TODAY's CASES:

• Celebration Creamy Cucumber Dressing
• Forty's Hot Dog Chili
• Shorty's Diner French Toast

Celebration Restaurant Creamy Cucumber Salad Dressing From: Mae Belle Sent: Wednesday, June 07, 2017 11:17 AM To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com Subject: Cucumber Salad Dressing Good Morning!!! In the 1990's, I lived in Dallas, Texas and we often ate at a restaurant on Lovers Lane called Celebration. They had the most delicious homemade house cucumber dressing. I have been trying to replicate that dressing for years and can't come close. Can you help? Mae Belle Hello Mae Belle, I found a lot of raves about this salad dressing. Celebration has a website at : Celebration Restaurant. You can, of course buy the dressing at the restaurant itself. I didn’t see any mention that they would ship it. I did not find any recipes or copycats for this dressing. It would be highly unlikely to find the actual recipe that Celebration uses. I did find a “tastes – like” recipe that several people said was very close to the Celebration Restaurant Dressing here: Creamy Cucumber Salad Dressing That recipe is below. I’ll post this for reader input. Phaed http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/recs/10/Creamy_Cucumber_Salad_Dressing6036.shtml Creamy Cucumber Salad Dressing ingredients 1 cup cucumber, seeded and minced 1 cup mayonnaise 1 clove garlic, minced 2 tablespoons parsley, minced 1 tablespoon scallions, minced 1 cup plain yogurt directions Combine the cucumber, mayonnaise, garlic, parsley, and scallions. Fold in yogurt. Add salt and pepper to taste. Chill well before serving. Forty's Hot Dog Chili From: steve Sent: Tuesday, June 06, 2017 4:53 PM To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com Subject: hot dog chili Hi, I see you have had a lot of luck finding recipes, maybe you can help me.I am looking for hot dog chili recipe,from a place in Petersburg VA. called Fortys or maybe Forties can't remember the spelling ,but that name.Their chili was very finely ground,and very dark looking.It may have been canned chili,but it seems I have tried them all.Please help. Thanks, Steve Hello Steve, It appears to be “Forty’s”, according an old ad from the Petersburg, Virginia Progress-Index newspaper from 1959-1960. Are you the “Steve” posting in this thread about Forty’s on Topix? I had no success finding a recipe or a copycat or even a tastes-like. However, there appears to be a store in Petersburg called “Olger's Store”. In that store is a small museum operated by Jimmy Olger. Mr. Olger has Forty’s old hot dog machine and appears to have the chili recipe. He served up Forty’s hot dogs with it at the Civil War Festival on Dec 30, 2012. Mr. Olger also writes a column for "The Progress-Index" newspaper. In an article in the "Progress-Index" newspaper, Mr. Olger says that after Forty Davis passed away, his son-in-law Tony Russo operated Forty’s Hot Dogs. Mr. Russo, too, is now deceased. If you cannot get the recipe from Mr. Olger, then the only possibility that I know would be for you to try to locate descendants of these folks. I’ll post this for reader input. Phaed Thanks for helping me. Yes that is me on Topix, and I have talked to Jimmy Olgers, he said they took it to the grave with him. Thanks again Steve Hmm... Then I wonder what kind of chili Mr. Olger used on the hot dogs he served at the Civil War Festival on Dec 30, 2012? Phaed He told me Tony Russo's wife or someone kin, had the recipe and made it for the festival, and she died. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: fortys hot dog recipe From: Dee Date: 3/29/2021, 7:18 AM To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com On 3/28/2021 12:17 PM, Dee wrote: Hi. I'm looking for the Fortys hotdog recipe. I remember loving the chili dogs as a child. Thank you, Dee Hi Dee, Well, if you read that 2017 post, then you see that I did a thorough search then, and that everyone who knew the recipe for Forty Davis' hot dog chili had passed away. Nothing has changed since then except that the article from the Petersburg, Virginia Progress-Index newspaper regarding Forty's is no longer on their website. The link is broken.  I see no way to go forward with this search. Sorry. Phaed Shorty's Diner French Toast From: Harvey Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2017 9:00 AM To: phaedrus@hungrybrowser.com Subject: memorable French toast I went to college in Key West in the 70’s and made weekly visits to Shorty’s Diner on Duvall St. with $3.95 in hand for the most dreamlike and still memorable French toast. It was a fluffy texture and had complex flavors, almost like a bread pudding. It appeared to be white bread dipped in batter and then cooked on the huge flattop grill by Shorty, the only cook there- a tall ex-navy cook from Texas. My roommate and I have tried to replicate it, no luck. We believe vanilla and cardamom, maybe ginger are in the mix. I ‘ve tried dipping bread in seasoned pancake batter but the texture isn’t close. This dish was so unique and amazing I rarely added maple syrup, just smeared the pat of soft butter that came on top. It was a whitish beige with confectionary sugar on top. A possible lead- Playboy magazine had rated it best French toast in America, years ago of course. Thanks and good luck, Harvey Hello Harvey, Sorry, I had no success with this. All I can find are a few mentions on message boards. I’ll post this. Perhaps a reader can help. Phaed