Jessie v. Food Part 3

I just can't get enough of Man v. Food on the Travel Channel! This past weekend Joe and I had to go on a road trip from St. Louis to Cincinnati for the fabulous wedding of Peter and Laura. Our good friends Jon and Nicole decided to carpool with us and away we went early Friday morning. I mapped out two paths to Cincinnati, the first one being straight through with no planned stops and the second trip stopping at Gray Brothers Cafeteria in Mooresville, Indiana. Luckily everyone agreed to use the second set of directions! 

The front doors!

We arrived around 12:30 and saw we were not the only people who were craving fried chicken and mac n cheese! The place was packed (phew! I'm glad I didn't lead anyone to a real creepy place). The four of us hopped into the very long cafeteria line and grabbed our trays, utensils and napkins.

Me in my fancy road trip attire at the very beginning of the line. It is actually a super long line, kinda hard to tell. Ps: Jon and Nicole are right behind me checking out the desserts!

This place is either really or really not smart as they place all of their mouth-watering desserts at the very front of the line. We were stuck looking at huge pieces of chocolate cake, pies, banana cream pie etc.. for quite a while. We ended up not grabbing anything because we had no idea how large our lunch would be. I think if the desserts were at the very end of the line I would be writing about a delicious piece of chocolate cake I ate, oh well, probably for the best.

Joe took this photo, he has a bit of a sweet tooth!

Once you pass the desserts a lady asks you what you would like to eat. Um, I have no idea what I want to eat! Luckily Joe asked if they had chicken tenders and she said "yes"! Perfect! Joe and I each got a plate of three, huge, lightly fried chicken tenders. After you say what you would like for your main entree you get to move onto the sides where more people ask you what you would like. I opted for a side of mac n cheese and a side of stuffing with brown gravy (you could choose brown or white gravy). I think I was in heaven knowing I could get BOTH mac n cheese and stuffing at one meal....it was like Thanksgiving had come early to me! After you receive your sides you get to pick up a glass of either water, iced tea or diet coke. You finally end up paying. I believe the total for the two of us was $20.50, sweet.

Yum, Yum, Yum!

Once you pay you get to choose where you would like to sit in their HUGE dining room. We grabbed a very large wooden table and started to immediately chow down. Jon ended up getting sliced roast beef with stuffing and mac n cheese (good side choices). Nicole had a large piece of fried chicken with hush puppies and mac n cheese. Joe stuck with the chicken fingers, mac n cheese and a side of green beans (probably the only so-so side dish). A few waitresses are walking around cleaning off tables and also refilling your drinks. The consensus was delicious mac n cheese, stuffing and entrees. I don't think you can really go wrong here!

I would highly recommend Gray Brother's Cafeteria if you are looking for a super filling, comfort food lunch/pit-stop on your drive from St. Louis to Cincinnati. Although be sure you have a strong driver as Nicole and I took a nap quickly after lunch (we blame the stuffing). Thank you once again Adam from Man v. Food for steering us to a great place off the beaten track!

PS: Joe was making big claims that he had been to this cafeteria when he was younger with his family. Joe and I have a tendency to get very very excited when one of us is proven wrong. So, since I get to write this blog and Joe doesn't it seems like you will probably only hear how Joe is wrong. This definitely isn't fair because I am almost always wrong when it comes to arguing with Joe but I guess he can start his own blog to come back at me. Joe called his Dad to confirm he had been to this cafeteria before and was proven WRONG (gasp) as they used to go to a cafeteria in a different city that has since closed. I had to take a photo to capture this memory forever.

Victory is mine!

Jessie v. Food Part 2

Last weekend when Joe and I were making the 4 hour drive from Minneapolis to Minocqua we knew we would need something in our bellies to give us some good driving energy. We recently saw an episode of Travel Channel's Man v. Food where Adam was in Minneapolis trying to pick the best Juicy Lucy in town. There are two bars that are famous for the Juicy Lucy, Matt's Bar and the 5-8 Club. Adam never revealed a true winner but the Food Network's Food Feuds did and it was Matt's Bar. After looking at both websites it was clear to us that we needed to go to Matt's Bar because it was more of a dive and the menu was small.

The outside of Matt's Bar.

Right when we walked through the door we saw we were joining a line of customers. At first I panicked thinking we wouldn't have dinner for hours, but I calmed down after I asked the girls ahead of us how long we would wait and they said not very long. They were right, we waited at the most 10 minutes and were ushered to a back table by the one single waitress working that night. The inside of the bar was straight from the 1960s, brown vinyl and wood everywhere and dim lights. Somehow it seemed welcoming and not as dirty as it probably was. Once we sat down we did have a bit of a longer wait till we ordered. As I mentioned there was only one waitress and in addition to her there was one bartender and one cook....pretty low overhead. So we had plenty of time to look over the menu.

This was the menu at our table but they also have one large menu on the wall behind the bar.

You will notice that the Jucy Lucy is spelled without an "i". Apparently when the original menu was ordered the printer messed up and forgot the "i"; they decided to never fix the mistake. A Jucy Lucy is a hamburger stuffed with cheese, at Matt's Bar it is American Cheese. Once it is cooked on the grill top the cheese melts inside the burger, yum!

Joe and I ordered two Jucy Lucys, one large basket of fries, and two cold draft beers. It was a good thing we ordered the beers because it was probably a 20 minute wait until our food arrived....well worth the wait! The bartender delivered our basket of friends and two Jucy Lucys wrapped in waxed paper. She also warned to take small bites at first because the MOLTEN core can be rather hot. Well after my first small bite my molten core exploded onto the wax paper....guess my burger had a leak in it! After my initial disappointment I ended up dipping my burger in the cheese with every bite. The burger came plain although you could order it with fried onions on top. It was put a top a toasted bun and all we did was add ketchup.

THE MOLTEN CORE of the JUCY LUCY!

The burger was delicious and Joe's molten core stayed inside his burger! We thought it was crazy that there was just one cook and we could see him the whole time behind the bar.

The chef making a bunch of Jucy Lucys!! Note: That is not my head.

The meal was very filling and provided us a lot of energy for our trip through the state of Wisconsin. If you ever fly into Minneapolis I would highly recommend you stop by Matt's Bar for a cold draft beer and a delicious Jucy Lucy. You won't regret it!

Jessie v. Food

The Travel Channel's Show, Man v. Food, starring Adam Richman visited the town of Sarasota, Florida on a recent episode. Joe and I started to freak out because we would be visiting my Dad and Kelley in Sarasota in a few weeks. We found Adam at a dive bar/restaurant called The Old Salty Dog that sits right on the water of Sarasota Bay. The Old Salty Dog is famous for, what else, The Salty Dog. This is a 1/4 pound hot dog dipped in their special batter (includes beer) and fried. Adam decided he needed to kick this dog up a notch and added 4 slices of 3 different cheese (13 slices in total), grilled onions and mushrooms, and loads of bacon! We had to try this hot dog!

Adam of Travel Channel's Man v. Food

Joe and I told my Dad and Kelley about this place and how we had to go to try The Salty Dog "Adam style." They luckily agreed! Somehow I was the one who ended up ordering The Salty Dog "Adam style" and everyone else ended up ordering fish. You can see their full menu here. Dad and Kelley split a basket of group and chips (a play on fish and chips). The grouper pieces were huge and the bite I had was delicious. Joe had a mahi mahi sandwich (no surprise there) and he loved it as well! Then comes out The Salty Dog that Adam ate on Man v. Food for me.

That is a big dog!

I tried my best to eat it all but the 12 slices of cheese proved way too much for me! I think if I go back next time I would order The Salty dog with grilled onions and mushrooms like Adam but say hold all the cheese and bacon. I'm glad that Dad and Kelley took us here to try the legendary fried hot dog. It was definitely worth the trip!

If you ever end up in Sarasota I would also highly recommend you visit The Old Salty Dog on City Island because the bay views are beautiful and you are basically sitting right on the water. Our waitress was also very quick and nice. Let me know if you end up ordering the Man v. Food Salty Dog!