Moving to a new site

Turns out, Google's AdSense program was never going to pay me, and it shut down my account for no reason when I got close to making money.

So I'm done. As of today, I have officially moved Dan vs. Food to WordPress, where I won't make money but the blog will look cleaner and I'll get back to enjoying this. The posts will be coming the same as before, but now they'll come at a new address.

Here's the link to the new place: Dan vs. Food

Hope you follow me there to continue the ride. Thanks for reading.

Dan

Pappy's Smokehouse, St. Louis

When you think of the Midwest, chances are good that St. Louis is one of the first cities that comes to mind. When you think about St. Louis, you think about great barbecue. No, this isn't another bad DirecTV commercial telling you to get rid of cable so that some tragedy doesn't befall you. It's the introduction to Pappy's Smokehouse, which is the best barbecue in a city that knows how to smoke meats.


I spent four years at college in Missouri, but I never once ventured to Pappy's because for 3/4 of my college life, the restaurant didn't exist. It's only been around since 2008, but in that short time, it has become the place in St. Louis to find fantastic barbecue, appeared on Man vs. Food and made it on to the Chowdown Countdown at 48.


How good is Pappy's? As you can tell by the grass in the picture, I couldn't actually eat it in the restaurant. I had to make it to work in Iowa (four hours away), so my only chance was to call for takeout and eat on the streets of St. Louis. That's how long the lines are. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

What makes Pappy's so amazing is the quality of everything. First, you aren't going to find anything that wasn't made fresh that day at Pappy's. The restaurant doesn't want to serve day-old barbecue, so what they do is make a pre-set amount at the start of the day based on the crowd they expect for their hours. Once they hit their amount of an item, they don't make more of it. It goes up on the board at the store to mark that they've sold out of that particular food, and it won't be available again until tomorrow.


When they sell out of all of their items, well, that's when the store closes. Pappy's says it's open until 8 p.m., but that's just a suggestion. They almost always shut their doors before that time comes.


The reason is because Pappy's knows how to do great barbecue. They might have only been around since 2008, but their owners have a combined century's worth of experience smoking meats. The St. Louis staple of ribs is one of the top choices on Pappy's menu, and you've got three sauces to choose from. Other meats available for you to select are pulled pork, pulled chicken, beef brisket, turkey and hot link sausage.


I love barbecue, and when I find a barbecue place, 90 percent of the time I'm going to go with at least one and possibly both of my two favorite meats: pulled pork or beef brisket. That's what I did here, and it was incredible. Throw some of Pappy's original sauce on it, and you have a barbecue meal that simply can't be beat. There's a reason it won the best barbecue in St. Louis three years running, and its streak was stopped only because the editors of the magazine didn't want to make that category an automatic win for Pappy's.


If you want to step outside of barbecue, the Frito Pie might catch your attention. This is basically beans, onions, cheese served on top of a bed of Fritos and topped with your barbecue of choice. I haven't had it yet, but I'm sure I'll be back in St. Louis again.


It's probably a good thing this place didn't exist while I was in college. I didn't have money, and given how often I went to STL, I'd have been losing money left and right standing in line for some Pappy's. It's that good.


Recap
Time to go: Early. Pappy's mantra of cooking all food fresh means that there is no guarantee the restaurant will even be open by the time you arrive if you get there later in the day. The restaurant opens at 11, and I'd advise being there near that time.


Wait during my visit: Here's the other reason why you need to get there early. If you don't, you'll be waiting for well over an hour, or you're going to be calling it in and having a picnic. 


Remember Ike's Place? Pappy's is very similar, as lines can easily go for over an hour. To-go orders can jump the line, but if not, you'll be waiting a while. My advice is that if the line extends outside the restaurant, call in your order.


Location: Pappy's can be found near the campus of St. Louis University, at 3106 Olive Street in St. Louis.


Parking: You'll find some. Being near the university, if you can't park at Pappy's, garages and street parking can be had.


Cost: Average. Pappy's does feature two pricey items in the Big Ben and the Adam Bomb, but these are not meant for one person. The Big Ben includes a slab of ribs, beef brisket, a pork sandwich, a quarter of a chicken and four sides. The Adam Bomb adds a hot link Frito pie to all of that.


Those go for over $40. However, sensible meals at Pappy's cost roughly $10-15.


Website: Pappy's Smokehouse

Signature items: Barbecue, Frito pie

Ike's Place, San Francisco

No, I haven't forgotten to post the picture for this one. Tonight, we actually have our first review that will not have a picture, because my Dec. 2009 visit to Ike's Place predates when I began taking pictures of the places I visited. So I'll try to describe things as best as I can without the use of visual aids.

Luckily, Ike's Place is so creative that this is probably the best place to have to do one without photos if I must. Those of you who read my Voodoo Doughnut review know that in addition to wonderful doughnuts, it's just as famous for its creative names that it bestows upon said doughnuts. 

What it is to breakfast, Ike's Place is to lunch. Owner Ike Shehadeh has come up with no fewer than 83 sandwiches that dot the Ike's Place menu, and that doesn't include discontinued sandwiches or sandwiches that are only available to Ike's fans that sign up via e-mail or social media for the restaurant's alerts. All sandwiches are available on your choice of freshly baked French, sourdough, wheat or Dutch crunch bread, and all sandwiches come toasted with lettuce, tomato and Dirty Sauce. If you want, you can add onions, pickles, banana peppers and mustard for free.

Plus, every sandwich has some kind of creative name, with the majority of the names having something to do with San Francisco, although that's by no means required. Here's a sampling of what you can find on Ike's menu:


Menage a Trois: Halal chicken, honey, honey mustard, barbecue sauce, pepper jack, Swiss, cheddar
Nacho Girl: Wild salmon burger, mushrooms, avocado, havarti
Paul Reubens: Pastrami, coleslaw, French dressing, Swiss
Peg Bundy: Breaded eggplant, French dressing, avocado, cheddar
Lincecum: Ham, turkey, bacon, avocado, havarti
Tom Brady: Vegan breaded chicken, garlic and herb sauce, mushrooms, avocado, cheddar
Kryptonite: Roast beef, corned beef, pastrami, salami, turkey, bacon, ham, mozzarella sticks, jalapeno poppers, onion rings, avocado, pesto, pepper jack (basically, just about every ingredient on Ike’s menu)


OK, if you've read this far, I'm sure you're wondering exactly what is Dirty Sauce? Quite simply, Dirty Sauce is the condiment that takes Ike's from being good to amazing. Dirty Sauce is Ike Shehadeh's garlic mayonnaise, with several secret spices for a simply fantastic taste.


Before any ingredients touch the sandwich, Ike's spreads the Dirty Sauce onto the bread and bakes it into the bread, giving the sandwich the distinct flavor of the Dirty Sauce in every bite. The sandwich is then toasted again once the ingredients are all loaded onto the bread, resulting in hot and fresh deliciousness that simply has to be tried to be believed.


On my visit, I went with the SF Giants, an incredible combination of turkey, bacon, mushrooms, Swiss and avocado. Quite honestly, it might very well be the best sandwich I've ever had. When combined with the Dirty Sauce throughout the sandwich, a bunch of things I already like become perfection.


Ike's is so incredible that it's won numerous awards in the short time it's been open and has become an indelible part of San Francisco and the Bay Area in just a couple years. When you manage to do that, it's because of one reason: you're really, really good at what you do.


Recap
Time to go: Lunch or dinner. Ike's is open between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m.


Wait during my visit: Oh boy. Ike's is the reason that San Franciscans need more than an hour for lunch. The line almost stretched to the end of the street, and Ike's location (at the time) on 16th Street is on a pretty long street. I waited approximately two hours for my sandwich. That I'm still giving this a high review speaks to just how good Ike's creations are.


The good news is that Ike's does allow you to call in your orders, and if you do, you can pick up your sandwich without having to wait in line. I highly recommend doing this. Even better, if you're not sure you can make it to Ike's by 7 p.m. and you call your order in, Ike's will hold your sandwich for up to an hour after its doors close so you can pick it up.


Location: You can find Ike's at 3489 16th Street, a new location across the street from the original Ike's. Ike's also operates a secondary location on the campus of Stanford University in Palo Alto.


Parking: Good luck. It's San Francisco, which means parking will be both costly and a nightmare. There are meters available, but they will cost you a few dollars for your wait. I would recommend finding a transit option of some kind. You can take BART to the Mission/16th Street stop, which would give you a half-mile walk to Ike's. Not ideal, but at least you don't have to find parking.


Cost: Average. Ike's sandwiches tend to cost roughly $10, which can be more or less depending on what you order.


Website: Ike's Place. Ike's offers a great website, allowing its patrons to rate their sandwiches and listing the ratings of each. It's a great feature.


Signature items: Sandwiches, Dirty Sauce

Albano's Pizzeria, Lyons, Ill.

As my college friends can attest to, I'm a pretty frugal guy. While they were buying drinks and going to bars, my wallet was known as the place dollars go to never be seen again because of how rarely they saw me buy anything. 

I've gotten a little better at that since then, but with that reputation, it follows that I love a good deal, and you'd be hard-pressed to find a better one than at Albano's, known for what it labels as the nation's largest pizza puff. I don't know if that's actually true or not, but what I do know is that it's located in the Chicago suburbs, it checked in at No. 8 on the Chowdown Countdown and it's totally worth a visit.


For those who don't know, a pizza puff is a Chicago version of the calzone, piled with toppings, cheese and sauce and cooked inside the dough. However, the difference between your standard calzone and a pizza puff is that the pizza puff is fried rather than baked, which is almost certainly less healthy but certainly not less tasty. In fact, as usually happens when you fry something, this is really excellent.


Besides being really excellent, it's really huge. As I said, I have no idea whether or not these are actually the largest pizza puffs in the country, but if they aren't, they're darn close. Albano's pizza puffs are the size of a football, as they really load on whatever toppings you ask for. On my visit with my wonderful lady Amy McFann, we went with chicken, mushrooms, olives, spinach and ricotta to pair with the sauce and mozzarella that come standard. Each bite was filled with a great mix of all of those toppings.


Notice I said we there, as in we split one. This is the way you're supposed to have the pizza puff. They are so large that the picture at the top of this blog is half of a pizza puff. Yes, half of this takes up a full dinner plate. These are not made for one person to eat. We actually had some left over after splitting it.


Surprisingly, though, while it isn't made for one person, it's priced for one person, which is the great deal I referenced at the start of the blog and why I brought up my legendary cheapskate ways. The standard pizza puff is seven dollars, with each topping costing you 75 cents. With beverages, dinner for two or more people costs less than $15. If you can get multiple people to agree on the toppings, this might very well be the best deal in Chicagoland.


Beyond the pizza puff, Albano's serves everything you'd expect at an Italian restaurant, with pasta, pizza, soups, salads and sandwiches dotting its menu. I can definitely recommend the pizzas whether you get standard or deep-dish, having tasted the quality of the ingredients in the pizza puff.


That said, unless you just don't like calzones (since you can order baked as a regular calzone), I can recommend the pizza, but I won't because of the greatness that is the pizza puff. That's the reason you come to Albano's: a unique, high-quality meal at a very low price. When you have that, that's really all you need.


Recap
Time to go: Lunch/dinner. The pizza puff is great eating for either meal, and Albano's is open seven days a week.


Wait during my visit: None. Even though it's Chicagoland, it's the land part of Chicagoland, which means the restaurant traffic isn't usually bad. Things could be a bit worse at the Cicero location, which is a little closer to Chicago proper than Lyons.


Location: Albano's offers two locations, one at 8699 W. Ogden Avenue in Lyons, Ill., and the other at 5913 W. Roosevelt Road in Cicero, Ill.


Parking: It's available right in front of the restaurant.

Cost: Very wallet-friendly. Most entrees are under $15, with the pizza puff at $7 and yielding at least two meals.


Website: Albano's Pizzeria


Signature items: Pizza puff

Voodoo Doughnut, Portland, Ore.

Perhaps no place lives up to the term "hole in the wall" better than Voodoo Doughnut. Located in downtown Portland, Oregon on the western side of the Willamette River, Voodoo Doughnut is hidden so well that you'll miss it if you don't know exactly where you're going. This actually happened to me, as I couldn't find it on my first trip to the City of Roses in 2009 and had to give it up so I could catch my flight from PDX.


Luckily, Idaho State plays at Portland State every year, so I got a second chance to find the elusive doughnuts a year later while I was still covering Bengal basketball. This time in better daylight and on foot, I was able to find what I was looking for, and I'm darn glad I did. Voodoo Doughnut is home to some of the most creative names and pastries available. Here's a list of some of what you can expect to be waiting for you at Voodoo, the No. 20 restaurant on the Chowdown Countdown.


Portland Cream: Chocolate yeast doughnut filled with Bavarian cream
Triple chocolate penetration: Chocolate cake doughnut with chocolate icing and Cocoa Puffs
Grape Ape: Yeast doughnut with vanilla frosting, grape dust and lavender sprinkles
Gay Bar: Yeast bar doughnut filled with cream, frosted and topped with a rainbow of Froot Loops
Marshall Matters: Vanilla frosted doughnut covered in M&M's
Memphis Mafia: Doughnut with banana chunks and cinnamon sugar, covered with peanut butter, chocolate frosting, peanuts and chocolate chips.

As you can tell, this place is creative, and I haven't even mentioned my doughnuts of choice yet. As you probably gathered from the main picture, I had to order a Voodoo Doll, which begins life as a bar doughnut, but then has its arms pulled apart to give it the doll look. It's frosted with chocolate, given a face and then has its bottom half injected with raspberry jelly. A pretzel stick is then added to complete the look. It tastes simply wonderful. If you like chocolate and raspberry, as my mom does, you will love this.


My other doughnut, I really don't wish to name, but I will: It's called an Old Dirty Bastard. What is it? It's a chocolate-frosted yeast doughnut, topped with Oreos and peanut butter. It is incredible, as you can see for yourself.

But that's not even the strangest thing about Voodoo Doughnut, nor is it their Maple Bacon Bar, which is served with actual bacon on top of a maple-frosted doughnut. Their strangest doughnuts aren't on the menu anymore because the health inspector told them they had to stop making two doughnuts, the Nyquil Glaze and the Vanilla Pepto Crushed Tums. 


Yes, for a time, they actually sold one doughnut with Nyquil and the other with Pepto-Bismol and Tums. Apparently, the goal of the second was to be used to try to help people recover from a night of drinking. Novel idea, but apparently the health inspectors disagreed. But that's not the strangest thing about this place. The strangest thing about this place is they perform weddings here.


No, I didn't make that up. For a couple hundred bucks, you can legitimately get married at any of Voodoo Doughnut's three locations, and these are legal marriages performed by a minister. No word on if anyone has attempted to marry a doughnut.


For sheer creativity, Voodoo Doughnut is worth a look. But it's the quality of the doughnuts that make this place amazing. This place takes quality so seriously that they will not ship doughnuts (they say the product's shelf-life is 8 to 12 hours) and they will not guarantee you can purchase a dozen doughnuts without calling ahead your order 24 hours in advance, because they don't want to serve sub-standard doughnuts. All restaurants should have those high standards of quality.


Recap
Time to go: Whenever the heck you want. Voodoo Doughnut is open 24 hours a day except for certain holidays at all three of its locations.


Wait during my visit: None, but I went at 6 a.m. It is possible the wait could increase with the original restaurant's expansion, as the size has greatly increased which could allow for people to eat at the restaurant.


Location: The original is located on 22 Southwest 3rd Avenue in Portland. They have a second location at 1501 Northeast Davis Street on the other side of the Willamette River in Portland, and a third two hours south in Eugene.


Parking: Don't bother. Portland is not a very car-friendly city, as most of the locals prefer to either bike or hop on public transportation. Your best bet is to take the Red or Blue Line of MAX (Portland's rail system) to the Skidmore Fountain Station, which is two blocks from Voodoo.
This only applies if you're going to the original location. If you're going to the Davis Street location, you'll be fine. That store has plenty of parking available.

Cost: Very wallet-friendly. Doughnuts are inexpensive, and this is no exception. You can buy a couple doughnuts and spend about three dollars.


Website: Voodoo Doughnut 


Signature items: Doughnuts

Black Market Pizza, Ames, Iowa

Yes, there's more to Ames, Iowa than Iowa State University and its wonderful buttermilk brownies. Those who know me from college are very familiar with my assertion that Iowa State will dominate the Big 12 if the Cyclones are ever smart enough to give their football recruits the brownies they serve in the press box at Jack Trice Stadium, but Ames is also home to some excellent pizza at Black Market Pizza, just north of the university's campus. Given that I've yet to review anything from the Hawkeye State, which I now call home, it's the perfect time for this review.


What sets this pizza apart at Black Market is the unusual kinds of pizza you're going to find on the menu here. Black Market is famous for taking sandwiches and turning them into pizza form. See if you can recognize what inspired their Witness Protection Pizza based on its ingredients:


Ground beef, Thousand Island sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed crust.


If you guessed a Big Mac, you're absolutely right. Other pizzas served at Black Market include taco, Reuben, chicken bacon ranch, bacon double cheeseburger and Patty melt. Every ingredient you'd find on these creations in their normal form shows up on the pizza. The Reuben, for example, uses rye seeds to mimic the rye bread one normally eats a Reuben on. It's an interesting concept that really works.


Of course, the reason it works is that Black Market uses quality ingredients and makes sure the flavors match up perfectly. In my pizza at the top, ranch sauce is used in place of tomato sauce on the pizza, and it's then topped with chicken, bacon and tomatoes. I can hear the purists howling in New York, but it's actually really good this way. A pizza isn't much different from an open-faced sandwich when you think about it, and Black Market certainly has.


If you're not up for a sandwich as a pizza, Black Market also serves the traditional thin crust and deep dish pizza those in New York and Chicago respectively have grown up eating. In fact, its Chicago-style pizzas are just as much a part of its identity as its sandwich pizzas. If you want something really different, try one of these pizzas using a sweet potato crust. Different toppings also routinely dot the specials board and are available for customers to try.


Size-wise, these aren't ridiculous sizes like at Big Pie In The Sky. Black Market serves their pizza in a standard size, with 16 inches being as big as they go. The 10-inch pizza, their smallest size, can feed one person quite well.


It's a shame that Black Market couldn't sustain a second location in the Des Moines suburb of Altoona, but some places are just meant to be in one spot. Clearly, that applies to Black Market, which has found itself a home in the college town of Ames.


Recap
Time to go: Lunch or dinner work well here. The small pizzas work great for a lunch serving, while one big one can feed a family for dinner.


Wait during my visit: None outside the wait for the pizza to cook. It's Ames, not nearby Des Moines. There's not going to be a ridiculous crowd unless you've decided to go when the Cyclones are playing a home football or basketball game.


Location: Black Market Pizza can be found at 2610 Northridge Parkway in the northern part of Ames, Iowa. It also delivers to locations around the Ames area.


Parking: Again, it's Ames. You shouldn't have a problem here.


Website: Black Market Pizza

Signature items: Sandwich pizzas, deep dish

Eagle's Deli, Brighton, Mass.

It's about time we had a burger place here, and what better choice than to go with the lone Boston location that I've visited? Eagle's Deli, located in the Boston suburb of Brighton, is known for doing burgers and doing them in a big way. Right across the Chestnut Hill Reservoir from Boston College (that's where the Eagle's name comes from), this place has been a tradition for the students of the northern-most ACC school for years, which is why they've been visited by Man vs. Food and claimed No. 21 on the Chowdown Countdown.


What makes Eagle's so beloved is not that they do burgers big, they do them right. Every burger is flame-grilled to perfection and topped with whatever you've chosen to devour. Sure, they have the standard toppings, but they're very willing to throw some specialty burgers up there for your pleasure.


The Cowboy Burger, for example, features bacon, grilled onions and a healthy dose of barbecue sauce. The Ranch Burger, which I chose to go with, gives a new flavor to the standard bacon cheeseburger by using ranch dressing instead of mayonnaise. Want to try a version of Philly on a burger? Order the Bianco, with onions, peppers and mushrooms. There's a lot of options available.


Of course, this being a deli, Eagle's also shines in their sandwiches. Turkey, roast beef, ham and chicken pesto are just some of the high-quality ingredients that dot Eagle's menu. Want breakfast? They've got you covered there too. There's something for everyone here.


What takes Eagle's to the next level, however, is their mammoth burgers. Eagle's is home to the legendary undefeated Challenge Burger, born out of the restaurant's idea that hungry college students consistently want to eat more and more. Originally, the restaurant's non-specialty burgers were the King Kong and the Godzilla. The King Kong weighed in at a half-pound, while the Godzilla was a full pound. Sizable, but not insane.


That was what the Boston crowd thought, too. So Eagle's upped the ante, introducing the Cowabunga Burger, a two-pound cheeseburger with two pounds of fries. Not even that satisfied everyone, so Eagle's added another pound of burger and created with the challenge. 


The rules were simple and made the challenge unbeatable. If anyone could finish Eagle's Challenge Burger, that burger would be named after the person who completed it, and Eagle's would add another pound to the new challenge.


Today, as a result, you can order a Reilly Burger (3 pounds) or a Paul Jones Burger (4 pounds). The menu hasn't been updated, but recently, someone finished the 5-pounder, making the new challenge a 6-pound burger. Oh, and just to make the challenge more fun, they throw in five pounds worth of fries. No big deal there.


But these burgers don't need the size to be incredible. They're grilled to perfection, given just the right amount of char to juiciness, with a perfect complement of toppings that create burger bliss. No matter how hungry you are, a visit to Eagle's is always a good idea.


Recap
Time to go: They serve breakfast, but the burgers are the best thing about Eagle's. Given the choice, I'm coming for lunch.


Wait during my visit: Get ready. This place is famous and you're going to be waiting a while for your meal. The BC crowd loves this place and will be there at any time of day that it's open. I waited with my brother Zach for 40 minutes when we went...and this was on a Sunday afternoon when the New England Patriots played a playoff game the night before. Be patient, it's worth it.


Location: Eagle's is at 1918 Beacon Street in the Boston suburb of Brighton, Mass., right across the street from the Cleveland Circle T stop on Boston's transit system.


Parking: Even though it's Boston, you can find parking here. Just be ready for a short walk from your car to Eagle's. You won't be able to park next to the restaurant unless you're really lucky.


Website: Eagle's Deli

Signature items: Burgers