Phoenicia Diner in Phoenicia, NY

The morning after skiing at Belleaire Mountain, I stopped for breakfast at Phoenicia Diner in Phoenicia, NY. This place was located in middle of nowhere upstate New York, so what the diner was like on the inside surprised me. A good way to describe it would be "hipster." Which is a good thing. 

I had the Arnold Bennett Skillet. This was scrambled eggs, locally smoked trout, parmesan cheese, chives, and creme fraiche, served in a skillet along side toast. This was one of the best breakfast dishes I've had in a long time. Good job!

 

Charleston, SC Food (The Early Bird Diner and Southend Brewery & Smokehouse)

I made a stop in Charleston, SC while on a drive up the east coast. I visited Charleston previously so long ago that everything was pretty much new again. One of the foods that Charleston is known for is shrimp and grits. I found a list somewhere on the internet of the Best Shrimp & Grits in Charleston, and one of the restaurants listed was The Early Bird Diner.

The Early Bird Diner:

I liked the vibe of the diner. It had some of the standard diner features, but the walls were covered with all sorts of cool sci-fi art for sale.

The restaurant was featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. Guy Fieri ate chicken and waffles here.

The shrimp and grits came in a large bowl piled high with grits. This grit mountain was then topped with a very thick shrimp stew. Of all the times I've had shrimp and grits, this was the thickest sauce I've seen with the shrimp. Because it was so thick, I found that the flavor from the shrimp sauce didn't permeate into the grits very well. It was slightly spicy with lots of medium sized shrimp swimming around. The shrimp and grits were served with a biscuit on the side. I had trouble finishing all the food...

Southend Brewery & Smokehouse:

I also had a much needed meal at Southend Brewery & Smokehouse while in Charleston. This large restaurant was in a lovely old building, complete with a fun, rickety elevator to take you upstairs if you needed the restroom. As the name implies, they were brewing beer in the center of the restaurant.

I had the pulled pork for my meal. The shredded pork was served on a plate piled high with all sorts of sides. There were French fries, pinto beans, coleslaw, and mustard barbecue sauce. I'm a big fan of the mustard style of barbecue sauce. I also enjoyed that they didn't serve the barbecue restaurant standard of baked beans. I'd take pinto beans like served here over baked beans any day!

Kings Dominion Food in Doswell, VA

On my way home from a road trip up and down the east coast, I stopped and did a theme park day at Kings Dominion in Doswell, VA. It was a fun day with lots and lots of mediocre roller coasters and a few that I really enjoyed. Kings Dominion definitely wasn't up to Florida theme park standards, but it was still a good day. While there, I did sample some of Kings Dominion's theme park food...

Kings Dominion mostly had fast food chains for their dining offerings. I chose not to visit any of the chains and ate at a restaurant called Border Cafe.

This Mexican themed restaurant worked by everyone filling out papers with what they wanted by checking off boxes. I ordered a burrito with chicken, black beans, spicy cheddar, spicy corn salsa, lettuce, onions, jalapenos, black olives, and sour cream.

The burrito was served with a side of tortilla chips.

I can't say this was very good theme park food. I guess I'm spoiled by the food in the Orlando parks, but this was pretty bad. The tortilla wrapping up the burrito was very stale tasting. Not only that, it was dry and crunchy as opposed to the moist and soft that it should have been. The rice also had a similar problem, being crunchy as opposed to moist. As for the items that I checked off when ordering, salsa was completely missing from the burrito. For the cheese, the burrito was filled with cheese sauce, although I cheddar sauce wasn't checked.

Perhaps I would have been better off going to one of the chains in King's Dominion after my burrito at Border Cafe. Later in the day, it was time for a snack so I got dessert from another one of the park's non-chain restaurants called Jukebox Diner.

This place was themed like a 50's diner and served mostly burgers. I ordered a strawberry milkshake here. I was actually a bit impressed with the milkshakes here. A milkshake like this outside of a lower end theme park wouldn't be that impressive, but I was surprised given the location. They actually made these to order as opposed to using the somewhat pre-made milkshakes that I've seen elsewhere. The shake was filled with lots and lots of strawberries and was topped with a mountain of whipped cream.

Kings Dominion had some good roller coasters and I don't think anyone's going to that park for their food. It's definitely not Epcot...

Menlo Park Diner in Menlo Park, NJ

During my travels along the east coast (which appear to be an extended adventure on this blog but actually happened during two trips which added up to just over a week), I had dinner one evening in New Jersey at the Menlo Park Diner. Menlo Park's big claim to fame was that they were once home to Thomas Edison's laboratory. I paid the site a visit, but unfortunately they were closed for renovations. That meant food was the big attraction here.

I ordered the spinach and feta omelet. This was served with homefries and toast. There was plenty of feta in here, making the omelet filled with lots of salty, cheesy goodness. The homefries were alright, although a bit bland. The rye toast came pre-buttered. Overall, pretty typical of a diner breakfast.

We dined here with someone named Jeffrey Wiernik. Jeff has ambitions of being a world famous food blogger. People normally aren't featured on this blog, but Mr. Wiernik asked to be published as he begins his food blogging adventure. He ate chocolate chip pancakes at the diner. This is what he thought of them: The pancakes were light & fluffy. There was an even amount of chocolate chips throughout each of the pancakes. Follow Jeff on Twitter at @JeffreyWiernik and read his blog (that has yet to contain any posts about food) for more insightful thoughts potentially about food.

Maid-Rite Diner in Wilson, NC

Time for another road trip meal along I-95. It was time to have dinner and I found myself getting off an exit in Wilson, NC. I bypassed all of the normal big chains that I'd heard of here and decided on a restaurant in a strip mall called Maid-Rite Diner.

Apparently Maid-Rite is a chain with locations mostly in the midwest. I apparently came across the one and only location in North Carolina.

I tried their turkey sandwich, served on a ciabatta bun with lettuce, tomato, and mayo. I was surprised to see actual turkey on the sandwich rather than standard deli meat. This was a good and bad thing at the same time. It showed that Maid-Rite was using better meat than other places that serve processed deli meat, but the turkey on this sandwich was served cold. There's something about turkey like this that rubs me the wrong way if it's chilled. If it seems like real meat, I want it warm. Beside this fact, the sandwich was good enough. Fries and a drink were also included with the meal. The sandwich from Maid-Rite was better than a sandwich from the surrounding fast food places, but wasn't outstanding enough to seek out again on a future road trip.

Lester's Diner in Coconut Creek, FL

I had a late breakfast one morning while staying in Boca at a restaurant called Lester's Diner in Coconut Creek. Apparently there are a few Lester's Diners in south Florida although this was the first one I ever came across. The building was unique looking with a somewhat dated looking but cool sign. Looked like it was built in the 1960s or 70s if I had to guess.

I ordered the spinach and feta omelet, served with a side of hashed browns and toast. The omelet was tasty with plenty of cheese. The hashed browns and toast were both forgettable. The omelet was a bit expensive for a diner breakfast, about equivalent to the overpriced omelets at a place like IHOP. The big difference here though was that this omelet was way better than what most of the chains serve. I'd return to Lester's Diner.

Country Kitchen in Longwood, FL

Country Kitchen is a little breakfast place in Longwood that's been around as long as I can remember. Country Kitchen is located very close to where I live and has always been in the current shopping center, although not in the same storefront. After years of passing by Country Kitchen, I finally decided to give them a try and stopped in for breakfast one morning.

I ordered one of their daily specials and had the bacon, egg, and cheese croissant sandwich. The eggs were scrambled with chopped pieces of bacon mixed in. Hashed browns were served on the side. As far as breakfast sandwiches go, this was perfectly acceptable. For $3 and change, I was happy with my meal and would return to Country Kitchen for breakfast again!

Silver Diner in Greenbelt, MD

On the morning before I headed home from the Washington DC area, I visited a restaurant called Silver Diner in Greenbelt, Maryland after doing some hiking in the nearby Greenbelt National Park. I didn't realize it when I went into the restaurant, but Silver Diner is a chain based around the Virginia and Maryland area.

They apparently attempt to use local ingredients in their foods. The sign on the table told me that they partner with 15 local farms. It's nice to see a semi-large chain doing stuff like this.

I ordered the Local Farm Raised Bison Huevos Rancheros. This came with a chorizo and bison hash, over easy eggs, peppers, salsa, scallions, cilantro, goat cheese, chunky avocado and fried tortillas. This was very tasty (and the second time I've had bison on this trip), but it was almost too much meat. The huge mound of meaty hash definitely overshadowed the eggs and other toppings. I also would have preferred soft tortillas rather than crispy tortillas. Soft tortillas seem like they go a lot further than fried, chip-like tortillas.

I enjoyed my breakfast, but overall Silver Diner did seem a little too pricy. The average menu price seemed to be about $12, which compared to other breakfast places is really expensive. This was even worse than Ihop's pricy breakfasts...

Kay's Diner IV in Beltsville, MD

On my latest bit of traveling, I made my way up to the Washington DC area for a few days. My first food experience while up there was breakfast at a restaurant called Kay's Diner IV located in the city of Beltsville, Maryland. The restaurant was set up cafeteria style and was very affordable for breakfast.

I ordered one of their breakfast combos which came with scrambled eggs, home fries, toast, and a choice of a meat. I could have chosen a standard breakfast meat like bacon or sausage, but I was distracted by scrapple. Scrapple is similar to a meatloaf, made with pork scraps and grain. It is apparently very popular in this area and was invented by the Pennsylvania Dutch. I've found that scrapple has somewhat of a bad reputation, I guess because of what it's made from (pork head, heart, liver, and other trimmings according to Wikipedia), but that wasn't going to stop me from trying it. Turned out that the scrapple was actually pretty tasty. It had a flavor similar to some breakfast sausages that I've had. The rest of the food here was pretty standard as breakfast items go. The potatoes were somewhat bland but were fixed up with sriracha.

Kay's Diner provided a good, cheap, and quick breakfast. The novelty of scrapple made it better...

Triple Crown Diner in Jamaica, NY

Random post about a Greek diner in Queens called Triple Crown Diner. The diner is located relatively close to the Belmont Racetrack, hence the Triple Crown name. Like most of the other 24-hour diners like this in the area, it's superior to one of the chain 24-hour restaurants for late night food.

 

I ordered scrambled eggs, homefries, and toast on my visit to this diner. It all tasted exactly how you would expect. The eggs tasted like eggs, the homefries needed salt, and the toast was pre-buttered. It did the job for late-night food...

Osteen Diner in Osteen, FL

Osteen Diner is one of the few restaurants in the small town of Osteen, FL. Before a Wal-Mart shopping center opened nearby, the diner was perhaps the only real sit-down restaurant in Osteen.

The Osteen Diner is a cross between a classic diner and a Cracker Barrel (only better). It has that porch out front just like a Cracker Barrel, only the Osteen Diner has the southern comfort food chain beat with their chicken coop in the parking lot. The whole restaurant has a southern feel, and this southern theme is also apparent with some of their menu items.

I had breakfast on this visit to the Osteen Diner. I kept it simple and ordered two scrambled eggs. I had a choice of grits or home fries as a side, and I went with grits. A biscuit was also served on the side. The eggs and grits both were good, as they should be with a simple dish like I ordered. I've had better biscuits elsewhere though.

The Osteen Diner may not be fine dining, but anywhere that has a chicken coop in their parking lot is worth a visit!

The Varsity in Atlanta, GA

I recently went on a weekend roadtrip up to Atlanta. When I put up a request on Twitter for restaurant recommendations in the city, the consensus seemed to be that I needed to try The Varsity.

The Varsity was opened in 1928 and is currently the world's largest drive-in restaurant. Instead of eating in our car, we went inside to get our Varsity food. Once inside of the huge restaurant, we made our way to the very long counter to place our orders. A constant chorus of "What'll ya have?" echoed over this part of the restaurant as the employees called for their next customer.

 

I saw posters advertising The Varsity's Orange Drink hanging on the wall as I entered the restaurant. I guess the posters worked since I ordered the orange drink. It tasted like orange soda without the carbonation.

I had one of the combos on the menu consisting of a grilled chicken sandwich and onion rings. The sandwich was actually a little surprising. It was pretty simple and tasted okay, with a piece of chicken with lettuce and tomato. What surprised me was the size. It was almost the size of a slider, similar in size to what White Castle or Krystal serves. For some reason I was expecting a larger sandwich.

The onion rings were definitely the star of the food I tried here. Each of the rings were huge with a really good batter around the onions. They were horribly greasy, but they also put the onion rings at most other restaurants to shame.

Now that I've been, I guess I can cross The Varsity off my list of the top places to eat in Atlanta. The food here was alright, but I think the retro atmosphere is the real reason to go to The Varsity. It is the world's largest drive-in after all. The view of downtown Atlanta is pretty nice too...