Werner Park – Papillion, NE

August 10, 2016

 

This was a Wednesday night so it was Wiener Wednesday and quarter hot dog night which was sponsored by Hebrew national. The condiment station only had a few things; ketchup, mustard, relish but you can’t beat a quarter hot dog especially when it’s a decent brand like Hebrew national.

Dugger’s Café – Omaha Nebraska

August 11, 2016

We were here for rather late breakfast, but they serve breakfast the whole time they’re open. Mom and I ordered the lemon pancakes with bacon ($7.95) and dad ordered the lemon pancakes and sausage also ($7.95). Mom and dad both ordered coffee as well ($2.25).

These lemon pancakes were not huge in size. They were very good and had a good lemon flavor. These also came with homemade raspberry syrup which I thought were excellent and went very good with the lemon pancakes. The bacon I thought was all right.

Address: 4950 Dodge St, Omaha, NE 68132

Big Mama's Kitchen & Catering – Omaha Nebraska

August 10, 2016

Big Mama's Kitchen was featured on Diners Drive-ins and Dives years ago; the episode where big Mama made pig ear sandwiches and Guy didn’t know if he wanted to eat it. They also made fried chicken on that episode. They are located in an old school cafeteria which you can either go up the stairs to get to or take the elevator. We arrived for a little bit of a late lunch and I think, but I’m not 100% sure the waitress was big Mama’s granddaughter. She right away took our drink orders my dad ordered a Coke ($1.25) and mom a unsweetened iced tea ($3.50) and I just ordered a water so shortly she was back with the drink cart and delivered my dad a can Coke and a glass with ice and poured my mom’s Iced tea. Then she took our orders; dad ordered the meatloaf lunch ($10.99), I ordered the two-piece oven fried chicken with two sides ($11.99) and mom got the two-piece oven fried chicken with one side ($9.29). After we ordered I noticed big Mama was sitting down with the next table and seemed like she knew the people for a long time, but eventually when they got up to leave they were saying it’s nice to meet you so we found out quickly how friendly of a person big Mama was. Eventually our food arrived

my plate of fried chicken ended up with two thighs and mashed potatoes and chicken gravy and a piece a cornbread and my other side of fried okra was in a dish and had a little cup of raspberry preserves to dip the okra in I guess. I really liked this fried chicken it was fairly crisp but not really crispy and I’m not sure what all was in the breading but it had a bit more seasoning than a lot of fried chicken and it tasted very good. Also it didn’t seem to be quite as greasy as a lot of fried chicken is. The mashed potatoes and gravy were real good to and I really enjoyed the fried okra. I’m not so sure about it in the raspberry preserves but I liked them very much how they came. I used to not be big cornbread person, but now I’m starting to like cornbread a little bit more and this was really good cornbread. Mom really enjoyed her fried chicken as well and was happy with one side and glad you had the option of less sides.

Dad liked his meatloaf and he had mashed potatoes with brown gravy and mac & cheese to go along with this and thought his whole meal was pretty good. During our meal big Mama herself came by and sat down for a while. And she asked who’s idea it was it to come and wondered if we had seen her on TV. We did and it was one of the main reasons we came. And she also wondered what we thought of the food and I was really impressed with it. And she also made sure to tell us that they were going to be moving to a new location in the near future and if we’re ever in Omaha again to make sure and come back and stop in and see her again. Soon after our waitress returned and asked if we wanted dessert so dad ordered apple crisp ($3.50) and mom ordered the sweet potato pie ($4.25). They both really enjoyed their desserts, I tried the apple crisp and really enjoyed it and I didn’t bother trying the sweet potato pie because I really don’t like sweet potato anything. But mom did enjoy it. Soon after we also met big mama’s daughter number two as she called herself who said she helps big Mama with the jams. The whole experience at big mamas was a rather interesting one, from it being in an old school cafeteria which was kind of weird but kind of neat at the same time, how much of a family business it is and that big Mama took so much time to sit and visit with their customers and make them feel welcome was very neat and made lunch even more enjoyable. And the fried chicken you can’t forget about that.

 Address: 3223 N 45th St, Omaha, NE 68104

Goldie's Ice Cream Shoppe– Prairie city Iowa

August 9, 2016

This is my second stop for a pork tenderloin sandwich in Iowa, this time on our drive from Quad cities back to Omaha we stopped in Prairie city which is east of Des Moines. This was quite late for lunch and really in the middle of the afternoon around 2 o’clock. The building was rather small and they did have seating outside. Even though it was 2 o’clock it was still pretty much full. I wanted to try another version of a pork tenderloin sandwich before we got out of Iowa. So we all three ended up ordering a small Pepsi $1.90 a pork tenderloin sandwich for $7.27 and an order of Goldie’s fries for $2.90.

  

A bit after we ordered our food was delivered and the lady that brought it asked me if I was sure I could eat the whole thing and I wasn’t sure after seeing how big the thing was, but I said I was gonna try. The sandwich had a huge piece of pork that was breaded and crispy and fairly thin, topped with lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise with a regular sized hamburger bun. I ate and ate and ate and eventually throw in the towel.  I probably ate a bit more than half of it. This was good pork and I really liked how crispy it was and the mayonnaise was perfect on top. A few pieces of the pork were a bit tough and chewy but most of it was pretty good. The fries I really liked too, they were battered and crispy and I thought were very good. After eating I was absolutely stuffed, but my parents both had enough room left to try their ice cream. They both picked the flavor of the day which was mint chocolate chip for $1.87. This was all right my sample anyways, but wasn’t the best ice cream I’ve ever had. I also enjoyed this place because it being a small town type place.

 

 

 

TC's Point After DeWitt, IA

 

 

I very much enjoyed my second attempt at pork tenderloin sandwich and thought it was interesting how different the two in Iowa I had were. Both very good in different ways.

 

 

Goldie's Ice Cream Shoppe– Prairie city Iowa










Goldie's Ice Cream Shoppe

Address: 304 W 2nd St, Prairie City, IA 50228

 

 

Lemongrass Café – Moline Illinois

August 8, 2016

After a day visiting some of the John Deere attractions around the area including the harvester works factory and the John Deere pavilion, which was a couple blocks away we stopped in here for a bit early of a dinner. We parked back behind the restaurant and walked around to the front door which when we got there we found out it wasn’t wheelchair accessible. So we went back around to the back where they had the wheelchair accessible door. So we went in and were seated right away. After looking a bit at the menu we all three ordered a Coke $2.50 and I ordered the pad woon sen with chicken for $11.95 as did dad and mom got the pad Thai with chicken for $11.95. Then we sat and waited for a while and watched some of the staff interacting with a couple little kids that were there. They were very excited to see kids including our waitress carrying one of them around for a bit. Eventually our food came.

  

I thought my pad woon sen was pretty good. It had a glass noodles and vegetables and some sort of sauce. All of this tasted pretty good, but I have had better similar dishes. Dad seemed to like his too.

 

 

Mom enjoyed her pad Thai and I sampled it and I think it was better than when I got. I enjoyed this Asian place and wish I could go back and try some of their other things. Since they had many different Asian items from Thai to Korean to Chinese to Japanese and Vietnamese items that sounded good when reading the menu.

 

 

 

 

Address: 1419 5th Ave, Moline, IL 61265

 

  

Jimmy’s pancake House – Bettendorf Iowa

August 8, 2016

We stopped in for a late breakfast.

 

 

I got the one egg breakfast with bacon this came with hash browns and I chose toast to go with it. Mom had the same breakfast, but with pancakes. Dad had the two egg breakfast with sausage and pancakes. This was a nice little local breakfast place and it was a good solid breakfast nothing too crazy just a good breakfast. I liked how this place had different sized breakfasts and the one I got was the perfect size for this day.

 

 

 

 

 

Address: 2521 18th St, Bettendorf, IA 52722

 

Bierstube – Le Claire, IA

August 7, 2016

 We arrived here for dinner just after six after a day of exploring the Quad cities. When we arrived we were seated right away and had our drink orders taken; we all three ordered a Pepsi ($2 45). Then we had some time to look at the menu. After looking online previously at their menu I was intrigued by their Ruben rolls. So I kind of had an idea what I wanted, but still wanted time to look at the menu. Eventually we were ready to order and when our waitress was back I ordered the Ruben rolls ($13) with Spätzle and a side salad with creamy garlic dressing as my sides. Dad also got the Ruben rolls and mom got the salad and soup ($7). Then we had a little bit of a wait for our food to arrive.

 

The first thing that arrived was my side salad which I thought was pretty good; with red onions, cucumbers, a little bit a cheese and croutons. I had the creamy garlic dressing with it and it had some kick to it from the garlic and so did the onions in the salad for that matter.

 

 Before I got too far along with this the rest of our food arrived. The Ruben rolls were cut diagonally in half so there were six pieces and some thousand Island on the side along with my side of Spätzle. The Ruben rolls I thought were a great idea and these were pretty good. These were an egg roll wrapper filled with corned beef and Muenster cheese and some sauerkraut, but I thought it could’ve used some more sauerkraut, but it still tasted very good. And the thousand Island on the side was good and perfect to dip these in. My side of Spätzle was all right, but not the most exciting thing. This place was kind of a German place although probably not authentic, but I was glad we ate here and got to try out Ruben rolls and had a pretty good meal.

 

 

Address: 1001 Canal Shore Dr SW, Le Claire, IA 52753