4-0-0 !!!

400!  WOW, that's a lot of places!  When I started travelling around to Triple D places back in May of 2008 I knew I would be going to a lot of very cool places but I never would have imagined that I would get to 400!  I am very blessed and fortunate to have been able to travel all over the country to try great places, meet new friends and reconnect with others.  My very first place was the Village Café near Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, now here I am sitting at 399 and wanting to get to 400.  As I was getting closer to it during my travels in the Fall of 2014 I started thinking about where I should go for the milestone 400 visit and how I should celebrate it.  In the past I have chosen places that were fun and special to Guy Fieri, the host of "Diner's Drive ins, and Dives".  Number 100 was Benny's Seafood in Miami for Lobster Mofungo.  Number 200 was at Grinder's in Kansas City with my buddy Barry.  300 was in Santa Barbara with Barry and my friend Leslie for some great sandwiches at Norton's Pastrami, now what to do for 400?  In the late summer of 2014 Guy opened a restaurant in the new Horseshoe Casino in downtown Baltimore and when he came for the opening they filmed 5 or 6 new places in the city.  Thanks to a heads up from one of Guy's crew on a Triple D site on Facebook I was able to get to most of them in the weeks after he visited.  Those visits were the springboard that put me on the brink of this milestone visit.  For some reason, I missed one of the places and that's when I decided to go to a place in Baltimore and invite friends so we could all be together and celebrate not only a milestone but also being with a great group of friends! 

In the Fall of 2014 I took Triple D trips to Phoenix, Chicago and Denver and also on a road trip to Florida I was able to try a few more places so now I just needed one and I knew where I wanted to go but wanted to make sure that the restaurant would be ok with my plans.  I decided to go to "Slainte Irish Pub" in the Fells Point area of Baltimore.  I contacted the restaurant and we chose and day and time for the event.  I created and event on Facebook and invited friends to help celebrate.  The episode that Slainte was featured on was the soup episode and not only did the food look great but the place looked like a lot of fun. My contact at the restaurant, Leigh Ann told me that the chef would come to visit with us during the visit and sign my book.

I received RSVPs from about a dozen and the plan was to meet about 515p on a Saturday night.  The restaurant was very gracious and allowed us to make a reservation for the group, which they normally do not allow on Saturday, an exception because of the milestone visit! 

The Fells Point area is a very busy weekend area of Baltimore and within just a mile or two of Slainte are dozens of bars and restaurants and at least 4 Triple D places.  The roads are cobblestone and it borders part of the harbor. 

Traffic was not fun that night, despite that everyone arrived within about 30 minutes of our planned time.  The restaurant is very cool, outside they had a street chef selling gilled, smoked oysters to passers-by and inside the place is on three different levels, almost like in a townhouse.  They had us in our own small area on the second level near the bar.  The tables were cozy and the area very comfortable.  I am blessed with great friends and although some of them didn't know each other it didn't take too long for everyone to become friends.  We had about 12 people in all, one friend I hadn't seen in almost 15 years and Dave admitted that he had not seen the show but wanted to come out to celebrate. 

On the show they made the Baltimore Seafood Gumbo and an unusual dish called Bibimbap, a sort of Irish-Korean fusion dish that combines seafood, rice, egg and Siracha hat sauce.  They are an Irish Pub, so Irish fare is their specialty with a full Irish bar and of course the Guinness Ale was flowing!  I chose the Fish and Chips, but in our group think we covered most of the menu.  I am not a fan of egg or hot sauce so that's why I didn't try the Bibimbap but the two that did really enjoyed it.  All of the food looked great!

Bibimbap - Irish/Korean Fusion

My Fish and Chips dinner

Service was phenomenal, our server was always around to refill drinks and make sure everyone was taken care of.  As we were finishing up dinner, I asked our server if we could meet the chef and he went and got him.  I remembered him from the DDD episode, a bug guy with his arms filled with tattoos.  He goes by the name "Neckbone" and he couldn't have been nicer.  he told me that he has been at Slainte for 4 years and the owners give him free range on the menu items and changes.  Neckbone designed the Biblimbap and most of the menu.  He seemed very excited to meet all of us and tanked us for coming in and invited us to come back anytime, which I hope to do!

Neckbone, the chef of Slainte and me

He spent a good 10 minutes with us, which was great as it was a very busy Saturday night and his rime in the kitchen is very precious.  Before he left us he signed my book which made this vist my Official 400th!

Neckbone signing my book

The group of us stayed for a couple more hours, talking and visiting, no one really wanted the night to end.  I did tell the group a lot of stories about my travels and the different places I have been.  Everyone headed home after a great night!

Great friends Great Food and Fun Times



The 400th DDD group

It was a great night and I was so honored that friends came from so far away to meet and have a great time.  Not that I have number 400, I guess it's on to 500, not sure when that will happen but it will be a really fun journey!

Thanks to Stacy, Phil, Linda, Barry, Vivian, Nancy Dave, Scott, Amy, Katherine, Tammy, Angela and Wade for helping me celebrate and of course the staff of Slainte Irish Pub in Baltimore!

Cruising toward 399

I had just one more place to try before getting to milestone 400 on my Triple D adventure.  The reason for the trip was to get to Miami to take a cruise on the Celebrity Reflection and since I do like to write about more than just the Triple D places I try, I thought I would tell you a bit about the cruise, as well. 

Cruise day arrived and Barry and I headed from our hotel near the Fort Lauderdale Airport to the Port of Miami with a quick breakfast stop at Grampa's Restaurant and Bakery in Dania Beach.  Grampa's is a place that I have been to on many occasions and was featured on Triple D in one of the early seasons.  It is a very popular and busy place and although it is always crowded there never seem so t be much of a wait.  Barry and I took a couple of seats at the counter, which was pretty cool because we could watch the staff (both front and back of the house) do their thing.  It was fun to watch, the kitchen was cranking out the food and the servers were sorting them out, there was a sort of humorous  banter going on between the staff.  I know other DDD followers have mixed feelings about Grampa's but I think it is a must when in the Ft. Lauderdale area.  One cool thing is that every table gets a plate of sweet rolls during breakfast hours and all are made in their full service bakery.

We arrived at the port and within about 10 minutes we were on board!  One of the fastest check-ins ever for a cruise.  The ship, Celebrity Reflection is gorgeous and the service onboard was outstanding!  The staff exceeded my expectations and seemed to anticipate my needs and the needs of the other passengers on board!  We were off for 7 nights to the Eastern Caribbean ports of San Juan, St. Thomas and St. Maarten.  Our itinerary would give us one full day at sea before an afternoon call in San Juan then two full days in St. Thomas and St. Maarten before two more full sea days.  Celebrity Cruises was born on having outstanding gourmet style food.  They not only have the two main dining rooms for dinner, but have several specialty restaurants that have an added cost.  Although they looked great, the main dining areas were great and in my opinion did not justify the extra cost.  I seem to enjoy the appetizers on cruise, as much, if not more than the main entrée and one of the appetizers I tried was the frog legs.  Now Barry didn't really like them, saying they tasted "gamey" to him, but to me if you gave them to me and didn't tell me what they were I would tell you almost certainly that they were chicken wings!  So yes (to me) they "taste like chicken"!

Frog Legs Appetizer on Celebrity Reflection

I have cruised to these ports on many occasions, this was my 63rd cruise!  At St. Thomas I always try to get to a very nice little café that is on the Hibiscus Alley just off the waterfront in downtown Charlotte Amalie.  A few years back I just happened upon a place called Gladys's Café.  The cuisine is both American and West Indian.  Gladys makes here own hot sauces that are featured on each table and they are HOT!  The main ingredient is Scotch Bonnet peppers, which are the second hottest peppers in the world behind just he Ghost peppers.  I always get the same thing on my visits; Conch Fritters.  They are huge filled with cornmeal and conch meat.  the conch is the little critter that lives inside those huge shells that you see many people blowing into.  They are served with a side ofcocktail sauce that is slightly spicy and very thin, not a thick sauce. 

Conch Fritters at Gladys's Café in St. Thomas

Scotch Bonnet based Hot sauces at Gladys's Café

My favorite stop is St. Maarten, mainly due to my love of aviation!  Maho Bay is an area just at the end of the runway at the Princess Julianna International Airport.   If you have seen pictures of people on a beach where it looks like the planes are landing on the same beach, that is Maho Bay beach!  It is a must visit for me every time I am in St.Maarten!

Maho Bay beach in St. Maarten

One of the coolest places on the ship was a bar called the Molecular Bar.  It is a laboratory disguised as a bar.  The bar staff wear white and black lab coats and mix different types of liquors and mixers to create very unusual and delicious concoctions.  I knew that I had to try it.  It is a very intimidating place at first, not know what to try or get, but the bar staff will walk you though your order.  hye ended up making something called a Lucky Cat for me.  It was vodka based and had strawberries and several types of  fruit liquids and ended being served with a pouring of liquid nitrogen for a very cool and cold effect!  The drink was not very strong but fun to watch made and drink!

My drink being prepared

My Lucky Cat just about ready to enjoy

Celebrity Reflection Molecular Bar

Element Bar Mixologists at work

Straight up Liquid Nitrogen

The cruise ended and we gradually headed home with a two day stop in the Orlando area.  We ended up taking in the Florida High School football championship at the Citrus Bowl Stadium in Orlando and then spending at day with the Mouse at Epcot. 

After a full day of attractions and fireworks at Epcot, it was time to head back north.

Illuminations - Reflections of Earth; the nightly fireworks at Epcot

I still needed to make one more Triple D stop on the trip to get to the goal of 399 during this trip.  I looked on the DDD maps and saw one that looked really good along the way in St. Simons Island, Georgia.  It took about 3 hours to get to but was only a few minutes off the route along I-95. 

Barry and I headed through a lot of swamps and islands along the Atlantic coast of Georgia.  Our stop would be "Southern Soul Barbecue"  From the outside it looked like a shack, but it was a really busy restaurant.  As soon as we got out of the car you could smell the barbecue cooking with local oak wood.

Both of us decided to try the Burnt Ends sandwich.  The huge sandwich came with a small portion of Cole slaw, which both of us decided to get on the side and choice of a side, I chose the Mac and Cheese. 

A cool sign inside Southern Soul

My Burnt Ends Sandwich Platter

Each table had 4 different types of Barbecue sauces to taste

The sandwich was huge and overloaded with the beef tip burnt ends.  I always enjoy barbecue places, since we don't seem to have many in Northern Virginia!  The Mac and Cheese was also excellent, not too cheesy, just right!  Wash it all down with some Georgia Sweet Tea and that's a meal!

We headed back home after a great vacation and needing just one more to get to my 400th Triple D location! 

Driving to Miami for a cruise (and some Triple D)!

A few months back me and my buddy Barry booked a cruise for early December and as we looked for some decent airfares from the DC are to Florida there were very few to be had so we decided to drive down.  As we discussed and planned the trip we decided to take the long way down and head to Atlanta and the Gulf Coast of Florida before getting into the Miami area.  I thought that this would be a great way to get try a few DDD places while on the road.

We left about 9a from Leesburg and made really good time reaching Atlanta about 7p.  I wanted to go to a place as soon as we arrived but I could tell that Barry was pretty tired and we decided to start in the morning.  I had also made plans with a friend of mine from High School for dinner on our second day in Atlanta, she had invited us over for an Italian dinner and that was something we couldn't pass up.

We headed out on our day in Atlanta and decided to get some breakfast at "The Sliver Skillet".  This place is a classic southern style diner.  They are only open for breakfast and lunch and when we arrived the places was pretty full.  They specialize in hearty breakfasts and they were featured on one of the first few seasons of Triple D. 

Atlanta's Silver Skillet - The sign doesn't lie!

I looked over the menu and remembered from the episode that one of their specialties is Red Eye Gravy and Guy told them that he is a Red Eye Gravy junkie!  Red Eye Gravy is a Coffee based broth style gravy that is best mixed with southern style ham steak.  I knew what I needed to try and ordered the same meal that Guy had enjoyed, the Ham Steak and eggs meal with biscuits and sausage gravy.  I am not a big fan of eggs but I thought these were very good, they brought out a basket of biscuits with jelly and butter.  The ham steak was dark brown and must have been salt cured because it was very good, but very salty, it truly lived up to it's moniker "steak" because it really ate like a steak.  The Red Eye Gravy helped to cut some of the salt and the sausage gravy was the perfect accompaniment for the biscuits.

My Breakfast at the Silver Skillet - Ham Steak and Eggs

The Silver Skillet's Biscuit Basket

As we ate we were able to talk with the manager and the owner about the show and the filming and also about my  travels, they were no friendly and accommodating, I really like the south!  After getting the chef and owner to sign my book we headed out to check out the campus of nearby Georgia Tech and then go and visit "The World of Coca Cola" a tourist attraction dedicated to Atlanta's contribution to the soft drink world. 

"The World of Coca Cola" was ok, it seemed a bit expensive it seemed a bit on the hokey side, but they did have an extensive tasting room!  I did enjoy trying different Coke products from around the world.  They also gave a taste of a coke mix they were testing called Gingerbread Main and in my opinion Gingerbread Man Coke is a fail!

1908 Coke Mixing Urn

African Coke Products

European Coke products

Coke and the Atlanta Braves

From the World of Coke we decided to head to another Triple D place for a light lunch (since we had dinner plans) and we headed north to the town of Marietta to try a place that is a little bit of New Jersey outside Atlanta, "The Marietta Diner".  The place is huge!  A big stainless steel homage to the classic northeast diner. 

Both Barry and I decided to do a soup lunch and at first we thought we'd share some garlic bread, but then thought we would each do an order of garlic bread, after it was served we should have probably shared! 

My Cup of Matzo Ball soup

Bowl of Clam Chowder

A single order of Garlic Bread!

I chose the diner classic soup; Matzo Ball and Barry tried the Clam Chowder.  My soup was a broth with a big Matzo ball and it was very tasty.  The plate of garlic bread came with a cup of tomato sauce for dipping and it was very good.

Later in the day we headed up to visit my friend Suzanne and her husband Enzo.  She prepared an Italian feast for us that included Antipasti, Lamb Chops, Bruschetta, Ravioli, Fried Calamari, and a great main dish of Fish.  Suzanne and Enzo also own a vineyard in Italy and could have been more warm and gracious.  It was a great night a friends and wonderful food, a meal I will always remember.

The next morning we left at 430a for Florida.  We drove to Port Charlotte on Florida's Gulf Coast south of Sarasota and Venice.  Our only plans for the day were to go to a basketball game at Florida Gulf Coast University in Ft. Myers.  FGCU were the darlings of the NCAA tournament in 2013.  It was a fun game and not only are the students into the game, but a lot of the community attends.  It is a really nice campus, too!

Alico Arena home of the Florida Gulf Coast University Eagles

Atlantic Sun Conference

Player Intros

Opening Jump FGCU vs. Florida Tech

After a full day the next day came and it was one that I was really looking forward to.  I was able to contact a number of friends that live in the Tampa area to plan a dinner at a Triple D place that I had been to several times in the Ybor City area of Tampa called the Tampa Bay Brewing Company.  We had a group of 8 including my friend Polly from Mosby Woods Elementary School, who I had not seen in almost 40 years!  We had a wonderful time and the group, most of whom did not know one another became fast friends, I was really looing forward to the night and it exceeded my expectations!  When they explained to the server my DDD travels, she got the chef and co-owner to come over and visit with us, it was a great time!

Tampa Bay Brewing Company Chef visiting with us

Signing the book

Our group - What a great time!

After a great evening it was time to head to the Miami area for the cruise.  Barry and I arrived for a night before the cruise in the Fort Lauderdale area and I talked him into trying a Triple D place south of Miami Airport.  After an hour ride in terrible Miami traffic we arrived at "Latin House Burger and Taco Bar".  The place is in a small strip mall just a short drive from one of my favorite DDD (and my third DDD visit back in 2008) Scully's Tavern. 

This is a very interesting place.  It is sort of dark inside but there are some pretty interesting art murals on the walls.  The menu is extensive and all of the meals are custom to your choice, you choose form6 or 8 different proteins and that includes the burgers.  Barry chose the taco platter with Lime Chicken tacos and Rib-eye tacos and I got the Chimi Burrito that Guy had when he visited. 

Barry's Taco Platter

Chimi Burrito with Rib-eye steak

Inside the Burrito

My meal was fantastic!  The burrito was filled with rib-eye steak, spiced rice, lettuce, tomatoes and sweet plantains and topped with a plantain chip.  It was filling and tasty.  Latin House is a place that you should visit when you are in the Miami area. 

YEP!

Barry and I headed back and got ready for the cruise.  My Triple D count stands at 398, only a few two more until 400!