New York: King Arthur’s Steakhouse & Brewery, Oswego

While across the way on the weekend we had dinner at King Arthur’s Steakhouse and Brewery in Oswego, New York and we were very glad we did. I had a little problem with the camera but I expect that you get a sense of the place from these photos. The building is quite impressive and is on one of the main corners downtown in this small city of 18,000 or so on Lake Ontario. The dining area is split into two, a bar and a restaurant. The site also has conference rooms on the second floor as well as suites for overnight on the third.

 

 

 

 

We sat in the restaurant side and found the place very kid friendly – important when you have a five and a six. Mac and cheese and other friendly food kept them happy for a while allowing we parents to enjoy ourselves. I tried a six sip sampler before dinner and had their IPA with a steak. Across the table, a shepherd’s pie was partnered with an Oatmeal Stout. Also, I am happy to report that the medieval theme was fairly tastefully done. It is not like the wait staff have to dress like court jesters or anything, it avoids Monty Python references and the mural of the Knights of the Round Table sits up in a recessed part of the ceiling. The bright gleaming brew equipment – made in Canada by the way – gets much more prominent place of pride.

 

 

 

 

Lew Bryson, in his book New York Breweries, does not cover the spot as it came into being after his first edition came out – but he does provide notes from his visits over the last couple of years at his websites’ updates page for New York:

Opened in the Buckout-Jones building (1st & Bridge Sts., Oswego, right by the river), site of a former brewery (Buckout). Strongly medieval in theming. Visited 8/12/03: not good news, I’m afraid. Very cool place, great location, but two were horrible, others mostly flawed, one good one. A new brewer had just been hired, I’m hoping for the best.

12/19/04 Update: Just saw on Pubcrawler that former Empire Syracuse brewer Andy Gersten is brewing at King Arthur’s. This is great news for both the pub and Andy; glad to see him working and them getting his excellent beers!

4/22/05: Andy Gersten has moved on to Sackets Harbor (excellent news for them), will be replaced by former Flour City (and Empire Rochester) brewer Greg Smith.

The beer was excellent. Earlier in the afternoon, I had taken a long drink of Oswego water and thought how good it was, soft and likely drawn from the lake. The beer had that quality as well. I scribbled some notes from the sampler. The brown as lighter on hops than most US browns, had a nice medium body with some chocolate notes. The APA was malty with some crystal sweetness and good green hops. The IPA was higher test with lots of fresh green hops and loads of fruity malt. It went really well with a blue cheese toped Delmonico with garlic mash totties – which is something of a testamony to its size. The oatmeal stout was thick espresso mocha with a rich creamy yeast. It could take on a scoop of Hagan Daz vanilla as a float. I thought the Old English did not have any noticeable stale or soured quality that should be part of the style and, yet, the Bitter was a light green English hopped clean sip. Drinky drama trying to think it all through.

 

 

 

 

All in all, despite the shifting brewmasters over the last two years that Lew notes, I think they have achieved quality. The ingredients are clearly first rate and the choice of yeast is particularly well suited to the local water – something not often achieved by many good brewers wanting to copy a style rather than express what is local. Two litre growlers were available for take-away. We refrained but if I was passing though, I would definitely pop in for one of the IPA and another of the Oatmeal Stout.

 

Two Zoos

We went to two zoos over the weekend. Both are legacies from the best part of 100 years ago of communities creating exotic educational assets. Both are well into a shift away from mere collections of animals for your gawking pleasure to having a something of a greater purpose. At Watertown, NY, in the middle of town in the center of the park on the hill, you will find the New York State Living Museum. At Syracuse NY, in the middle of town in the center of the park on the hill, you will find the Rosamond Gifford Zoo. At Watertown, you find the animals of New York state and you have a sense from all the building hat there is lots of expansion to provide more space for bears, deer, lynx as well as reptiles and amphibians, rattlers rattling at you through plexiglass. Thank God for plexiglass. It is focused and educational and I will never camp in upstate New York again. At Syracuse, you get to see the animals of the world: mountain side clinging goats from Afghanistan, Indian elephants, middle range apes from South America. There is a difference in scale as well. Syracuse is about 5 times the size of Watertown and maybe less than a fifth the size of the Toronto Zoo.

The elephants bothered me but they exemplifiy the transition that a zoo like the one in Syracuse faces. Oddly, an elephant pacing in a laregly concrete space bugs me more than a lynx pacing in a cage with trees and grass. But its because you think about it, isn’t it – many of the elephants have been there for over 20 years and there is likely no other place for elderly pachyderms, there is no money to expand the facilities, there may be no reason to extend the life of the herd into a next generation from a zoological point of view. I may be wrong on each of these points but that is what it looked like. Syracuse is clearly working on the well being of the elephants. It also has a very frank timeline about its history and one thing that span of decades tells you that turning a zoo around takes a lot of time in addition to money. Some apparently do not make it as the gift shop indicated that memberships from the Utica zoo were no longer being honoured as that facility had been removed from a certification list of some sort.

Syracuse is looking like it has a fighting chance. It has moved into an expanded area with well laid out walkways and green space and is using that area to provide larger and rarer animals with access to that space. The tigers are a good example. The Toronto zoo’s collection included Sumatran tigars from Indonesia. In Syracuse, the tigers are Russian, from the coast facing the northern Sea of Japan.

Zoos also portray the change that has occurred in wealth and giving. The Maine children’s writer Robert McClosky, who wrote in the middle of the 1900s, in one of his early books writes about a poor kid nicknamed Lentil who kicks around the streets of a mid-western US town and finds himself in a celebration of the return of a prominent citizen retiring after a life of service. Half the town is named after this citizen as, frankly, he paid for half the town. The story itself is a little drummer boy tale as in the end Lentil plays his harmonica for the round, happy benefactor and all is well. That story almost makes no sense anymore as that same town today would either be gone or would be populated with a community of much more dispersed wealth through the combination of some socialism and and a much more diversified economy. Many more people would have disposible income surplus to their needs. But it would not be seemingly free money like the money of the man in Lentil.

The zoos of the early 1900s were paid for by the prominent as well as through public campaigns but perhaps not well enough at the outset as other demands were made on the trust funds, stock crashes intervened and likely generations just passed. Like the elephant, the function of that sort of wealth may have changed. Another key factor is, of course, secularization and individual reward worship. Many old time capitalists told themselves something of a story about charitable giving – it was their duty. It was also civic republicanism. The gifting was mandatory because the words read from the pulpit said so and it was adding to the greater good. And it was believed and it was done and then, over time, it was not so well believed and it was no so well done and all of a sudden there are more interesting things to do on the weekend with all our cash. All of a sudden, the folk who could be benefactors pretty much have become us.

So we have, on one hand, elephants and a few apes who are maybe not well served and, on the other, focused active preservation of species which may not exist elsewhere soon, like the Russian tiger. Zoos are on the move and many may pull out of the demanding curve like Watertown and Syracuse seem to be. Both worth going to, both worth reading up on before you go so you know what to expect.

F.A. Cup

Now that the long weekend is upon us and the events of Parliament’s crisis-ette have passed, it is important to remember there are real events out there in the real world and one happens tomorrow morning with the English F.A. Cup Final between Arsenal (yea!) and Man U. (booo!).

If you think Martin and Harper had issues recently, look at these two gents, the managers involved in tomorrow’s game – they have learned to love again compared to their past dealings but there is still a lot of love left over laying around doing nothing when these two meet. Roger’s SportsNet is telling us the game is on live and for free this year – starting 10 am EST. In past years, I have spent two hours swearing at the pay per view satellite dish when it would not take my order for the game so I am hoping the gods of digital cable transmission are with me tomorrow.

Tantrama City Gazette, 19 May 2007

In the run-up to today’s the confidence vote in Ottawa on the third Martin government elected just two weeks, a surprise move was made today by Cleatus Morris, Deputy First Minister Designate of the Tantrama City Provisional Government.

Announcing he was joining the Opposition at this important moment in time, Morris indicated that his decision was in anticipation of the election of the Conservative Party in Ottawa and “the need to ensure a friendly face was in regional office when the new party “gots control of the purse strings and the plans for the Morris…err…Tidnish to Minas canal.”

When contacted in Ottawa, remaining Conservative Party of Canada co-leader Peter Mackay said – “who?” Morris later told the CBC that he spoke with former PM Brian Mulroney today to discuss her move. “Byron said to me, ‘I’m your friend. . . I support you as a friend,'” he said. Mulroney was not available for comment other than to ask through his spokesperson – “who?”


Hastily Gathered Press Conference

First Minister Designate of the Tantrama City Provisional Government, John McDonald MacKay Archibald, expressed surprise at a hastily gathered press conference for no greater reason, he said, than there was

“…no friggin’ Opposition to jump to, the boneheaded numbskull. The Tantrama City Provisional Government is entirely appointed and temporary awaiting the Order in Council establishing the time-line for unification of the Maritime Provinces and the affirmation of Tantrama City as the new capital for the new province.”

FMD Archibald, below right, suggested he would meet with DFMD Morris later today to clarify the situation, adding “he knows he isn’t supposed to have that second mug of tea.”

Rumours have been reported that should the Martin government actually fall, as nearly occurred back in 2005, there might be a challenge to the system of regional apppointments to the Provisional Government, especially after the recent string of office creations including those of Assistant Deputy First Minister Designate Mrs. Mary MacKay Archibald Morris; Minister of ACOA Relations and Random Infrastructure Development Designate “Little Cousin” Kenny Archibald MacKay Morris; as well as First Air Marshall and SlingTide Project Comptroller Designate “Wee Andy” Andrew Archibald MacKay Morris, by his guardian ad litem Cleatus Morris, Deputy First Minister Designate.

Hopeless Harper

I zipped this off at Ben’s in response to yet another dense comment from someone other than Ben (as Ben is as bright a conservative thinker as I have come across) about how the Tories are great because the Liberals are bad…and then I thought it was rather good. It’s a list of Harper’s mishandlings of the last ten days or so:

…talk about not having a clue. Just look at his acts:

  • no reference to the policy of the CPC when the polls looked good,
  • no knocking on the door of Rideau Hall when some claimed the constitution was in crisis,
  • no stopping of Parliament just a milksop early adjournment after participating in the business of the House,
  • not even realizing your party’s edges were getting chipped away.

He blew it and yet you will call him a great leader. Why? Because he is not as crooked as the Quebec wing of the Liberals? That is a hell of a claim to fame.

Has he done anything right in the last few days? That last one is a doozie. Harper says he was speaking just a few days ago to his wife that Belinda would leave. He apparently did not share those fears with her or anyone else in the party as everyone else is shocked today.

I fear the Tories are in no mooded for reflection – it will remain good enough for them to point out the Grit’s dog is ugly rather than notice their own has got a wicked case of the mange and a funny smell as well. Wells may be right that Harper will not lose his position over this but that is likely due to the need for Tories to ride their pony into the ground publicly in a great show.

Update: One more thing, mentioned in the comments earlier. It appears that Harper’s leadership skills certainly do not make it across the country to the two remaining Tory MPs of Newfoundland, Messers Doyle and Hearn. This according to The Globe this evening:

“There are so many things happening, so I’m going to wait for a day or two before actually saying beyond a shadow of a doubt that … I’m voting for or against it,” Mr. Doyle, the MP for St. John’s East, said. “I’m just going to play those cards when the time comes around.” Mr. Hearn was more coy. “I’ve been around politics long enough to know that you never know what’s going to happen, so we’ll find out on Thursday,” Mr. Hearn told reporters Monday. Their votes assumed more importance Tuesday as news broke that Conservative MP Belinda Stronach had defected to the Liberals. The Liberal government can likely survive with the support of two Independent MPs, instead of all three. Meanwhile, Newfoundland Premier Danny Williams [Ed.: a Conservative, too] is keeping up the pressure on the two MPs in the hope they will vote with the ruling Liberals. Mr. Williams has said Mr. Doyle and Mr. Hearn should vote for the budget because it includes the province’s revamped, $2.6-billion offshore energy deal with Ottawa. “Mr. Hearn is talking in terms of a vote for Canada,” Mr. Williams said Monday. “Now, if he wants to trade off the country for his own province, then that’s his decision.”

Solid.