Doing the Texas Two Step, Days 2 and 3 in Big D

After a very tiring day trip to Austin, we planned another busy day in the Dallas area.  Our plans called for trying another Triple D location, then a tour of the newly opened George W Bush Library and Museum followed by going to the Texas Rangers vs. Detroit Tigers baseball game at the Texas Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.  Steve is a beer vendor at the Ballpark so he had arranged to get me a ticket for the game.

We started out by heading into downtown Dallas to an area known as the Farmers Market.

Building 2 - Home of the Pecan Lodge

Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives featured a barbecue joint in the Farmer's Market called the "Pecan Lodge".  This is a very unique place.  It is open 16 hours - A WEEK- !  They are open Thursdays through Saturday from 11a until the food runs out each day! 

We arrived at the place a 1040a, 20 minutes before it opened and there was already a line awaiting it's opening.  We got in line and waited.  I was able to count the line up to our position and Steve and I were numbers 25 and 26 in line and it kept growing fast as we waited.  The Pecan Lodge is in an enclosed building of the Farmers Market and houses a number of restaurants, none of which were doing any business.  The best location is the cake place right next to the Lodge, as they get some of the residual business, they smartly put out samples of their cakes which are sampled by the waiting patrons of Pecan Lodge.

The lineup for Pecan Lodge Barbecue

The line was probably near 100 when the place opened.  Although we were 25 back the line really moved quickly.  We made our way to order and the menu is loaded with great items.  On the show they featured their Beef Brisket and an item called  "The Smash", which is a barbecue stuffed Sweet Baked Potato.  I decided on the 2 meat and one side plate and chose the Pork Ribs and Beef Brisket with a side of Mac and Cheese.  Steve chose the Beef Rib and a side of Cole Slaw.  They sell the beef rib by the half pound and Steve as just over a pound, it was a huge rib! 

My Pork Rib and Brisket Plate with the Bacon Topped Mac and Cheese

Steve's Beef Rib (over a pound) and Cole Slaw

Although the food came out very fast, I was able to meet the owner and have him sign my book.  We found a table just out front of the place and had lunch.  Now, I really like barbecue and I am sad to say that Northern Virginia is not a real hot bed of barbecue, so I always like to try it whenever I travel and I am lucky to have had some really great barbecue but the food at the Pecan Lodge is the BEST barbecue I have ever eaten, hands down!  The flavor was unreal and the spices that they infused in the meat and used for the bark was delicious!  If you look back on my blog entries you will see that I have always said that the Lobster Ravioli at Rino's Place in Boston is my favorite meal of any of the DDD places that I have visited.  This meal at Pecan Lodge rivals that!  I might have to say that I now have had two favorite meals, Rino's and the barbecue at Pecan Lodge!  Remember I have some fantastic meals in my DDD journey's so that is saying alot!  If you are in the Metroplex (Dallas and Ft. Worth area) you NEED to visit Pecan Lodge, but get there early because there will be a line and when they run out of food, they are closed!

From there we headed into north Dallas to the campus of Southern Methodist University.  This is the home of the newly opened (April 25, 2013) George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. 

Dedication Display

Whether you liked or didn't like the President, the Museum is a very impressive facility.  It was dedicated (as per tradition) by all of the living Presidents and is home to artifact, gifts and displays of President Bush's life, both his Private and Public Life.  the most moving and impressive display was that for the tragic events of September 11, 2001.  In the display area are the names of all of those who died on that day.  There is also a part of the cell tower that was on top of one of the World Trade Tower buildings.  They also have a replica Oval Office and alot of the gifts he received while in office. 

Display of Baseballs thrown out during his Presidency

Display of Names in the 9/11 area.  Shelley Marshall was a classmate of mine at Oakton High School

Ceiling of Oval Office

The Oval Office

Me in the hot seat of the Oval Office!

Steve in the Oval Office

President and Mrs. Bush's Air Force One Flight Jackets

Patch for the Surprise Thanksgiving Mission to Baghdad

Samovar Tea Service, a gift of Russia

After leaving the Bush Library we headed out to Arlington to the Ballpark, to get the ticket for the game.  The day had been very hot and I know that both of us were tired.  As we pulled into the parking area at the ballpark, Steve had to go and get the voucher for the ticket and as I waited I had a feeling that because it was a Friday there would be no voucher and I decided that if there wasn't one then I would just bypass the game, I was hot and tired and could use the time to relax and rest.  When he returned and there was not voucher, I was pretty relieved and Steve worked the game and I caught my second wind for my last day on the trip.

Saturday morning came and we weren't sure what we would do, we had some ideas and after a short discussion we decided on breakfast at a Dallas area breakfast institution called "Jackie's Ham and Eggs" in the community of Lewisville and then a tour of the Frontiers of Flight Museum at Dallas Love Field.

Jackie's Ham and Eggs is not a DDD locale but should be.   It is a sort of tradition for my visit to Steve's and they are know for Extra Large Texas sized breakfasts.  The namesake Jackie recently passed away but she was a larger than life personality.  The parking spot that she used had a sign that stated "Don't Even Think About Parking Here".  It is near Valley Ranch, the home of the Dallas Cowboys, so there are pictures of her with various players on the walls (sort of tough to look at for a Redskins fan!).

I chose the Hamburger Patty and eggs plate and Steve chose the breakfast tacos.  As I said the portions here are huge!  I chose the biscuit and gravy as my bread and that is a meal in and of itself.  the meal was delicious as always and filled me up until dinner.

My Breakfast Plate

The Biscuit with Ham Gravy (YES, that is a full sized plate, it is THAT big!)

Did a good job!  The biscuit was a bit too much!

We left the restaurant and headed to North Dallas to Dallas Love Field.  Love was the main airport in the Dallas area until the early 1970s when Dallas/Ft. Worth Regional Airport was built.  A few interesting notes at Love is that it is named for a fallen World War 1 airman than has no ties with the DFW area but grew up and lived in Fairfax, Virginia, my hometown!  Another thing is that Love has been restricted as to service since DFW opened.  Although it is the headquarters of Southwest Airlines, flights to and from Love can only be operated within the state of Texas or to one of the 4 states touching Texas (for aircraft with 56 seats or more), this is known as the Wright Amendment.  The amendment will be lifted next year and Southwest plans a huge increase of service at Love.  It is also the airport that John F. Kennedy landed into on that fateful day, November 22, 1963.

The Museum is in two former hangars and salutes both the history of Love Field and it's two home airlines (Braniff International and Southwest Airlines) as well as military aviation.  I am not the biggest fan of military aviation, but I do enjoy it, but I love commercial and airliner aviation.  There is a really neat display of Braniff International Airways, which went out of business in the 1980 after a very colorful history.  They even operated the Concorde for a time operating British Airways and Air France's aircraft from Dulles to DFW airport. 

A Proposed Commercial Version of the Air Force Lockheed C5A to be used by Braniff as the Lockheed L500

On the military side they have a unique aircraft that was built at Vought Aircraft in 1942 and was an experimental airplane know as the Flying Pancake.

The Flying Pancake

Another highlight at the museum is the Command Module from the first Apollo flight into space.  Apollo 7.

Apollo 7 Command Module

On the other side is the Southwest area.  There is a Boeing 737-300 in and out of the museum and you can walk into it and there are seats and displays of the history of the airline.  Southwest was run by a great and eccentric businessman name Herb Kelleher.  Herb is the reason that Southwest is the great airline that it is today.  In the aircraft display is the Herb's Harley Davidson motorcycle that he received from the Southwest employees.

"The Spirit of Kitty Hawk" N300SW the display plane at the Frontiers of Flight Museum

Herb's Harley

The nose of the plane dedicated to Herb

After finishing up at the museum, we headed off the DFW so I could catch my flight home and Steve could head to Arlington to work the Rangers game.  After a fun and tiring 3 days I headed home and my DDD count stands at 305!

Restarting my DDD quest in the Lone Star State (Day 1 in Austin)

It has been a long time since I hit the road on my Diners Drive-ins and Dives tour.  Alot has happened since that time.  I took a new job and although I can take the same amount of time off to travel, I feel obligated to be there.  The job is part of the Safety Office at work and I really enjoy the work, in fact I can say that 2013 has been a very good year for me at work, and let me tell you I have not said that in a very long time!  I no longer am on the Midnight Shift and that in and of itself is a real blessing. 

It is now May and I decided that I would get back on the DDD tour.  It just so happens that the 3rd Edition of Guy's DDD companion book came out just a few days before my trip and I got mine through The Food Network store website and the great thing about that is they are signed by Guy!  I decided to fly to Dallas to visit my friend Steve.  I talked Steve into making a day trip to Austin, where we could try a few places and also visit my very good friend from high school, Deborah. 

As you know I work for an airline so that allows me to travel at low or no cost, but when I do it is via Standby so when the flights are full, I don't go.  As my departure day approached the flights filled up and looked awful.  Luckily, Steve also works for an airline and he agreed to give me one of his passes so I could get there, his airlines flights from Dulles to Dallas looked great so no problem, away I would go - or so I thought.  My plan was to work until 1230p and then take the 120p flight.  Well, you know what they say about best laid plans!  About 945p I get a message from Steve that the flight at 120p has cancelled and the next two were full.  My nonstops were also full so I did some quick thinking and computer surfing and found a  flight via Houston that left at 1225p, so I quickly listed on that flight and was able to get on both the flight to Houston and the connecting flight to DFW.  It was a good thing because had I waited for the nonstops I would have had a real tough time getting to DFW.  A few hours after I arrived here, some deadly tornadoes hit the DFW area and not only were there fatalities in some of the southern suburbs of Ft. Worth but the flights from Dulles to DFW diverted, one to Austin and other to New Orleans.

Steve and I got up the next morning and made the 3 and half hour drive to Austin.  I will admit it is not the  most exciting ride.  We did pass a few interesting places, one was the town of West, the place where just about a month before this trip was the site of a huge explosion that killed a few people.  We also passed through the city of Waco, home to Baylor University (or as the sign said in front of the campus "Capital of Baylor Nation") and the great Redskin QB Robert Griffin III (known to most as RG3). 

Our first stop was in the town of Georgetown, Texas; a town that is about 25 miles North of Austin.  The "Monument Cafe" is in a art deco style building that once was a car dealership.  On their DDD episode Guy was joined by actor Matthew McConaughey.  I was first impressed by the lighting fixtures, which were very art deco-ish and it had to look of a classic diner only Texas sized, very large.

Monument Cafe in Georgetown, TX

 We were seated at a booth and the very friendly staff went to work.  I could tell that the portions were huge and despite that the prices were very reasonable.  Since I knew that I had a few more places to try I decided on the "Crispy Waffle" and it came with a choice of meat.  I chose the Peppered Bacon and glad I did.  The waffle reminded me of the waffles mom used to make when I was young. 

My Crispy Waffle Breakfast with Peppered Bacon

 

The Bacon was unreal it was the best bacon I have ever had, and I have had some really good bacon!  After finding out that the owner would not be there I asked the General Manager be the first person to sign the new book.  After a great breakfast Steve and I headed south to the capital of Texas and the home of the University of Texas (UT) (Steve's Alma Mata) Austin!

During the ride down, I had been texting with my high school friend, Deborah, trying to coordinate getting together during my time in Austin.  Her day was beginning to fall apart with new work commitments popping up.  I think here I need to tell you a little bit about Deborah, she works as what could best be described as an animal physical therapist and she also is a cancer survivor and is very active in the Austin Breast Cancer community.  We decided to meet for lunch at noon and that gave us a few hours to see the sites of Austin, so we decided to visit UT and see the sites of that great campus.

The University of Texas Tower

Base of the UT Tower

Iconic State of Texas Flag

The UT Tower Building

We walked all over the campus and walked through the Business school and around the dorms that Steve called home during his time at UT.  One of the cool things in the Business school building is a replica of the New York Stock Exchange, circa 1919.  We tried to get into the football stadium but were unable to. 

Texas State Capital Building

Replica 1919 New York Stock Exchange Desk in the UT Business School

We headed to our next restaurant and meet up with Deborah.  The "Counter Cafe" is a small, eclectic eatery.  The lunch crowd was constant.  We arrived at noon and got 3 seats at the communal table by the front door.  Deborah arrived about 30 minutes after we did as traffic in that part of Austin was pretty brutal.  The menu is very eclectic and features Quail, Chicken, Burgers and salad using organic vegetables. 

Counter Cafe's Chefs hard at work

It was a great time catching up with Deborah and we all got different items.  Steve chose the Ground Chicken Sandwich with fresh fruit.  Deborah got the Spinach Salad with Balsamic Dressing and I chose the Grilled Pimento Cheese sandwich with a side salad.  All the meals looked delicious and mine was.  The head chef came over and signed the book.  The time with Deborah was way too short and she told about and we decided to go get some dessert at a place that was featured on a Food Network show, but not DDD.  "Flip Happy Crepes" was on another great show called "Throwdown with Bobby Flay".  In the first season of that show Bobby challenged the owners of Flip Happy to a Crepe Throwdown and in the end they "Threw Bobby" out!

Flip Happy Crepes Food Truck

Deborah and I

Steve, Deborah and I

Deborah being Deborah!

 Flip Happy is a food truck (or trailer as they are called in Austin).  Food Trucks have grown all over the United States, but in Austin they have exploded!  We passed one area which is called Trailer Park Dining and there were about 20 food trailers in that area and all types of foods are featured.  We all chose dessert style crepes, I tried the Nutella crepe topped with mixed berries.  Do I have to even say that it was delicious?  Well if I do then yes it was!

My Nutella Crepe

From there we headed back to the University to visit the Bookstore/Co-Op to check out all the different UT souvenirs.  As we entered the place we ran into a very cool Longhorn, the mascot of the University of Texas.

UT Co-Op Mascot all decked out for the Graduation

From there we had planned to try a place called the Noble Pig in North Austin but arrived too late, so I guess that another visit to Austin will need to be made.  We then headed back to the Metroplex to rejuvenate for another day of DDD places and visiting local sites.  My DDD count stood at 305!