LOCALadk Magazine

Eat 'n Meet Grill and Larder Story By Phil LaMarche Photos By Scott Mierop Last winter, my wife and I visited some friends in Lake Placid with an itinerary that included some cross country skiing, some runs at Whiteface, and, while most of our meals would be packed lunches and PB&J's (did I mention we have a toddler?), we had hoped to sneak in at least one adult meal at a favorite High Peaks eating establishment. Well, as anyone who has ever had a nine-month old (or has even been in the same neighborhood as one) knows, with one of those little rascals around, you can take your beloved itinerary, hold a match to the corner, and watch it blaze. Within hours of pulling into Placid, my wife and I found ourselves at the emergency room with our son bleeding from the mouth. One of his shiny new front teeth was sticking out about ninety degrees from where it should have been; every time he smiled I had to stifle my gag reflex. It's a long story involving a Pack-and-Play (henceforth known in our family as the Unpack-and-Disaster) that culminated with a dentist working out the offending tooth with a pair of pliers. HIGH PEAKS ITINERARY/DAY ONE: All plans cancelled. Instead of our adult meal out, we ate a frozen pizza in our friend's basement, which tasted so bad I wondered if I had mistakenly cooked and eaten the cardboard box it came in. But, they say that when one door closes, another opens; in our case that door happened to be in Saranac Lake, on the way home. For several years I had heard talk of a hole-inthe-wall in Saranac that has food to beat the band. Meat and Greet, Greet and Eat, Eat the Meat? Something like that. Don't be in a rush, I'd been told, this guy cooks everything from scratch. Only two tables in the joint. Makes a reuben that will make you kill a man. 34 LOCALadk Magazine Fall into Winter 2013 The Eat 'n Meet Grill and larder is out on Broadway, in the building that once served as the Footrest Cafe. You'll know you've found it when you see the life-sized Elvis mannequin looming on the second story porch. I felt like I was in the right place when I looked at the vent hood in the kitchen and saw a bumper sticker proclaiming, "I'm Happier Than a Carp in a Septic Tank." We ordered a variety off their menu, homemade kielbasa with peppers and onion ($10), Jamaican beef patty ($3), pan roasted Brussels sprouts ($4) and took a seat at one of the three Formica tables in their dining area (they do a lot of take-out). We were lucky enough to walk in during some rare down time—while Eat 'n Meet is new to us, they're no secret—and I had the pleasure to talk to the owners, John

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