Diners, Drive Ins and Dives/Man vs Food

I've been to a ton of the DDD places in Florida, Chicago, Minnesota, and Ohio.

 

Two of my favorite shows! I have been to:

Hash House a Go Go (Vegas)
Hot and Juicy Crawfish (Vegas)
XXX (Purdue University, which is where I went to school, and was going there long before it was featured on a tv show)
The Melt (Cleveland)
Tony's of Birch Run (Michigan)

I actually go out of my way to try and get to some of these places.

 

I must have missed the Tony's (Birch Run) epsiode. IMO after growing up with Tony's (theres like 15 different ones, each is pretty much the same) I just don't think it's anything special compared to most of the places on that show.

 

I agree. Tony's was really nothing special other than I love BLT's and theirs is awesome and HUGE! Buts its hard to F-up a BLT.....

 

i haven't been there yet, but I have been to
-Niko Niko's
-Lankford Grocery
-Kenny and Ziggy's.
-Bob's Taco's - my coworker brought in some breakfast tacos a couple years ago.

I definitely have to hit up The Red Lion for sure now.

 

I've been to:

Round Rock Donuts
The Salt Lick

I live about 2-3 minute away from RR Donuts I think RR Donuts was on the Man vs. Food show, and The Salt Lick was on Diners,Drive Ins and Dives.

 

Oh man is breakfast good there. Only place I've ever waited about an hour to get in for breakfast!

 

I went to Primanti Bros. in Pittsburgh on a MVF recommendation. I was not impressed at all. My view of his constant moaning while eating is that he is just a walking advertisement for touristy places.

BT

 

I've noticed that too with him. He's also going more for quanity of foods than quality.

Where as with Guy, you can sort of tell when he doesn't think something is "to die for" and when he does love it you can really tell.

Now I we've got Food Wars too. LOL. I'm actually glad there's so many new shows about eating and overeating right now with all the b.s. going on in Washington with taxing foods. Eat people! EAT!

 

Was in Washington D.C. this weekend. Right off the corner of Pennsylvania and 2nd... Right around the corner and down a block or two was this little place.

When I saw the sign, I HAD to go in. I got the fish and chips which were excellent, the batter was the best I've ever had - I eat a lot of fish and chips. Brother got the Southern Fried chicken and it was perfectly cooked, super juicy and crispy skin as hell but no grease. Loved it.

Then as we were finishing and I was picking his chicken bones clean, they started bringing plates of the food they prepared for the cameras out - fried okra, mini burgers, their signature sandwich called Joe's West Virginia - Roast beef on grilled cheese with thousand island dressing which I didn't try but looked and smelled great.

Too bad Guy wasn't there... He'll be filming his spots on Wednesday, May 5. So if you're in DC stop by for lunch!
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My uncle Neil was interviewed in Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives episode a while back. Location was the Paradise Pup, which is a chicago area hot dog stand. My uncle was the guy talking about how many napkins he uses when he eats there.

 

I've been to The Nascar Cafe in Vegas, about 10 years back, as well as Randy's Wooster Street Pizza here in Ct, probably around 6 or some odd years ago. Both were great and featured on Man vs Food.

 

I think I remember him, lol.

 

There are a couple memorable places I've tried that I saw on DDD.

Havana Hideout in Lake Worth, FL. Best fish taco I ever had!
Grampa's Diner in Hollywood, typical diner food.
La Cameronera in Miami. Best shrimp ever!
Parasol's Bar in New Orleans, the roast beef sandwich to die for. Plus we hung out there drinking for about 8 hours, it was a blast.

A few of the others were just so-so, I've probably been to another dozen.

 

I watch DDD from time to time, most of the stuff looks awesome - and HUGE.
So one thing I wonder is what some of this stuff costs?
I mean, I see a huge portion of a meat something-or-other, and to me it looks like it has to be $30-40 a serving, and especially with the huge things they put a TON of ingredients into and let set overnight in a roaster.
I don't have an issue with the cost - I just WONDER what things cost.

 

The two places I've eaten at had large portions... I guess average portions for these places... and will cost you in the $10-15 range including soft drink.

 

With many of these family owned restaurants, they probably own the location long ago and can compete more effectively due to their lower overall fixed costs.

In my pizza business, food costs ran 28%, + or - 1% depending on the price of cheese. In the restaurant business, I would rather have a loyal following due to good food at a fair price. Lower overhead can really give you a leg up in this regard.

 

I have eaten at Phillippes and Schooner or Later. Both are great spots! We want to try the Ramen house they showed in LA with the Spicy #2! I don't think i would order the hottest one tho!

 

I love Phillipe's and Schooner or Later. Get the Mess at Schooner.

A few months ago on DDD he said Hodads was the best burger ever, so I got in my car and made the two hour drive to see for myself. It was good. I got the bacon cheese burger and there was too much bacon. You really gotta love bacon. I'll get the cheeseburger next time.

 

Another time I was on Route 66 in Oklahoma so I went to the Rock Cafe that was from DDD. I got there only to find a burnt shell of a place. It had just burned to the ground. Hard to believe a restaurant made of stone could catch fire, but it did. So I have yet to try it.