that Oneida the band produce beautiful noise:

And live too!

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 #33: The Davenport Press

Not too long ago Miss Dish and I went out with Mama Bear, Papa Bear and Ursa Minor to celebrate Mama Bear's annual birthday.  Of course M.D. and I chose to include a swap to make things interesting.  Our target - the Davenport Press in Mineola, Long Island, New York:

Now here's a place with some history!  The building dates back to 1862 but the Davenport Press has been a restaurant since 1976.  Before that is was, as you might have guessed, a printing press!  And even before that it was a bank.  Would you keep your money here? 

The whole gang had a real great meal and walked away with a newly swapped spoon:

Spoon number 33's markings give it away as an ADCRAFT brand spoon.  Looks to me like it's from their "Avalon" collection:

Avalon, where according to legend King Arthur's Excalibur was forged!  What a fine name for a spoon! 

Spoon #32: Cafe Orlin

Just down the street from Cafe Mogador, which we visited in Spoon Swap #2, is Cafe Orlin.

Both restaurants serve up fantastic Moroccan/Mediterranean cuisine, and it's always a tough call when Ms. Dish and I try to decide between the two.

Between slinging our usual hummus and baba ganoush we swapped out old spoon 31 for our brand new spoon number 32:

Number 32 is marked "21 UPDATE STAINLESS CHINA".  Well it's about time we had a new spoon company to look into!  Let's see what this "21 Update" is all about...

Update appears to refer to Update International, which has been "offering quality products to the world of Beverage and Foodservice for more than 30 years".  And all that hard work has certainly paid off, as Update International is now America's leading importer of Airpots and Servers!  What's an "Airpot" you ask?  It's one of these things: 

You know... for coffee!

Searching Update's extensive catalog, it looks like Spoon 32 is from their "Claridge" line: