California Here I Come! (Part 1)

In early January I got a call form my buddy Rich.  Rich is a photographer in Scranton, PA and travels often, mostly to professional meetings and trade shows.  Rich asked me if I wanted to join him in March when he had a trip planned to San Diego.  I told him that I would check out my schedule and try to make it.  As the dates got closer I was able to work it out.  My company has many more flights from Dulles to Los Angeles than we do to San Diego, so I looked into checking out places that were not only in San Diego but also along the way on the 2 hour drive from LAX to San Diego. 

I actually planned to fly out a day earlier than Rich, on Tuesday March 15th, on an early morning nonstop.  Arriving into LA at around 10am, it was off to get the rental and head to San Diego, but there were a few places to check out on the way.  First stop was in Long Beach, "At Last Cafe" is a small artsy cafe in a quiet neighborhood in Long Beach.  As I was driving through Long Beach, I saw that they were setting up bleachers along the roads for the soon t be run Grand Prix of Long Beach.  After arriving at the At last I was seated in a small booth and tried the signature Pork Chop meal that was featured on DDD along with an Orangeade, both were very good.  The small cafe is very popular and for lunch there is alot of traffic in and out of the restaurant.  The chef-owner met me and was happy to sign the book.  From there it was on to Anaheim and a place that is a landmark in the community, "Mamma Cozza's Italian".  This classic Italian eatery has been there since the 1940's and the walls are adorned with alot of pictures of celebrities that have eaten there.  In the hall way to the rest room are photos of many of the Disney celebrities that have eaten there as the Disneyland Resort is not too far away.  I got the signature dish there which is Pasta with Domery Sauce.  Domery Sauce is a tomato based with sausage and clams and is a bit on the spicy side but very good.  The coolest thing about Mamma's is that it is truly an Italian place with all the sides and homemade bread sticks on the table as soon as you sit down along with a side of marinated veggies.  Mr. Cozza, the co-founder signed the book, how cool is that!  I was then on the 5 Freeway south the San Diego, as I was getting on the Freeway I looked over and there it was the Pink Castle at "The Happiest Place on Earth", Snow White's Castle at Disneyland.

I checked into the hotel for one night and fell asleep almost instantly, I had worked overnight, caught a morning flight, stopped at two places and then drove 2 hours to San Diego, it had been a long day.  Luckily the next place I wanted to try was a 24 hour diner.  I went over to the "Studio Diner" a classic silver aluminum diner, that is seen all over the northeast.  For midnight the place was very buys and I had to try to whole belly clam dinner, another DDD featured dish.  They were very good, but a little bit more expensive than I would have liked. 

The next day Rich was scheduled to arrive around 1030a, so I had planned to check-out of the hotel, check out a DDD breakfast joint and then pick up Rich.  I would stay the next few nights with Rich at his hotel in the LaJolla area of San Diego.  I went to breakfast at a place that I am not really sure how to describe, it is a diner in the menu and food, but it is way more upscale than any diner I have ever been to.  "Hob Nob Hill" is in the hills above San Diego and affords a great view of San Diego's Lindbergh Airport.  I went in and as I said this is basically a diner but is very upscale, nice appointments and a staff that are uniformed in a very posh setting.  I got the Roast Beef Hast breakfast, which included eggs, potatoes, and a biscuit.  Get this, the Orange Marmalade was presented in a hollowed out orange!  Food was very good and service even better, if you are in the San Diego area, try Hob Nob Hill!

Well, it was now time to go get Rich and continue the adventure....Until next time!

A New Year and a Quest

As 2011 began (with a great Caps win in the NHL Winter Classic!, Thanks Dave Steckel - you hockey fans know what I am referring to!) I really began with a mission, get to Hawaii in December with a party of number 150, but I was sitting at 102, so I had some places to try.  Last may Guy was in the DC area and visited 5 or 6 places so I figured it was time to "go local"!  My friend Amy asked when I would be going to a place near her home in Silver Spring, MD and ironically Guy visited a place just a mile or so from her home called "The General Store".  I met Amy at her home and we made the drive over to the restaurant.  The restaurant is located in an old General Store located next to a historic Post Office, that now operates as, well, I am not really sure.  The small building is home ot some really good food and presented in a unique manner.  The menu changes from day to day and if you went there on a Sunday night they presented a fixed menu.  The specialty there is their Fried Chicken, but they also make some really good sides and a very unique Orange Glazed Brie and Turkey Turnovers.  The owner-chef is Gillian Clark opened the place just a few years ago after coming to the area from her native Denver.  She had a good time on the DDD episode with Guy.  Since then she beat Bobby Flay on his Food Network show "Throwdown with Bobby Flay"  beating him in a Fried Chicken Throwdown.  Both Amy and I got the Fried Chicken dinner which was fabulous, maybe the best Fried Chicken I have ever had, with a side of mac and cheese, which was very good and great cornbread (and I like cornbread but not a favorite).  I also got a Brie Turkey trunove and it was really good, too.  It was a great fun have a wonderful meal and sharing it with a super friend!  I knew that I wanted to go back,especially since it is so close.  I did return a few weeks later and tried the Chicken and Waffles on a Sunday morning and it was also very good.  The General Store has since closed, not due to lack of patronage but over a dispute over rent, I really hope that Gillian opens up in a new location. 

I met up with another high school friend, Charlie, t0 visit a classic diner in Arlington, VA named the "Metro 29 Diner".  This is a classic Jersey style Diner, form what was revealed on the DDD episode, the diner is 12,000 square feet, 6000 on the upper customer level and 6000 on the lower lever where they prep all the great meals and bake all their own bread and pastries.  They make their own Halal Bread for the French Toast.  Charlie and I met up there on a Sunday night and I got the classic "Sunday Greek Lamb Dinner".  It was featured on the show and this is the type of meal that Greeks have on a Sunday afternoon.  It featured soup, salad a nice portion of lamb and two veggies.  the meal was very good and I am looking forward to going back to try more of their great food.

One of my "new" traditions is to take a cruise during the Super Bowl and this year my friend Jeanne and I planned for a cruise on Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas for the big game and we met up a day before the ship sailed in South Florida.  Now this was a big time for Jeanne as it was not only the Super Bowl, but her hometown team the Green Bay Packers were playing the game, so she got me some packers stuff to wear during the game, I am not a big fan of Green Bay but since they were playing the Steelers, who I REALLY don't like, I became a huge Pack fan for the game!  In two other trips to the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area there was one DDD location that for some reason I could not find, the GPS would send me to the middle of the road near some swamps, and it became my mission to find the "Blue Marlin Fish House".  Barry and I had tried but failed, I had tried on my own and failed so I was hoping that the third time would be the charm!  I picked up Jeanne off of her Frontier flight from Milwaukee and away we went in search of what seemed impossible to find!  I followed the GPSand it seemed like, here we go again!  But as we made the same turns, the GPS read turn left and Jeanne looked to the right and saw a small sign reading "Blue Marlin Fish House", "Thee it is!"  I had to make a u-turn and turn into what looked to be a small state or local park and the Blue Marlin is like an outdoor lunch shack.  Jeanne was a bit less adventurous and got a burger that she said was great.  We shared the Grouper Fish Spread and I got a Shell Fish sandwich that was very good.  The Blue Marlin, despite being hard to find is worth the time and attempts that it takes to find it.

The cruise was great!  The Packers won!  What could be better!

Hitting the Century Mark and Beyond!

Benny's Seafood, My 100th DDD Visit!



Lobster Mofungo at Benny's

 As many of you know I love to cruise.  I have been on over 50 cruises and really have found no way that I like to get away than on a cruise ship.  I have cruised on many different cruise lines but Royal Caribbean (RCI) is the line I have been on the most.  The cruise lines have loyalty programs that are like the ones that all the airlines have.  On RCI I had attained the Diamond Level, which is a pretty high level but I was just a few cruise credits away from attaining the highest level (since becoming the second highest level) called Diamond Plus.  RCI announced last year that December would be Diamond December with Diamond members getting double cruise credits during December.  I looked into taking a cruise and saw that I could take two cruises, a 3 night followed by a 4 night on the same ship for LESS than doing a regular 7 night cruise and get 4 credits in the deal, so I booked back to back cruises on RCI's Majesty of the Seas for the first week of December.  The two cruises would start on Friday and then Monday so I decided to fly down to the Miami area (into Ft. Lauderdale on jetBlue) two days before the cruise and try as many of the DDD locations in the Miami area that I could.  After arriving an getting the car I headed down to Miami to my first of 4 stops on the day.  The first place is in the Little Havana area of Miami, near the location of the old Miami Orange Bowl stadium where the new huge Florida Marlins baseball stadium is being built and will open in Spring 2012.  I found "La Camonera" in a very busy strip mall.  This restaurant is really a fish market with a large lunch counter inside.  They fry alot of the fish there and I got a Fried Shrimp Sandwich that was very good and thankfully not too spicy.  It was then onto a very cool restaurant just over the causeway in Miami Beach.  "Tap Tap" features Haitian cuisine and it seems almost like it is an Haitian art museum.  The walls are covered with colorful Haitian art.  I got a small portion of Oxtail, which is a traditional meal in Haiti.  I was able to chat with the owner-chef who was featured on the DDD episode and he told me all about the restaurant and his cooking with Guy.  He was a great guy and not only made me feel welcome but invited me to walk all around the restaurant to see all the artwork.  From there I needed a break and went over to the airport to find the offices of "Airliners", a magazine I have subscribed to since it debuted in the late 1980's.  I had a nice visit with the editors and told them all about the Washington Airline Society (of which I am the current President) and the airline scene in the DC area.  After a nice visit I headed to a small town called Kendall Lakes to go to my 99th DDD visit.  "Jamaica Kitchen" features authentic Jamaican cuisine and also features a Chinese-Jamaican fusion cuisine.  Jamaica Kitchen is a carry-out restaurant and I was able to get a real light Jamaican snack of a turnover and malt drink.  I chatted with the owner and she gave me some of the dirt surrounding Guy's visit there.  She told me that Guy showed up a few hours late, which infuriated the chef to no end.  I found out that one of the reasons he has featured so many South Florida locations is due to the fact that The Food Network sponsors teh Miami Food and Wind Festival each year so Guy films locations during that time and it seems that Guy had had a really fun night before coming to the restaurant, you'd never know it from watching the episode!  For dinner that night I headed to a place that I had pre-selected as my 100th location, "Benny's Seafood".  Benny's was featured in an early episode and it is one of Guy's favorites and features Puerto Rican cuisine.  The specialty at Benny's is Mofungo.  Mofungo is a meal consisting of smashed plantains, spices and sauces and topped with the meat, fish or vegetable of your choice.  I got the Lobster Mofungo, come on it was number 100!  The staff there was very friendly but I didn't see the owner-chef, so I asked the server if she would sign my book and explained what I was doing so she went into the office and got the owners, the main chef and his wife and they were every happy to see me and not only signed my book but gave me a traditional Puerto Rican drink to celebrate my achievement, what a great place and super people!

The next day I planned to see my friend Jeff, who is a Circuit Court judge in Ft. Lauderdale and spend the day watching him in his courtroom.  I had to be there at 11am so I headed out early north about 25 miles to Boynton Beach to a real New York style diner called Flakowitz of Boynton Beach.  This is a very popular diner in a strip mall and a very good place for a meal.  I was seated in a long booth that is shared by others a and as I sat down a plate of homemade sweet rolls was placed on my table.  I got the typical scrambled egg breakfast, but the real fun was eaves dropping on the conversation next to me, I thought I was in an episode of Seinfeld!  They were more seasoned citizens and they were talking about their homeowners association and running for office, I thought I next to Seinfeld's parents!  Onto court, very interesting and fun to see Jeff in action.  For dinner I went to Deerfield Beach to try a seafood joint called "Whale's Rib Raw Bar".  the seaside eatery is all wood and very popular and features all types of seafood, I liked it!

After a fun and relaxing cruise I returned home and had planned a celebration dinner for family and friends at my number 68 location "Comet Ping Pong".  The owner told me he would love to have us celebrate there and reserved the huge table of 15 in the center of the restaurant.  We all ate great pizza and calzone and played some ping pong.  I had alot of friends come and also my dad and step-mom, sister, brother, too.  It was a great night!  Shortly afterwards my friend Karin in Hawaii told me that they would hold a part for my 150th visit, so that is what my new goal became, maybe they would host my 200th, we shall see!

My Nephew Nathan at my 100th Celebration at Comet Ping Pong

My friend Eric with a jar of Comet's Pizza Sauce

Comet's Brick Oven Pizza

Me with my dad, step-mom, sister Sue and Brother-in-Law Dale

My Brother Chris and my dad

A Full Day in Connecticut!

Now that my DDD visits was in the 90's I really wanted to get to 100.  I was checking out places that I could go to that were quick trips from Dulles.  I looked into a number of places to try and decided that maybe getting to a few places in the state where I was born would just be the ticket - Connecticut!  I saw that Guy has visited 5 places there and I really had only one day to do it so it would be quite the task.  The flights to Hartford looked pretty good and although I would have to drive some distance to get to the places I wanted to try, Hartford would be easier than flying into New York as the drive is quite a bit easier.  In my planning I decided that I would have time only to get to 4 places so I mapped it out and away I went.

After a quick morning flight into Hartford I got the car and headed down to Southern Connecticut.  The first stop was in the first place I remember living, Norwalk.  I headed into a really great Venezuelan Restaurant called "Valencia Luncheria".  The small cafe is putting out some killer food and the place is always packed, when one table is cleared it is quickly filled.  I got a Pork Arepa, which is like a small, overstuffed sandwich, and a Beef Empenada, which is like a baked turnover, along with a Mango Smoothie made for a great lunch!  I headed into another town where I had lived when I was very young to visit two places Fairfield.  The first stop is a place that has been featured in numerous television shows including the first travel-food show I had ever seen, "Sandwiches That You Will Like" a great PBS show made by Rick Sebak (it gets shown during money raising times).  "Super Duper Weenie" started out as a truck operation but has grown into a popular restaurant.  I got the Slaw Dog and a Regular Dog, both were very good, I just wish we had a place this in then DC area, good hot dogs are hard to find!  I sat at the counter right in front of where the owner did his magic.  After seeing him in so many different shows I really looked forward to talking to him and as I watched, he seemed very open and outgoing to others (I was thinking that they were regulars) but when I I asked told him what I was doing and asked him to sign my book he signed it but really sort of blew me off and that was very disappointing, this was one of the first times that I was treated in in a negative manner, oh well, the food was good!  I went onto an unusual place for Connecticut, homegrown Southern Style Barbecue.  "Wilson's Holy Smoke Barbecue" is sort of a fusion of many types of Southern Barbecue.  I got the Burnt Ends and the meat tips is sauce was very good.  On to my last stop to the town of Westport and a very unique looking diner that appears to be on stilts just off the river and under Interstate 95.  The "Black Duck Cafe" looks like a boathouse and is putting out good burgers and seafood.  I was so full by that time that I tried the Oysters Rock, an oyster and spinach combo that was very tasty.  After getting the book signed it was back to the airport and a quick flight back home.

A few days later I was headed into DC for a meeting at the Air ansd Space Museum I decided to try a place that Guy went to in Falls Church.  This little place is attached to a small hotel called The Stratford.  The place is called "La Carquena" and specializes in Venezuelan and Peruvian Cuisine.  I got there when it opened and was lucky to get a single seat table, they take reservations and they are always full.  I got their version of a Arepa, there's is like a chicken salad sandwich and a very good Empenada. 

My DDD count was now at 96 and I had an upcoming cruise vacation out of Miami and was hoping to get to my 100th location.

Minnesota There I Go (part 2) and maybe some DC!

Bryant Lake Bowl, A Gourmet Restaurant with 10 Lanes of Bowling!

I had another day left in the Twin Cities and then it would be back home.  I made this trip the first weekend of November 2010 and the weather was perfect!  Sunny each day and temps in the 60's.  If I had decided to make this trip just one week later, I would have been in the middle of the first blizzard of the season for the Twin Cites, 2 feet of snow the next weekend, boy am I glad I chose the weekend I did!

I started my third and last day by going to breakfast at a place that was and still is one of the most unique places that I have ever been to.  It is hard to figure out what type of establishment I was at.  The "Bryant-Lake Bowl" is both a gourmet restaurant and a bowling alley.  It is named for the intersection that it sits at in Minneapolis, Bryant and Lake Streets and I arrived there at it's opening time on a nice Saturday morning.  The food they serve here is very good.  I got a Breakfast Quesadilla which was very good.  The place is know for it's quality gourmet meals, but right next to the dining area is a 10 Lane Bowling Alley, I have never seen that before, I have seen lunch counters in bowling alley but usually the most gourmet food at those places is grilled cheese sandwiches and huge greasy fries, not here, oh no!  For lunch I headed to St. Paul to try a staple St. Paul meal at two different places.  The first stop was at "Casper and Runyon's The Nook".  At The Nook, the sandwich to get is the "Juicy Lucy".  This is an 'inside-out' cheeseburger.  This delicious burger has the cheddar cheese inside the burger patties and is served with some really good fries.  the sandwich is served with a warning note about the "Molten Cheese" inside the burger.  From there I went over to the "Blue Door Pub".  At the Blue Door I got the "Juicy Bluecy", pretty much like the burger at The Nook, but the burger is stuffed with Blue Cheese.  I also had to try the "Spam Bites".  The bites are like a hush puppy with a Spam center.  The bites come with a Sweet Chili sauce and are very good.  Spam is made in nearby Austin, Minnesota and really when done in this manner gets a really bad rap!  It is hard to pick which one I enjoyed more, both were excellent, I did like the gooey cheddar better, though.

Niki, The Owner of Victor's 1959

My last meal in the Twin Cities would be with a friend of mine that I have known since my days at Mosby Wood Elementary.  Suzanne has lived in the area for a number of years and we met at a really great (but small) place called "Victors 1959" and specialized in Cuban cuisine.  It was funny as I was driving to Victors I followed my GPS but I could not find it, it is so small that it sits away from the road and Suzanne watched as I drove by it 4 times.  I got a meal called Picadillo, which is a meat based stew that has all kinds of  veggies with alot of capers, it was delicious.  Suzanne and I had to sit at the bar due to the number of others there and that was a real blessing, we got to talk to Nikki, the owner and she told us all about the filming and the fun she had with Guy.  She told me that the meal I got was Guy's favorite and that during breaks he would go back to get more!  Cuban is not the type of food you think about when you hear Minnesota, but if you can try this place.

My Friend Suzanne at Victor's 1959

I flew home and had to bypass a stop in Chicago because if I had stopped there I might still be there!  The flights were all full so Delta Connection brought me home and I must say that they have very nice service and they upgraded me into First Class so you can't beat that!  From Dulles I headed into Washington DC to try two places.  I drive to the East Falls Church Metro and took the train into DC, first stop was the Capitol South Station to try a burger joint called "Tune Inn".  The Tune Inn is a family run place that proudly calls themselves a "DIVE!"  There are alot of cool wall decorations and I got the Roast Beef sandwich and it was very good.  Then I left to Metro over to the U Street Station to try a place that serves authentic "Soul Food".  The place is called "Oohs and Aahs".  The place was packed but there was a seat right next to the grill so I was able to see the chef crank out alot of great food and also talk with the owner, she was super nice!  I got a turkey meal, that was the closest thing to a Pork Chop that you would ever find.  I also got the Mac and Cheese, which was super rich and tasty.  I left as just about everyone else that goes there - VERY FULL!

I drove home and had now visited 91 DDD locations and a fun weekend was over!



The Owner of "Oohs and Aahs" on U Street in DC



Minnesota - Here I Come! (Part 1)









The Tiki Drinks at Psycho Suzy's

 

Dinner at Psycho Suzy's

 In the early seasons of DDD Guy featured a number of locations in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota (MSP).  There were at least two of them that when I saw the episodes I said to myself, "I need to try that place!"  There are more than 10 places in the area so it would be a very aggressive plan to get to 13 places in a few days.  Originally I was planning to go there on a Thursday morning and fly back on a Sunday morning.  As I looked at the flights, the normal routing from Dulles to Minneapolis via Chicago, since United didn't fly nonstop at the time of my trip.  I also thought that I could use the stop in Chicago on the way home to hit a few places in the Chicagoland area.  As the trip got closer the flights didn't look good at all (I fly standby so when flights are full I get left!) so I needed to rethink my flight plans.  As an airline employee we get some discounted tickets on other carriers and so I looked around and saw that Delta had the only nonstops from Dulles and that the flights looked pretty good so I got what we in the airline industry call "ZED" fares on Delta.  I left on a very rainy Thursday morning  on the 630am Delta Connection nonstop flight.  After arriving into MSP I got the car and went into the city to get going.  I headed into a small place in the University of Minnesota area called "The Weinery".  This place is very amazing, on the show and in my visit, the place is a one man show.  One cook who also acts as the server and he makes everything from scratch, if you order slaw he doesn't pull out a big tub from the cooler but pulls out the cabbage and makes it from scratch.  The food was very good and I was very impressed.  I then headed to an interesting place makes their own sausages and specializes in Scandinavian cuisine.  "Kramarczuk's Sausage Company" is a restaurant-deli and has a huge assortment of products.  I tried a dish that is like a huge Swedish Meatball and it was good and very filling.  The staff is mostly family and seemed a bit cold.  They looked at me at some trepidation on how I found them and why I was there but the owner came over and signed the book.  I was there early in the day and would like to try it sometime when it was going full speed.  After resting a bit at the hotel and making a quick stop at the Mall of America I headed to a very eclectic cafe called "The Modern".  It is a quaint place and I got a soup and a specialty drink there and I would say that the prices were a bit higher than I would like to pay, it seemed from what I could see form the others as very good.  I headed to dinner and one of the places that was a reason to make this trip and it has probably the best name of any DDD location.  "Psycho Suzy's Motor Lounge and Tiki Gardens" is one of the most unique places that you could try and was housed at that time in an old A & W Drive-In (it has since moved to a larger location.  The owner (who unfortunately was out a the time of my visit) goes to Tiki Conventions to supply the restaurant with lights and Tiki Cups for the exotic drinks.  I just had to get the Cream Cheese Rollups and  Deviled Eggs (how cool is that!) along with a Tiki Drink.  They also feature Fried Snickers bars, but that was way too much and figured I had tried enough.


 


Al's Breakfast in the Dinkytown area of Minneapolis





Al's James Beard Award (the Academy Awards for Restaurants) hangs over the grill!



The next morning I headed out very early (530a) to go back to the U of Minnesota area to go to the second placed that made me make this trip.  "Al's Breakfast" is a great place, but get there when it opens at 6am or expect to wait!  I got there at 6am and got one of the last seats in this place.  Al's was built many years ago in an alley so it is small and narrow and seats about 25.  Al's owner Doug is quite the character and his restaurant has won a James Beard Award.  The Beard is like the Academy Awards for restaurants and the award is tacked up over the flat top grill!  In front of each seat is a pad of paper the server takes your order on the pad and away your order goes.  It was a fun place and I would go back there any time I am in the area.  I headed up to a place called "Emily's Lebanese Grill".  Emily's looks like a house in a neighborhood.  I tried the Lebanese Burger and it was very tasty.  While there I noticed alot of cool photos all around, all from Lebanon.  There was an older gentleman there wrapping napkins and he came over and showed me all shorts of photos and maps of Lebanon, it was Emily's dad!  The thing that really surprised me was that there are mountains and ski areas in Lebanon, I would not have believed that if not for seeing the photos.  This is a very homey and friendly place.  I then made a road trip out to a town called White Bear Lake.  I had visited White Bear once before as that is the town that my younger brother, Chris, had gotten married as it is the hometown of his wife, my sister-in-law Angie.  She told me that the place I would be visiting "Donatelli's" was a hangout for her in her high school days.  The food was good Italian but, although it's not a chain, it reminded me of a good Italian place that can be found all over the place (we have Giovanni's in Leesburg).  I ended tha day having dinner with a good friend of mine that lives in the area, Ilene met me at the "Town Talk Diner".  The place was packed and I would say it is a "Yuppie Diner"  The food was good and I really enjoyed catching up with a good friend and it is really great to be wioth others when most of the time you're by yourself, so thank Ilene for such a great time. 

My MSP trip was half over but I had another full two days of visits so stay tuned....



Triple D Meets Mayberry!

Elaine, my older brother Tom's wife, sent us notice in the summer that she would be planning a surprise 50th birthday for Tom in early October.  Tom and Elaine live outside Asheville, NC, but with their daughter Rebekah at Salem College in Winston-Salem they travel to see Rebekah as she plays percussion in the Wake Forest University Marching Band for all of the football games (they also travel to most of the basketball games, which is pretty impressive since the drive is about 3 hours).  Elaine planned it to be just prior to the Wake Forest vs. Georgia Tech football game on the first weekend in October very near Tom's actual birthday.  As I was making trip arrangements, I knew I would be driving and looked at some nearby DDD places to try.  Winston-Salem is under 2 hours drive from Charlotte and there were 5 places there I wanted to try (and 2 I wanted to go back to).  The game was on Saturday evening so I headed south on Thursday morning and after a lunch stop with a facebook reconnected friend from high school, Becky I made my way to the Charlotte area.  First stop would be dinner at a very eclectic cafe called simply "Dish".  I had a very delicious Salmon with orange sauce.  Dish is very popular and was pretty busy for a Thursday night.  The next two places I tried were true drive-ins.  Both places "Barbecue King" and "The South 21 Drive In" have no seating area, as your car is the seating area.  Both have really cool lighted signs, the South 21 is awash in neon, and have the always cool silver metal call boxes.  At "Barbecue King" I got an order of their famous onion rings and then at "South 21" I had to try their Cherry Milk Shake.  The problem with true drive-ins for me is that there is very little interaction with the staff, so getting my book signed is a chore, I was successful at South 21 but have yet to get a signature from the Barbecue King.  The next morning I headed to "Landmark Restaurant and Diner" and had a good breakfast there.  The owner and greeter were really surprised that I stopped in and readily signed.  After a visit to the newly opened NASCAR Hall of Fame in downtown Charlotte I made my second visit to "The Penguin" (I had been to The Penguin about 2 years earlier, actually my #8 DDD place).  The Penguin is known for their Fried Pickles and that might not sound too good, they are very tasty.  I also had to get a southern traditional sandwich, the Grilled Pimento Cheese sandwich.  It lived up to it's billing tasty and spicy.  Later I tried a place called "Cabo Fish Tacos".  As I looked at their website I noticed a second location in Balcksburg, VA, home of Virginia Tech, I knew there had to be a connection there.  As I chatted with the owner while he signed he told me that he was a Hokie and that he didn't have any plans to put a location just off campus, but when a really good location became available he jumped and now has two locations!  For dinner I headed into the nearby countryside outside of Charlotte to a place that seems in the middle of nowhere, but everyone makes the trek to try.  "Jake's Good Eats" is a really great place, I would say that it is a can't miss place if you're in the area.  it can be a bit pricey but the food is so worth it. 

Saturday morning came and I was off to Winston-Salem to celebrate Tom's 50th.  The party would be at a Red, Hot and Blue right next to BB and T Field home of the Wake Forest Demon Deacon football team.  I got there early and as Tom and Elaine are "Wine People" we decided to go and try some of the local wineries.  The area just south of Winston-Salem is a huge wine growing area.  The largest one we visited was Richard Childress Winery.  Richard Childress is a famous NASCAR team owner and some of the logos on the bottles have a checkered flag motif.  The party was awesome and Tom was really surprised, especially when my sister Sue and her husband Dale showed up.  As for the game, at halftime they had a birthday tribute to Tom on the stadium scoreboard and although the Deacons lost i the last minute of the game we all enjoy watching Rebekah perform in the band that is known as (I might not be exactly right but close) "The Spirit of the Old Gold and Black".

On Sunday I headed back home but had to make one more stop that was TV related but not DDD related.  The date was October 3, 2010.  On October 3, 1960 on of the best shows ever made debuted on CBS.  "The Andy Griffith Show" is a TV classic and one of my favorite all time shows.  Andy and Opie Taylor, Aunt Bee, Barney Fife and Gomer Pyle all lived in the town of Mayberry, NC.  Mayberry is based on the town of Mt. Airy, NC, which is Andy Griffith's hometown.  Mt. Airy is about 40 miles due north of Winston-Salem.  I just had to be there on the 50th Anniversary of the show.  The town is wonderful, fun to walk around and see, there is the Andy Griffith Playhouse and also the Mt. Airy Museum, that has memorabilia from the show including the suit worn by Otis Cambell.  After a quick visit I headed home and now could say I had been to 76 DDD places.

New Focus and then out to LA

The summer is a tough time to try and rack up out of town DDD locations since the flight loads are always so full and I have to fly on a stand by basis.  So usually I take the summer off, unless it is within driving distance or I am going to be taking the trip anyway. 

In an episode from August 2010 Guy featured a couple from Michigan who were celebrating their 100th DDD location visit.  "Wow" I thought I am at 68 and I can do that so even though I had a LA cruise coming up, I wanted to get busy and get to my 100th, too. 

I was taking a Royal Caribbean cruise out of the Port of Los Angeles and looked at the list and saw two or three places that I could actually get to.  It would be my friend Barry's first visit to the West Coast so I wanted to show him the area.  Now if you know Barry he is very laid back and when I asked him what he wanted to see while out there the only place he really wanted to see was Pepperdine University in Malibu.  We flew out there a day before our friend Jeanne was flying out from Milwaukee and two days before our friend Leslie would be available to meet up with us so I tried to plan something around everyone's travel plans.  I called my cousin Christine (sister to my cousin Ralph, who I had visited the year before).  She told me that she was busy for most of my trip, but could meet us for dinner the day we arrived and I told her that there was this place in Manhattan Beach, near the hotel we were staying at by LAX, called "The North End Caffe".  During the episode Guy had a great time with the chef, who made an appetizer of Hawaiian Pig Egg Rolls and also made his specialty Fettuccine Alfredo.  It seems that the chef is a huge fan of Iron Chef Mario Battali.  He studied while living in Italy and it showed.  Both dishes were delicious.  have a great meal and catching up with Christine was a real treat, I don't get to see her all that often so it was just a wonderful night!  The next day we headed up the Pacific Coast Highway or PCH to go and visit what is probably the most beautiful college campus and best view of any college bookstore in the world, Pepperdine University, home of the Waves.  Before we reached Pepperdine we stopped for lunch at an unusually bright shade of green building that is "Patricks Roadhouse".  Patrick's is on the PCH between Santa Monica and Malibu and is popular as a breakfast and lunch joint.  The Governator Arnold has his own dish on the menu there.  One of the burgers that Guy made on the episode is the Rockefeller Burger, which is a burger topped with sour cream and caviar, the menu said if you have to ask, you can't afford it!  I asked ($14.00) and I didn't want to afford it so both Barry and I got the Dijon Plum Burger.  This unusal burger was also made on the show and it has dijon mustard and plum jelly, which I must say didn't sound too good, I told the chef that I would get that but I was sort of scared of it!  I was amazed, it was delicious and would get it anytime I go there.  i got to talk to the owner about the filming and that was enjoyable, too.  Now if you are in the Malibu area, visit Pepperdine it is a beautiful campus and has and awesome view overlooking the Pacific Ocean.  The next morning I told Barry that I was going to this place about 35 miles south of our hotel in the town of Fountain Valley.  "Paul's Coffee Shop" is one of the few places that when I saw it on DDD I said "I HAVE TO GO THERE!!!"  Paul's is a small place in a strip mall just off the San Diego Freeway (the infamous 405!) in Fountain Valley.  It is run by a retired Marine and it decorated in very Patriotic decor and serves all types of food form American Breakfast fare to Korean dishes.  The thing that made we want to try this place so much was that they serve Cream Chipped Beef on toast, or SOS as it's known in the Military on the famous (or infamous) metal trays like you see on the show M*A*S*H.  There was no question what I would get.  It proved to be an inexpensive and filling breakfast.  After Jeanne flew in we went to a non-DDD place in downtown LA called "Phillippes".  This is the place where the French Dip Sandwich was invented and it was excellent!  I have a friend from high school that has moved out to the LA area and I called her to meet for lunch.  I met up with Patricia for a great lunch in Venice at my old favorite place "Baby Blues Barbecue", just love that Mac and Cheese!  I had a wonderful time catching up with Patricia, her and her family are very special friends to me!

By the way I had a great cruise with fantastic friends and alot of great memories both on the seas and beforehand!

Checkin' out Cleveland and Guy finally get's to DC!

Time to make another road trip and it seemed that Cleveland, Ohio was the place to go.  I contacted a friend that I used to work with that has settled down in the Cleveland area and asked if he might be interested in seeing what his area had to offer.  Joe said yes and took a few days off work to join me on my trip.  I took a 630a flight to Cleveland and hit the ground running.  The first stop was a small neighborhood joint called "Lucky's Cafe".  On DDD while Guy cooked with the owner, Iron Chef Michael Symon, a Cleveland native, came and joined in for a very fun episode.  Joe got a sandwich and I got the Mac and Cheese and it was wonderful.  Joe's wife is from Venezuela so we stopped at a Latino Grocery store to get some items for his wife and then we continued on to the famous market in the downtown area.  For dinner Joe and his family joined in as we headed to an area on the west side of the city called Lakewood and an awesome joint called "Melt Bar and Grilled".    Melt is all about the Grilled Cheese!  This place is so popular that we waited on a Monday night for an hour and it was worth every minute of the wait!  I got a sandwich called "The Parma-gheddon" named for the town of Parma.  The sandwich was a grilled chees with a Perogie in the middle and it was AWESOME.  The menu was huge and it seemed that you couldn't lose with anything that you ordered.  The next day Joe and I went to lunch with Joe's brother and nephew to a unique place called "Sterles Slovenian Country House".  Sterles is a traditional Eastern Europe restaurant serving meals that you would get at a Polka Hall.  The food was plentiful and delicious.  For dinner Joe and I headed to a trendy place called "Momocho Mod Mex", sort of a trendy Mexican joint and it was packed.  Little did I know at the time but when the greeter saw that I had the book with me she gave Joe and I the most unique table in the place.  It was sort of a "Chef's Table".  The cooks were our servers and they explained to us all the ways they prepared the foods that were served there.  We started with a sampler plate of guacamole's, one laced with bleu cheese, one with crab meat and one with bacon, all were excellent but the bleu cheese type was the best.  For my main meal I got Pork Belly Taquitos.  I had never had Pork Belly but had seen it cooked often on the many chef shows I have seen on TV.  They were beyond delicious.  The whole dinner was great and I really was thankful for the special treatment from the entire staff there.  My last day in the area I was on my own and I went to lunch at "Geraci's Italian".  I must say that it was OK.  I spent the afternoon with a friend from work who had retired in the area.  Arlene and Earl are really special people so it was great to see them again.  The last place I tried was the "Parkview Niteclub" a neighborhood bar with really good food.  I tried the Salmon BLT and it didn't disappoint.

Finally after about 3 years on the air Guy came to DC to feature some of the local joints.  The first place was a brick oven pizza joint in Upper Northwest DC just off River Road ans next to a famous bookstore called "Politics and Prose".  The joint is called "Comet Ping Pong".  It is a very good pizza place that has a Ping Pong hall built into it.  I tried two different types of pizza, one was featured on the DDD episode called the "Yalie" which has Clams as it's topping, Guy loved it and the pizza is very good and the crust on the brick oven is awesome.  The other was a soft shell crab pizza, also very good.  One of the unique things there (besides the Ping Pong hall) is that there are no signs on the walls, so finding the rest room can be an adventure!  Just push on the wall and you might fall in!  I would return to Comet for another fun visit, but that's for a future blog!

Triple D in Big D

Some of the tools that I use to plan my travels include Google Maps and both the Food Network sub-website for DDD and I found a new site which I think Guy (or his people) might maintain called Flavortown USA.  The best thing about Flavortown USA is that it breaks down  DDD locations by state.  I maintain a list of all the locations that have been on the show, but that list is by episodes, it's much easier to use the state by state listing.

I looked at a number of cities to visit and then looked at the potential for me to get to on my passes.  I looked at San Antonio, Houston, Atlanta and decided upon Dallas.  In the Dallas/Ft. Worth area (known to many as the Metroplex) there were 7 places to try.  I flew down to Dallas on Easter Sunday 2010 and went to the only place that was open on that day, "Jamaica Gates Caribbean Cuisine".  The restaurant is in the city of Arlington, which is about halfway between the Dallas and Ft. Worth.  The restaurant was pretty empty so I got great service from a very friendly staff.  I got something that I had never had before, braised oxtail the meat dish was served with rice and plantains and although very bony it was extremely tasty.  I stayed near the DFW Airport in a town called Grapevine.  Nearby in the town of Lewisville is one of my best friends Steve and his wife Kathy.  On a side note, I met Steve on a cruise back in 1992 and all signs would lead you to think that we should not get along whatsoever, Steve works for American Airlines, I am with United, he is a Cowboys fan, I am a Redskins fan, so you see the differences, but Steve has been a great friend of mine since we met and I have visited him many times over the years.  We had planned to have dinner together on two ot the nights  I was in the area.  On Sunday night we went to a non-DDD place called Colter's Barbecue.  I think that the DC area is a wasteland for good barbecue, so going to a real barbecue joint is a great pleasure.  We planned to meet again on the Tuesday as his Monday was full.  Steve also is a beer vendor at the American Airlines Center in Dallas where the NBA Champion Mavericks play as well as the NHL team the Stars.  He is also a vendor at Ameriquest Field, home of the Texas Rangers baseball team and that Monday was their Opening Day for the 2010 season.  Opening Day is the reason that I was going to stay away from the Arlington area at all costs.  As I prepared for the trip I checked out all of the locations websites and all but two of them had websites.  The sites are so important because I can check out the hours the places are open and get general directions and information.  I headed into the the City of Dallas.  I was headed to "Avila's Mexican" and as I turned into the place there was a big sign "CLOSED FOR RENOVATIONS"..."Great!" came all this way for nothing, you guessed it, it was one of the 2 that didn't have a website!  Well, I counted it as a visit because I made the attempt and had no way to know their status.  Away I went to the nearest place which was called "Louie's".  Louies on the show was know as a dank sandwich dive but looked like a lot of fun.  I pulled into a very scary looking and deserted whit block building, yes Louie's is closed on Mondays and yes, Louies is the other place without a website, so I am now batting 0 for 2 on Opening Day!  I headed towards Ft. Worth to a town called Wautauga to try a gourmet restaurant that shares space with a Phillips 66 gas station and mini-mart, called "Chef Pointe Cafe".  The couple that own the whole complex originally only wanted to run a restaurant but when they went to get a business loan to get started they were denied, so when they saw this gas station up for sale they looked into getting a business loan for it and were successful!  The chef is from the Caribbean but is cranking out some of the best food you'll ever try and it is an international fare.  I think I might say that if might be the best food you'll ever get a a gas station!  I got the stuffed mushroom caps that they featured on the show.  For dinner I was headed to the Deep Ellum area of Dallas to try a place that looked really cool when it was on the show.  The "Twisted Root Burger Company" is an excellent Burger and Fries joint.  The neat thing about ordering at Twisted Root is that instead of being given a number you get a name, usually a Warner Brothers classic cartoon name, I think I was Speedy Gonzales, very cool!  I was able to meet the manager and he not only graciously signed the book, but we spoke at some length about my journey and he ten had them bring me one of their signature desert shakes, it was a Girl Scout Thin Mints Shake, very good!  As I was finishing I got a call form a long lost high school buddy who now flies for American and lives east of the Metroplex.  Mark was just finishing a two day trip and invited me to his home.  He texeted me his address and I drove out to his place and catch up on old times and watch the NCAA Final 4 Championship game.  What an unexpected treat that was!  On Tuesday I headed out to Arlington to try the next place, but before that I went to Cowboys Stadium to take the stadium tour.  I made sure to wear a Redskins shirt, had to defend my team!  It was the same day that the Redskins traded for Donovan McNabb, so me and my shirt got alot of comments!  The stadium is awesome and the tour is very popular.  The main high-def video screen is unreal. the tour included going on the field, going into the press area and the different seating and luxury box areas.  If you are in the Dallas area take some time to see this place, it's just too bad it's the home of THAT team!  I then went to a place maybe 2 miles from the stadium, a converted drive-in called "Prince Lebanese Grill".  Classic Middle Eastern meals are served here and it was quite good.  The staff was very appreciative that I stopped in and happily signed the book!  My final DDD meal in Big D was with Steve and Kathy and we went into Ft. Worth to one of the coolest places in that city, "Fred's Texas Cafe".  The chef-owner had a ball with Guy on the show and he cooks and looks like he would be the chuck wagon cook in all those classic Westerns.  Unfortunately he was not there that night but I had a great time visiting with great friends and having a wonderful meal.

The next morning it was back home and my DDD count was at 61!

I Meet Guy!!!

Before I continue on with the blog I need to thank my good friend Colleen.  A few of my friends had been asking for me to write a blog on all these crazy trips and although I thought it was a good idea, I had no idea how to get it started.  Colleen sent me a few links to check out and "voila!" I'm a blogger!

I can't remember where I heard or read about it first or even when, I think  it might have been during the summer of 2009.  Guy was planning to take his act on tour!  I looked on the Food Network website and also Guy's own website and saw that starting in November would be the "Guy Fieri Roadshow".  This was something that I would have to get to, if possible.  I looked at his tour dates and saw that the closest he would be to me would be at the Chrysler Hall in Norfolk, Virginia.  Now Norfolk is about a 5 hour drive from my home but this was something I had to do.  I went online to Ticketmaster to get a ticket and there were several types of tickets available.  It was in a concert seating type of hall so there were regular tickets and also two types of VIP ticket packages.  The lower VIP package cost $150 and included seating in the first two rows of seating, a copy of the NEW DDD book, and a 'Meet and Greet' with Guy, now that sounded pretty awesome!  There was also this higher VIP package that cost $250 and included everything in the lower package but also included seating on the stage and the opportunity to be served the food that was being made on stage!  Well, I did the old pro and con thing on each ticket, but in the end I know that if I went for the lower package I'd be hitting myself on the head for a long time so I went for it, figuring that if I'm going to drive all that way I might as well splurge and I don't really spend much on concerts or live performances so this was special.  The show was scheduled for the Friday night before Thanksgiving and I was able to juggle my work schedule so I would be off the entire weekend. 

I drove down to Norfolk and got a hotel not too far from the venue.  Since the entire transaction was online, there really wasn't much information given as to when the meet and greet would take place, I just knew where the show was and that it started at 730p.  Just before leaving for the hall, I saw that Guy was on the local early news and he was in rare form!  Being the type of person that is always early I got to the hall about 545p and was fortunate that I did.  The meet and greet started at about 6p and in the area there was already a line forming.  They checked us in by the type of package that was purchased and then we got our tickets, along with lanyards and the newly published "More Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives; A Drop Top Culinary Cruise Through America's Finest and Funkiest Joints".  The show features food and rock and roll, two of Guy;s passions.  The stage was set up with a cooking station and a DJ playing loud Rock music throughout.  With a flourish Guy came in and the room just lit up with his huge personality.  They had a photographer there and told us that they would be available on Guy's website to download by Sunday or Monday.  He signed everyone's book and for me he signed both of my books!  We really could have much of a conversation as there were alot of people waiting.  I told him that I had been to over 50 places that I thought his "Jackass Sushi" was so good at Tex Wasabis that it should be illegal!  He laughed at what I had said and thanked me and then it was off to a waiting area before being led onto the stage and the table seats.  We were told that we could take as many pics as we wanted, but flash pics were not allowed.  I got the seat on stage and there was another gift, a back pack with a drink cook book by Hayden Wood.  Woodie, as he is known, was sort of the warm up act.  he is a mixologist and bottle juggler.  The opening act was a local chef who cooked a really nice oyster dish.  Guy employs a local chef to open all of his shows, keeping it somewhat local.  Next Woody came on and spent a good half hour mixing and juggling, he was very messy but extremely entertaining.  After a short break to get the stage ready Guy came out and it was on!  He never stops moving, as he is cooking or telling stories.  Every pic I took was blurry, he never stays still!  He brought out the owner of a place he featured on the show in Kansas City called "Grinders".  Grinders owner is a funky guy named Stretch, he is a chef and artist and he was part of the show as the bar tender.  They had these two machines on the stage that became Margarita makers.  With a lot of flourish and pizazz he cranked out pitchers and pitcher of some really great drinks.  Each on-stage table got a pitcher to share.  Guy was cooing a chicken pasta dish and telling story after story.  His sous chefs were his boyhood friends that he has talked about often on all of his shows.  After having a taster dish of the pasta he made, as an encore, a big sandwich and presented the huge 6 foot roll in lavish form.  Now I am not a person who like spicy food, but a couple that I sat with liked spicy and they said that the sandwich was too spicy for them!  With that the show was over, Guy came over and tanked each of us for attending and it was done! 

Before driving home on Sunday, I visited a museum in Norfolk called "Nauticus" and had dinner with my friend from elementary school, Beth and her husband Brett.

What a grat and excting trip that was!

West Coast Fun Part 3

On an early Saturday morning I caught an early Southwest flight from Sacramento to Seattle.  I had never experienced the Southwest boarding procedure and as it stated I thought it to be crazy and a bit convoluted, but I have to give them props, it worked and our full flight boarded quickly and we left a few minutes early!  The flight actually arrived early into Seattle, so early in fact that we had to wait for staff in Seattle to park us and pull the Jetway up to the plane. 

I called Kim to tell her I was settled in and she and her friend Jeanelle came to my hotel to pick me up and we headed south to Tacoma to have lunch at "Southern Kitchen".  This place is very unusual for the Pacific Northwest more at home in Alabama or Georgia.  It is a 'soul food joint', serving southern classics; mac and cheese, black eye peas, okra, greens, etc.  Kim, Jeanelle and I had an enjoyable lunch and the staff was taken aback by my request to get the book signed, but they obliged and told me a little about the days of filming their episode.  From Tacoma we headed back towards Seattle and went for desert at a place in the country with an awesome view of Mt. Rainier.  I can't recall the name but Kim insisted that we try a slice of pie and get a fresh baked cookie, I couldn't resist the Key Lime Pis, as it is a favorite!  After an all but too brief visit with Kim and Jeanelle, we departed as they had other things to attend to and I went on my adventures.  I headed north to the town of Everett.  Seattle is a company town and that company is Boeing!  Boeing has plants and buildings all over the area, but none is larger than Everett.  This is whee the main wide body aircraft are built and the factory is probably one of the largest buildings in the world, producing Boeing 747's, 777's and now the 787.  In Everett is a really cool place called "Bobby's Hawaiian Style Restaurant".  The owner is from Molokai and makes authentic Hawaiian cuisine.  In his episode, he held a mock luau for Guy with music played by Bobby himself.  One of the unique things about food is Hawaii is their embrace of Spam!  I had to try the spam sushi dish and along with it I got the traditional Kahlua pig.  the spam dish looks like a rice and spam sandwich and is very tasty.  The pig was succulent.  I met Bobby and he told me about the filming and that he likes to try the places on the show, but he hasn't been able to travel too much.  He also said that he thought that Guy was trying alot of really spicy dishes and he didn't care for that and as he said that I had to agree, I am not a spicy eater and it does seem that his meals are increasingly spicy. 

The next morning was a Sunday and it was the opening day for the NFL and the hometown Seahawks had a game at Qwest Field so I needed to try and plan my travel so to stay out of as much stadium traffic as possible.  I headed north of the city to try a Greek diner called "Georges Greek Restaurant".  Georges is a converted car repair facility that specializes in all things Greek.  I can't remember what I got because the most embarrassing moment of my life happened here.  After getting and eating my meal, which came out to a little under 10 bucks, I went to grab my wallet and IT WAS NOT THERE!  I was in panic mode, I had George sign my book and now what to do.  I explained to him that I must have left it at the hotel and would bring it ASAP, all this with thoughts of hours of dish washing rolling around in my head!  George was gracious and let me go, so I very gently drove the 45 minutes back to the hotel grabbed my wallet and headed back.  As I arrived I gave them double the amount than thanked them so much for their hospitality and service, never had I been so embarrassed.  For dinner I headed to an area in the middle of the area that houses the University of Washington to a unusual place called "Pam's Trinidadian Caribbean Kitchen".  It was really busy for a September Sunday night and they put me in a single window seat.  It was amazing to watch the guy seating people as he knew exactly how to get everyone in with minimal waiting.  I had a traditional dish called Roti and the floppy flat bread that is native to Trinidad and although spicy, very enjoyable.  As I explained to my waiter why I had found Pam's and that I wanted to get Pam to sign the book, he went back into the kitchen and got Pam, herself!  She was surprised and told me that I was the first to make that request.  I really enjoyed her place and the love she puts into her food!  The next day would be my last full day on the trip and there were three places I wanted to try.  The first was small diner on the waterfront called "Voula's Offshore Cafe".  Voula's is another of those classic Greek-run diners.  With the exception of Voula herself, I saw the whole cast of characters from the DDD episode.  From there I went onto "Mike's Chili Parlor" a long time Seattle landmark restaurant.  From the show this looks like a stand alone buildiong but that is just a testament to good shooting.  It is in the middle of a busy industrial area and suits the area well.  The chili was good and the staff great.  For dinner I was planning to go to a Magic themed places called "Bizzaro's" but for the life of me I could not find it driving around 4 or 5 times and the GPS sent me to an apartment complex and no Bizzaro in site so I headed back and stopped at another chili house near Boeing Field called "Slim's Last Chance".  Slim's is the biker bar of chili houses.  Wood and leather abounds here and good chili, too.  I think they were somewhat suspicious of my intentions but they signed and I was happy!

After a week I flew home from Seattle via LAX and got my first real glimpse of an Airbus A380 and my DDD count was now at 51!

West Coast Fun Part 2

I left the Sacramento area and headed west towards Santa Rosa.  On the way I planned to stop at what could only be described as a true life drive-in, "Taylor's Automatic Refresher" in the Napa Valley town of St. Helena.  The drive is quite scenic taking California Route 29 through the Napa Valley passing Vineyards and Wineries seemingly every 500 feet, most of them world famous.  As I reached Taylor's I puled into a place that was very busy.  They feature everything from full meals to burgers and their signature sandwich, the Ahi Tuna burger.  It might be one of the few drive-ins that features a full wine selection.  I chose a Bleu Burger and it was very good.  While there the Napa Valley Wine Train stopped across the street at it's St. Helena Station.  After leaving Taylor's I headed to my cousin Ralph's in Santa Rosa.  Ralph and I have alot in common, a love of aviation as he is a retired Captain from Fed Ex.  He is the oldest son of my dad's brother.  I had not seen Ralph in many years so it was a really great reunion.  When I called him as I was planning the trip he was excited to join me and had been to just about all of the Santa Rosa DDD places, in fact he had met Guy once, before Guy had become famous.  After arriving at Ralph's we headed out  and first went to visit the Charles Schultz Museum.  The creator of the Peanuts cartoon called Santa Rosa home and the museum is full of many of his rare early cartoons.  Mr. Schultz was also an avid ice skating fan and at his museum is the Charles Schultz Ice Arena, where many of the local hockey teams train and play.  For dinner we went to "Willie Birds".  Willi Bird's is all about turkey!  The owner owns a turkey farm a few miles away and the restaurant is turkey, turkey and more turkey.  Both of us got the classic Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings.  Really good food there.  The next morning we went for breakfast at "Hanks Creekside Restaurant".  This cafe is family owned and run and is a particular favorite of Guy's.  This is where Guy had one of his "hash-a-listic" experiences with corned beef hash, so I had to have the same.  I usually am not a fan of hash (too many of those canned hash meals) but it is awesome at Hank's.  As we were leaving a couple stopped us when they saw my book, they, too were on a DDD trip and headed to San Francisco top try a place there.  During the day  Ralph and I headed to several places including the Sonoma County Airport where some of the flying scenes from the classic movie "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World" were filmed including the hangar where Mickey Rooney and Buddy Hackett flew the Beech 18.  Later we headed to a few vineyards including Kendall-Jackson.  For dinner we headed to Guy's first restaurant "Johnny Garlic's California Pasta Grill".  Johnny's is a bit quieter and more placid than Tex Wasabis but yhe food was excellent!  I was hoping that Guy would be there but he is so busy that he probably doesn't spend too much time at his restaurants as he would like.  I found out the next morning that he was in the area filming the Christmas episode of "Dinner Impossible" with it's host Robert Irvine.  The funny thing about it is that it was the Christmas episode but on that day it was over 100 degrees in Santa Rosa!

After an all too brief visit with Ralph I headed back to Sacramento, stopping along the way in Fairfield to take the Jelly Belly Jellybean factory.  After having a farewell dinner with Stacy I was off  to Seattle.....

West Coast Fun Part 1

I have sort become addicted (as I know many have) to using Facebook.  I have reconnected with so many of my firneds from the past, some form over 30 years ago!  I have also been pretty involved with my high school class - OAKTON 81!!!  In fact the day I'm writing this it's the actual 30 year anniversary of my high school graduation, boy do I feel old!  Two of my dearest friends on Facebook are Kim, who lives in Seattle and Stacy who lives just outside of Sacramento.  Early in 2009 I had reconnected with Stacy and met up with her while she had a long layover at Dulles on her way from West Virginia back home.  I had said that if there was some way I really wanted to visit her out west, Sacramento is a place I had never been and it is home to a number of DDD places and also is home to Guy's two restaurant chains; "Tex Wasabis" and "Johnny Garlics".  My plan was to take a few days off and go out to Sacramento and then drive into the Napa ans Somoma Valleys to try a few places and visit with my Cousin Ralph, who lives in Santa Rosa, which coincidentally is Guy Fieri's hometown!  As I started planning I decided to make an additional stop in Seattle to try a few places there and hopefully reconnect with Kim, too.  I had been planning to fly out the day after Labor Day, but as it got closer it seemed that I might be able to leave two days earlier and my supervisor OKs it as the loads and flight totals at work were lite due to the holiday, so I took the nonstop on Labor Day Sunday to Sacramento.  I had already made arrangements to see Stacy on the Tuesday and due to her schedule she was busy Labor Day, so I had an extra couple of days to see the area before heading to Ralph's on Wednesday.  After checking in at the hotel (in an amazing coincidence because I flew in on a Sunday, both the hotel and car rental rates went down - big time!).  I decided that even though I was already planning to meet Stacy at Tex Wasabis on Tuesday that I would go over there and not only see where it was but give it a preview.  As I previously wrote, Tex Wasabi's is one of Guy's two restaurant chains and it features the fusion menus of barbecue and sushi!  The one dish that got Guy on the Food Network and one that he had featured on his Best of DDD show was something called "Jackass Sushi", just by the name I had to try it out!  It is really not sushi at all except it has sushi paper and rice and is presented in a sushi style.  the main ingredients are the rice, barbecue pork, avocado and a spicy mayo sauce.  Oh my word, this is one of the best meals I have ever had, I kept thinking "This is so good it should be illegal, I could gobble this up all night long, just keep'em coming!"  All of the places that I wanted to try were closed for Labor Day so I wasn't sure what to do with my time.  In the hotel lobby there was a sign for discounted tickets to the California State Fair and the fairgrounds were only about 2 miles away, so I bought a ticket and did that for labor Day.  The state fair is a really cool operation, it has an amusement parka dn water park built into it and has all the friend foods that make a state fair popular and the midway, but the park of the fair that I found the most interesting were these buildings that featured alot of the different counties of California, especially the agricultural counties in the center of the state, if you are in the Sacramento area in August, I highly recommend spending a day at the fair.  The next day I started the day at the "Squeeze Inn" which is famous for it's burgers and tacos covered in cheese.  The Squeeze with Cheese literally has a quarter pound of cheese melted on the quarter pound burger.  The molten cheese hangs off the burger in what is called the "cheese skirt".  Since I am not a fan of burnt cheese I got the taco and it had a healthy portion of cheese on it, too..  The chef who cooked with Guy was there holding court in a tiny restaurant that does a huge business.  After finishing I went to an area called Old Sacramento to visit the California Railroad Museum.  If you have even the slightest interest in trains, or better yet, seen a train or really even heard the word train, this place is a must!  Great displays and hands-on exhibits are worth the price of admission.  The musuem is located in an area called Old Sacramento and is made up to be a turn of the century (20th century) western town with dirt streets and a real western motif, it looks like a lot of fun.  I then stopped at "Jamies Bar and Grille", the thing about Jamie's is there is no sign and just a plain brown door.  It's easy to miss and if you miss it then you are missing a place that has great steak sandwiches, I had Jamie sign my book and it's a place that I would love to go to again.  I met up with Stacy at Tex Wasabis and we tried a few different type of what Guy likes to call "Gringo Sushi" which the Jackass Roll is one.  Her friend came by for a brief stopover before going onto something else and while they said that they like regular sushi they really enjoyed the Jackass Roll, which just made me know that even Sushi purists would like Tex Wasabis!  The next morning I wanted to try one more place before heading to Ralph's in Santa Rosa.  I went to a place called "Cafe Rolle".  The owner and chef is William Rolle who has only been in the USA for a few years from his native France, where his parents ran a French Deli.  On the show, William and Guy had a great time, with William matching Guy joke for joke and singing and carrying on.  I thought to myself as I watched it that it was just an act for the camera.  I arrived at the cafe as it opened and got the sandwich of the day and there behind the counter was William.  He was singing and being just as he was on the show and there was only myself and a woman in the cafe and I had not yet told him why I was in cafe, he was genuinely  the same on camera as off!  On the show he told Guy to cook this one dish for "13 minutes, not 14, not 12 but for 13!" in his strong French accent, so that is exactly what he wrote in my book.  I really liked William and the sandwich was goo, but what's the deal...no ice in the water!....Well, it's onto the Wine Country.......

Big Changes

In early June I was inform ed that the job I loved and really wanted to stay in was being eliminated for me, through a series of events I was no longer going to be able to do the job I wanted to do on day shift and would be moved to the midnight shift.  I was not pleased but would have to deal with it the best that I could.

Before the big change I would make 2 trips to visit some DDD places.  The first came on June 1st and would take me to a place that when I saw it on DDD I knew I had to get there one way or another.  I had always wanted to visit Huntington, West Virginia, especially after seeing the movie "We Are...Marshall", the tragic story of the Marshall football team killed in a plane crash in 1970.  The main problem was getting to Huntington.  As I researched it, it seemed like it was in the middle of nowhere but after further review I noticed it was about 40 miles west of Charleston, WV, so I caught a flight there and drove to Huntington.  The place I really wanted to visit was "Hillbilly Hot Dogs" in the nearby town of Lesage along the banks of the Ohio River.  This is probably one of the most unique places that DDD has visited.  It looks from the outside as a very messy yard sale with stuff all over the place.  The building consists of 2 old school buses with an old boat parked on top!  The joint is run by Sharri and Sonny and is almost hard to describe.  After ordering I met Sharri and we had a long conversation about the filming and that she and Sonny also travel around to try places, wow, a kindred spirit!  She sang a song to me, now that was a first!  The hot dogs were excellent and it made for one of the best visits I have ever had at a DDD place.  For dinner I made another 40 mile trip west into Kentucky to a small town called Olive Hill.  I can tell you that a GPS is a godsend for travelling in most cases, but in this case it was a curse.  The GPS kept sending me to a wood covered field as the place I was looking for, after about an hour of driving around I just happened upon an old gas station that is the "Smoky Valley Truck Stop".  I had the Roast Beef dinner and it was good and then got the special Coconut Cream Pie desert to take back with me.  It was the featured desert on the DDD episode that made Guy exclaim about it's secret ingredient "THAT'S VODKA!!".  The next day I visited Marshall University and got to see alot of the places that were featured in the movie, including the memorial fountain and the burial site of many of the players and the memorial headstone.  For lunch I went to "Central City Cafe" a nice family run place.  I did get the owner to sign the book he had cooked with Guy on the show and started his cooking career working on the railroads. 

A few weeks later I went back to Disney in Florida as my buddy Tony was celebrating his 50th birthday at the parks.  The day before Tony and his family arrived I made a quick trip from the Orlando area to Indian Rocks beach on the Gulf of Mexico west of Tampa to "Keegans Seafood Grille".  On DDD Guy and the chef cooked Octopus, not the well known calamari but real Octopus!  It was very interesting and tasty.  When I presented my book for signing not only was it signed but they gave me a soup sampler plate for free!  Now that was real nice!

Over the next few months I was trying to get used to a new shift and made a few driving trips in the Virginia and Maryland areas, some places I went I had already been to but needed to get the booked signed, a few were new visits.  One place was in Norfolk and claims to be the inventor of the the ice cream cone, "Doumars" is a great place to get you ice cream fix.  I also made another trip to the Baltimore area and went to the "Stoney Creek Inn".  This place is in Pasadena, MD and almost within site of the Key Bridge and has, in my opinion the best crab cakes I have ever had, although Chuck-A-Mucks in Virginia is a close second.  If you are in the Baltimore area go to the Stoney Creek Inn, they even will do a Crab Feast for you, with newspaper spread and all!

The summer was ending and my travelling was just begining!

Rackin'em up!

My sister Sue, lives just outside Williamsport, PA, yes the same Williamsport that hosts the Little League World Series (LLWS) each August, and not to get off point too much, there is no sporing event that is more fun and affordable to attend as the LLWS.  Sue has two kids Elaine and Keith and in may 2009 Keith was about to graduate from Penn State and they had planned a graduation party in early May.  I was planning to go and was trying to figure out how to visit a few DDD places on this trip.  My plan grew and I saw an opportunity to visit places in Baltimore, Philly, Jersey, and even Pittsburgh!

I left work on a Friday after work about 1pm and didn't have to be at Sue's until Saturday about 5pm, so I drove up to Baltimore for a quick Hot Dog lunch at "G and A Restaurant".  This is a small eatery on the north side of the city that is like a lunch counter that specializes in hot dogs, the owner Andy was really happy that I had come by and he had me sign his guest book after he signed my DDD book.  I had been in that area about a month before visiting a great Italian deli called "DiPasquales".  Funny, DiPasquales is a deli store with a seating area built in.  As soon as I said why I was there the owner just made the DDD menu order, Rice Balls and Lasagna and both were very good.  While there I ran into a couple doing the same thing as I, visiting DDD places, they would not be the first people I ran into doing this. 

I left G and A and headed north to the Philly area.  I had made a hotel reservation just outside Philly in the Cherry Hill, NJ area and would use it as a jumping off point to visit several places.  My first stop was in Hightstown, NJ at the aptly named Hightstown Diner, a classic Jersey diner, railroad car design with sliver and chrome.  I got the classic diner meal, cream chipped beef on toast or better know as SOS!  I left Hightstown and headed into the NE Philly area to try a place called the Dining Car.  On the episode Guy had a really good time with Larry the chef there and cooked a Philly classic meal, Chicken Croquettes. They were excellent but the meal came with so many sides that I was about to bust as I left to go back to the hote.  As I was trying to get my book signed, they told me that Larry was not in so the other chef signed it, oh well, just one of those things.

Another Food Network show I enjoy is "Throwdown with Bobby Flay".  On one of it's episodes they had a Grilled Cheese Throwdown with a place in Jersey called "The Pop Shop".  I looked on the map and saw that it wasn't too far from where I was staying and along the route I needed to take to get to my sister's.  I stopped in during breakfast hours.  The Pop Shop is an old fashioned soda shop-restaurant and it is very popular!  I took a seat at the bar and looked over the menu, no  sandwiches.  before ordering I chatted with the owner and guy that Bobby had his throwdown with.  I told him about my visiting DDD places and he told me he had been trying to get Guy to come and visit his shop, I told him that I would send in a email suggestion.  When I was asked about ordering I asked about getting a Grilled Cheese and was told, that I couldn't get one as it was only breakfast, so I ordered something, I can't even recall what but was very disappointed.  What is grilled cheese?  Bread, cheese, coked on a grill, all the same things being made for breakfast and the most ironic thing is that I could've ordered a Banana Split, not really a breakfast item!  I left disappointed and did I send in a recommendation - NO WAY!!!  So now what to do, I was still hungry and had some time to kill before having to get to my sister's.  Well, let's go back to the Dining Car!  I got there and got one of the last seats at the bar, the Dining Car on a Saturday morning is POPULAR!  As I was eating I saw Larry, the chef that cooked with Guy.  What a nice guy!  Even though it was busy, after asking him to sign the book, he spent a good 5 minute talking to me and telling me all about the filming the previous summer. At the end of the episode they show an outtake from the filming there and what Larry told me that when they filmed there it was so hot that the crew brought in portable fans and air conditioners and that Guy's son Hunter spent the entire shoot standing in front of the AC's.  I have very fond memories of The Dining Car!

Off to Sue's I went and after a fun time celebrating Keith's graduation I was planning a morning departure for Pittsburgh.  It was Mother's Day 2009 and I had no real time plans, I was just planning to leave as soon as I got up.  That night I just didn't sleep well, so at about 5, I decided to stop trying and get ready to go.  I left before 6am and headed west on I-80.  I got into the  city around 8 or 830a and went to the Dormont area of Pittsburgh to a place called the Dor-Stop.  It is THE place to go for weekend breakfast in Pittsburgh, so I saw there was lot of people standing around waiting to get a table I hunkered in for what I thought would be a long wait.  I guess this is where being a group of one pays off.  They seated me immediately at the last seat at the grill bar.  I got the Dor-Stop;s version of the 'mess' that I had eaten out in Long Beach and it was delicious.  Both the owner and chef that had cooked with Guy signed the book and seemed very happy and honored that I had made the trip to visit them, in honesty, the honor was all mine!

After checking in to a hotel for the night I went on to try two more places, the first was a smoky bar called "Nadines".  There was only one employee there and the places was packed with neighborhood regulars.  I waited a while to be served and tried something I had always been curious to try, "Grilled Bologna Sandwich".  I didn't realize that it was loaded with jalapenos so it was way too spicy for me.  Nadines is famous the DDD fans as the place that the oven door is held by a string that happened to break while they were filming.  I think the next time in go to Pittsburgh I am going to revisit Nadines.  Off to the next place a cool little diner in a strip mall in the Penn Hills section of the city called "Kelly O's".  Kelly O'Connor is a single mom who has created a very popular diner and had a great time cooking with Guy.  Since I had just eaten I decided to try a smaller dish and tried the pollenta that she had made with Guy.  It was pretty good and as I asked Kelly to sign the book she looked through it (her location wasn't in the book as her episode was featured after the book was published.  She chose to sign on the page for the Blue Moon Cafe in Baltimore saying about the owner Sara "She's seems like a pretty cool chick".  For dinner I headed to a small town call Blaunox to try a smokey place called the Starlite Lounge.  The Starlite is known for it's Perogies, the polish ravioli like pasta.  They were great and from there is was back home and now I had 30 places visited!