I love a NY sharp cheddar right off the wheel, don't like it crumbly but with a good assertive flavor, and was despairing in the south (Texas, North Carolina) of finding a decent sharp cheddar other than Cabot Hunters, which is too "Vermont" for my taste. Then I discovered that below the Mason-Dixon line you need to look for cheese that comes in large wedges with a red wax, usually found with local sourced sausages rather than the cheeses. They call it by different names like "wedge cheese" or "wheel cheese" or "store cheese" or such. Very often I find it without any name at all. These are the only cheddars I can find with any taste at all down here. Apparently there's a feeling that you are going to serve it with a nice venison sausage!

We were lucky enough to live in Schenectady NY surrounded by wonderful Italian restaurants and local Italian cooks. You might try Casa Visco if you are in an area that you can get it. Made right in Rotterdam NY, it is authentic to our area. You'd probably most enjoy "Homestyle". And yes, even us non-Italian-Americans call it "gravy" there! But I should warn you, most of the traditional families I knew made sauce every week....it's a family thing. You might try cheating and making the meatballs at another time and freezing them...it affects the texture but not the flavor. Or better still, if they are school-age kids, put them to work making the meatballs and cooking the sausage!

I too love Chowhound and read it deeply for my favored towns, but to decide to eat at a restaurant for the first time, I usually hit ALL the review sites, esp. Tripadvisor, but also Yelp and others. Google maps really helps in this regard, not for their own reviews(mostly lame) but because it takes you to the right spot in Tripadvisor and Yelp and combines the reviews. Reading reviews is an art! I read the worst ones first, then the best. I like that Tripadvisor has a helpfulness indicator. That said, you've got to admit that if you take reviews to heart you'd probably skip your favorite restaurants. We try to give anything halfway appetising a try!

Careful, once again wiki is wrong! Livermush and liver pudding are NOT the same. Quite different, actually. Both do contain pork liver, but then they differ quite a lot. Livermush as its name implies is bound with cornmeal, and is spiced in a breakfast sausage sort of way with hot pepper and sage. Liver pudding is pork liver and other organ meats mixed with rice, at least in South Carolina. To experience proper liver pudding, I'd suggest the Lizard's Thicket chain in Columbia SC for breakfast. The flavoring is primarily black pepper, lots and lots of black pepper and the format is closest to a moist hash, and fried on a grill like corned beef hash would be. The closest thing to liver pudding I've tasted is Haggis. Livermush is like scrapple turned over....much more liver used in it.
Many of the NC companies that make livermush also make a product they call liver pudding. Can't vouch for that tho.

Will anyone defend owners who keep a restaurant stable for its regular clientele? I love my old "diner", which has had one design upgrade in at least 40 years, and that one required an explanation to notice the changes -- dark green booths for light green booths and so forth. The food is ok and consistent, but that's not why the place is packed all the time. People go there because it's a home away from home. The tacky seasonal decoration is a conversation starter, and if the tree didn't have seasonal trimmings we'd worry about the owner's wife! It's comfortable -- everyone prefers booths guys, I hate to tell you! The waitresses know all about you, and the boss is always there schmoozing. There's a small counter area for the single guys to chew the fat. Workers come in in teams off the job or before, kids are enjoyed. Remember Cheers? Remember the diner in the movie Empire Falls? It's NOT about the food.

Re the "sweet tea" question, I can tell you that you'd better not ask for it north of the Mason-Dixon line, they will look at you blankly! and even in DC I grew up in the 50's never hearing the term! You get iced tea and put some sugar in it if you want, just like coffee.
Only the bottled tea craze is changing that.

Oh goody, someone else who lives with their Lamson Chinese Chefs knife. I admired it in a friend's kitchen and he gave one to me as a gift. No better gift, ever! With a paring knife and a serrated knife, it completes my knife needs. Does EVERYTHING. And it's what, about $40 right now?

Metroland's list featuring Fireside and Smitty's tells me that the capitalland taste is still with a nice thick crust, lots of grease, and a hearty northern Italian sauce. The usual toppings are pepperoni, mushrooms, onions, sausage. and cheese, LOTS of cheese. If it doesn't ooze and the toppings don't tend to slide off the crust, it ain't Schenectady! My personal favorites are just like metroland, Fireside and Smitty's. My local choices are more limited, Joe's (in Rotterdam) -- can't be beat for pure slide -- and Highbridge Pizza. Of course you thin crispy lovers aren't happy up here, go back to Long Island where you came from (just kidding, I'm from Brooklyn originally). May I repeat tho, DO NOT BUY SLICES in the capital district. It's just not our way....and you'll always be disappointed.

You might try the Altamont restaurant The Homefront Cafe, we love the chocolate hazelnut. And you can take it across to the park.

Hate to argue with anyone's grandmother, but gribbenes is actually chicken skin that has been crisped into crackling. The onions were always used as flavoring for the gribbenes, true, but the skin is what is the gribbenes. And wonder of wonders, you can make great tasting gribbenes in the microwave. Just another way to burn the kitchen down making them. Oh...and I can remember burning my hands on those flat square thick smaltz knishes in the 1940's at Coney Island...now THAT's authentic. But we also ate the round lightly enclosed kasha and meat ones from the deli...so don't fight, eat both!

General opinion of my Guilderland/Schenectady/Glenville friends is Smitty's (aka Smith's Tavern in Voorheesville). Hope you got there! Also why are all these people eating slices??? It is NOT the upstate NY way...maybe in the city, but not here. You gotta order a pie.

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Smith's Tavern
112 Maple Ave, Voorheesville, NY 12186

Josh, when you say their pickles aren't sour, I would say that half-sours are the standard in NYC and I tend to rate a deli for the halfness of them. If you meant they are sweet, then it's time to move back east!

Have you heard about Sparkling Loganberry soda from Crystal Beach in Saratoga, NY? It has nothing to do with Saratoga sodas...tho it is called Sarasoda (get it?) and comes from PJ's BarBQ in Saratoga NY. As far as I know it is unique in flavor, very good. And as local as you can get...PJ's has had a non-carbonated loganberry drink for years for their customers, and now added the sparkle.