Okay, so I co-opted the old "Remember The Alamo" saying for this blog, what can I say, it's been a long Texas Day!
Got back on the road yesterday morning after spending the week in Scottsdale AZ at the World Aquatic Health Conference. Had a really good time doing a CPO Instructor School, moderating some interesting sessions at the Conference, and spending time with my amazing co-instructors, who are also my friends. Long busy days, followed by evenings spent consuming large amounts of liquids. Well hey, we WERE in a desert after all!
Friday was spent making my way through AZ, New Mexico, and the very west portion of Texas along I-10, which runs right past Los Cruces NM, and through El Paso TX. What a large city El Paso turned out to be! And boy, what a scarcity of places to stay there was after I blew through El Paso! Ended up in some place called Van Horn for the night. Odd little town, six or seven motels, and yet very few places to eat. Settled for a chicken sandwich at one of the "Love's" Travel Plazas that was in town.
Saturday, up and out early, more time on I-10, as I make my way towards Spring TX, to visit my cousin Rick and his family. Really in "Texas Hill Country" today, as the road keeps heading up into the mountains. Early on, lots of morning fog, but the strong sunshine finally wins out and the day turns sunny and warm, with some high clouds giving me a break from the eastern sun hitting my eyes. Oh, yes, talk about making time, well, the speed limit on I-80 in TX is 80 mph! Rolled into San Antonio around 2:30, found a nice clean hotel near the city center, checked in, and realized, gee, I'm hungry. A quick check found a Texas tradition a few blocks away; Whataburger!
Hard to miss them, with that huge orange and white 'A' shaped roof most of them sport. Family owned since the first one opened in 1950, I really think Whataburger is a great example of how a privately held, family run business can not just survive, but thrive. The recipe seems pretty simple, keep the restaurants clean, hire friendly people, keep the menu simple, and COOK TO ORDER! No warmed over, sitting in beef broth patties here, all the burgers are grilled up when you order them. Makes quite a difference. So, here we go, today's meal was a #1 combo, a Whataburger with cheese, and sliced jalapenos (yeah, I know, here goes my stomach again).
Now, that's a single Whataburger, and the thing is easily the size of a 'Whopper', and is even a bit thicker than that. Loads of fries came with the burger, and the young lady who dropped it off at my table offered me the famous two ketchups - regular and spicy.
The spicy is really good on the fries, which are the typical fast food 'shoestring' style. Probably as close as you can get to McDonald's fries without actually going into McD's. Fresh, hot, properly salted, they're quite good, although, as usual, I would prefer if they were cooked just a touch more. Still, they are damn tasty! And the burger?
They don't skimp on the toppings here! Three slices of tomatoes, a good amount of chopped lettuce (but not too much, like you'd find on a Whopper), pickles, chopped onions, and mustard. That's the standard topping that comes on a Whataburger. Like most of the country outside of the NY area, mustard is always found on the burger, and interestingly, ketchup is not. I added sliced jalapenos (.50c), and put a bit of ketchup on top. All in all, a good combination, and the right ratio of beef to toppings and roll, the meat wasn't lost in the salad. The jalapenos were hot, but not over the top, and went well with the cheese. All in all, for a 'fast food' place, a good meal. Cost of the meal was $7 and change, which included a 'medium' soda, which, as you can see, was pretty large.
I've reviewed Whataburger previously, so I apologize to those of you who may feel you're seeing a rerun, but since I don't get here that often, this is one place I try to hit at least once whenever I'm in Texas. Tomorrow, looking forward to a nice visit with Rick and Elizabeth, and sure hope David, Chrystie and the girls will be able to join us. Food? Hmmmm, could be Mexican, BBQ, or who knows? But you know if it's good, I'll be writing about it!
Today was pretty much all new territory for me, when I left Elk City, I ventured into areas that I've not driven through before. The Northern portion of Texas is much different than the southern portion. It's flatter, and parts of it reminded me of driving through Iowa, large fields of corn, mile after mile. Then you cross into New Mexico, and it's similar, at least for a while. You notice the color change, from greens to light tan and brown, spotted with clumpy green trees that stand out from the pale colored grass and hay that covers the ground. Move closer to Albuqurque, and here are the mountains, deep dark brown, striking deep red, rising high, but with flat tops, not the typical peaked mountains you see elsewhere. Past Alburqurque and we're up and down the mountains, the road winding along the side of the inclines. A great ride on a slightly overcast day, with a few quick sprinkles along the way. Finally, here's the destination, Gallup NM. One of the legendary towns that dot The Mother Road, Route 66. Heck, it's even mentioned in the Bobby Troup song "Get Your Kicks On Route 66"! Off the interstate we go, and suddenly, it's 1950 again. The road narrows, and the pavement changes from asphalt to concrete. Horizontal traffic signals stick out over the road, with big "HISTORIC ROUTE 66" signs fastened to them. Make the left onto 66 and here it is, America's original road trip route live and in person. Art deco signs, loaded with neon, many with a southwestern motif and font identify the many small businesses that dot the side of the road. And there's the motel, a real 1950's survivor, the El Capitan.
Clean, comfortable, but definitely old; green and white ceramic tile in the bathroom, stucco ceiling and walls, and the old chrome tissue dispenser over the vanity. Fine for a night's rest, I probably wouldn't stay here long term.
After checking the emails and chatting with Karen for a bit, it's time for an early dinner. There were lots of good local places to choose from, and I have to admit, it was hard to pass up a particular fast food chain. Turns out that in New Mexico, there's a burger chain with 75 or so locations, called Blake's Lotaburgers. Not tonight. Maybe on the return trip I'll find one around lunch time and check it out.
No, tonight it's gotta be a local spot, one in the downtown area, and it's got to have a good version of one of New Mexico's most famous food, the Green Chile Cheesburger. New Mexico is famous for their chiles, and some years back, local chefs began topping their burgers with home made green chiles. It's almost the official state food, and if you check out "Eater.com" or "Yelp", you can find literally hundreds of cafes and restaurants that serve them. My choice was Jerry's Cafe, which is one of the highest rated places on Yelp and Trip Advisor.
The sign is typical of what you see in Gallup, old style, multi colored, and of course, at night, nicely illuminated with the glow of neon. Small place, tiny actually, with a capacity of 60.
Place was pretty busy when I got in, but there were one or two small booths open, so I got seated right away. Hostess hands me a menu, and takes my drink order. In a minute she's back with the soda and a bottle of ketchup and hot sauce; my waitress will be right over. So, even though I know what I want, I check out the menu.
Plenty of choices, including about 10 different burgers, and a similar number of Mexican dishes, burritos, tacos, empanadas, and the like. Waitress asks what I'd like, I order, and she asks, "red or green chile"? Hmmm a quandry. I really want the green, but I've seen a plate of the red at the next booth and it looks amazing. Sensing my indecision, she offers the suggestion of the night: "we can do half and half". Brilliant! Order's in, and I wait, but just for a few minutes - service is quick, they have to be fast with only 60 seats, and by my count, 11 or 12 people working in the place. And then, here it is:
Jerry's serves their version open faced, which sure makes sense, given as how it's really smothered with the chili, and all that melted cheese - shredded cheddar, not sliced 'American'. This is a real knife and fork meal! The burger itself is pretty thin, but large, almost like a Whopper patty, but one that's been cooked correctly and hasn't been laying around in a drawer full of 'beef broth'. Tender, good flavor; the bottom of the roll is still pretty intact, and I can easily get a piece of roll with each piece of meat. The green chile sauce is amazing, with a bit of heat, but not a tongue scorching heat, more of a 'sneaks up from the back of your mouth' heat. Good flavor, almost like roasted green bell peppers, with a little onion, maybe a hint of garlic, just a solid tasty sauce that compliments the cheese and the meat.
On to the red chile sauce. Now, here's the heat - still not over the top, but more than the green, and a deeper flavor, there's some tomato base in here, maybe paste; and onion and garlic. Damn tasty! And it's great for dipping the fries in!
Ahhh yes, the fries. Okay, gotta admit, nothing special here. Frozen crinkle cut (my favorite cut), cooked properly, served hot, but bland - needed salt, and ketchup, or a dip in the red chile sauce!
The finale? Using the top of the bun to soak up the remnants of the chile sauces! I'm pretty sure that's the intended use, as even if you cut the burger carefully, there's no way you could eat this thing with your hands. Overall? Terrific meal, neat location, very friendly and helpful staff, I can highly recommend Jerry's Cafe if you're in Gallup.
After dinner, I took a cruise up and down 66 and soaked in the sights a bit. Ran the car through one of those automatic car wash (didn't do much), and gassed it up for the drive tomorrow.
I've been on portions of Route 66 in the past, in AZ, Oklahoma, and in Alburqurque many years back when I flew in and had a rental car. And I've always had the urge to do the whole Chicago to CA route, on as much of the old road as I can find. I've got the Route 66 maps and travel guide at home, and just from this short trip today, now i REALLY want to do that! Maybe even in an old car; old road, old car, right? Maybe something like this?
Well, we shall see. That might be asking a lot from the old girl, even though it's had a lot of work done on it this past year. All I know for sure is that on the way home from AZ, I'm going to hit 66 for at least a couple of half days, just to soak in a little more of it's flavor.
Another fun filled day on the road finds me in Elk City, Oklahoma tonight. Nice little spot, more than the usual interstate exit, including a pretty sizeable portion of old Route 66. There's even a Route 66 museum here, which I'll think about checking out on the return trip. In the meantime, a nice easy night, decent, clean motel, and as a bonus, a Mexican restaurant attached to the motel! Now with that sort of temptation, how could I resist? So, I checked in, stretched out my back a bit, then wandered down to Mama Tona's for dinner. Now to be honest, I did check out "Yelp", and the reviews were good, so I wasn't flying as blind as I could have been.
Big place, Mama Tona's. Clean, very clean. Stainless steel half walls separate tables into different sections. Kitchen partially open to diners to view, and it is also very clean. Hey, look, a tortilla press, sort of like at "On The Border"; nice touch, home made flour and corn tortillas! Hostess leads me to a table, asks what I'd like to drink; Dos Equis Amber, and served with a tall, very frosty mug, and also brings a tall glass of ice water. So far so good.
Waitress brings over chips, salsa, AND queso dip, along with a tortilla holder filled with fresh, soft, warm corn tortillas.
Sorry for the somewhat fuzzy photo; apparently the phone camera lens was a little dirty. Didn't discover that until after dinner. Anyway, good chips, good salsa, although a bit too mild. The queso, home made, but not great. Someone didn't cook the roux long enough before they added in the cheese, it had a pretty strong taste like raw flour. Not awful, but not what you'd want to eat a lot of. The beer? Cold, and perfect.
Pretty diverse menu, lots of familiar items, but missing some of the usuals. No Pollo Con Arrozo, and no 'chicken, shrimp, steak' special. Almost got the shredded beef Chimichanga, but last minute went for shrimp rancheros. Put the order in, and sat back. After a few minutes, first up was this:
Big plate of refried beans and Mexican rice. And very good Mexican rice, nicely seasoned, and with corn, peas, and diced carrot in with the rice. Refried beans, nice and creamy, not at all pasty, topped with just a touch of cheese. And both served nice and hot. And then, out came the main.
Served sizzling on a fajita platter, ten nice sized shrimp, sautee'd with green bell peppers, onions, tomatos, and fresh jalapeno slices. On the side, fresh warm flour tortillas. Very generous portion, add in the rice and beans and it was a very filling meal, and quite tasty as well! The shrimp were perfectly cooked, the onions were done well, some were quite soft and carmelized, some still had a bit of crunch; bell peppers were fine, as were the tomato pieces. The fresh jalapeno had quite a kick, it's always hotter than the pickled ones you find in a lot of places. I packed all of the ingredients into flour tortillas and ate them fajita style, and was very happy. Added a touch of salt and pepper, as the only thing missing was a little bit of seasoning, which seems to be missing from most places when they do fajita style food. Sizzling the ingredients and getting a little browning is a good idea, but you HAVE to give them a little help - salt, pepper, garlic powder, like I'd use on my fajitas.
Finished all the shrimp and a good amount of the veggies, and that was it, full.
So I had a really nice meal, in a clean, friendly place, all for a final price of $14.30. Talk about a bargain!
Complaints? Just one. The place was too darn cold! Turn down (or up) the A/C!
And tomorrow night, it'll be something cool in Gallup NM, possibly a popular 'burger joint on old Route 66.
As they used to say, 'stay tuned for more'!
Back out on the Interstates, heading from Long Island to Scottsdale Arizona, for a CPO Instructor School, and the World Aquatic Health Conference. Got a nice early start on Wednesday, as I cranked up the Bluecuda and pulled away from the curb right at 5 am. If you're going to make any time in the NY area, you've got to beat the majority of the rush hour traffic. Which, by the way, is a hell of a lot longer than 'an hour'! Especially since it was raining on Wednesday, which always slows things to somewhat less than a crawl.
Over the GW Bridge and onto I-80 I went, nice light traffic, and good tunes on the XM 60's channel. Had spotty rain most of the way until I stopped for the night, which is no fun to drive in, but what can you do?
I wanted to get to Columbus Ohio for the night, that's a decent run of about 575 miles. But I was doing so well, I pushed right on and made it to Springfield, just outside of Dayton. Found a nice clean motel, and settled in for the night. Nothing exciting to report on the food front, I skipped lunch, and had a frozen dinner in my room.
Thursday dawned much nicer, sunny and bright. Got on the road at 7, with a goal of getting to the Rolla/St. Cloud MO region; I had a hotel reservation in St. Cloud, so that was an easy drive.
Stopped for gas in western Illinois, and lo and behold, right next door to the gas station was a Jack In The Box; it must have been fate! Grabbed a couple of tacos and a drink, and back on the road I went. Fought a very strong urge to stop off (again) at Meramec Caverns, one of the great Roadside Attractions that we stopped at 50 years ago on our trip to Dallas. As I'd been there 3 years ago, I passed it up and kept going.
When I got to the hotel, I was done for the day at around 3 pm. Answered a few emails, took a couple of calls, then just relaxed a while. Realized that 3 pm was really 2 pm, as I passed into Central Time at some point late this morning. Nice big room, a suite, this is near Ft. Leonard Wood, and I think a lot of military families stay here when they are relocated to Ft. Wood, at least until they can arrange for more permanent housing.
It's been more than a bit chilly the last two days, and, of course, I didn't take a jacket of any sort with me - I'm going to AZ, and it's always warm there, right? Right. But it isn't always warm in Ohio, or Missouri. So off to the local Wal-Mart I went, to pick up a couple of things, and a light jacket. On the way there, I considered my choices for dinner; Ruby Tuesday; Chili's; McDonald's; Cracker Barrel; the usual suspects. And then, off in the distance, I spotted this:
The "Route 66" Diner. A real chrome and vinyl "Gulfstream" diner, the kind we used to have all over the place on LI until they all started expanding them into huge 'restaurants'. Decided that I had to stop in and eat here. A little closer up:
On the front door, this sign; "We proudly serve those who serve". And there were more than a few military types inside, usually a good sign, sort of like the old line about truck drivers eating at good places.
Good menu, lots of dinner specials, from salads and soups, to comfort food, such as meat loaf, roast chicken, chicken noodle soup - good diner food. I opted for the "Route 66 Burger", which, my waitress explained, was the special of the day. I saved .50c because of that! And here's the meal:
Nice burger, big, juicy, and cooked exactly right, as I ordered it. Topped with lettuce, tomato, pickles, onion and 'garlic mayo', which, of course, I had them hold. Didn't put the tomato on, as it just wasn't ripe looking. Squirt of ketchup, dollop of cheap yellow mustard, and dig in. Good burger! The roll was toasted, but soft, and had a hint of garlic, sort of like the ones that we used to get at Dempsey's in East Meadow (which, sadly, closed).
The fries appear to be hand cut, the skin is still on, and they came out properly hot. But.....they were 'once cooked', and ended up soft and squishy instead of crispy, and the larger ones were not quite cooked through. If you're going to go to the trouble of hand cutting the fries, you need to double cook them. Blanch them at 300 or so, take 'em out, let them rest a few minutes, then finish them off at 350. That way you get fluffy insides and crispy outsides. Still with ketchup on them, they were pretty good.
The Diner was built in 2001, and it's obvious that the owners care about the place. It's spotless inside, and a real reflection of the 50's. Black and white tile floor, red and white vinyl booths, a counter with stools, and chrome everywhere you look. The table tops had that nice formica with the flying triangles on it, and the sound system was playing really good 50's and 60's music. Definitely worth the stop, and recommended to anyone who's passing through this area of Missouri!
And for those who are interested, yes, the old Route 66 does run right through here. I'm on a pretty tight time schedule on the westward trip, as I must be in AZ on Sunday. But on the way back, I just might take a day and wander along the Mother Road for a while.
Back to the hotel, and time to do a little editing on tomorrow's drive. I was aiming for Elk City OK, but if I can get out early, I may hold out and try for Amarillo TX. We'll see how the weather, traffic, and back do.
Stay tuned for more!
