French fries – Ruth E. Hendricks Photography

Goodbye to the O – Original Hot Dog Shop- Oakland Pittsburgh

My friend Roberta sent me a Post-Gazette article this evening, An elegy to the ‘O’: A beloved hot dog shop closes after 60 years written by Mick Stinelli and Dan Gigler. It told about the sad and sudden closing of The Original Hot Dog Shop. A long time late night favorite in the heart of Oakland adjacent to University of Pittsburgh. Upon closing they donated “7 tons of potatoes to charity”. (They were famous for their fries)

We’d get a couple of hot dogs and share the huge order of fries, sometimes before a Poetry Reading at Hemingway’s. Or after. No matter what time you ate there, it was a familiar and reliable taste and experience.

Here’s a photo I took of the landmark from a 2010 blog post.

April 24, 2020 by Ruth Categories: PhotographyTags: food, French fries, friendship, Hot Dogs, landmark, neon, night photography, Oakland, Original Hot Dog Shop, photography, Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh PA, Post-Gazette, postaday, University of Pittsburgh 10 Comments

Fresh Cut Fries Not From a Freezer

French Fries, Pommes Frites, Chips, Fries. These are fresh cut fries, fried to perfection.

The frozen, thinner ones from the freezer have been around since the 1940’s, You can find these frozen fries in plastic bags in the grocery store freezer section and they are served in most diners and fast food restaurants. There is no comparison to fresh cut potatoes, plunged into hot oil, drained and sprinkled with salt.

Sometimes fried twice for that extra crispy exterior and light creamy interior. Soggy and limp is the worst. The type of potato will affect the end result. Russet/Idaho potatoes are mentioned in many recipes and if you want to become a student of types of potatoes click this Guide to Every Potato You Need to Know

Eating fries may clog your arteries and make one fat, but they can certainly satisfy the palate. Some people accompany them with ketchup, vinegar, mayonnaise and slather them with cheese or gravy and even tomato sauce. You’ve probably heard of the famous Pittsburgh Primanti Bros sandwich with the fries and slaw right inside the sandwich. (photo of one here)

Here’s Bon Appétit Magazine’s Kelly Dobkin’s “culinary school method” for fail-proof, perfect French fries Secret to Perfect French Fries recipe

Need less fat, you can bake crispy fries in a 450 degree oven (recipe here)

July 1, 2019July 1, 2019 by Ruth Categories: food, PhotographyTags: Bon Appétit, chips, cooking and eating, food, French fries, Heinz Ketchup, Idaho Potato, ketchup, oven roasted fries, Pommes Frites, potato, Primanti Bros., recipe, russet potatoes, sandwich 6 Comments

Potato Patch Fries Production

There are two lines to take the $ nowadays so no one handles cash and food.

Your order comes up on a screen. I’ve no idea how they keep it straight.

A team of teenagers orchestrate the production and it’s efficient.

Fast furious pace behind the counter. Everyone knows their part.

Fries spilling over the paper tray’s edge.

A ladle of “cheese” and bacon bits for some.

We had seasoned salt and tiny cup cheese on the side. The word tiny is a poor one for this post, a small plastic cup. Think stadium nachos. Add ketchup. Napkins.

We shared.

I asked a couple if I could photograph their bacon and cheese fries.

July 13, 2015 by Ruth Categories: foodTags: amusement park concession, food, French fries, Kennywood, photography, postaday, Potato Patch 8 Comments

Fat Tuesday

Mardi Gras/Fat Tuesday

Butter

French Fries

Pancakes

Mardi Gras Beads

Fried onion rings and beer`

Sugar

March 4, 2014March 4, 2014 by Ruth Categories: PhotographyTags: cooking, eating, fat, Fat Tuesday, French fries, Lent, Mardi Gras, Onion rings, pancakes, photography, postaday, sugar 12 Comments

Strip District World Festival

I was going down to the Strip to work on an ongoing photography project I started.

Seemed like a good day to go as I was in town, no school on Sunday and the weather was perfect.

As soon as I neared the Strip, I saw an incredible amount of traffic backed up and some tent tops. Parked immediately instead of trying to get closer and walked the rest of the way. Here’s what I saw

Strip District World Festival- A Community Event

Food-

I ate a delicious Baklava from Taverna 19, a new place with Greek food and dancing at night. (Right across from Primanti’s) I had already eaten lunch at home. Who knew?

Manuela the Caricaturist

Dance to the Music

Steel Dragon Kung Fu members dance the Lion Dance

This note from Chris at Steel Dragon the dance is actually a LION DANCE

I would like to mention that actually we did a lion dance today. The MC confused the name of what we were doing. Our name (as you know) is Steel Dragon (or Gong Lung in Chinese). What we did was a lion dance. The actual name of the one we did today is “Eight Immortals Carry the Mountain to Fill the Eastern Sea”, which is a story from a classic novel called the Eight Immortals Cross the Sea.

Incidentally, Dragons have many more people than lions (7-100 people vs 2 in a lion) and when you see the head, you can tell their different. If you want, you can check out the video we just posted which has clips from lion and dragons dances on it (plus I just edited so I love when people look at it 🙂 ) The link is on our website under videos. (see link)

Look behind you!

Alex and Ben were the Lion with Steeler Colors

Two Pound Pepperoni Roll and Mr. Sunseri

Schorin’s has everything

Mr. Bennett Price

September 15, 2013September 16, 2013 by Ruth Categories: Music, Photography, Pittsburgh PhotosTags: art, Bennett Price, bread, city, downtown, Dragon Dance, food, French fries, Manuela Caricaturist, music, Pittsburgh PA, Pittsburgh Photography, salad, Steel Dragon, Sunday afternoon, Sunseri, travel 11 Comments

Don’t Throw- Don’t Drop- Don’t Bruise-Fragile!

Last Saturday night, Steve and I were walking around downtown at the Three Rivers Arts Festival.

Behind the line of food tents at the Three Rivers Arts Festival, (actually renamed the Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival– who knows how much they shelled out to include in the name ) this pile of fifty pound bags of potatoes caught my eye.

The sliver of orange shirt was a man who didn’t want his photo taken but I said “Don’t worry. I just want the potatoes. ”

As far as identifying what state the potatoes were grown, I looked up Top ‘O The Harvest brand and found a distinctive bag in an agricultural museum c. 1960 and if they are still in business, it looks like they came from Unity, Maine. The label says Special Frying Potatoes. Wish I could have found the cooking oil containers to accompany this shot.

Here is the beginning of the line of food tents- the signs seem so generic this year. Like a supermarket brand, to me. They seem to have lost the individual character, a certain sameness except a different color.