Blue Ash Chili Restaurant - Blue Ash, Ohio

Blue Ash, Ohio is a suburb of Cincinnati.  They LOVE their chili in Cincinnati with almost a cult-like appreciation for it.

So, it was no surprise that they would have entire restaurants dedicated to nothing but chili and it was no mistake that Blue Ash Chili has chili as an ingredient in almost everything that they serve.  Some of it was presented in some really creative ways.

Cincinnati chili is basically a no bean chili served with enough cheese to make one of those cheddar head hats that the Green Bay fans sometimes wear.  I actually prefer the opposite kind of chili, the all bean or some kind of lean meat chili and a little if any cheese. 

I ordered the chili lasagna. It was kind of like regular lasagna made with a traditional Italian meat sauce but with a different set of spices.  Whereas with Italian meat sauce, the tomato and basil is the star of the show but with Cinci chili lasagna the meat and onions are the stars of the show.  It was good. 

The chili is served with no perceptible spicy kick to it like I’m used to. For that they leave two kinds of pepper sauces on the table for you.  I usually like to not put extra stuff on my food because right or wrong, I feel like the food should come plated just the way that the chef intended it to be eaten. 

The atmosphere is pure American Diner.  They have the checkered tile and formica tables bolted to the floor and wall.  The waitresses will call you “hun” and don’t have a pretencious bone in their bodies. 

I’d rate Blue Ash Chili an 8 out of 10 on the Triple-D scale.

Blue Ash Chili Restaurant
9565 Kenwood Rd
Cincinnati, Ohio
(513) 984-6107
www.blueashchili.com

Jamaica Gates - Arlington, Texas

Jamaica Gates was a little disappointing on a couple of different levels.  We showed up on a Sunday a little after 12 noon when they opened up.  They didn’t have any rice ready or being cooked when we showed up.  So, we had to wait quite a while for our food.

I think that they hadn’t baked any bread yet either because the bread tasted a day old.  I think that they actually served us day old bread and tried to pass it off as fresh.

The atmosphere was okay.  As a Caribbean restaurant, I half expected some strong atmosphere from that part of the world.  The restaurant was actually kind of ordinary except for the Bob Marley flags and Bob Marley music playing. 

On a positive note, I ordered a jerk chicken salad which was pretty good.  I appreciated the fact that a Triple-D restaurant had something on the menu that wasn’t a heart attack on a plate.

So, I’m glad that I tried it but, I’m in no rush to get back to Jamaica Gates.  I'd give it a 4 out of 10 on the Triple-D scale.

Jamaica Gates


1020 W. Arkansas (SW corner of Cooper and Arkansas)
Arlington, Texas 76013
Phone: (817) 795-2600

Blue Door Pub - St. Paul, Minnesota

I visited the Blue Door Pub on October 10, 2010.  This was 15 days before the episode on this place was due to be aired on the DDD TV show.  I sometimes wonder if the attention that the TV show brings to a restaurant might spoil it a little because of all of the extra customers that it brings.  That thankfully wasn't the case here.

The Blue Door Pub in St. Paul, Minnesota was another in long line of triple-d neighborhood bar restaurants.  They had free flowing beer and lots of burgers being served.

The burger that caught my attention was the Pad Thai Burger.  I’ve had Pad Thai plenty of times before but, I only knew it as an egg-noodle dish from Thailand.  I had a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of having this on a hamburger bun.  The execution was really well done.  It was kind of like a really awesome egg sandwich.  They had a slice of thick-cut cheddar cheese on the sandwich which was a dominant taste that complimented the egg perfectly.  It was really innovative and expertly executed.

Also a mind-blower were the beer-battered green beans.  The concept of battering and frying green beans just seems weird.  Again, they were great.  The green beans had an intense green bean taste and were really juicy.  They are perfect for dipping into the ranch sauce that comes with them.

The service was excellent.  The waitress was super busy because we went there during the lunch hour rush.  That didn’t take away from her attitude.  She was super friendly and efficient.

I give the Blue Door Pub a 9 out of 10 on the triple-d scale. 

The Blue Door Pub
1811 Selby Ave
St. Paul, MN 55104
(651) 493-1865

Psycho-Suzi's Motor Lounge - Minneapolis

Psycho Suzi's is a northern exposure tiki bar. There is lots of bamboo and kitschy polenesian statuettes and beach paraphernalia everywhere.  The lights are turned down low to make you feel like you are at a luau.  There were lots of island drinks with colorful little umbrellas in them flying by on serving trays. I was suspiciously alone at my table as the intrepid individual business traveler. Most of the other tables were filled with groups of revelers.

You can order a pu-pu platter, sandwiches, pizza or any other type of bar food that you want. I opted for the pizza. I chose the Hawaiian pizza in keeping with the Polynesian spirit. They call it their “Paradise City.” It had canadian bacon, pineapple, pineapple rum-soaked raisins and red onion.

The pizza was pretty good but, the service was a little bit weak. I think that because I was just a table of one and I was only drinking diet cokes that my waitress was probably preoccupied with better paying tables requiring more frequent calls for replenishment. I had to waive at her a few times to gain her attention. If I was not on a triple-d mission to review this restaruant then I might have just picked up and walked out after having to wait so long to get an order in.

I would give this place a 4 out of 10 on the triple-d scale mostly because of the service. They will be moving locations down the street as of this writing. Hopefully they will revamp the whole operation at that point. Maybe I just had a stroke of bad luck one night. Who knows?

Kramarczuk Sausage Company - Minneapolis

The Kramarczuk Sausage Company is very different than most triple-d restaurants in that it is neither a diner, a drive-inn nor a dive but, it was funky enough and good eats enough to pop up on my radar screen.

The first thing that you notice when you walk in is that it is a European butcher shop.  They have all kinds of meats, mostly sausages that were prepared according to mostly eastern European recipes.  There are a lot of other dry and canned products that came from Europe.

The other side of the store is a cafeteria style restaurant.  The food is all eastern European derived dishes.  I got the combination plate on the advice of the girl behind the counter.  Not only didn’t I know what most of the items in the chafing dishes were, I couldn’t even pronounce the names of almost all of it.

The combo plate consisted of three different types of pyrogies, some sauerkraut, a big cabbage-meat burrito-type thing and your choice of sausage.  It was all covered with a hollandaise sauce.  I got the Ukrainian sausage.  It also came with sour cream  To wash down the meal, they also offer a selection of East European beers.  I got the Zywiec.  It was a pilsner with kind of a beer-spicy taste.  It reminded me of Urquell from the Czech Republic.

The dishes were born out of the need to put food that would stick to the ribs of hard working people.  It was really filling.  I showed up really hungry ready to eat and I could just put a dent in the food put in front of me. 

There were some folks eating at the restaurant that were clearly visiting from some eastern European country and they seemed to like it.  If it was good enough for them then it was good enough for me. I’d rate it a 9 out of 10 on the triple-d scale.

215 East Hennepin Avenue
Minneapolis, Minnesota 55414
(612) 379-3018

Town Talk Diner - Minneapolis, MN

I’ve been to the Town Talk Diner twice now.  The first thing that hits you when you walk in is that this is probably a popular place to come just for drinks.  The bar area is tiny but there are lots of martini glasses filled with all kinds of neon colored concoctions.  Everything is well worn from a steady flow of human  traffic.

Town Talk has an industrial feel to it.  There is lots of stainless steel and exposed brick everywhere.  They even use stainless steel hose clamps like you’d find in Home Depot or a plumbing supply store as napkin rings.

Service was very good both times that I was there.  The waitstaff provides just enough service without over doing it.  You can sit and talk in peace for a long time if you want. 

My first time in, I had the brat burger.  This was the one that was featured on the TV program.  It was very good but definitely a heart attack on a bun.  It was a sausage patty with bacon and sour kraut on top.  It had some lettuce and tomato.  The bun was a thick soft bread bun.  The sausage had a bit of a spicy kick to it, kind of like a breakfast sausage.  It looked like a beef burger, so that’s what I was expecting when I bit in.  I wasn’t really all that impressed.  I’d call the brat burger a 4 out of 10 on the ddd scale.

My second time in I had the kitchen sink burger.  That is a basic bacon cheeseburger with some other stuff on it.  It came with a steak knife stabbed straight down into the burger.  The six-inch blade didn’t even pass all the way through the burger to touch the plate.  It was a lot of burger but very tasty.  Also a heart attack on a bun.  I’d score this a 7 out of 10 on the triple-d scale.  It was very good but not outstanding.

Both meals came with garlic fries.  My first experience with the garlic fries was mediocre.  I left expecting more from the fries.  They tasted very flat and ordinary.  My second time was differnent.  They seemed to have a bit more punch and I liked them a lot the second time around for some reason.   I’d score the fries an 8 out of 10.

A guy across from me got the onion rings and they looked like breaded versions of the onion rings that you get at a high-end Japanese hibachi grill all piled high like Mount Fuji.  They looked cool and the people seemed to enjoy them.


2701 1/2 E. Lake Street
Minneapolis, MN 55406

Pawleys Front Porch - Columbia, South Carolina

Pawleys Front Porch is another Triple-D Hamburger bar-restaurant.  It was a good burger but, by Triple-D standards, I'd say that it was mediocre. 

They liked to play up the "Guy Fieri ate here" thing which was kind of cool until you figure out that they probably got featured just by the grace of God.  I was not convinced why this was anyplace special.  The menu was okay.  They had some heart-attack inducing mega-hamburger options that might have caught someone's eye.  But, I can't eat too much of that nor should anyone, in my humble opinion. That alone is not enough to hook me.

The atmosphere was just okay.  It was a neighborhood bar that served burgers and other things.  There were a few people knocking back beers in the middle of the day.  There were a few tables of retirees hanging out jibber jabbering.  I get the impression that it is probably a pretty popular after-work place to come for drinks.

Unfortunately, I would probably drive by this restaurant next time.