Posts tagged Food
3 guys heading west
All I wanted to do was sneak out and find out what everybody was doing all over the country.
“Great” food
Yeah, that was one perfect evening.
It started with the only place to eat along the coast for a few dozen miles (yes, basically this is enough said). A crowded place, us waiting in the entrance, with the menu at hand. Hungry.
As you can see, Bud still tries to sparkle the general mood with an over confident look.
But even Bud’s mood darkened rapidly when the waitress led us to the table, where we placed our orders:
Tyler: Fish à la chef du maison.
Bud and Fred (well, that’s me): Entrecôte.
Yes, we should’ve known better. Eating beef along the coast may or may not be the best choice. Truth is that this time it actually didn’t since both dishes were, well, awful. But convince yourself:
Until Tyler got his missing fork, we were almost done with our “entrcôte” and he really liked, meanwhile coldish, “fish”.
Yeah, maybe we should’ve checked on Google before stopping there. But no worries, the place seems to be closed until now. Maybe there’s a reason for that.
Before we tried to catch our breath at Badlands NP we crossed that Mississippi and got caught in that tourist trap shortly thereafter.
Muellers General Store promised Buffalo Burger, which we connected with the picture of free range buffalo lurching around the prairie, relaxed, easy, no hormones and antibiotics. A treatment that must lead, at least we assumed, to a delicious patty of bufalo meat on a tasty fresh bun garnished with thinly sliced onions, tomatoes (uhm, not for me, please), pickles, accompanied by golden french fries. Well, you’re getting the point.
The chef didn’t. Actually that burger isn’t really worth being mentioned and being remembered by anyone.
PS: That picture of Tyler was taken before he enjoyed dinner. And that prairie in the background is only a painting. Not the real thing.
And now for something more easy. Like this delicious salmon with capers, onion rings and cheese. We got it served by a great nice and friendly waitress over at the Bridgewater in Florence, OR.
Together with some decent local beer. Maybe white wine would’ve been a better fit, but hey, you gotta care about your image, no?
Of course we had to visit Wal Mart. Everything in there was huge. I really mean huge, even the pants would fit two of us in one leg. But to whom am I explaining, you’re mostly from the States anyways, at least the stats say so.
But while it’s cheap it’s open for 24/7, which may be a good thing. Say you realize at 2am you want cook a Brasato al vino right now. Then again, does it sell wine? I guess it doesn’t, at least not during night, but I may be wrong on this one.
Anyway. I’m getting way too political here, which doesn’t suit me too good. Sometimes it just gets on me and I do not understand. So if you do: Feel free to explain. Thank you.
This is what you get if the only thing you care about is cheap and cheaper food and counting calories.
What’s the point in “Sugar Free Syrup”? Isn’t syrup per definition liquid sugar? Why would you want syrup if you don’t want sugar? Oh, of course, because you want great value. I forgot.
And with the other bottle you! get! 50%! more! … artificial flavors. But hey, it’s made in a country kitchen and it’s called butter, so it really must have some real butter in it, no? No? No? No. You wouldn’t want to buy it then, ‘cause then it got even more calories in it and then it would actually cost you a bit more. And hey, why pay more when it tastes the same? Almost the same that is.
Now I know. Real food is expensive, at least if the only choice you have to buy it is Whole Foods. And that really is a pitty. But with some effort you may also buy it at a local farmer’s market? At least you eat that stuff and after that it is in you and gives you some hard- and software to form your new cells.
Not to speak of the huge industry you feed with your dollars while buying that artificial … crap.
So you may want to reconsider from time to time where you buy and what you buy and with that what you eat.
What I really like about the States is, that there are initiatives for almost everything. If you care about something you go and try to mobilize people for your cause. I don’t intend to get political now, but isn’t that how #occupywallstreet started?
Still I was quite impressed when I saw that huge advertisement on this bridge pylon in … so much for speaking about the States … in Vancouver BC.
When we decided to spend that whole day in Badlands NP we all were surprised. Badlands NP was maybe one of the most underrated expectations of our trip. Then again you don’t need much to excite an eye used to only corn and soy plants for days.
Even Bud would agree that our day in Badlands NP started extraordinary well with that breakfast in the visitor center’s restaurant. We all tried to get something more “native american” (at least it was sold as that), which basically meant beans and maybe corn. Actually I didn’t think of the food as being extraordinary, but joined the rave of Bud and Tyler nevertheless. And of course Bud needed to try that cheesecake to get ready for visiting The Cheesecake Factory.
Yes, we have plenty of memories we rather hadn’t. First: Arby’s.
Too bad I only got this pic of my onion rings w/ fries and miss a pic of Bud’n’Tyler’s faces while they tried hard to eat their something called “burger”.
I have to admit: I don’t recall the taste of those rings anymore. Now just looking at the photo they actually look rather good to me. But I know I am wrong … must remember: I am wrong … wrong …
I already raved about this place before. Buffalo Bump Pizza.
Bud and Tyler stopping the car after a long drive, which I spent mostly sleeping in the back seat after a hard night at Yellowstone NP at a random place somewhere in Montana. Me waking up, hardly realizing what’s happening just following the guys crossing the parking lot and entering this red barn decorated Halloween style.
The lady behind the counter utterly friendly, even free Wi-Fi available, not to speak of that delicious pizza we got. As I mentioned before the owner makes up the recipes on her own (which is a good thing).
In the end we left that note on the black board, but I do not have any information whether that lady read something about our visit.
gm8790-deactivated20130408 asked:
What's the best food you've ever had on your journey? Also, you should come to Philly! We have the best cheesesteaks and soft pretzels :)
Looks like I’m still confused by cheesesteaks and cheesecake. Maybe someone can explain again the difference to me..
So.. I guess Bud would definitely mention his lunch at Cheesecake Factory in SF.
Tyler, I suppose, would agree on SF, but give a slight advantage to his 4x4 In’n’Out Burger. They both would agree on that Sushi place in Vancouver. Even I would agree on that, even though I only had vegetarian variants.
I could mention that breakfast in NW Glisan St in Portland or the breakfast in Red Skillet. But maybe most of all I enjoyed dinner at Green’s in San Francisco. Not because I’m vegetarian. Just because I waited quite some time for going there and the place lived up to my high expectations.
If you’re into cooking or making bread you definitely should check out Edward Espe Brown and his books.
So let me begin the food series with this picture. We really encountered strange things to eat and even more strange ways to present food to customers.
But I hardly recovered from this, single-wrapped slices of so-called bread. Definitely a good example of somebody’s need or wish for hygiene gone awry.
Let alone the taste of it..
Food
It’s almost a year ago we finished our cross country trip over in San Francisco. About time to post some more things about our trip. Let me start with a series about food. I already posted quite some things about food, but there’s much more waiting.
BBQ Pizza
I know that shot was already published in an earlier post but today I ran across the bill of it and it instantly reminded me of the undefinable taste and look of that incredibly tasty pizza:
- Something like dough at the bottom,
- covered with something looking like tomato sauce,
- mixed with some so-called BBQ sauce
- and I guess analogue cheese on top for only US$ 15.99 (excl. tax).
But as I wrote in the original post: It was a road trip and we (except Fred) loved eating that junk. And what else to expect from a gas station called Casey’s General Store in a town called Correctionville, IA.
Buffalo Burger
Yeah I’m sorry it’s a blurry pic. But a sharp photo wouldn’t make the burger any better. We got hungry by crossing that Missouri and after driving all day long through really flat lands and excited to get yet another burger. Of course a place called Al’s Oasis must be a tourist trap and we stepped on it. I especially like the love they put into putting the ketchup on that 100% buffalo patty.
