Steve French

Regular readers will know that I take great joy in being able to pop over the border that is 35 minutes from my front door and nose around northern New York state. Today, we primarily went to go to the Thompson Park Zoo at Watertown, sitting on a hill behind the town and it was a great day to check out the bat house, the caribou, the bears as well as Steve French in the photograph above. All in humane outdoor fenced areas and all native species now or in the recent past. Turtles get as big billing as the fisher and wolves.

Before the zoo, however, the great revelation was out first visit to the new outlet of the Texas Roadhouse chain across from the Salmon Run Mall. Best ribs ever. I tell you now lie and I like ribs. They were smokey and sweet but most of all they were massively meaty. Culturally appropriate side dishes and craft beer were there, too. Yet the meat seems to be the main theme there as there was, in the foyer, a chilled glassed display of superbly cut steaks - including a 32 oz. ribeye about two inches thick. Frankly, if they can do a steak that big well, I would order one with four salads and all of us would share. There is something about NY state and beef. My best experience so far with a bit of steer was at Oswego, a Delmonico with blue cheese at King Arthur's brewpub.

One curiosity of the day was the pavilion at the back of Thompson Park pictured below. An oval of stone and wood which seems to have forgotten its original purpose. What took place in the middle? Why would people sit around and stare into the oval's center?