Friday, March 09, 2007

The Great American Restaurant Odyssey Day One: Bob Evans and Uno's Pizza

We are on a road trip to Phoenix.

We got away at 8:30am. Friday morning and got to Sarnia and the US border by noon. It was exactly 300 km. to the border. Across into Michigan and the beginning our Great American Restaurant Odyssey.

First stop: Bob Evans. I like the clean, home-cooked taste of a Bob Evans Restaurant. A first: my first "seniors" meal! I had a single fried egg and the Bob Evans sausage/biscuit-and-gravy combo.

Prognosis: delicious!

From Port Huron over to Lansing and some bum directions courtesy of Mapquest -- they left out a highway! We finally figured it out.

From Lansing down to Fort Wayne, Indiana. 700 km. Stopped at a Candlewood Suites. Arrived at 6:30pm.

Prognosis: clean and home-like; fridge, stove, etc. Robbie (our cairn terrier) approved!

I went out for the main event of the day: a Uno's deep-dish pizza. They had a special, so I got a deep-dish and a flatbread pizza.

A deep-dish pizza like Uno's is indescribable; it is one of this planet's great eating experiences. I hadn't had one in at least ten years.

How do I describe the indescribable? Well, it differs from a regular pizza because it is really a pie; pizza used to be called a "pizza pie"; I can recall Ralph Kramden of the Honeymooners using the term. This is a pie. It's more like a meat pie than what we consider a pizza today; the crust reminds me of the buttery crust of a cornish meat pie. It's almost more stew-like than like a traditional pizza.

A great start to a great vacation.

Tomorrow's plan: St. Louis, home of Imo's Pizza and Ted Drewe's Frozen Custard.

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