Smokey Jon's BBQ

From Best BBQ in America

2310 Packers Ave, Madison, WI 53704

As a southerner, I miss good BBQ.  I mean, legit, elbows on the table, need a roll of paper towels, sweet tea, good sides, great meat, and amazing sauce BBQ.  Outside of Chicago, there is very little left to be desired for a recent Midwesterner transplant like me.  I have come to expect mediocrity and lack of taste, and I have settled on the fact that unless I am in the big city, BBQ will just be mediocre at best for the time being.  

That is until I went to Madison and found Smokey Jon's all thanks to my Wisconsin greasy foodie role model, mentor, and hero Peter Luck.

In a non-descript industrial park, on the outskirts of the perfect balance of hippie commune, co-op loving, liberal epicenter and frat boy, conservative, beer, cheese, and brat loving town known as Madison lies an incredible BBQ find.  In Madison , a culinary paradise of organic, grass-fed, vegan, ethnic, food cart, is a true southern BBQ mecca.  Smokey Jon's quenches every ounce of great BBQ experience I come to expect from my trips home to the south.  The portions are outstanding, the meat is amazing, the sauce is out of this world, and the sides are phenomenal.  I have been back twice now, both times with Mr. Luck per my diva demands, not requests, and have not been disappointed in any, way, shape or form.

POINTS EAST PUB

BEST WINGS IN AMERICA

1501 N Jackson St, Milwaukee, WI 53202

What they say: "Points East Pub is "built on the wing." They are famous for one thing and one thing only, their chicken wings, and they do them well. These wings are sauced and then put through the grill to get a perfected smokey flavor."-Thrillist


This tiny sports bar boasts some of the biggest, boldest, and most baddass wings on the planet! Unlike your traditional wing that is fried, Points East chargrills their wings, a tactic and method that I have grown to love. They are still hot and not soggy by the time they get to your plate, which is a risk you take with fried wings. Order food at the bar, grab a seat, and wait your turn. The kitchen is the size of a broom closet (new kitchen under construction), but what they lack in floor space, they make up for in taste and quality. The wings are worth the wait. Drenched in sauce and then cooked. It takes what is "traditional" about wings with frying and then drenching (tossing in sauce) and asks "whats so great about tradition. TRADITION BE DAMNED" and sauces then GRILLS to perfection.

North End Caffe

From Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives

3421 N Highland Ave Manhattan Beach, CA 90266

Let's begin with the location. One block from the beach. Just off the greatest walking path in America that extends along a majority of LA's beaches. Beach babes and bros pass every minute with their wet suits and surf boards in their convertibles and open air Jeeps. Paradise

And then there is the food. Amazing menu spanning brunch, lunch, dinner, American, Asian, Italian. Amazing sandwiches with amazing fries. Amazing concoctions and creations on outstanding bread with outstanding toppings and sauces. This is a must stop place for lunch if you are in the area, and given how amazing Manhattan Beach is, you should be in the area.

Benji's Deli

From Man Vs. Food Nation and #33 on 101 More Places to Chowdown

Milwaukee

4156 North Oakland Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53211

Many people say Milwaukee is in the shadow of Chicago, second rate to Chicago, red-headed step child to Chicago.

"If you want a good (insert food here)" But I must say, Milwaukee hold's its own culinary-wise for the most part.

And when it comes to midwest delis, this place is beyond good, its pretty great. IN FACT, I would say after Shapiro's in Indy this is for sure up there. Better than almost any deli in Chicago except the two suburban staples Once Upon A (Insert word here) and Kaufman's"

There are two main delis in town, Jake's and Benji's and everyone likes one or the other, not both. "Jake's is old school" The classic food feud. The best kind of feud in my opinion. 

Jake's is one of these delis that set up shop in the early days in the Jewish neighborhood and has stayed put even if the Jewish population hasn't. "Oh Jakes, thank g-d its only open for lunch because it's in the ghetto" says everyone local Milwaukeean (is that what the locals are called?).  Bud Selig is rumored to have eaten there everyday...still does apparantly.

Benji's, on the other hand, moved with the times and the customers to the burbs and it is quite wonderful. My wife (the new(est) rabbi in town tried to meet there for dinner and given the amount of congregants who had joined us for dinner by the end, we called it "oneg". 

This place is classic, great deli. Casual, fun, menu that could be confused for a college text book. Portions that are the photo of gluttony in the dictionary. I got the Hear O' Israel. "a half-pound sandwich featuring our hand-carved corn beef, pastrami, salami, pepper beef, Swiss cheese, coleslaw and 1000 isle dressing, all piled high on rye. whew!".  Outstanding.


If you want a quiet, casual, no frills, giant meal to quench your appetite or warm your soul, Benji's is legit!

Jake Melnick's Cornertap

From Hot and Spicy Paradise

41 E Superior St, Chicago, IL 60611



This place is a great sports bar with great food. It ranks up there with Barney's in terms of the food matching the atmosphere for a bar (Barney's) 

Wings at this place are outstanding and inventive. The Poncho wings are grilled with garlic and cayenne. I love a traditional fried and dipped wing then dipped in ranch, especially with a good sauce, especially right out of the fryer, but I find that they grow soggy quickly. The char-grilled wing is quickly growing on me and the Poncho wing is some of the finest I have ever had (also check out Points East Pub in Milwaukee). They are known for their ghost pepper wings, but that's beyond my pay grade.

Also, one time was subbing for a Sunday School class at Temple Isiah in LA. Taking attendance. Jake Melnick. I say "you know there is a bar in Chicago named Jake Melnicks". Kid says "That place is named after me".

Ian's Pizza

Milwaukee,

From "Late Night Paradise"

2035 E North Ave, Milwaukee, WI 53202

What they say: "Mac N' Cheese Pizza (20-inch dough topped with local mozzarella, boiled elbow macaroni noodles, and homemadecrème fraiche, along with shredded Wisconsin cheddar cheese); Barbecue Brisket & Tater Tots Pizza (topped with local mozzarella, disk-shaped tater tots, and 18-hour smoked beef brisket, drizzled with homemade barbecue sauce)"


Take a moment and think about this answer. What does the perfect pizza look like to you? What would be on it? No two people may have the same answer, nor should they, thats the beauty of food and the beauty of places like Ian's pizza. Pizza comes in many shapes, styles and sizes. Square, round, deep, thin, red sauce, white sauce, clams, veggies, cheese in the crust, hot dog in the crust. But Ian's pizza pushes what the "expectation" of how pizza is supposed to look and taste. to the maximum deliciosuness. Mac n Cheese, steak and fries, kung pao chicken, the options are endless and unexpected. Take a moment now and think about what the perfect pizza would look like to you. Thanks to Ian's, the possibilities and options destroy the barrier of what we know to be "traditional" with pizza making and open up a whole new universe of options.

What would your perfect pizza look and taste like?  It may be Ian's next great concoction.

The Best Restaurant in Nashville and Thus the Best Southern Food (aka Meat and Three) in Nashville

ARNOLDS

605 8th Ave S, Nashville, TN 37203

"Here's the deal Arnolds is the best there is. Plain and simple. The open in the morning and  piss excellence."-Ricky Bobby

When it comes to culinary experiences, Nashville is quickly becoming a cannot miss stop for gastronomic greatness.  In a city of James Beard award winners and new talent from NYC, LA, and Chicago coming to get in on the boom known as Nashville.  In a city of foams, amuse bouches, and pre-fixe menus, one restaurant stands alone as the best in Nashville, and it is a cafeteria near downtown with no windows, long tables, and even longer lines...and its only open for lunch,. Arnold's Country Kitchen is the best southern food in Nashville and the best restaurant in the city according to me and many nationally acclaimed magazines.

In Nashville, we do whats called the meat and three. I will let Wikipedia explain without paying the $3 donation.

"A meat and three restaurant is a restaurant in which the customer picks one meat from a daily selection of 3–6 choices (such as fried chicken, country ham, beef, country-fried steak, meatloaf, or pork chop and three side dishes from a list that may include up to a dozen other options (usually vegetables, potatoes, corn, green or lima beans,but also other selections such as gelatin, creamed corn, macaroni and cheese, and spaghetti).

A meat-and-three meal is often served with cornbread and sweet tea.[Meat and three is popular throughout the country, but its roots can be traced to Tennessee and its capital of Nashville.The phrase has been described as implying "glorious vittles served with utmost informality." It is also associated with soul food.[3]

The article goes on to say: 

Meat and three has been mentioned in connection with the increasing incidence of diabetes in the Southern population, with one expert saying:

"There's a real misconception in the South about what constitutes a healthy diet. People aren't lining up at the salad bar during lunch hour; they're opting for the 'meat and three and sweet tea' at the corner cafeteria. And that's not good; those cafeteria vegetables aren't really healthy when they're cooked with half a ham hock and butter.

Sounds like a gastronomic journey of greatness to me!

Mary Mac's Tea Room

Atlanta

224 Ponce De Leon Ave NE, Atlanta, GA 30308

From Soul Food Paradise

What they say: "Georgia Peach Cobbler" (fresh peaches smothered in homemade brown sugar, nutmeg & cinnamon cobbler sauce topped with a candied crust served a la mode), "Southern Special" (3 entrees including meatloaf, chicken & dumplings, roast pork, country fried steak, roasted turkey, and baked or fried chicken and 3 sides including fried green tomatoes, sweet potato soufflé and tomato pie)

Listen, the short and long of it is, I am a Southern boy by birth, by heart, by soul, and by belly. American (food) by choice, Southern (food) by the grace of g-d. You can take the boy out of the South, but you cant take the South out of the boy. However, you can take the southern food out of the boy by taking the boy out of the south.

I appreciate southern soul food, and love when it is done right.

Southern food is at its best when it is made at its core, its name sake, in the south. You wouldn't get waffles at pancake pantry or pancakes at waffle house, so why would you get Southern food not in the South.

Mary Mac's Tea Room is the perfect evidence of why Southern food excels to perfection when it is served below the Mason-Dixon line. Some of the finest soul food around. Everything is battered, fried, sugared, and creamed. Sweet tea. And it is all done so to greatness. Mary Mac's Tearoom is the epitome of Southern Soul food and a landmark and epicenter as well. Where recipes have been passed down from generation to generation. Where recipes don't come with measurements, but with a "dash", "pinch", "splash", or "dip".

Come on down to Mary Mac's Tea Room you hear!

Au Cheval

From the Best Burger In America

800 W Randolph St, Chicago, IL 60607

Ever since Kuma's Corner (http://shilshuldiaries.blogspot.com/2013/06/kumas-corner.html) people have told me one thing.  "Yah, Kuma's is good, but have you tried Au Cheval.  It's the best"

Challenge accepted.

Here is what I knew about Au Cheval, it is on Randolph which has become the hub of new culinary excellence in Chicago (see Girl and the Goat http://shilshuldiaries.blogspot.com/2015/01/girl-and-goat.html).  It seated only like 40 people.  There would be a long wait. It was a new age diner aka fresh organic ingredients done in masterful ways re-inventing old classics like burgers, omlettes, nachos, and grilled cheese. And there was this burger.  A single is a double.  A double is a triple.  You must get the THICK cut bacon and the fried egg on top.  After all, Au Cheval literally means "on horseback" but in France, if a food on a menu is described with that phrase, it means "a fried egg on top."

And…..well….David Rosengarten of the Huff Post puts it best:

"My mind was simply blown by Au Cheval.

I daresay this is not only my favorite informal restaurant in America... this may well be my favorite restaurant of any kind in America today! I'm there! And so are thousands of others...

Most of them, in fact, are lined up at the door exactly when you want to eat. This is decidedly not a three-star restaurant, with a three-month maneuver to get in. No reservations. As I was putting my name on a list at the front of the house (which can lead to as much as a 2/12 hour wait), I was told that if the owner himself wanted a table he'd have to go through the same waiting list."

Au Cheval was spectacular on every level.  I went with my brother in law and my sister in law and waited in line for an hour.  We sat at the bar and watched as the masters of this masterful diner worked their masterful magic in the open kitchen.  A wise man once told me that an open kitchen means they are proud of their work and have nothing to hide and is the sign of a phenomenal eating experience.  Why do you think the kitchen at Applebees is behind a granite slab wall. Why do you think Waffle House has an open kitchen.  Excellence in the culinary pantheon. I rest my case.  You just got lawyered like it is 1:57pm on WGN by Perry Mason.

 We got the toasted blueberry muffin with hand whipped butter and jam and it was sublime and fries that were so perfectly overly seasoned that they would stand alone in perfection

But I was here for one thing and one thing only. The burger.  Like Holman Finch (http://shilshuldiaries.blogspot.com/2015/02/holeman-finch-public-house.html), the burger stands lone on the menu.  They make them by the hundreds.  It is meat, cheese, pickles, and onion.  It is made to perfection and tastes of perfection. The meat is cooked so perfectly and tastes of hevaen.  The cheese is gooey and melts you soul.  The condiment and sauces accompany perfectly but dont overwhelm.  The bun holds up the test of time.  The bacon is the burger's best friend.  The egg is the burger's best man.  They all go together in perfection.  This burger accomplishes what only a handful have.  The Au Cheval Double (REALLY A TRIPLE) Cheeseburger meets all five standards of the perfect burger.  (http://shilshuldiaries.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-burger-checklist.html). The meat, the cheese, the condiments, the sauce, the bun.  Perfect.

This is the best burger in Chicago and in the top 3 of my life..until I got text from my buddy Adam. "DMK is better".

CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!!

Muir Woods Trading Company

From Best Thing I Ever Ate

1 Muir Woods Rd, Mill Valley, CA 94941

Let me begin by saying something that is blasphemous, that is atrocious, that is offensive, and un-patriotic.

I do not like grilled cheese.

DO NOT HATE ME!!!

I despise, loathe, hate the taste, texture, and idea of congealed cheese.  Cheese that is melted and then has been left to room temperature to be cold. GROSS Unless cheese is in its original form cold or so hot that it melts RIGHT as it is served, it's not for me.

Grilled cheese is the epitome of congealed cheese.  Melted cheese that has now set.  It's like the lava flows in Hawaii.  Rock hard fragments of what was once liquid hot queso…I mean magma.

Muir Woods Trading Company is located at the entrance to Muir Woods, a majestic and wonderful national park just outside San Francisco home of magnificent red woods.  A must see.

The trading company is the cafe and the park shop, but it holds a much better secret.

This pace is supposed to have the best grilled cheese and tomato soup, so I said no to hate and gave it a try.  My wife is a grilled cheese afficinando, so this was a must try.

When we told people we were going, they asked "did you try the grilled cheese?"

The ingredients are simple and fresh.  Locally sourced bread, cheese, and veggies. My cousin Danny who was the basis of this blog said "It's shocking.  This is the best cafeteria food in the national park system and it's not that difficult.  It's mind-blowing that no one else has followed suit"

The grilled cheese, known as the Marin Melt, is outstanding.  Hot off the grill.  Melts perfectly (key for me).  Three distinct cheeses that on their own are outstanding, but together match in perfect harmony. Thick cut multigrain bread toasted to perfection.  Tomato soup that warms the soul both with temperature and spice and is the best I have ever had.  Perfect for a cool, damp day, which is common for the area.

You must visit Muir Woods for the grilled cheese and tomato soup…and while you are there take in some of the most incredible scenery in the world.  

Martin's BBQ

From Diner's, Drive-In, and Dives and Best BBQ in America

3108 Belmont Blvd, Nashville, TN 37212

The tag line says it all "Not ideal for vegan Bat Mitzvahs"

I grew up in Nashville before it was NASHVILLE! The Nashville I grew up in wasn't the place that make people giddy and excited.  It wasnt the bachelorette party capital of the world.  It wasn't a foodie paradise.  It was just Nashville.  It was the "you wear shoes" comment Nashville. 

Long before the James Beard award winning chefs and hipster craft beer and burgers and ice cream. Long before areas now considered trendy were visions of Green Acres or the Wire.  There was my Nashville.

The Nashville I grew up in had mediocre BBQ at best.  I would get my BBQ fix when we would make our monthly trip to Memphis to see family.  "Why can't we have (insert a Memphis BBQ institution) in Nashville".

Well, now we do.  The influx of people and culture has also brought an influx of Southern pride and tradition and an obsession with sharing it with the masses.

Thanks to this new wave of popularity, Nashville has had to step up its BBQ game in a big way to keep up with the trends.  The hot chicken, the music, and the BBQ.

Nashville was ranked the "best BBQ city in America" recently.  It wasn't awarded to Nashville because of the BBQ they had, they got the award because of the BBQ they got.  Nashville has become a hub for all things food related.  People brought the best of their talents, skill, and knowledge to Nashville and have set up shop.  

Martin's BBQ is a perfect example and metaphor of what has made Nashville great and unique.

This place is all about the classic southern BBQ experience.  They borrow and perfect methods and sauces from all the regions. Tangy and spicy from Memphis.  Tangy and sweet from Texas.  Mustard base from South Carolina.  Vinegar based from North Carolina.  White sauce from Alabama.  Whatever it is KC does.  They have it all under on roof and they do it right.

The pulled pork is amazing.  The ribs are wonderful.  The sides are phenomenal.  The sweet tea is delicious.  This is exactly what you want from a BBQ restaurant and experience.  This place is amazing, wonderful, phenomenal, and delicious.

Thanks to Martin's, Edleys, Jack's, and the best BBQ in town in my opinion, Peg Leg Porker, Nashville's claim to the best BBQ city in America is not only well deserved but is justified.

PS- The Devil's Nectar sauce is the hottest BBQ sauce I have ever had in my life. 

THE BURGER CHECKLIST

THE KEY TO A GREAT BURGER FALLS IN THE "ALBERT MARKS PEFECT BURGER CHECKLIST"

A BURGER MUST HAVE 5 CRUCIAL, VITAL, IMPERATIVE CHECKPOINTS THAT MAKE IT TRULY GREAT, OUTSTANDING, EPIC, MINDBLOWING, AND PHENOMENAL.

1.  THE MEAT:  THE BURGER MUST BE PERFECTLY PREPPED, SEASONED, COOKED, AND SERVED HOT!

2. THE CHEESE: MUST BE MELTED, NOT THROWN ON TOP AT THE LAST MOMENT.

3. THE TOPPINGS: MUST COMPLIMENT AND ENHANCE THE BURGER EXPERIENCE, NOT OVERWHELM OR LEAVE ANYTHING TO BE DESIRED

4. THE SAUCES: MUST COMPLIMENT AND ENHANCE THE BURGER EXPERIENCE, NOT OVERWHELM OR LEAVE ANYTHING TO BE DESIRED

5. THE BUN: MUST SUPPORT, COMPLIMENT, AND ENHANCE THE BURGER EXPERIENCE.  IT CANNOT FALL APART OR LOSE ITS INTEGRITY AND FOUNDATION BECAUSE OF THE CONTENTS IT HOLDS INSIDE. IT ALSO CANNOT BE SWEET.  NO HAWAIIAN BUNS!  THE ONLY HAWAIIAN BUNS I APPRECIATE ARE MARCUS MARIOTA'S!

Baby's Badass Burgers

Los Angeles

From Food Wars

Food Truck

I love a food truck.  I love the chase.  I love the intrigue of will we make it or wont we.  I love having to figure out the code of where they will be and when.

Baby's Badass Burgers was one food truck that has been at the top of my list with Kogi.  It took me four years, but finally, I found the pretty pink truck on chilly May evening in Venice.

The wait was worth it.

I got the 'She's Smokin'. 1/2 lb burger, cheddar, BBQ sauce, fried onion. and bacon.   The burger was delicious.  Toppings were great.  The sauce was outstanding.  This was an outstanding burger and I was just sorry that it took me this much time to find, flirt, and court the BBB truck.

McClure's Pickles

From Best Thing I Ever Ate

Any Grocery Store in America

This will be the most easily accessible item on this entire blog.  They are in every and any grocery store in America. Check the deli department where they sell cheese and meat not vacuumed sealed in the display case.  Did they sell out and go corporate. Yes.  Does it make this outstanding product available to the public for a beefed up hipster price of $8.99 a jar.  Yes.  Is it worth every penny? Yes!

I love pickles. I love dill pickles! I love half sour, whole sour, no sour (cucumber).  I love chips, spears, halves, and wholes! I love pickles, but my body and breath, no so much.  My father and I share a distinguishable trait in that pickles stench are maginfied with our breath and musk.  My wife can smell when I have eaten a pickle before she enters the room and will refuse to be in the same vicinity as me once I start talking.  I love pickles, but love my wife and her company more, so I have reduced the number of pickles I eat to almost none.

Except for when she is out of town.

McClures pickles time.

These pickles are amazing.  They are wonderful! They are delicious.  They are exactly what you want in a pickle that you are gonna eat as a snack or with a meal.  Each jar has whole sprigs of dill and whole cloves of garlic.  The garlic is key to the McClures pickles.  Its not all about the dill.  They have many types. Garlic and dill.  Spicy. Spicy Sweet.  They got bloody mary mix. Relish.

Would I put this pickle on a cheeseburger? No.  Does this pickle belong on every deli table across the country ready for you to be the first thing you bite into when you sit down for your matzah ball soup and corned beef on toasted rye with mustard, fat fries, and a giant soda.  Yes!!

Do yourself a favor.  Skip the Vlasic, Claussen, and whatever cheap generic Kroger brand you are going to buy at the store and live a little bit.  Splurge for that jar of McClures pickles.  You, your family, and your friends will thank you…until they smell your breath, or in my case until my wife walks in the front door.

Bakesale Betty

From Best Sandwich in America and Sandwich Paradise

5098 Telegraph Ave, Oakland, CA 94609

What they say: "Buttermilk Fried Chicken Sandwich (fried chicken bathed in buttermilk, coated in peppery-seasoned flour and deep-fried topped spicy slaw featuring green cabbage, seed-in jalapenos, apple cider vinegar-soaked red onions tossed in a vinaigrette made with Dijon mustard, sea salt and high-quality olive oil and fresh parsley on a fresh homemade round bun)"

I love many things when it comes to food.  A good burger.  A good steak.  A good bbq rib or pulled pork sandwich.  A good lobster roll.  A good fajita. A good oyster or shrimp with cocktail sauce.  Like I said, many things.  And I LOVE a good chicken sandwich.  BBQ, fried, grilled, sliced, pulled, whole.  I love a good chicken sandwich, and Bakesale Betty is supposed to have the best in the country.  This place is plain and simple.  A bakery inside a corner shop.  The menu written on the wall daily on butcher paper.  They have no more than 10 items on the menu.  Chicken sandwich, scones, strawberry shortcake.  That's pretty much it.  Take-out only.  You sit out on the street at chairs pulled up to old ironing boards.  You order at a card table and they hand you everything in a brown bag.  The man behind the counter is making the sandwiches just trying to keep up with the demand.

The line around the corner is the dead give away of the legitimacy to the claim of best chicken sandwich in America.  And a totally, 100% hands down, no questions asked legitimate claim.  Plain and simple and perfect.  Great bun, giant piece of perfectly fried buttermilk fried chicken breast with a slaw.  Great great great great. Awesome awesome awesome.  Incredible incredible incredible. With a ice cold can of Coca-cola, its a perfect lunch or snack.  As a lover and obsesser of Heinz Ketchup, I would have loved to add ketchup to this monstrosity of awesome, but I will know to bring my own.  This sandwich belongs on the chicken sandwich Mt. Rushmore with the Chik-fil-A sandwich, Wendy's spicy chicken, and the Portillo's chicken sandwich.