Parlor Spider...Step In, Little Fly

Insightful thoughts and/or rants from atop the soapbox from one who wishes to share the "right" opinion with everyone.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

An Epicure's Guide...of Sorts


Want fries on that?




"Go to Manny's...really!"


It's college football season again. I know because my son Ryun sat on my couch in the basement all day today changing channels on the remote so fast that the cable went out briefly! His only respite came when the Cubs game was on, and he had to watch it for more than three minutes at a time. He remains ensconced on the couch for Mizzou/Illini, checking his laptop with regularity for the Oklahoma score (delayed by lightning), and we're hoping he'll get up to eat though I would not count on it. That reminds me...I'm hungry and have been all day.


Andy Staples of Sports Illustrated.com had an article which listed twenty or so of the best places to eat around major college football towns, and this immediately reminded me of my buddy Dan Lukes who had his own top ten list of must-stop eateries published recently by the crack reporting team of the Press-Gazette. Dan's expertise is well documented: he's eaten in places from South Dakota (Philly Ted's in Rapid City)to Lake Placid and refuses to eat at chains (obviously a gourmand!), preferring "ma-and-pa" type places. Occasionally, he's into a more refined experience so he goes to Pasquale's International Cafe (in DePere, I think). He's still trying to get me to go to Manny's steakhouse in Minneapolis: "It's the only place where I could not finish my steak, probably because the mashed potato portion was as big as the state of Idaho and the smoked bacon appetizer was more like a bacon steak." At least, that's the way I remember the quote. The bacon reference is what triggered this post.


Staples mentions as #2 on his list of places to eat in football towns a place called Wando's on University Avenue in Madison, Wisconsin. The elevated ranking is due to a promotion on Tuesday nights which would draw me in every time: all the bacon one can eat before a seizure! Seriously! In addition to buck draft beer, a feature like all-you-can-eat bacon must draw customers like flies to a hog killing (an interesting simile, if I do say so myself).


While I have not been to Wando's (but I will someday...it sounds better than all-you-can-eat steak on the lunch buffet in Chippewa Falls), I have tried the sandwich pictured above at Primanti Brothers in Pittsburg, also on Staples list of places to strap on the feedbag. Not only is cole slaw stacked on every sandwich, but french fries and a tomato are applied just before the top slice of bread (onions by request)! When I saw this featured on the Food Channel, I was a bit skeptical, but I did get a chance to try it when visiting the Steel City recently...of course, this is a city which has turned a church into a brewery/restaurant with the vats sitting where the altar used to reside...with fabulous pierogies and pizza. At $5.99, the kolbassi/cheese sandwich or the double egg/cheese sandwich left me looking at the knockwurst, settling for the Pitts-burger cheese steak. Honestly, I took the fries off and most of the cole slaw, but my sweetie loved all the gooey stuff. Everyone else but son Blaine loves it, but the fact is that it was just too much for me all in one sandwich...


Try to put ketchup on fries that are INSIDE the bread!


Still looking for that best meal ever, comparing all to Chili John's. The ice cream concoction at Curly's inside Lambeau Field still ranks as the best dessert ever, though, according to my brother Fred.





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