Denny's in Canada is better...

Denny's in Canada offers beer, wine, and select mixed drinks along with those two +coffee drinks.

Not to mention they have eggs benedict, lovingly called Denny's Bennies.

Our U.S. Denny's sucks in comparison. :(

Pittsburgh Salad: One of the oddest things I've had

I've tried a variety of different foods. I've had some different things (kangaroo, anyone?). I've had some normal things made with unordinary items (buffalo meatloaf, anyone?).

But nothing, NOTHING, compares to the oddity known as a Pittsburgh salad. On paper, and in theory, it seems mostly harmless if you look at these items individually, but put them together and it becomes...odd.

So what is a Pittsburgh Salad? Well you take a regular salad..put french fries on it..and then put a steak cut into strips on it. Voila! Pittsburgh salad.

Observe...

I wasn't sure if I should be reaching for the ranch dressing or A1. Now I'm sure you noticed there are no french fries on this salad...because I asked for them on the side. I couldn't do it. I could...not...do...it. That would have been just too weird, too unusual, too....just no, my brain couldn't handle it. Add french fries onto the salad and I wouldn't know if I should be reaching for the ranch, A1 or ketchup! That's too much decision making for my little brain to handle.

Sans fries, this was still pretty odd. My brain was still grasping at the concept of steak on a salad. A freshly cooked, medium, steak no less. Sorry my camera doesn't do depth really well either but this salad was large. I had to carefully eat this thing strategically and cut things strategically to keep it all on the plate and not falling on the counter all over the place. 

I'm still not exactly sure what to make of all this. It was just too weird! I can do chicken, I can do deli meat sliced up, I can do a blob of tuna salad. Steak though was just....it didn't feel right. It was like I was having my appetizer and entree at the same time. May as well slapped a piece of pie on top to get the whole meal on one plate, you know?

If you're a truck driver (hi!) and you're curious to try this freak of dinner, you can mosey on over to Jim's Truck Stop in Buffalo NY (maybe it's Cheektowaga). It's on I-90 exit 53-E, right on Walden Avenue next to K-Mart. 

The price was pretty reasonable, too! $8 I think? A good price for a big salad that will blow your mind.

It's nothing special, just a cup of ranch dressing. I only used half of it because I dip my fork in the dressing first, instead of pouring it all over. Egads, that would have been dripping off the plate and dripping onto the counter and onto me...ain't nobody got time for that! 

Pittsburgh salad! Um...it was...different.

Heartburn, Anyone? Chili Burger, Florence KY T/A

Florence, Y'all!

There, I finally got to say it. After passing that water tower numerous times I finally got to put that down in writing. Say it with me again, "FLORENCE, Y'ALL!" Doesn't it feel good and particularly southern? I thought so, too.

So! Florence (y'all?) Kentucky. Just south of Cinci...Cinccinn...Cincinatt...Cincinnat..Covington KY which is directly across the river from that other place I can't spell that's home to the Reds and the Bengals (you know what I'm talking about). Wait, is it Florence or the next one down? It's not the first T/A you'll pass on I-71/75 south, it's the SECOND one (that's across from Pilot and White Castle). That's the one I'm talking about. That's right, that first one had no parking available and I was like "wtf, really?!" so I boogied out of there and went down to THIS one where I found some parking spots.

Hungry for something yummy I went inside, knowing I would have to eat at the Country Pride because the Taco Bell Express* was closed. On the way in the sign caught my attention touting a chili burger and fries as their local special. Well yeehaw, serve me up some of that! I was either that hungry or from driving all night it sounded that good. Not exactly breakfast food but it was 3-4am and that was my dinner.

So out it comes and...woah..this could get messy.

First let me just say that there is no humanly way possible you could pick this up and eat it like a burger. No. Freaking. Way! I think they planned it to be open faced, to be honest with you. Let's dissect this like a dead frog in Anatomy & Physiology class, shall we? 

The burger itself was..larger than expected. It was almost like a patty and a half and it almost stretched across both buns..almost. What didn't reach was covered in chili. Which leads me to the chili. Heavy on the beans, not so heavy on the heat or spice. Onions, yes. Shredded cheese you'd normally find on Cin..oh god not that name again..(city known for the Reds and the Bengals) chili indigenous to this region in places like Skyline and Gold Star (you know what I mean). Overall, at 4am for dinner when most normal people are eating breakfast, this was pretty good. The fries were..okay. They weren't cold or mushy for once so that was a plus.

Would I order this again? Probably not, and not because it sucked because it didn't! But because I don't need the heartburn or the gas a second time. I mean come on, chili without beans is like country music without heartache. It's a key component!

I say, try it once! (like I did). Bring some Tums and Beano (like I didn't). 

Grab a fork and knife and dig in, cowpokes! 

I have no idea why I said that, it just felt right for some reason.

*So yeah about that Taco Bell Express. It's not a full Taco Bell, they have a limited menu that they can pump out quickly. The lady told me they don't have a fryer so no chalupas, no gorditas, no cantina bowl. So if you do decide to stop there for Taco Bell, what they have on the menu is all they can make. If it's not on the menu and you usually get it at Taco Bell, they can't make it at this one. (they get asked this dozens of times a day so I'm just giving you a head's up if you go.

**They're also only moderately impressed that you just delivered 42k lbs of Taco Bell sauce packets to MacLane, who in turns supplies Taco Bell (and some other chain restaurants).

Off the Beaten Path - SubCentral, Richmond VA

Now depending on where you are and where you're going, this may not actually be off the beaten path for you. SubCentral is located on US-60/Midlothian Turnpike. Actually the address is 5599 Midlothian Turnpike. I know it's directly across from the Celedon terminal in Richmond and I believe there's a UPS terminal nearby? It's also located on a HUGE parking lot for ROC, Richmond Outreach Center so it's very possible (depending on which way you're traveling) to get a truck and trailer in here. Bobtail is super-easy, I'm just trying to remember if turning right into the parking lot would pose a problem if you have a trailer.

SubCentral is a no-frills eatery. Very plain, very boring, usually all the booths are full. They have, you guessed it, subs. and gyros. You can see the lamb roasting behind the counter and it looks delicious! They have specials painted on the glass windows, so I opted for the steak and cheese sub and this is what they gave me:

I know you can't tell but there's actually lettuce, tomato and onion in there! Oh and cheese, can't forget the cheese. While the meat wasn't seasoned, there was a lot of it. Almost, dare I say it, too much? I almost couldn't eat it all but like a trooper and in the name of reporting for the food blog, I muscled through and downed it all! (you're welcome)

I was so full afterwards, but oh..my..goodness was it good. It just needed some seasoning. The price wasn't too bad, either. Pretty cheap (I'm stalling here because I can't remember how much it was, I want to say $5? $6? $7? Oh no I remember now! $8. They're normally $8.95 and I remember the gyro was the same price and I was like "that's a lot for a gyro", but I'm tempted to try the gyro anyway.

Sadly, fries or potato salad or cole slaw are all extra. I figured the sub would be enough so I didn't bother with anything extra and I'm glad I didn't! 

One thing I do know, though, is if I'm in the area and will probably be there overnight, I'm not ordering pizza again, I'm going across the street to SubCentral! I'm glad I discovered this place because I really enjoyed the steak and cheese sub. They also have, well hell, I'll just give you the link.

Go here! http://www.thesubcentral.com/

You can thank me later. :)

Liz gets addicted to something healthy

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Buckle in, Liz goes on some food rants

Remember way back when I first started this blog (you probably don't but I do!), I listed an awful visit to a Country Market where the cook messed up on an appetizer and both he and the server thought "well, let's remake them but offer them to her anyway.."

Well this isn't the exact same thing, but this is, in fact, what I'm talking about here:

Maybe you can't tell (curses, it looked better on my phone) but here is an empty shell with the insides cooked out and they just plopped it in with the rest of 'em anyway. These, I think, were broccoli and cheese bites I bought in New York and 7 out of 8 of them were pretty good! lol But yeah, this is what I'm talking about.

On to Denny's! I raved about them, I ranted about them. Today I rant about either lack of care, lack of attention or lack of educating the cooks. They had a new item on the menu that, since I'm trying to now watch what I eat, looked really delicious: Alaskan Salmon! Yummy! The picture in the menu showed this nice thick cut of juicy salmon that looked tempting and tantalizing. Unfortunately...

..my salmon looks a lot like tilapia. Nothing even remotely like the picture. At least the zucchini and squash were good, and the wild rice was...rice.

On to the next one. This isn't really a rant but more a dig at T/A's special burger and chicken sandwiches with Frank's Red Hot Seasoning. When one pictures a chicken sandwich with Red Hot Seasoning, one pictures a bright red chicken breast that just oozes heat and spice and as you may recall, that didn't happen. The only way I can defend T/A is "well, that's what happens when you use seasoning and not a sauce"

But...Hardee's knows how to do it right, and they knocked it out of the park with these bad boys!

This is what the chicken on that special sandwich at T/A *should* have looked like. It's bright orange. It's coated, nay, dripping in Frank's Red Hot and it looks incredible. Let me tell you, it tastes incredible too. I think it's like 4 or 5 chicken tenders with a side of ranch to dip into. Grab a fork because these are messy! They're hot, they're spicy, they're....freaking amazing! If you're in the mood for buffalo chicken tenders, GET TO HARDEE'S AND TRY THESE! (Unless they're closed then wait until tomorrow)

And lastly, IHOP. The breakfast (and 2am coming-home-drunk-from-clubbing-and-you're-hungry) place that if you're not in the mood for pancakes, you're pretty much screwed. I'm kidding...sort of. Actually I wasn't in the mood for pancakes when I walked in to the IHOP at the lovely and still decent Detroiter on I-75 just south of...you guessed it...Toledo. No wait, I meant Detroit. Side rant: you pay $10 for truck parking in advance and under certain criteria you get that money back but I wasn't planning on spending that much, nor was I buying fuel so...it was a $10 fee to park. But hey, not many places to park between Toledo and Canada (that aren't full at night) so I'll take what I can get.

Anyway, I thought their chicken and waffles at IHOP sounded good. I've heard about the phenomenon of chicken and waffles in California and people rave about it!

...I don't think the two are related. My goodness, this picture just looks sad. I think IHOP was trying to cash in on a craze with whatever they could work with and the result was....lackluster at best. Annoying side note: I had to ask for the honey mustard it was supposed to come with. On the other hand, the IHOP syrups made the otherwise bland and lackluster waffle a bit more enjoyable. Sad side note: I kind of expected more. It was like I was eating brunch without the mimosa...mimosas..plural. I mean who stops at just one mimosa, am I right ladies?