Food, glorious food.
I have lived on the road, off and on, for now going on thirty years. I have eaten a lot of crap, and i have the waistline to show for it. I have spent months at a time eating crappy pizza because that was the only restaurant in town to take plastic. I have eaten so much McDonalds I can actually smell one before I see it. The life of a travelling tech, or engineer, or salesman, is not an easy one.
One sales manager I knew said any field engineer worth his salt could live in his car stranded in a blizzard for several days on petrified french fries found under the seat, and melted snow. Me, I always have two cans of spam, several tins of oysters,a coughlin stove, and several granola bars just against that eventuality. And some bottled water. Snow melt is not that tasty.
Anyway, yeah, there’s a lot of calories of crap that have made up my diet over the years, but there have also been the good places. Cafe Berlin in Vegas. Chuck’s Diner in Heber Springs Arkansas. Dookey Chase in Nawleans. Ted Drewes in St Louis. Wolfgangs in Grand Rapids. Grange kitchen and bar in Ann Arbor. The Silver Ring Cafe in Lakeland Florida.
Now, I tend to gravitate to places like these. Little restaurants that serve good food and have done so for a long time. Upscale places, which are often upscale based soley on their prices, do little for me. SO when Tam posted a menu from Heidelberg Haus, it caught my eye. Next Indy I go to, I will check it out.
Lest anyone think I am some gomer, let me make myself clear; I have eaten at Delmonicos. THE Delmonicos. I have eaten at L’escargot in Soho. I have eaten some spectacular meals in some spectacular places, including Paris, London, and recently, Amsterdam. I love to eat, and I love good food. It’s just not necessary to spend a lot of money on it; the best steak I had was in a little dive in Sheboygan Wisconsin. The best Italian was in a little dive in NYC. And the best french in a private home turned restaurant by appoinment only in Crown Point Indiana.
This week, the garden is overflowing with tomatoes. I have cherry tomatoes for days, And each day I wash and halve a pint or so, add a can of chick peas, a can (or two) of black olives, some fresh mozzarella pearls, a little balsamic vinagrette and fleur de sel. I don’t think it’s possible for me to get tired of eating this, but I’m going to find out.
Good food is its own reward and can be found in the oddest places. Does tend to explain those extra pounds I can get rid of. Glad you are back among us.
I have always been so busy to get where I’m going or to do… Something or other that until recently, I have rarely taken the time to enjoy my food.
That is beginning to change, but it takes time and the ability to relax.
Someday, I’ll have a list like yours!
It is amazing, we have eaten in many of the same places.
Indeed, life on the road is not what most people think it is.
Best place I ate as a broadcast engineer was a little place with a steam table in Coldspring, TX. Close second was a cajun place in a house in Shreveport.
A little chinese place near the tv station in Houston, squishy wood floor, carpet was stained and scary, but I never got sick there, and the food was the best Chinese I’ve ever had. Oh, and a little diner near Friendswood. Gravy boat with a split biscuit, scrambled eggs on top, smothered with sausage gravy. After an overnight of transmitter maintenance, that was heaven…..
@STxRynn….. Do kindly tell me of the Friendswood diner? That’s in my stompin’ grounds, y’know.
And Og, you’re right on the small, hardly noticed places. On long Gold Wing tours, especially, they’re all either treasured prizes, or “good enough”, at least. I think I’ve only had less than a handful of horrid experiences in hundreds of thousands of miles logged.
Glad you’re back home, and back on the screen, too. Daily read and all that, dontchaknow.
Jim
Sunk New Dawn
Galveston, TX
Love hole-in-the-wall restaurants… Cheap, good food and usually friendly service. What’s NOT to like! :-)
Yep, some of those out of the way places are best. Schnitzel in a converted train depot on the Mosel, Mexican in a place behind the NAPA in Knox, chipped beef on toast in a bowling alley near Sam Parr state park. The only people who think biz travel is glamorous haven’t done it (or aren’t married to someone who does it). I’ve got a way to go til I’m turned out to pasture. I hope I find more of those places. Just wish I weren’t as fat as a result.