Burger Bar - Roy, UT

The burger bar was a little out of the way,  29 miles outside of Salt Lake City. It is across a parking lot from a trailer park and about a mile from the gates of Hill Air Force Base.

It looked like an old dairy queen with only a walk up window. The only outside seating were a few cement benches. The employees shout your order number out over a much too loud loudspeaker.  Still, there were people lined up deep to wait for their food. The sign said "since 1952."

I got the elk burger. They claim that it is locally grown along with the buffalo that they also serve. The elk was really good. It comes on a single patty with their special sauce.  I found out that the special sauce was just mayonnaise and catchup. They also give you two little containers of the sauce to dip your fries in.

I showed up in mid September. They already had their seasonal pumpkin shake out but, I didn't notice the sign in time and just had vanilla. It was really more like soft ice-cream.  They piled it about three inches above the top of the Styrofoam cup.

I thought that Burger Bar was a 9.6. The food was unique and good and the atmosphere was sufficiently eccentric.

Burger Bar
5291 S 1900 W
Roy, UT 84067
801-825-8961

Ruth's Diner - Salt Lake City

Ruth's might be a diner but it is definitely not a dive. The first thing that hits you is actually on the drive up. Ruth's is situated out of town up in the mountains. It is gorgeous!

There is a large outdoor seating area. You sit under the canopy of some large trees with the majestic Rocky Mountains poking through.

Maybe as a tribute to the Rockies, they bring you out a "mile high" biscuit. It is probably about four inches square. They serve it with butter but, it is so good that it doesn't need it. Looking around at the other tables, it doesn't remain a mile high for long.

I got the tilapia sandwich with onion rings. The sandwich was nice. It had the fish with some Cole slaw and cheese on it. The bread was disappointingly ordinary after having experienced the biscuit.  The onion rings were good but, not great.

This was the most upscale triple-D restaurant in Salt Lake City so far. It was nice but nothing special despite the framed napkin-note from none other than Betty Crocker to Ruth raving about the biscuit.  The service was okay.

I'd give Ruth's an 8.3. The scenery on trip up the hill alone was worth checking it out, so I was not overall disappointed.

Ruth's Diner
2100 Emigration Canyon
Salt Lake City, UT 84108
(801) 582-5807
http://www.ruthsdiner.com

Rino's Place - East Boston, MA

Rino's is probably one of the best kept secret's in East Boston.  It was kind of strange because I went looking specifically for this restaruant and drove right past it the first time because the sign was not at all obvious and the shades were drawn, so it didn't even look like a restaruant on the side of the building that I drove by on.  So, on one hand they have been featured on national television but, on the other they don't stand out on a typical Boston neighborhood street.

There is no doubt that this is an Italian restaurant.  There were people actually speaking Italian in the restaurant and the look of the dishes being served at the other tables was pure Italian.

It was a pretty small restaurant.  The ceiling was like a plywood wood arch down the length of the single room.  It reminded me of an old railroad car but, it didn't match the outside of the building unless they built the brick building on top of the railroad car.  The only bathroom was though the kitchen door and to the right.  The whole kitchen was probably about 10 to 12 feet square

This was definitely not Giada's Italian kitchen.  This was a tough middle class Italian neighborhood.  People talk to you like they might sock you in the mouth at any time.  You'd better behave yourself.  The wait staff wasn't tripping over themselves with kindness here.  But, boy could someone in back cook.

I ordered the lobster ravioli.  I read some reviews on yelp.com before I came here and everyone raved about it.  Wow!  They raved for good reason. 

The pasta was obviously freshly made maybe after I ordered it.  It had that hard, chewy a-dente texture and taste that you only get with super fresh pasta.  The lobster was also obviously super fresh because it could not have spent much more time than the time to cook it inside of the pasta before being served.  The lobster still had its firmness to it.  The ricotta cheese inside was really flavorful.  The sauce was a really nice tomato sauce that tasted like the old country.  Just really great.
 
It came with a salad which was okay but, I didn't think that it was anything special.

Rinos Place
258 Saratoga Street
East Boston, MA 02128-1616
617.413.6390
www.rinosplace.com

The Blue Plate Diner - Salt Lake City

I'm starting to understand the Salt Lake City vibe.  It's kind of a funky, hippie, sporty, chilled-out attitude.  I think that I understand what John Denver meant by the "Rocky Mountain High" that he sung about years ago.  The Rockies hang in the background like a tapestry to remind you where you are.  There are relatively few overweight people walking around and a lot of people with backpacks and riding bicycles.  They seem to be connected to the earth and like their food to be natural, too.

I went to the Blue Plate Diner for breakfast.  I don't think that I've ever reviewed a restaurant for breakfast.  So, another DDD review first.

I ordered the verde chili breakfast burritto.  The plate came out absolutely piping hot and the waitress with the asbestos fingers moved it over to me.  It looked appetizing enough but, the verde sauce didn't look very green to me. It was more of an earthen brown. Not sure what was up with that?

Once I dug into it, any previous hangup was gone.  It had a nice initial spicy hot kick to it that didn't persist.  It was really tasty and damned large.  You could have split it between three people.

I liked the fact that you could substitute egg beaters© for eggs, which I did.  The taste really didn't suffer because of it.  I think that it might have been too heavy cooked with real eggs.  Real eggs also have more of a dominant flavor to them.


I've just recently discovered that I like avocado sauce.  So, I'm a poor judge of avocado dips or anything but, this avocado sauce was pretty good.

The atmosphere was that vibe that I just mentioned.  The crowd leaned more toward hippie. There were normal neighborhood people mixed in with lots of tie dye, tattoos and dreadlocks. I could smell
Marijuana in someone's clothes as they walked past me.  They had an old Honda motorcycle and some old bicycles chained to the building.   It was classic diner with the old fashioned soda fountain and stools around a Formica bar with stainless steel piping. I counted seven pictures of Elvis Presley.

I'd give bps a 9.3. I liked it and I think you would, too.

The Blue Plate Diner
2041 South 21st East
Salt Lake City, UT 84108

Hard Eight - Stephensville, TX

The Hard Eight is hands down my favorite barbeque joint anywhere.  I've been coming here for the past six years and I will continue coming here for a long time. 

The Hard Eight is not a triple-D restaurant but, it should be.  It's got everything that a triple-D restaurant should be.  First off, the food is "off the hook" fantastic.  The meats are cooked in outside smoking pits over local mesquite wood.  They keep a twelve-foot high mountain of cut wood in the parking lot to keep those fires going.

Second, it is a fun destination.  It is a very popular place with the Harley crowd.  There are usually at least a half dozen Harley Davidson motorcycles parked outside.  It is a great destination because it is about a two hour drive from Fort Worth through some pretty Texas countryside.  I sometimes see poker run signs in the parking lot.

It is also a popular destination for the private aviation crowd, which is how I found out about it.  Private pilots all over the country frequently head out for short flights for the proverbial "$100 hamburger" which is supposed to be the cost of the flight plus the food.  In Texas it is more like the "$100 barbeque."   The Clark County "Stephensville" Airport is very close to the restaurant.  I'm not sure that I know a DFW metroplex pilot that doesn't at least know about the Hard Eight if they aren't regulars there.  I've probably flown there 8 or 9 times.

It's a bit of an adventure for those of us who fly in.  After you land and tie the aircraft down, you could walk over to the restaurant.  It is about a 10 minute walk.  But, the restaurant also has golf carts at the airport with the keys in them.  You can just hop in an available golf cart and follow the path through the woods and park in the National Guard armory right across the street.   If you have kids with you, they LOVE driving the golf carts.  If the carts are all gone then just call the restaurant and they'll send someone for you.

The single runway is in good shape.  The government built a nice new terminal building in probably 2009.  The restrooms are always clean and the local guys are friendly and ready to help you out.  They also have self-serve jet fuel and 100 octane low lead avgas for the rest of us.  There are plenty of tie-down spots for transient pilots.  There is a sky-diving school on the airport.  So, you sometimes get to watch the jumpers landing on the grass area.

You order your food before you even step inside the building right from the open barbecue pits.  They put the meat on butcher paper on plastic trays that you then bring inside.  You pay for the meat by weight.  They have everything else on the tray line inside.

Today I got the smoked turkey sandwich on jalapeno sour dough bread.  I got some cole slaw and two shrimp poppers.  The "brush poppers" are either shrimp or chicken wrapped in jalapeno, onion and bacon with a toothpick holding it all together.  Not exactly heart healthy but, boy they are delicious.  The bacon is still a little chewy and the whole thing is smoked thereby causing the pepper and bacon flavors to blend into the meat or fish.  They do just slide down easily.

I've had the hot links, chicken, brisket and ham before.  It is all really very good.  If you are not flying then they have free beer.  There are some beer taps and if you ask then someone will come over and pull a draft for you.  That might partially explain the popularity of this place with the Harley folks.

The Hard Eight gets a 10 out of 10 on my triple-D scale.  It is my "go to" place to bring people visiting the area.  I take every opportunity to fly here whenever I can.  I think that everyone should check it out.  Unless you are a vegetarian, you'll be back too.

Hard-Eight Barbeque
1091 Glen Rose Rd
Stephenville, TX 76401
(254) 968-5552
www.hardeightbbq.com

Donatelli's - White Bear Lake, MN

When I walked through the door and saw an ice-cream parlor, I didn't expect to be dining on Italian food.  But, if you pay attention then you'll notice the daily specials posted on the wall which clearly have nothing to do with ice-cream.  Donatelli's was not a diner, I didn't drive-in so,  that leaves dive.   I didn't think that it was that much of a dive, just a little confusing.

Being originally from New York, I think that I have a pretty good handle on what an italian restaurant is supposed to be.  So, to add to my confusion, the smells of pizza from the ovens was noticably abscent. I could see the ovens on the way to the back of the restaurant but, no baking bread and tomato scents.  Still confused.

My patience with the place was well rewarded however.  First, hospitality to be really good.  In fact, I found the hospitality everywhere in Minnesota to probably be some of the best in the whole country.  People are just genuinely nice.

Then, I experienced my first bite.  I ordered the baked linguini carbonara.  WOW!  Very rewarding indeed.  It came out piping hot from the oven on a second cooler plate that you could actually look at without getting third degree burns.  It was cheesy, smokey and chewy all at once.  The smoke flavor coming from the bacon was perfect as was the amount of cheese charring from having been baked.  The peas added just a bit of color and chimed into the mix also perfectly.  OK, any previous dining sins had just been forgiven.

I've had linguini carbonara plenty of times before and it really wasn't like this.  I didn't get lost in Donatelli's carbonara sauce.  Usually, the carbonara sauce is the most dominant thing on the plate at most italian restaurants.  Donatelli's carbonara sauce just brought out the best from the homemade pasta, chicken, bacon and peas. 

I was enjoying this plate so much that I actually temporarily forgot how other restaurants prepared the meal.  This just seemed like the way it should be.

As the plate cooled down, you could start to really pick out the individual flavors. Chicken was sliced fairly thin and the bacon fairly thick so that they were both about the same size.  The bacon was more chewy than crunchy and it was very lean.  

There was no bread brought out before meal. But my meal came with bread.  I found it to be a bit disappointing.  It had the soft wonder bread crust instead of the hard Italian bread crust.  The taste was kind of blah also.  I only took one bit of bread.  I absolutely did not go away hungry though.  The linguini was really filling.  I couldn't eat all of it.

I'd give Donatelli's an 8.8.   The pasta alone is worth driving out of your way to find.  Go there hungry!

Donatelli's
2692 East County Road E
White Bear Lake, MN 55110
http://donatellis.com/
651.777.9199

Pat's BBQ - Salt Lake City

This was the first time that I'm reviewing a restaurant that I only did take-out with.  I did walk into the restaruant and even sat down.  The only thing was that I did not have a lot of time to spare and this seemed like a kick-back and take it easy type of place.  There's nothing wrong with that.  It just wasn't something that I could do today.

When you walk in you are first in a hallway.  It is unclear where the actual restaurant is.  There are signs pointing you in the direction of whatever you are looking for.  The first door on the right is the take-out window room.  Down the hall and to the left is a bar area.  Straight ahead and outside is an outdoor area with picnic tables set up.

 I sat down at a picnic table and judging from the cadence of the conversation that the only waiter was having with the only other people in the restaurant, I figured that I had better just do take-out.  So, I went back inside.

The meatloaf was one of the specials.  So, I went for it.  They used a BBQ sauce on it and the meat itself had a smokey BBQ flavor to it that was really good.  It came with cornbread, mashed potatoes and I ordered some coleslaw. The coleslaw was fresh, crispy and nice.  The mashed potatoes had a regular meat gravy on them.  I thought that the gravy and BBQ mix didn't quite work well together.  It should have been one or the other.

Overall, I thought that it was very good though.  I liked both the food and the atmosphere.  I was chatting with another guy waiting for take-out also.  He had been here many times before.  I got the impression that it was more of a night-time place when Pat's becomes alive.

I'd give it a 9.5 and would suggest anyone to try it out.

Pat's BBQ
155 W. Commonwealth Ave
Salt Lake City, UT 84115
Phone (801) 484-5963

Hot As Hell Hefeweizen by the Little Red Chevette Brewery

Padre warned me about the banana on the nose but, I didn't believe it.  He was right. The first thing that hits you after you pour a glass of Hot as Hell Hefeweizen from the Little Red Chevette Brewing Company is the distinctive smell of bananas.  Padre explained that no bananas were actually hurt in the production of this brew.  The smell is entirely attributable to the yeast in action.

Before I get to the actual "un-capping," a bit about Padre, a long time friend and the brewmaster at LRCB.  LRCB and Padre actually hail from part New Jersey that earned it the Garden State title.  Padre enjoys his days canoeing the picturesque, cool country Kittatinny Valley lakes in search of perfect fishing spots.  He spends hours paddling the waters in an aquatic hunt for his finned prey.  But, when he is not busy giving the fish population of northern NJ heck then he is busy in his shop brewing beer from the same local pure, deep glacial lake waters, testing his chemistry and fermentation.  It's a bit of science and sorcery.  If Santa Clause is "Father Christmas" then Padre is "Father Beer."

Padre takes his beer very seriously and gave me specific instructions on how to best enjoy his brew and what to look for.  You get the sense right away that this is a heartfelt brew worthy of respect.  I couldn't think of a more worthy subject for Bill's Triple-D review in breaking with the restaurant only review tradition.

Padre's inspiration for LRCB's Hotter Than Hell Hefeweizen was the pity he took on those of us in the southern states who suffered through one of the most brutally hot summers on record in 2011.  The label on HTHH is a drawing of Texas being baked by flames in the background.  Needless to say, Padre decision to send some of the goodness to me was very welcome.

One of Padre's first instructions to me was to drink the beer from a clean glass.  The breweries in Europe usually have their own glasses or steins that they suggest you drink their beer from.  LRCB did not yet have glasses for HTHH, so I decided to use a hefewiezen glass from the Alpirsbacher Klosterbräu direct from Kinzigtal in Germany's Black Forrest. 

The worst thing about HTHH is that the whole glass disappeared much too quickly.  YUM!  It was that good.  There is nothing about this beer that you "have to get used to."  It just slides down as smooth as can be.  There was a concert of tastes and yeasty smells that only could have come from high-quality ingredients, including great water.  I can't really describe all of them.  That might say more about me as a first-time beer reviewer than anything else.  The beer was light in taste but, weighty in consistency.

I enjoyed a lot of really great beers when I lived in Germany.  The Germans are not afraid of cloudy beer if it helps the taste.  The mass produced hefeweizens in the US tend to be kind of tastless because they do filter out the sediment.  Padre's HTHH reminded me a lot of the great German beers because it had the bold yeast smell and taste.  The best German hefeweizens have that banana smell, too.

Padre doesn't publish the alcohol content of his brew.  I'm no lightweight but, after just one I was feeling just fine with the world.  I honestly don't know enough about beer chemistry to say whether the alcohol content adds or subtracts to the taste and enjoyment.  Whatever it is, Padre got it right on the money.

There was one bit of advice that Padre gave me that I wasn't too sure about.  He suggested leaving the last 1/4 inch of beer with the sediment on the bottom of the bottle.  In Germany they will roll the bottle on the table in order to stir up all of the sediment into the beer.  So, that was what I was used to.  I went half way and first sampled the beer using Padre's recommendation then I poured the gunk in the bottom of the bottle into the glass and tried it.  The sediment was actually pretty good.

I'm giving Padre's Hotter Than Hell Hefeweizen a 10 out of 10 on the Triple-D scale.  If I find a better beer then I'll bust the 1 - 10 scale.  But, I have a hard time imagining that right now.

Little Red Chevette Brewing
Andover, New Jersey
http://sites.google.com/site/littleredchevettebrew/home





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La Calle - Mexico City

Guy Fiere has never been to La Calle but, he should visit there.  This review marks a new chapter in Bill's Triple-D restaurant review.  This was the first non-diners, drive-inns and dives restaurant review and the first international review.  DD&D is still my inspiration in terms of exploring no-star restaurants with great food and drink in sometimes unusual places, but I'm not going to limit my reviews to just restaurants that have been on tv anymore.  In fact, I'm not going to limit the blog just to restaurants anymore.  Stay tuned.

La Calle is in the Santa Fe section of Mexico City. Most of what I saw of Mexico City would qualify as a super dive but, Santa Fe was not.  It is the shiny upscale area; a phoenix of a development built on what was a landfill several years earlier.  There are high-end department stores and expensive high-rise apartment buildings. 

The atmosphere was pretty cool. It was trying to be an old Mexican restaurant.  As a Gringo, to me it seemed like a Mexican restaurant trying to be a Mexican restaurant.   There were only Mexicans here besides my mixed-nationality group, so I don't think that they were trying to impress anyone by hamming-up their Mexican-ness like you sometimes find in the states.


The first thing that they served us was  soup in a little shot glass.  I had never seen soup presented that way.  It was dark brown in color and someone joked that it was a water glass.  It was actually shrimp soup.  It was really tasty but, rather salty which probably helps with beer sales.   The Pacifico Cerveza went down exceptionally smoothly as a chaser.

I ordered the avocado fish. I couldn't tell exactly what kind of dish it was from the Spanish description on the menu but, it was a white fish.  It could have maybe been sea bass.  The fish itself was okay but, the avocado sauce was the star of this show.

The fish was served hidden under a blanket of vegetables.  The fish and veggies were really only there as a vehicle to pick the sauce up with, in my opinion.  I'm kind of a recent convert to avocado.  I used to be turned off by the green color that caused me to never try it.

I'm glad that I got over it in time to sample La Calle's avocado sauce.  It was good enough for me to break with Triple-D tradition.   It was creamy and savory if a little heavy on the salt as well.  La Calle had their own bakery (panadería) which kept us supplied with lots of fresh bread.  That was a good thing because I just wanted to sop up every drop of the green goodness.

One of my compadres at my table ordered something that basically consisted of a caldron of meat, vegetables and potatoes. I didn't try it but, it looked pretty darned good.

I'd give La Calle a 9.6.  It might not have been unique for a Mexican but, it was for me.  The food was really good and the atmosphere unique for me.



La Calle
Av. Vasco de Quiroga #3800
Centro Comercial Santa fe
Colonia Santa fe
Mexico District federal
05109

tel. 5257 0885
http://www.restaurantelacalle.com.mx

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Baby Blues B B Q - Venice, CA

The atmosphere at Baby Blues BBQ is kind of hippie cowboy. There are steer horns on the wall, lots of squirter bottles of pepper-sauce everywhere, guitars and pictures of Bob Marley on the wall.

It is my kind of place but, it is a dive for sure.  I could see how the LA Board of Health might have a field day in here. There were hot peppers floating around in old whiskey bottles.  I didn't quite understand that.  I don't know if they put those away when the health inspectors come by or what.

The barbecue food was really good, even by the Texas standards that I'm used to.  They have a whole smorgasbord of barbecue sauces on each table which were fun to experiment with.  I feared the really hot varieties but the milder ones were pretty good.

They advertise themselves as Memphis-style BBQ.  I had the "The Cherokee Spike" which was pulled pork, brisket and a hot link.  It came with a slab of cornbread.  This was a meat eater's delight.  We also ordered a Blues Cob.  The blues cob was roasted corn on the cob with some kind of spices and parmesian cheese on top. I don't think that there was any butter on the corn. The cheese took the place of the butter. The sharpness of the parmesan was a nice contrast withe the sweet corn.  The star of the show was easily the Blues Cob.

They are not light on the portions. This is not the skinny side of LA.
I'd give baby blues a 9 out of 10 on the triple d scale of divey delight.

Baby Blues BBQ
444 Lincoln Blvd.
Venice California 90291
310-396-7675
www.babybluesvenice.com

Prince Lebanese Grill - Arlington, TX

The blue collar section of Arlington, Texas seemed an unlikely location for a true middle eastern restaurant. This area of town is dominated by BBQ, burger and fast food restaurants.

Prince Lebanese is in what looks like it might have been an old Sonic restaurant from the 1970's. So, it clearly qualified under the "dive" heading. I'm home.

The middle eastern food was as good or better than anything that I've had in Detroit, the US capital of middle eastern food.

The humus and high quality beef for me is what defines a middle eastern restaurant. Prince didn't disappoint.

I had the need shwarma which was like a beef wrap but in a thicker, softer bread.

My photos got lost somehow so, you'll just have to try it for yourself to see.  I rated Prince Lebanese Grill a very respectable 8.5.

Prince Lebanese Grill
502 W Randol Mill Road
Arlington, TX
(817) 469-1811
www.princelebanesegrill.com

Brat's Brothers Gourmet Sausage Grill - Sherman Oaks, CA

When I saw kaesespaetzle on the menu on Brat's Brothers web site then I knew that it would be worth checking out.   Kaesespaetzle are potato based noodles usually served with cheese. It is a classic Swabian dish.  When I got there, they actually had what I would characterize as Jaegerspaetzle or "hunters spaetzle" which is the spaetzle with a mushroom gravy sauce instead of cheese. So, that's what I went for.... But, not before ordering a bier.

I found it charming when the very nice Mexican-American chick wearing a dirndle with tatoos and Toms sneakers brought over a refreshing beverage in a genuine brewery supplied glass. 

They have quite impressive selection of German biers on tap.  I had an Erdinger Weissbier.  It really hit the spot.  It had been ten years almost exactly since I moved back to the states from Germany.  The German bier gartens were one of those things that I really miss.  It wasn't just the bier, it was the whole atmosphere.   Wow, how I miss that.

They had Erdinger, Hoffbrau, Spaten and. Franziskaner brand beer on tap. These are all the national brands which to the Germans are very ordinary but, for us "Ami's" are not at all ordinary.  It was definitely a treat.  A normal $6 genuine German bier on tap is $4 during happy hour.  

When I visited Brat's Brothers, they had just moved locations, which explains how they might have gotten on Diners, Drive-Inns and Dives in the first place because this restaurant was none of those.
It is a nice place with outdoor seating to enjoy Southern California weather. Inside in the center of the restaurant is a 30 foot single slab of wood of a table that people are supposed to sit around European style, only this one is 3 feet across versus the real deal foot and a half width.


I almost want to withhold a triple-d rating because they really no longer qualify under any of the three "d's."   But, I think that just like what they did for the homerun king baseball player that is later found to have taken steroids, I'll issue a grade with an asterisk.

I'm giving Brat Brothers a 7*.   Here's why. The food was good but, probably not as good as any mediocre German restaurant that it was trying to be.   The menu was trying to be a straight copy of a Bavarian restaurant.   My opinion is that Triple-d restaurants have to be something unique and noteworthy unto themselves.   Although I really enjoyed Brats Brothers and would go there again, it wasn't unique.

I found the atmosphere to be artificially produced. For example, there were two sets of lederhosen under glass cases on the wall.  That's like hanging your underwear up in a restaurant.  There is just something wrong about that.

So, check out Brat's Brothers if you want some good food and good bier but, don't go there looking for a triple-d experience.

Brat's Brothers Gourmet Sausage Grill
13456 Ventura Blvd
Sherman Oaks, CA 91423
(818) 986-4020
www.bratsbrothers.com