Beloved Syracuse restaurants and recipes: Tubbert's Restaurant Brown Bread

Photo courtesy of David Haas - Storycuse.com

Tubbert's is one of those long-gone Syracuse restaurants that stirs wistful memories in Central New York residents of a certain age.

Old newspaper articles on the restaurant -- and family members with fond memories, including my Aunt Dorothy (Sarvay), of Cortland -- paint the picture of a large, rambling restaurant, housed in a stately mansion on Court Street, at North Salina Street, in Syracuse. The restaurant was destroyed by fire in the 1960s.

 

Tubbert's was open for lunch and dinner and was a well-known dining destination. Before his name was on cake mixes and other products, Duncan Hines, a pioneer in developing and publishing restaurant ratings for travelers, recommended Tubbert's as part of his nationwide search for the best places to eat, "Adventures in Good Eating.'' This was in the 1930s.

 

Tubbert's was noted for its home-style cooking, generous servings and gracious service. The restaurant had multiple dining rooms, kitchens on two floors and is said to have employed an army of cooks, bakers and servers. The dinner menu offered items like prime rib of beef, steaks, Virginia ham with raisin sauce, chicken and seafood, with the diner's choice of potato and salads. Vegetables were served family style and wise patrons left room for homemade cake and pie for dessert. Meals started off with a relish tray and a basket of Tubbert's Brown Bread, which, according to newspaper accounts was either a simple, hearty brown loaf or a brown bread studded with dates and nuts, served with a ramekin of cream cheese.

 

FOR MORE ON THE HISTORY OF TUBBERT'S, visit my friend David Haas' website, Storycuse, and check out his Instagram account, @SyracuseHistory.

 

I found this recipe for Tubbert's Brown Bread, clipped form the Syracuse Herald-Journal, in my mother's recipe file. Since we had all the ingredients on hand, I decided to give it a try. It makes a dense brown loaf, with a slight sweetness from the molasses and sugar. Slice it thick and slather with butter -- or cream cheese. 

 

Tubbert's Brown Bread

 

4 cups whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup molasses

3 tablespoons melted shortening, cooled slightly

1 cup sour milk (see note)

 

Heat oven to 350 degrees and place rack in center of oven. Grease and lightly flour a loaf pan.

 

Mix dry ingredients together in a large bowl, leaving a well in the center. Add wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Bake about 1 hour (or a little more, depending on your oven), or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

 

To make sour milk: Add 1 tablespoon vinegar or lemon juice to a measuring cup then add enough milk to measure 1 cup.  Stir and let stand for five minutes or more before adding to recipe.

 

Note: The recipe makes a large, dense loaf that is best on the first and second day.  If you like, cut bread in half, double wrap half in plastic wrap and freeze for later use.

 

 

Comments

[Margaret @ Eat First]

Thank you so much for sharing your memories! You are right - restaurants like Tubbert's don't exist anymore, in Syracuse or anywhere else, it seems.

[Harry G. Rogers]

My father worked at Carrier and lived in Syracuse during the early 40's and then moved to Johnson City when he was hired by IBM (Big Blue). My sister was born in Syracuse and I was born in Johnson City. While growing up in the fifties my mom and dad would (about 4 or 5 times a year) take my sister and me on the two hour drive up to Syracuse to eat dinner at Tubbert's. To this day I can still vividly recall the warm yet elegant dining on both floors in the varied and relatively small dining rooms. In the sixties my sister and I went off to college, my parents moved to Raleigh, NC and we never again went to Tubbert's, but the memory of eating there has stayed with me my whole life. I always tried to find Tubbert's when ever I went to Syracuse but never did...now I know why. It's truly sad that people today will never enjoy the wonderful experience of dining at Tubbert's (or any restaurant like it) as they must now be relegated to Applebee's and Olive Garden type dining Thanks for your article.

[Margaret at Eat First]

Awww - thank you! David is such a nice man and he really inspired me. I love making use of the Onondaga County Public Library historic newspaper databases - it's easy to get lost there. Thank you for being a reader!

[Barbara]

Love this post, Margaret!