Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives (Triple D): The Meat of the Matter

Again, the Triple D does it again. This time, it's all about one of my favorite subjects- meat. The stories about how each got into the cooking business and the journey they took along the way. Guten Essen, freunden!!!

1. "Smoque, Chicago, Illinois." I met people who have actually ate at this North Side enterprise. How a hobby became his living. I hope to eat here sometime soon.


2. "Leonard's, Memphis, TN." "The Big Leonard" sandwich is something I would like to try. The sandwich is totally DRY- No seasoning OR sauce on this. I like Guy's reaction on this. Topped with slaw (more on the lines of the Carolina-style).


3. "Green Mesquite, Austin, TX."Some call it Chicken Fried Steak but I have also heard it called Coutry Fried Steak. Anyone know the difference? How it's made. Country Fried is more of a Southern style dish that is simmered in gravy. Chicken Fried is just what implies- fried similarly to fried chicken with the gravy being more pepperly.


4. "Krazy Jim's Blimpy Burger, Ann Arbor, MI". This is TOO funny to watch. I've never been here but this was pretty funny to watch.


5. "Tom's, Memphis, TN." I had not intention to featuring Memphis food, but that's how things went. I have cooked rib tips before. It's funny because some places want to charge more for the tips that the ribs themselves (almost like selling chicken wings for $2.49/pound but sell the entire chicken for $.99-$1.50/pound). How funny is that.

Rich Mullins: 1955-1997

I did a entry about Jimi Hendrix on the day 28th year of his passing. The following day one decade and a half later, the music world lost a man who brilliance too many never heard first hand but may be familiar with his music. His name was Rich Mullins. He was a part of early days of what became Contempory Christian Music (CCM), trying to add a more modern touch versus "traditional" Christian music. The first time I heard him, my playlist was far from what he was playing (I should say WAY FAR). Anyway, I got home one night while in college (doing what typical college students do) and I turn on the TV. I notice the music playing was pretty soft (a good thing in the wee hours of the morning) and I noticed something different. I then heard the singer with his opening verse- "the other side of the world, isn't so far away." You might expect that the video was shot on some soundstage someplace, right? Wrong. Here's the kicker. The guy was singing in a garbage dump somewhere in Central America. That man was Rich Mullins, singing "The Other Side of the World." For the first time in my life, I was actually seeing how God's love was in action (in a way I had not seen before). Think about this. Who would go to a place like that to shoot a video? In other words, guitarist Adrian Belew's quote that a lot of today's music is "fashionable crap dressed as artistry" would not apply here. With Rich Mullins, what you saw is what you got.

I can recall going to Cornerstone, a music festival located in Bushnell, Illinois, back in the early 1990's (I believe it was 1993) where I actually got to meet this guy. I had met some musicians in CCM and those who weren't years prior. Some were very nice and actually appreciated that you came to see them. Others??? How can I put this as kindly as possible? Let's say they believed their own press a bit too much. Rich Mullins was doing a seminar, just speaking about his music, his life and things going on with him personally. He was not a big man in stature at all. Afterwards, I told him how I appreciated his music and he was very gracious to say the least. After the seminar ended, he took more time with people. As I heard his interviews, it never seemed like he cared about being famous at all. In fact, it was almost like he was making fun of fame. I'm curious what he would think about American Idol? His life ended on September 19, 1997, about 2 hours from where I live (less than one month from his 42nd birthday). I was on my way home from work when the news came on the radio. I was in total shock. He was struck and killed after being thrown from his jeep and hit by a tractor trailer (he was not wearing a seatbelt from what I understand). I decided to wait until now to do this because I wanted to do this right. I found this quote that summed up who this man was (as I see it): "One day it won't make any difference how many albums I sold, but I will give account of my life to God. What I think He'll be most pleased with is to see that we truly lived, that we were the person he created us to be." I'm not trying to be some death magnet, but I felt it would be good to remember someone as this.

Below are some of his songs I liked. I chose 5 but I could have easily added more. Enjoy:

This is one of his earliest videos. This was also on the same record as "The Other Side of the World", which I mentioned earlier.


This is a song I'm pretty partial to.


This song was made popular by Amy Grant. Many people don't know is that Mullins actually wrote the song. I like his version better (no disrespect to Amy Grant).


Him speaking on a few things. The guy playing the bass (or at the start of the video, sitting behind him in the brown shirt) is a guy I knew years back (nice guy). We attended the same church years ago:


His song that has been covered by many (which overlaps the prior video):


This video was recorded not long before his passing, believed to be the last concert video of him.

Diners, Drive-ins and Dives: Episodes I Like because I've made these dishes

When the Food Network first came to life, the "Essence of Emeril" was the king. Not long ago, Guy Fieri became the second winner of "The Next Food Network Star" a few years back. Frankly, I liked this guy from the second he came on the TV. Now, "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives" has grown to almost a cut-like following. It could be the most cult-like following on the level of "Iron Chef" or at least close to it. I am a big fan of this show. So this time, I decided to post 5 videos here from past episodes. The subject is stuff that I have actually made (and some of the people featured make things very similar to me). So I thought "why not" since this is such a popular show (at least to Food channel fans). If you are a vegan or vegitarian, read at your own risk.

1. The Mac Salad from "The Shed", Ocean Springs, MS." TRUST ME....it works. I use miracle whip in mine and they do add some different things.


2. Blue Plate Diner, Seattle, WA. I eat Bison (when I get the chance). Since bison is so lean, I add beef or pork to it. This is not a bison burger but still very nice. is NICE (one part beef/ one part pork). Now imagine flavoring your sauce, like this guy did with basil. You want a different Mac & Cheese, stick around until 4:10 in the video. He proves here that Mac & cheese has no rules to it (which I have always felt all along). I had mac w/ goat cheese in Hawaii years ago.


3. Mike's Chili Parlor, Seattle, WA. I don't think Seattle is the first thing you think about when the word chili comes to mind. I tried this once and it worked well. Chili is great because you can put it on whatevery you feel like. There is a note I would like to add here. Triple D also featured another Seattle establishment known as Slim's Last Stand. I liked their version but I can't find a video (they add achiote paste).


4.Dell Rhea's, Willowbrook, IL. There is a different method to cook fried chicken and is a bit time consuming. Not the typical "hard fried chicken" that you may be used to. This place is not far from where I live. While your at it, you may want to check out "White Fence Farm" as well. Five minutes in, more mac & cheese (I've done the version see here as well).


5. Parasol's, New Orleans, LA. I did a po'boy but not one like this. I hope to try this pretty soon. Watch Guy as he questions about boiling (catch the "beef jerky" quote). Guy did everything but called the guy out when he said that he better deliver. Watch how Guy Fieri reacted when he took the first bite.

Jimi Hendrix: 1942-1970

29 years ago, Jimi Hendrix passed away at age 27. OK another dead rock star right? Well not exactly. He proved one thing for certain. It doesn't take long to impact the world in one way or another. Most people don't realize that his professional playing career (if you include his time with the Isley Brothers) was less than a decade. The Jimi Hendrix Experience was short live. 5 years, 7 studio albums (4 released posthumously)- that's it. Yet look at the impact this man had. I guess while you think that the biggest impacts are made over the years, history shows in many ways that's not the case.

Here are what the legends of that time said when they heard Jimi:
Jeff Beck:


Sir Paul McCartney, on Jimi & "Sgt. Pepper":


Stevie Ray Vaughan:


Eric Clapton:


Cream:


Pete Townsend:


Henry Rollins:


It was a hard decision on which video I wanted to post. I decided on the legendary Woodstock Improv performance. For many, this was the signature moment of his playing career. For those who saw this at the time, it was just another part to an incredible picture:

Elvis

I was just listening to some stuff on YouTube and found these. Enjoy. I just felt like posting this. No reason to it.

How would you like to have an intro like this?


In places, this does have that mix of Elvis-flair-meets-corny.


Of course, the "Elvis has left the building" quote: