The politics of food

The late New York Times reporter R.W. Apple, Jr., known to friends as "Johnny", was one of my heroes in journalism.

Apple wrote about his two loves - politics and food. What a fascinating dichotomy. I would never dare compare myself to Apple, but, I have occasionally done the same.

I covered the very first election night of former New Castle County executive Tom Gordon and the very last election night of the late Sen. Bill Roth. When I worked for USA Today and lived in Rosslyn, Va., I went to Capitol Hill and sat with Joe Biden and other reporters during a coffee round table Biden held in his office about foreign policies. (I accompanied my old pal Carl Weiser, who is now an editor in Ohio.) It wasn't an assignment; I was just interested in the experience. Then, I returned to the USA Today newsroom, switched back to the "eats beat" and wrote an article about people who steal things from restaurants.

I covered the Republican National Convention in Philly and wrote about all the parties around town. (There was one for John McCain at Buddakan restaurant.) Yep, this is my life.

In New York, I got to meet Apple and we talked about - what else? - politics and food. Apple was well-acquainted with Delaware, and Delaware politicians, and he also wanted to know if the food had gotten better at the Hotel du Pont. Apple thought the Hotel du Pont's Green Room was gorgeous, but that the food was stuck back in the 1970s.

It's been a few years since I've done any political writing, but Thursday, I felt like I jumped back in the ring, so to speak. And, interestingly enough, it combined both food and politics.

During the vice-presidential debate, Biden mentioned Union Street and Katie's restaurant. I was flipping through a food magazine - politics and food, yep, this is my life - when he said it, and my ears perked up. Did he say Katie's or Kozy's - as in the Kozy Korner, a popular diner on Union Street?

I came into work the next day - and it was clear that Biden mentioned Katie's and editors and reporters wanted to know where it was. I was almost certain that Katie's wasn't on Union Street - it was actually on Sixth and Scott streets - and then dug into the NJ archives. But the one thing I did know is that Katie's hasn't been "Katie's," or certainly not the Katie's that Biden may remember, for a good 15 years - most likely more.

Katie's was an old-school "red gravy" restaurant in Little Italy, not a diner as I heard someone from the McCain camp say on MSNBC. Among longtime Delawareans, there is still much love for the restaurant. It brings back warm memories. It was in a neighborhood that was once, and still is, sprinkled with other beloved "red gravy" places.

The now-closed Pala's Tavern - with its jokey sign "home of the world's worst pizza" - was on Union Street. Photos of Joe Biden hung on the wall and he used to eat there. How do I know? Owner Tutu Pala told me when I wrote a story about Pala's 50th anniversary and I then called Biden's office to confirm it. (One of the senator's staffers asked me when the anniversary party was being held so the senator could attend.)

Union Street has Mrs. Robino's, probably one of Delaware's most well-known (to the locals, anyway) Italian-American restaurants. It also has Walter's Steakhouse, another venerable institution that some people insist on calling Constantinou's because owner John Walter Constantinou's father ran a steakhouse by that name in Trolley Square.

And it has the Kozy Korner. As one commenter on this blog pointed out, many regulars just call the place Nick's - after the owner - instead of Kozy's. Others will refer to Union Street's terrific Black Lab Breads as the "old DiFonzos", the bakery that had been in that location years earlier. (This is a Delaware thing; kind of like the way we refer to hoagies as subs, something that my South Philly raised mom never understands, or the way we called Nicola's Pizza in Rehoboth "Nic-o-bolis" after the sandwiches served there.)

Just a few blocks off Union Street is Ristorante Attilio, where Delawareans have seen Sen. Joe twirling his fork through spaghetti, as well as Madeline's, another "red gravy" favorite.

And that's the quirky, and kind of cool, thing about tiny Delaware: you can run into Biden in a Happy Harry's, in a BrewHaHa coffee shop, at Angelo's Luncheonette in Wilmington's Forty Acres, eating dinner in Toscana in Trolley Square. Someone called the newsroom to say he was just in Janssen's in Greenville buying chili. A pizza owner off Del. 41 told me Biden gets his pizzas there often.

Biden is certainly not out of touch with the locals. Many people who live in northern New Castle County have a "Biden story." We ran a whole story about Biden encounters not long after he was named Obama's running mate. And, yes, indeed, he has been seen in Home Depot and the Target store in Brandywine Hundred. But maybe less so now that he's on the campaign trail.

So Thursday Biden mentioned a restaurant no longer in operation - it's now Wings-to-Go at Katie's, a chicken wings and bar band joint which is a far cry from the Katie's that many remember from the 1970s and early 1980s. Maybe Biden does go to this Wings-to-Go, though it's kind of hard to imagine. On Thursday night, Wings-to-Go at Katie's had the debate on the TV, but, as reporter Ryan Cormier pointed out, the political talk was drown out by the band Baby Brother and the Long Hairs jamming there that night.

I'm guessing the local restaurant community would have preferred it if the senator mentioned a Union Street eatery that's currently in operation - or any current Delaware restaurant. And maybe he meant to say Mrs. Robino's or Kozy's or Walter's, but the warm memories of Katie's flooded his thoughts and tongue. It was a slip and Palin had her share that night, too.

But Biden is out and about in Delaware eateries and he recently had a burger with his son Beau at Charcoal Pit on Concord Pike.

But I'm now ready to end talk of politics on this blog, and get back to the politics of food. Since I never got to Reader Mail on Friday - I'll post questions on Monday. You ask. We answer. Keep the questions coming.