Cosmic Jolt Cyber Cafe, Buhl, Idaho

Here's a south central Idaho hot spot that serves latte strong enough to wake the dead. At least that's the effect it had on me.

It's a gracious gathering spot in downtown Buhl that attracts everyone from weathered truckers and ranchers to neatly coiffed grannies. There's a Rolodex on the front counter where regulars can keep their coffee cards as they accrue points for future freebies.

The owner's sister, a local real estate agent, comes in to help out when things are slow in her own business, which is often these days. Once she conducted an informal survey as to whether tiny Buhl could support another quilting shop, now that the old one has moved to Twin Falls.







The Cosmic Jolt is in an old storefront with high, coved, pressed-tin ceilings; stucco walls; a row of stained-glass windows at transom level; and scuffed blond hardwood floors. There's a space in the back with a mini-library and a big table that would be ideal for book club meetings. Crafts and beading supplies are for sale up-front, along with "Sagebrush Days 2008" T-shirts that benefit the local fire and EMS volunteers.





This was my "corner office" on a couple of recent mornings. I prepared questions for several phone interviews, made some calls, got good and caffeinated and ready to face the day.

The Jolt has a great breakfast burrito, with piping hot bright yellow scrambled eggs, citrus-y salsa, ham, mushrooms, and cheese on a chewy flour tortilla. The daily special clam chowder was tasty, a bit over-thickened, but the clams were tender and flavorful. Another special, the dagwood sandwich, consists of a combination of every kind of meat and cheese they have on hand. A cup of soup and half a sandwich makes a hearty lunch.

Each table holds an antique bowl full of gummy candy. That was a big hit with me, since I love fish in all forms including Swedish.

It's hard to spend a 20-dollar bill in here, but it's fun to try.

Penzeys Spices, Norwalk, Ct.

Penzeys has a catalog, but a visit to the mother ship is a lot of fun for anyone who loves to cook. Hundreds of spices, herbs, extracts and blends are offered for sale. The prices for most items are more reasonable than in the average supermarket, the selection is better, and the flavors are livelier.

Another plus: There are big apothecary jars of each spice, which you can pop open to get some idea of what you're buying. Never heard of galangal? Not sure which of the curry powders is right for you? Wanna make sure the herbes de Provence doesn't smell like potpourri? Open the jar and take a whiff.

It's hard to walk out of there with fewer than a dozen items, but they'll spice up your life for months to come.

Hogue Fume Blanc

This is one of the house wines at Garage on 7th Ave. South in the Village, which is a fun hang. After enjoying it at Garage, I've started buying it by the bottle from time to time. It's light and citrus-y, and at $8-$11, the price is certainly right.

The funny thing is, whenever or wherever I buy it, the cashier usually says, "This is really good wine!" This has even happened when I've bought this inexpensive fume blanc along with several other wines that are far more expensive, and that are highly rated by Wine Spectator or the like.

It's a good summer wine, with the staff seal of approval from Aries to Zachy's.

Omai, NY

The Vietnamese-inspired Omai is orders of magnitude more creative and fully realized than the diners, dives and dens I usually frequent. It may be my favorite place to eat right now.

I've been there a half-dozen times in the past year. The food has always been excellent and everyone who works there is so nice. I was in the neighborhood last week with the Grumpy Diner, and we impulsively decided to see if we could get in without a reservation. We were seated immediately at the only vacant deuce.

We ordered four dishes to share. I practically gasped with delight at the first taste of seafood dumpling soup -- the rich, basil-infused broth had just a hint of garlic and ginger. The dumpling wrapper was paper thin, slightly al dente, stuffed with tender, tasty chopped shrimp. Delightful.

Velvety-textured seared tuna was wrapped in crispy greens and came with a mildly spicy soy-based dipping sauce. Bun cha pork was cooked to the consistency of crisp bacon and had an intense, concentrated meat flavor. It was served with plain rice-vermicelli, lettuce, and some slightly funky preserved cabbage and carrot salad. The funk was a nice contrast to the other flavors and textures.

Our entree, grilled scallops, shrimp and veg over several squares of tender rice noodles in lime and basil sauce, contained the largest scallops I've ever seen. They were meltingly tender. Veg included eggplant, zucchini, asparagus and green beans, all lightly grilled and delightfully tasty.

I recommend making a reservation on the early side. Once the place fills up -- and it has every time I've been there -- it's so loud it's impossible to hold a conversation. Omai attracts an interesting crowd, so it's always fun to eavesdrop on the people at adjoining tables, or even those across the room who you can hear because of an odd acoustic bounce. Or you can play a one-person game of "telephone" and try to imagine what your companion is talking about.

Or you can do what I usually do: focus on the excellent food and the spare but interesting decor, and catch up on the conversation later, over tea and dessert elsewhere.

Jefferson Diner, Lake Hopatcong, NJ

The exterior of this gleaming chrome diner looks like it's hand-waxed daily. It sparkles, even on a cloudy day. The place also twinkles inside, with Lucite ceiling fans, mirrors in all shapes and sizes, etched glass, several shades of neon, and shining dessert cases with a huge selection of sweets displayed on slowly revolving shelves. Some of the upholstery patterns look Uncle Louie-inspired, in dazzling color combinations.

The menu, of course, is enormous, and the kitchen sends out plates the size of buffet platters in a steady stream. The Jefferson offers more kinds of french fries than I've ever seen in one place, including Midnight Disco fries (brown gravy) and a combo platter with regular, spicy, waffle, and sweet potato fries. It's a great place to go if you're hungry enough to eat a horse, or just spent the afternoon riding one.

My ideal meal includes tastes of a lot of different things, so I opted for a salad with grilled chicken, roast peppers, fresh mozzarella, grilled portobellos, and even some nice crisp greens, with balsamic vinaigrette. Those ingredients yielded lots of tasty combinations, including mini-sandwiches I built on the accompanying pita. Pita usually tastes stale and cardboard-y to me, but this had a nice, chewy, almost bagel-like consistency.

Want some more hot water for your tea? The waitress delivers a new cup of steaming water, plus a new bag, each time. Bad news if you're watching your caffeine intake, and washing all those cups probably isn't totally environmentally sound. Still, it's hard to fault them for being so eager to please.

Pleasantville Diner, Pleasantville, NY

This is a good place to have a bite while talking over the movie you've just seen at the Jacob Burns. The menu is enormous, but simple preparations are better. My Greek-style roast chicken was a tender half chicken with a nice garlic, lemon and parsley sauce. Dinner included a big Greek salad with romaine, feta, tomato, olives, cucumber, onion and dolma, all very fresh; roast potatoes, mashed potatoes (two kinds of spuds? go figure!), and steamed veg. I opted to skip the bread basket the waiter offered. Even without it, I took home enough leftovers for two more meals. Cooked veg are the diner's downfall: They look nice and bright and fresh, but are soggy and tasteless. The menu includes a big selection of meal-size salads with grilled chicken or fish. Based on the Greek salad that came with dinner, I'm likely to choose from that page on my next visit.

David King, White Plains

Back in the day when we lived on takeout, David King was practically on our speed dial. Feeling swamped with work last week, we "treated" ourselves to an order of old faves. Everything was so-so, pretty bland, except for the supposedly spicy garlic broccoli. That was sweet and oily. Delivery used to be super-fast, we'd joke about expecting to hear the doorbell within minutes of hanging up the phone. Not this time. It was a half-hour or 40 minutes.

Now I'm in the market for another place in White Plains that will deliver decent Chinese food.