2008 February | Zingerman's Roadhouse

Askinosie Chocolates: From the Bar to Beans, to Better Bars

by Ari Weinzweig

Sorry, I couldn’t resist the puns—Shawn Askinosie is a now retired (because he tired of it) trial lawyer who left his very well paying work at the bar to pursue his passion for chocolate making. Working to buy amazingly good beans at the source and then to bring them back to his hometown of Springfield, Missouri (you read that right) and make them into incredibly good chocolate bars. I say “better bars’ both because the chocolate itself …

Fralinger’s Mints

by Ari Weinzweig

I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that we spent literally spent over a year looking for a mint that would be what we wanted to offer guests after dinner at the Roadhouse. I think I must have tasted five-dozen different mints or after-dinner sweets before we finally found Fralinger’s Creamy Mint Sticks. In fact, I was sharing that same sentiment with a regular Roadhouse dinner customer the other day and I said, “It’s hard to believe, …

Housemade Doughnuts

by Ari Weinzweig

Pretty much everyone seems to love doughnuts. And having just had the Roadhouse doughnuts rated in Saveur magazine and in John T. Edge’s Donut book as one of the best in the country, they’re more popular around these parts than ever.

In doing homework on doughnuts, I came across this quote from the Simpsons: “Doughnuts. Is there anything they can’t do?”

At first I paid little attention to it. But the more I talk to folks about …

A Growing Salt & Pepper Collection

The ever-growing number of salt and pepper shakers at the Roadhouse do get a good bit of attention. My partner Paul thinks I’m crazy, but humors me. A lot of people love them. A few barely notice them. Kids, I’ve noticed, are very into them. Parents walk them around and see which are their favorites and play games like I Spy. Design people get really into them. Every once in a while someone comes in, who has their own collection or who knows someone who did. Mostly people are intrigued, at the very least curious, which comes out most often in the form of two questions: a) how many are there? and b) how long have you been working at gathering up what’s in there?

African American Foodways: Food, Fear, Race, Art, and the Future

by Ari Weinzweig

Fear is a powerful thing, and for too long I let it keep from taking on this topic. For me, fear comes in two forms, both of which work their way into my mind on a regular basis. First, and easiest to own up to, there’s the sort of fear that’s well founded, and of obvious value in living life in a safe and healthy way. Stuff like “I’m afraid to stick my hand in a fire;” …