Food Fair Spotlight: Triple XXX Root Beer

Yes, I know that Triple XXX has a not-nice meaning in today’s world, but there was a time when it was a very popular brand of root beer. Think of those “little brown jugs” thoroughly enjoyed by happy-drunk mountain men in the old cartoons: they all have three big XXX’s on them. I believe that was the idea behind the brand’s name.

Reportedly, the X’s were indicative of an old rating system used for a variety of goods, with each X signifying an extra layer of excellence. Think of it as an outdated way to say that the root beer was rated 3/3 stars, and was therefore of the highest quality.

Triple XXX had a presence at the World’s Fair selling “soft drinks.” One can only surmise that they sold root beer, and possibly only root beer.

The origins of Triple XXX date back to Galveston, Texas, circa 1908. Its popularity spread in the following decade, and by the 1920s, Triple XXX root beer stands were popping up nationwide. The first drive-in restaurant in Washington State, offering hamburgers and sodas, was a Triple XXX location that opened in Renton in 1930.  Several more followed suite, including locations in Seattle, Issaquah, and Tacoma. 

Chiang’s Gourmet on Lake City Way in Seattle is a former Triple XXX (Rutherford’s Triple XXX). See the rooftop barrel?

Over time, the drive-ins closed, and so did the Galveston Brewing Company (now called the Triple XXX Corporation).  However, there are two independently owned Triple XXX locations still thriving: a location dating to 1929 in West Lafayette, Indiana, and a 1968 incarnation in Issaquah, Washington.

Issaquah Triple XXX Restaurant, and only other Triple XXX building left in Washington. Big Daddy’s Drive-in (Auburn) was demolished c. 2016

The Indiana location bought the Triple XXX name, rights, and recipe when the Triple XXX Corporation went under in 1985, and continues to produce the soda in Chicago. Although not the original recipe, it is the Triple XXX Corporation’s last incarnation of the recipe, reformulated in the 80s to remove the sassafras.

A former Triple XXX in Auburn, as seen in 2012 (RIP). A statue called “Crow with Fries” sits here now.

About 10 years ago, Triple XXX could be found in many grocery stores in the “nostalgic sodas” section. It’s not nearly as easy to find now, but can still be purchased from the West Lafayette location or online (I bought mine here). Be prepared to empty your wallet for shipping costs, though…

Catch you next week!

Food Fair Recipe: Tarte Au Citron

Welcome back! Today is the first day of autumn, and week 23 of the Food Fair series! The number of weeks left could be counted on one hand, but there are still plenty of cuisine types and brands that have not been covered.

Today’s recipe hails from Europe, more specifically, France. Multiple vendors at the fair featured French foods. La Balcone, a restaurant located on the balcony of the Food Circus building, served French and Creole cuisine (including frog’s legs!) Located on the fair’s Boulevard West was French café, Amar. On the same walkway was Madame Carsignol-Perves (called The French Corner in some sources), selling French food and “merchandise.” One location that shows up in many fair photos and even in “It Happened at the World’s Fair” is Paris Bagatelle, a festive storefront serving French foods and pastries.

While I could find a menu for La Balcone, its dessert menu didn’t seem particularly French (apple pie with cheddar or mint-chocolate chip ice cream, anyone?) With no menus to be found for any of the other French restaurants, I decided to turn to my vintage French cookbooks and decided upon Tartes au Citron, or lemon tarts.

The recipe I used came from a very cool publication put out by Habitat (the once-thriving British home goods store) in the late 1960s. Called “Paris a la Carte,” it features a selection of menus and recipes from many of France’s famous restaurants. The tarte aux citron recipe came from La Coupole, a 1920s brasserie that continues to operate today.

Tarte au Citron
La Coupole, Paris (via Paris a la Carte)
Makes 10-12 little tartlets

Make a pate brisée with 1lb sieved flour, 8 oz of butter, 1 1/2 oz sugar, a teaspoon of salt, and a little cold water to work the dough–about 8 tablespoons. Make the pastry the day before, cover or wrap, and leave in a cool place.

For the filling: the juice of 6 lemons, the zest of one lemon, 1lb of caster sugar, 6 eggs, and 4 1/2 oz of melted butter. It is rather liquid and should be cooked very slowly at the same time as the pastry. Roll out the pate brisée and press into little tart tins. Fill with mixture and cook for about 40 minutes in a slow oven (about 325 F).

This recipe is both easy and delicious! It takes a little time to line all of the tart tins and juice the lemons, but the finished product tastes like a delicious lemon curd on a buttery shortbread. I took some to work, where they were a big hit with colleagues.

I can’t find proof that lemon tartes were served at the fair, but with the multitude of pastry shops located around the fair grounds, I think it’s safe to say that they may have been (along with, we can assume, croissants).

Catch you next week for a product spotlight that has been a long time in the making!

Food Fair Spotlight: Aplets & Cotlets

Welcome back for another food fair spotlight! Today, we’re going to look at a Washington invention that recently celebrated it’s 100th birthday.

In the early 1900s, two Armenians met in Seattle. Armen Tertsagian had immigrated through Ellis Island, and Mark Balaban was visiting from England. The two became fast friends and decided to go into business together, opening an Armenian Restaurant and a yogurt factory. Both enterprises were a bit ahead of their time and were not very successful. To add to these failed businesses, the young Armenians found Seattle’s weather much too gloomy for their taste. They soon set off across the mountains to Cashmere, purchasing an orchard they named Liberty Orchards.

During World War I, times were tough for everybody, especially orchardists. Looking for a unique way to use up surplus fruit, Tertsagian and Balaban began producing dried fruit and Applum, a apple-plum jelly. They soon added a cannery, Wenatchee Valley Foods, to their portfolio.

While the cannery was hugely successful, the friends brainstormed other ways to use excess fruit and thought of Rahat Locoum, a candy they had loved as children. After much experimentation at the stove, an apple and walnut variety was developed, and Aplets were born! The candy was an instant success, and Tertsagian traveled around the Pacific Northwest, selling this new product. A few years later, Cotlets were added to their product line.

Before long, a popular Aplets & Cotlets mail-order program was established, allowing residents of the Pacific Northwest to send the candies to friends from far and wide.

During the sugar rationing of World War II, Liberty Orchards focused on its canned food business. Aplets and Cotlets were only produced on occasion. After the war ended, the cannery was sold and production efforts focused on the popular candy.

Tertsagian passed away in 1952, and Balaban passed in 1956. Balaban’s nephew, John, and Tertsagian’s son-in-law, Dick (both longtime Liberty Orchard employees), assumed leadership of the company. Liberty Orchards continued to grow under their lead.

Their booth at the 1962 World’s Fair introduced Aplets and Cotlets to a global audience, causing sales to soar. Washington’s next World’s Fair, Expo ’74 featured a new product, the Grapelet, which was named “the official candy of Expo ’74.”

Liberty Orchards continued to promote its products at fairs and with parade floats. When John and Dick were reaching retirement age, they brought one of Tertsagian’s grandsons, Greg, on board to take over the company.

After serving as Liberty Orchard’s president for over 30 years, Greg announced his plans to retire. Younger generations of the family were not interested in taking over the company, and a buyer was sought. With no deal in place, Liberty Orchards announced that it would close in June 2021.

In the nick of time, a deal was reached with KDV USA, which kept production, and over 100 local jobs, in Cashmere. It also saved the “Confection of the Fairies,” which has been enjoyed for 101 years.

Catch you next week for another recipe!

Food Fair Recipe: Spaghetti

It’s officially September, and the State Fair (or the Puyallup Fair as I still call it) is in full swing. That means that now through the 25th, you have the opportunity to enjoy a slice of 1962 World’s Fair history firsthand:

The 76 Skyride from the World’s Fair has been at the Puyallup Fair since 1980, and it offers a great view of the grounds. Since the skyride turned 60 this year, I had to ride it for myself. A round-trip ride will set you back $9.60 and is slightly scary at first, but it really is a fun and retro experience. Just be warned that the 60-year-old windows don’t make for clear aerial photographs, especially at night.

Now on to this week’s recipe! Located in the Food Circus was a place called Luigi’s, which served up ravioli, meatballs, and spaghetti. The fair’s official press book called the restaurant Little Luigi’s and stated that it specialized in $1.50 spaghetti dinners (nearly $15 in today’s dollars). Whatever the name of the restaurant, there was indeed spaghetti at the fair, which is what we will look at today.

While it has long been associated with Italy, the origins of spaghetti, especially pasta, are unclear. Pasta was likely invented in the Middle East thousands of years ago. The first version of spaghetti likely emerged in the 1150s, the same century in which pasta production is believed to have begun in Sicily. A recipe for pasta with tomato juice first appeared in the 1870s.

Today’s recipe comes from Pan American’s Complete Round-the-World Cookbook from 1959.

Tomato Sauce for Spaghetti (Salsa di Pomodoro)
1/4 c olive oil
3 onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tablespoons chopped parsley
2 No. 2 1/2 cans Italian-style tomatoes
3 tablespoons white wine
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon oregano
1/4 cup chopped spinach (optional)
1/4 cup chopped mushrooms (optional)

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan. Add the onions and garlic and sauté for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the parsley, tomatoes, wine, salt, pepper, and oregano. Stir well. Cover and cook over low heat for 2 hours. Add the spinach and mushrooms. Cover and cook over low heat for 2 hours. Force the mixture through a sieve. Correct seasoning. Serve over spaghetti or other Italian macaroni. A glass of Chianti, Barbera, or Bardolino wine is excellent with this sauce.

Note: The sauce improves with flavor as it cooks. If possible, make the sauce the day before it is used, and reheat before serving.

This sauce was pretty easy to make (once the onions were chopped!) A no. 2 1/2 can translates to approximately a 27-29 oz can today. I used Private Selection canned tomatoes that included basil. While I agree that the sauce tastes better the next day, it was too acidic for my taste. I’m not sure that I’d make it again. Perhaps my biggest tip is to skip the sieve: use a food processor or blender instead.

I should hate to end this post without acknowledging today’s sad news: the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. She was truly one of a kind, and will be remembered for her grace, dignity, service, and strong faith. The Queen actually visited Seattle with Prince Philip in 1983 (and even rode the Monorail!). King 5 News released an article about her visit that you can read here.

See you next week!

Food Fair Spotlight: Ore-Ida Potatoes

“Those wonderful French fries you enjoy at the Seattle World’s Fair are a tasty treat from the fabulous land of Ore-Ida.” So reads a full-page advertisement in the fair’s Official Guidebook. Much like Bar-S was featured as the supplier of the fair’s meats, Ore-Ida provided vendors with French fries.

Like many of the foods served at Century 21, Ore-Ida was a product of the Pacific Northwest. Founded in 1952, Ore-Ida’s roots stretch back to the Great Depression and two determined brothers.

F. Nephi and Golden Grigg were born and raised in Idaho, and came of age in the midst of the Depression. Like most people in their hometown, they became corn farmers and sold their produce door-to-door. Looking to improve the quality of their product, the industrious Griggs went to work, finding that midnight harvests meant peak freshness and better-tasting corn. This discovery led to a surge in their corn’s popularity, and soon demand has surpassed what they alone could grow.

By the 1940s, the brothers had relocated to Ontario, Oregon, where the Bridgford Company of California would soon build a flash-freezing plant. While their business was booming, the Bridgford Company was discovering that their new plant was not built with the local climate in mind. After only five years in operation, the plant closed, and Bridgford Company ended up in bankruptcy court. Believing that the future was in frozen foods, the Griggs mortgaged their farms (and homes!) and bought the flash-freezing plant, which was located on the border between Oregon and Idaho. The location prompted the Grigg brothers to rename their company Ore-Ida.

In 1946, another Idaho native, J.R. Simplot, had discovered how to freeze French fries without them turning black. While the Grigg brothers were already finding success with frozen corn, they wanted in on the frozen French fry market as well. They bought a French fry cutter, but there was a problem: potatoes were not rectangular, and little pieces of potato were always wasted during the manufacturing process.

Originally the pieces were gathered up and fed to livestock owned by the Grigg family. This was a good solution for a while, but soon the excess was in excess and Nephi was frustrated to waste so much clean, peeled potato on cattle. After seeing a prune sorter demonstration, Nephi and his plant superintendent set out to redesign the prune sorter, seeing if it could form the leftover bits of potato into something useable.

The tater tot was born.

The tater tot debuted at the 1954 National Potato Convention, where it was an instant success. Anticipating that copycats would soon arrive on the scene, the Griggs trademarked the name “Tater Tot,” bought new machinery, and began producing the salty morsels in mass that same year. Ore-Ida held one quarter of the frozen potato market in the 1950s.

The company opened a second plant in 1960 and went public the following year. Business was booming, with an annual profit of $31 million in 1964 alone. However, with rumors of nepotism running rampant at the company, the Griggs sold Ore-Ida to Heinz in 1965 for a cool $30 million.

In an interesting twist of events, Heinz announced in March of this year that they would sell the Ore-Ida plant that started it all to J.R. Simplot Co. Ore-Ida products will continue to be manufactured there in a special contract with Simplot.

With the arrival of September, there are only 7 weeks remaining in this series! I hope you have enjoyed what I have covered so far. Catch you next week for another recipe!