A New Venture in Galway
Plus Teddy Fries ‘n a cop car…
Lots of excitement in town recently with the announcement that the Weiss brothers have purchased the old Galway Market building. These are three really terrific young men who are active in this community taking both action and risk in this new venture. There’s been so much speculation and conversation over the years about what will become of the place and it’s just great to see these guys step up and make a significant investment in our community. Best of luck, men!
Pour yourself a cup of coffee. I’m gonna ramble a bit I fear..
I tend to go on about the farmers we lean so heavily upon. This is kinda related. I think at this point, most of you know that we get our potatoes, carrots, root vegetables from The Carrotbarn in Schoharie. It’s them I credit for our outrageously delicious fries. But there’s a little more to it than that. See, this place was open about 30 years before we actually had a fryer. We wore it as a badge of pride that we didn’t fry food. We roasted, grilled, braised, steamed, poached, seared, sautéed and yes, sometimes burned food. But we never fried. Our baked chicken wings were really great but they just took too long to get out of the kitchen. So we caved and bought our first fryer about 15 years ago. I picked it up at Chef’s Choice in Schenectady and installed it the same day. We ate about 100 pounds of wings and then it dawned on Mike Staber and I that we really didn’t know what the process was to the art of great fries. I mentioned this in passing to Ted Loveless when I was down at the Galway Market. Ted made outstanding fried fish, chicken, Teddy Fries, etc. Turns out, before buying the market and moving to Galway, Ted had spent some time as a manager of Flavorland, the precursor to Friendly’s. I don’t know if this was the real name or not but Ted told me he’d been sent to Potato University. Regardless, everything we’ve ever learned about cutting, rinsing, soaking, drying, blanching, cooling and frying potatoes came directly from a couple of quick sessions with Ted. Crispy. Pillowy. Those were his descriptors and those are the words we still use when training someone new. Crispy. Pillowy. He was always exceptionally helpful to us. Lots of good, free advice over the years.
Now ya wanna hear a funny story involving Ted? When I was a senior at Galway High School I was involved in a theater production. I don’t remember much about the details other than Miss Cervenka thinking it was a good idea to entrust my best buddy, Clark, and I with the task of picking up and eventually returning a borrowed couch from Ryan’s Funeral Home. So on the eve of the play we headed down to pick it up and were greeted by Mr. Ryan, who was on his way out. He gave us the keys, told us to be careful and to remember to lock up. We were alone in the funeral home. And honestly, a little afraid. We kept our eyes straight ahead, lifted the coach and headed out the door rapidly, locked up and went to the auditorium. Never said a word to each other. Mr. Ryan told us he’d be out of town and trusted us to drop the couch off after the performance and return the key. So, when the show was over that’s what we did. I backed up my dad’s truck, jumped out (pitch black) and grabbed the end of the couch, opened the door and started to walk in while Clark grabbed the far end. We got about halfway in the door when suddenly we were lit up by a spotlight coming from a cop car. “Hold it right there you guys!!”
Out of the car steps Dick Milan, Galway’s lone constable, flashlight in hand.
“Where do you two think you’re going with that couch?!”
“We’re returning it”
“Looks to me like you’re taking it”
Then all we heard was laughter.
A lot of it.
Loud.
Across the street from the funeral home, next to the Galway Market, on the front step of the Gerardi home, Ted Loveless, Mr. Girardi and Mr.Ryan were hysterical. And then Mr. Milan started laughing too. Mr. Ryan had set the whole thing up and all four of them had more entertainment that night, I imagine, than most any other Saturday night in the village.
Anyway, I am rooting for the Weiss Brothers and their newest venture. Not sure what they’ve got planned, but the place is in good hands!
