Must Eats Along I-80?

A friend and I are driving from NY to Portland, OR mostly via 80. Besides NY and Chicago, any stops that we should not miss? Prefer low-end, ethnic, and regional American foods. Specialties of the area, of course, are always sought after.

Amana Colonies, a few miles west of Iowa City just off the highway, has the most authentic German food outside of Germany. It's a former commune, founded over 150 years ago, and is now a national historic landmark. It started small but eventually they were producing Amana appliances. There are several restaurants on the premises. The Colony was always my favorite, although the Ox Yoke Inn is also good. All serve family style and prices are reasonable. It's a nice place to take a break from driving-tour around and then have a nice meal.
http://www.amanacolonies.com/welcome/index.html

A pretty recent thread on this part of the world is right here (and this thread takes you to other threads on this subject):

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t= ... light=quad

As to the Amana Colonies, the VI family spent some time in them on the trip described in the link above. I would say firstly, that the Colonies themselves are really interesting; there's a wide elemement of tourism/Disneyification, but on the other hand they are astonishingly real and authentic. Very much worth the visit. That said, our meal at Ronneburg Restaurant was not very impressive in the least. Industrial tasting sausages, greasy potatoes, high school cafeteria gravy, etc. I'd like to think that we tried the wrong place, but the word on the street (at least in Davenport, IA) was that none of the places were that good any more.

PS
Is it breaking the fast to post on food

Vital Information wrote:PS
Is it breaking the fast to post on food

VI,

You have wireless internet access in your temple?

Vital, the Ronneburg was my least favorite of the Amana restaurants. Of course, that's when I was dining there to get some relief from my dorm food at nearby Grinnell College. I was back at Amana 13 years ago and thoroughly enjoyed the Colony Restaurant. It seemed only the price had changed. Obviously, much could've changed since my last visit. I still would stop and give the Colony a try.

extramsg wrote:A friend and I are driving from NY to Portland, OR mostly via 80. Besides NY and Chicago, any stops that we should not miss? Prefer low-end, ethnic, and regional American foods. Specialties of the area, of course, are always sought after.

So, where'd you eat yesterday?

Vital Information wrote:So, where'd you eat yesterday?

Pssst. Ask him about his cheesesteak tour in Philadelphia.

E.M.

UNFORTUNATELY...

We drove through the night to make our appointment for John's car in Lincoln, NE at 7:30am. They wouldn't give us a loaner so they just took us somewhere close: Cracker Barrel. I'd never been. Just an awful meal. Awful. They only thing that wasn't bad were the eggs. The "gravy" was like flavorless pudding. The grits were poorly textured water. Yuck!

Then we pretty much hammered down and skipped lunch, just some fudge from Cabela's in Sidney, NE. That was actually pretty good. They give you free tastes and I bought a box of different flavors. Not overly sweet and a nice creamy texture. I also got a GPS at about half price from the clearance room.

We ate dinner in Laramie. Figured a college town might have a couple places. We ate at this Cajuny bar/restaurant. The gumbo was good and most other things were decent. I was pleasantly surprised. A big step up from a chain eatery like Applebees. Plus they had gorgeous waitresses to add to the ambience. And when you've been travelling for several days with another greasy-haired, smelly guy that can be quite important.

I'll get to Philadelphia later, but suffice it to say we went to Geno's, Pat's, Tony Luke's, and Dellasandro's and would NOT return to any of them, except maybe for cheese fries. Cheesesteaks in Philadelphia are the worst I've ever had. And I have the pictures to prove it. The most disappointing regionally loved food item I've ever had anywhere.

Oh thank God someone finally said it.

I had a couple of those too, some years back, and remain mystified as to the appeal of the entire genre.

Back home finally...

Here's the thing: the concept is great. GREAT. I've had some wonderful cheesesteaks and some of the best have been from people from Philly. eg, my first truly good cheesesteak was in this little hole in San Jose when I was in college. Just wonderful. Moist, well-seasoned meat with choice of cheese that made the whole sandwich creamy and wonderful. In Provo, UT, there was this place by a guy from Philly also that made fabulous cheesesteaks. He had an open kitchen and you could watch. He would use very thin sliced beef, griddle it, add a bunch of seasoning, then take provolone and top the meat and put a bowl over it to melt the cheese. Then he'd add in some grilled onions (that were fully caramelized) and mix those in and slap the whole thing in a bun. The juice literally ran down my arm and it was fantastic. Here in Portland there's a place called Grant's by I think a guy from Philly doing the same. And then there's a place called Simpatica that makes a bunch of sandwiches including a Philly using bison, but otherwise it's a blue-collar sandwich that just happens to be really beefy and terrific. All of these are great sandwiches. But the original's? Nope.

extramsg wrote:... He would use very thin sliced beef, griddle it, add a bunch of seasoning, then take provolone and top the meat and put a bowl over it to melt the cheese. Then he'd add in some grilled onions (that were fully caramelized) and mix those in and slap the whole thing in a bun. The juice literally ran down my arm and it was fantastic. Here in Portland there's a place called Grant's by I think a guy from Philly doing the same. And then there's a place called Simpatica that makes a bunch of sandwiches including a Philly using bison, but otherwise it's a blue-collar sandwich that just happens to be really beefy and terrific. All of these are great sandwiches. But the original's? Nope.

e,

I'm not sure at all that the 'original' is the fast food version (though, of course, that's how Geno's and Pat's etc. are thought of) but/and I agree whole heartedly that one can do better than the famous fast food examples.

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=89469#89469

Antonius wrote:I repeat myself but I think it a point worth making: yes, as a 'street food', there is perhaps a specific Philly cheesesteak ideal that is narrowly defined but a cheesesteak sandwich is or at least was part of the area's (PA, NJ) home cooking as well. Good steaks, very thinly sliced, but also very cheap slices of beef were used when I was a kid. Italian rolls or sections of long loaves, provolone, onions or onions and peppers. Wiping the pan the steak was cooked in with the inside of the roll is always a good idea, especially when the meat is seasoned with a little fresh garlic.

vgl., z.B.:

http://lthforum.com/bb/viewtopic.php?p=23651#23651

Antonius

Having some connections in Philly, I have never been so proud as to laud cheesesteaks as great regional cuisine. And I'll be the first to admit that a good Italian beef is way over the top of a good steak (though a bad beef is really bad, and it was years before I tried a good one here). But if you tell me that you had an Italian pork with rabe and sharp prov at Tony Lukes and didn't like it, something is very wrong.

PS, the Chicago PuertoRican/Cuban variations on the theme are damn, damn good. To wit, Marianao bistek w/cheese (steak cooked in a coffee can full of mojo), and various steak jibaritos. Man.

But even the style: thinly sliced beef, griddled with choice of onions and/or cheese, in a bun can be very good and every bit as cheap. I think it can be as good or better than the best Italian Beef sandwiches, even when double dipped. (Did I mention we got one and a double sausage at Al's while in Chicago and loved all 3 seconds that it existed?) It's just that these ones in Philly weren't good. I can't think of another regional foodstuff that is worse in its hometown than outside its hometown. You might have places that can do a comparable job outside, but when the hometown version sucks, there's something wrong. There's a fable that's been told to foodies throughout this country, but I'm here to tell you: the emperor (or rather, the steak king) has no whiz.

extramsg wrote:A friend and I are driving from NY to Portland, OR mostly via 80. Besides NY and Chicago, any stops that we should not miss? Prefer low-end, ethnic, and regional American foods. Specialties of the area, of course, are always sought after.

Was searching for I-80,and came across this thread.

Some of us are headed to Utica, along I-55 and then I-80, in a couple of days.
This thread unfortunately isnt of much help, since it lists places well into
Iowa etc.

Anyone have any special places along I-80 in Illinois? Breakfast, or
lunch? 55-S to 80-W, and then along 80 until Utica? Preferably
stuff they do well out in those parts - country breakfasts etc? Or
even special fresh-ground burgers or something? (Good ethnic
food, Id rather stick to Chicago

c8w

Look in the thread that I linked to above.

Vital Information wrote:Look in the thread that I linked to above.

I had, actually But a lot of it was Quad Cities recs, which are probably a
bit too far I think (Iam travelling with non-foodies, who probably wont drive
further into Iowa just because I suggest there's a good food spot

I saw the rec for Peru, but it seemed inconclusive (MikeG said the bakery
suggested was *not* the one he went to).. and I saw Rip's, which may
well be an option hopefully. And/or Ron's in Utica (anyone know how
good and or expensive it is, BTW?)

Anythign special along the way for breakfast and such, however?

c8w

I thought this thread had a link in the thread I mentioned, but I see it did not. My bad.

c8w wrote:

Vital Information wrote:Look in the thread that I linked to above.

I saw the rec for Peru, but it seemed inconclusive (MikeG said the bakery
suggested was *not* the one he went to).. and I saw Rip's, which may
well be an option hopefully. And/or Ron's in Utica (anyone know how
good and or expensive it is, BTW?)

c8w

Ron's is very reasonable, it's a roadhouse. Many things under $10 and full meals under $15. This is an old house converted, it's very casual in the cajun style. The food is cajunn comfort food and Ron has quite a personality.