Food

Hammond, LA Day 4

Nolo Mia Pizzeria

This is where last night’s pizza came from: Nola Mia Pizzeria in Ponchatoula. What started in a food truck has morphed into a large building that was filled to capacity and had a booming takeout business while I waited on our to-go order. They have a very large wood-fired oven that gets fed by two opposing pizza assembly lines of three people. First, the dough is stretched and placed on a peel, then the sauce and cheese are applied, and finally, the toppings. The cook then slides it onto his long-handled peel to place in the oven.

And after having eaten their pizza I can see why they are where they are. This would be a once a week meal if I lived here.

Now That’s Italian 2

Fall New Mexico Skies

Tonight was dinner out; Santa Fe Sally and I met with Kevin and Beth (last seen in Las Vegas) to go for some Italian. The place used to be an indeterminate fast food place that has been converted into a nice sit-down place called Piccolino. It had a drive-thru that they still used. You ordered online, they gave an approximate time to arrive, you parked in the lot, and they then texted you to get in the drive-thru lane to pick it up.

I had the Lasagna Bolloco (chicken, green chile, provolone, mozzarella, and alfredo sauce), and it was fantastic. Even though it was more than enough food, Sally and I split a canoli for dessert, as both Beth and Kevin ordered desserts of their own. I don’t think I’ve had Italian food this good since stumbling onto Zanzos in Clarksville, GA, back in 2003.

I was kidding some above, as Aiken, SC, did have an excellent Italian place called Olive Oils that we would eat at every couple of months until it folded its tents…

Hammond – Day 15: Four Forks and a Feeding Frenzy

Sally has been talking about wanting to go to B&J’s Seafood to get a po’boy almost since we got here. But family plans have been getting the preferential treatment so far. There was a moment earlier this week when it could have happened, but the parking lot was overflowing, and even the across-the-street lot was full.

Sweet Heat For Your Meat

It had to happen today because it was our last day in Hammond, and Louisiana. If it didn’t happen, she would have been talking about not getting to eat from there all the way back to Santa Fe, so we broke down and set out early for a meal. She got her soft-shell crab po’boy, and I got one with crawfish. Both are on the cusp of their seasons, hers waning and mine waxing. Killing time while waiting for our order, I perused the plethora of spices, rubs, and seasonings. Sweet Heat For Your Meat stood out, mainly for its package art.

The food there is great, and it is apparently true about not being able to rush greatness, as it took nearly 30 minutes to get our to-go order. At the table in the Airbnb, if you listened carefully, you could hear us actually purring quietly while polishing those sandwiches off. Trouble is now she probably won’t stop talking about how good it was all the way back to Santa Fe.

Tonight’s meal is back at Adele’s with older brother Steve and his wife Janet. For our dessert, we were tasked with picking up a couple of slices of cake from The Cocoa Bean Bakery. Their cakes are beautiful to look at and delicious to eat. Their 9″ cakes feed up to 20 because of their height. Each slice is $4.25, so you do the math on the total cost of that cake. The woman behind the counter asked if we wanted them in two different boxes, and Sally replied, “Don’t bother; we’ll put it in the center of the table, and it’ll be four forks and a feeding frenzy.”

Those po’boys were worth the wait, and the cake was worth the cost.

Santa Fe, NM – Day 6: Tucson Spa Day

Gates of Santa Fe #2

Drove to Dunkin’ for my 14oz Regular….that and a neighborhood walk with a gate photo are the only things the same as yesterday.

We took the Travelling Tucson to the Hyundai dealer for an oil change and tire rotation. They also changed out both cabin air filters, well, because it is dusty here in the desert. After that we went to La Chosa for lunch. Vegetable Quesadilla for the lady and I wolfed down a Green Chile Bacon Cheese Burger.

Not only do I love the blue skies, the 80% percent of the year sunny day count, the architecture, and the vibe, the food with green chiles on it would be enough to made want to live here. If only I could afford to.

Tomorrow we are off to Bowie, TX with Hammond, LA our destination again. So, no more “Gates of Santa Fe” photos until Star Wars Day.

Santa Fe, NM – Day 5: Going Rogue

Gates of Santa Fe #1


 
Daybreak – Drove to Dunkin’ for my 14oz Regular and a couple Munchkins to start the day.

Sensible Morning Hour – Walked over to Tune-Up Cafe as seen on Food Network’s Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. I devoured the Smoked Duck Hash-eggs al gusto, cheesy hash browns, bell pepper, your choice of chili, onions, tortilla. Eggs over easy and for the chili, I roll green. Sally had the omelette. Fresh squeezed OJ for me, water for her.

Post Breakfast – Walked around the surrounding neighborhoods while Sally regaled me by pointing out the sub thousand foot homes that start at around $400k for a fixer-upper to the nicely renovated ones that approach the $1mil mark. The above picture is of a gate that probably hid a slightly larger home that that would easily fetch seven figures.

Lunch – Still full from breakfast we opted for a Clementine…

Early Afternoon – Test drove a Nissan Rogue that might be a replacement for her 2023 Hyundai Tucson. We both came away impressed with the car. It is probably ahead of the Mazda CX-5 and Subaru Forrester we test drove back in January. We were going to try a RAV4, but the Toyota dealer didn’t any in stock.

Late Afternoon – We watched a movie, my choice, but she agreed when I told her Stanley Tucci was in it. A movie from 1996, Big Night. Tucci had hair! I’ve seen it a couple times and enjoyed this third viewing as well. Sally enjoyed it not so much, so next movie time, it’ll be her pick.

Dinner – Ham & Cheese Sandos with a broccoli salad and chips and salsa.

Dusk – A drive up to Sky Santa Fe and pretty much straight back down that is a near prefect Miata road and put a big smile on my face. I think she enjoyed too, but I think I saw a few instances of ghost braking over on that side of the car.

Gyros

Today the Miata made a 5.7 mile dinner run to the only “Greek” restaurant in town, that’s right Arby’s, for gyros.

We needed to cleanse our palates after last week’s attempt to make our own at home following a recipe Donna found online. It turned out very, very disappointedly. It used a mix of beef and lamb like a gyro should, but it was using ground meat of both in an oblong patty fried in a pan, unlike the traditional vertical rotisserie method. The meat turned out tough. 🙁 The pita wasn’t that great either, we couldn’t find them anywhere in Fred Meyers, so we bought what we thought were the best ones on the shelf at Walmart. The pitas fell apart after warming them up. Our tzatziki sauce was from a premade tzatziki yogurt dip we found and even after adding feta cheese pieces to it, was not really that great.

Having had good luck with Arby’s gyros before and after our home disaster we figured that these tonight would just blow us away, but for some reason they just didn’t hit the mark. I think we’ll give them another chance, but two strikes and they’ll be out.

We have tried a gyro at a place over the Cascades in Medford and it was a bit different, but not worth going back there for one. On a trip in Washington state we found a chain called Pita Palace or something like that and had a similar experience, meh.

When we lived in Aiken we were regulars at a family run restaurant called Acropolis that did a real nice gyro. There was a nice little Greek place in the French Quarter that we ate gyros at semi often when we lived there after discovering this wonderful food at the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition.

Ed Note: Donna swears it was at the 1982 Knoxville World’s Fair!

15.3 miles from 2 sperate trips yesterday & today.
Times Miata Driven since 01/01/22: 31

 

2018 Jumbo Road Trip Food

We try to eat adventurously when on the road and so for our memory and your pleasure, I kept track of the good ones. This way if we are ever back in the same town again we know where to stop or if you ever find yourselves in one of these towns you can find a good meal. We were 14 days on the road out to Lake Tahoe and ate nine note worthy meals and it took us 11 days coming back and ran into four (one of which was a return trip to a breakfast spot in Albuquerque.)

Tuesday, May 1st, lunch in Kosciusko, MS – Old Trace Grill – Brian, Patty Melt and Donna, Grilled Shrimp

Wednesday, May 2nd, breakfast in Vicksburg, MS – The Mad Baker – Brian, breakfast biscuit and Donna, 2 eggs, cheese grits and bacon

Thursday, May 3rd, lunch in Henderson, TX – Debbie’s Bistro – Split, grilled cheese and green chili and rice soup

Friday, May 4th, breakfast in Tyler, TX – The Diner – Donna Eggs and Bacon and Brian, Grilled Banana French Toast

Monday, May 7th, breakfast in Albuquerque, NM – Central Grill and Coffee House – Donna, Eggs Benedict and Brian, Waffle Dogs

Tuesday, May 8th, lunch in Madrid, NM – Jezebel Soda Fountain – Both, Breakfast Burito

Thursday, May 10th, dinner in Green River, UT – Tamarisk Restaurant – Split Pork Chops

Saturday, May 12th, lunch (breakfast) in Winnemucca, NV – The Griddle – Donna, Eggs Benedict and Brian, Pecan Encrusted French Toast

Sunday, May 13th, lunch in Carson City, NV – Scoups – Brian, Vegetarian Chili and Donna, Chicken Spaetzle with a scoop of ice cream for dessert.

Sunday, May 20th, dinner in Beatty, NV – KC’s Outpost – The food was OK, but the homemade cake for dessert was worth it.

Tuesday, May 22nd, lunch outside Holbrook, AZ – Painted Desert Visitor Center Cafe – Donna, Lamb Soup and Brian, Navajo Taco.

Wednesday, May 23rd, breakfast in Albuquerque, NM – Central Grill and Coffee House – Donna, Eggs Benedict and Brian, Huevos Rancheros

Wednesday, May 30th, lunch in Milledgeville, GA – The Brick – Split Spinach Artichoke Dip and a small Sausage, Pepperoni, Black Olives & Spinach Pizza