Crystal on Penn - Pittsburgh, PA

Crystal on Penn in Pittsburgh is a typical city bar.  Everyone at the bar obviously knew each other well.  They probably sell a lot of beer.  It is most definitely a burger and a beer type of place with the heavy emphasis on the beer.

I got the Montreal chicken sandwich and a Molson Golden beer to wash it down.  The Molson on tap was pretty good. But, the chicken sandwich was very ordinary. 

Overall, I was not very impressed.  I would rate Crystal on Penn 5.0 for purely average.  Unfortunately, as a restaurant, it was  not DDD quality.   I probably did not order whatever Guy had.  Still, I would pass on this one in the future unless I was just looking to have a few beers.

1211 Penn Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
www.crystalonpenn.com
(412) 434-0480

The Diner - Norman, OK

The Diner in Norman, Oklahoma is most definitely a dive in the best kind of way.  It is small with all of the stereotypical drippings of a diner such as lots of pink neon everywhere, the long counter with the round swivel stools and a row of vinyl covered booths.  There is nothing pretentious about it.

Norman is a college town.  This is the kind of place that I could imagine college students rolling into after a night out on the town in the middle of the morning for some eggs to sop up whatever adult beverage they over-enjoyed that night.

I was there for lunch.  Even I am not that much of a hero to have begun drinking early in the morning.  I ordered the Santa Fe chicken sandwich.  It came with some ruffle chips probably out of a large bag in the back.

The sandwich itself was really pretty good.  It was piping hot so, I opened it up to let the heat out.  The waitress came over concerned.  She thought that something was wrong.  She was pretty good; obviously attentive and caring.  She was fast with everything she did.  She had to be because she was a one-person wait staff.  That didn't seem to bother her.  She seemed to have it well under control.

A student photographer came into the restaurant.  She was photographing the people and the place.  She photographed a guy at the bar then asked for his information for a model release.  He obliged, no problem.

I could see becoming a regular here if I lived in Norman.  The Diner is probably a place that you wear like an old shoe.  It is just comfortable.  It is a place where real people just live unpretentiously.  It doesn't even have a real name.

I liked The Diner.  The food was pretty good but the atmosphere just seemed really homey.  I'd give it a 8.8.  Definitely try it out and stay a while.

The Diner
213 E Main St
Norman, OK 73069
(405) 329-6642 

Ingrid's Kitchen - Oklahoma City, OK

Ingrid's calls themselves Euro-American cuisine.  I would probably consider them a German bakery/deli/cafeteria with a mix of  Other-European and American thrown in.  When you first come in the door, you have to grab a menu and wait in line to order.  When you pay they give you a number on a stand so that the food runners can find you.

The menu has a lot of German dishes.  It looks like they make their own sausages (wuerst) onsite.   I had the Weiner Schnitzel sandwich with a tabouli salad.  Wein is German for Vienna which is in Austria but, you find it everywhere in Germany.  Tabouli is a Mediterranean dish which has nothing to do with Western Europe.

While you are waiting in line, you have to stand in front of the glass bakery cases.  The cakes and pastries looked really good but, I was good and stayed away.  Not good for blog reporting but good for my personal health. 

After you pay there is another set of cases with freshly baked bread and an evil guillotine looking thing presumably to slice bread or punish patrons who get out of line.

We arrived at the lunch hour, so the food took a little bit of time to arrive.  There is not much in the way of service to talk about.  One of the waitress had a thick German accent.   I'm guessing that she might have been Ingrid herself.  She was in much too much of a hurry to strike a conversation up with. So, I may never know.

The tabouli salad was very good.  The tomato that they used was especially good for this time of year in February.  It comes on a plate with a leaf of lettuce.  The Weiner Schnitzel was pretty good but, the bread that they served it on was really good.  It must have come from their own ovens in the back.

My lunch partner just got a turkey and cheese sandwich.  He was really impressed with the gouda cheese.  The sliced bread looked really good and he said that it was.

The restaurant is in a mixed residential and commercial neighborhood a little off of the beaten track in Oklahoma City.  The building is painted with the German national colors along the roof line.  German signage is everywhere inside and the men's room was wallpapered with old editions of German newspapers and magazines.

This is probably a good place for drinks after work and on the weekends.  They served lots of different kinds of German beer.  There was a room in the back that looked made for drinking.

Overall, I would give Ingrid's a 8.5 on the triple-D scale.  The food was really good but, not necessarily unique like you would expect out of a triple-D joint.  The atmosphere was good but again, not blow your socks off.  It is worth checking out and I would definitely go here again. 

Ingrid's Kitchen
3701 North Youngs
Oklahoma, OK 73112
405 946-8444
http://www.ingridskitchen.com/

Grandpa's - Dania Beach, FL

I had just stepped off of a flight hungry and with a little time to kill.  Grampa's was close enough to the Ft. Lauderdale airport to make this breakfast visit possible.  My stomach was growling as I rolled into Dania Beach.

Inside and out there were pictures of Guy Fiere and the Diners, Drive-Inns and Dives logo.  This is usually a bad sign.  When you first walk in you are in the bakery section.  It is obvious to me that this is an Italian bakery.  They even had black and whites which you really only find in New York.  It all looked really good.

The diner menu looked like any diner menu: nothing really special.  I wasn't really sure what set this place apart until the complimentary pastries arrived at my table.  They were bite sized cherry, peach, and I think lemon filled pastries that come out as an appetizer.  They were a meal unto themselves.  Restraint was definitely in order.  Though I could see how some people might just come in to order just coffee and make a meal out of the free pastries.  But, that's not what I did. 

The waiter was very fast and friendly and sold me on the special.  The Eggs Benedict were the special this morning.  I didn't pause to think about it too hard.  I just rolled with it.   As it turned out, the eggs Benedict were okay.   Maybe they were the best I've ever had and maybe they weren't. Who knows?  The hash browns were like any that you might get at any Waffle House.  It was at that point that I realized that the pastries were the star of the show here and were what made this place kind of unique.

The atmosphere was typical diner.  Again, nothing really out of the ordinary.  I would give Grandpa's an 8.0 on the triple-d scale.

Grampa's Bakery & Restaurant
17 SW 1st St
Dania, FL 33004
(954) 923-2163
www.grampasbakery.com/

Stamey's Barbecue - Greensboro, NC

According to their web site, Warner Stamey started this restaurant in 1938. It has been passed down through the family generations ever since.

I only did take-out here but even from the outside, this place had character.  There is no doubt that not a drop of liquid smoke was used in the production of Stamey's BBQ products.  They had piles of hand cut wood outside of their building with a sign warning any wood thieves to think again about it.

It wouldn't be fair of me to rate this restaurant because I don't feel like I fully experienced it.  I couldn't tell you a thing about their service because all I did was pull up at the drive through window, for example.

I can tell you what I did like.  The hush puppies were really good.  They were kind of long shaped, not the balls that you normally see.

I got the Brunswick stew.  This was a meat, bean, vegetable stew that was very filling and very good.  It was served very hot but not spicy at all.  Eating even a relatively small container of the stew with the hush puppies filled me up in no time at all. 

Stameys Barbecue
2206 High Point Road
Greensboro, NC 27403
336-299-9888
www.stameys.com

Whale's Rib - Deerfield Beach, FL

Florida from a culinary point of view is about seafood, recreational summertime beverages and key-lime pie.  That pretty sums up the Whale's Rib.

They had an actual jawbone from a 712-pound tiger shark hanging behind the bar.  I didn't notice any actual whale ribs or bones of any kind anywhere. The bartender said that it was very old, probably from the 1930's but she had no further intel on it. 

The bar/restaurant is a few yards from the Atlantic Ocean.  Beach-goers can step out of the blinding Florida sun and into the dark bar to let their sunburns heal and feed their hunger and thirst.

I was unfortunately not in Deerfield Beach to play so, I had to behave myself during lunch.  The only liquid that I had was water with a slice of lemon.  The first time that I visited Whale's Rib I got the dolphin sandwich on bar tender's suggestion.  The restaurant seating area was too full and we had to sit at the bar.  This was a good sign.

The dolphin sandwich was very surprisingly good.  The dolphin fish (mahi mahi, not flipper) was really fresh as you would expect a few feet from the ocean and flavorful.  They also did not hold back on the fish quantity.  It kept sliding out of the sandwich because it was in a slippery creamy sauce that had a slight kick to it. 

I had actually started out with a cup of lobster bisque.  My experience has been that outside of the Boston area, to set your expectation level down a few notches.  I really like lobster bisque soup and am willing to accept the fact that I can't get the best quality soup everywhere.  This was a huge exception.  It was every bit as good as you would find in Bean-Town.

My lunch partner and I liked the Whale's Rib so much that we went back again for dinner the next day.  I liked the lobster bisque and was so tickled that I could get a really good one that I had it again this night.  I almost wanted it to fail so that I could prove my original theory correct.  I was gladly let down.  It was as good as ever.

I had the lobster salad for dinner to go with the bisque.  This was not the wisest of moves.  I did not have my bar tender friend to lead me in the right direction.  The whole neighborhood including the restaruant had lost electrical power for a couple of hours and it came on just before we got there.  So, all the workers were rushing around trying to get back on track.  No dinnertime help.

The lobster salad was a little bland at first.  Luckily, they had a whole assortment of pepper sauces on the table.  I man-ed up and set out to literally spice up this meal.  I tried a few types and finally settled on the house spice in the unmarked generic plastic ketchup squeeze bottle.  This made all the difference.  I don't know why they didn't just serve it that way.

Then again, would have to guess that the average age of local residence was well over 65.  I suppose the bland lobster salad would be good for a lot of the local Deerfield residents.  I suppose that you kind of had to take some level of ownership of your dining experience with the lobster salad.  Whereas the dolphin sandwich was given to you ready to go, the lobster required that you use a little imagination.  It all turned out well in the end.

In fact, the best part of the whole experience was the dessert.  When in Florida, I have to have the key-lime pie.  It was absolute killer!    

I would give the Whale's Rib a 9.1 on the triple-D scale.  My second visit was for dinner and I also got to sample their beer selection which was pretty wide.  I think that this put me in a pleasant mood from the get go and might have added a few happiness points to their score.  Oh well, all's fair in love and dining.

Whale's Rib
2033 NE 2nd St
Deerfield Beach, FL 33441
(954) 421-8880

Colossal Cafe - Minneapolis, MN

The first thing that hits you when you walk in the door of the Colossal Cafe is the diminutive size of the dining area.  It's tiny! The accompanying photos probably don't really convey this.

As you step up To the counter they have some of their signature deserts called "flips" under glass and under your nose to tempt you. Flips are basically whipped cream in a pastry shell. The strawberry flips have sliced strawberries half sunk into the cream. I didn't try them but they look delicious.  On yelp someone made a comment about how good the walnut and brie flappers were.  I don't know if they meant flips.

What the dining area lacks in size, it makes up in quaintness. There were fresh flowers on each table.   The tables are close together so, its easy to make friends with your neighbors, and we did. 

This is a friendly neighborhood restaurant.  Young moms walked up, unstrapped and picked-up their youngsters and left their strollers outside while they communed with other young moms and their kids inside.

I had the Tunisian pumpkin spice soup and the Meatloaf sandwich.  The pumpkin soup was thick with a tiny bit of spicy heat to it.  The heat was not in a Cajun pepper kind of way, more like a Mediterranean food kind of way.

My neighbor said that he was originally from Egypt and makes this soup at home all of the time.  It is very healthy according to him.

Not all of the food served at the Colossal was probably all that healthy.  One of the tables was being served a breakfast biscuit.  This thing was an egg/flour monster.  I wasn't sure if she was going to eat it or if it was going to eat her.  It was huge!  I'm afraid to know what the calorie and cholestorol count on that beast was.  It did look decadently good though.

The meatloaf sandwich was like nothing that I've ever had before.  It was a mix of meats to begin with.  I think it was pork and beef with some kind of spices, maybe parsley and pepper.  The bun was really good bread; like a pretzel bun without the thick kosher salt.  They threw on some alfalfa and other green leafy stuff.  But, what really made this special was the cranberry chutney sauce.  It made the sandwich kind of like a Thanksgiving sandwich if you had meatloaf for Thanksgiving dinner.  The citrus flavor of the cranberry chutney was in perfect contrast to the savory meat flavor and consistency. 

One meatloaf patty would have been plenty but, they give you two.  I was not complaining.  It all comes served with some kettle style potato chips and baby pickles. 

Service was good.  The wait-folks were friendly and helpful. 

They only accept cash or local checks.  No credit cards accepted.

Food, service and atmosphere were everything that you would expect from a triple-D restaruant.  I would give Colossal Cafe a 9.8 on Bill's Triple-D scale.  Definitely worth checking out.


Colossal Cafe - Minneapolis, MN
1839 East 42nd Street
Minneapolis, MN 55407
(612) 729-2377
http://www.colossalcafe.com/