When we stopped into Frankfurter Express last weekend, reader Frankvw suggested that we give A Chicago Street Grill, the replacement for the diner that used to be set-up in Big's on Potranco a shot. We did just that, and I'm here to do a quick report!
First, I have to be very clear. You can't do a head to head comparison between Frankfurter Express and A Chicago Street Grill. These are two totally different venues with two different customer sets. The only thing in common is that they both serve quality dogs.
A Chicago Street Grill offers a huge selection of not only hot dogs, but burgers, Gyro's, meatball sammaches and more. If you ignore the convenience store behind you, you can sit back and appreciate the Chicago memorabilia adorning the walls, and pretend you are getting ready to watch Da'Bears.
My wife ordered a Windy City Chili Cheese Dog. These are regular sized dogs served on a fresh bun and, your order includes free fries that are cooked fresh and lightly seasoned.
I ordered up The Chicago Hot dog which is served on a poppy seed bun, kosher dill pickle spear, tomatoes (I had never experienced tomatoes on a hot dog before - not bad), sport peppers (which I took off and ate separately) and chopped onions. It usually comes with relish, but they were out. No biggie.
The owners of the place seemed genuinely friendly and eager to make us happy. They made the food quickly and everything was good. I'd be eager to return just to try out some other items on the menu like the burgers, the cheese steak or some of the fried appetizers like mushrooms, onion rings and jalapeno poppers.
If you just need a quick hot dog fix, I think you'll be fairly pleased with the prices, especially considering the fries come with the dogs. Have you tried some of the other stuff there? I'd love to know what was good and what wasn't. Tell me about it or leave a comment below.
Do you remember earlier this week when it was just raining cats and dogs? Great Googly-Moogly! It just so happened that the timing was pretty awesome because my wife had tracked down one of those guys that sits on the corner in a truck with a flatbed trailer full of sod. So, she had him bring over a couple of pallets worth to cover the mistake we made when we tilled up the backyard only to make the weeds grow better.
Anyway, with the grass firmly in place, the sky opened up and we had two solid days of rain, and though that left for crappy driving and lots of closed roads, but the grass is starting to take, and I like that. I should have taken a picture to show here, but I didn't think about it until now and it is already dark outside. Sorry.
So anyway, it was during the first day of rain when I didn't fully appreciate that the tiny little break in downpour wasn't the end of it. I had suggested to my wife that we drive about three miles south on Culebra to that Joe's Pizza & Pasta place that I had misled people into believing was open. A drive that would normally take just a few minutes, even during heavy traffic took us almost half an hour. Of course, it is always fun to blame it on crappy drivers, but in fact, the street lights at both Westover Hills Blvd and Old Grissom were out. Not flashing Red or Yellow, just out!
So, we finally get into this Joe's place and get out of the truck in the now, once again pouring rain. We can see the lights on in the place and even can see tables with place settings on them. Sure enough, as I pulled on the door to open it, I could see taped to the inside of the mirrored glass the sign that says they are closed for two weeks.
The worst part of it is, as we were pulling out, another couple was pulling on the same door we had and reading the sign. I told my wife that I sure hoped they hadn't gone to try the place on my lousy information! They looked a lot hungrier than we did. 'Course, I generally look like I just ate a big meal anyway, so that doesn't mean a whole lot.
It doesn't end there though. We decided that heading back up Culebra with all the jacked-up traffic mess was not the way to go, so we decided to go west on Potranco toward Highway 151 in hopes of finding some vittles. And as we were driving, of course the traffic people come on the radio and tell us that there is a huge wreck at Potranco and 151. That would explain the back-up.
So we cut through Richland Hills, over to Wiseman Road and picked up 151 just before 1604. It occurs to me that readers unfamiliar with San Antonio have no idea what I am even talking about here. Suffice it to say, we took a big huge circle and another half an hour to get through the rain and traffic to end up at the new Pizza Hut on Grissom and Timber Path, not a quarter mile from Silver Creek 78250!
You'll recall we ate at this Pizza Hut before. This time, we decided to skip the pizza itself and split one of those special Supremo sandwiches. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT waste your time on the Supremo. I've had bologna sandwiches that were better. But we do love that cheese bread they serve. As we were sitting there waiting for our food, I looked across the street and could see Mr. Cod through the rain. I casually mentioned to my wife that we should give them another try, now that they have been in business for several months without closing down.
I guess that was the hint my wife needed because when I walked in the door this afternoon, she was ready for a fish sandwich. Instead of taking a long circuitous route around San Antonio, we drove straight from the house to Mr. Cod and both ordered the #5 which is a fish sandwich, fries and a drink.
I have to tell you, while it was a bit of a wait (they don't cook your stuff 'til you order it), it was a welcome surprise. The fish sandwich is huge and served on very fresh bread like a submarine sandwich or something. And it was fully cooked!
As usual, the place is remarkably clean and the owner recognized my wife from our first visits back when they opened.
The fries are different now. These are not what I recall as the "chips" they served originally. I guess that just didn't go over well. But they were hot, not over cooked, and good, especially with malt vinegar on them. Of course, as they say on the Internet, your mileage may vary.
Hey, I don't want to make a big deal of this and I'm only even posting it because I found the whole thing to be kind of odd - even strange.
I was on my way home from Home Depot (which I'll tell you about in a minute) and I was driving down Timber Path through Emerald Valley, The Commons, and Ridge Creek on my way to Silver Creek. Anyway, I saw several of these bandit signs dotting the landscape. Besides the fact that these signs are against San Antonio city code and against our HOA deed restrictions, I wasn't ready to pull over and start tossing them into my truck for later disposal.
But when I was at the stoplight at Tezel and Timber Path, I got a close enough view to read the sign. Apparently, this Origin Church is setting up shop at Fernandez Elementary School. Even then, I thought perhaps it was just some sort of rummage sale or something like that, but I went to the web page and sure enough, according to their own web page, Fernandez Elementary is their new home.
Now don't attempt to paint me as one of those separation of church and state people. It's crap like that that makes our students come home saying things like Winter Festival instead of Christmas or Fall Celebration instead of Thanksgiving. But are you serious? Has the North side Independent School District gotten so short of cash that we are now renting out the school as a church on weekends? WTF?
Oh, I had to stop into Home Depot today to grab some sheetrock for a project I'm working on. I always save time when I leave by driving back behind Home Depot and HEB and Party City so I can avoid all the traffic of people darting out into the parking lot and such.
There is this little patch of trees where I occasionally see panhandlers taking a break and sipping a quart before they had back out to the Alamo Ranch intersection at 1604 and Culebra to relieve you charitable types (fools) of your hard earned change. (I'm just kidding; I pass out five dollar bills to the unfortunate vagrants all the time.)*
Anyway, I spotted this TV parked up on that little clearing and thought to myself, I wonder where they plug it in. Strange.
*I was kidding the second time. Don't give money to these people, they really drive Cadillacs and drink better beer than I do.
Earlier this week I had an afternoon meeting with some folks I work with and the selected destination was Acadiana off Loop 410 between 151 and Marbach.
I was pretty sure I had written about Acadiana before, and sure enough, a quick search of the blog revealed that in fact I had. Here, co-workers and I attended lunch but I hadn't driven, so I didn't have my camera, a firm requirement for taking pictures of my vittles.
So anyway, I'll keep this short. One of my colleagues suggested an order of the fried pickles. Before I could whip out Mr. Camera, half the plate was gone, but here you can see a good representation of what the fried pickle is all about. It is a pickle, and it is fried. Add a little Ranch dressing and your high blood pressure will be off the charts. They seemed a tad bit salty this time around, but I simply could not help myself. I have been asked, by the way, if I am pregnant, and I assure you I am not. It only looks that way.
I shan't embarrass anyone and go around the table describing each meal in detail but I will tell you that I enjoyed my standard Acadiana dish. As much as I am open to new things, it would seem I am incapable of going into Acadiana and ordering anything different, even down to the sides. Of course, catfish is always a given when it is made available to me. I am a fan of green beans and at this place, I am down with the red beans and rice.
Have you ever tried the deep fried turkey they sell at Acadiana? I am told it is out of this world. Do you suppose people from Louisiana in the Acadiana area come to this restaurant and laugh at us San Antonio folks as if this place is the equivalent of hitting Mickey D's for a fine burger? I hope not. I'd like to think that my taste buds are on target.
Is it the best catfish in SA? Not in my book, but a fine place to dine just the same.
Just last week I had taken a new co-worker to eat at my favorite place for a good burger and our conversation hit on the topic of finding places along the highway where you can go in and get a good, greasy, totally unhealthy but extremely tasty burger. What a coincidence? Several regular readers here told us we needed to check out the Texaco Gas Station called Big's at the intersection of Potranco and Highway 151 for a really good burger at a really fair price. By further coincidence, my wife and I were extremely hungry yesterday afternoon, so off we went!
As it turns out, Big's has been the Saturday hang-out place for local car enthusiasts for some time now. When we pulled in, the place was packed with cool cars lined up, hoods open and people milling about admiring one another's shiny rods. More on that in a bit.
Inside, Big's is clean, bright and well, bigger than your regular convenience store. I love travel stops like this where you can take a short break on your trip, gas up the car, get some souvenirs and something to eat, then be on your way. Big's is probably a lesser version of Buc-ee's but nonetheless, worth stopping in especially if you are from out of town and just leaving Sea World (which is just a few blocks away).
Because of the car show outside, the place was packed. As luck would have it, I had a brief conversation with The Most Interesting Man in the World. I told him he looked much thinner in person. He told me I also looked much thinner than the pictures on my blog.
Big's has a huge selection of pre-made fried stuff - chicken, wings, stuffed jalapeno and all sorts of stuff someone might grab to go in a hurry. But thy also serve pizza and have a full grill running behind the counter. Of course, we were there for the burgers. As we were placing our order, we saw some folks from the neighborhood (there to display their Corvette), and we were told the onion rings were a must. Good call.
My wife ordered a cheeseburger combo with rings and a drink for about $5.00. The patties are obviously pre-packaged, but they are half-pound and fried to be juicy. (That is a bad picture - my fault). You'll notice that the bun has been grilled - a must for a good burger, and of course they load it with all the fixin's - including mayo! The onion rings are simply top notch. These are the battered type which I love and they are neither undercooked or overcooked. I suspect they use a timer.
I upgraded to the bacon cheeseburger and for the price, it was a solid purchase. I think our total bill was $11, and we were a lot happier than what we have gotten from other places for double that price. Obviously, you pay for atmosphere when you go to a fancier place, but I'm talking strictly quality/taste of food. I should also point out again, if you are freaked out by a little grease, you'd best get a bib or just order something a little lighter.
Overall, walk in and check the place out. Give the burgers a try at least once, and if you don't check out the onion rings, you'll regret it.
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My very first car was a 1973 Camaro which, thanks to a collision became a '72 Camaro when we had to go with a different front end because that was all we could find. I spent a lot of money on that car and it was fine. Someday, I'll find a picture of it and post it here. About the time I got married and we had our first kid, I sort of lost the desire to spend money on expensive paint jobs, over sized tires and special engine parts. Instead, money spent on vehicles included things like new radiators, new brakes, new alternators and such. Times are often tight for young families, and wasting cash on a shiny car was not an option.
Having said that, I am impressed by the people who take the time and put in the hard work to take their vehicles to the next level. Whether it is their daily driver that just has a little extra to make it sharp, or it is strictly a weekend show car that has gone through years of restoration and tweaking for the pure satisfaction of showing it off to friends, you have to appreciate - and I do - the pride of ownership and the camaraderie that these folks share.
So when we asked the person taking our order about the car gathering out in front of Big's, he told us that it had been a weekly event but that in fact, this Saturday would be the last. It seems that a few bad apples in the crowd had ruined it for everyone else. Stupid things like pushing the emergency gas shut-off button, not once, but three times. And who knows? the perpetrators could every well have been people passing through, not even folks there to show their cars. Who knows?
Any way, I just wanted to say that, without knowing all the details, the fact that they aren't willing to sponsor this event anymore is just another continuing commentary on how small numbers of jerks ruin good things for folks. When we were there, there were at least 100 different cars on display. From what we could see, most of the folks seemed to just kick back in lawn chairs and answer questions to anyone interested in their cars. You see the same thing at public parks, concerts and other events. Most people just want to go out and have an enjoyable time but an isolated few want to ruin it. Sad.
I hope the folks can find a new place to meet and show their cars.
Okay, maybe it was closer to lunch time, but we ordered breakfast none the less.
My wife has been eager to try out this place that opened up at Westpointe on Highway 151 just north of Loop 410 called The Egg & I. Let me tell you right up front, I resisted because I just don't like the name. It just sounds like a goofy name for a restaurant. Perhaps a book, a blog site, or a childrens song, but I just don't see a sign for a place that says "The Egg & I" and suddenly think lunch. But I could be wrong.
Business was brisk - in fact we had to wait close to 20 minutes to be seated, which I did not care for one bit. But you gotta figure that if so many people are willing to wait, it must be worth it, right?
If you are going to have to wait anyway, the folks at E&I smartly placed a coffee bar in the front area so you can get a cup of their excellent coffee, free of charge. What a great idea. Since it was close to noon, my wife was pretty much coffeed out, so the free little cup was just enough for her. I wonder if Chili's would consider dispensing free Dixie cups of beer while you wait for your table?
Once seated, we already knew what we wanted to order (we had about 20 minutes to figure it out) so when the waitress came to get our drink order, we gave her the full meal request. A few things you should know. First, on weekdays, they offer free wireless Wi Fi. Second, they have outdoor seating if you'd care to be roasted in the sun, and third, bring a paper, a book, or perhaps a board game to play, because the wait for our meal was forever.
Honestly. In terms of crowds, Jim's and IHOP handle this amount of people routinely, yet the wait for food doesn't seem to take nearly as long. My wife attributed this to the fact that E&I is more of an upscale, Magnolia Pancake Haus sort of set up. So I think what that equates to is, you won't appreciate your vittles if they come too fast. I reckin'.
My wife ordered up the "Waffle Eggspress", a golden Belgian waffle, two eggs and two strips of bacon. This was pretty good. The bacon was especially tasty (yea, I tried some). My wife would have liked the waffle to be cooked just a tad longer - a little more golden brown if you will, but it was also very good.
I thought the Wisconsin Scramble sounded good. It is three eggs scrambled with a quartet of cheeses: Swiss, Monterey jack, cheddar and cream cheese, then topped with green onions. The eggs come with ranch potatoes, toast and sausage. A few notes: First, the scramble was very good. Who would have thought of cream cheese in your eggs? Good stuff. The potatoes had some sort of ranch taste. I think I would have been happier with the "regular" taste. The sausage was excellent just like the bacon. The toast may have been buttered back in the kitchen, but they don't serve any additional butter with it. Enjoy the Smuckers. To do it again, I think I would have opted for biscuits.
Overall, the food was all good and in spite of the name, they also serve lunch. The Reuben caught my eye, so I'm sure we'll be going back for another try. If you are just interested in getting a quick breakfast, I'm not seeing this as the place to go. But if you've got an hour or so to hang out and wait for your food, be sure to give it a shot.
Oh come on, you didn't think all that talk about a tread mill was going to make me seek out and eat at healthy restaurants did you?
And since we had to eat anyway, we stopped into the new Freddy's Frozen Custard over on Potranco at 151, in spite of well intended warnings. Oh, and this time it was actually open for business.
We had sort of an inkling that Freddy's might be a little like a Steak 'n' Shake, and sure enough, the burgers and the fries were along the same design. The place was clean, staff was plentiful, and in spite of going in during the lunch hour, we ordered and got the vittles lickity split.
As we were sitting in there, it was pretty obvious how the owners came up with the location for this place. There were students from both Warren High School and John Paul Stevens High School which are really only a mile apart as the crow flies, with Freddy's in the middle. I predict this place will be packed with pimply faced teenagers all the time.
I ordered the #4, Freddy's Single Steakburger and a Hot Dog with regular fries. Let's talk about these fries. They are really skinny. Even if they taste good, chances are, they won't stay hot very long, just because they are so skinny. And they were way too salty. Some cook back in the kitchen is going to get high blood pressure if he eats his food anywhere close to the way he serves his fries. But I know some people like them that way.
The hot dog was okay. I liked the way that they toast the hot dog bun, and I also liked that the bun was not like the regular one you buy at HEB. It was cut short, and it was sort of square on the sides. The hot dog itself was okay, but if it was me, I would have boiled it for several minutes longer. I know, hot dogs are already cooked when you buy the package, but really, considering what they are made of, I feel a little more comfortable when they boil the animal piss, lips, gizzards and fecal matter out of them before serving. I guess I'm sort of weird like that. 
Finally, the steakburger. If you are going to a place like this or Sonic or McDonald's for a quality beef patty that you would enjoy eating without the bread and condiments, then I suppose you'd be happy with anything. I don't expect much from the burger itself, I look for what is good about the presentation and how the whole package tastes. I'd say this was as expected, very acceptable for what it is. I didn't have any complaints about the quality, size, or the condiments. But both my wife and I found ourselves repeatedly wiping our faces because it just seemed like a fog of grease was floating in the air. Maybe it was just all the high school kids.
My wife ordered the regular steakburger and got the onion rings instead of fries. We already know how I feel about the burger - take it or leave it, it is what it is. But the onion rings deserve mentioning here. I know many people do not like this particular style, where they are batter dipped rings, fried to a golden brown. Well pass me yours because this is the exact style I love. Not crunchy at all! And, they were not over salted. Kudos.
We were pretty much done with eating when my wife started to ask the question, what exactly frozen custard is. So we tried some. She got some sort of Hawaiian Delight which she was extremely pleased with. The macadamia nuts are not chopped into tiny little sawdust sized portions, but are actually full-sized nuts. I just had a cone with some chocolate custard on it. Sort of soft for my liking, but I'm not really an ice cream - or frozen custard eater. Course, I didn't want to be rude, so I ate it all.
I think the place is worth a visit. Certainly not a special trip or anything like that, but if you happen to be driving by and need an onion ring fix, why not stop in and get some? Price was reasonable, the place was clean and service was quick. Not bad at all.
A Chicago Street Grill offers a huge selection of not only hot dogs, but burgers, Gyro's, meatball sammaches and more. If you ignore the convenience store behind you, you can sit back and appreciate the Chicago memorabilia adorning the walls, and pretend you are getting ready to watch Da'Bears.
My wife ordered a Windy City Chili Cheese Dog. These are regular sized dogs served on a fresh bun and, your order includes free fries that are cooked fresh and lightly seasoned.
I ordered up The Chicago Hot dog which is served on a poppy seed bun, kosher dill pickle spear, tomatoes (I had never experienced tomatoes on a hot dog before - not bad), sport peppers (which I took off and ate separately) and chopped onions. It usually comes with relish, but they were out. No biggie.
The owners of the place seemed genuinely friendly and eager to make us happy. They made the food quickly and everything was good. I'd be eager to return just to try out some other items on the menu like the burgers, the cheese steak or some of the fried appetizers like mushrooms, onion rings and jalapeno poppers.
