I really enjoy watching 'Triple D' on the Food Network (aka Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives).
As it turns out, only two joints in North Carolina have been featured on Triple D, both of them in Charlotte (and both during the show's first season.) Since I live right up the road from CLT, I decided to make a day-trip down to the Queen City and give these joints a try.
I. Getting There.
Simple. I-77 South. Follow the GPS. Traffic on a Saturday afternoon was relatively light, but gets crowded during weekday rush hour.
II. Food.
Three restaurants were on the agenda:
BarBQ King,
Price's Chicken Coop, and
Penguin.
BarBQ King was up first.
I almost drove past the place, as it was a pretty unassuming drive-in restaurant on the side of a wide road. Most of the ordering seems like it is done drive-in style, which means parking under an awning and ordering through an intercom. You know, just like Sonic Drive-In. Quaint.
Despite its name, I went for the fried chicken- I heard their BarBQ Chicken was the thing to try. Initially, I accidentally ordered a 1/2 chicken of their regular fried chicken. The meal was fair, but nothing to write home about. To be honest, the regular fried chicken was nice and fresh, but a bit bland. Just reasonable fried chicken. The dinner came with Fries & Cole Slaw- both fair as well.
Next was the BarBQ chicken. As one could imagine, the BarBQ chicken had a bit more flavor. The difference being that they seemed to take their regular fried chicken and dip it in BBQ sauce. Even with the flavor, however, the fried chicken was still only fair. Maybe the BBQ itself is better, although I doubt it is much better than the BBQ I get around the Triad of NC.
Price's Chicken Coop was up next.
Although the Chicken Coop is not a drive-in per se, it is take-out only, so if you are looking for a place to sit down and relax, keep looking. We got to Price's at around 12:30, and the place was pretty busy, with the short customer ordering area filled to the door a few feet away from the registers.
This time, I went with a quarter chicken (white meat) dinner. I ended up a thigh, a wing, cole slaw, tater tots, and two hushpuppies. This chicken was better than BBQ King's. Again, freshly fried, but also a bit more flavor.
Last, but not least, was Penguin (menu).
Luckily for us, we actually got to sit down inside this time around; although at one point in its 50+ year history Penguin may have been a drive-in, it now has a few tables (probably seats 30 comfortably, maybe a few more) and a bar with a few more seats. I got a kick out of the fact that they also serve wine. Even in the middle of the afternoon (2:30 pm) we waited a short time for our table; when we left an hour or so later the line was even longer.
I heard the fried pickles were good; I added the Plaza Pimento Cheese sandwich (homemade with cheddar and pepperjack cheeses on texas toast) to my order. My wife had the Tupelo Special (peanut butter and banana slices served on buttered and grilled texas toast).
First off, the pickles were pretty strong. I got the half basket, maybe 20 or 30 sliced pickles, freshly fried, and pretty hot when they got to our table. Together with the ranch dressing, a tasty combo with the fresh fry batter, dressing, and tangy pickle.
Next, the sandwiches. Really strong. The cheese in my pimento/jack sandwich was hot, and oozing off the Texas Toast until I finished it. The tupelo was only slightly less messy, with the peanut butter warmed up and dripping onto the basket. Both great sandwiches. I would return here just for them.
Cut to the chase:
BarBQ King: C
Price's Chicken Coop: C+
Penguin: A
(I grade on a curve folks.)
Hat Tips to Fans of Divers, Drive-Ins, and Dives and Map Muse.
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Philadelphia in 5 hours: Cheesesteaks and Baseball
Goal: See Philadelphia- grab a cheesesteak, and catch a Phillies game. (Check).
Sure, I skipped Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, Reading Terminal Market, and countless other Philadelphia attractions. In my defense, I had about five hours- including time spent at the ballgame.
I. Getting There.
Discounting a layover at the Philadelphia airport, this was my first visit to Philly. We were traveling from Baltimore, so we took 95 & 495 for a short trip up the freeway. Friday holiday traffic caused some delays, but not terrible. Around two hours or so.
II. Food.
Step One: Figure out what to eat. Simple. It's philly. A cheesesteak. Done.
Step Two: Figure out where to eat (a cheesesteak). So who has the best cheesesteak? At first glace Pat's and Geno's seemed to be the two top contenders. Digging further though, it seemed that these two places might cater more to tourists- perhaps I should look elsewhere for the best philly cheessteak. Ultimately, I decided on Tony Luke's, and I was pretty happy.
Step Three: Execute! Getting there was pretty easy. (Hello, GPS.) Further, their location was pretty convenient to the ballpark (but maybe not as close as Pat's or Geno's.)
Tony Luke's actually has two buildings: An outdoor stand on the North side of Oregon, and a bar/restaurant on the South side. (Tip: no bathrooms in the former. Available at the latter.) The outdoor stand has some covered seating, and had a 30 minute line when we got there about 90 minutes before the game.
So we are in line, what do we order? (Cheesesteak.) I am not disappointed we did not have to learn how to say our order. In fact, I think it is ironic that those other places have "speak English" signs, but then apparently force people to not speak proper English when ordering. Go figure. No problem here.
Moving on. Cheeseteak. Cheese Wiz or Provolone? Onions? Anything else? My wife went with the wiz, no onions; I went with sharp provolone, no onions. My wife had the better sandwich. On both sandwiches, the meat was on point. To me, I think this probably is the base of the sandwich's reputation. Without strong steak, the sandwich would be just another sandwich. As for the cheese, the heat of the steak really works well with the wiz, which wasn't really messy at all. The provolone was fine, but didn't quite give the sandwich a good cheesy complement to the meat.
Rating: B+.
III. Entertainment.
Step One: Get tickets. Despite a recent slump, the Phils still clung to first place heading into the Independence Day weekend- and their I-95 division rival the Mets were in town, only a few games behind in the standings. Translation: the tickets were not cheap. I decided to spend about $60/each for two tickets in the outfield from Stubhub- about midway up, right field. They might have been cheaper had I not waited until the day before, but fortunately I was able to print the tickets out at home right after buying them. Tip: try not to buy seats right below the scoreboard. I made that annoying mistake when I saw the Nats "play" in DC at their new ballpark.
Step Two: Getting to the game. The (relatively) new home for the Phillies is Citizens Bank Park, located in South Philadelphia in a sports complex including the Eagles stadium, the Flyer's stadium, and a basketball stadium.
The Phillies won. Parking was pretty simple- probably because we got there right at gametime. We paid $5-$10 to conveniently park in one of the stadium lots. (A great option for folks with little folks.)
Step Three: Fun! We got there a few minutes into the first inning, and hadn't really missed much. The entire stadium was pretty packed, which usually makes for a fun atmosphere. When one or two fans near our seats three food at a Mets fan (who seemed to be enjoying himself and soaking it in) Katie and I were surprised at the speed with which the stadium officials descending upon the section and ousted the unruly fan. Snowballs might be o.k. for throwing (at least in the old days), but these days that might be as far as you get, if that. The folks around us seemed pretty nice, and didn't mind the extra load I had on me for most of the game- I was carrying my son with the baby bjorn.
Since we bought the traditional Philly dinner a few minutes beforehand I uncharacteristically avoided the stadium food at Citizens Bank Park for the most part. As it turns out there was a line for Tony Luke's inside the stadium too, although it was eclipsed by the line for 'Crab Fries' from Pete's. (Hint: nothing but fries with Old Bay seasoning. Not even a hint of crab meat!) Of course a slew of other places sold cheeseteaks and other traditional ballpark fare inside 'the bank'.
I enjoyed my traditional walk around the park, particularly the wall of fame. We left a few minutes into the 9th, and had no problem getting onto nearby I-95. As for the game itself, the Phils won going away.
Maybe next time I will have a few more hours, and can spend time outside of South Philly.
Sure, I skipped Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell, Reading Terminal Market, and countless other Philadelphia attractions. In my defense, I had about five hours- including time spent at the ballgame.
I. Getting There.
Discounting a layover at the Philadelphia airport, this was my first visit to Philly. We were traveling from Baltimore, so we took 95 & 495 for a short trip up the freeway. Friday holiday traffic caused some delays, but not terrible. Around two hours or so.
II. Food.
Step One: Figure out what to eat. Simple. It's philly. A cheesesteak. Done.
Step Two: Figure out where to eat (a cheesesteak). So who has the best cheesesteak? At first glace Pat's and Geno's seemed to be the two top contenders. Digging further though, it seemed that these two places might cater more to tourists- perhaps I should look elsewhere for the best philly cheessteak. Ultimately, I decided on Tony Luke's, and I was pretty happy.
Step Three: Execute! Getting there was pretty easy. (Hello, GPS.) Further, their location was pretty convenient to the ballpark (but maybe not as close as Pat's or Geno's.)
Tony Luke's actually has two buildings: An outdoor stand on the North side of Oregon, and a bar/restaurant on the South side. (Tip: no bathrooms in the former. Available at the latter.) The outdoor stand has some covered seating, and had a 30 minute line when we got there about 90 minutes before the game.
So we are in line, what do we order? (Cheesesteak.) I am not disappointed we did not have to learn how to say our order. In fact, I think it is ironic that those other places have "speak English" signs, but then apparently force people to not speak proper English when ordering. Go figure. No problem here.
Moving on. Cheeseteak. Cheese Wiz or Provolone? Onions? Anything else? My wife went with the wiz, no onions; I went with sharp provolone, no onions. My wife had the better sandwich. On both sandwiches, the meat was on point. To me, I think this probably is the base of the sandwich's reputation. Without strong steak, the sandwich would be just another sandwich. As for the cheese, the heat of the steak really works well with the wiz, which wasn't really messy at all. The provolone was fine, but didn't quite give the sandwich a good cheesy complement to the meat.
Rating: B+.
III. Entertainment.
Step One: Get tickets. Despite a recent slump, the Phils still clung to first place heading into the Independence Day weekend- and their I-95 division rival the Mets were in town, only a few games behind in the standings. Translation: the tickets were not cheap. I decided to spend about $60/each for two tickets in the outfield from Stubhub- about midway up, right field. They might have been cheaper had I not waited until the day before, but fortunately I was able to print the tickets out at home right after buying them. Tip: try not to buy seats right below the scoreboard. I made that annoying mistake when I saw the Nats "play" in DC at their new ballpark.
Step Two: Getting to the game. The (relatively) new home for the Phillies is Citizens Bank Park, located in South Philadelphia in a sports complex including the Eagles stadium, the Flyer's stadium, and a basketball stadium.
The Phillies won. Parking was pretty simple- probably because we got there right at gametime. We paid $5-$10 to conveniently park in one of the stadium lots. (A great option for folks with little folks.)
Step Three: Fun! We got there a few minutes into the first inning, and hadn't really missed much. The entire stadium was pretty packed, which usually makes for a fun atmosphere. When one or two fans near our seats three food at a Mets fan (who seemed to be enjoying himself and soaking it in) Katie and I were surprised at the speed with which the stadium officials descending upon the section and ousted the unruly fan. Snowballs might be o.k. for throwing (at least in the old days), but these days that might be as far as you get, if that. The folks around us seemed pretty nice, and didn't mind the extra load I had on me for most of the game- I was carrying my son with the baby bjorn.
Since we bought the traditional Philly dinner a few minutes beforehand I uncharacteristically avoided the stadium food at Citizens Bank Park for the most part. As it turns out there was a line for Tony Luke's inside the stadium too, although it was eclipsed by the line for 'Crab Fries' from Pete's. (Hint: nothing but fries with Old Bay seasoning. Not even a hint of crab meat!) Of course a slew of other places sold cheeseteaks and other traditional ballpark fare inside 'the bank'.
I enjoyed my traditional walk around the park, particularly the wall of fame. We left a few minutes into the 9th, and had no problem getting onto nearby I-95. As for the game itself, the Phils won going away.
Maybe next time I will have a few more hours, and can spend time outside of South Philly.
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