GREAT ALL AMERICAN DINER RUN

Thisilldous Eatery presents

GREAT ALL AMERICAN DINER RUN

tasty places to take your bike

CORNER PIAZZA 1 ELDRED-YULAN ROAD, ELDRED, NY 12732 845-557-3321 • www.facebook.com/cornerpiazza

This month’s stop on the Great All American Diner Run was brought to our attention by sometimes “Cover Girl” Mike Mosca.

Just a month or so earlier, when on an afternoon ride to nowhere with his co-pilot Robyn, they found themselves rolling along County Road 55 in Sullivan County, New York.

After a good bit of miles that morning, with tummies beginning to growl and the day sliding into early afternoon, they passed the crossroads of County Roads 32 and 55 in the hamlet of Eldred.

They stopped in for a bite at the Corner Piazza and were more than a little impressed – which is high praise coming from two kids from Cliffside Park, New Jersey – a town that will defend Vincent’s Pizza to the death.

With this in mind, Shira and I (she is also a CP native) were heading up for a 4th of July weekend concert - going to see The Doobie Brothers at Bethel Woods, the concert venue built on the site of the 1969 Woodstock Festival.

With such high recommendations from two professional pizza a ciondos, we gured on a late lunch or early dinner at the Corner Piazza.

The truth was we had stopped at these crossroads a week earlier to check out the Ice Cream parlor located across the street, and the plan for the Doobie Brothers was hatched then.

First, let’s start with dessert. Always better to start with dessert, right?

The sign above the store reads – The Corner Ice Cream Shop, Food, Gifts, and Liquor Store. Well, that covers a lot of ground.

We sauntered in for ice cream and that’s when the magic began for me.

Yep, Shira, Robyn, and Mike might all be Cliffside Park, but I hail from Queens, New York - and the plethora of blue & orange we found in the Ice Cream Shop certainly got my attention and made us both smile. Okay, all you Yankee fans… perhaps this is not your place, but you are surely welcome here too. This little crossroads corner in Sullivan County is Mets territory for sure. You see the two brothers, born in Brooklyn, who own the Ice Cream Shop, the Piazza, and the Hydrofarm Garden across the street – Lou & Frank Monteleone - are die-hard Metropolitan fans; as are we. But, most of you readers know this, right? Heck, our rst date was to Shea and we bleed blue & orange.

This “Amazin!” atmosphere worked well. The garden, which is worth the ride all by itself, is full of great produce and has a very futuristic

feel to it and, right across the street, the Perry’s ice cream was excellent as well – but, that is Shira’s gig; not mine.

I’m here to talk about the pizza and talking about two brothers making the most serious pizza in this part of New York state.

This Corner Piazza is a seasonal restaurant with all the seating outside and the facilities across the street at the ice cream shop; and when we rode up the next week for the show, we smiled as both televisions were dialed into the Mets game.

Many pizza places will talk about all-natural ingredients, but here at the Corner Piazza, in the hamlet of Eldred, not only do they say this but their herbs and spices are growing along the restaurant itself.

Basil, peppers, tomatoes, oregano, and the like – all there to be plucked and added to each pie.

Their menu offers 13 styles of pie from Classic Cheese to Meat Lovers and a lot in between. They also have a vegan option, White, Margherita, Pesto, and even one called “The Garbage Pie.” This will come with sausage, pepperoni, meatballs, mushroom, peppers, and onions. On this day I ordered the Meat Lovers and Shira the White pizza, twelve inches each.

All these pies are created right in front of you and the deep brick oven doing the heavy work is fueled by wood – not gas - and that offers a more unique and, we think, far better avor.

Just as important to a great pizza is not just the avorful ingredients, but the crust. You can have all the avor in the world, but if your crust is on the wimpy side then all is lost.

The Corner Piazza’s crust had that magic combination of crispy and akey, yet moist enough to make it manageable without being anywhere near soggy. Easy to say, but hard to do.

To make this all the better they have Boylan’s soda and local brews from the Catskill Brewery.

Between The Corner Piazza’s ingredients, avor, and crust, and the personalities of the two brothers, Eldred, New York has a real winner.

We’ll give a winner of a ride there as well – this one from Town & Country Cycle Center, in Wantage, New Jersey.

Enjoy the pizza and Let’s Go Mets! ,

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