Jakeeno's Pizza & Pasta - Minneapolis, Minnesota

Jakeeno's Pizza & Pasta - 3555 Chicago Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55407

Jakeeno's Pizza & Pasta Website

Oh my goodness, has it been nearly three months since we posted a review on here? Indeed it has. Well, we think the long wait is worth it.

Crissy and I went to Minnesota with our friend George because, due to health reasons, I needed to get away from my job for a while (I've now permanently parted ways with them, hence the sparsity of posts on here), we wanted to see a few new states we had never visited (Crissy got one new state in, I got three), and we were invited to the high school graduation party of our friend Jake. We used Jake's party as our excuse to make the trip, but packed so much more into it (like seeing the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa, as posted on our Facebook Page).

When we got to our hotel in Minneapolis, we decided we would to try at least one local restaurant while in the area. I asked Crissy and George what kind of food they were interested in for dinner, and Crissy mentioned that she was in the mood for some Italian food and wondered if there were any restaurants I could get stuffed shells at for myself (since that is what I love the most at Italian restaurants). As I browsed the list, I came across the name Jakeeno's, so I checked out their menu online and saw that they do, in fact, have stuffed shells. 

So, in a very "I Love Lucy"fashion, I declared, "fellow hunters, we're going to Jakeeno's!" and off we went (jokingly commenting that if the food wasn't good, it was all our friend Jake's fault). 

The restaurant was incredibly easy to find. Surprisingly, there was plenty of street parking available around the restaurant, too! When we went in, the place was rather full, so a number of the patrons must live nearby enough to walk. That makes me jealous. I would love to have a place this good within walking distance.

We step inside and are warmly greeted by the staff, as well as this neat sign I spotted on the wall:

We were seated quickly and given menus to browse over:

I had been looking at the menu at the hotel, so I already knew what I would be getting. 

When the drink orders were given, I had a sneaky suspicion there weren't free refills on the sodas so instead of getting one glass, I got a pitcher of the 1919 Draft Root Beer. That gave about 4 glasses worth for the $5 price, much better than $1.95 per single glass.. 

Crissy got the "Minnesoda" brand cola, and I think George did the same. Because I got the pitcher of root beer, I got a mug for a glass instead of their usual "Minnesoda" glass for their drinks by that brand.

In the above picture is the Minnesoda glass, the root beer mug, and hiding behind is the pitcher of root beer. Here's a closer look at both sides of the Minnesoda glass:

Crissy and George really enjoyed their colas, but the 1919 draft root beer was one of the best root beers I've ever had. I would come back just to load up on this stuff, but thankfully it's available in other restaurants, but I haven't found it anywhere close to home, yet (and I probably won't). 

For our meal, Crissy decided she wanted to do a soup and salad after seeing tomato basil soup on the menu. Her salad was the half order of the tossed salad:

So Crissy, after having her first spoonful of the soup, says to me, "you need to try this!" and so I did. It was incredible! This is coming from a guy who does not like tomatoes or tomato soup of any kind. I kept going back for more of Crissy's soup and wished I had gotten it for myself, too.

Soon, my stuffed shells were brought to the table:

Now, these are not the biggest shells in the world (nor are they the smallest), so I was a little shocked to see the smaller size of the portion (for $10.25, I was hoping for at least 4 shells). What it lacked in size, it more than made up for in taste. These were, hands down, the tastiest stuffed shells I've ever encountered (rivaled only by the stuffed shells at Grampa's in Dania Beach, Florida). The waitress said that they were baking the bread and she would bring a basket of bread to our table, but by the time we finished eating and left, that never happened (which is okay, the meal didn't need it anyway).

At the same time, they brought George's spaghetti:

I thought his spaghetti looked very good (the pictures really don't do the food here justice), and George said it tasted very good, one of the best spaghettis he'd ever eaten. He didn't go into much detail, however, and I didn't taste it for myself, so I guess that gives us an excuse to have to go back again, 

Last came the 10" pepperoni pizza we ordered to split between the three of us to go with our respective meals:

At first glance, I didn't notice any pepperoni and was about to question it with the waitress, and then I spied one pepperoni sticking out from under the cheese that had been put on top of the toppings (awesome way to do the pizza). I'm not wild about thin crust pizza, but this was perfect in every way. The toppings were not too heavy for the crust, which was crunchy and never got soggy, and the taste was marvelous. Luckily, being a thin crust pizza, having a few squares of it (which is how they cut it) was not going to fill me up after having my shells.

On the way out, I spied some homemade chocolate chip cookies so I bought some:

Crissy and I decided we would buy some milk to have with them later, and ended up splitting them with George to snack on later in the night. They were a wonderful ending to a fantastic meal and went well with a small bottle of milk. 

While the total cost of the meal was about $65 after the tip for the three of us, the overall experience,  atmosphere and taste of the meal was fantastic and well worth the price. We absolutely will be back the next time we are in town. Given that it was my first time in the area, I certainly want to go back again soon, specifically so I can come back to Jakeeno's.

As a side note, it seems that this place is frequented by police officers. We saw some come in and eat while we were here, and I'd seen similar comments regarding this restaurant online elsewhere. At least it's good to know you're safe here. 

Jakeeno's has a second location called Jakeeno's Trattoria off of E. Lake Street, however the original restaurant, at the corner of Chicago Ave. and E. 36th Street, is very likely the best, having been here for 40 years. I certainly hope they're still doing everything the same a century from now.

It's time for us to hit the road. We hope you've enjoyed this post. If you have something to say about this restaurant, leave us a comment. If there's a restaurant that you'd like us to check out for a possible review on our blog, let us know by messaging us on our Facebook Page. If you have your own pictures or reviews to add to our blog, drop us a line because we would love to add further reviews for this and other restaurants to our site.

Until the next time, we'll catch you on the flip side.

For Diehls On The Road, this is Tom Diehl, signing off....

New Review Coming Soon!

Sorry for the long delay! Between health troubles between the two of us, plus a trip we took to visit a friend of ours, we've been unable to post an update to our blog (but did post to our Facebook page - if you don't like us on there, what are you waiting for??). But, good news! We will have a new review from our recent trip to Minnesota to report very soon! It's the furthest away from home we've reviewed to date and ranks up there with one of the best restaurants we've been to... this review will be heading your way soon and you won't want to miss it! Stay tuned! Until then, catch you on the flip side!

--Tom and Crissy

Hot Dog Charlie's - Rensselaer, New York

Hot Dog Charlie's - 150 Columbia Turnpike, Rensselaer, NY 12144

Hot Dog Charlie's Facebook Page

On the outside, this place isn't much to look at...

(Photo credit: Hot Dog Charlie's)

Just a lonely little location inside a mini-mini shopping center with just a Subway restaurant and a Chinese take-out place keeping it company. Not the best looking location on the outside, but you aren't supposed to judge a book by the cover. On the inside, they're whipping up some amazing tasting little hot dogs, hence their namesake.

Hot Dog Charlie's got its start in 1922 when the first location was opened in Troy, New York by Greek immigrant Strates Fentekes under the name New Way Lunch. People began calling him Charlie, so the name stuck. People would come to order their Charlie's mini hot dogs (which at the time were sold for a bargain 5 cents each), loaded up with anything from ketchup, mustard, kraut, onions, relish and Charlie's legendary secret chili meat sauce recipe. In the old days, Strates would line up a dozen minis on the length of his arm and load them up with their toppings, creating the "hairy arm" technique that few have been able to duplicate. 

Charlie's seems to be the earliest known restaurant to serve these mini hot dogs, which is one reason they've managed to stay around for as long as they have. The brand of hot dogs they use currently is Sabrett's (although they had recently tried using Hembold's for just their mini's recently, which did not go over well, which caused them to switch back to Sabrett's - thank God, I like the full length hot dogs they serve, too, but it's just not the same thing). 

A size comparison of a mini verses a regular size hot dog from here:

(Photo credit: Hot Dog Charlie's)

How would you get your hot dogs? Tom likes his with just the sauce (the regular, not the hot), and ketchup. Crissy, who has an intolerance to onions, which are one of the ingredients of the sauce, prefers them with just mustard and ketchup. You, however, can get them with any combination of their toppings (ketchup, mustard, relish, onion, sauerkraut or their chili meat sauce) to your own liking.

How that little grill in the back can cook so many great tasting hot dogs, along with other foods at the same time, is pretty amazing. Wait, they have other foods besides hot dogs? Yes. Our friend George loves their cheeseburgers, and all of us go wild for their curly fries (which they refer to as twister fries), which are better than pretty much anywhere else. 

On a recent visit, Tom got his mini's while Crissy got two regulars, and we each ordered the twister fries. We were so excited to enjoy our meal, we dug right in and Tom had one mini completely gone before realizing he hadn't yet snapped a picture of his delicious lunch, which is why you see three mini's on the plate above, instead of four, Tom's usual. 

As for some more of the other foods they serve, their fish fry is known to be one of the best in the Capital region. I also enjoy their clam roll, and the popcorn chicken is pretty good as well.... but the real reason for coming here is the hot dogs, the rest of these foods are for when you bring your whole family and some of them are less interested in hot dogs (hard to imagine, I know). 

They also have some pretty good milkshakes which are great all year round, but especially in the summer time. 

Today, Hot Dog Charlie's is run by Chuck Fentekes (the third generation in the family to run the restaurant), and Florence Dimitiadis. Aside from this location in Rensselaer, they have three other locations in Clifton Park, Cohoes and Latham, New York. This one is by far the best location, though. 

The famous chili sauce they put on top of their hot dogs can be found in local area supermarkets, can be purchased in any store location, or can even be ordered online from the company's main website. I might have to do that myself sometime when I'm unable to get to New York to get some hot dogs. The local brand we have in Erie is Smith's and while those are decent dogs, they don't compare to these, and the sauce wouldn't taste the same on them.

It's time for us to be hitting the road again. We'll check in again soon with our next review. If you have something to say about this restaurant, leave us a comment on this post. If there's a restaurant in your local area (whether or not it is local to us) that you'd like us to check out for a possible review on our blog, let us know by messaging us on our Facebook Page. If you have your own pictures or reviews to add to our blog on any of our reviews (or if you just want to add one of your own to our blog), drop us a line because we would love to add further reviews for this business as well as other restaurants to our blog.

Until the next time, we'll catch you on the flip side.

For Diehls On The Road, this is Tom Diehl, signing off....

The Peanut Shoppe - Akron, Ohio

Peanut Shoppe Of Akron - 203 S Main St, Akron, OH 44308

Peanut Shoppe Of Akron Facebook Page

Boy, I just let time slip by in between my reviews, don't I? Truth is, in between my time spent working on this blog I have several other projects I work on, plus a regular job. Most importantly, Crissy and I like to spend a lot of time together (sometimes when we're out we look for places for this blog, but not always). We just celebrated our first wedding anniversary last Sunday. The laptop we currently have seems to be on its last legs as it runs very slowly, but eventually we will upgrade (though hopefully not to anything with Windows 8 or newer). 

Last week we reviewed an Akron restaurant, and this week we remain in Akron once more. That said, our review today is not actually for a restaurant. While we like to find the best food on the road for you to try, we also love local shops that give you something unique, something that takes you back to the good old days. We've found it in a wonderful place called the Peanut Shoppe of Akron. 

(Photo Credit: Tim Davisson)

The Peanut Shoppe of Akron is one of just a dozen Peanut Shop/Shoppe locations left from when there were over 200 locations all over the country, opened by the National Peanut Corp. between 1930 and 1960 as a means of selling Planters Peanuts to customers. In 1961, Standard Brands bought out Planters Peanuts and began closing up the retail shops. Akron's location, around since 1933, remained open, but in the 82 years since opening, the store has seen three owners and three business locations, all on South Main Street. 

(Photo credit: Lisa Abraham, Akron Beacon Journal)

When the city of Akron purchased the building that housed the previous location of the Peanut Shoppe, they helped store owner Marge Kline find her current location, which allowed her to expand the business to include more than just nuts.

They have almost every kind of nut or candy you can imagine in this store, available to purchase by weight, even as little as 1/4 of a pound if you are only craving a small snack. They have a wide variety of nuts, chocolate candies, hard candies, something to satisfy any craving. We've come here numerous times for their fresh roasted peanuts, sunflower seed kernels, chocolate toffee squares, juju candies, valentine hearts (in season, of course), brazil nuts, malt balls, banana chips, even their fresh made popcorn. I could go on and on, but you can see for yourself from the pictures (many of which were taken by our friend Tim for The Peanut Shoppe's Facebook page) just how much this store has to offer. They even have ice cream available in both prepackaged ice cream bars and soft serve flavors.

When you come to visit, don't forget to say hello to Marge, and while you're here, try to spot as many Mr. Peanuts as you possibly can...

As you can see, Mr. Peanut sure knows how to get around. Crissy and I do too, and when we are in Akron, we're always sure to stop in on the Peanut Shoppe! Perhaps best of all, the Peanut Shoppe of Akron does accept credit cards (you know, for those times when you're hauling out two plastic bags filled with goodies like i've done in the past).

It's time for us to be hitting the road again. We'll check in again soon with our next review. If you have something to say about the Peanut Shoppe of Akron, leave us a comment on this post. If there's a restaurant in your local area (whether or not it is local to us) that you'd like us to check out for a possible review on our blog, let us know by messaging us on our Facebook Page. If you have your own pictures or reviews to add to our blog, drop us a line because we would love to add further reviews for this business as well as other restaurants to our blog.

Until the next time, we'll catch you on the flip side.

For Diehls On The Road, this is Tom Diehl, signing off....

El Puente Mexican Restaurant - Akron, Ohio

El Puente Mexican Restaurant - 2329 Romig Rd, Akron, OH 44320

http://elpuenteakron.weebly.com/

Has it really been two weeks since an update? Oof, sorry about that! Between both of us, we've been sick quite a bit lately, not to mention two recent hospital visits from Tom for some recurring ear issues. We wanted to give a review when we were best able to present our honest opinions.

A couple of weeks ago, in between all of our sicknesses, we spent some time in Akron, Ohio, house sitting for a friend. Of course, we decided to check out some local places to review. One of our friends had once taken us to a different Mexican restaurant in Akron, called Mi Casa, when we were visiting some friends in the area, Well let me tell you, I'm not big on Mexican food (Crissy is more so since she comes from Southern California). When I was growing up in Maryland, we had one local place that is apparently still around (and until looking them up today, I had no idea they were local - I thought they were a national chain!) but it was never my favorite place to eat.

Coming to El Puente and a few other places recently has really changed my mind on Mexican food. We were warmly greeted (in Spanish) by the host of the evening, who then took us to our seat. We had our drink orders taken (Coke products, including Cherry Coke!) and were given a basket of fresh made tortilla chips and salsa (I don't care for any kind of salsa, Crissy enjoyed it, though). The chips were nice and hot and tasted great.

When I was first reading about this restaurant online (which had many, many positive reviews), I had looked the menu over and planned to have Arroz con Pollo (Chicken and Rice), which I decided on trying simply for the fact that it had been mentioned in one of the most famous episodes of I Love Lucy, Job Switching:

I can't get the Youtube page to start on my blog right where I want it to, so for reference start at 11:45 into the episode.

I didn't really know what to expect, as it was something new I was trying (my father would be so proud of me for trying something new!) and I figured I would enjoy it anyway since this restaurant was busy! There were lots of customers here, and they all seemed to be enjoying themselves.

If you like peppers, tomatoes and onions, this would be the perfect dish for you. I am not fond of them so I picked all of those out (okay, i left some onions in but took out some of the bigger chunks), and was left with about 2/3 of my dish. The rice tasted amazing, the chicken was incredible. I think I would've loved the dish more if it was just the chicken (cooked exactly the way it was in this dish) and the rice, but I loved it just the same.

Crissy had what the restaurant called their vegetarian combination #3, a bean burrito, a cheese quesadilla, and what they said was a chalupa (though Crissy says it looks more like a tostada). See it for yourself:

As for how things tasted, Crissy says, coming from California, the food was very authentic Mexican food. It has a lot more flavor than many other "Mexican" restaurants, and it lives up to the standard of many Mexican restaurants out in California, and has a home-cooked feel to it.

As for the actual name of the restaurant, it does get confusing. Their Facebook page calls themselves "El Puente Mexican Restaurant & Grill", Their website says "El Puente Mexican Bar & Grill", and their actual building just says "El Puente Mexican Grill". 

We've already been back here a second time. Yes, I got the same thing once again, Crissy got something different and loved it, and the place was just as packed. If you like authentic Mexican food, this is the best place in Akron to try. It's well worth the trip to get here and the prices are extremely reasonable for the amount of food you get. The next time we return to Akron, I know where we'll be heading for dinner.

It's time for us to be hitting the road again. We'll check in again soon with our next review. If you have something to say about this restaurant, leave us a comment on this post. If there's a restaurant in your local area (whether or not it is local to us) that you'd like us to check out for a possible review on our blog, let us know by messaging us on our Facebook Page. If you have your own pictures or reviews to add to our blog, drop us a line because we would love to add further reviews for this and other restaurants to our site.

Until the next time, we'll catch you on the flip side.

For Diehls On The Road, this is Tom Diehl, signing off....

George's Restaurant - Erie, Pennsylvania

George's Restaurant - 2614 Glenwood Park Ave, Erie, PA 16508

Facebook - George's Restaurant

We've been in Erie for some time now, and have had a lot of time to check out a lot of the local restaurants. This one has been under our radar until recently. After a few recent stops to the doctor due to ongoing sinus problems I've been experiencing, we would pass this restaurant on the way home and would always say "we should try that place out". They boast of their "real homemade mashed potatoes" which made me wonder if anything else there was good. Let me just say that yes, we've enjoyed everything we've had here!

(Photo credit: George's Restaurant Facebook Page)

We decided to go in and see what all of the hoopla was about regarding their mashed potatoes. They offer a wide variety, including garlic parmesan, cheddar ranch, bacon horseradish, onion and bacon, verdi and pepper jack, jalapeno, and broccoli and cheddar among other flavors. 

These mashed potatoes lived up to our expectations, and then some. We now know why Erie's oldest restaurant has remained, and why they still have such a loyal fanbase. Tom had the broccoli and cheddar potatoes while Crissy had the garlic parmesan. Both flavors were fantastic. The garlic parmesan is a little on the salty side but some people certainly prefer it that way. These are not huge portions of potatoes (you couldn't necessarily make a meal out of a bowl), so we ordered them to go with our main courses.

Tom got his usual, all-american cheeseburger, cooked medium at my request, and they made it exactly the way he likes it. For an extra charge, you can get fries and coleslaw, which are well worth it. The fries taste like they're fresh cut, even if they aren't (we can't tell). The coleslaw was very creamy and had a sweet taste, definitely homemade, and very delicious.

Crissy ordered the club sandwich. It came with bacon, lettuce, tomato, turkey and mayonnaise. The bacon was crisp, the turkey had a good flavor to it, and it was such a large sandwich, she had trouble eating the whole thing (it was a very tall sandwich, with an extra piece of bread in the middle). She also opted for the fries and coleslaw and enjoyed them as well. 

The restaurant offers sodas (excuse me, we're in Erie, they call it Pop here - you can tell I still feel like an outsider), but you only get one free refill with your meal. A major plus is that they accept credit cards here, which we were unsure of as a number of local restaurants seem to be cash only.

This restaurant is known for its breakfasts, though we have not tried them yet (I guess this means we'll just have to go back again soon). I'm a sucker for a good belgian waffle and I'm hoping to get one the next time we come here. This restaurant has been an Erie landmark since 1926 and I'm sure it will be around for a long time to come.

A little side note, Crissy is a big fan of Coca Cola, so she was thrilled to see that this restaurant was covered in Coke memorabilia. We even spotted this at our booth:

On the way out of the restaurant, there is a newspaper article hanging that gives the headline of George's Real-Deal Meals. That's the kind of food we like to spotlight on this blog, and we sure hit the mark today.

It's time for us to be hitting the road again. We'll check in again soon with our next review. If you have something to say about this restaurant, leave us a comment on this post. If there's a restaurant in your local area (whether or not it is local to us) that you'd like us to check out for a possible review on our blog, let us know by messaging us on our Facebook Page. If you have your own pictures or reviews to add to our blog, drop us a line because we would love to add further reviews for these and other restaurants to our site.

Until the next time, we'll catch you on the flip side.

For Diehls On The Road, this is Tom Diehl, signing off....

Rest In Peace Mike "Bossman" Hardin, Co-Owner of Hodad's in San Diego, California

(Photo credit: NBC San Diego)

Howdy, this is Tom posting here tonight...I learned earlier tonight of the passing of Mike Hardin, co-owner of Hodad's in San Diego, California. He was 56 years old and passed away last week from a heart attack in a hotel room in Oregon, where he was visiting family. I took my first trip out to California a few years ago and fell in love with Hodad's burgers on a trip to Ocean Beach. I've never had a better burger anywhere. Plus I just loved the atmosphere of the restaurant. Their milkshakes were amazing, too. Reportedly the restaurant will keep on going with things staying exactly the same, which is how Mike would've wanted it. 

Hodad's was featured on an episode of Diners, Drive-In's and Dives, which is how I first was introduced to the restaurant and it was this clip that made me want to check it out. It lived up to the expectations I had for the restaurant and then some. Take a look:

Rest in peace, Mike "Bossman" Hardin.

Mike's Hot Dogs - Schenectady, New York

Mike's Hot Dogs - 1135 Erie Boulevard, Schenectady, NY 12305

Facebook - Mike's Hot Dogs

Mike's is a restaurant we have been coming to for years. Twice a year Proctor's Theater in Schenectady holds a fantastic oldies concert with usually four or five fantastic acts. Before each concert, our friends and us come to Schenectady for dinner. It started out that we would eat at another local establishment, Morrette's, which also had some great desserts, but after a few bad dinner experiences at Morrette's we decided to go down the street to check out Mike's and see if they were better, and they were!

As for Morrette's, our last several times in there to try to get some hot fudge sundaes were met with "our ice cream machine is broken", and it turns out the service and quality at that restaurant had gone downhill since being taken over by a new owner recently, but we are happy to keep having our dinner at Mike's. 

Now, Mike's is known as Mike's Hot Dogs, but we had never come here for those. When we would go to the Proctor's concerts, we would eat here because we had heard they had some of the best cheesesteaks outside of Philadelphia, The first time I ate here, I was craving a good cheesesteak and I was hoping it would be better than what I'd had at Morrette's. It was much better. The steak was sliced thin, piled high, and melted in my mouth like butter. 

Now, they only call them Steak Sandwiches. The cheese costs extra but it's well worth it. The peppers also cost extra, however you can get the sandwich with onions and sauce at no extra charge. I prefer to get mine with just cheese on it and I like to add ketchup to it (as you can see above, for our recent visit, I kind of jumped the gun a bit and put my ketchup on before I took the picture of the sandwich, as I was so excited to be getting one of these sandwiches again). 

The sandwich tasted just as good as it always did. If I had one complaint, it would be that they cooked the sandwich on the same grill as they had previously cooked a fish fry without cleaning it afterwards, so part of the sandwich did end up tasting like fish. I didn't mind, though, as I love the sandwich anyway, but if anyone from the restaurant reads this, please learn to cook your foods in different locations specifically for those foods. 

Anyway, since we weren't here for a concert on our most recent visit (as it was just Crissy and myself), we were able to take our time here and not feel rushed to get over to the theater. I decided, what the heck, I would try some new foods here that I hadn't yet tried. Mike's is known for their hot dogs so I had to see what was so special about them:

I was asked if I wanted it with the works (which was sauce, onions and mustard), and I was originally thinking of just ordering a plain hot dog, but I decided to get it with the sauce. It's not quite a chilli sauce, this seems to be a bit like the Greek Sauce we can find around Erie. The sauce had a great flavor to it and really added to the hot dogs. I don't know of onions or mustard are even necessary with the dog but most people seem to prefer them that way. As much as I love the steak sandwiches here, I will be coming back more often for the hot dogs, which are my new favorite item here. 

My friends and I would often get the french fries while we were coming here before a concert, but this time around we decided to try the curly fries here, which we had never had before:

Amazing to think of what we had been missing by getting the regular fries instead of these. I think these would go good with some kind of seasoning on them, but they were wonderful as-is, too. 

By this time, we had been completely stuffed and did not have any room for desserts, though they looked very good. I think next time we will have to try one of them. We are also hoping to make it back sometime for breakfast, as they have a large breakfast menu available until 11 A.M. which people seem to enjoy. 

The prices here are for the most part reasonable, especially when it comes to the hot dogs and the breakfast foods. I suspect if they lowered the prices of their steak sandwiches, they would sell a whole lot more of those. I am already looking forward to my next visit in town (which will likely be before the next oldies concert at Proctor's) to make another trip to Mike's. 

It's time for us to be hitting the road again. We'll check in again next week with our next review. If you have comments about this restaurant, please let us know your thoughts by leaving a comment on this post. If there's a restaurant in your local area (whether or not it is local to us) that you'd like us to check out for a possible review on our blog, let us know by messaging us on our Facebook Page. If you have your own pictures or reviews to add to our blog, drop us a line because we would love to add further reviews for these and other restaurants to our site.

Until the next time, we'll catch you on the flip side.

For Diehls On The Road, this is Tom Diehl, signing off....

Stevo's Pizza (Downtown) - Erie, PA (A Mid-Week Update!)

Stevo's Pizza - 1019 State Street, Erie, PA 16501

http://www.stevospizzeria.com/

We were downtown taking care of some errands when we decided to go to lunch at the main location of Stevo's Pizza, the Presque Isle location of which was our first review on this blog. The Presque Isle location has limited hours during the non-Summer months, we were craving their pizza, and we were already here, so we figured, why not? Plus, by coming here, it meant that we got the opportunity to order our beloved Broccoli Cheese Soup... we'll get to that soon.

For this location, much of their business comes from takeout and delivery orders, but we always see more people eating in here than at the Presque Isle location as well. I'm not really sure why, though. There is limited parking out front, but that's what happens downtown so you just get used to it I guess. 

If I had to pick which location has my favorite pizza, it would more than likely be the Presque Isle location, however it could depend on who is making it and what day you visit, since I've had some very enjoyable pizzas at both locations. The one that we had when we visited the downtown location recently was also a very good pizza, and their ranch dressing was also very tasty and was definitely a homemade dressing. 

This pizza's got a piece all ready for you...and did I mention previously that at either location you could order pizza by the slice? I don't know why you'd want only one slice of pizza, but that is their lunch deal (one slice and a drink)...perhaps best suited if you are in a hurry and need something fast.

One thing this location has that the Presque Isle location is missing is their legendary (ok, it's only legendary to us) broccoli cheese soup:

They have several soups of the day available on any given day. If any of the others are as good as this one, you will love them. We don't know how Stevo's makes their broccoli cheese soup, but we suspect they might use white cheddar, chicken broth (we detected a slight flavor of it), and maybe flour for thickening the soup up. They use fresh (not frozen) broccoli, and that makes a huge difference in taste and texture. We also suspect they make their soups in small batches because we had one soup each to dine in and we took one each home to have for dinner and those that we took home seemed to be a thicker consistency than the ones we had when we ate in. 

The downtown location also has several menu items not found at the Presque Isle location (due to the PI location not wanting to be competition to Sara's restaurant next door). These items include hamburgers, hot dogs, a number of appetizers, and subs. They've also expanded their pasta selection at this location as well, it appears. 

Maybe sometime in the future, we will check it out further and report back on something we ordered other than "the usual". Until next time, we'll catch you on the flip side.

This is Crissy and Tom Diehl, signing off....

Russ' Dinor - Erie, Pennsylvania

Russ' Dinor - 2902 Buffalo Road, Erie, PA 16510

https://www.facebook.com/russdinor

We had heard that Russ' Dinor (rather than Diner) was an Erie, PA landmark (though their menu says their address is Wesleyville, PA), and having lived here for more than a year, we pass by the restaurant often. We finally decided to go check it out after saying "we really should check that place out" one too many times. 

I can't believe we hadn't checked this place out sooner! We love these kind of places. You almost step back in time by coming here. As soon as you enter the door, you go find a place to sit down, and you'll be greeted by the waitress as soon as she's able to get to you. Most of the clientele seems to be made up of regulars who must have been coming here for years, but we observed a number of younger people eating here as well. There was a lot of back-and-forth banter from the locals with each other as well as the waitress, and it was a lot of fun to just sit back and watch and listen to everything.

Like the restaurant in our last review, this place only accepts cash, but they also keep their prices fairly reasonable by doing so. A lot of the food seems to be made fresh, and it is very delicious. A number of people seem to stop in for just coffee and pie. We aren't coffee drinkers (Crissy will have one every now and then but only when necessary), and we'll get to the pie later.

While they seem to be best known for their breakfast foods, we came here during lunchtime and decided to go that route for our meal. We hope to be back soon to try some of their breakfast items and even some of their dinner items in the near future. We'll concentrate on lunch for now, though.

Tom had their bacon cheeseburger, which he says had an excellent taste to it and he says it contained a fairly hefty amount of bacon on it (almost the size of the burger patty itself), Tom also could not stop raving about the hot dog he had at Russ' Dinor, saying it had an amazing taste to it, reminding him of hot dogs he had when he was growing up that were made fresh by a butcher shop that had a little restaurant set up inside a building at the fairgrounds near where he grew up. We aren't sure what kind of hot dogs they serve here (we suspect they may be Smith's, which seems to be what 99% of Erie restaurants serve, being that it's the local brand of hot dog), but we know we'll be back for them often. The fries were fairly typical diner fries which tasted good with their ketchup. 

Crissy also had their grilled cheese sandwich, which she says was the best grilled cheese she's ever had. You'd think she would have had tomato soup to go with her grilled cheese, but she didn't. Did I mention in a previous review how much we both love broccoli cheese soup?

Yeah, we both ordered their broccoli cheese soup. It surprised both of us, though, as in addition to the broccoli, it had carrots, celery, squash, and onion in addition to the broccoli and cheese, but boy was this one of the best tasting broccoli cheese soups we have ever had. I think both of us were a bit sad when we had finished our bowls. 

I failed to mention that we started off our meals with some chocolate shakes, which were pretty large, but they sure don't last long! If you get one, make sure to wait until you've got your food before you start drinking it or else it will be gone in no time!

While we were having our meal, a couple of guys came in and sat down at a table, ordered their coffee, and asked what kind of pie they had. As soon as we heard the waitress say that one of the pies was butterscotch pie, we both looked at each other and went "ooh I bet that is delicious!" We were deciding on whether or not to have dessert, but it didn't take any convincing for us. We just had to try it. In fact, we anticipated it so much that we jumped the gun and started into our pie before we had a chance to get a picture to share! However, we stopped before we got too far along (which was no easy task, one taste of it and we were hooked!):

The pie had a fantastic flavor that was not overpowering, with a nice graham cracker crust and a topping of either pecans or walnuts for texture. I've never had anything else quite like this pie, and you could tell that it was definitely homemade. In some ways, this pie reminded me of those frozen Reese's Peanut Butter Cup pies that can sometimes be found in convenience stores, but this being homemade (and butterscotch being one of my favorite flavors overall) was a much better tasting pie than any of those. Not to mention the size of this piece of pie was huge for the price they charged for it (around $3.25). Now that's a deal if we ever heard of one. 

It's time for us to be hitting the road again. We'll check in again next week with our next review. If you have comments about this restaurant, please let us know your thoughts by leaving a comment on this post. If there's a restaurant in your local area (whether or not it is local to us) that you'd like us to check out for a possible review on our blog, let us know by emailing us here. 

We'll be branching further out of our local area soon with reviews from around the country, but until the next time, we'll catch you on the flip side.

This is Crissy and Tom Diehl, signing off....

Double Dragon Chinese Restaurant - East Greenbush, New York

Double Dragon - Columbia Plaza, 501 Columbia Street, East Greenbush, NY 12061

(No Website, but a partial menu can be found here)

As we mentioned in our previous post, we did not have an update for last week as we were living up to our blog name by being out on the road. During some of our time away from home, we were visiting family in East Greenbush, New York. While we were there, we made it a point to stop at a few of our favorite restaurants in that area. For the first of our two updates for today, we will spotlight one of those restaurants.

Now, I know what you're thinking. If you've had Chinese food from one restaurant, you've had them all. Not so. There can be good Chinese food and there can be bad Chinese food. Naturally, it's really all Americanized Chinese food anyway, but there are different ways of preparing the dishes. 

Why is this place any different from any other Chinese restaurant? Well, for one thing, they're cash-only, which keeps their prices low. How low? Well, we frequent this place for their amazing $3.99 lunch specials. Those come with your main entree, your choice of rice (pork fried rice, plain fried rice, white rice, and probably other variations), choice of soup (wonton, egg drop, hot & sour, chicken & rice, and maybe one or two others) or a can of soda (whatever they have in stock at any given time, which seems to change from time to time). 

If you aren't in the mood for a full lunch special and just want an entree, or if you come for dinner, the rest of their prices are extremely reasonable for the amount of food you receive, and it's all very tasty as well. You tend to get the same amount of food whether you dine in or take it to go. 

When we stopped here for our meal, we met up with a longtime friend of ours named Doo Wop Pete. On this trip, Pete got the shrimp lo mein with pork fried rice and he had a soda to go with his meal instead of a soup:

Crissy had a variation on the same meal. Hers came with white rice and she also was able to special order the shrimp lo mein to have no vegetables, as she has an intolerance to onions, which seems to be a lot more common in people these days than it used to be. She also ordered her meal with the egg drop soup, which she enjoys a lot.

I like many of the dishes I've tried at this restaurant, including the chicken lo mein, sweet and sour chicken, fried wontons, boneless spare ribs, honey chicken (which can be ordered on the lunch special menu or on a specialty menu hanging on the wall of the restaurant - but be cautioned in advance that this dish comes with peppers mixed in as well, which I am not a fan of so I order the dish without them), beef with broccoli, lemon chicken, and so many others. However, in my opinion, what absolutely sets this place apart from any other Chinese restaurant I've tried is that they have a dish called Peanut Butter Chicken, which is just about the greatest thing on earth:

I have to thank Vanessa, a former boss of mine from when I used to work at Target, for suggesting I give this dish a try. It's been my absolute favorite thing on the menu since then. The chicken is cut up into strips and seems to have a different kind of breading on it than, say, their sweet and sour chicken, and is covered in some kind of peanut butter sauce that is just absolutely astounding (and this is coming from a guy who is not a big fan of peanut butter)! In fact, I miss this dish already and wish we could go back for more immediately. 

I mentioned that we met a friend for lunch so we ate in at this restaurant. It's a rather small storefront, but they have five tables inside for people to either eat at (on dishes like these) or to wait for their order to be ready to go as a takeout order, which is what most people seem to do. They don't do delivery which is also another reason why they've been able to keep their prices so low (their lunch special price hasn't changed in all of the years I've been going there - and it seems that most websites claiming to have a menu for this restaurant do not actually have the correct menu information at all). 

With the amount of food you get for the cost of the meal, this is definitely one of the better deals on the road that the Diehls have come across in our travels. We highly recommend you give this place a chance if you happen to be in the area and are looking for a delicious and filling meal for a very low price. I've never found another Chinese restaurant that compares to this one, and more places should strive to be as fantastic as this one has always been to me.

If you have comments about this restaurant, please let us know your thoughts by leaving a comment on this post. If there's a restaurant in your local area (whether or not it is local to us) that you'd like us to check out for a possible review on our blog, let us know by emailing us here. 

We'll be posting our review for our next restaurant shortly, but until then, we'll catch you on the flip side! 

This is Tom Diehl for Diehls On The Road, signing off....

Stevo's Pizza at Presque Isle - Erie, Pennsylvania

Stevo's Pizza - 35 Peninsula Drive, Erie, PA 16505

http://www.stevospizzeria.com/

As far back as I can remember, I have been a pizza hound. It wasn't until I was in college that I started branching out away from chain restaurants like Pizza Hut and Domino's and started eating more pizza from local joints. When I did, I discovered that local restaurants could make pies just as good or better than the chains could.

Case in point, Stevo's Pizza. In particular, their Presque Isle location. Now, I haven't lived in this area for a long time, but I was introduced to this place almost immediately upon moving here and it struck me as being the absolute best pizza I've ever eaten.

I must reiterate the point that I'm a pizza hound, that I generally eat pizza a minimum of one time a week and sometimes as often as four days out of a week. My favorite topping on a pizza is pepperoni. If they can't get that right, they probably won't get anything else right, either.

When we come here, we love to split a medium (14") pepperoni pizza. We order some of their delicious homemade ranch dressing to go with it because it's just the perfect compliment to such a wonderful pie, and it's always a religious experience for us. There just is not anything better. I would put this pizza up against the best that Brooklyn has to offer.

But wait, there's more. We also love to order their french fries (we prefer getting a single basket to split between the two of us because that is more than enough fries for two people) which come with what seems to be homemade ketchup. If you're in the mood for them, they also have pretty good wings (with normal tossing sauces or even plain). If you're a fan of bread bowls, we recommend their grilled chicken alfredo bread bowl, but they have a few other bread bowls as well.

One of our favorite things to order at this location was the broccoli cheese soup (which also is homemade), however they stopped carrying it at this location, which to us is a shame. They do still have their broccoli cheese soup available at their other location (1019 State Street, Erie, PA 16501) along with a larger selection of foods not available at the Presque Isle location, but that will be another review for another time.

If you have comments about this restaurant, please let us know your thoughts by leaving a comment on this post. If there's a restaurant in your local area (whether or not it is local to us) that you'd like us to check out for a possible review on our blog, let us know by emailing us here.

Until then, we'll catch you on the flip side!

This is Tom Diehl for Diehls On The Road, signing off....