Dixie Vengeance?

Have you ever been to Connecticut's Shady Glen? And have you had what All-American foodies Jane & Michael Stern call 'the most amazing cheeseburger we've ever met'? 

I was first introduced to the burger in 1970, laid out on a very large platter with a side of crinkle cut fries just across the formica counter-top from my own pb&j.  As skinny as she is, my momma is a huge foodie and used to love her some Shady Glen cheeseburger.  And it is a sense of familial loyalty that now compels me to report on the burger brouhaha currently afoot.

In 1948, the original Shady Glen Dairy Bar opened smack in the middle of Connecticut cow country. And very soon after, the Bernice Original was introduced, a grilled burger surrounded by a large dose of melted American cheese, made extremely crisp by a well-seasoned griddle.

Originally, the cheese came directly from the owners' local Jerseys & Guernseys. More recently, Shady Glen was purchasing twenty four tons of cheese a year from a Wisconsin supplier, made only from the milk of Northern cows. For the past several weeks, however, there have been reported grumblings over the quality of the cheese covering this iconic burger. And even The Hartford Courant was reporting that some were threatening to "boycott the Manchester dining gem until something is done about that cheese."

Enter the Glen's owner, suitably distressed, who immediately began searching for a cause. And what did he find? That his supplier had recently moved its Wisconsin headquarters, shifted its supplier base, and  the milk used in Shady Glen's ill-received cheese was now coming from Southern cows. 

I'm just sayin'