Travels in the South

 Yum!  Can you say that?  Double Yum.  When mom/dad went to Chicago back in May, Aunt Tina took them to a place called Pilot Pete’s.  This restaurant was on a small airfield.  You could eat in the restaurant and watch small plans come/go.  It was totally neat.

Aunt Tina ordered some wings.  You want them a little hot but you don’t want them swimming so bad in the sauce that you end up wearing the sauce.  You know what I mean?  So Aunt Tina got the sauce on the side with some blue cheese.

These wings were totally delicious and yummy.  Go ahead.  I won’t tell anyone if you lick the screen 🙂

 

Travels in the South

Last week I told you about a restaurant that mom/dad went to with Aunt Tina a couple of months ago while visiting Chicago.  This is the second half of that posting.

On this night, mom/dad split a meal.  They do that a lot.  On tonight’s menu it was a Fontina Pork Chop.  I know – I know.  I was shocked too.  Thank goodness I’m not that kind of pig!

This pork chop was boneless, had fontina cheese, garlic and prosciutto ham and a mushroom marsala sauce.  Mom said it was the best pig that she ever had…besides kissing me that is – snorts and rolls with piggy laughter.

They served it with garlic whipped potatoes and one of dad’s favorites – crab fried rice – which dad absolutely fell in love with!

This was the first time that mom/dad had visited this restaurant but they say they will be back for sure!  Wait until next week to see the dessert – oh yum ❤

 

Travels in the South

Do you see that yummy shrimp?  It’s called Bang Bang Shrimp.  The shrimp are crispy and tossed with a creamy spicy sauce.  AND they serve the shrimp with chopsticks.  How cute is that?  Mom/dad said they were awesome!  Can you guess what restaurant it is with the fish in the lower left hand corner?

Aunt Tina took mom/dad to this place when they last visited in May.  What an awesome place it was… or maybe it was the awesome food… or MAYBE it was just the AWESOME COMPANY they had at dinner.

 

Travels in the South

Can you say banana cheesecake?  When mom first read this on a local restaurant menu she hesitated.  First because dad is not a huge fan of bananas.  He says it goes back to his childhood and having to eat bananas almost every day.  I don’t know what he’s complaining about.  I love bananas and would welcome eating them daily.  Just ask mom.  So mom hesitated for about two seconds and then told dad she was ordering it.  He started with his usual okay but I don’t want any.

It comes to the table looking like the picture above.  Mom said she actually thought she heard angels singing in the background.  She tried a bite.  She said it was like that part in the movie When Sally Met Harry.  I’m not sure what she was talking about – it confuses me and she told me not to worry about it because I was too young.  No I’m not.  But whatever it meant, it intrigued daddy so he asked for a small bite.

Mommy said daddy groaned.  That’s so weird.  Why would he groan?  Shrugging piggy shoulders.  Mom then said that daddy ended up eating half of it.  So much for not liking bananas huh?  And was it asking too much to bring some home to the oinker?

 

Travels in the South

Have you heard the recent uproar about the restaurant IHOP (International House of Pancakes) changing their name to IHOB (International House of Burgers)?  I know it’s a publicity stunt to get their burgers out there so you know my mom/dad had to give them a whirl.  Now, mom/dad had tried their burgers previous to this new promotion and they enjoyed them.

So off they went to the IHOB cause you know burgers are daddy’s specialty.  Currently during the promotion, you get a drink and endless fries with your choice of burger.  Did you hear that?  Endless fries.  Mom said she heard angels singing when she read that – my mom is so silly.  Burgers range from $7.00 to $11.00 and come in various forms.  Mom went with the Classic with Bacon and Cheese (how could you mom?).  Dad ventured out a bit more.  He got something  called a Big Brunch.  It had cheese, bacon, a fried egg and hashbrowns on it.  It was a monster!

So what did mom/dad think?  Both said they were good and they loved the french fries (crispy with a crunch and yes they got a refill of them).  These burgers for the price combining the fries and drink were a deal; however, the burgers themselves didn’t make their top 3 list of burgers they’ve tried.  They weren’t bad but they didn’t really stand out in flavor either.  Does that make sense?  They would eat them again for the mere price but wouldn’t go out of their way.

But hey, you make your decision.  Have you tried them yet?

 

 

Travels in Chicago

Do you remember last week when mom/dad talked about the bacon pancakes they got at a restaurant in Chicago called Richard Walkers Pancake House“?  This meal was at the same restaurant.  Amazing huh?  Steak, eggs and hashbrowns.  Daddy was in heaven…. and so was mommy too.  Of course she had a couple of bites here/there in between bacon pancakes.  So what do you think?  Breakfast of Champions?

 

Travels in Chicago

Mom/Dad left us again a couple of weeks ago.  They went back to see my Aunt Tina in Schaumburg, Illinois.  Of course you know this means more food porn from them, right?  And of course that means us anipals didn’t get any doggy bags per say.  But then again, we were at Nana’s and well I can’t tell you what happened there… cause you know what happens at Nana’s stays at Nana’s.  So with that, I will let mom explain this awesome picture to you.  Take it away mom –

A restaurant that we found the last time we visited my sister was called Richard Walker’s Pancake House.  Now the hub unit has talked about this place every since the first time we ate there.  And I’ll tell you truthfully – the hub unit even dreamt about this place.  Yep, he liked it that much.

So of course it was on the ‘must go’ places on our list.  But this time, I fell in love with something on the menu.  Let me introduce you to my new love – bacon pancakes.

I’m sorry my sweet Bacon.  These pancakes are the bomb!  I think we ate them like three times while we were in Illinois a couple of weeks ago.  I couldn’t help it!  They kept calling my name.  The bacon was crispy – not mushy – and they were in the pancakes.  Of course I used sugar free syrup – LOL.  Don’t they look gorgeous?!

Now I want some more – ❤

 

Travels in the South

 Sometimes you just want to try a new restaurant.  Daddy has been seeing a certain restaurant on the television for weeks now and telling mom about it.  With that being said, this another week that I’m going to let daddy discuss his thoughts – take it away daddy!

Thank you Bacon.  I’m glad you understand these things when it comes to food.  After seeing this advertisements on television and pestering asking the wife to go, we looked the restaurant on line to see where the closest one was to the Hotel Thompson.  The closest one was about 25 minutes away from us several towns over.  Now we tried to go on several different occasions but something always came up.  Maybe that was an omen we should have listened to?  You decide.

So we get to this place and it’s a barbeque restaurant where you order in one place, pay and then pick up your food.  We told the person at the counter when we ordered we had never been there before.  They said, “Ah, okay, what would you like”.  And that was that.  No smile, no welcome, no greeting.  Okay, so customer service is not their best.  Some of the best food can still be found in places like this.

I ordered waffle fries, potato salad (I know double potatoes – LOL), ribs, pork and brisket.  The food came out lukewarm.  It was okay – nothing to write home about or put on your list to visit again.

The wife unit ordered something called a frito pie.  It had Frito’s on the bottom, covered with pinto beans and brisket and topped with onion strings and barbeque sauce.  She ordered it the same time I did mine; however, it literally took them about 20 minutes to put something together that the ingredients were all ready.  I personally think they forgot about her and was thinking the next person was going to do it, etc.  It doesn’t look appealing but she really enjoyed it.

So this wasn’t a place we would visit again anytime soon.  Maybe they were having an off day.  We might try it again but it will definitely be some time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Travels in the South

Oh boy, has daddy got a good one today for you my friends.  For obvious reasons, I’m going to let daddy explain his choice to you – snorts with piggy laughter.

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Thank you Bacon – now you scoot along and be a good piggy.  You certainly do not need to see this.

Hello friends – Look at this burger!  Can you say in the famous words of Bacon, “Oh my piggy heavens?!” 

On a recent outing with the wife, I came across the burger.  The menu called it The Boss.  I nicknamed it The Caveman.  It was *almost* too much for even me to handle… but I did. 

The pictures don’t do it justice – it is HUGE! 

Are you asking yourself what is in this creation?  There is a hamburger patty on the bottom, topped by smoked brisket, tender rib meat, jalapeno cheddar smoked sausage, bacon and cheddar. 

 

I could barely wrap my hands around this burger.  And once I did get my hands around it, I wouldn’t dare put it down because it would fall apart on me.  And that my friends would be horrible. 

So I picked it up and dug in.  This burger was so piled with goodies inside that they kept falling out and onto my tray. 

And see those french fries on my plate.  I’m sure they would have been good but I had no room left to enjoy them. 

And if the sandwich was that big, do you think I could wrap my mouth around it?  Barely – that is the word – barely!

And it was good until the last bite!

 

Travels in Chicago –

 Did

 you think I was done highlighting some of the wonderful food mom/dad tried when they were visiting Illinois last November?  Of course not – snorts with piggy laughter.  How could

any visit be complete to the Chicago area without trying some of their famous Chicago deep dish pizza?  And of course, there was only one place they had to go for that –

Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria

First up, Aunt Tina said they had the best calamari.  So everyone ordered the Calamari Fritti which was lightly breaded and fried to perfection.  They serve this delectable appetizer with a side of cocktail sauce.  Of course, Aunt Tina made sure to spritz lemon all over these yum-yum’s before everyone dug into them.

And then everyone dug into some salad.  See even Aunt Tina made daddy eat some vegetables – mom was so proud.  Of course mom told daddy he had to eat the salad because the pizza takes time to cook.  That’s right.  Deep dish pizza takes longer to cook than the regular pizzas you might order from your fast food place.

 Then after a while, mom/dad/Aunt Tina said they heard angels singing and their individual pizzas were delivered.  Instead of getting one huge pizza, they all got individual ones with side salads.  These pizzas had sausage and black olives – and lots of sauce.

What did mom/dad think about this Chicago style deep dish pizza?  Dad is a huge pizza person.  He said that he ‘thinks’ he liked it but he would have to try one again to be sure.  That sounds like dad, huh?  But in the end, he said he would give it about an eight.

Mom said it was okay.  Mom is not a fan of a lot of sauce on her pizzas and of course this one is fully loaded with sauce.  And the crust is thick and a there is a lot of it surrounding the pizza.  Mom said the crust was kind of hard too.  There was lots of flavor but this pizza left mom on the it was okay side.  So for these reasons, mom gave it about a four.

But overall, everyone had a fantastic time at a famous landmark.  Would they go back again – of course they would!  There is more to the menu than just pizza.  And if you know anything about my mom/dad, they are professional eaters – snorts with piggy laughter.