FRONTAL LOBE JELLO

VIVA BLACKPOOL SATURDAY #30THE ORIGINALS

2012-02-11T09:29:00.001-05:00

FREAKY RECORD FRIDAY

2012-02-10T16:25:00.007-05:00

Kum Ba Yah - Washington Avenue Baptist Church Choir

White People dressed as Africans

Amuses Me...What About You?

VIVA BLACKPOOL SATURDAY #29THE ORIGINALS

2012-02-04T09:46:00.001-05:00

VIVA BLACKPOOL SATURDAY #28THE ORIGINALS

2012-01-28T08:53:00.002-05:00

FREAKY RECORD FRIDAY

2012-01-27T19:12:00.005-05:00

What's Bigger 'n' Better - The Bus, The Family, or Vestal ?

VIVA BLACKPOOL SATURDAY #27 THE ORIGINALS

2012-01-21T08:41:00.002-05:00

VIVA BLACKPOOL SATURDAY #26 THE ORIGINALS

2012-01-14T08:37:00.003-05:00

FREAKY RECORD FRIDAY

2012-01-13T22:06:00.010-05:00

Waylon said: Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit's Done Got Out Of Hand?

Frontal Lobe says: Don't You Think This MOOG Bit's Done Got Out Of Hand?

VIVA BLACKPOOL SATURDAY #25 - The Originals

2012-01-07T09:17:00.003-05:00

It appears I have run through all of the Viva Blackpool musical scenes on You Tube. Starting this week, I will post the original versions (in order) of the songs from Viva Blackpool and Viva Blackpool (The Sequel).

FREAKY RECORD FRIDAY

2012-01-06T21:17:00.003-05:00

Folk Songs of Madison Avenue with The Flagpole Singers - songs: Agency Image, Best Brassiere Ad, Tranquilizers, Expense Account, Run Boy Run, The Guess What Product, Shaving Cream, Thirty Second Message, Brand X, Mail Room Boy, Miss Rhinebooze, Madison Avenue Hoedown

VIVA BLACKPOOL (The Sequel) SATURDAY #24

2011-12-31T08:24:00.001-05:00

FREAKY RECORD FRIDAY

2011-12-30T18:43:00.006-05:00

Son of Gunn!!
Shelly Manne & His Men
Play More Music From Peter Gunn

Looks like Shelly won't have to share any royalties with the other guys

VIVA BLACKPOOL (The Sequel) SATURDAY #23

2011-12-17T08:43:00.001-05:00

FREAKY RECORD FRIDAY

2011-12-16T19:03:00.004-05:00

I've wanted to add this LP to my collection of personality albums for years - Goodwill made my dreams come true.

VIVA BLACKPOOL SATURDAY #22

2011-12-10T10:15:00.002-05:00

This is the last song in one of the all time greatest mini-series ever broadcast. The BBC did make a one-off sequel, which was quite inferior to the original series. I'll post those songs in the up coming weeks.

FREAKY RECORD FRIDAY

2011-12-09T18:53:00.006-05:00

Charo And The Salsoul Orchestra - Cuchi-Cuchi

Guess the water was cold when the cover photo was taken.

VIVA BLACKPOOL SATURDAY #21

2011-12-03T08:40:00.000-05:00

FREAKY RECORD FRIDAY

2011-12-02T21:22:00.012-05:00

Who knew spinning a basketball on your finger was such a "babe magnet" and do you also have to keep one hand tucked into your pocket at the same time?

Click on photos to enlarge

VIVA BLACKPOOL SATURDAY #20

2011-11-26T08:01:00.001-05:00

FREAKY RECORD FRIDAY

2011-11-25T08:35:00.005-05:00

Bobby Braddock - Hardpore Cornography

Side A: It Took......(To Get Me Over You), The Elderly Brothers, Avalanche of Romance

Side B: Dolly Parton's Hits, My Better Half, I Lobster But Never Flounder

VIVA BLACKPOOL SATURDAY #19

2011-11-19T09:09:00.001-05:00

FREAKY RECORD FRIDAY

2011-11-18T14:54:00.001-05:00

I coveted this album cover when I saw it for the first time. I finally purchased it when I found out it was 25 cents. Check out the song titles, where else can you get polka music and "Wipe Out" on the same LP.

VIVA BLACKPOOL SATURDAY #18

2011-11-12T08:32:00.000-05:00

FREAKY RECORD FRIDAY

2011-11-11T14:37:00.007-05:00

A collection of risque Elizabethan Folk Songs....this is actually volume one, there were two other volumes in the same series.

When Dalliance Was In Flower and Maidens Lost Their Heads, sung by Ed McCurdy, with banjo by Erik Darling and recorder by Alan Arkin (yes THAT Alan Arkin) on Elektra 110. (As usual enlarge photos above for more detail view)

VIVA BLACKPOOL SATURDAY #17

2011-11-05T08:36:00.001-04:00

FREAKY RECORD FRIDAY

2011-11-04T14:46:00.007-04:00

I love this cover so much, I should call this weeks posting Fantastic Record Friday instead of Freaky Record Friday. (as usual click on photos above for more detail)

From the back cover: "Here it is! Louis Prima again raises his voice and trumpet and gives a wild call....the call that lets his cats out of the bag, to join him in a crazy mixture of off-beat comedy and swinging music like nothing else heard."

VIVA BLACKPOOL SATURDAY #16

2011-10-29T09:15:00.001-04:00

FREAKY RECORD FRIDAY

2011-10-28T14:11:00.008-04:00

Joey Travolta, self-titled LP from 1978

LP should be titled "I Have A Famous Brother"

VIVA BLACKPOOL SATURDAY #15

2011-10-22T10:36:00.001-04:00

FREAKY RECORD FRIDAY

2011-10-21T15:48:00.012-04:00

DISCO WEDDING - PAUL JABARA

1979 12 inch one sided Disco single on Casablaca Records
songs: "Disco Wedding" and "Honeymoon (In Puerto Rico)"

Photos above are front and back of LP cover and LP label
(Click on photos to enlarge)

VIVA BLACKPOOL SATURDAY #14

2011-10-15T08:56:00.001-04:00

VIVA BLACKPOOL SATURDAY #13

2011-10-08T09:45:00.001-04:00

VIVA BLACKPOOL SATURDAY #12

2011-10-01T10:53:00.001-04:00

VIVA BLACKPOOL SATURDAY #11

2011-09-17T08:41:00.002-04:00

FREAKY RECORD FRIDAY

2011-09-16T20:06:00.008-04:00

Disco Teen 66 - A Columbia Record Club Exclusive

12 songs including one from Bobby D. who, as we all know, was always trying to win over Disco Teens. Even though the previous owner did a lot of highlighting on the back cover, the LP itself is in surprisingly good shape and grades a strong VG+

Let's Hear a Dylan Cover Wednesday #7

2011-09-14T14:43:00.000-04:00

VIVA BLACKPOOL SATURDAY #10

2011-09-10T12:45:00.001-04:00

FREAKY RECORD FRIDAY

2011-09-09T18:37:00.006-04:00

Even though this LP has a tear on the front and the seams are splitting, I found the cover so appealing I felt it was still worth the $1 Goodwill was asking for it.

As usual, for more detail click on the above photos a couple of times and they will enlarge.

Let's Hear a Dylan Cover Wednesday #6

2011-09-07T21:51:00.002-04:00

The Collins Kids - Like A Rolling Stone

VIVA BLACKPOOL SATURDAY #9

2011-09-03T09:50:00.001-04:00

FREAKY RECORD FRIDAY

2011-09-02T14:20:00.005-04:00

Sometimes grown men shouldn't wear Super Hero costumes - This appears to be one of those times.

Let's Hear a Dylan Cover Wednesday #5

2011-08-31T21:29:00.002-04:00

Staple Singers - A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall

VIVA BLACKPOOL SATURDAY #8

2011-08-27T07:46:00.001-04:00

FREAKY RECORD FRIDAY

2011-08-26T18:21:00.004-04:00

Fashions In Music - Bess Myerson At The Piano

1940's Jewish Miss America, 1950's I've Got A Secret panelist, 1980's shoplifter plays songs on the piano from The 20's, The 30's, The 40's, and The 50's: Making Whoopee, Ain't She Sweet, Whispering, Dancing In The Dark, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes, I'll String Along With You, Jersey Bounce, Bewitched, I Don't Want To Walk, Without You, Hello Young Lovers, "A" You're Adorable, Love Is A Many Splendored Thing

Let's Hear a Dylan Cover Wednesday #4

2011-08-24T18:39:00.002-04:00

Jeff Bridges - The Man In Me

VIVA BLACKPOOL SATURDAY #7

2011-08-20T07:46:00.001-04:00

FREAKY RECORD FRIDAY

2011-08-19T10:19:00.008-04:00

Heino - Great Hits No. 6

Click on photos above to enlarge

Let's Hear a Dylan Cover Wednesday #3

2011-08-17T14:38:00.001-04:00

VIVA BLACKPOOL SATURDAY #6

2011-08-13T09:16:00.000-04:00

FREAKY RECORD FRIDAY

2011-08-12T16:43:00.007-04:00

I guess I could have sub-titled this week's entry to Freaky Record Friday with the words "Missing Record Friday Mystery" since I have owned this cover for years and it doesn't include the record. I haven't a clue to when or even if I purchased this cover, maybe it just mysteriously appeared in my collection of Freaky Covers. I can only guess I saw the miniature train on the cover and decided I needed to add it to my collection, with or without a record.

For a closer look, click on photos above to enlarge.

VIVA BLACKPOOL SATURDAY #5

2011-08-06T09:06:00.005-04:00

FREAKY RECORD FRIDAY

2011-08-05T16:15:00.004-04:00

THE FAB ???????

Back during the British Invasion, cheapo record companies tried to cash in by releasing their own no-name artist records. I find it hard to believe anyone would have been fooled back in the 1960s, but then again, it was only .99 originally (I had to pay a $1.00 for it at The Salvation Army Thrift Store.....obviously value has risen)

Side One: I Want To Hold Your Hand, Tobacco Road, Can't Buy Me Love, I'm Henry VII I Am, Eight Days A Week

Side Two: I Can't Get No Satisfaction, Sha La La, Broken Hearted Sad and Blue, Come On On, I'm So Lonely

Let's Hear a Dylan Cover Wednesday #2

2011-08-03T17:33:00.001-04:00

One of my all time favorite covers

VIVA BLACKPOOL SATURDAY #4

2011-07-30T09:33:00.001-04:00

FREAKY RECORD FRIDAY

2011-07-29T11:55:00.008-04:00

After looking through 100's of your normal thrift store LPs (Herb Alpert, Gospel, John Denver, record covers with no records, etc), I was about to give up hope of finding anything at the local Miracle Hill Thrift Store when, what to my delight the above LP appeared near the back of the stack.

Side One: Drowning In Our Love, Love Is Like The Sea
Side Two: Dancing Inside Me, Imagine Me

Let's Hear a Dylan Cover Wednesday #1

2011-07-27T22:37:00.011-04:00

I ran across the name Turley Richards in an old Gene Pitney Tour Book and his name seemed faintly familiar. When I searched for his name on the internet, I found the above video. A great cover of the Dylan classic and it has inspired me to start Let's Hear a Dylan Cover Wednesday.

VIVA BLACKPOOL SATURDAY #3

2011-07-23T08:37:00.001-04:00

FREAKY RECORD FRIDAY

2011-07-22T18:39:00.007-04:00

Positively 4th Street and Other Message Folk Songs
by The Living Voices (aka The Anita Kerr Singers)

Songs: Positively 4th Street, Universal Soldier, Where Have All The Flowers Gone, Like A Rolling Stone, Eve of Destruction, John Brown's Body, Rust Bells, What Color Is A Man, Dawn of Correction, There But For Fortune

VIVA BLACKPOOL SATURDAY #2

2011-07-16T08:59:00.002-04:00

FREAKY RECORD FRIDAY

2011-07-15T10:16:00.007-04:00

I don't actually own this LP, but when I saw it at a thrift store it amused me enough to take this photo.

VIVA BLACKPOOL SATURDAY #1

2011-07-09T09:54:00.002-04:00

FREAKY RECORD FRIDAY

2011-07-08T10:37:00.009-04:00

John Trubee And The Ugly Janitors of America - The Communists Are Coming To Kill Us - If you would like to see the track listing for this LP: CLICK HERE. This album would probably appeal to fans of Wild Man Fisher, Experimental Rock, and fans of prank phone calls.

John Trubee is best known for his single Blind Man's Penis (NOT included on this LP), a hit on the Dr. Demento Radio Show. The song was actually sung by a studio musician in Nashville after Trubee sent them $79.95 to record his lyrics and they retitled it Peace and Love, read the story HERE

Want to hear the song, check out the video below:

FREAKY RECORD FRIDAY

2011-07-01T12:53:00.006-04:00

Songs of Couch and Consultation sung by Katie Lee

songs: Shrinker Man, The Will To Fail, The Guilty Rag, Stay As Sick As You Are, Hush Little Sibling, Real Sick Sounds, Repressed Hostility Blues, I Can't Get Adjusted To The You Who Got Adjusted To Me, Schizophrenic Moon, Properly Loved, Gunslinger (A Ballad For Adult Westerns) and It Must Be Something Psychological

FREAKY RECORD FRIDAY

2011-06-24T16:43:00.004-04:00

1982 solo LP from "The Cowboy" of The Village People

FREAKY RECORD FRIDAY

2011-06-17T18:02:00.008-04:00

Patch The Pirate Goes West - A Musical for Children of All Ages

FREAKY RECORD FRIDAY

2011-06-10T22:11:00.007-04:00

RED BRIDGES BARBECUE LODGE

2011-06-03T16:55:00.011-04:00

Being a big BBQ fan, I always like to try out different independent BBQ places and Red Bridges Barbecue Lodge in Shelby, NC seemed like it was a can't miss option. Their web site touted the fact that they had been in business since 1946 and were family owned and operated.

We both had BBQ sandwiches with BBQ slaw. The meat had very little smoked flavor AND speaking of very little - there was very little meat on the sandwich. I'm not one who has to have a large quantity of food to be satisfied, but at $3.95 each, I felt like I was getting "ripped off".

On the other hand, the hush puppies - 12 for $2.25 were priced right and mighty tasty. The potato salad also tasted homemade and was quite delicious.

On the table was a small card advertising their homemade banana pudding and we decided to give it a go, since sometimes a great dessert can help overcome a mediocre meal. The above photo makes the dish look very appetizing. The hardest thing to try and figure out is how someone could make a banana pudding and have it taste of "nothingness"! Besides the two vanilla wafers on top, nothing else about it had any taste - not the whipped cream, not the pudding, not even the bananas. I think Red Bridges Barbecue Lodge should be given some kind of special award for being able to make a banana pudding taste like nothing - I mean it had to be hard to accomplish!

FOOTHILLS DELI

2011-06-03T16:17:00.009-04:00

After having made such a good find with Karrie's Deli and Pub, we decided to try another deli on Poinsett Highway in Greenville, SC - The Foothills Deli.

I chose The Rutherford - Thin sliced roast beef on grilled rosemary herb focaccia with spring mix, red onion, provolone cheese and house made roasted red pepper dressing.

My dining companion chose The Reedy Reuben - hot corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and Russian dressing piled high on grilled marbled rye.

The best thing that I can say about The Foothills Deli is that the staff were super nice. Unfortunately, while the sandwiches weren't bad, there just wasn't anything special about them that would make me want to go back to the restaurant.

KARRIE'S DELI and PUB

2010-12-07T17:39:00.006-05:00

There are a few food items which I'm almost obsessed about: Meatloaf, Meatballs, and Reuben Sandwiches. If any of these show up on a restaurant's menu, there's a 99 per cent chance I'll be ordering them.

The Reuben Sandwich at Karrie's Deli and Pub, which is billed as "The Best In The Upstate" is for once truth in advertising. I've remarked before how is shouldn't be hard for anyone to make a good Reuben. It's a sandwich with just a few ingredients: corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and 1000 island dressing on grilled rye bread. The only secret to the sandwich is using the right combination of each item and using top level ingredients. Unfortunately, most restaurants have trouble doing this, but not at Karries'. Without hesitation, I can state that this IS the best Reuben In The Upstate.

You get to pick one side with your sandwich: I chose macaroni salad which was mighty tasty and pictured in the photo above. Even better was my wife's choice of potato salad with pieces of bacon mixed in....the bacon as our old TV pal Emeril would say "Kicked It Up A Notch".

The only warning I would give about Karrie's is go hungry or just order a half sandwich, since the sandwiches are larger than what you usually receive in this area. I think if you go once, you'll be thinking about your next visit as soon as you leave.....I know I am!

SOUTHERN FRIED GREEN TOMATOES

2010-12-01T19:13:00.009-05:00

What's wrong with this restaurant:

1. The greeter/seater left us hanging while he wandered off looking for a table for us. He made us feel we were sort of a bother to him, not a good way to be welcomed into a restaurant.

2. Our server would be better off seeking a job in another field other than food service. The minimal effort she put forth on serving us and busing other tables was way below standards.

3. The floor of the restaurant was dirty with food scraps from the time we arrived until we left.

4. Pricing for this type of meal was excessive (10.00 for a meat and 2??). Luckily we had a coupon (buy one get one) making 10.00 for both of us acceptable.

5. Even though they have servers, you have to fetch your own drinks (This of course leads to unsanitary conditions, i.e. we noticed children playing with the tongs for the lemon slices).

6. Food arrived at the table lukewarm, whether this was due to the kitchen or the fault of our server not picking up the food fast enough is undetermined.

7. The crowd appeared to be mostly yuppie type families with children not kept in rein (not the fault of the restaurant, but still not your typical clientele for this type of restaurant).

8. Even though the restaurant wasn't huge, the noise was near din level.

9. The booths were big hard benches, probably to make sure customers don't linger, enabling the restaurant to turn tables faster.

What was right with this restaurant:

1. Even though the food should have been served a little hotter, it was all tasty and cooked good. I have to give Southern Fried Green Tomatoes props, since they could easily serve a lesser quality of food to the type of customers they seem to be attracting and probably get by with no one complaining.

Final Verdict:

With a 2 for 1 coupon, the meal was worth the price. Without a coupon, I would definitely recommend you spend your food dollars elsewhere.

FALL DOWN DRUNK FOR GREENVILLE

2010-10-09T18:43:00.013-04:00

Today was time for our annual trek up and down Main Street in Greenville for the festival Fall For Greenville OR as The Cafe and Then Some calls it "Fall Down Drunk For Greenville". We found a free parking space just off River Street (I hate to pay for parking!) and made the trek to the festival. The weather was nice (mid 70s) and this really brought out the people (as you can see in the above photo). Not quite as many restaurants participated in the event this year and the city compensated by not having any booths in the last block of North Main and several blocks at the end of South Main.

Our first purchase was a crab cake with maque choux from Soby's . I've had some items from Soby's New South Cuisine at the Saturday morning farmer's market that I thought were just okay. Their crab cake is not just okay, but superior to just about any you will find around this area.

Next we got a nice surprise when we tried the Black Angus meatloaf with caramelized onion and mushroom ragout from Two Chefs. I say a nice surprise since, for some reason, I always think of Two Chefs as a sandwich/bakery shop. I love a good meatloaf and this was certainly a good meatloaf, one of the best I've had in a while.

After two good choices, we hit a slight bump with our next choice. While they weren't bad, the crab fritters with dipping sauce from Brown Street Club paled next to our two previous dishes.

After three main dishes, of course it's time for dessert, and oh how lucky we were with our first choice. Beignets with carmelized peaches from Sassafras Southern Bistro. We were hesitant about ordering these, since they really didn't look like the beignets we eat in New Orleans. The good news is they tasted like real beignets and were almost as messy to eat. This is the type of dessert that stays stuck in your mind, long after you eaten it.

Brown Street Club redeemed theirselves with our next dessert choice, Bakers Boubon Pecan Pie. With just enough bourbon in the pie to make give it a faint liquor taste, this was a great dessert. It would have been our favorite, IF we hadn't already had the beignets.

With a few tickets left, we decided to try Fried Bourbon Bread Pudding from Smoke On The Water. The bread pudding was good, but unlike Brown Street's pie, the bourbon sauce for the bread pudding was too strong and made what could have been a good dessert just so-so. We had two tickets left and there's not much you can get with two tickets at Fall Down Drunk For Greenville, so we gave those away as we headed back to the car, where I remarked "I'm still hungry".

Hans and Franz Biergarten

2010-10-03T15:01:00.002-04:00

Our original plan on Saturday was another visit to Carolina Cafe. When those plans didn't work out, we decided to go to Oktoberfest in Greer, since last year we had a great Reuben sandwich and a few other good items there. This year turned out to be a bust, since the Reuben people didn't have a booth and any booth that had anything that looked interesting had L-O-N-G lines. We decided to hike on back to the car and go somewhere else. The "else" turned out to be Hans & Franz Biergarten, a German themed restaurant located just off the intersection of Highway 14 and Pelham Road and this turned out to be a wise decision.

Instead of entrees we opted instead for a couple of appetizers. We both started with Hungarian Goulash Soup: paprika, cayenne pepper, bell peppers, spiced up tender chunks of beef, and potatoes in a tomato based soup. This was served with two pieces of generously buttered bread slices. The soup turned out to be more of a hearty stew than a soup. It had such a great taste, we both cleaned our bowls. The spices were just enough to make the dish interesting and leave a slight tingle on your tongue. I also must give a special nod to our great waiter, James, who had the good sense to put the soup orders in first for us, instead of having everything come out at once.

For my other selection I chose Frikadellen: German meatball made of finely ground beef, pork and spices topped with tomato/curry sauce and mustard and served on a pretzel roll with homemade fries. This not only had the appearance but also the taste of a great meatloaf (and I've eaten a lot of meatloaf over the years) I challenge anyone without a super large mouth (i.e. Julia Roberts), to be able to put the top roll on this sandwich and be able to open your mouth wide enough to bite through it. As for myself, I had to use a fork and knife to eat this delicious sandwich.

My wife chose the Reuben Sliders: homemade corned beef (which really makes a difference in preparing a good Reuben), a sweet sauerkraut, and of course cheese and dressing, which were also served with homemade fries. While odd being served on small buns instead of rye bread, they were better than a lot of poorly made Reubens with rye bread we have eaten. The fries on both dishes were served with a mustard/mayonnaise/spice dressing that was delicious. As a matter of fact, everything was so good, to paraphrase Arnold Schwarzenegger "We'll be back"!

MEAN MR. MUSTARD'S CAFE

2010-09-19T12:13:00.011-04:00

If you had invited me to a Beatles' themed restaurant, I would probably have passed, since anytime I hear "theme restaurant", I always think more time is spent on the theme than the food. In the case of Mean Mr. Mustard's Cafe in Hendersonville, NC, I couldn't be more wrong. We were in Hendersonville last week and since our first choice had already closed for lunch (for some reason our schedule and restaurants in NC always seem to be out of synch), I vaguely remembered reading some positive remarks about Mean Mr. Mustard's and we headed downtown to find the restaurant.

Located down a side street in Hendersonville (133 4th Ave East), we found that they were open for breakfast/lunch 7 days 8am-2:30pm and Thursday -Saturday evenings 6pm-8:30pm). Luckily it was around 2pm on a Friday when we got parked and made it to the restaurant. There are lots of Beatles decorations on the walls and the background music is all Beatles' music , plus most of the menu items have either a Beatles' connected name or another music related name. Instead of like most themed restaurants I have eaten at, the food here was the star, NOT the decorations. We had such a great meal that day, we returned the following week, eight days to be exact....I just realized that made it "8 Days A Week"!! Since I didn't have my camera on the first trip, this review is going to be a combination of our two visits.

Last week, my wife had "The Walrus Chicken Salad Sandwich - diced chicken breast with red grapes, almonds, raisins, and cilantro served with tomato and greens on fresh baked focaccia bread". This was a very good chicken salad sandwich, but we would only rate it very good and nothing that would make you return right away. However, my choice turned out to be the winner (usually my wife chooses the best meal) when I reluctantly ordered "The Grand Funk Reuben" - corned beef, swiss and mozzarella cheese, and sauerkraut served open face german-style on thick, homemade rye bread with authentic brandied Russian dressing". I say reluctantly, because I love reubens, but the words "open face" really threw me off. Well friends, I'm here to say that this was probably the best reuben that I have ever had in this area. It was so good that is one of the reasons we went back for the second time.

On the second visit, we decided to split the reuben and try another item and we chose "Frankie - the good american version of the reuben, with chicken sausage, saurekraut, and swiss cheese on rye, topped with mozzarella cheese and a mean mr. mustard sauce". To be honest, we never could decide which of these sandwiches was better. Although they have some similar flavors, there are enough differences to make each of them unique. I would really have a hard time deciding which one to order next time. Which brings me to what I AM going to order next time - While waiting for our order we saw several orders of French Toast arrive at other tables...NOW...that's all I have on my mind. It comes either as "French Toast Cordon Bleu - egg dipped thick slices of house made bread, stuffed with ham and swiss cheese, then grilled golden brown with choice of grits or home fries" OR "The Full Monte (plain without ham and swiss)".

GRITS and GROCERIES

2010-09-12T12:44:00.018-04:00

I'm sure there's some local restaurant that can please me without having to drive into the middle of "who knows where". As most of you know from reading this blog, Carolina Cafe in Gaffney, which was formerly Carolina Cafe in Chesnee is my favorite restaurant in Upstate SC. My second favorite is now Grits and Groceries at Saylors Crossroads (this is somewhere between Belton and Anderson). Once again, I have found a great place to eat....but it's over an hour drive to get there!! The restaurant is owned and operated by Heidi and Joe Trull. Heidi previously owned and operated the popular New Orleans restaurant Elizabeth's and Joe was the pastry chef for ten years at Emeril Lagasse's New Orleans Restaurant NOLA.

All four of us started with the tomato pie appetizer which also came with maque choux. This is one dish that must really be experienced, there is no way I could faithfully describe how good it was. Above are two photos, one as the pie is served and one with a look inside the pie.

For entrees, two of us chose the catfish po boy, one chose the shrimp po boy and one had the daily special - Greek meatloaf. While all were cooked to perfection, they paled in comparison after the tomato pies. We all agreed, if we could back up time, we would have just ordered two tomato pies each or one tomato pie and an additional different appetizer. Even though, we were all pretty well stuffed by this time, we had to try the desserts....believe me...DON'T miss dessert!! The only problem is that they have such a wide range of desserts, including homemade ice cream, that it's hard to decide. Below are the desserts we chose:

Two of us had the fried sweet potato pie.

One of us chose the carrot cake and in case anyone thinks they don't like carrot cake, they haven't had carrot cake from Grits and Groceries

And saving the best for last, the fig bread pudding with white chocolate caramel sauce. This is an "out of this world" dessert.

Besides the food all being great, the service was beyond reproach, some of the best I've had in a while, especially considering the meal was being served in an old country store. One last thing, they DON'T take credit cards....cash or checks only. For hours (breakfast and lunch only) and directions, check out their web site: Grits and Groceries

THE DOLLIES

2010-08-26T19:13:00.008-04:00

Does anyone remember anything about this singing trio from Greenville South Carolina? I know that they were called The Dollies. This photo, dated 1964, was made at Greenville Junior High School. The only other information I have been able to glean is that one of them was seen backstage at a Beach Boys concert at Greenville Memorial Auditorium.

STAR ISLAND by CARL HIAASEN

2010-08-19T12:13:00.012-04:00

As far as Florida comic novelists go, I always considered Carl Hiaasen to be the best of the bunch, with Tim Dorsey coming in second place. It's been four years since Hiaasen has written an adult novel and I was excited to read Star Island. I don't know if it was the subject matter, celebrities and paparazzi, or if Hiaasen has just lost his touch. Usually, I'm zipping through his books anxious to see what plot twist he'll throw in next and getting plenty of laughs along the way. Instead, with Star Island, I felt like I was doing some kind of penance for having read all of his other great books. I feel sorry for anyone if this is the first Hiaasen book they read, I imagine they'll wonder what all the acclaim for Hiaasen had been about. I was relieved to finally finish Star Island and anxious to get back to something good....maybe a Robert B. Parker. As for Tim Dorsey, while his book plots have gotten sort of repetitive, I now think he's the number one Florida comic novelist and I'll be looking forward to Serge's next adventure.

THE CORNER POCKET & KATHY KELLEY

2010-07-18T16:49:00.015-04:00

Last week, I was in downtown Greenville SC and decided to try out The Corner Pocket. It had been years and years since I had been inside and I was happy to see that they had done a complete remodel with the pool tables moved upstairs and more of a restaurant/bar downstairs.

I ordered the Reuben with chips and drank a couple of Miller High Lifes. A Reuben sandwich isn't hard to make, since it only contains four items between two pieces of grilled rye: corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, and Thousand Island dressing. Anything else is NOT a Reuben sandwich. The hard part for most restaurants, with The Corner Pocket included, is getting the right mixture of each item on the sandwich. The main downfall here was the meat. While, I'm pretty sure it was your standard deli meat bought from someone like Sysco, I could forgive that (even though you're never going to have a great Reuben without cooking your own corned beef), but the meat was skimpy, leaving an unbalanced taste in the sandwich. At least the chips were pretty good once I added some salt.

My wife had the grilled pimento cheese sandwich and it was good pimento cheese; however, the sandwich appeared to be toasted NOT grilled, as the menu had stated. I imagine the pimento cheese probably also came from Sysco or one of the local fresh markets. But really, you can't mess this sandwich up, unless you burn it. She enjoyed the sandwich and also the fact that they had Blue Moon on tap and even knew to serve it with a orange slice.

If you will notice both meals appeared to be orange....I mean sheesh!, I might as well have been eating in Clemson! It's too bad that the food was unremarkable, IF the kitchen would just take a little more pride in what they are serving, The Corner Pocket would have something worth going back for, rather than just food that you wash down with beer.

Fortunately, even though the food was sort of a bust, The Corner Pocket was having entertainment. Since there was no cover, this helped ease some of the pain of three beers and two sandwiches running in the neighborhood of $25.00 before tip. A last note about our waitress, she was new and it showed, but she was still fine with only one major faux pas, someone else at our table, asked for a Budweiser and she said, so help me, "I don't think we have that"!!!!

Even more fortunate for us was the level of the entertainment. It was billed as Kathy Kelly, but I found that she actually spells her name with two "e"s and it should have been Kathy Kelley. I guess you would classify her as Americana, since she did folk, rock, and country songs. Plus she included a lot of original songs that held their own with her cover songs. My favorite cover song she did was "The Man In Me", the Bob Dylan song featured in The Big Lebowski, since I'm a big fan of Dylan and Lebowski. My favorite original song she did was titled, I think, "A Shot At The Moon" .

Kathy was accompanied by Glenn Cannon, a super talented guitarist from Upstate South Carolina. He used to play with the now defunct 6 String Drag and is currently playing in several different bands. Do yourself a favor and if possible catch Kathy Kelley or Glenn Cannon anywhere that you see their names, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

BEST RESTAURANT in UPSTATE SC UPDATE

2010-06-27T16:39:00.023-04:00

Last year in December I wrote about The Best Restaurant in Upstate South Carolina. Since that time, they have moved from Chesnee and are now closer to Gaffney SC. They're open Tuesday - Saturday 4pm-10pm and Sunday 11am-3pm.

The new address is 211 Old Metal Road, Gaffney, SC. You will have to google the address (it might show the previous restaurant located there "Minnow Creek"). Since we drive to Spartanburg and then our friends drive us the rest of the way, I really have no idea exactly where I was.

This is a much larger restaurant than the owners previously had in Chesnee, but please be aware that this seems to have just made them more popular. If you go during peak dining hours you can expect a wait of up to an hour. They do now put names on a list, as opposed to the old way in Chesnee where everyone was trusted to take their rightful turn.

The food is exactly the same and the owner is cooking and overseeing everything in the kitchen to make sure it arrives at the table to his specifications. This sometimes might delay your order arriving as quickly as you may like, IF you are dining during peak hours.

My current favorite is The Charleston Grouper fried and topped with shrimp and served with a crab cake in a cajun cream sauce. My wife's current favorite is The Carolina Medallions topped with mushrooms, onions, jack cheese, shrimp, and sauteed in white wine garlic butter. I would still recommend ANYTHING on the menu since, at one time or another, I have eaten my way through most of their selections and found all of them to be delicious. I still stand by my original assessment that this is The Best Restaurant in Upstate South Carolina!

Below is a copy of the menu in 3 parts. You may have to click on it twice to get it enlarged enough to view.

THE CONCERT of MY LIFETIME

2010-06-13T14:49:00.016-04:00

I've seen a lot of concerts in my lifetime, but one stands out in my memory above all the others: The Dee Clark Benefit held August 16, 1987 at The Greenville Memorial Auditorium (which has since been demolished) in Greenville, South Carolina. This is the same auditorium that is best known as the venue where Lynyrd Skynyrd played their last concert before their fateful plane crash.

Dee Clark had his biggest hit "Raindrops" in 1961 and although Dee continued to record and release songs, he could never get another hit and performed mostly on the "oldies circuit". In 1987, Dee was already in bad financial straits when he had a stroke. In order to raise funds for his medical bills and other necessities, this benefit was put on in Greenville. All the acts, who had known Dee over the years volunteered to come and perform.

The great part of this was a huge line-up of stars that you won't see very often. Even if you go to an oldies concert, you won't find this many acts on a bill. The unfortunate side was that less than 1000 people showed up and the auditorium had a capacity for 7500! And if I had to put a more accurate guess of how many people were in attendance, I would put it more at 500.

Below is a copy of the inside of the program (click on photo to enlarge) with the line-up of acts. There were so many performances that the concert started at 6 pm and didn't end until around 2:30 am the next morning. I think there was one no-show, but I can't be sure who it was (too many years have passed for me to remember that detail). Some of the performers flew or drove in just to do their part, and then went right back on the road heading for their next gig. I do remember the "Surprise Finale" was Dee Clark with a gathering of all the acts that were still in the auditorium onstage for some closing songs.

Despite the stroke that left Dee Clark partially paralyzed and with a mild speech impediment, he continued to perform for three more years until his death in 1990 at the age of 52.

BEAR DRIVING BUMPER CAR

2010-06-09T19:23:00.002-04:00

I have no reason to post this photo, except it amuses me!

WADE HAMPTON CLOCK DRIVE-IN

2010-06-02T16:18:00.022-04:00

A few weeks ago, The Greek Festival was held here in Greenville, SC. We hadn't been in many, many years, since we are usually in New Orleans this time of year. Since a lack of funds kept us home this year, we decided to check out the festival. After a tour of the church, we went to their dining hall and each got a plate of Greek specialties. While nothing was bad, nothing really "Wowed" us either. Even the tray of desserts we brought home were just all ok (all of them seemed to be a variation of honey and nuts).

This past weekend, We had a craving for some "Greek Food" (if you don't understand this reference, then you're not from here, so don't worry about it) and we headed to one of our all time favorites: The Clock Restaurant on Wade Hampton Boulevard aka The Wade Hampton Clock. I've often contended that whichever Clock/Petes/Lil Rebel/Palmetto/Carolina you like best is the one you grew up eating at, for us, it's The Wade Hampton Clock.

The Clock had curb service when we were younger, but now you have to go in and order at the counter. After you order, you can have a seat until they let you know your food is ready. There's some booths and a little bit of counter room with stools. Another thing that has changed over the years is that you used to pay as soon as you ordered. Either our age doesn't require this any longer or the counter people at The Clock have become more trustful, since now you pay either when you pick up your food at the counter or when you get ready to leave.

One of us always orders a plate with half and half (half french fries and half onion rings) since we can easily split those between us. This time my wife ordered the hot dog plate (years ago, all the plates used to be called "big boys" but I guess that's a thing of the past). The hot dog is made with homemade chili, the onion rings are handmade to the best of my knowledge, but the french fries are frozen crinkled cut, plus on the plate you get a small cup of homemade slaw.

I ordered one of my favorites, the chili cheeseburger with mustard and onions. It probably doesn't look like much in the above photo, but it's plenty with half of the french fries, onion rings, and slaw off of my wife's plate. We both had the only beverage you should ever drink when dining at The Clock - Tea!

Now a little word about grease. The chili which is the same on the hot dog and burger contains a lot of grease and that's part of what makes it so GOOD, this is NOT health food. Our local comedy troupe Cafe and Then Some even included a part in one of their plays about the original pot of grease that was brought over from Greece and as each new Clock/Petes, etc. opened, they got a little bit of this grease and started their own pot.

Also, the onion rings and french fries are cooked in grease, which brings me to an article I read on the web. In that article the author claimed the food was NOT greasy at all. I can only think that he must not have really eaten here. I guarantee you that if you lay the onion rings and fries on a napkin, the napkin will start to show grease right away. My small paper plate with my chili cheesburger was almost translucent with all the grease that had dripped on it by the time I had finished. But these things are what we LOVE about The Wade Hampton Clock; and WE can't be the only ones....they've been in business since the 1950s and are still going strong.

THE BIG LEBOWSKI - LEGO VERSION

2010-05-30T14:27:00.000-04:00

MY FAVORITE GLEE LINE

2010-05-27T14:46:00.009-04:00

"I'm Pretty Sure My Cat's Been Reading My Diary."

THE BLUES BROTHERS

2010-05-16T16:07:00.003-04:00

Did These Guys Ever Turn Pro?

WADE'S RESTAURANT

2010-05-02T14:56:00.018-04:00

Saturday we had planned to go to Spartanburg's Spring Fling, but when we got up the weather looked like it could rain at any moment. After hitting a few yard/church sales we decided to take a chance on Spartanburg.

One of our main reasons for going to Spartanburg was that I saw David Ezell was playing at 11:30. We used to see David a lot at the old Handlebar when it was located on Mills Avenue. That's back when The Handlebar was a true "listening room" instead of what it has become today (definitely NOT a "listening room"). We saw David open for a lot of acts back then and even do a show once on his own. We were always big fans and over the years just never have caught back up with him. He's still the great singer songwriter that we remember, plus he does lots of cool covers (Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Hank Williams Sr, Harland Howard, Dusty Springfield are some of the artists he covered when we saw him Saturday). Check David out if you ever get a chance, I guarantee you won't be disappointed.

We also got to walk through the Redwood Log House as seen above. A fully furnished three room house handcarved inside a 1900 year old giant California redwood tree. This was pretty unique and was a surprise attraction on our visit. Click on the link above to read more about it.

Since the food at the Spring Fling was your typical street fair offerings, we were torn on where to eat because several of our favorite restaurants are in Spartanburg. We settled on Wade's Restaurant, the best meat and three I've ever eaten at (for those not from the South, meat and three = blue plate special) and I've eaten at a LOT of meat and three's. I've never had a bad meal at Wade's, plus the service except on a few rare occasions has been top notch.

After bringing your drinks, they bring you yeast rolls and/or cornbread. The cornbread is pretty standard, so we usually go for all hot yeast rolls. My goodness are they good.

I had the chicken fried steak with milk gravy, baked macaroni and cheese, and sweet potato casserole.

My wife had a vegetable plate: crowder peas, baked macaroni and cheese, sweet potato casserole and creamed corn.

Everything was just as good as it looks in the photos. I've never had anything that I didn't like at Wade's, so I would recommend just ordering whatever appeals to you off that day's menu. I will add that even though I rarely have room for dessert, I have tried several of Wade's and never found the desserts to be as good as the regular meal. That's why I usually go for the sweet potato casserole, since it's sweet enough to be a dessert. On top of the great food, it's really a bargain price in today's restaurant world. We paid just a shade over $14.00 including beverages, pre tip for the above meals. These type of meals usually cost us $17.00 to $19.00 anywhere else. You can also count on Wade's having a pretty decent crowd no matter what time of day you go and if you go during peak dining hours be prepared to wait in a short fast moving line.

SOUTHERN BARBEQUE

2010-04-21T21:32:00.015-04:00

A Couple of weeks back, my wife had read an article about Southern Barbecue, just off I-85 at the Highway 221 exit (Chesnee Highway). The article mentioned that they had trained in Lexington NC and that they cooked Lexington Style BBQ and put red slaw on the sandwich. All of these factors put it on our "must try" list.

Since the Gaston NC County Library was having a sale today, we decided to go to there and this would give us a chance to eat at Southern Barbecue on the way back. In case you ever decide to check out the Gaston Sale, here's a few hints: They only take cash (and no large bills) and you have to bring your own bags or boxes (they don't provide any). Probably one of the strangest sales we go to, but it's a short ride and we usually get to eat somewhere different.

The somewhere this time, of course, was Southern Barbecue. The restaurant lived up to the article. This was definitely Lexington Style BBQ. Smoked and served with red BBQ slaw (a mix of finely chopped slaw with sauce mixed into it).

I had a chopped pork sandwich (if it ain't pork, it ain't bbq) with a side of hush puppies. The sandwich was great and the hush puppies were good but could have been improved with the addition of onion.

My wife also had a chopped sandwich with a cup of Brunswick Stew. I normally don't like Brunswick Stew, but I probably ate half of her order, that's how good it was.

We had hoped to try their homemade banana pudding, but with the amount of meat on the sandwiches and the two sides, we were stuffed. With a couple of beverages our total order before tip was only $12.00. Great bargain in my opinion.

If I was awarding prizes, Henry's Smokehouse on Wade Hampton would win hands down. They without a doubt in my mind have the best smoked meat around. However, ranking my personal favorites, my list goes: Bluegrass BBQ, Southern Barbecue, Bucky's BBQ on Roper Mountain Road, and then Henry's Smokehouse. I would eat at ANY of these ANYTIME, but my preference would be in the order listed.

GUADALAJARA MEXICAN RESTAURANT

2010-04-15T18:08:00.013-04:00

We recently had the chance to dine in downtown Greenville at The Guadalajara Mexican Restaurant. It is definitely a cut above your normal Greenville Mexican Restaurant.

As with most Mexican Restaurants they bring you a basket of chips and salsa. Along with the regular tomato based salsa, Guadalajara also brings you a small bowl of homemade white salsa (think spicy homemade mayonnaise). The white salsa was definitely a good tasty surprise and the tomato salsa was just spicy enough, it didn't burn your tongue, but you definitely knew you were eating something with a little kick.

There was a slight mix-up with my order, I ordered a chimichanga but they brought out a burrito, so I don't have a photo of my dish, but the mistake was quickly remedied. The above photo is a chicken quesadilla that my wife ordered.

Everything that we had was just a little more flavorful than what you normally get in Mexican restaurants in Greenville. I do still like Rosalinda's tacos at the White Horse Flea Market and if you've read my New Orleans blog: "If I Lived Here, I'd Be Dead By Now" you would know that I'm a big fan of El Gato Negro in the French Quarter. However, I think anyone who tries Guadalajara will be pleasantly surprised on how much better it is than what you normally get in Greenville's Mexican restaurants; I know I was.

I'LL BUY THE SHIRT OFF YOUR BACK

2010-04-11T17:30:00.008-04:00

After hitting a church yard sale yesterday, we were following some signs to another sale, but before we got there, we found another small sale.

There wasn't much to look at and I was just buying a Killian's glass for a quarter, when the seller asked if there wasn't anything else that he could sell me. I jokingly said: "I'll give you $5.00 for that t-shirt you have on." To my surprise, he said ok and I told him I was just joking. He said: "How about $3.00?". As you can see from the photo above, I now own this shirt.

After this escapade, we went to the flea market that you see right before getting to Barnyard Flea Market. This was the worst flea market I have ever been to, plus most of the items looked dirty and worn out. Thankfully, we saw that Bluegrass BBQ (click here for my previous post on this BBQ ) had set back up just a little way up the road (instead of inside Barnyard Flea Market) and we were able to get a couple of sandwiches to bring home. This is still my favorite place with the best combination of smoked meat, sauce, and slaw.

JUSTIFIED - The First Three Episodes

2010-04-05T10:18:00.001-04:00

This is the second best show currently on TV. The honor of best show still goes to Breaking Bad, in my opinion.

Timothy Olyphant plays Marshall Raylan Givens, a character taken from Elmore Leonard's books "Pronto" and "Riding The Rap". Olyphant has the "low burn serious" acting style down pat. While it's different from his role on Deadwood, that series was good training for Olyphant in Justified.

The first episode, "Fire in the Hole" was pretty good, but of course it had to take the time to set up all of the characters and get everyone situated in the plot. As any first episode of a series, it's usually not quite as good as the episodes that will follow; however, if you can see promise in the pilot, you can usually expect the other episodes to follow to be good. By the end of this episode I was halfway hooked on the series.

The second episode, "Riverbrook", captured the true essence of Elmore Leonard. I had to check to be sure he hadn't written it, but the episode is credited to Graham Yost (who is also an executive producer). Never have I seen anything of Elmore Leonard's brought to the screen (Out of Sight, Get Shorty, Rum Punch aka Jackie Brown) that actually understood Elmore Leonard's terse writing style and the fact that you can't always pigeonhole his characters as either good or bad. After this episode, I was definitely hooked on Justified.

The third episode, "Fixer" was really good and would have been enough to hook me into to the series, even if it had been the second episode, but now I base everything on how good "Riverbrook" was and have set that as a benchmark. Hopefully, Graham Yost will write some more episodes.

Justified airs on the FX channel Tuesdays at 10pm est and repeats several more times during the week.

PBS PLEDGE DRIVE and THE T.A.M.I. SHOW

2010-03-30T16:19:00.014-04:00

START RANT!

I can always tell when PBS is having another pledge drive (which seems to come every other month). I'll be looking through my online cable guide and see a music program that really looks good, when I look to see where it's on and I see that it is my local SC or nearby NC PBS station, I can bet my life that it's pledge drive time.

During the day it seems that PBS fulfills that quota of educational TV for schools and tots, but at night most of the type of programs that PBS carries can be seen on A&E, Bravo, History Channel, etc.

You can count on PBS come Pledge Time to roll out those music shows. Most of them they just show over and over during each pledge drive...I mean how many times do we need to see Roy Orbison's Black and White Night...it's a great show, but I think PBS has been showing it during these drives for the last 10 years.

Last week they showed most of The T.A.M.I. Show which has just been released on DVD, with original footage put back into the movie. I say most, since PBS never shows you a complete show during these drives, they want you to donate money to get the complete show. The donation this time was $75.00 for this DVD. This same DVD costs $12.00 on Amazon. I also imagine that PBS got these at wholesale or donated. If someone on the street was charging me $75.00 for a $12.00 item, they would be arrested as a con artist.

RANT OVER!

Now that the rant is over, I would like to recommend you check out The T.A.M.I. Show. Some of the highlights of the show: Smokey Robinson and The Miracles tearing the stage up, Chuck Berry doing the duck walk behind Lesley Gore, Diana Ross with hair reaching to the heavens, James Brown at his peak, followed by the Rolling Stones with Mick Jagger trying to outdo James Brown.

ALICE IN WONDERLAND

2010-03-26T19:00:00.007-04:00

Anyone that has an interest in movies is quite aware that Alice In Wonderland is playing in theaters. But just in case anyone is on the fence about seeing this movie, let me encourage you to get yourself to the movie theater.

Alice in Wonderland is a modern classic, with its deft blending of animation and real actors. The closest movie I could compare it to would be The Wizard Of Oz. Which is funny, since when our friend was getting the tickets, she inadvertently asked for tickets to The Wizard Of Oz.

We saw the 2D version, since I've lived long enough to see gimmicks come and go at the movies and 3D is just another gimmick that movies have tried in the past and after the novelty wore off 3D disappeared. 3D is great at the amusement park or IMAX, but nothing I need at the movie theater.

This is the only movie that I have seen in the last 20 years that I could have sat right back down and watched again. When it's released on DVD, it will probably look and play pretty good on your home theater; but it still won't be anything like seeing it on the big screen in your local movie house.

LO and BEHOLD

2010-03-12T18:21:00.008-05:00

I've bought and sold a lot of records over the years. Somewhere along the line, I was sure that I had goofed up and sold my last copy of one of my top ten favorite LP's of all time. But when doing some straightening up the other week, I found my last copy. This resulted in me having to do the "happy dance".

Coulson, Dean, McGuiness, Flint - Lo & Behold - Words and Music by Bob Dylan. I always like people doing Dylan covers and this is the best collection I have ever heard. I would readily recommend it to anyone, even to people who don't think they like Bob Dylan. The best way to describe the album is think if The Band had ever done a complete LP of Dylan covers.

I've already played it 3 or 4 times and even though it sometimes hangs up for a little bit near the end of side one, I won't be letting this copy get away or misplaced again.

DELLA VENTURA'S RISTORANTE and PIZZERIA

2010-01-27T18:19:00.008-05:00

Joe Della Ventura has operated Italian restaurants/Pizzerias in Staten Island, New York and Davie, Florida. His original restaurant in Greer was a tiny place on Locust Hill Road and it was so popular that he has moved to a much larger place at 337 Buncombe Rd in Greer. Even though the new space is large, it still can get pretty crowded on weekends.

On our most recent visit, I had the meatball sub. It's filled with gigantic meatballs and Della Ventura's sweet red sauce and topped with real mozarella cheese. It's so huge that it's hard to finish in one sitting. But then that's true of most of the items here. In other words you won't go home hungry.

My wife had the Zita Stufati, pasta with chopped meatballs.....She brought home enough to feed us both a meal the next day with some still left over.

One of our dining companions had a sausage sub with onion rings.

Our other dining companion had pasta with mushrooms and a meatball and red sauce.

Both times we have been thanked as we left Della Ventura's. I think they really appreciate your business and I really appreciate having such a great Italian Restaurant in Greer.

The BEST RESTAURANT in UPSTATE SOUTH CAROLINA

2009-12-31T23:12:00.018-05:00

Going to New Orleans on a regular basis has gotten me used to places that look like dives, but serve great food. You can read about those restaurants on my other blog IF I LIVED HERE, I'D BE DEAD BY NOW.

But here in Upstate South Carolina, we have a restaurant that could hold its own in New Orleans. The looks of the restaurant are definitely deceiving. One side is a bar and you can eat on that side, but be warned smoking is allowed in the bar. The other side is small, it might hold 60 people, so count on some wait time, if you go during peak hours. And keep in mind that there isn't a list or anything to sign, everyone just mills right inside the door or outside the door until a table is available. Believe me, it's worth the wait.

I have eaten or been able to sample off dining companions' plates just about everything on the menu and I don't hesitate to state that you could just blindly point at the menu and be pleased with whatever your finger landed on.

The restaurant's most famous dish is probably ribs and killer shrimp. My recommendation is to get the ribs dry rubbed and the sauces on the side. The shrimp are wrapped in bacon and grilled and smothered in BBQ sauce. The photo above shows part of a 1/2 rack (some had already been shared) and cheese/bacon fries.

My wife had the Carolina Medallions. Steak medallions topped with a combination of shrimp, mushrooms, onions, and jack cheese and sauteed in white wine garlic butter. The plate also has the baked sweet potato with brown sugar butter.

On my last visit, I had the Charleston Grouper. You can get the grouper fried, grilled, or broiled. I had fried. It's topped with shrimp and served with a crab cake in a cajun cream sauce. I also had the very creamy cheese grits. You get a choice of two sides with each meal. Our other sides were house salads. They're huge with cheese, eggs, and bacon.

Two meals with beverages only run around 26.00 before tip. Not only is this some of the best food you will eat here in Upstate South Carolina, but also a steal of a deal.

STEAK HOUSE CAFETERIA - Walhalla, SC

2009-12-27T15:11:00.025-05:00

If you ever find yourself in Walhalla SC, you owe it to yourself to check out The Steak House Cafeteria on Main Street.

The first thing to keep in mind is that the name is somewhat of a misnomer. The only steak you might find on the cafeteria line is country style steak. I have heard that they serve steak once a year on New Year's Eve, but I can't confirm that fact.

What you really want, especially if it is your first time at The Steak House Cafeteria, is the "Arabian Rooster" fried Chicken. This is what the cafeteria is famous for. The restaurant has been on Main Street since 1944, but the current owner, Abed Yassen, took ownership in 1973. Abed studied what made other people's chicken good and took a little from different recipes to come up with his own fried chicken.

Inside you will find your standard cafeteria line staffed by friendly people on the line and at the register. The photo below shows part of the restaurant from the exit door looking back toward the serving line. Don't worry, if the restaurant looks crowded, they have 3 rooms of tables.

On our last visit we both got almost the same things. I ordered chicken with baked macaroni and cheese pie and my wife got the chicken with black eye peas. I've never had any vegetable off the line that wasn't really good. These breasts look a little smaller than what they normally serve, but neither one of us could completely finish our chicken. And the tasty crust is equal to the juicy flavorful meat itself.

For dessert, I had the sugar free apple pie and my wife had the apple dumpling. The apple dumpling is her all time favorite, but they only serve it occasionally in the fall/winter months. If you're lucky it might be on the menu when you go. However, besides these two desserts, I find most of the other desserts just ok and usually put most of my eating effort into the chicken and the vegetables.

The Steak House Cafeteria is a little more pricey than most cafeterias. The above meals with a couple of beverages ran us around $18.00, but everything is such high quality and done right that I never feel that I overspent for what I got.

Please check out The Steak House Cafeteria next time you find yourself around the Wahalla, Seneca, Clemson area of South Carolina. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE FAMILY - Robert Earl Keen

2009-12-17T15:51:00.014-05:00

Did you ever like something that was not well known and then when it became big, it just seemed like you wanted to tell people: "Hey, I've known about this for years." That's the way it's been for me a couple of times.

Here's a couple of examples:

I bought Jimmy Buffett's first album when it was a new release. And I think I liked it enough to buy the second LP. Unfortunately all this Parrothead business turned me off so much, I now have zero Buffett albums in my collection.

Being a big fan of Jean Shepherd, I saw A Christmas Story when it was a new release in the theaters with my wife and son. We got such a kick out of it, that my son got a Red Ryder BB gun that Christmas. Of course, we warned him not to shoot is eye out.

All this brings me to today's post: Robert Earl Keen singing Merry Christmas From the Family. We saw him sing this at The Handlebar in Greenville SC, way back when the Handlebar was a listening room, unlike the former shell of itself that it has become. Somewhere along the line some of those morning DJs that try so hard to be wacky, picked up Merry Christmas From The Family and they almost ruined it for me, by playing it to death while they laughed hysterically in the background. But they didn't succeed, it's too good of a song. Below is a youtube video of the song, hope you enjoy it! Please note the youtube poster misspelled Keen as Keene.

PO FOLKS CHRISTMAS - Bill Anderson

2009-12-08T16:07:00.001-05:00

My favorite line: "Ho! Ho! Ho! We was Po' Po' Po'."

SANTA CLAUS IS WATCHING YOU - Ray Stevens

2009-12-07T16:17:00.003-05:00

TIME TO STOCK UP ON VINYL

2009-11-28T11:11:00.006-05:00

I love the fact that the 8-tracks cost more than the albums!

The best place, back in the 70's, to find a lot of cool bargains was Woolco, which was Woolworth's answer to Wal-Mart.

ROBERT B PARKER - APPALOOSA, RESOLUTION & BRIMSTONE

2009-11-25T09:32:00.015-05:00

I stumbled onto Robert B. Parker's Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch trilogy quite by accident. A few weeks back, I was out of something that I wanted to read and picked up Parker's Jesse Stone novel, "Stranger in Pardise" at the Public Library. "Stranger in Paradise" was one more great read. It's a dialogue driven novel, so it doesn't take long to get through the 300 or so pages.

When I returned it to the library, I saw that they had Parker's "Appaloosa" and since I vaguely remembered that it had been made into a movie, I thought I would give it a try. "Appaloosa", the book, didn't disappoint. The characters and the story make me think of the HBO series Deadwood. It just has that feel of a realistic western tale with dialogue the way real people talk.

I then watched the movie starring Ed Wood and Viggo Mortensen and while I wasn't completely disappointed, one of the main errors was Ed Harris (who directed and co-wrote the screenplay) casting himself as Virgil Cole. I can understand Ed Harris wanting to play the main character; however, Mortensen would have been a much better choice for Virgil Cole. Still all and all, the movie is not bad, but remember what I said about "Stranger in Paradise" being a dialogue driven book, well the same holds true for "Appaloosa" and that means a somewhat fast moving book, but a slow dialogue filled movie.

"Appaloosa" was so good, that I read in quick succession the next two books in the series: "Resolution" and "Brimstone". Both just as good as "Appaloosa". These three books seem to complete a trilogy, since the first book starts in the town of Appaloosa and the third book ends with a return to Appaloosa. However, I could see where there could be another story following Virgil Cole and Everett Hitch; but if there are no more tales to be told about Virgil and Hitch, I can hold them in my memories and be satisfied with the stories that I have been told.

In case you think you don't like Westerns, please be advised that before reading these three novels, I had read exactly five other Westerns: The Holmes on The Range Series by Steve Hockensmith, four books about two cowboys, one who idolizes Sherlock Holmes and uses Holmes method of deduction to solve mysteries with his brother (who is also his Watson). Plus one Elmore Leonard Western that I can't recall the name of, but being Elmore Leonard, I'm sure the book was a good read.