Staten Island Restaurant Tour, Part VI: Woodrow Diner (Huguenot)
Today’s Staten Island Ferry was one I hadn’t ridden on before though TV news reports of my distant youth were redolent with the name of Sen. John J. Marchi. He represented SI in the NY state senate for half a century. Many of the folks boarding with me were intent on shooting pictures of the Statue of Liberty.
But my destination was Huguenot, the sixth stop on the Staten Island Restaurant Tour — my strolling and eating survey structured around stations on the Staten Island Railway. The place is named for the French Protestants who fled persecution in the 17th century to found one of the first permanent settlements in SI. I had thought of SI as almost exclusively Catholic, but this area’s name suggests otherwise, and on my walks I have passed several denominations of Protestant churches. I wonder how many other SI stereotypes are still lurking in the back of my brain.
The station house connecting the platforms is only one I’ve seen (so far) to be faced in brick, a rich wine red and neatly repointed in the relatively recent past.
This episode of the SIRT easily could have followed the same pattern as previous ones in Richmond Valley and Pleasant Plains — a walk toward Raritan Bay and back. A couple of promising pizza joints beckoned near the Huguenot station. But this time I decided to walk away from the water and cross the Korean War Veterans Expressway, which slashes through the center of the area, to the neighborhood’s other half. It’s called Woodrow. I guess I might have billed this episode as Woodrow rather than Huguenot. But I reached it via both Huguenot and Woodrow avenues, and to be consistent with my practice of naming episodes after the nearest SIR stop, Huguenot it is.
Shortly after I crossed the highway, I passed some beautiful houses. The most dignified and beautifully ornamented ones came first, the more modest and immodest ones later. These offer a tasteful combination of solidity, muted earthtones, and sub-McMansion size.
No trip to this end of SI is complete without the pedestrian non sequitur I dread — that is, the sidewalk that abruptly runs out — and a forced street crossing. With few crosswalks, and fast moving traffic on the main traffic arteries, that can take a while.
More recent McMansion construction. Is the sky commenting on this house?
The Xmas decs are out. These are as tall as the house. I saw them looming on a side street and went a little out of my way to capture Mega-Frosty. Awesome! Good job with the tire pump. Gosh, I hope they used a tire pump.
The Woodrow United Methodist Church, a Protestant presence, a place of reflection for the living and eternal rest for the late.
My destination was Woodrow Village, a shopping mall larger than the one in Richmond Valley where I had Part III’s middle eastern meal. This is only the front of the place — there’s even more in back, along with more parking.
To get the back portion into the frame required an extra-skinny panorama.
There’s a whole lotta eatin’ going on there, including the omnipresent pizza and Mexican options — and the Woodrow Diner. Fina’s Farmhouse in Arthur Kill was as close to a diner as I’d gotten so far in the Tour, so I’ve been overdue to getting back to where I once belonged.
Love that scallop seating! A few diners were concerned to see me taking pictures of the interior just before I left. I am constantly torn between showing public spaces and violating privacy. The journalist in me says, if you’re in a public place, you forfeit your right to privacy: privacy in public is a contradiction in terms. The human says, give people a break and respect their wishes, especially since you’re a stranger here. It’s an ongoing thing in my mind now that I’ve moved beyond tech writing. What to do about the human element? The human in this element didn’t seem to mind.
Lunch specials for a Friday afternoon.
The Cajun grilled chicken salad offered the two food groups that dominate my healthy-senior diet, and while I often eat outside my nutritional comfort zone on Tour trips, I was happy to eat normally for a change. The phone’s food-porn setting brings out the color in the grilled chicken while soft-focusing the rest, as though the grilled chicken were coming to us in a dream. Note Italian dressing nicely served in a bowl sitting on a saucer, presumably to guard against sloshing, instead of a messy plastic bottle. Counting the appetizer you haven’t seen yet, six different pieces of crockery went into this meal. The dishwasher must keep busy!
The regular photo setting distributed focus more evenly and the color, not retouched in either picture, is more as it was in real life under the muted greyish lighting. The chicken was well-done, just how I like it, because undercooked chicken does things to my complexion. Sixty-six years old and I still have pimples. Go figure. It must be a sign of passion. The seasoning had just a touch of heat and a lot of salt, which is hazardous to a kidney stone sufferer, but that day’s breakfast and dinner were low-sodium so my urinary tract went unscathed. My body is an ongoing science experiment. It seems happy as long as I keep feeding it chicken and veg.
The special came with an appetizer, my choice of matzoh ball or Manhattan clam chowder. I went for the first and found orzo floating beneath the surface, a nice touch. The slaw was fresh and tasty and an entire cucumber must have died to produce that generous bunch of pickle slices.
I always feel blessed when I get back to the SIR just before a train arrives.
Back on the ferry, Lady Liberty was still there. I pray the values she represents will survive the coming storm.
Next stop on the Staten Island Restaurant Tour will be Annadale, where Italian and diner options are duking it out for my attention. Who will be the lucky winner may depend on how much I decide to walk that day. Should I stay near the station or stretch my legs? I never know what’ll happen next until my feet hit the street. See you soon!
Previously on the Staten Island Restaurant Tour:
Part I: Angelina’s (Tottenville)
Part II: Fina’s Farmhouse (Arthur Kill)
Part III: Laila (Richmond Valley)
Part IV: Il Forno (Pleasant Plains)
Part V: Breaking Bread (Prince’s Bay)
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