Tasting Route 66 In Your Own Kitchen

Whether your an American or an international traveler you know that Route 66 has an implicit connection to American food. Often these connections are somewhat cliche and bring us to think of apple pie, hamburgers, and all the trappings of diner food, and rightfully so since you can find all these foods easily on the route. As much fun and as kitschy such foods may be, they misguide us at times and don't allow us to see some of the roads true and most unique flavors. 

I think we often forget that part of the American experience, and Route 66 culture is about individual freedom and expression, and there is no better place for that expression than culinary artistry. Along Route 66 restaurant owners and chefs have all expressed their cultures, their regions, their restaurants, themselves, and their love for life on Route 66 via the food creations they have given us exclusive to their restaurants alone. The vibrancy of these food choices in a way is stunning and really tells us something about the true nature of Route 66 and it's personalities. 

Over the years eating establishments of all shapes, sizes, genres, and price points have lined the route. Some have established themselves not just as roadhouses for hungry travelers on Route 66, but as respected restaurants that are key to representing their communities.  Sadly though, many of Route 66's other unique restaurants have fallen victim to time, chain restaurants, or the interstate bypassing them, but thier legacys are not forgotten. Thankfully, due to the efforts of author Marian Clark, she able to collect many recipes and stories from famed restaurants along the route present and past to bring us The Route 66 Cookbook. 

This book is a favorite in my house and is both a great read and source of recipes. Clark did an excellent job bringing us not only the history behind some of the recipes themselves but of the restaurants and regions they where found in. 

The book digs deep into the characteristics of the food, and it's influences. The above picture on Navajo Fry Bread and Tacos is an example of this. Here we see how food in Gallup is influenced by its connection to the nearby Navajo lands, and how the recipes where modified to give travelers a taste that was both authentic and with Route 66 appeal. 

This book has a ton of great recipes, like The Diamonds Cheeseball, from the former Route 66 Diamonds restaurant in Missouri, Pink Adobe's Apple Pie Recipe from Arizona, and The Polka Dots Potato Pancake recipe from Chicago. There are a lot a great ones that are the real deal recipes from how they are or where made by Chefs and cooks from Route 66's many restaurants and cafés. 

Above all that though Clark has given us more then just a cookbook. Her research of the history of Route 66 restaurants, has allowed us to peak into the restaurants themselves as well as their owners. She provides us with insight into how some establishments came to exist, why they choose certain menus, and what lead them to create some of thier most iconic dishes. We also gain insight into why some of these restaurants failed, and the legacys they have left behind. The book is filled with enough interviews, history's and photos to make even more interested in preparing some of the foods from the recipes in order to get a taste what is or was. 

So if you want to learn about the routes culinary history, and move away from the cliche ideas of diner grilled cheese, and hamburgers this is a great way to experience it all in your own kitchen. The book will open your eyes to the creative spirit of food providers along the route, give you a new concept of food on Route 66, and allow you to interact with the route right in your own home. Great for these winter nights as you plan you summer Route 66 trips. 

Great Stays: #2 La Posada - Winslow, AZ

If you follow this blog you know I talk about Winslow, AZ a lot. I'm not from there, and I don't even know anybody from there either. But, Winslow makes an impression on you especially as a Route 66 traveler. There is a lot going on

in this little town that not only touches on Route 66 but a lot of other areas in history. See my previous article "Winslow, Arizona - Transportation Hub of the Western U.S." about some of that history. 

The La Posada Hotel is a former Harvey House in Winslow that has had several different lives in the past. It's current life is as a resort and luxury hotel, that also functions as a meeting place for many Winslow events. But the hotel was originally built as a Harvey House under the design and direction of famed architect Mary Colter.

Mary Colter was a legend in Southwestern architecture, and a favorite architect of the Fred Harvey Company. Colter was in tune with the Southwestern  landscape and culture and was able to design hotels that captured that spirit. Stucco, bare timbers, Navajo rugs, as well as Hopi and Mexican decor all tastefully placed where the signatures of her hotels. The La Posada was a true showpiece of her telents when it was competed in 1929. 

The La Posada was open as a hotel and dining room to accommodate cross country Santa Fe Railway travelers. These travelers would either stay for meal service while the train underwent watering and/or refueling, or would choose to stay at the La Posada as a resort with The Painted Desert, Petrified Forrest, and Navajo and Hopi lands nearby. 

The La Posada would remain a jewel in the crown of the Fred Harvey Company, and Santa Fe's crown. The Hotel would attract a wide range of travelers including a huge list of celebrity's, many of which also have rooms named after them in the hotel, some of the rooms are those they actually stayed in.

The hotel would see hard times as the Stock Market Crash of 1929, and Great Depression would start after its opening. The Hotel would stay open until 1957, when it was fully purchased by Santa Fe to become the headquarters of there sub district. Santa Fe needing the space for offices would sell most of the La Posada's art and furniture, keeping only a few of the old hotel rooms in place to serve as VIP quarters, and a dormitory for on call train crew. With its merger with Burlington Northern imminent Santa Fe would move their HQ elsewhere in Winslow in 1994. The building would sit vacant until 1997 when its was finally taken over by its new owners and sent on the path to restoration. 

Today the La Posada is fully restored and worth a visit, and if you can a stay. The dinning room called the "Turquoise Room" serves phonominal food, and is named after the top notch dining service that Santa Fe use to offer in special dining cars. With a gourmet menu that serves a lot of unique options, that are based on gourmet Southwestern, original faire served by the Harvey House, and other original options. All served with fresh ingredients from many local growers. 

The hotel itself is fully restored with beautiful grounds, lobby, artistically decorated corridors, and meeting rooms in essence the hotel is a beautiful Southwestern resort, as Mary Colter originally designed it. The hotel rooms are beautifully decorated, and immerse you in both the Southwest, and the mind of Mary Colter. The La Posada prides itself on the fact that no two rooms are alike. 

The rooms are as romantic as they are breathtaking, and come in standard, deluxe, whirlpool, and balcony room. You can look the photos up online at La Posada's website. Like most really great stays, accommodations will cost you a little more then usual ranging from $119 to $169 a night depending on the type of room.

http://laposada.org/hotel_rooms.html

For families there are rooms with two beds available, and Winslow is a family friendly town. A stay here would be great for kids, especially those who like trains since many BNSF trains travel through here. The Painted Desert and Petrified Forrest National Parks are also nearby, as is the very cool Old Trails Museum. 

Overall the La Posada is a great stay and worth a visit to. If you can't stay the night try to stop by the Turquoise Room for a meal and to stroll around the hotel and its  grounds.  

The Mystery of Route 666

"The Devils Highway", Route 666 said to be haunted by demons, ghosts, monsters, UFO's, and other paranormal creatures. 

US Route 666 or the 6th spur of US Route 66. It was established along with the rest of the US Route system in 1926. US Route 666 (as US Route 491 does now) came directly off US Route 66 in Gallup, NM and headed north mostly through Navajo Reservation land into Colorado, and Utah. 

Nowadays, US Route 666 is now US Route 491. The Route was switched from 666 to 491 in 2003. Many believe that this switch was at the hands of religious officials and church groups lobbying to get rid of the "Mark of the Beast". The reality is it was actually something far more mundane, and downright boring that bought the switch. States with 666 running through them finally made the switch do to the fact that theft of Route 666 road signs where out of control.

The theft of these signs and infamy of Route 666 are all spawned by popular cultures images of the route. The name Route 666 was used for an Iron Maiden album. But the route has also been used as a movie title, and in television shows all with evil or paranormal connotations. The route has also been featured in a number of books fiction and non-fiction all with a similar mythos of evil and mystery. 

These pop culture attributes associated with Route 666 have also lead many to believe that part of the route is evil due to its high mortality rates through accidents. Something many believe has dropped since the new numbering. In actuality the new numbering accompanied construction projects to make part of the route safer. But, to begin with though the route actually had relatively low mortality rates even as Route 666.

As for being evil though the Navajo, who had Route 666 travel through their land never saw anything evil about it. Part of the reason is that in Navajo beliefs 666 means nothing at all. The other part of it is that Navajos traveled the route regularly and never encountered anything evil with the route. Considering Route 666 was a main route through Navajo land, driving on it was as ordinary for many of them as driving through the main drags of our home towns is for us. As a matter of fact the route is often referenced in Tony Hillerman novels as a common route his Navajo police characters take between towns. 

Overall, once you get past the triple 6, there doesn't seem to be anything all that mysterious about the route. It serves as a  part of the mystic of Route 66, the aura of mystery and paranormal characters we see elsewhere on the route somewhat concentrated in this small little section that spurs off from it. It's easy to see as in many other parts of Route 66, that the mystery of it all depends on weather you live there and what part the route plays in your life. For a Chicagoan, or Los Anglian the triple 666 conjured up evil, but the fir the Navajo who lived, and worked off the route it was as normal as Main Street.