Big Boy?

It was snowing, cold and we didn't have much time to spare after a visit to the Post Office, so we stopped off at Frisch's Big Boy for lunch. I have two words to describe the experience ... Big Boy? ... or maybe ... Hell No! ... or maybe ... BIG MISTAKE!


The place was bright and clean ...


The table setting promised great things. Excitement. Anticipation ...


Then the waitress brought our neighbors their food. So we asked how much it cost to add an extra patty to our burgers. We didn't find it in here ...


Do you know how much that costs? Hint: $1 value menu item at the fast food chain across the street. Did you guess $1 for the extra patty at Frisch's Big Boy? WRONG! Did you guess $2? Still WRONG! You would need to lay out $2.50 for an extra patty for your burger.

Ok, no extra patty on my lunch. I picked the Swiss Miss burger. It had a rye bun, swiss cheese and the special sauce. I upgraded the experience with fries and a side salad.


Then, my smiley turned upside down.



All four bites of my lunch were ok, but really! Micro-burgers at big boy prices? I shoulda went across the street to a different restaurant.

Snow

Snow ... and more is on the way.

Mamma DiSalvo's Ristorante

Some days just don't get better than this! We visited Mamma DiSalvo's Ristorante for dinner and it was simply GREAT.


They have some interesting beer and wine choices. Wine first. Never spend too much time worrying about the perfect wine. Chianti works with every Italian dish. Why? For the same reason that the sky is blue. It's God's Will ... or ... a function of Rayleigh Scattering and the interaction of light with nitrogen and oxygen high in the atmosphere ... depending upon your religious preference. Another "go anywhere" wine choice is also red, Pinot Noir. It's obviously French, forward and awfully naughty, and in no time you'll understand what "fais-moi grimper au rideau" really means.

Now Beer. They have Peroni Nastro Azzurro on draft. If you've tried Peroni in the skunky green bottles, relax! Peroni on draft doesn't SUCK. Peroni isn't beer in the sense of the German Purity Law. It is a light, vampiric elixir made with malted barley, corn and hops that comes together pleasantly ONLY when protected from the Sun. Give it a try. You'll probably like it.


Be sure to order the House Dressing with your salad. It's a tangy, sweet, red wine vinigrette.


What's Italian without the bread?


How do you make the perfect seafood dish? First, you need shrimp. No, not the undersea anorexics from the Super Walmart freezer case! You have to fish Moby Dick's little cousins out of deep waters. You need big shrimp with bad attitudes. For this dish they have be surly, dangerous to catch, and ANGRY. Arrabbiata in Italian means "Angry". Toss in some scallops and mussels and you've got a seafood street gang on your plate. Mamma DiSalvo's calls that dish - Seafood Arrabiatta.

An Arrabiatta is spicy. There's no doubt about it. The perfect Arrabiatta lingers gently on your palate while the top of your head sweats. There's no doubt about this either. Mamma DiSalvo's makes the perfect Seafood Arrabiatta! You can taste the chili peppers, tomato, onions, garlic and Italian spices - all in just the right proportion.


The special of the day was a Lasagna and fettuccine Alfredo combination. The presentation was spectacular. This is the most memorable Lasagna I've ever had. It had it all - a combination of different cheeses, the sauce, the spices, everything. What's makes the best lasagna even better? MORE lasagna! The portion was so generous that I got to bring some home for later. If there was more space on this page, I really would tell you how good the fettuccine Alfredo was AND how the rich, creaminess of it completed the meal.



I'll be coming back to Mamma DiSalvo's! You should too.


Mamma DiSalvo's Ristorante
1375 E. Stroop Rd.
Kettering Ohio 45440
Phone: 937-299-5831

Giovanni's Pizzeria é Ristorante Italiano

We heard about Giovanni's Pizzeria é Ristorante Italiano from friends at work, so we went over for a dinner visit. The place was described as a "unique and one-of-a-kind" in the same sentence no less which made it even more interesting. Of course, when I heard "where value meets quality" that closed the deal.

Giovanni's is a quaint little place that wasn't too hard to find. There isn't much signage outside but you really can't miss it from the street. Parking is a little sparse, so come early.


The place was bright and inviting. The furnishings were retro and homey.


The service was quick.


The Chicken Parmigiana was pretty good. It had a lot of moist chicken breast meat in an tasty sauce. I couldn't wait to get a bite, so that's why it looks "fork ready" in this image.


The pizza had a really great, crispy crust. They were a little stingy with the sauce. It wasn't bad overall, definitely better than a call to Domino's.


Giovanni's was good, friendly and reasonably priced. The food was tasty and the quantity generous. The GPS app on my cell phone listed Giovanni's as a 5 star experience. If you're like me, it would be certainly worth a visit - if for nothing else - to try to figure out where and how they earned those last two stars.

Giovanni's Pizzeria é Ristorante Italiano
215 W Main St.
Fairborn, OH 45324
Phone (937) 878-1611

Flying Wonder Woman's Jet

Wonder Woman's airplane, the Invisible Plane, is probably the coolest form of transportation of all time. Since its first appearance in Sensation Comics #1 (Jan. 1942), it has made several laps through my local airport MOSTLY to make sure that our airline's on-time performance and delay severity statistics remain HIGH. Here it is docking at Gate #24 at Will Rogers World Airport.

Ah, Wonder Woman. Ain't she sweet?


Thank you, Wonder Woman. On time, all the time.

Finally got home ... to a giant snowstorm. The memory card on my phone's camera gave up the ghost, taking several really cool images of the snow and ice with it. Replaced the card and took a few pix to test it out. Here's one of them. I've seen snow and ice make many strange formations, but this one is one of coolest. So much moisture in the air!

What's the coolest thing you've seen built by Nature using water and cold?

Just Say NO!

Kia! So many features ...

• Sleek styling.


• Snow storm WHITE screams "Find me" in a crowded parking lot.


• Low CO2 footprint - a benefit of having hamster wheels for an engine.


• An "in the cab" turbo button: ON for air conditioning, OFF for the power to merge onto freeway.


• A spacious trunk - it can hold TWO bags of peanut M&Ms at the SAME TIME!

Oh yeah ... NO!

DublinFor Dinner

Went to Dublin for dinner tonight. No, not the real Dublin, but a jumpin little place with the same name, The Dublin Pub.


They claim to pour the perfect pint. The criteria for the perfect pint are posted all around the place ....


So it only seems natural to have some cheese fries and apply the test ...


I ordered the Beef Stew. The service was great and my order came quickly.


The dish was something to see. It was packed with beef and vegatables and slathered in a Guinness gravy. It wasn't a traditional beef stew where the pieces are swimming in a brown or red sauce, hoping to be noticed, and tasted individually. This one had big chunks of everything, big redskin potatoes, and TASTE! It worked. Maybe it worked too well coz I was stuffed before I ever came close to the bottom of the bowl.

Here's another dish that looked interesting - the Bully Beef Shot. It's cut of roast beef heaped on a dollop of mashed potatoes. Yes, it's got gravy and lots of it.


Highly recommend a visit. Set enough time aside to eat, drink and catch a game of rugby or something interesting. The atmosphere is a little louder than it needs to be, but not obnoxiously so. Great service and great times.

The Dublin Pub
300 Wayne Avenue
Dayton, OH 45410-1116
(937) 224-7822

Smokey Bones

Am visiting Dayton, Ohio, this week. When dinner time rolled around, we went on a great hunt for something to eat. This sign looked interesting so we stopped in Smokey Bones BBQ & Grill for dinner.


Gotta a seatnear the televisions to watch a basketball game on the television. Go figure the odds of finding a Big 12 school on the television!


Several cold options on draft. Decided to give the Burning River Pale Ale from Great Lakes Brewery at try. A home run! It was really tasty.


Smokey bones is a Bar-Be-Que place so I decided to try the ribs. There are lots of choices of flavors on the menu. They also provide some of their most popular sauces for you to try. I decided on the ribs, narrowed down the choice to a tangy sauce rather than a rub coating. A few minutes later, magic happened ...


At first I thought it was a big red fish taking a little nap on my plate. So, I surprised it with my fork. Yep, it was pretty good.

I'm from a place with pretty good BBQ, so this wasn't the same as visiting Memphis, Dallas or Kansas City for BBQ. No place on Earth burns a pig like these high holy places of BBQ. THAT being said, the food was pretty good. The sides were hit and miss though. The broccoli was brilliantly spiced and wonderful. The cole slaw was unbearable, just plain awful. The baked beans were sauce-coated victims of the kitchen. I sampled their chicken later and found it to be a little dry and snarky. Overall, not too bad. Would visit again and try other things on the menu.

Smokey Bones BBQ & Grill
(937) 415-0185
6744 Miller Ln,
Dayton, OH 45414