Biscuits and sausage gravy in DC! And look at those chunks of sausage. This DC trip saved my blog. Seriously, I was running out of posts for the Breakfast Bro until I made this trip.
My cousin BJ advertised on Facebook for friends or relatives to join him on a road trip to DC for the WWII Plane Flyover. He had to settle for a relative ... me. Here we are at the flyover. Below are some of the food places we visited along the way.
Schobels Restaurant of Columbus, Texas
First stop was at a 34-year-old restaurant in Columbus -- Schobels, just off of I-10 between San Antonio and Houston. This place is know for its weekend breakfast buffet which I will post at another date. Here BJ ordered the Western Omelet and I had to have the Pica Eggs Benedict.
Pica Eggs Benedict:
Schobels adds pica to their hollandaise sauce along with a little salsa. Great combo to take Eggs Benedict into another direction. I will do a posting of their famous weekend buffet at another time.
Satsuma Cafe of New Orleans
Just north of the French Quarter near the Mississippi River is this cosy restaurant that has an interesting choice of breakfasts. BJ's friend Sally whom we picked up in New Orleans to take to her husband at their second home in West Virginia found this place for us. She ordered the Mexican Breakfast Plate.
Mexican Breakfast Plate:
This plate comes with corn tortillas, black beans, scrambled eggs and cheese with a side of pica and avocado. The eggs are scrambled wet, a favorite of New Orleans (and Sally's).
Black beans are a favorite of mine and are probably one of the only beans which do not require seasoning meat to taste great. My order consisted of two of their breakfast sandwiches. I will do a posting on this place at a later date.
Loveless Cafe of Nashville
We crashed in Nashville with a friend of BJ and Sally's -- Cathy. Cathy and her husband Curt recommended the Loveless Cafe to us. This place is a trick to get to but worth the drive. Use your GPS to find it.
Biscuit Sampler Platter:
When we were seated, the waiter brought out a platter of biscuits for the table. I like my biscuits larger, but the waiter keeps brining you these small ones til you're full. I know of no other place that does this. I will do a separate posting on this place at another time.
Ted's Bulletin of DC
I love this place. It's located on 8th Street just down from the Marine Corps Barracks near the Potomac River. While in DC, BJ and I had all four of our breakfasts here. Expect a long posting on Ted's in July. Thanks to BJ's cousins Sean and Stephanie for putting us up in DC and for recommending this place to us.
Nana's Beer Biscuits & Sausage Gravy:
Look at the large chunks of sausage on these beer biscuits. And their sausage is homemade with maple syrup, Tabasco sauce, and red pepper flakes. This is the best of the best of sausage that I have had for breakfast -- ever.
Las Placitas Restaurant of DC
My apologies to Las Placitas. I forgot to take a photo of the building. It's located down the street from Ted's and is a great place for Latin American cuisine for lunch or dinner. It's specialty is Salvadoran food.
Above is their Puerco Al Horno: tender morsels of pork, oven baked and served with sautéed onions and sweet plantains. See those banana-looking fruit on the front side of the plate ... those are plantains.
Below is their Gambas Al Ajillo: Shrimp sautéed in a garlic butter and white wine sauce. This is a bucket list return when I come back to DC. By the way, their are a lot of mom-n-pop places on 8th street. I would love to find a hotel room near the place. Too bad the Marines don't rent out the barracks. That would work ... I'm an early riser ... though I would want to pass on the calisthenics.
DC Mall Hotdog Food Truck:
Sorry, hungry, very hungry when I stopped for a hotdog. Forgot to take photos of this awesome hotdog. But it was Vienna Beef and you can get that from food trucks all over this country. Go to http://www.viennabeef.com for more information. By the way, the hotdog was awesome!
Daisy & the Duke's Cafe of Mosheim, TN
Exit 30 off of I-81 is where you find this truck stop. It was Mothers' Day and night was approaching on our return trip. BJ searched the internet and could find no mom-n-pop places in the area that was open. I saw a blue sign for food as Exit 30 was approaching so I hit the exit in hopes it would be open and it wasn't. But Daisy and the Dukes was next door and still open. I will post this place at another date.
Grilled Ham & Cheese Sandwich
Their food reminded me of the old fashioned Woolco dining area of the 50s. Nice home-cooked diner food. Above is a grilled hame and cheese. On their menu is a bucket list item for me ... the Big Foot. The Big Foot hosts four slices of toasted bread with three layers of meat. Layer number one, the anchor, is a cheese burger. Layer number two is a BLT. Layer number three is your choice. How does one get all of that in a mouth?
Alabama-Mississippi Boarder
Along the way back, the almost-empty gasoline lite came on just as we were approaching the Alabama-Mississippi boarder, and I inadvertently passed up the last gas station exit in Alabama. With nothing showing up in Mississippi in the middle of the #@%& night, so I began to worry ... out loud. BJ laughed telling me he had 45 miles in the tank before we ran out. Aggravated with his cavalierness, I pressed the cancel button on the cruise and let the car wind down. That got a rise out of him.
Franklinton's Grill of Franklinton, LA
We drove straight from DC through the night to Franklinton, LA, where my brother lives, arriving at four in the morning. Joe didn't know we were coming. I called him on my cell phone when we arrived and told him we're in Louisiana and the engine had just died. There was momentary silence on the line before he asked, "Okay, where are you?" "In your driveway!" We crashed with him and in between naps, he took us to his favorite haunt, the Franklinton's Grill.
Mac & Cheese:
Sorry, I forgot to take photos of the food, but here is one from an earlier posting. This dish is the Franklinton Cordon Bleu and their famous mac-n-cheese. This trip, I had the fried pork chops and the mac-n-cheese.
Kenner Seafood of Kenner, LA
Next stop was a visit with my Uncle Pete in Kenner, LA, and he hooked us up with the Kenner Seafood Market and Restaurant. If you like New Orleans seafood, this place is hogs' heaven.
One Dozen Raw Oysters for $6!
The raw oysters were on sale for 50 cents each. Great oysters for a great price! Afterwards we ordered fried seafood po boys and red beans & rice. But that's for another posting. Thanks Pete for this great find!
