It was my first time to New Jersey.  We got a great room in East Brunswick for three nights, and it would serve as our base for New York City over the coming weekend.

Hightstown Diner

On our first morning, we headed south to the Hightstown Diner for breakfast.  As we were heading into town, which was remarkably beautiful, we noticed a big yard sale and pulled over.  We gave it a good going over scouring for bargains and I found a copy of Julia Child’s 1989 book, The Way To Cook.  I picked it up for three bucks (even though I knew I would have to haul it about 6,000 miles to get it home.  I’ve got it now and it’s a nice addition to my library.  By the way, they had her kitchen on display at the Smithsonian and it was a real treat to check it out. We were just in Santa Barbara and went to her favorite taco stand, La Super Rica.  Of course, any excuse to check out a taqueria works for me.  In addition to watching Julia, I remember how much I loved to watch The Galloping Gourmet.  I was just a boy when it first came out, but I’ve been a foodie my whole life.  It’s no wonder I would grow up to watch the Food Network.

The Hightstown Diner was great.  The girls there were real friendly and the manager brought us over a free chocolate cookie, fresh out of the oven. Continue reading →

The Beer Garden is Open
at the Memphis Taproom

Although we checked into a motel on the south end of town, we decided to drive all the way through town and go to the Memphis Tap Room for dinner.  The place was busy and we got a booth inside (they have a large outdoor patio, but it was packed and getting cool).  The place was so busy, we were lucky that we didn’t have to wait for a table.  The outdoor patio is called the Beer Garden, and you’ve just got to love the sound of that. This is the place where the chef made crazy stuff with tofu and watermelon (he wasn’t there).  He seemed like a crazy character and probably a lot of fun to hang out with.  I ordered the fish and chips and Anna ordered Pasties, which are little pocket pies with meat and cheese.  The food was excellent, especially the fish, and the service was good.

Fish and Chips at the Memphis Taproom
Golden, Brown and Delicious

The locals there have it good to have such a great place to tip a few beers and get some killer food by a kick-ass chef.  They also have a nice bar.  If I got the lay of the land right, the Memphis Taproom is a neighborhood joint.  So beers to ya.

We managed to save a little room for dessert and headed over to The Dining Car Café. Continue reading →

Di Pasquale’s

Other than the DDD spots, we really didn’t have much planned for Baltimore.  Our first destination was Di Pasquale’s.  Jill turned us down an alley to get there and I thought for sure we would not be able to park the car.  Wrong.  We got to park right in front.  They have a nice store full of imported everything, a deli case, and seating in the back.  We ordered an Italian cold cut sandwich for later, and we split an order of the lasagna, which they had made on the show.  It was fabulous.  I was so glad that Anna was getting her appetite back because if would have been tragic to miss that lasagna.  The sandwich was great too, and the staff was accommodating.  They’re coming up on 100 years in business, so they must be doing something right.

Lasagna at Di Pasquale’s

We went to the historical district and visited the Oxford Club on West Monument Street.  It was my first time there, and I enjoyed the experience as well as the historical architecture.  Afterwards, we drove out to Fort McHenry, which is the site that inspired the Star Spangled Banner.  (Note: The picture of the lasagna doesn’t begin to do it justice.  This lasagna put Di Pasquale’s into Ken’s Top Tens for authentic Italian food done right.)

Butterscotch Pecan Cheesecake
at Broadway Diner

We headed out to the Broadway Diner for a snack.  They had an enormous bakery case and I told Anna just to order whatever she wanted.  She came back to the table and informed me that she ordered a slice of Butterscotch Pecan Cheesecake.  What’s not to love about that?  I didn’t have any idea what it was, but it became clear when our server brought it to the table.  Yes, this is buttercream frosting, on top of cake, which is on top of cheesecake, on top of pecan pie, on top of a graham cracker crust. Continue reading →

We pulled into Silver Spring, Maryland with The General Store in our sights.  The chef there beat Bobby Flay on the Fried Chicken Throwdown and the corn dog looked killer too.  I’ve had lots of good fried chicken, but I don’t know that I’ve ever had great fried chicken.  You can just imagine my disappointment to find out that the place was closed.  It appeared to be closed for remodeling, but I think it has closed permanently.  Not only did I not get the food I was looking for, but it also threw off our plans (more than we realized it turns out).

Our motel plans didn’t work out either and we ended up getting a room in Camp Springs, Maryland.  I unloaded the car and we decided to just chill out for the night and relax.  The girl at the front desk told me the closest food was a couple of fast food places, one chicken and the other burgers.  We’d never eaten at either place (and wish we hadn’t that night either). Continue reading →

Monday, April 25^th   We headed north out of Mississippi on the Natchez Trace Parkway which is a bucolic two lane affair with virtually no traffic.  We pulled off at one point to visit a man who I know through his writing, Franklin Sanders.  We had a great visit, and I hope our paths cross again someday.  You can find out more about him on my links.  In an amazing coincidence, that also happens to be the very day that silver peaked about $49.75 per ounce.  I say amazing because Mr. Sanders literally wrote the book on the investment opportunity in silver, and is a leading precious metals dealer as well as a market analyst and commentator.

Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint

We pulled into Nolansville and drove straight to Martin’s Bar-B-Que Joint.  As you can see from the pictures, Martin’s is great looking place with lots of picnic tables and signs on the walls.  You order at the register and they bring your food out to you.  I went exploring and found the whole hog smoker towards the back (which was dormant at the time).  I didn’t have any trouble keeping myself amused while we waited for our food.

Redneck Taco at Martin’s
Bar-B-Que Joint

We ordered the famous Red Neck Taco, which was excellent (BBQ pulled pork on tortillas with coleslaw and sauce).  We also had a half rack of ribs and baked beans, cole slaw, extra BBQ sauce and Texas Toast. The prices were modest.  Everything was excellent and we left happy except for one minor detail… Continue reading →