Category: travel

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tio wally travel

Tio Wally Eats America: Dad’s Junction Cafe

I’m happy to have Tio Wally (long-time Me So Hungry reader) aboard to send in his eating adventures from across America. Here he is in New Florence, Missouri.

Greetings from New Florence, Missouri
N 38° 54.106’ W 91° 27.599’ Elev. 848 ft.

I wish I had a daytime picture of Dad’s but I showed up at night. From the Interstate it appears to be nothing more than a large storage-type building with “CAFE” prominently displayed on it. No mention of Dad’s. Or Junction. In fact, the only way to know what it’s actually called is to see the puny little reader board with missing letters (and read between the letters) or to go to the entrance (which is on the side of the building).

I’d passed the place for years. What caught my attention was two things: The number of trucks parked there and, more so, the number of cars that were always there during breakfast and lunch hours. Obviously, it’s worth a stop.

Dad’s claim to fame is Dad’s Famous Breaded Pork Tenderloin. The dinner, which includes either two sides or a salad and baked potato, is $10.39. So I ordered it, with the salad and baked potato.

As I waited for my dinner I saw plates laden with (as it turned out) Chicken Fried Steak come out. My gawd, I thought. How the hell am I going to eat all that? They were huge, HUGE!!!

Then my waitress brought my Pork Tenderloin dinner. The Tenderloin easily dwarfed the measly Chicken Fried Steaks two-fold. It was gargantuan. Although it was deep-fried it wasn’t the slightest bit greasy, with a delicately spiced breading that was flaky and crunchy, and the tenderest of tenderloins within.

The size of the thing was huge, CRAZY HUGE. I was able to eat less than half of it before I had my fill — and I was famished when I showed up.

But it came out without any gravy on it. Dry. I asked the waitress about gravy and she recommended the brown gravy with it. She brought it and it was very good, the gravy not too salty and obviously tweaked by “Dad.” But seeing the Chicken Fried Steak I wanted to try that gravy, too. She brought some and it was really thick and heavily peppered. The brown gravy was the call; always trust your server.

The salad was more than ample, crisp and fresh. The baked potato was, thankfully, on the small side. Indeed, I felt like a lightweight as I boxed up the remaining tenderloin.

As I was leaving I asked the waitress if the Tenderloin Sandwich ($9.29) was the same size as the dinner. “Yes,” she said; they bill it on the menu as “I-70s Largest Sandwich.” I thought it was so insane that I waited to get a picture of one. Now I know it’s true.

And so we roll.

Dad’s Junction Cafe, 413 Booneslick, I-70 & Hwy. 19 Exit 175, New Florence, Missouri

Tio Wally pilots the 75-foot, 40-ton(max) land yacht SS Me So Hungry. He reports on road food from around the country whenever parking and InterTube connections permit.

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tio wally travel

Tio Wally Eats America: Panera Bread

I’m happy to have Tio Wally (long-time Me So Hungry reader) aboard to send in his eating adventures from across America. Here he is in Amherst, Ohio.

Greetings from Amherst, Ohio
N 41° 22.672’ W 82° 13.332’ Elev. 747’

I first discovered Panera Bread while in Galena, Missouri. I had a craving for a real, fresh-baked Bear Claw, not one of those crappy convenience store abominations.

After calling down the list through the phone book I learned an unfortunate truth about Galena: The nearest bona fide bakery is an hour away. The first bakery I found that had/made Bear Claws was Panera Bread, in Springfield. Being as sometimes you simply have to have a Bear Claw off we went on the 82-mile (round trip) trek on winding Ozark highways.

Panera Bread was founded in a St. Louis, Missouri suburb in 1993. In the greater St. Louis area, however, it’s called St. Louis Bread Co., but that’s another story. Regardless of the location all of them are identical and all feature breakfast and lunch items as well as a complete line of baked goods, from cookies and pastries to breads. And they have really good coffee.

I’ve only eaten the so-called “Cafe” food at Panera once, in Athens, Georgia.

(Should you ever go to Athens be forewarned: The worst drivers in North America — this includes Canada and Mexico — are in Georgia, and the worst of the worst are in Athens. Evidently REM is not just the name of a crappy, grossly overrated band from Athens; REM is also the only reasonable explanation for that burg’s general level of motoring incompetence. If anyone has a better explanation for Athens’ driver’s blissful ineptitude I’m all ears.)

I had the “Pick 2”, a Bacon Chicken Bravo sandwich (Smoked turkey breast, bacon, smoked gouda, lettuce, tomato & their “signature” dressing on Tomato Basil bread) and a cup of Creamy Tomato soup for $7.79. The “Pick 2” also includes a choice of chips — I got a bag of rock hard kettle chips that could only be generously described as “useful for cutting diamonds” — bread or an apple. I should’ve had the apple.

While the sandwich and tomato soup — I’ve had the soup a few times since — were quite good, I just didn’t feel I was getting my money’s worth. In fact, it seemed overpriced to the point that I was being charged for the privilege of being terminally hip.

It was a small sandwich and the bowl of soup was only half full. Why they don’t just serve the soup in a cup is beyond me. Unless, of course, they want to disgruntle the odd hungry, interminably un-hip street sailor.

The bakery goods on the other hand are a great value. I often get a Sweet Onion and Poppy Seed Bagel and Honey-Walnut Cream Cheese ($2.49) which is great. Why they put Poppy Seeds on an Onion bagel baffles me though. It would no doubt drive any self-respecting Jewish bagelmaker meshuge. But the Honey Walnut Cream Cheese is especially awesome.

The real bargain at Panera — if you have a house, a toaster and a bag of bagels — is to get a tub of cream cheese (I think it’s about 5-6 ounces) for $2.79. They’ve got five different flavors in addition to plain and low-fat.

Ah, but the Bear Claws. Although they cost about $2.50 each, they are perfection. Flaky crust, generously stuffed with almond paste. They are, well, perfect. I’ve often bought two or three of them, cut them in half and wrapped them in plastic wrap. I’ve actually found ones I’d forgotten about a month later and they were still good. A little flakier, but still edible. Yea, I say.

Then again, it makes you wonder what kind of super-preservatives might be in them. But maybe it all has to do with my expert wrap-job. Who’s to know? But hell, the food safety policy aboard the SS Me So Hungry is pretty straight ahead: If it isn’t visibly moldy and doesn’t smell bad, taste it and go from there.

And so we roll.

Panera Bread, nationwide

*Note that the prices in the photos are higher than normal. All of the menu pictures were taken at a “Service Plaza” on I-80 in Amherst, Ohio. In keeping with Ohio’s soul, it looks like a generic airline terminal. It’s also proof: If you can afford to drive on a toll road already paid for by your tax dollars, you can well afford to pay a lot more for food, too.

Tio Wally pilots the 75-foot, 40-ton(max) land yacht SS Me So Hungry. He reports on road food from around the country whenever parking and InterTube connections permit.

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italian tio wally travel

Tio Wally Eats America: La Cucina Italian Restaurant

I’m happy to have Tio Wally (long-time Me So Hungry reader) aboard to send in his eating adventures from across America. Here he is in Hanover, Pennsylvania.

Greetings from Hanover, Pennsylvania
N 39° 48.602’ W 076° 56.6333’ Elev. 609’

There we were, sailing along with time enough to spare to make a diversion if we wanted. The idea was to swing through West Asheville, North Carolina and eat at one of my favorite restaurants, Nona Mia Italian Kitchen, which I’ve written about before here and here.

We didn’t go however because I wasn’t sure we could make it there before they closed and, more so, the 90-mile diversion would take about 2-1/2 hours of very hard work to make up due to the terrain and the burdensome weight of the land yacht. So we blew it off.

But I was bummed. I really wanted to have a great meal. I was due.

We ended up at our destination a day early and were lucky enough to be able to get rid of it even though it was Martin Luther King Day. Then we were sent here.

As we sailed into Hanover that evening I was wondering if La Cucina Italian Restaurant would be open. I wanted to eat there if only in gratitude of the owner helping me secure a Sausage and Peppers fix even though his restaurant wasn’t even open; he was in the process of moving the restaurant 500 feet to a different building at the time.

As good fortune would have it La Cucina was open. Moreover, owner Armando Malvone was standing right there when I walked in. I told him about my phone call, which had taken place in late August of 2011, and damned if he didn’t remember it. Funnier still: It turned out that he had gone to Jerry & Sal’s (Sal is Armando’s uncle) and had ended up making my Sausage & Peppers himself because J&S’s don’t actually make it as an entrée.

So I ordered … Sausage and Peppers, specifically Penne Sausage and Peppers ($12.95), and it was fabulous: pasta perfectly al dente, great sauce, and great homemade Italian sausage. La Cucina’s S&P’s had the added treat of not only green peppers, but red and yellow peppers as well.

The meal came with choice of soup or salad and focaccia bread. Being as I was getting it to go, I got a salad (leaf lettuce, cherry tomato, cucumber, shredded carrot), which came with a really great creamy Italian dressing. In retrospect, I should’ve asked about the soup; you never know what you’ll find. It also came with a small pizza box full of a tasty assortment of breads: slices of focaccia (one with garlic, onion, and olive oil, the other with a light tomato sauce) and homemade rolls.

As I was about to leave Armando asked “Do you like ice cream? Are you allergic to nuts?” Then as a gift he gave me a Spumoni Bomba (Spumoni Bomb). It was a roughly cannonball-shaped, baseball-sized frozen confection with pistachio, chocolate, and cherry ice creams encased in a hard chocolate shell. I thought the pistachio made it kind of an improbable pairing of flavors, but it was incredible. It could only be described as lethally good, which would do much to explain its name. I could almost hear the Duke of Earl’s voice saying one of his favorite descriptors, “This is the bomb!”

Everything at La Cucina is homemade, and it tastes like it. Although I think cook-offs are stupid and unduly subjective, I believe if one took place between La Cucina and Nona Mia, La Cucina would make a more than worthy competitor.

La Cucina is a warm, inviting and intimate restaurant. The food is exceptional and the prices are extremely reasonable. And Armando takes good care of vagrant land yachters — even in the midst of moving his restaurant. Now that’s service!

And so we roll.

La Cucina Italian Restaurant, 496 Eisenhower Drive, Hanover, Pennsylvania

Tio Wally pilots the 75-foot, 40-ton(max) land yacht SS Me So Hungry. He reports on road food from around the country whenever parking and InterTube connections permit.

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tio wally travel

Tio Wally Eats America: Barbecue Kitchen

I’m happy to have Tio Wally (long-time Me So Hungry reader) aboard to send in his eating adventures from across America. Here he is in College Park, Georgia.

Greetings from College Park, Georgia
N 33° 39.585’ W 84° 26.193’ Elev. 1034 ft.

There’s a framed article on the wall of the Barbecue Kitchen from Georgia Trend magazine with the headline: Frequent Flyers Don’t Have To Starve.

I didn’t read it but perhaps it has to do with the Barbecue Kitchen’s proximity to the College Park MARTA (Moving Americans Rapidly Through Atlanta?) station; MARTA serves Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. It may point out that, if you’re willing to make the 1.25 mile trek from the MARTA station, you can find some really great viddles at a very reasonable price on your way to or from that god forsaken hell, er, airport. But who’s to know? I didn’t read it.

The Barbecue Kitchen is a classic “Meat and three sides” place. But should it be your druthers, you can also choose a meat, two sides and a dessert, as I did. I asked my waitress what she would recommend and went with it: One-Half Smoked Chicken, Squash Casserole, Mashed Rutabagas, and Peach Cobbler ($8.17). Since it was such a classic Southern-style meal, I washed it all down with Sweet Tea.

When I pulled the drumstick off the chicken my first thought was: This isn’t fully cooked. But it was. Had I been smart enough to read the top of the little Specials insert I would have known this. Written right there is “Due to our smoking process our BBQ Pork and Chicken may be red in color but it is fully cooked.”

The chicken was really, really great. The smoky flavor wasn’t overwhelming and the chicken wasn’t too dry. Although it was served with a tangy barbecue sauce, it really didn’t require any extra help to be truly delicious.

The Squash Casserole was also pretty good. It’s sort of like a moist, baked dressing, with just enough Cheddar cheese to be tasted, and cubes of yellow squash.

But the real highlight of the meal was the Mashed Rutabagas. I’ll never understand why you don’t see rutabagas more. They are delightfully, naturally sweet, much like yams; they are even sweeter when baked. Still, you just don’t see them anywhere.

When the guy — once again an ever-reliable (loading) dock worker — told me about Barbecue Kitchen he noted that they’ll bring you as much vegetables as you want for free. Armed with this important bit of knowledge, I had a second bowl of them and found myself yodeling “Rutaba-e-aga, rutaba-e-aga” like Mark Volman (aka Flo) in the Just Another Band From L.A. version of Frank Zappa’s “Call Any Vegetable.”

The Roll and Corn Muffins were also really good, especially with real butter (Not!) and a little honey on them. I don’t know what kind of honey they had in their Honey Bears but it didn’t taste like the standard-issue clover variety. It sure was tasty.

The Peach Cobbler was another real treat. It reminded me of the peach cobbler my Mom used to make. I really liked the textural contrast between the hard, sugary crust, the soft dough beneath and the tender, syrupy peaches. The only thing that could possibly improved it, not that it needed anything, would’ve been if it had been served warm with a few tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk poured on top. Awesome stuff to cap off an awesome meal.

So good was this meal that I didn’t even read my book as I normally do while eating. I was all-consumed consuming the delectable delights and couldn’t take my eyes off the task at hand. Indeed, this was the best $10.35 I’d spent for a meal in a while. And I ate the whole thing!

Another really great thing about the Barbecue Kitchen is its general ambiance. It’s very casual, with great service, and a lot of really cool metal sculptures adorning the walls. Where else are you going to see a bunch of brightly painted metal flying pigs? There is also a really interesting sculpture mounted right above the toilet in the men’s room. (Am I developing a bathroom art fetish?) I kept staring at it thinking it was an insect of some sort. It wasn’t until I was leaving that I saw that it was actually the front view of a motorcycle.

Before the SS Me So Hungry casts off I feel I need to reiterate something: We really love rutabagas. That said, I beseech one and all to make a vow today to do everything humanly possible to support and popularize this sadly neglected root vegetable. The world needs, no, deserves to enjoy more delicious and nutritious rutabagas.

And so we roll.

Barbecue Kitchen, 1437 Virginia Ave., College Park, Georgia
(located right next to the Waffle House)

Tio Wally pilots the 75-foot, 40-ton(max) land yacht SS Me So Hungry. He reports on road food from around the country whenever parking and InterTube connections permit.

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chinese travel

Golden Lotus Dim Sum (Orlando)

I went here last time I visited my parents a couple of years ago. This time was because I really couldn’t find a place we all could enjoy a quick lunch that would satisfy all of us. I know I wanted to try some new place, but it would be really far from the airport that I needed to get to or inside Disney or Universal Studios.

Dim Sum is pretty good here. Affordable. I wonder if this will be a tradition when I visit my parents in Orlando.

Golden Lotus – 8365 S John Young Pkwy. Orlando, FL 32819

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tio wally travel

Tio Wally Eats America: Hoof & Horn Steak House & Lounge

I’m happy to have Tio Wally (long-time Me So Hungry reader) aboard to send in his eating adventures from across America. Here he is in Saint Joseph, Missouri.

Greetings from Saint Joseph, Missouri
N 39° 43.155’ W 094° 52.089’ Elev. 860 ft.

I’ve said this before: Whenever the crew of the SS Me So Hungry wants to know where to go for something good to eat we ask the guys on the (loading) dock. We always end up at a place that couldn’t be found unless someone told us where it was.

This time it wasn’t the guys on the dock but, rather, a lady in the shipping office who recommended we sail just down the street, past the abandoned Livestock Exchange building, to the Hoof & Horn Steak House & Lounge for lunch. “I think they have the best prime rib in town,” she said.

The Hoof & Horn is billed as the oldest restaurant in St. Joseph, the city “Where the Pony Express began and Jesse James ended.” Established in 1896 in the historic Stockyards section of St. Joe, the place has had only four different owners in the last 117 years. And the Wild West-themed restaurant has some pretty darn good food, pardners.

As per my usual modus operandi I ordered off the Specials board. That day they were offering Country Fried Steak, Beef and Noodles, Grilled Tenderlion w/Pepper Jack Cheese, and a 5-Alarm Burger. All of them came with a choice of soup (Tomato Basil) or salad, a vegetable (corn or green beans), and dinner rolls for $8.60.

I had to have the Beef and Noodles and Tomato Basil soup. It spoke to me.

The Tomato Basil soup was absolutely awesome, flawless. It was different from any Tomato Basil soup I’d ever had. Instead of being completely pureed, it contained big chunks of fresh tomato, along with bits of onion and tiny bits of some sort of sausage.

The soup was so fabulous that I sought out the chef — who (I think) turned out to be owner Roy Swope — to tell him how great it was. You really made my day, er, week, er, month … year, I told him. “That’s saying a lot considering today’s the Second (of January),” he said.

The Beef and Noodles likewise were great. It was a huge portion of big, tender chunks of beef with homemade noodles, with a generous mound of homemade mashed potatoes — mashed potatoes and noodles? — in sort of a beef stew-like gravy. I was actually expecting egg noodles like you’d get with sirloin tips or stroganoff or something, but they were the type you’d get in homemade chicken noodle soup. Although I’m not a big fan of that type of noodle per se, these were actually pretty good.

Again, it was a huge portion, enough for a couple of meals. What a deal! This is a place I’ll most certainly be returning to.

Just before leaving I visited the “little boys room.” There on the wall hung a picture of Marion Morrison aka John Wayne. Looking at it I thought that it seemed to be perfectly positioned so that if you sat on the commode Mr. Grossly Overrated Hollywood Cowboy himself would be staring at you as you did your business.

Testing my hypothesis, I sat down and … it was true: The Duke stares directly at you when you take a dookey, or, put more accurately and with much more vulgarly, as you “pinch off a Steve Doocy.”

How ironic can you get? After all, I’ve always considered Icon Marion to be a really crappy actor.

And so we roll.

Hoof & Horn Steak House & Lounge, 429 Illinois Ave., Saint Joseph, Missouri,
located 1/8 mile east of the historic Livestock Exchange building.

Tio Wally pilots the 75-foot, 40-ton(max) land yacht SS Me So Hungry. He reports on road food from around the country whenever parking and InterTube connections permit.

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seafood travel

Hot N Juicy Crawfish (Orlando)

It’s funny. When I did a search of nearby restaurants on Yelp at my parents’ home in Orlando, all the restaurants were in Universal Studios or Disney World. I did see a restaurant in the strip mall close by called Hot N Juicy Crawfish. Dang. I’m there.

Apparently it’s a chain restaurant with restaurants spread all over the country –Las Vegas, California, D.C. and here in Orlando. Man vs Food TV show did a thing there —http://youtu.be/VbeCuujOvX0

We ordered The Drool bucket (1lb of Crawfish, 1lb of Shrimp, dozen slices of Andouille Sausages, 2 corn, 2 potatoes, 1/2lb of Snow Crab Legs and Calamari appetizer $37.99). They ran out of Snow Crab, so they gave us King Crab Legs. We also got the Etouffee ($6.99) and Fried Catfish Basket with Sweet Potato Fries ($11.99)

The waiter says the crawfish is flown in daily. Dang. That’s a lot of work. They were really juicy and flavorful …and kind of spicy. We got the lowest level of spice (Baby Spice) and that was still kind of spicy. It was the right amount of spiciness. But maybe the “Hot n Juicy Special” seasoning we ordered it with added to that heat. Really flavorful head sucking. I even sucked the heads of the shrimps.

The best deal is the all-day Happy Hour Monday through Thursdays $1 bottled beers! That’s any bottle beer, whether it’s Heineken or Blue Moon. Three per person, but still such a good deal.

Man, I wish there was a Hot N Juicy Crawfish in Brooklyn. But only if they can give me fresh crawfish at $10/lb and $1 beers. Dreamboarding it.

Hot N Juicy Crawfish - 7572 W Sand Lake Rd. Orlando, FL 32836

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travel

Garden Grove at Walt Disney World Swan Hotel (Orlando, FL)

I went home for the holidays in Orlando. We had Christmas Dinner at Garden Grove in the Disney Swan Hotel. It was a buffet. The food was okay …not amazing, but I guess decent for the price ($35 per person). Beer and alcohol is extra.

My favorites were the Prime Rib with Au Jus and creamy and fresh horseradish. The horseradish was key. I give them props for making mini corndogs and trying butternut squash ravioli. Also a big selection of holiday desserts. I liked the Eggnog Panna Cotta.

The best part of the dinner was Goofy, Pluto and Chip & Dale walking around. But where’s Santa? I think Chip & Dale are girls inside. I think one of them was into me. …At least I hope they were girls.

It’s funny seeing little kids going crazy over the Disney characters walking around. They looked so hyper and like small wasted adults. I wonder if they really believe that the autograph they’re getting is real or not.

We walked around to the connected resorts, like the Swan hotel and Boardwalk. It’s amazing how awesome the area looks. Disney seems a lot more grandiose from what I remember as a kid. It’s kind of cool.

Garden Grove (Walt Disney World) – at the Swan & Dolphin Hotel

Oh yeah. My mom wishes you a Merry Christmas!