Drive-Ins, Dives & Dismal Diners

The premise of the show is that the host, Guy Fieri, travels the country eating at little hole in the wall joints. When my son came to visit last month, we decided to ‘hit’ some of the eateries that were featured on that show.

First stop, The Elk Public House in Spokane (my son informed me that Pub is short for Public House). Charlie’s flight was a few hours late plus his body clock was functioning at 2 hours later. Our 4pm meal was a late lunch for us and an early dinner for him. The guy from the TV show (Guy) had the reuben, due in part to the homemade sauerkraut (who out there knew how to spell sauerkraut). So that’s what was ordered. It was OK. Not slap yo mama good, just OK. The local brewed beer was a hit. Thankfully, Charlie helped me finish mine (and his). Our designated driver (Lance) was happy we were taking home leftovers.

Next place Charlie and I dined out was in Saint Maries, our ‘home city’. Guy did not make it off the beaten path to this rural town (or maybe he did and vetoed it). I brought a list of places for Char and I to do a drive-by. We went to the local grocery store and I asked one of the shoppers where the best lunch place in town was. She didn’t hesitate at all when replying, “SUBWAY”. Oh, great. Charlie travels 2,300 miles and we go to Subway… not if I could help it. I couldn’t ask the checker-outter where her favorite place was because the Subway fan was checking out behind us. Stopping for gas I saw a sign inside the gas station advertising ‘Good Eats’. The sign out front said, “If you stopped here, you wouldn’t still be hungry”. The son vetoed it, saying it isn’t wise to eat where you gas up. After ruling out the rest of our list, we ended up at the Grub Box. It had the most cars, good enough for me. Upon entering the converted barn, we both look at each other and turn up our noses, literally. It smelled like pee. Thankfully, the barn was sectioned off into stores and the Grub Box was odor free. The best thing about lunch was the sprouts on the sammiches, but nothing to write home about (or bring back to Lance).

The soon to be famous place that the Food Network guy, Guy, went to was Capone’s Pub in Coeur d’Alene (who out there knew how to spell this city)? Their claim to fame is that they have more beers on tap than tables, 41. Beers, not tables. We didn’t research to see what the host had. We let our stomachs decide. My eyes were drawn to the Idaho Nachos. They used homemade POTATO chips, imagine that. Lance had the lasagna and Charlie some sort of polish sausage dog (it went well with his beer).

Last place on our list of TV show episodes was Jimmy’s Down The Street, also in Coeur d’Alene. By this time my favorite son was already back in Alabama, so it was my favorite husband accompanying me. I peeked at the website before we went to see what Guy had, chicken fried steak skillet. No thank you. The menu stated that they specialized in southern cooking. Having lived south of the Mason Dixon line for over 30 years, I don’t think they captured the essence of southern cooking. The waitress trying to call us ‘hun’ and ‘darlin’ just didn’t cut it. We split an everything omelet. I’d give it a C-.

Lesson learned, just because a restaurant appeared on television, does not make it delicious. I think we’ll keep looking for our favorite local place to dine. There is a sushi place that the lady that sold us our fishing license highly recommended. A lady at the local organic grocery mentioned a hamburger joint we’d probably like. In the meantime, when in town we go to Chili’s cause we KNOW it’s good.

Hmmm, who else is hungry?? Mary’s Super S’ghetti Sauce, it’s what’s for dinner. Maybe if Guy were to show up, I’d feed him a salad with dandelion leaves.