Diners, Drive-in & Dives tour?

[HeartlandCountryStore]

Hi Everyone,

Me and my honey love to watch Diners, Drive-ins & Dives, and drool over the food.

We actually have considered planning a vacation tour and using the locations on the show as the places to try and just making a vacation out of trying all these cool places.

So I thought I would see if anyone else has done something similar. And if so, how did it go and was it worth it?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Uncle Bob]

Like the show...the Dives, Drive-In and Diners...The foods all are tempting...Meeting the people would be fun too...Never been on a planned out road Trip...but have eaten at many roadside places over the years....Just strike out on 55 South to Memphis...Catch 61 South all the way to New Orleans...Over to Lafayette...Then north through Louisiana...Arkansas...back home to Mo.

 

[oldrustycars]

Any time they feature anything around Chicago I find it's places only the tourists go. Ed Debevics is one...its a faux diner. They make a big deal about the hilarious banter with the wait staff, but don't tell you they do the exact same nonsense every night. I'm sure theres a guy in a suit somewhere telling the staff just what to say and do. I surely hope every place else they feature isn't the same.

 

[Teri's Therapy]

I've though the same thing, follow the tour! However, I have found that any roadtrip allows you to stumble upon these hidden gems! We love to aviod interstates, majorhighways and talk to locals! Ask for reccomendations...not just for eating establishments, but also ask specifically what to order!

Better get going before gas goes up!

 

[chefkathleen]

I have to say my partner in crime and I watch the show sometimes as well. Although, I'm a little leary about his supposed "creds".
Since moving to Texas there was one place that he showcased nearby that we could go to by the name of "Chefs Point Cafe". The novelty here is that it's supposed to be a "five" star restaurant in a gas station. We were greatly disappointed in the food but not the atmosphere. It was quaint, busy and fun but the food wasn't very good. Hubs had escargot that was put into mushroom caps with a alfredo sauce poured over. The mushrooms over powered the poor little snails. It also came with the meal. He also had lasagna that was burnt, had mystery meat and wasn't very good all the way round. I ordered the "chefs" special called Hawaiian Chicken with cocoanut rice. Couldn't taste the first bit of cocoanut in the rice, the chicken was a B&S that had been grilled(no other flavorings) and the sauce was Karo with some teriyaki in it. We split the "famous" bread pudding for dessert. It was alright. Told hubs, had better and had worse but it was the best part of the meal. eh. All I thought was "we paid $53.00 for this?
Hope you have better luck
CK

 

[msmofet]

Hi Everyone,

Me and my honey love to watch Diners, Drive-ins & Dives, and drool over the food.

We actually have considered planning a vacation tour and using the locations on the show as the places to try and just making a vacation out of trying all these cool places.

So I thought I would see if anyone else has done something similar. And if so, how did it go and was it worth it?

Thanks in advance!

he has many places from my state that are local to me and they are all spot on. i have been eating at these places all my life.

 

[freefallin1309]

I'm chefkathleen's partner she mentioned, and I simply drool while watching the show. I wish I could try nearly all of the places he goes to, they sound sooo good. I drooled during the show of Chef's Point too, he made a shepherd's pie that looked and sounded incredible and I had my heart set on it. But the day we went, he was out of it and I settled on escargot (I would've gotten this anyway) and what looked like good lasagna from another patron's order. They only have about 10 tables or so in that little gas station, and no one tells you the protocol when you come in and see 20+ parties standing around hovering over the tables like vultures. You have to go to the cashier to the right and sign in by writing your name and number in your party on a sheet of paper that you're only hoping you've written in the correct spot (it's a blank sheet of printer paper). Then we were told a little later there would be a 45 minute wait. I felt bad for the people who came a little after us at the beginning of the Golden Hour and had 40+ parties (now) ahead of them.

As stated, the poor snails were overpowered by the big mushroom caps and the Alfredo (I'm assuming it was Alfredo by the creamy flavor) was very watery.

The lasagna was a large portion and was burnt to a blackened state on at least 2 sides. This over cooking lapsed into the inside as well, making the ricotta cheese as dry and flaky as crumbled feta. The best part of the meal, other than eating only 5' or less from the celebrity chef and his open kitchen, was the red sauce he served on the lasagna, fresh and spicy, made from real tomato's and not out of a can.

I had a couple of bites from my wife's Hawaiian Chicken and wasn't impressed, it tasted like something you could make for $3 and not the $9 charged. Rice, half of a B&S chicken breast, and a little Karo syrup mixed with one or two grains of coconut somewhere in the recipe (she couldn't taste any coconut, but I'm giving him credit since it was on the menu as having it).

It took my wife hours to get over paying $53 for that meal. If we go back, (and that's a big "If" given the first impression and that it's 45 minutes away), I'll either have the shepherd's pie as intended at first, or try one of the awesome looking burgers I saw served ... maybe the lamb chops, not sure on that.

 

[punkrawkchef]

I have to agree with everyone here, my hubby and I took a trip to Austin TX and ate at the places Guy went to....needless to say we were very disapointed. He came here to Dallas and went to places that I have eaten before and had horrible experiences...so yeah Im not sure where or how he decides where to go. I love the show though..will read more reviews next time though before taking a suggestion.

 

[Michael in FtW]

I agree that Guy would make you think that every bite of everything he tastes is "money". But then again - he's from California so maybe experiencing every bite of the food the rest of the country eats is a golden delicious experience for him? But, then again, do you really think he's going to take a bite of something and spit it out and talk trash about the place on camera?

Now, for the beating the poor Chef Pointe Cafe is getting ... my experiences, and my son's, have been entirely different. Fortunately we have had more chances to go there since it doesn't take 45-minutes to get there (pull out of the drive way, go to the corner, turn right - go 2 street, turn right and go 7 street, pull in and park.) We haven't had the escargo mushroom caps, the lasagna or the coconut chicken - but there was nothing wrong with the things we have tried.

Certainly couldn't have been any more of a dissapointment than the time some people in a class I was taking took me out to a place that advertised "Authentic Texas BBQ" - and it wasn't anywhere close ... it was NC/SC style. And that was in FLORIDA!

 

[freefallin1309]

Certainly couldn't have been any more of a dissapointment than the time some people in a class I was taking took me out to a place that advertised "Authentic Texas BBQ" - and it wasn't anywhere close ... it was NC/SC style. And that was in FLORIDA!

Lol! I think I ate there . It popped up in our neighborhood in Florida and touted "Authentic Texas BBQ", so we had to try it. I'm not a fan of most southern BBQ's (too smokey for me, I like sweet) but my wife loves it so we had to try it. It wasn't bad. But we were about to move to Texas and asked them where their locations in Texas were ... the guy said "...we don't have any Texas restaurants.." I had to laugh.