Big Jim's--Veal Parm as Big as Your Head

Big Jim's really starts a new phase in the Triple D journey for Ben and I--it was really like the starting place for a small goal within the larger one of hitting up every one of Guy's joints. Usually, central Pennsylvania is home, but when Ben got accepted to grad school in Pittsburgh, the perspective changed. We had the whole city in front of us and inside of this awesome city were 7 Triple D favs. So when I moved to Pittsburgh for the summer, we decided our goal was to work our way through the city before my 10 weeks of internship were up. We started with Big Jim's--a place we'd visited earlier in the year after we'd seen the episode on TV, but like every other place we'd already visited it hadn't been photographed. I started work at the end of May and to celebrate making it through my first day of workin' at the hospital we decided to kick off the summer with a trip to Big Jim's. We figured since it was a kind of celebration, it'd be better to start with a place we knew we liked, ya know jump start the summer with style, and what has more style than some homemade Italian food???

Any Pittsburgh local can probably tell you exactly where "the run" is. It's a small strip of the city on the outskirts of Southside, underneath the Hot Metal Bridge, home to some old fashioned houses and a building you'd probably drive right on past if you didn't know what you were looking for--Big Jim's. From the outside, Jim's looks like a typical dive bar, only noticeable because of the sign up on the outside wall, but it's really what's on the inside that counts right? And that's why locals have been packin' into this place for over thirty years. There's a reason Jim's was on the episode "Long Time Legends." It's called Pittsburgh home since 1977 when the current owner's Uncle Jim bought the place to start cooking up his Mom's homemade recipes she brought over from Italy. Jim's nephew bought the place in 1992 with a couple of partners to keep his uncle's traditions alive. It started out as just a bar with about ten tables not counting the bar stools, but they've added on with a larger dining area recently. No matter how many seats there are though the place is always packed, so if you're going around dinner expect a wait--but trust me it's worth it. The first time we went to Jim's it was in February, we got there around 5:30 right as a huge snow storm was brewing, the weather didn't stop business though. By the time we left there were three inches of snow on the ground and a line of people waiting to get in--talk about dedication! Ben and I usually sit in the bar area, mostly because I like to watch the TVs they always have tuned into ESPN, cuz hey it is a bar after all, even if the food they're crankin' out isn't your typical bar food.

The second time we went to Jim's I told myself I'd try something new, I promised myself this would be the time I tried their homemade pasta, try their big as a brick lasagna, but when it comes down to it, I know what I like, and what I like at Big Jim's is the chicken parm sub. I've had this thing twice and haven't been able to finish it in one sitting yet. The whole is probably pushin' 16 to 18 inches of homemade bread (that is some of the best I've ever had) stuffed full of provolone, chicken, and their homemade red sauce. Their definately famous for their sauce, which is of course a secret family recipe that hasn't been changed in thirty years. Ben's the more adventurous of the two of us, so he changed orders the second time around, but it still didn't lead to either of us trying any homemade pasta. This time Ben replaced his meatball sub (made with homemade fried meatballs) for the infamous veal parm. Now if you're a fan of the show, you know Guy's prone to exaggeration, but when he said this thing was as big as your head, he wasn't lying. This was the biggest sandwich I've ever seen, and is one of the house favorites. Both the chicken and the veal are fried to perfection. They're crisp and tender, but be careful cuz these things come out smokin' hot--I've burned my mouth both times, but for these subs it's totally worth it. So between the two of us, we've covered their sub section fairly well--even though there are plenty more than what we've tried, and we've hit up a couple of appetizers too. They're fryin' up provolone sticks and making an Italian wedding soup like you've never had, complete with homemade mini meatballs. Put some parmesan cheese on top of it and you'd think you were in heaven. I'm still holding out hope that the next time around I'll try some pasta, but when you've got something as good as their subs and soup, it's hard to pull yourself away. Here's what I've learned from Big Jim's though, and I think it's the perfect example of Guy's goal with Triple D (If it's funky we'll find it), you can't judge a place by the outside. Driving by Jim's you'd probably think it's just a run down bar, but you'd be missing out on some amazing food, so the next time you're in Pitt, head down to the run and check out Big Jim's...it'll be worth the wait.

They just set up their website since they opened up a new place outside the city, but the one you're lookin' for is Big Jim's Restaurant so check out the menu on the left

http://www.bigjimsrestaurant.com/

The Fly Trap--The Finer Diner

While Ben and I's current locale is the great state of Pennsylvania, home for me will always be Michigan, between the Great Lakes and some of my favorite cities in the world, I really can't think of a better place to be than the Mitten State, but little did I know it was also home to some killer food in out of the way places. In all of my 22 years of living in Michigan, I'd never been to Ferndale--the polar opposite to Guy's hometown of Ferndale, CA--but of course that's what this show is all about, taking you to places you've never been, to experience food you'd never give a second thought to. Now, I must confess The Fly Trap isn't the first Triple D destination we've hit up in my home state, but it is the first that got documented (give us a few weeks and our official first will be made scrapbook official). Ferndale is a lesser known suburb of Detroit and about 45 minutes north of where I grew up. Luckily for us, it's actually only about 20 minutes from Lisa's sister's house, so we decided to take a day, go hang out with her adorable nieces and nephews and then roll into Ferndale to check out this self-proclaimed "finer diner." This was really only 2 days after we'd gotten back from Florida, so it was also marking the end of a pretty intense Triple D week, all that was left to see was how it compared to our previous two visits.

The couple who opened up The Fly Trap were lookin' to do a diner their own way after years in the restaurant biz--hence the moniker "finer diner." They wanted to spice things up and have a menu featuring the food they really liked to eat, so they suckered Kara's brother into being their dishwasher and opened up this tiny little joint along Woodward Avenue. The name "The Fly Trap" came from the fact that this place really was a fly trap when they bought it. They had to completely gut the place and start over--and it was no easy task, there are pictures documenting the transformation on their walls and the place was definately not a pretty sight originally. Today the place is insanely cool--with bright colors on the walls and a specials board that's written out in different colored chalk everyday on the wall, and hey it doesn't hurt that the entire outside of the building is painted lime green, it makes it easier to spot. What surprised us about this place was that it was tiny--after seeing the episode it looked a lot bigger, but that is only because of the mirror running along the back wall which makes it look twice its size. In reality, its a small place with about 10 tables and a few stools along the bar. When I asked about a t-shirt, our waitress popped open a closet crammed with shirts and a vaccuum cleaner and told me to go nuts. The lights were funky shapes and colors and really just gave the place a feel of its own that's almost indescribable, unless you ask my sister who'd call it "kitschy." Now anyone who wanders into Michigan is usually expecting some good down home food--burgers, fries, etc.,--not exactly a menu dominated by Asian cuisine with a twist, but that's what you find at The Fly Trap. Sean learned all his recipes from the Mom of his Japanese-American college roommate, who would feed them on weekends when they'd visit. This place definately still holds the distinction of most unique menu that we've experienced thus far, and because of that we're already planning our second visit in August, the off-the-hook menu won The Fly Trap the coveted prize of being my restaurant of choice for my birthday, but before I start planning my second meal there, let's talk about what we had the first time.

It took us all ages to figure out just what we wanted from this menu, because honestly each of us had about 3 or 4 things in mind that we wanted to try, and we definately ran the board on diversity. Ben was the only one of us that stuck to the Triple D menu and got the Lemongrass Pho Bowl with chicken, which was described by Guy as one of the best bowls he's ever had. This thing was huge and the flavor was crazy, it had a lot of spice--courtesy of the jalapenos, and was definately one of the most unique things I've ever tasted. I allowed myself to branch away from Guy's specialities cuz I'm a sucker for a good mac 'n cheese, or as they put it 3 cheese 'n mac--an intense mix of smoked gouda, cheddar, and blue cheese. The serving size was huge and it was by far some of the best mac 'n cheese I've ever had. Jenn covered the sandwiches with their Chicken Charmoula (North African Spiced Chicken Breast, Jack Cheese, Caramelized Onion on Grilled Sourdough with a Lemon, Garlic Aioli) that she definately said she'd get again, and Lisa handled breakfast with their Cowboy Curtis, a seared ribeye with "wildwest sauce" and some of the best potatoes she's ever had. Then to top it off--mostly because I couldn't decide between it and the mac 'n cheese--we all split their famous gingerbread waffle smothered in apples and dried Michigan cherries topped with their cinnamon syrup (which is probably going to be the winner of the birthday meal). The waffle probably stands in the top 3 of things I've sampled thanks to Triple D, and trust me that's sayin' a lot! And if our assortment of menu items wasn't enough, we didn't even touch that day's specials which ranged from a pulled pork omelette to cheddar cheese biscuits and gravy (oh and don't forget that Flavor of the Day shakes, which just happened to be strawberry). Guy featured them on "Off the Hook Specials" and they more than lived up to that expectation--this place had a funky atmosphere, a crazy unique menu, and I gotta say they definately got it right when they call themselves a "finer diner."

And if you don't believe me about the insane menu check out "Blunch"

http://www.theflytrapferndale.com/

11th Street Diner--A Taste of PA in Florida

Ya know when you think about Miami a couple things come to mind--white beaches, seafood, and some of the best night clubs in the country, but one thing you don't usually think of is a classic American diner. However, when we were planning our trip to Florida and looking at the Triple D places around Miami a diner is exactly what we found. We knew that we would be spending the end of our trip to the Keys in Miami, and so we decided to take advantage of the chance to see at least one place Guy visited in the area. Most of my family doesn't really go crazy for seafood, so we decided to hit up the 11th Street Diner--home of some American classics, which were born along the east coast, but like most things in this country retired to Florida.

Lucky for us, this place just happened to be only about 6 blocks from our hotel in South Beach, so our first afternoon in the city, we decided to walk down to the diner. It's notorious for being the late night hangout for everyone who's partied a little too hardy down on the strip, and are in need of some comfort food to ward off their morning hangovers. We weren't there at 2am when this place is at it's busiest, so we almost had the place entirely to ourselves. Here's the cool thing about the diner, it was built in 1948 by a dining car company in New Jersey, and located in Wilkes-Barre, PA for 44 years. The east coast, mainly Pennsylvania and New Jersey, are known for their silver clad diners, but in the 1990's it was dismantled and moved down to South Beach as part of the Art Deco movement in the city. With the help of volunteers and the city, it was restored to its original art deco form and opened on September 11, 1992, and from that day on its been a cornerstone of the Art Deco district. The diner is exactly what you'd expect from an east coast transplant--a silver dining car, filled with red plastic booths, and a soda fountain right in front. The front portion of the diner is exactly what it looked like in the 40's, but they've recently added on a sports bar in the back. We sat in the front part of the diner in their corner booth, and were only the second group of people there. But we were the only group of people eating...

Guy sampled a lot of food while he was here, and covered the full range of what he called "American Classics," and that's pretty much what all our meals looked like. My mom and Jenn got their famous turkey dinner, complete with cranberry sauce and stuffing--so good that Guy commented on it when he signed the poster he gave to them ("Killer chops & turkey!"). Lisa got the Argentinian skirt steak, another of Guy's favorites, that she got with mashed potatoes and mac 'n cheese. Ben and I diverted from the Triple D specials though, because on top of being featured on Food Network, they've also been voted the best fried chicken in Miami by the New York Times, so that's the route Ben and I took, along with some sweet potato fries for me, black beans and rice for Ben, and the mac 'n cheese for both of us. Now I've gotta say for being in South Florida, the fried chicken was pretty phenomenal, and according to Ben it was the best beans and rice he's ever had. Overall, we were all pretty happy with our food. I had forgotten to check the specials board on the way in though, and after rewatching Guy's clip I wished I had tried their pork chops with apples and cherries, but still I was pretty happy with my fried chicken. Now here's the thing about the diner, the food was awesome, but our waiter wasn't really all that happy to have business in the middle of the afternoon, so we were kind of left to our own devices. We all left happy that we'd visited, but were somewhat unanimous in our vote that it was definately a one time stop on the Triple D train. The food was classic diner fare, and definately lived up to the American classics, which was a unique find in Miami, but there wasn't really a ton that jumped out at us that made us want to revisit the next time we rolled through Miami. That doesn't mean though that I wouldn't give it a hearty recommendation if you ever find yourselves in South Beach, and are just lookin' for some good ole' fashioned diner food.

Again, check out the website and see what this awesome diner car looks like plus you can check out the menu, the dishes with stars by them are the Triple D favs http://www.eleventhstreetdiner.com/

Grampa's Bakery & Restaurant--The Unexpected Visit

It seemed appropriate that the first place we hit up (after deciding to start scrapping our progress that is) just kind of fell into our laps. In May, the two of us were travelling with my family down to Key West, but had flown into Fort Lauderdale and planned on making the drive down to the keys from there. Now here's the thing, we were initially planning on making a stop at a Triple D place while we were in Miami at the end of our vacation, so there was already one place in our sights. Here's the thing though, as we were pulling out of the Fort Lauderdale airport, we passed a sign that welcomed us to the booming metropolis of Dania Beach, FL. Now we both happened to remember that Grampa's (a place we had always wanted to visit after seeing their episode) was actually in Dania Beach, but we'd had no idea we would be driving through so we never thought about visiting when we were planning our trip to Florida. So once we'd hit the road, we just told everybody to keep their eyes peeled in case we passed by, and not even five minutes later we were pulling into the parking lot. Lucky for us, Grampa's is on the main drag through Dania Beach, and easy to spot from the road. We needed to eat lunch anyway, so like Guy says--it was funky and we found out, and our Triple D adventure began.

Grampa's was established in 1957 and is known around Dania Beach as being the best bakery around. The first thing that greets you from the road is a big red and yellow sign, with a smiling baker boy looking out at you, and while the sign is a great greeting, what's even better is what welcomes you to Grampa's once you walk in the door--their bakery. Three huge display cases featuring every kind of dessert you can imagine from homemade doughnuts, to cakes, cookies, and cream puffs, and that doesn't even begin to cover the wall behind the display cases with all their homemade bagels and breads--needless to say the place smelled phenomenal. The place itself is actually huge, with tons of tables and booths, plus a small bar along the back wall. They've got two huge, signed pictures of Guy on the wall, along with articles and other places that they've been featured. They were pretty busy, but we got a table near the bar and were greeted by one of the nicest waiters we've met thus far. Randy had noticed me taking a picture of Guy's picture and filled us in on all the specials that Guy had tried, and gave us some of Grampa's history. They're kind of a local legend and proud of it that's for sure. They still use the machinery from 1957 to make their breads and aren't looking to change anything anytime soon. So let's get down to it...what'd we eat???

Featured on the "Comfort Food" episode, we knew we were in for some stick to your ribs homecooking at Grampa's. Before we even got our meals, we knew we were in for some great food, just by the homemade danish and rolls that came with our meals. Since some of us had ordered breakfast, we were given two huge plates of homemade, warm apple and peach danishes that were so soft and gooey we couldn't stop eating them. Then since we had lunch orders too, we got a basket of their baseball sized, homemade dinner rolls. Now I'm a sucker for bread, and I can honestly say this was some of the best bread I've ever tasted. They were dense but light, and of course warm. But like I said those were just the beginners of our meal. By an awesome bit of luck, we were there on a Saturday which is the day they cook up their lamb shank special that Guy raved about. I'm not a huge fan of lamb so I stayed away other than a small bite, but Ben and my brother-in-law Jon had the lamb shank, a huge helping with a side of mashed potatoes and corn, all covered in the homemade sauce that comes with it. According to the boys, it was an amazing dinner, and well worth Guy's having it on the show. The rest of us had a pretty good mix of the menu, I had their blueberry pancakes--which were pretty incredible and also featured on the episode, my sister Jennifer had the largest turkey club sandwich you've ever seen, and my Mom and other sister Kristin had the hot, open-faced turkey sandwich, and our family friend, Lisa had an omelette. But of course we couldn't leave Grampa's without sampling the bakery, and believe me I wish we were going back to Florida sometime soon just to go and get some more dessert. We covered a whole range of snacks for the drive to the Keys--cinnamon doughnuts, Queen Anne's lace, mini baklava, cream puffs, macadamia nut cookies, and cream filled doughnuts. Needless to say it was a great start to our Triple D adventures, and if you're ever rolling through Dania Beach (or the Fort Lauderdale airport) check out Grampa's--you won't regret it!!

In case you're curious here's their website too (check out the pictures of the bakery) http://www.grampasbakery.com/index.html

Introductions are Money

So here's the deal...for the past two years Ben and I have been watching Diners Drive-Ins and Dives and wishing that we had Guy's job and could go everywhere he went and eat all the awesome dishes he was eating. So about a year ago, we decided that we were gonna make it a goal...we were going to try to get to every place that Guy's visited and see where it takes us. In the past year we've hit up about 12 places, but have really been getting serious about it over this past summer, especially once I decided that I was going to start taking pictures of our visits and scrapbooking everywhere we've wandered to.

The idea for the blog followed pretty soon afterwards because we figured that this would be a great way to get in touch with other people who are doing the same thing we are and it was also a great way to let fans of the show know what the places they watch on tv are really like. So for now the updates will come in pretty quick succession to catch up to where we're at on the list, but after those are done, they'll be more slow going depending on how often we get to places, but for now enjoy the pictures and the stories and hop on the train to flavortown.