Special Guest Marconin visit's Dyer's Burgers in Memphis!

Hello bloggers, bloggies and bloggettes.  Guest blogger Marconin filling in for this culinary romp.  Here’s a tiny bit about myself.  I like food, lots of different kinds of food, too.  I also travel most of the year for work, which is probably why I was asked to contribute to the Truck Stop Food Blog.  I like to find the out-of-the-way and Mom & Pop places to eat.  Anyway, on to the review!

Dyer’s Burgers is located on Beale Street in Memphis, a strip of pavement famous for its place in blues music history.  Dyer’s itself has been in business since 1912 and is most famous for frying their burgers on a pan with grease… 101 YEAR OLD GREASE!  Seriously, the grease has not been changed since 1912!!  When they've changed locations, the grease is moved with a police escort. They strain and process the grease to keep it usable, but (in theory) at least a couple molecules from the grease from the VERY FIRST fried hamburger fried at Dyer’s is in your hamburger.  WEIRD!

Dyer’s itself is your classic diner, and was pretty clean when we went on a Thursday for lunch.  There were maybe 10 other customers and it was fairly quiet.  Our waitress was prompt in getting our order and was very polite.  We ordered a Double (two fried beef patties and two slices of American cheese with onion and mustard), some onion rings and a fried Twinkie for dessert. 

Here’s the (in)famous Burger and… fries?  The waitress forgot the onion rings, but we get to review a bonus item!  The fries weren’t good at all.  Soggy with grease and not even that warm, it was the low point for the meal. 

The burger? Oh the burger… It came wrapped in wax paper and was nearly transparent from the greasy goodness.  Surprisingly, the burger itself wasn’t as greasy as I’d expected.  It was a little greasy to be sure, but was quite good.  It’s not the best burger I’ve had, and honestly it tasted just like a Supersonic Cheeseburger from Sonic (fast food chain for those not in the know). 

Our waitress brought the onion rings out and they were really good.  The batter was crunchy and the onions themselves were thick and very tasty.  Much, much better than the fries.

And then came the fried Twinkie and ice cream……ooooooooooooooh.  It was deep fried and topped with strawberry syrup and powdered sugar, and came with vanilla ice cream.  It. Was. Delicious.  The batter was magnificent, and the warm Twinkie paired with the cold, creamy ice cream was amazing.  This was definitely the high point of the meal!

So, in conclusion:

The burger is really good but was more of a “You’re eating century old grease” novelty for me.  

Fries weren’t good at all, please avoid them. Onion rings a definite plus.  

Fried Twinkie was SO GOOD PLEASE TRY IT.

Their new logo should be “Dyer’s Burgers: Come for the burger, stay for the Twinkie.”

Rutter's...they're around Harrisburg PA

Four score and seven years ago, God created Sheetz. And it was good. Frankly, it was really good. Then God said, "Monopolies are bad, mmkay." and thus created Wawa. And it was also good. (side note: this is probably not at all accurate. I'm a truck driver, not a historian)

Then a little while later, or maybe elsewhere around the same time, heck maybe earlier..come on what is this a test?!..Rutter's was born. And it was good, but similar to Sheetz and Wawa, I mean they all have little differences but they're all basically the same concept and the same ordering system.

So unbeknownst to me then, but knownst to me now, Rutter's is a local chain to the Harrisburg PA and surrounding areas. Like, immediate surrounding areas. The one I went to was near York. Yes where the barbells are made. Will you stop distracting me with tangents?

So they sell gas. This one in particular also sells diesel and has VERY LIMITED truck parking...like..3 spots and that's it. I was bobtail so I could park anywhere and found a lovely spot near the truck parking that was actually quite nice and peaceful.

Like I said the ordering system is exactly the same: Touch screen. Order what you want, take the receipt up to the cashier, pay for your food, drop receipt into little basket as you pick up your order. Sheetz, Wawa and Rutter's all do this. They (like those other 2) have drinks and chips and a pre-made cold snacks cooler and sandwiches and coffee and yadda yadda yadda.

So on this particular night (and this was my first time here), I tried a bevy of foods because I was a bevy of hungry. For some reason I don't think that word works the second time, but hey, I'm a truck driver not a student of proper grammar (as I'm sure you've noticed by now).

Gotta try some appetizers! or one appetizer. Since I like soup, I tried one of theirs.

Chicken and rice, I do believe. It was nice. It warmed my insides and made me happy and eager to dive into everything else I bought, such as...

MACARONI AND CHEESE! Always a popular comfort food of mine. I don't know if they make it there or if it's pre-made. Who cares, it's mac and cheese! I couldn't unwrap my fork fast enough..

Next up is the sammich. Since we're nowhere near Philly, the obvious selection was the Philly Cheesesteak!

What a freaking mess of a sandwich that looks like, eh? Steak, and lettuce and onion and you can't see it but there's ketchup in there too, and cheese. Since I've never had a cheesesteak in Philly, this is my best guess of what it *might* be like. It's probably close but not quite. Either way, this sandwich in front of me, was delish! I tore into this thing like a little kid tears into presents on Christmas morning. Loved it!

And then to wash everything down, I grabbed two Rutter's drinks. One was an obvious choice, the other piqued my interest.

The Orange Tea was surprisingly good! I was amazed at how good it was. Several times after taking a sip/chug/swig I would stop and think "man, this is some good orange tea!" I almost went back inside for a second one! While the sweet tea to the left was good, the Southern Sweet Tea that I had the next day was better. Maybe it's personal preference. Maybe it's because I'm from the south. Maybe the Southern Sweet Tea is better than the regular sweet tea. Maybe I'm craving that Orange Tea right now, omg it was so good!

So there you have it! Rutter's, around the Harrisburg PA area. They're like Sheetz and Wawa...but with different food options to choose from. In Pennsylvania, you're not too far from one of these 3 chains so check them out! Check them all out.

This particular Rutter's (with very limited truck parking) is located on I-83, south of Harrisburg. It's in Newberrytown (cute name, no?) I-83 exit 32.

BK's version of the McRib reviewed in haiku form

Burger King's McRib

Nearly the same, different sauce.

Go give it a try.

Liz climbs a mountain of a burger at Denny's.

While the new Build Your Own Pancake special thingymabob at Denny's really didn't catch my attention or interest, I did notice a couple *NEW!* items on the Denny's menu and decided to give them a try. I'll just warn you right now, they were both good, so if you're expecting a typical Liz food rant you'll be disappointed.

First up, a new "Build Your Own Appetizer". They give you a few options and then you decide if you want to try 3 of them, or for a little bit less you can try 2. While they offered fried jalapeno slices, I'm not really a fan and too many gives me acid reflux, so I went with two very basic standard apps:

Mozarella sticks and chips and queso! They were good. I chose these two items because I knew they would be good so mission accomplished!

This particular evening I decided to get a burger. I wasn't sure what burger to get but then I saw a *NEW!* one so I went with that. Barbecue Bacon Burger..sounds lovely. But little did I know what I was going to be expecting. Grab your climbing ropes and helmet because this is one mountain of a burger!

This is exactly how it looked when the server brought it to me and set it on my table. I'm sure if you looked closely you can see an expedition crew and a sherpa around the 3rd pickle. This burger, by burger standards, was freaking huge. Even after taking the tower o' pickles off, it was still freaking huge. I had difficulty eating this thing because it was just so...big! (no jokes about that, please)

Size jokes aside, this was good. Like really good. I mean it's so easy, too! Burger, cheese, bacon, barbecue sauce and garden on a cheddar bun. And like I said, it was really good. My only obvious complaint was to some how make it..smaller. But now that I think about it, making it smaller would either have to include a thinner burger, which would be a disappointment, or taking away the garden which although it wouldn't be as cumbersome to hold would probably take away a little something from the overall burger eating experience.

Congratulations, Denny's, you made something so good that trying to take away from it to make it a little more manageable would ruin part of the experience. I'm waving my white flag of surrender and grabbing a couple extra napkins for this beast.

Penn80 - Hey, Sysco says it's homemade!

I've got mixed reviews about the Penn80 restaurant. I may have to return to try something else and I'm sure they have some real winners on the menu but not what I tried. Well, the soup was hearty at least.

So where is the Penn80? I'm glad you didn't ask! The obvious smart ass response would be "In Pennsylvania on I-80" The nicer, more detailed response is: I-80 in Milton PA, exit 215. It used to be a Petro. Before it was a Petro...I don't know what it was. It still has that signature Petro look and design but they changed the signs. I think now Pilot/Flying J sells the fuel and......no idea who handles the restaurant. Oh and they have a lot of parking. Apparently parking up on the hill is a popular option.

The truck stop has it's own restaurant, so it's not a former Iron Skillet or a chain restaurant. I had difficulty deciding what to eat because I just didn't know what I was in the mood for. Nothing on the menu really jumped out at me so I went with one of the specials: the meatloaf. Also this place does a hot buffet but only on the weekends, and I think it was a Thursday when I visited. Foiled again! *shakes fist* Their salad bar is available 7 days a week though.

I had my salad...it was...a salad.

But check this soup out, yo! This was practically a meal in itself! I didn't even add crackers because: a) there was no room and b) it would have soaked up what little broth there was. I think they called this chicken corn chowder if I remember the writing on the glass sneeze guard and it was quite chickeny and corny and chowdery. May not be like a cream based chowder but whatever. They should have said 'every bowl of this soup contains a guaranteed half can of corn!' Was it good? I...think so? I don't remember it standing out as good, I remember it standing out as being very hearty. Feed this to the coal miners. :)

Now the meatloaf. Ah yes, the meatloaf. Two slices of home made meatloaf with mashed potatoes and stuffing and gravy! Oh....yummy!

There's no way that's home made. I'm sure Sysco says it's "homemade" but that in itself should be it's own joke. Truth in advertising aside, the texture lead itself to being something processed and very underwhelming. The mashed potatoes were...mashed potatoes. Those are really hard to screw up. Even instant mashed potatoes are really good. I mean heck we get this kind at home from the store that comes in a packet and it's super easy to make and absolutely delicious because it's, again, difficult to screw up mashed potatoes. The stuffing was freaking gross and disgusting but it's probably because I hate stuffing. "Then why didn't you ask for a different side item, Liz?" you're probably not asking yourself. Well I wasn't thinking about it and I thought "what the heck, I'll try it. Maybe I'll even like it." Wrong-o!

Aside from all that, let's see. I remember it being a little pricey to eat there which is another turn-off. The wait staff was really nice and accommodating, so that's always a plus. The decor didn't really stand out. There was a fly that kept bothering me and there was a couple sitting behind me that didn't speak English very well, but that's America for ya! :)

I want to try it again because I'm sure I'll come across something on the menu that was really good, this just wasn't it. I figured since it was a permanent special (that should have been a hint) it would be a stand out from the rest of the regular menu.

So to recap:

Chicken Corn Chowder - More chunky than a Chunky candy bar (lol remember those?!)

Meatloaf - not home made

Stuffing - Still gross.

T/A's Buffalo Chicken Sandwich

So a month or two ago I tried the Buffalo burger from T/A and was unimpressed, to say the least. Well, most items (save one or two) on their special menu has a flip side, and that is..with chicken! So, willing to give it yet another shot and try to find a winner I decided to flip the special menu over and try the Buffalo Chicken sandwich.

Did they give me the right sandwich? Wait let's check the receipt. Buffalo chicken sandwich, yep that's right. Okay, well, hmm, here it is! A juicy chicken breast coated in Frank's hot sauce seasoning with blue (bleu if you're French or a food snob) cheese dressing with lettuce and tomato and fries also seasoned with that special tasty Frank's hot sauce seasoning.

...are you sure this is the right sandwich?
Juicy chicken breast, check.
Coated in Frank's hot sauce seasoning, un-check.
Blue/Bleu cheese dressing, sort-of check.
Lettuce, tomato, check.
Fries seasoned with Frank's hot sauce seasoning, half-check.

So let's go over what was good first since that's the shorter of the two lists. The chicken breast was juicy.

Now let's get to the negatives:
First, Frank's Hot Sauce seasoning, or lack thereof. Coated? No. Sprinkled with? Maybe. Could you taste it? Not at all. It tasted to me like a plain chicken breast, which again made me question if they made the right sandwich.

Blue cheese dressing. I don't think it's supposed to be that runny. Hard to pinpoint if it's either cheap ingredients or thinned out to last longer.

Seasoned fries: uh, nope. They weren't seasoned.

If you want to judge this as a regular chicken sandwich with some lettuce, tomato and blue cheese dressing, it was nice and hit the mark perfectly (not counting runny dressing). As I said, the chicken breast was cooked just right, it was juicy and wasn't over cooked and dry. If you want to judge this based on what it was supposed to be, it missed the mark entirely.

Scorecard:
Buffalo burger - 1 (which I reviewed earlier)
Buffalo chicken - 0

Off the Beaten Path: Five Stars, Hazleton PA

I've been meaning to write this blog post for awhile now. Rarely do I get a chance to have Chinese food while on the road. Even more rarely do I have a chance to get Thai or Sushi. In this case, I was able to have both! (or all 3 if I so desired).

My company has a terminal nearby and I found myself with time to kill and nothing to do or nowhere to go so I thought "Hey let's go exploring!" I knew there was a Walmart and K-Mart nearby but that's it and I was told there are more food options other than the Sheetz up the road, so I hopped in my bobtail truck and decided to go exploring. Well I found the Walmart but there weren't many food choices so I kept going and then I found the K-Mart, so I decided to turn in because something in particular caught my eye. As it turns out this K-Mart is attached to..A MALL! Oh girl, you know I loves me some shopping and retail therapy, let's go exploring!

The mall itself, The Laurel Mall (www.thelaurelmall.com) has a JC Penney's, K-Mart, restaurants, other stores, a cigar store, a computer parts store with an arrogant store owner (no comment about that) oh and a GameStop where none of the little gamer nerd boys even acknowledged or talked to me. Hello, pretty girl consumer gamer in the store and everyone's like "oooo, I'm scared to talk to her!" but I'm so not talking about that here, we're talking food.

I left the mall (with an overpriced external hard drive case..still not going to talk about that one) and decided to keep looking for this Chinese restaurant I heard about but haven't found yet. So I circled the mall and came upon a mall annex with a McDonald's, a few stores and...the Chinese restaurant. Bingo!

I parked further way to make leaving easier and I walked inside. It didn't look like a typical Chinese restaurant, it looked, dare I say, classier. It had a bar! And not just any bar but a really nice solid wood counter bar! The bartender gave me a menu when I told him I wanted to place a to go order and he gave me this enormous 11x14 piece of paper. Well okay maybe it's 8 1/2 x 14. It's big! So I'm looking through the menu and trying to decide what to get when I think "I wonder what's on the back of this?" So I flip it over and there in all it's glory is the Thai and Sushi menu. I practically orgasm'd. Why get Chinese when I could get Sushi instead?! But here is the other big dilemma..once again..8 1/2 x 14 piece of paper..what on earth do I get?! There are so many choices!

After talking it over with the bartender I came to a few choices:
Miso soup.
Pad Ki Mao (drunken noodle) with shrimp.
Spicy shrimp roll
New York roll
Red snapper sashimi
Squid sushi (or sashimi? I dunno which applies here)

First, the drool-worthy overall picture of everything.

And now we'll go item by item. First the miso soup.

It was as good as I remember from the last time I had it. Simple. Easy. Tasty. Yummy.

Next the Pad Ki Mao (drunken noodle).

The man told me this was kind of similar to pad thai but with a wider noodle. It was quite delicious and I did not hesitate to scarf it down. The description reads "Papardelle rice noodles with onion, basil and chili paste" plus the shrimp. It was delicious. I would order it again but with so much to choose from on the menu, I'd be more inclined to discover something else instead of going back to a favorite.

And now my other favorite part, the sushi/sashmi:

Doesn't it look so beautiful? Sushi chefs are artists, hands down. 

Okay! So the squid sashimi are the two white pieces next to the cup of soy sauce. I've had squid before so that's why I ordered it again. The red snapper are the other two at the bottom and those were quite tasty! I've never had red snapper before and the main reason I decided to try it was, and you're going to totally roll your eyes at this one: the movie "UHF". I just remember there was a cheesy game show in the movie and this Asian game show host saying "Oh! Red snapper, very tasty!" So I thought, well, let's try the red snapper and see if it is, in fact, very tasty. Don't give me that look, I'm totally serious! lol.

The spicy shrimp roll was, in fact, spicy. In fact, I loved the zing of spice it had and thoroughly enjoyed scarfing that roll down. I didn't even bother with the wasabi because it would have been too spicy. In fact, I tried the New York roll with wasabi for one piece and decided it's better without it. The hidden surprise was the New York roll and the reason I ordered it was because it was so intriguing. Check this out: apple, salmon and mango. While I totally get the apple part, I wasn't so sure about the mango part because that doesn't scream New York to me, but the flavors of them all together were excellent. It was so good! 

Once again I'd hesitate to order them again, not because they were bad, but because there is sooo much on the menu to choose from I'd rather try something new instead..but the allure of both of these rolls is really tempting. While I would love to have them both again, I'd love to try some of the other rolls first.

So there you have it. A surprise gem I found while searching for food in the Hazleton area. I would come back here in a heartbeat! Bobtail preferably here, as there is little room to maneuver with a trailer. There is enough room to park so as not to be in the way. Oh and there was also a Ground Round here, too. I haven't seen that place since we left Wisconsin in '89! Not sure if it's still open though. I may have to check that out next time I'm in the area.

Five Stars is located on Route 93 & Airport Road in beautiful Hazleton PA. It's in the annex to the Laurel Mall, not in the mall itself but in a small area of shops and restaurants adjacent to the mall (that's why it's an annex, Liz!) They have a website: www.5starsgourmet.com and it's casual dress. You can get orders to go, which I saw a lot of, or you can eat in and their booths looked pretty decent. 

Just prepare to sit and stare and be dumbfounded at the huge menu and don't be surprised if you tell the wait staff, "Just a few more minutes please, I can't decide what I'd like to order."