T/A - Commerce, GA. Ranch resistant hominy?!

As I approached the off-ramp of the interstate, I began thinking about this particular T/A and how I really enjoyed their specific location special menu item of a vidalia onion quiche. I wondered if they still did that, despite the special menu being discontinued.

As I pulled in to the truck stop, one thing became abundantly clear to me: this wasn't the T/A I was thinking of. I think the one I was thinking of is located on I-20. This one is located on I-85. Whoops! Well, no quiche for me, then. Another thing became abundantly clear to me at this location as well: the parking sucks! There are 3 rows. First row of angled spots are just fine if you can pull through from behind, otherwise you're doing a blind-side 45 with not much room in front of you. The back row of straight spots are easy to back in to if you don't have anyone opposite you in the 2nd row. It is, however, that 2nd row of spots directly behind the angled first row that is the problem child. You see, whoever designed this didn't allow enough room between the 2nd and 3rd rows of spots. There is not enough room to get out (or in) if you're surrounded on all sides by parked trucks. There just isn't. One could park at a 45 degree angle on the 2nd row which would be easier for them to get out but the 3rd row would still have difficulty. Luckily in my case when I woke up in the morning, it was clear all around me.

But let's move on to the restaurant, shall we? Oh, by the way, this T/A does not have fast food. It's just a Country Pride restaurant for food options (or hot dogs off the rollers if you're in a hurry or you haven't had heartburn in awhile)

My original visit was last night where I tried the pickled onion burger (yuck) and wrote about it just prior to this entry. My return visit was a noon visit for lunch. While the place wasn't exactly hopping with activity, there certainly was activity in the restaurant and their names were Tonya and Kayla: two spunky blonde waitresses with adorable Georgia accents. These two girls made my visit. Just listening to them go back and forth with each other and giving a little sass to their regulars was enough to keep me entertained the entire time I was there. Now keep in mind, I love a sassy truck stop waitress. Love. It! These girls were no exception. It helped that the cook was adding fuel to their banter and hearing their exchanges gave me the impression that people here seem to enjoy working at this restaurant, or at least enjoy the people they work with. More places should be like this.

But let's get to the food. No vidalia onion quiche here, but they did offer chicken and dumplings. For $7.99 you get a heaping helping with a side of bread and the soup/salad bar. Cheaper than anything else I was going to order from the menu, so why not? I only have 2 complaints about the chicken and dumplings, first the big complaint: found 2 bones. One was part of a chicken leg and was easily picked out. The second one was much smaller and I didn't find it until I was chewing and that could have created problems had I not noticed it. Second complaint was that the dumplings were really small. At first I wasn't even sure there were dumplings, until I saw these little while globs of something and after tasting realized those were dumplings. I guess I'm used to seeing larger dumplings, or in the case of Mount Airy, enormous Titanic-sinking dumplings.

On the soup and salad bar were the usual salad fixings but they also had hominy. Ever tried it? It has no taste. Even after I dipped it in ranch dressing, there still was no taste to them. It's like they're ranch resistant or something. How are these able to still be horrible even with ranch?! That's an abomination! They did have 2 very appealing soups and despite the weather being in the high 80s, I didn't pass them up. Well I passed one up because I only had room for one. First choice was broccoli and cheese with huge pieces of broccoli. Bite size? Not in this soup! Bring a knife to cut these cheese covered trees down! The other choice was macaroni and cheese soup, with a cheese base, ground beef and elbow noodles. I had high hopes for this soup and was hoping it would be delicious and magnificent. It ended up being mediocre which was a little sad. I wanted it to be amazing but the base was a bit watery and it lacked flavor. Truly heartbreaking. Maybe I should have tried the other one. :(

But of course the whole mediocre lunch was more bearable thanks to Ms. Kayla and Ms. Tonya. Trust me, stop here for the service because these two girls were adorable. They take care of customers and they have fun while doing it. You don't see that as often as you should.

So let's reviews:

-Parking: could be an issue depending how busy they are. Now mind you I pulled in shortly after midnight and had no problem finding a parking spot I could easily get in to...on a week night!

-Chicken and dumplings: watch out for bones

-Soups: if the first one was lackluster, try the second one and hope for the best

-Pickled onion burger (see previous entry) if you don't like pickled onions before, you still won't like them after eating this.

-Service: the best! Kayla and Tonya are two gems..wait this is Georgia. they're two peaches. :)

This Travel Centers of America is located in Commerce GA. That would be I-85, exit 149. It's on the south side of the highway on US-441. If you look it up on google maps and click on the satellite view, you'll see exactly what I mean about the 2nd and 3rd rows of parking.

The travel store looks like it was recently remodeled, also. Not sure what the showers look like, the rest of the truck stop still has that "old T/A" look and feel to it.

T/A's Pickled Onion Burger

One of the last promotional items T/A has recently on their menu is the Pickled Onion Burger. It's always stood out to me as one of those "should I? or shouldn't I?" items and I've always passed it up for something else. However, last night was a different story. I finally bit the bullet and tried it!

Let me preface this by saying I had no opinion about pickled onions prior to eating this burger. I had never even tried a pickled onion before. I didn't even know people pickled onions!

..and after eating this burger, I can say with 100% certainty that I am not a fan of pickled onions. If you love pickled onions, you'll love this burger! If you cannot stand pickled onions, you're going to hate this burger! That's pretty much all there is to this. It's a burger with pepper jack cheese and pickled onions. (and lettuce and tomato). Or if you want a healthier option you can get it with grilled chicken instead. 

This was a horribly boring blog entry, wasn't it? I apologize, I'll make up for it on the next one.

New! Pilot - St. Mary's GA (I-95 x1)

Lord have mercy! This place is brand new and it's just loaded with goodies for truck drivers (and one slight disadvantage but really it's a blessing in disguise). I stopped here on my way down to Florida because I knew it was new and that, to me, meant one thing: NEW SHOWERS! Yeah, it's the simple things.

This new Pilot is on the east side of I-95, just inside the Georgia state line. Before, I would normally go up to exit 5 to the Petro 2 but after today, I don't think I will any more. This Pilot has a bunch of fuel islands and of course a CAT scale. I think 12 showers if I remember correctly, Subway, Cinnabun, frozen yogurt bar, expanded soup selection (6 instead of 4) and their new dining concept featuring better dinner options than fried [whatever].

So let's get into this discussion. As of writing this, the automated shower system here was down, but all that meant was you find a shower room that had the light turned off and the towels all nicely stacked and you pick one of your choosing. I chose shower #2 because it was in the back and I wanted some privacy, plus I was going to take awhile with shaving and all. I'm sure you've been in a new Pilot shower before, they're nice and roomy with more hooks to hang stuff on, a built in seat to either sit or to place your stuff on (which I always do), an actual decent shower head that doesn't feel like it's power-washing the dirt off you like those ones in gym class did (lol! remember those?!) and a multi-tiered shelf for those of us who use more than just soap in the shower. I didn't notice if it had the audio inputs for music but I've never used those anyway. I have never thought about bringing my mp3 player into the shower room, let alone thinking about finding a cord with red and white plugs for it. So yeah, that's the shower.

Subway...Cinnabon. You know what they have. Moving on.

The soup bar was a surprise. Pilot/Flying J normally have 4 soups (chicken noodle, chili, broccoli/cheese, loaded baked potato). This location, and others like it I'm guessing, had 6. Along with the above mentioned 4, they also had: beef stew and chicken pot pie. I'm not sure what their breakfast assortment is here, and I'm not entirely sure when I leave in the wee hours of the morning if it will be set up or not. :(

The frozen yogurt bar is both a blessing and a curse. The curse is it's $.49/ounce. The second curse is they have 2 sizes of bowls for it: large and almost-as-large. The third curse is that they don't have lids for said bowls. The fourth curse is that by the time you think you have a decent amount of frozen yogurt in this large styrofoam container, you're probably looking at a $5-$6 price tag. I only filled mine half way up and it was still freaking expensive. The blessing comes at the toppings bar. They have a lot of toppings, from the usual chopped nuts and jimmies, to slightly more surprising toppings like mini marshmallows and chopped up reese's peanut butter cups. Lots of options here to customize your dessert! They, like another location that had froyo, had 3 machines with 2 flavors in each. This location (and maybe it changes? I'm not sure) had vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, cookies and cream, red velvet cake and ...shoot, I think birthday cake? As with most self-serve machines, they have the middle lever on each machine that swirls the two flavors together.

The expanded hot deli was a pleasant surprise for me. Along with the usual hot deli items you can find at most Flying J and some but not all Pilots, they also had dinners and I think these change regularly. Tonight they offered meatloaf with a choice of 2 sides for $7 or for $9 you could get a half chicken or ribs and 2 sides. I tried the meatloaf and it was good! I would definitely choose it again. My two sides were mashed potatoes with gravy and green beans. Not going to say much because you can't really screw those up (though there was that one mashed potato incident at a T/A in NC that I won't get into but I've covered it in an early blog entry). They also had some quick grab and go snack/appetizers in a little heated case. I saw mozzarella sticks and macaroni and cheese bites for sure, and something else I can't quite remember. Cold food options they had a 4-side refrigerated case with a variety of salads, sandwiches, drinks, cheese snacks, fruit, etc. You'd be hard pressed to come here and not find something to eat, just saying.

Have I forgotten anything? Oh, right, the disadvantage. Because of the number of fuel islands and the fact that the parking lot is laid out more length-wise than width-wise, it's a little bit of a walk to go inside from the parking lot. On one hand, that means you may need to pack a lunch and stop half-way there for an energy break. On the other hand, walking is good for us and truck drivers don't get a lot of exercise anyway so the extra exercise is actually beneficial. Just pace yourself so you don't feel like your heart is going to explode by the time you get to the door.

I think that covers it all. This Pilot has some of the other same ammenities all the over Pilots have: video games, laundry, coffee bar, trans-flo, etc..etc.. I just didn't cover it because I'm used to seeing them.

Anyway, that's my review of the !New! Pilot in St. Mary's GA, I-95 exit 1.
Go there if you're passing through. You can skip the Petro 2 and Popeye's for once to try this place out!

New idea for some blog postings

I had a revelation a week or so ago (I learned how to procrastinate in college) and I think I'm going to label my non-truck stop dining adventures as "Off the Beaten Path". I changed the Mi Casa one to reflect that and I have another blog entry I need to write that will be one, too.

Water You Doing, Troutville?

This is just a quick note, really. The city? County? Whatever....whomever is responsible for supplying water to the Troutville VA T/A made some changes recently and now their water is really soft. As a result, a plain glass of water tastes funny, and the soda tastes a little off, too. So that's just a little head's up if you go to the Country Pride there and order something to drink.

I forget what the waitress told me, it was either the city that decided to triple-filter the water or the county. Either/or, it tastes funny now. :(

Off the Beaten Path - Mi Casa - Greensboro NC (bobtail preferably here)

I guess I should start this one with a disclaimer. Trying to drag a truck and trailer here is going to be tricky. In the couple times I've bobtailed (that's just the truck, no trailer attached, for you non-trucking folks) here, I've seen a few brave souls take their truck and trailer into this rather cramped area to get to the close by Bojangles. I personally feel it's just an accident waiting to happen. Even bobtail there were a few turns getting in that were a little tight to me. I wouldn't even dare try to take a truck and trailer into the nearby Walmart lot, the turns are just too tight with stuff just waiting to get knocked over and repaired at your expense. So in this case, I highly recommend you bobtail here.

Now the other problem with bobtailing here is...unless your company has a terminal or drop yard close by, it may not even be possible for the passing truck driver to stop here...unless you're bobtail already. Some companies have drop yards on Elm-Eugene or Groometown Rd and I'm not exactly sure where else close by.

But okay, let's assume you are bobtail or you're a curious reader who drives a car and wants to know about Mi Casa. According to the outside sign, it is now open, or just recently opened. Mi Casa is located on Elm-Eugene Ave just north of I-85. At the exit, go north on Elm-Eugene and take a left at the very first light north of the interstate. Yeah, it's in that shopping center with Bojangles and Cracker Barrel and a bunch of shops and stuff. Oh hey there's a nail salon next door to it, too, in case you need a manicure. I did, so that's how I know. I went looking for a nearby place to get my nails done and after some shopping/restocking at the nearby Walmart I came back here to try out Mi Casa before hitting the road.

First impression walking through the doors was that it looked new. Everything looked new, from the counters to their POS register to the quite nice tables and chairs. Since I had to wait a few minutes while my lunch was being made, I can attest that the chairs are in fact comfy. And leather! The place, to me, looks like they want to be a hip kind of place but still kinda casual. Where you could go on a Friday night or for a casual business lunch with your boss.

On to the food! Mi Casa advertises themselves as a "fusion Mexican grill." After reading the menu (tastefully displayed on a large chalkboard) I wasn't quite sure what they were fusing together. It was all standard Tex-Mex faire. Tacos, burritos, quesadillas, taco salad, etc. and the item that caught my attention, the 'fusion stack' which was described as similar to Taco Bell's crunchwrap supreme. Sure I'll give it a go.

Along with ground beef, chicken and steak they also offer shrimp, fish (catfish or tilapia), veggie or tofu..wait, tofu? Wish I had known about this before instead of now when I'm looking at their website. I'll say a few things about the website later. Then you add toppings: lettuce, tomato, salsa, pico de gallo, sour cream. Queso? Sure, for $1 more. Wait, what? That wasn't explained to me earlier.
Guacamole? Sure, for $1...wait what?! Again that, too, wasn't explained.
Oh wonderful, those sauteed onions and green peppers were another $1, too.
Now I'm starting to understand why my $6 lunch became $9. I thought it was from adding chips/salsa and a drink. Good thing I didn't add bacon, that was another $0.75. Good freaking Lord.

This review is starting to take a turn for the worse, if you haven't noticed. Let's try to find some redeeming qualities and salvage this thing. The queso was a little runny. Wait, that's not redeeming. The salsa was a little off-putting because they squirted it out in a bottle that looked like it would normally hold ketchup. Now I don't know about you, but I'm not a fan of liquidy salsa. Like my men, I like my salsa to be thick and chunky, not thin and runny. You can quote me on that.

So what was good about the food, then, Liz? My goodness you've complained about the add-on pricing and the quality of liquid cheese and salsa. Okay, so, all personal complaints aside, the food looked and tasted..fresh. Like..really fresh. When I bit into my fusion stack it didn't taste like premade crap. It was good. It was, dare I say it, better than Moe's. Ah ha! That's the style they're going for! It's similar to and felt like they would be competing against Moe's. Another brilliant revelation, Liz, good job. Have a cookie.

Again all personal complaints aside, I should mention they had a mango salsa that was quite lovely and I think helped add to the freshness taste. Everything tasted fresh, down to the tortilla chips they give you. Now that I think about it, they do seem to be similar but just slightly different from Moe's.

The staff was really friendly and nice. The place looked clean. Everyone had their coordinating Mi Casa t-shirts on. The guy who made my order was great, upbeat, friendly and helpful explaining everything. There were a few Hispanic guys working there, too, so you know it's legit.

I guess I should talk about this picture that I almost forgot to include. Sorry you can't see the details and I'm also sorry for taking two bites and then realizing "oh crap, Liz, take a picture first!" It probably looks like a mess in that picture but it actually was worth it. Well I'm saying that back when I ate it. Now that I'm writing about it nearly 14-15 hours later, I would have loved it more if it was $3 cheaper but hey, you live and learn.

Other than that, there's not a whole lot left I could really talk write about. They had Cheerwine at the soda fountain, that was nice. I think next time I would probably get the same thing I had before but with shrimp, minus the queso, minus the guac, minus the sauteed onions and peppers. Sorry, guys, the $1 extra for these ...now that's according to their website so maybe things changed? I'm just going by "what's on the website is accurate and reflected in the restaurant" which isn't actually listed on the website, I'm just...oh just shut up about that Liz. They also have specials! Taco Tuesday 2/$5 I believe. A $5 chicken bowl, and a few others.

Would I go back? Even with my seemingly non-stop complaining about those add-on prices, yes, for sure, I would go back. No doubt about it. Would I suggest it to people? Yes, absolutely. Hell I'm suggesting it to you guys, so there you go. My only two actual gripes were the runny queso and the runny salsa. Oh, you'll notice mine was green in that cup to the side. That was the 'medium'. I've had hotter and thicker/chunkier medium salsa that came in a jar labelled "Old El Paso" from the grocery store. Next time I'll try the hot and get back to you.

Now to quickly touch on the website. http://micasagrillnc.com/
The pictures are fantastic. One look at those mouth-watering close ups and you'll be sitting outside waiting for them to open. BUT....there are some errors. The person they paid to do this, while they did an excellent job with layout and pictures and the menu....kind of...sort of...well..got the restaurant name wrong in a few places. Like if the site is currently opened in a new browser tab (like it is on mine right now) you'll notice on the tab it reads Micasa. Ouch. In the About Us section, towards the end of the paragraph, overlooking the spelling error, you'll notice the restaurant is spelled 'Mikasa'. Again, ouch. Hope they get that fixed.

So anyway, now that I've rambled enough (I do that when I'm tired),
Mi Casa in Greensboro. Go. Try it. It's fresh, it's clean, it's new. Get the mango salsa!
They even offer online ordering through an affiliate website. Woohoo!

Duke's Travel Plaza, Newcomerstown OH

On a tucked away interstate, in a tucked away town, in a tucked away truck stop there sits a brand new restaurant that just opened a month ago. In fact, I'm not exactly sure the name of it come to think of it. I actually stumbled upon it by accident. Last time I was here, there was no restaurant. When I walked in this morning to use the bathroom I was thinking about what to get from the nearby McDonald's that has truck parking. As I turned the corner for the bathrooms there was a sign promoting the newly open restaurant.

Once I was done taking care of business, I walked in and looked at their white board. One sign caught my attention right away, "Cash only, ATM located in store." Alright, be right back. Okay, back with cash in hand, I waited for what another sign said a "bright and shiny server" to seat me. I think they meant 'bright and shining'. If this girl is shiny then she needs to apply some powder, but this is a food blog, not a makeup blog.

So since this is a brand new restaurant, the booths, tables, chairs..all that..they're not brand new but they're arranged and put together enough to where you get the idea that they're serious about trying to get this thing off the ground. It may be left over from when this place may have actually _had_ a restaurant but had to close it? They even had the ... I don't know..70's? 80's? little machines in the booths where you can put a quarter in and watch TV on a screen smaller than your phone. It was cool back in the day!

Now bear in mind I'm only going on their breakfast menu. As you may have guessed, their menu is....limited. One disappointment is that their omelettes don't come with anything else. No hash browns, no bacon, no toast. none of that. They offered a spam omelette which I of course could not pass up. But I had to because their truck hasn't been in to restock so they were out of spam. Out of spam? What is this nonsense?! The front of the menu touted some breakfast specials. I opted for the 665: a full order of biscuits and gravy, choice of breakfast meat (no sexual jokes, please) and 2 eggs any style.

This was...a full order of biscuits and gravy. I looked at the plate and thought "can I eat this much?" Then I poked a grey blob poking out from the gravy and thought "is that thing all sausage?" (it was, and it was delicious). I'm pretty sure those were biscuits. They didn't look like biscuits you'd get at Bojangles, Popeye's or even Cracker Barrel for that matter. They were flaky, they were cooked all the way through and they were a pretty decent size. It did the job it was intended to do. There were some pretty big hunks of sausage (again, no jokes please!) on my plate as well and those were a delight to devour.

I opted for bacon, and was given 4 slices cooked just right. Eggs I went for over easy and the leftover yolk that spilled out I poured onto the biscuits and gravy. (I had to work on that, it was a full plate. the bacon and eggs came on a second smaller plate). Coffee was a mere $1. Can't beat that. My only complaint is that I'm a little OCD when it comes to my coffee. Once it's poured I add 2 cream and 2 sugar and one ice cube to cool it off some. If a very attentive (and shiny?) waitress comes by and tops it up while my nose is buried in biscuits and gravy, it throws off the delicate balance of coffee, cream and sugar that I created. Now I have to guess what to add and the quantities of each. Hold on let me get the calculator, I haven't balanced a Chemistry equation in awhile...

They had dessert offerings and the cinnamon rolls and cinnamon bread (wha? who carries that anymore?!) looked tempting but I was a little full from breakfast. They have a spinning dessert case right at the front with some nice choices that were either home made or looked like they could be passed off as home made.

All in all, this place has potential. They're brand new so I'm giving them a good review. The servers are nice (and shiny!), they're attentive, the food is good, it's pretty cheap and coffee was only a buck. Just remember, cash only. Oh they had a TV perched above the buffet but it looked like an after thought. I think my computer monitor is the same size. Might be a little hard to see that from the back of the restaurant. They're trying though, have to give them credit for that.

Okay! So. Duke's Travel Plaza is located on I-77 in Newcomerstown Ohio. That's exit 65. At the first stop light, turn south and then take an immediate left onto the frontage road and follow that all the way to the end for Duke's. On that same road is a McDonald's with truck parking, a BP and a Super 8 motel. Newcomerstown is about 45 minutes south of Canton (home to the Pro Football Hall of Fame) and I think about 20 miles north of I-70.

Brintle's, Mt. Airy NC - Chicken and dumplings? More like dumplings and chicken!

I have mixed feelings about Brintle's Truck Stop, nestled right between I-77 and I-74 in Mount Airy, NC. On one hand, it's a locally owned establishment, and that's always a good thing. I have reservations about their restaurant though.

Okay so let's get the deets out of the way. Like I said, Brintle's is right between I-77 and I-74 in NC. If you're on I-77 going north, it's the exit right before I-74. If you're on I-74 going west, it's the exit right before you get to I-77. It's super convenient to both interstates, depending on which way you're going. (remember kids, odd number interstates go north-south, even numbers go east-west) It has a decent size parking lot with parking all over the place. They also have a scale (not a CAT scale), a truck wash and a repair shop. They also have showers for like $5 or something really cheap and while they're not the biggest shower rooms out here, they're not bad. The staff, at least towards me, have always been super nice and that's always a big plus. They have a TV room, games, internet and WiFi, laundry, convenience store...

Wait let me digress for a moment. Apparently some people like to think of a magazine rack as a library and have taken to reading the magazines without paying for them. To counter this, Brintle's has taken the extra effort to saran wrap EVERY MAGAZINE THEY SELL so you can't open it first. They also have adult magazines, because, you know, some people get *ahem* frustrated and backed up out here..

Their convenience store is pretty decent, they sell all kinds of stuff from the basic snack food items to your usual truck and auto repair convenience items to cowboy boots and belt buckles and knives...knives?..yes knives. Oh and they looooove Andy Griffith out here, but more on that later. Oh and a chocolate eclair pudding that was to die for. It was yummy, it wasn't that expensive, my only complaint was that there was too much of it. I would have been just as happy with a container half the size. Food for thought, Brintle's, half size containers of your puddings, please.

So now that I've procrastinated enough, it's time to talk about the restaurant. First of all, the people are really nice! They have a varied menu with some interesting choices. They have a buffet and I guess for continuity I should talk about that one first. They do their buffet a wee bit different. Instead of having plates up there for you to grab, you order the buffet and then your server brings you a few plates. 2 dinner plates, a salad plate, a soup cup and a dessert dish. Doesn't look like it will be enough but I've never had to ask for more plates. The buffet is pretty cheap, too, I think $10.99 for dinner. That's pretty comparable, if not cheaper, than some places. The salad bar has your usual salad offerings. They usually offer 3 kinds of soup. Not 2 like most places, not 4 (not exactly sure why on that) but 3. This time I tried the chicken and dumpling soup because it sounded tempting as a comfort food. However, I think they labelled the soup wrong.

Chicken and dumplings? More like dumplings and chicken, am I right? That was just 2 ladles of soup. And those dumplings weren't floating..that top one reached all the way to the bottom of the cup. The iceberg that the Titanic hit was smaller than these dumplings.

Their hot side of the buffet had various vegetables including a rather curious squash/zucchini casserole that people seemed to be too scared to try. It was alright but I didn't have seconds. They had meatloaf but either they made it wrong or it had been sitting awhile but when I tried to scoop (yes, I said scoop. not cut, not pick-up-with-tongs, not poke-with-fork, scoop) some meatloaf onto my plate it turned into meatmush. Dude, where's my loaf? They also had bbq pork and any respectable North Carolina establishment should have bbq done right. They did have fried chicken, and you already know how I feel about fried chicken on a buffet but at least they offered main courses OTHER than fried chicken. Thank you, Brintle's! :)

I don't know if it was the meatloafmush or the grease from the bbq but...oh...yeah this is falling into TMI territory right now. Something hit my digestive system like, well, like a truck, and it had me running to the bathroom twice within 30 minutes. Nothing compliments a great meal like breaking the land speed record to the bathroom before your ass explodes. I...oh God I can't believe I'm about to say this...I hauled ass (sorry!) so fast I may have qualified for the 50-yard dash in the Olympics.

Not willing to give up, I tried the restaurant again the next day for lunch before I headed out. Not doing the buffet again (for obvious reasons), I tried a burger off the menu. The Mayberry Burger. (Remember how I said they love Andy Griffith out here?) It's an angus beef burger with yellow mustard, coleslaw and chili. Yes, all between the two buns. To cut down on the messiness (foresight!) I asked for the chili on the side. Something just told me, Liz, chili and coleslaw on a burger is going to get messy fast and there's a 1/3 chance it will either land on your boobs, your jeans, or on the plate. How lucky are you feeling today?

As it turns out, it was a good choice. Coleslaw on a burger is...different. I love it on a hotdog. Love it! Love it! Love it! On a burger, not so sure. The chili was very fine textured and it could have very well slid out while eating. It tasted like your basic regular restaurant-grade chili. Overall the burger wasn't that bad, it was unique, it was different. I'm inclined to try a few other things on the menu first before I return to it, but if it comes down to it, yeah I'd order it again. This, like many of their burgers and sandwiches, comes with home made chips. You've heard me (heard? read about. geez, Liz) mentioning Arby's home made chips. Well these are better! They don't taste pre-made. They do taste (by the way some are cooked better than others) like someone took half of a potato and a slicer and just sliced these right into the fryer. No seasoning or anything and I felt weird dipping these in ketchup so I refrained. Some were crisp, some were softer but overall, not bad. A nice change of pace from french fries.

They also have a dessert menu with a few items I'd love to try next time. Now on to the Andy Griffith thing. As you may or may not know, The Andy Griffith show, often referred to as one of the best TV shows of all time (TV Guide puts it at #9 I believe, impressive!) while set in a fictitious town, is widely believed to be based in North Carolina. The NC ties are so great that I believe the television company (wikipedia knows this better than I do) put up bronze statues of 2 of the show characters in....Mount Airy NC. (and somewhere else, I forget) Therefore, Brintle's does show some love to the show in a few of their menu offerings. They also have Andy Griffith cookbooks for sale and the convenience store has a few seasons of the show on DVD.

So that's my mixed review of Brintle's. This is not the first time I've stopped here, and it will not be the last. The staff is great, the amenities are great, the location is ideal, but I think I'll stick to ordering off the menu for the time being. You won't need Tums after your trip to the buffet, but you may need a Depends. 

Don't say I didn't warn you...