printersdevil78

Agreed. Despite living only a couple hours away, I didn't visit SFA until 2008 due to its negative reputation. And it lived up to its reputation 100 percent--the park felt like a ghetto where someone had torn down a few tenament buildings and put up some roller coasters. The next year I took my now-wife, who grew up literally down the street from SFA, and we were both amazed at how much the place had changed for the better. By 2010, the park's speakers were blaring Taylor Swift rather than FloRida, and we were getting the high-fives you mentioned, along with tremendous ride operations and some of the friendliest staff I've encountered anywhere, Disney parks included. The two comments I keep hearing from the coaster community are: "SFA is a ghetto park" and "They haven't added a new coaster in a decade, so I haven't bothered going back since then." Together, they kind of make sense; in 2001 (and even as of 2008), SFA was a ghetto park. But you know, parks can change, and this one has. At SFA Preview Day this year, they spoke a little about how the Six Flags chain brought in a new management team for the park in 2009 with a mandate to clean it up and make it a place families would again want to visit. Based on the crowds and demographics (a huge number of young families) I saw on opening weekend this year, I'd say they've been wildly successful. Some on here have said that Whistlestop Park, nee Thomas Town, doesn't count for anything. Except it does. You don't retool your entire management team, invest $3 million to build a whole new land and start announcing new rides for a park you don't think is going to be around for awhile. And that's not even including the behind-the-scenes infrastructure stuff no one gets to see. Apparently, the park has undergone a large data and electrical wiring upgrade since 2008. It's a major investment... but it's not a roller coaster, so who cares? /rant

During the park's preview day in March, they said there may be a big new attraction coming in 2012, but they didn't mention they would be removing another ride to accommodate it, nor did they let on what it might be. Too bad; Skull Mountain was a really cool ride--and that's coming from someone who normally hates water rides. I've actually seen it closed only a handful of times, and I assumed it was because of weather since it was always toward the cooler beginning or end of the season. Then again, my family and I seem to be the only people on Earth who have consistently good experiences at this park, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised that it was up and running perfectly every time we wanted to ride it.

Thanks again, everyone! ^^Apparently most of the guests agreed. We bought two and a half cases of Pepsi products, a case of ginger ale and a case of Coke. After the reception, we brought home a case and a half of Pepsi products, half a case of ginger ale and absolutely no Coke whatsoever.

Thanks, everyone! Well, it's official--I have a wife! (Or, in LOL Cat speak: It offishul. I can haz wive.) Obviously, I wasn't able to take quite as many photos at the event as I did before... but I promised an update, and here it is! Saturday morning was flower time. Kelly made her own bouquet and one for her maid of honor. Lauryn was on hand to pick up the leftover petals for the flower girl basket. This is what the beverage raft looked like once it was fully stocked. We made sure to have signs out for the directionally challenged. And then it was finally done! I found out two things later that evening: 1. The minister we were supposed to have called Kelly five hours before the ceremony to tell her she had been called in at her other job, so she wouldn't be there to officiate--sorry about our luck. Kelly's sister called in a friend who was a minister, but who also was recently hospitalized and told to remain on bed rest. He grudgingly came out and performed the ceremony. 2. The photographer was told to detain us outside before the reception because the maid of honor didn't want us to know the cake hadn't arrived yet. Apparently it was being set up even as we pulled into the parking lot of the reception hall. This cake, however, arrived much earlier in the afternoon. As a surprise, Kelly got a friend of hers, who is aspiring to be the next Duff Goldman, to make me a roller coaster groom's cake. I don't really understand the purpose of the groom's cake, but it was really cool, nonetheless. Take the (cake) tunnel! This is what the real cake looked like. My friend Sylvia made it and did an awesome job, even if she did get lost on the way to the hall. I can't say enough good things about Famous Dave's as our caterer. The food was great, and the staff was awesome. We had salad, beef brisket, grilled chicken, pork ribs, garlic mashed potatoes, jalepeno macaroni and cheese, corn muffins, iced tea and lemonade, all for about half of what the next least-expensive caterer cost. We provided the finger foods on the end, which seemed to go over really big with the guests. Plate No. 1! Lauryn had a crush on the best man, so we made sure to set them up with a dance together. Last dance of the evening. And last photo in this TR. Coincidence? Yes.

So I spent the majority of today setting up for my wedding reception tomorrow. For those who are into that thing, take a look. For those who aren't... hey, it's new content! Mostly, I just need to do something enjoyable for a few minutes to clear my head. So this is it. Enjoy! Kelly's best friend/maid of honor and her daughter arrived last night. They hadn't been in the apartment for 10 seconds (literally)when the dress preparations began. Flower girls! Actually, Lauryn is giving Kelly away at the altar (or whatever you call the "altar" when you get married at a park pavillion). Too bad she has "Terminator" eye in this photo. This is where the action took place today. We did this wedding on the cheap, but still wanted to it look halfway decent. Overall, the endeavor should cost us about $3,000, with over half of that being devoted to food and drink. We rented the hall for $300, but we're in charge of setting up, taking down, cleaning up, etc. This was the first of a dozen tables we set up today. Kelly got 20 satin tablecloths on eBay for $60. That would have paid for six of them, minus delivery fee, if we had rented them as we originally intended. When you're trying to decorate your own reception on a budget, post-holiday sales are your friend! These candles cost 25 cents each at Michaels in January. This is what the finished tables looked like. The centerpieces are made from Pringles cans, some Michaels ribbon Kelly found for about $2 a roll on clearance (each roll covered two cans), some floral accents she found at Michaels for between 5 and 15 cents each and some rocks from her parents' driveway in the bottom so they aren't top-heavy. The Hershey's kisses were 50 cents a bag on sale after Valentine's Day. The table numbers, which we printed ourselves, came out to about 25 cents each plus $1 for the holder. The napkins and plastic wine glasses are from Walmart. The silverware was 25 cents a piece at Roses, and Kelly's mom wrapped each set for us. The flower pots, which we're using to chill the white wine on each table, were 50 cents each on clearance at Walmart, and the envelopes for the favors ($1 lottery scratch-off tickets) were $2 for 100, on clearance at Michaels. Total per table: just under $20. Though I'm not 100 percent in favor of having kids at the wedding, I've been overruled, so this is the kids' table. The Disney coloring kits were 25 cents each on clearance at Walmart. the other coloring kits were 50 cents each from Oriental Trading Company. The rest of the favors on this table were on sale at Happy Harry's (a local pharmacy chain) for 15 to 25 cents each after Easter. Grand total about $16. This is the reception/gift table. The placecard holders were on sale for 25 cents each through Oriental Trading. Kelly won the guest book on eBay, along with our cake serving set, for $4. We found the mailbox in the closet of the hall and added some leftover Michaels ribbon. I wasn't a big fan of the mints, but Kelly got them from Oriental Trading for $8. The bowl was $1 at Dollar Tree. Total cost: $24. We're having a catered buffet, but we also want to have snacks set out for later on in the evening. Dollar Tree is our friend! All the bowls, tongs, spoons, crackers and pretzels came from there. Kelly is making jalepeno cheese dip, and we got a big bag of M&Ms from Sam's Club for $9. My mom is donating two trays of homemade butter cookies, and Kelly's mom donated the plates. Total cost to us: about $40. The red things are beverage buckets, which we're going to use as part of our drink dispensing system. Kelly found them on sale at Walmart for $2 each. Nuts always go over well in a TPR report! With coupons and a timely sale at Giant, we got 10 jars of these for $9.50. Mexican Coke! Now it's a party! Our local Harry and David closed a couple months ago, which sucked. But it also allowed us to get these bottles of sparkling cider for $2 each, so.... For the wine, Kelly went to our corner liquor store (it's actually called "The Corner Liquor Store") and told the guy she wanted 12 inexpensive red wines and 12 inexpensive whites, clerk's choice. We ended up with a lot of one-offs, which actually works for our purposes. We're picking up a half keg of Yuengling tomorrow. Blow, Kelly, Blow! This is the other half of our beverage disbursement plan, an inflatable salad bar we're going to fill with ice and canned sodas. eBay price: $5. And what better way to end this TR than with... boobs! Hopefully I'll survive tomorrow and eventually be able to post some photos of the results. Goodnight!

Cool TR! The "whole town came out" photo made me laugh out loud. I needed that.

I have a standard monitor at home and a widescreen at work, and honestly, the extra space doesn't really bother me. I don't think I even really noticed it until it was pointed out in this thread. Also, I fear change! I like the way the page is laid out now. I know where everything is, and I know how to navigate it easily. But if it's updated, I'll figure that out, too.

^Same! I don't know how I missed this thread until just now. If I didn't live on the other side of the country and wasn't getting married that afternoon, I would be there in a heartbeat! It looks like there's also a food truck festival in D.C. the day before that I'll miss

Keep livin' the dream, Big Mike!

1. God, I miss Blackpool so much. 2. Does anyone else think that cowboy on the bench looks a little like Larry from the Three Stooges?

Thanks for the positive feedback! ^Guy's personality doesn't grate on me the way it tends to for a lot of others, but I like him a lot better on "Minute to Win It" than on "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives." Part of the problem with that show is, you can only say so much about a cheeseburger, and you can only say it so many times before no one cares anymore. That said, during a mini-road trip to Pennsylvania yesterday, we stopped by The Charcoal Pit in Wilmington, DE, which is a cheeseburger joint a lot of people tend to care about, so much so that we had to wait in line to get a seat. Enjoy! Founded in 1956, The Charcoal Pit now has three locations in the area. This is the original, on Concord Pike. Om nom nom! The decor inside is very "original '50s," not "fake '50s" like Johnny Rocket's, et. al. Plain and understated, yet with a vintage vibe. Each booth came equipped with a wall-mounted juke box updated with 21st century selections. It may sound odd, but I find something very appealing about non-chain restaurants that have paper cups printed with their logos. It's so much easier and cheaper just to use the ones with pre-printed designs from Coke, Pepsi or Dixie. It's almost a visual symbol that places like this go the extra mile. All three of us got cheeseburgers. Kelly got hers "deluxe," with lettuce, tomato and pickles. I stole a couple of her pickles; for whatever reason, it's all or nothing as far as toppings at The Charcoal Pit--and the "all" costs 20 cents extra. Ketchup and mustard were on the table to add as much or as little as you wanted. The mustard was spicy brown, which was nice, and the ketchup was in a glass bottle, not plastic like at so many restaurants today, which was kind of fun. The Cheez Whiz fries were good and the onion rings, which had a solid texture and a sweet taste, were great! The buns had a nice texture. The burgers themselves were not great, but good. I'd stop by again if I was in the neighborhood. Kelly and I debated ice cream--all the sundaes are named after local high school teams, and several of them sounded especially appealing--but we ultimately decided just to split an Almond Joy bought at the cashier's station. For Lauryn, however, we splurged an extra dollar on her kid's meal and added the clown sundae. I wish we all could have gotten one! Up next: Yocco's Hot Dogs in beautiful downtown Fogelsville, PA!

Glad everyone is still enjoying my descent into fat(ter)ness. Here's more! For the first time ever, I skipped the final day of Pork in the Park this year and ventured out to Six Flags America for opening weekend. On the way back, we were planning to stop by Carraba's for dinner... but when we got there, not only was the parking lot full, but people were parked on the shoulder of the three-lane highway beside the restaurant, hopping the guard rail and standing in a line that literally wrapped halfway around the building. Carraba's is good... but no restaurant is THAT good! So instead we turned around, drove back about a half mile and pulled up to Rip's Country Inn in Bowie, MD, a restaurant Kelly's grandparents used to take her to when she was little. This place has some serious staying power for a restaurant. This is what it looked like when it opened. Noted! The interior decor is sparse and country. However, it's not what's on the walls that counts, but what's on the plate. Kelly and I both got the Chesapeake burger--that's a hamburger smothered with crab imperial--and it was amazing! Lauryn enjoyed her pizza, as well. She was impressed that the Parmesan cheese came out in a little cup instead of a shaker, so she could put it on with her fingers. Also, note the rolls off to the side. They and the muffins that accompanied them in the bread basket were great, too. I was too stuffed to order dessert, but Kelly wanted to try the bread pudding, which meant I ended up with about half of it anyway. It was good--the syrup reminded me of the sugar syrup used in Indian gulab jamun. Lauryn never met an ice cream she didn't like! If you eat too much, Rip's has its own hotel, too (as well as an in-house liquor store)! The next weekend, I ended up in Ocean City, MD, for a sports memorabilia show. Kelly wasn't interested in joining me, and Lauryn was at her father's house for spring break, so I traveled solo. On my way back, I decided to stop by Em-Ing's Broiled Foods in Bishopville, MD. Em-Ing's used to have an outlet in Salisbury, MD, and I ate there a couple times when I was in high school, so I kind of knew what to expect, but I had never been to Em-Ing's proper. This is where they cook the pig parts! I had to wait a little longer than I expected because it seemed like everyone in the region was there to pick up pies (Em-Ing's' second signature item after barbecue) for Easter. While I was tempted for a microsecond to try the chitterlings, as I had never seen them on any restaurant menu ever, common sense prevailed, and I got the pulled pork platter with "red" sauce (as opposed to vinegar-based), chips, a pickle and a slice of hearty bread pudding. It was the first relatively warm day of the season, which made sitting outside at Em-Ing's picnic benches especially appealing. Of course, it wouldn't have mattered either way--there are only two tables inside, and both were filled to capacity. The next weekend was the annual Salisbury Festival in Salisbury, MD, and I was once again out pouring beer with the Jaycees. This is traditionally the third-largest of our three annual fundraisers, though with the bad weather at Pork in the Park, it may get bumped up to second this year. While there, I sampled some of the fair fare, including this tasty (but way overpriced) soft crab sandwich. Kelly and I split an order of fried pickles. Too bad they didn't have anything to dip them in. I don't think ketchup would have tasted very good on them. Kelly got a "Chesapeake chicken" platter, which was basically two Sysco-brand chicken tenders and two marble-sized crab balls. She liked it, but I was kind of outraged that this $3 worth of food cost $10. After the festival, we headed toward Ocean City, MD, to stop in for part of a friend's birthday bar crawl. On the way, we stopped by The Globe in Berlin, MD, the restaurant where we had our first date. The Globe began its life as a live theatre venue before being converted into a movie theater that served the town for many years. Today, following another conversion, it's an upscale restaurant/art gallery. Unfortunately, I'm not sure whether it's under new ownership or if the same owners just made the mistake of completely revamping the menu and raising the price of everything by about $5 because all of our favorite menu items were gone, gone, gone. I started with a cup of the soup of the day, ham and gouda, which was just OK. Kelly and I both got the Godfather burger, which sounded great on paper--a half-pound hamburger with garlic, pesto and jack cheese. Unfortunately, mine came on a bun that was slightly stale, and the whole thing kind of tasted like Styrofoam. The oven-baked tortilla chips (which come standard with most sandwiches at The Globe) were still good--but the Ranch dipping sauce I paid extra for was very clearly watered down from a multi-gallon industrial container and not the homemade-tasting ranch I used to get there. I'm not sure we'll be going back to The Globe again for awhile, but if there was one saving grace, it was this: M&M's-Snickers bread pudding! It was delightful, but so rich that we couldn't finish it all. In all, including tip and taxes, the bill came to $50--not great for two burgers, a cup of soup and a split dessert. By the time we caught up with the birthday girl, Jeanette, she and her entourage were at M.R. Ducks in Ocean City. We were beat from having participated in Salisbury Festival activities all day and stayed only a half hour, but it was good to see her. Not sure anything here counts as "roadfood," but for those who are curious, this is what M.R. Ducks looks like. Those decoys hanging above the bar are the serving vessles for some special drink. I don't remember what's in it, but I know the people who ordered it looked pretty ridiculous walking around sucking on a duck's beak... which I guess is the point? The next day, we picked Lauryn up from the airport at the end of her visitation with her father and drove straight to a restaurant Kelly has been telling me about for some time--the Italian Inn in Hyattsville, MD. This was another place her family used to dine when she was a kid. You know a pizza place is going to be good when the "A-OK" Italian chef from the pizza box gets his own spot on the roof! Scott, the New York pizza tour guy? Yeah, he would LOVE it here! This is literally some of the best Sicilian-style pizza I have ever eaten! They don't even bother with spatulas; that thing underneath the pizza is a serving spoon. The price is unbelievable--we got this medium pizza, a personal pizza for Lauryn, fries and drinks, and I don't think we broke $15. Yes, I did say that this is a medium--Kelly told me I didn't even want to know what the large looked like--and we ended up taking half of it home. The restaurant is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. If you're ever in the area, I highly recommend checking it out! Up next: Who knows? I'm all caught up for once! But there will be more food to come, I promise.

Has the "best fried chicken in Virginia" tease been up long enough? With a free afternoon today, I thought I'd finally make good on that promise, as well as feature a few more places I've dined in the past few weeks. Enjoy! This portion of the TR is dedicated to Esvadj, who correctly ascertained that the best fried chicken in all of Virginia can be found at Tammy and Johnny's in Melfa, VA. What, you didn't believe me? It's said that at one point there was a Kentucky Fried Chicken and Popeye's within a couple miles of T&J's, and this place put them both out of business. Apparently not having learned from this history, Bojangles has opened a restaurant RIGHT NEXT DOOR! Fair warning, Bojangles. And now, without further ado... this is what the best fried chicken in Virginia looks like! They've been serving it up hot and fresh since 1967. And remember, every General's Nappy Meal comes with a free 40-ounce malt liquor! reference> The next day, I took a ride out on Maryland 404 to check out one of those restaurants I always seem to pass when it's closed: Hot Off the Coals Bar-B-Q in Queen Anne, MD. Check out the giant mutant chicken dancing with the pig and cow! This is where the Bar-B-Q magic happens! While this is likely to be the best pulled pork you'll have at a restaurant attached to a Shell station, I found it to be just OK, especially for the price. This on-the-small-side sandwich and Dixie cup of potato salad set me back nearly $10--and that was without a drink. So, you're probably asking yourself what a firehouse has to do with roadfood. Well... ...it's across the street from the town's old firehouse, which has been transformed into a fire-themed restaurant, Station 7, in Pittsville, MD. I'd been there a few times, and the food was hit-and-miss. However, last year I met some friends for a quick lunch there and discovered the brisket sandwich--hands down the best brisket I've ever eaten! Kelly, Lauryn and I decided to stop here in early April on the way back from participating in a local Easter parade so I could relive the experience. The interior is chocked full of firefighting memorabilia, including lamps made from fire helmets representing regional fire companies, old brass fire extinguishers, retired fire hydrants, boots, jackets and key tags. The walls are adorned with fire department patches from around the country. The ones on this board are from Delaware. These axes represent those who have completed a certain feat at the bar--though I'm not entirely sure what that feat is. It has to do either with a certain drink or a certain quantity of drinks. And since this is a theme park website, I suppose this portion of the decor is at least somewhat on topic. Most of the menu items are named after firefighting terms or local firehouses. The Station 2 entree is named after the fire company in my hometown. Kelly opted for the bacon bleu cheese burger, which she thoroughly enjoyed. And there it is--the chopped brisket sandwich! Brisket is the most difficult barbecue meat to cook, and somehow Station 7 has managed to perfect it. The vinegar-based barbecue sauce in the little cup at the bottom is superfluous; the sandwich doesn't need it at all. I used it for dipping fries. The flames represent what your butt feels like after an order of Station 7's 5-Alarm Wings! Some time ago, I had read that Jake's Wayback Burger had been voted as having Delaware's best hamburgers. This was before Nage, of course... but I was still curious as to what a Jake's burger was like. I had no clue it was a regional chain... so imagine my surprise when a Jake's franchise opened up less than a mile from my apartment! This slightly blurry entry is the only souvenir that remains from that tasty, juicy burger, topped with pickles, fried onions and cheese. It reminded me a lot of a Five Guys burger. Kelly eschewed the classic burger for the special of the day, a Reuben burger. Yep, it's exactly what it sounds like, complete with a couple slices of corned beef for good measure. The next weekend brought an event I dream about all year long: Pork in the Park! As I've already covered the event's background in this thread, I won't rehash it here. This year brought two major corporate sponsors: Johnsonville Brats and Kingsford Charcoal. Johnsonville brought what is allegedly the world's largest grill, though to me it just looked like a big trailer carrying a lot of normal-sized grills. Note to Brandy: This is what a REAL barbecue competition looks like! This was the judges tent, which I had access to as a certified barbecue judge. If it looks huge... that's because it is! With some 140 entries, this is the world's second-largest Kansas City Barbeque Society cook-off. This is John, one of the KCBS reps who helped this contest get off the ground way back in 2004. He also ran the barbecue judging certification course I took in '07. There was plenty of barbecue for sale throughout the grounds--but none of it is ever as good as the stuff made for competiton. There are also plenty of vendors selling other types of food. This was one of my favorites from this year, though I think I was in the minority in liking it. Maybe I was just glad to finally have the chance to try some after I missed my opportunity at SCBB during the TPR West Coast Tour. Notice how the chocolate is salted after it's applied to the bacon. Because, you know, chocolate-covered bacon isn't unhealthy enough on its own. This was my other favorite vendor item this year. I apologize for the rain droplets on the lens. Unfortunately, this year's Pork in the Park was cold and rainy. It really took a bite out of our fundraising efforts. Mmmm... sugar-coated balls! One of our volunteers bought this to take home shortly before we had to shut down due to lightning. I have no idea how it tasted, but I thought our resident cupcake fans would appreciate the decor. That's it for now. Stay tuned for seafood, bread pudding and some of the best pizza in the D.C. suburbs.

4/3 - BGW 4/17 - SFA

Where's Prince Desmond when we need him? I bought his coasters. I believed in him!

The least I ever paid for gas was 72 cents a gallon in 2000 when a new Wawa opened up in the area and had that as a promotional price for about a week. Under normal circumstances, the least I can remember paying was $1.01 when I was visiting relatives in Chincoteague, VA, while in high school. By the time I was in college, gas had "skyrocketed" to $1.25 a gallon, which everyone just found appalling. I mean, it cost almost $15 to fill your tank! When I graduated, it was around $1.50, and everyone vowed to "teach the oil companies a lesson" and stop driving altogether if gas ever reached the monumental price of $2 per gallon. Those were the days! I filled up yesterday at that same Wawa that once had the 72-cent gas for the bargain price of $42.75 (at $3.59 a gallon).

Yep, that's the extent of most barbecue festivals, though usually there are a few more commercial barbecue vendors. I'm a judge each year at the Kansas City Barbeque Society's annual Pork in the Park festival in Maryland, which is coming up in just five days! The not-for-profit group I work with has been in charge of beer sales since the beginning, and it's by far our biggest fundraiser of the year. Last year the festival grew to become the second largest KCBS competition in the world! This year they have all kinds of national sponsors coming in, including Kinsgsford Charcoal. Being a judge at these types of competitions is definitely where the action is. As my friend and fellow judge Travis likes to put it, "It's where the best barbecue chefs on the East Coast come to cook their best barbecue, and then serve you the best of that best." If the festival in your town is an annual thing, I highly recommend looking into becoming certified. There are classes all over the country (though there is a fee to take the certification class, then you have to pay annual dues to maintain that certification).

Glad you got to sample a PBT (breaded pork tenderloin) sandwich. They're a staple in the Midwest, from what I'm told. That Waffle House takeover looks amazing! I'm a covered-and-chunked kinda guy myself. Add a side of bacon and a pecan waffle, and that right there is my standard order.

OK, I know I promised this report would be about a fried chicken joint, but I forgot that the next restaurant I visited in this year's chronology actually was Bullock's Family Restaurant (nee Beef House) in Westminster, MD. My father has spoken about dining here when he worked with state road crews in the '70s. I stopped here once in college for a relative's birthday. However, I had more or less forgotten the place existed until I was trying to think of a fun place for Kelly and I to stop and eat on the way home from visiting my grandmother in Carrroll County following Six Flags America Preview Day. I'm glad I remembered it was there! The food was good and plentiful, even if the prices weren't as low as I remember from more than a decade ago. Please forgive the black-and-white photography sprinkled throughout the report. The lighting was low in some areas, and the pictures would have been dark and orange had I not converted them. Enjoy! At some point, "Beef House" was changed to "Family Restaurant" on everything except the building itself. I suspect the Communists had something to do with it. The place started out as a butcher shop. You know, in case you were wondering why there's a bull on the roof. After standing in a long, but fast-moving line, you place your order, enjoy the complementary salad bar, then wait for them to call your name. From there, it's as simple as picking up your food from the counter. This restaurant is Dan Quayle approved! Bullock's has two dining rooms, both with model trains circling overhead. The salad bar is shaped like a chuck wagon! As one would expect at a restaurant with "Beef House" in its name, there isn't much real "salad" on the salad bar. My favorite item was the Giant Hunk O' Cheese. Basically, there's a steak knife on the cutting board, and you just lop off as little or as much as you want. Biting directly off the hunk is frowned upon. First item from the salad bar: chicken noodle soup. Chicken and noodles, of course, both being vegetables. Here's my "salad!" And yes, that is a piece of barbecued chicken. You know, from the salad bar. Unfortunately, we made the mistake of filling up on "salad," so by the time the real food was ready, we really weren't all that hungry anymore. I couldn't bring myself to go to a Beef House and not order a steak. It had a good flavor, but it was kind of tough. The western fries, on the other hand, were out of this world! At the suggestion of my uncle, who looked up the address for us when we couldn't get it to come up by name in our GPS, Kelly got the fried chicken. She said it was good, but because we were so stuffed, she ended up taking most of it home. Bullock's has lots of options for dessert. We chose the rice pudding and iced raisin bread that came with our meal... from the salad bar! Both were very good. For those with bigger appetites, cakes and pies of all kinds are sold whole and by the slice in the restaurant and at the adjoining butcher shop/bakery. And if that still doesn't cut it, they also have an in-house ice cream parlor! Next up: Eastern Shore Virginia's best fried chicken (and this time I mean it)!

Aarrgh! If I wasn't getting married this summer, this is the trip I was considering signing up for. Oh well. I've been to SFNE and Lake Compounce, and we're planning to hit Canobie Lake and Spalshtown/Funtown on the honeymoon, so all I'll really be missing is Great Escape. And La Ronde. And the entire TPR experience At least I (hopefully) still get to attend East Coast Bash!

These will go great with my set of commemorative Mujabubukins glasses!

Wow, that was awesome! Thank you for sharing this with us. My thoughts on those first few photos echoed yours exactly: first "Progress City," then "It's a Small World." This takes the Mary Blair mural at the Jules Stein Eye Institute to a whole new level!

Love the POVs! Wish I had been there; I definitely would have gone for a coupe re-rides on Scooby. Thanks for posting, Robb!

La Placita was my last roadfood stop for awhile this year, as I went on a diet right after Martin Luther King Day and lost 22 pounds in the process. However, when the opportunity arose in March to spend a weekend with TPR on a pizza tour in New York... well, how in the world was I supposed to resist that? I took a weekend off my diet, booked a hotel in New Jersey and had a phenominal time! Enjoy! My first stop of the weekend was White Manna in Hackensack, NJ, one of the last two remaining outlets of a one-time local chain that got its start at the 1939 New York World's Fair (the other is in Jersey City). This place has got to have been the inspiration for that old John Belushi "Cheeburger, cheeburger, cheeburger" sketch on "Saturday Night Live"! I wasn't sure whether I should be taking photos on the inside, so I didn't, save for this one of my sliders with onions. Amazing little burgers! My one gripe is that, though I read online that this place prides itself in keeping all its orders straight without writing anything down (it's basically just a walk-up with a few counter stools), yet they managed to forget about my order. After awhile, I inquired about it, and they said they would get right on it... right after they finished the order of 75 they were working on! The food was good, and I'd probably return, but I really didn't appreciate the 75-minute wait that should have been 30 minutes, max. Up next was a visit to the Tick-Tock Diner, which was on the same road as my hotel. I had read good online reviews about this place. "Eat heavy." I had planned to order fries at White Manna, but the ordering process was so convoluted, I didn't get the chance right away (you place your burger order with the grillmaster and then order your fries and drinks from another employee... if you can catch anyone between staffing the kitchen and answering the phone), and after they forgot about my burger order, I was annoyed enough not to want to give them any more business that night anyway. I knew the Tick Tock had something called "disco fries" that was some combination of fries, gravy and ranch dressing, so I had initially planned to order them... but by the time I got there, I wasn't hungry enough for an entire plate of fries, so instead I tried the soup of the day: lobster bisque. I had long been craving a slice of coconut cream pie, and since they had a homemade version at the Tick Tock, I decided to partake! Unfortunately, it wasn't as good as I anticipated... but it wasn't all that bad, either. The next day, I met Robb, Elissa, Kristen, Dave, his friend Mary, Larry and Brian at the first stop on our tour: Lombardi's, the first pizza parlor in the United States. This is Scott, our awesome pizza guide and guru for the day. Seriously, he knows as much about pizza as Robb knows about coasters. Maybe more! At Lombardi's, we each were presented with a "pizza survival kit." The similarities between Scott's Pizza Tour and the average TPR trip were vast. Beyond the goodie bag, Scott gave us background on each restaurant and chanted various pizza facts on the bus while we were schlepped along to our various destinations, we had ERT ("exclusive restaurant time"), backstage tours and at least two meals (i.e. four slices of pizza) for the day were included in our package! It seemed like there was probably even audio entertainment on the bus, had the system not been on the fritz. Hey, I've seen this on the Food Network! Hot stuff! No, seriously. This coal-fired oven cooks an entire pizza in under two minutes. From there, it was into the dining room. The first pizza of the day almost always comes out burnt, as Scott showed us. It's basically just a test to see how hot the coals are that day. Oh? We'll see about that! Hmm... looks pretty good so far. As tasty as this pizza was, it was only my third favorite of the day. However, we did learn a valuable lesson thanks to this slice: Fresh mozzarella doesn't burn your month no matter how hot it is! Most pizzerias use low moisture content mozzarella, which retains more heat and will indeed burn your mouth in a second (as Larry and I found out at subsequent restaurants). After Lombardi's, it was time to get on the bus! This is where Ryan joined us for the rest of the day. I never expected to voluntarily travel to Harlem in my lifetime. Another experience made possible by TPR! Our destination was Patsy's, a place Larry, in particular, was excited to visit. Apparently this popular restaurant is on the route to and from his softball games. A lot of people in our group named Patsy's as their favorite pizza of the tour. It certainly was mine! During our stop here, Scott took us a few at a time behind the counter and into the prep area to see how the pizza is made. First, they start with specially formulated pizza flour (which we got to touch)... ...then they put it and some other ingredients into the dough mixer. The "kitchen" is right behind the walk-up counter. Gotta make sure the coal is properly stocked! The temperature in here is roughly 42 bajillion degrees! Unfortunately, just after I took this picture, we found out Scott didn't bring enough money for our order. We had to wait while he put together 500 pizza boxes in lieu of payment. (Actually, this isn't true, and even if it was, I suspect Scott would look upon the opportunity to fold 500 pizza boxes much in the same way we would regard the chance to operate El Toro for an hour.) Who knew the rat from the Muppets had his own pizza joint? This was my least favorite pizza of the tour. I understand why it was included, and it was interesting to note how this style varied from the coal-fired version, but I thought this tasted more like tomato sauce on cardboard than anything else. Robb and Elissa ordered garlic knots on the side and were gracious enough to share them with us. The pizza may not have been much, but these things were amazing! By far the best garlic knots I've ever had. (Hope Robb doesn't mind that I borrowed his photo to help illustrate this point; I neglected to take one of my own.) Our final stop of the day was Sam's Pizzeria in Brooklyn. To say this place had "atmosphere" is an understatement! Geez, I'd heard crime was bad in New York, but I never saw anyone get held up with a pizza before! The "hold-up" man is actually Luigi (his father is Mario--no joke), owner of Sam's. He was a very nice, very stereotypical Brooklynite. The "gun" Scott is holding, by the way, is a laser thermometer to measure the heat of the pizza. There's what we've been waiting for! This was my second favorite pizza of the day. I'm almost embarrassed to say that since this was our last official stop--and no one else would admit to wanting it--I snagged the last "second" slice of pizza on the way out. Pizza approval or gang sign? You decide! Bottom line: If you're in New York and have an afternoon to spare, you owe it too yourself to take Scott's Pizza Tour! The bus tours are only on Sundays, but he gives walking tours every day. Totally worth the money, and let's face it... who doesn't like pizza? After Scott's Pizza Tour, we began round two, AKA Larry's Ghetto Pizza and Cannoli Tour (LGPCT). Appropriately enough, our first stop was at the original Ray's restaurant on Prince Street, just around the corner from where the bus dropped us off. This may not have been the best pizza of the day... ...but it certainly was the greasiest! After our fifth slice of pizza (or sixth for me), it was time for some dessert. Yes, please! And then, of course, we needed more dessert, at Ferrara Bakery and Cafe! The place was packed literally shoulder-to-shoulder. It had been raining since we left Patsy's, and I'm sure people were seeking refuge. The storm reached peak intensity while we were waiting to meet Elissa's parents across the street from Ferrara and didn't really let up until long after I was back in New Jersey. I got a sfogliatella, which I had never heard of before, but which sounded good on the menu. It turned out to be not that great. I envied Brian's lobster tail pastry and everyone who got cannoli, but I figured I could catch up at the next cannoli stop. Alas, between the storm and our waning appetites, we decided to cut LGPCT short, and I never did get any cannoli that night Our final stop of the evening was DaNico, which was by far the most upscale restaurant we visited. As tempting and fitting with the day's theme as a personal pizza was, Larry said this place had great pasta, as well, so I opted for the gnocchi with pesto. It was phenominal! Larry's a member of the clean plate club! He got the kitchen to make him a special dish that was no longer on the menu. Just as we were all mentioning how stuffed we were and how we couldn't possibly eat another bite, our waiter brought out a huge complimentary plate of zeppole! Turns out most of us had just enough room for one... though there were still plenty left on the plate by the time we all called a retreat. I laughed out loud when I turned on the TV en route to the shower the next morning and on came... a show about pizza! For the record, this scene was from Ray's on Prince Street. Before leaving New Jersey, I ventured out the back parking lot of my hotel and just down the street to Rutt's Hutt, a hot dog joint whose praises are routinely sung on the Food Network, Travel Channel and roadfood-style websites. OK, time for some brutal honesty. The building looked like an old Moose Lodge on the outside, I swear the staff stepped right out of a 1950s mob film, and the food was exceedingly terrible. The onion rings had zero flavor whatsoever. That was the best thing about the entire meal. Brian had warned me the night before that the hot dogs here were "disgusting," but I figured since they came so highly recommended elsewhere--and hey, I'm the guy who actually *likes* pork skin tacos--they really couldn't be all that bad. Boy, was I wrong! The one on the right is a "ripper," i.e. a deep-fried hot dog. I tried some of the restaurant's revered cabbage-and-carrot relish on one end. The dog was luke warm and slimy, and the slaw had a funny aftertaste that I didn't particularly care for. The one on the right is a "cremator," which is a hot dog deep fried for an extended period of time until burned and crispy. The guy at the counter tried to talk me out of ordering it, but I wanted to try it. It was more dehydrated than anything--sort of like a hot dog astronauts would eat right before their freeze-dried ice cream. It was the highlight of the whole meal--which isn't saying much at all. Upon returning to my hotel the night before, I had called my parents to tell them about the pizza tour. My dad wanted to know how far away I was from Hoboken, where one of his favorite reality shows, "Cake Boss," is filmed. It turns out Hoboken wasn't that far away at all, so I decided to make a special trip and surprise him with some items from the business featured in the show, Carlo's City Hall Bake Shop. This was *part* of the line to get in. Hey, is that Buddy!? Doesn't matter. I'm going to tell you it is. You won't know the difference either way. After an hour in line to enter, I finally made my way to the front... at which time I was given a number and made to wait 20 minutes more inside. But it wasn't all that bad. I spent most of the time marveling at how fascinated people seemed to be with this place just because it had been on TV. I personally wonder how successful Disneyland would have been had Walt Disney not had the foresight to feature it on his weekly television show. But I digress. I've seen maybe 10 minutes of the show in my entire life, but my dad said a staircase featured prominently into it when they were transporting cakes, so I assume this is that staircase. The stuff in the display cases I was smashed up against looked pretty good! There were display cases on the other side, as well, but I have no clue what may have been in them. Skate cake! Truth be told, people seemed to be buying more T-shirts and DVDs than they did baked goods. It was like, "Oh, man, my friends will never believe I was here! I'll take five T-shirts, seven DVD sets... and, um, a cupcake, I guess." I got my parents a box of assorted cookies and Lauryn one of the big sprinkled ones... ...which she thoroughly enjoyed! I got Kelly, who is the world's biggest connoisseur of cakes, a carrot cake. This thing was awesome! I especially enjoyed the marzipan carrot on top. As for me? Since the two ladies in front of me made such a big deal about the crumb cake while we were in line, I made sure to take home a piece of that... ...and I finally got my cannoli! Up next: the best fried chicken on Virginia's Eastern Shore!

Ricochet