The Green Mesquite BBQ

While we were staying in Austin, Texas I looked up places that were highly suggested to eat at, and the Green Mesquite happens to be one of the restaurants featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. They have been open since 1988, serving some amazing BBQ, and have live music playing from Thursday-Sunday. We had three tired children with us so we decided to get takeout. 

I ordered the 2 meat BBQ plate. My meat choices were the pulled pork and chicken. For my two sides I ordered mashed potatoes and mac and cheese. The gravy for the mashed potatoes was delicious. The pulled pork was my favorite. There was a great layer of smoke in the pork, and when dipped into the tangy BBQ sauce it was amazing. You also get served white bread, which is perfect for adding the pulled pork, BBQ sauce and pickles to make a small sandwich. I can definitely see why this restaurant was chosen to be on Diners Drive-ins and Dives. This is definitely some good eats, and great BBQ!

Green Mesquite, Facebook Page
Green Mesquite, Main Page
Diners Drive-ins and Dives

Charlie Parker's Diner

Ready for another Diners Drive-ins and Dives restaurant? We were! On our trip down to Kentucky, we stopped overnight in Springfield, Illinois and found out about this little beauty. Great for breakfast and lunch (open 6 AM to 2 PM most days), and located in a Quonset hut of all things! They have received numerous awards since the air date on Diners Drive-ins and Dives, and have been published in many magazines and articles. This truly is a unique place to visit!

When we arrived, it was of course breakfast time and absolutely packed. The waiting area was tiny, but they take down your name and number and you receive a text when your table is ready, so we got to wait in the car. This small building is packed with signs, neon lights and a few famous faces on the walls. I attempted to take a few photos of the decor (and I apologize, because it was so packed and crowded that I didn't use flash for any photos in this post).

Now onto the food.....and I yet again apologize for the quality of the photos but I didn't use flash while in the building.

My husband ordered the Bacon Waffle and a side of Biscuits and Gravy. I tasted a bite of each. The gravy wasn't over salted, had the perfect amount of crumbled sausage and was very creamy in consistency. The biscuits were dense, but in a gooey good way. At home, bacon is usually one of my go-to items for pancakes and waffles, so of course a waffle is always better when you add bacon to it!

This is what I ordered....I know I know, it looks like a plate of hash browns with bacon sticking out. But here's a better picture after I scraped some of the hash browns over to the side...

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the smaller version of the "Breakfast Shoe", otherwise known as the "Breakfast Pony". It is an over easy egg on top of toast, with bacon, smothered in a cheese sauce, and topped with hash browns. A shoe would be double the egg and toast. It looked a mess but was like fireworks going off inside of my mouth! The pony version was so filling I couldn't even finish it. I don't even want to know what size of plate they would have to put this on for the shoe version!

This is a must stop! If you want to preview some great food to eat here while you are planning your trip to visit, be sure and check out the episode on Diners Drive-ins and Dives from 2007. Otherwise, a link to their main website and Facebook page are below!

Charlie Parker's Diner, Main Site
Charlie Parker's Facebook Page

Patti's Pierogis

While on our Rhode Island trip, we had almost an entire free day (we were pretty busy while there). We decided to go and see the Lizzie Borden house in Fall River, MA. It was only about a half hour drive or so from where we were staying. Whether you believe in the supernatural or not, I did get a pretty cool ghost picture while there, and it was (and I know this will make me seem creepy, which I guess I somewhat am) actually very cool and interesting...and fun. I love a good ghost story, even if the situation is tragic.

We were also told that we need to stop at Patti's Pierogis while in town and then I realized that I had seen that episode re-run not too long ago on Diners Drive-ins and Dives. So of course, now we HAD to go. And boy, did we eat our fair share....had we not had to board a plane the next day, and wanted to try something else for dinner that night, we would have gotten takeout to bring back to the hotel.

 With your meal, you get a basket of amazing bread to eat while you wait. We went one step further and ordered one of my favorite things in the entire world for an appetizer, the potato pancake. Made with mashed instead of shredded, this pancake was moist and fell apart in your  mouth. And of course, we had to order it with the typical (and in my opinion, only way to eat it) sour cream and applesauce.

There were so many kinds of pierogis that I had an unbelievably hard time choosing. So I decided, since you can mix and match, that I would pick my top six that I wanted to try. Lucky for you (and sorry for the picture overload on this post), I happened to take a picture of every one!

Above left picture: Pizza

Above right picture: Macaroni and cheese

Above top picture: Broccoli and cheddar

Above bottom picture: Onion, potato and cheddar

 Above left picture: Chili

Above right picture: Mashed sweet potato, with toasted marshmallow

And what's that.......you have dessert pierogies? Yum!! We decided to go with the Apple Rum Raisin and the Peanut Butter Cup. They were both amazing with a great crunch on the outside and a soft, packed with flavor inside.

 Above pictures: Peanut Butter Cup

Above pictures: Apple Rum Raisin

If you are in the area, or stopped to check out some spooky Lizzie Borden ghost stories, then you should make it a point to stop here and eat some delicious food! A link to their main website, that also has the video from Diners Drive-ins and Dives, is listed below. There is also a link to their Facebook page. 

Patti's Pierogis, Facebook

Patti's Pierogis, Main Site

Anthony's Seafood

Now....before I get into this next review. Can I tell you how EXCITED that I was to finally eat at a restaurant featured on Diners Drive-ins and Dives (almost as excited as when some of my family and I met Robert Irvine in the airport this past April....)!! Our second foodie stop on our Rhode Island trip was to the famous restaurant, Anthony's Seafood.

The restaurant doesn't look a whole lot like it did on the show right now. The front of the building must be being redone because there is plastic everywhere on the outside. They have a cute car filled with corn (pictured below), and a bucket to leave your corn husks for deer feed. You also walk through an outdoor seating area before the entrance.

For an appetizer, we ordered the crab cakes. I didn't know if I was going to like them, considering I am not a huge seafood person to begin with, but crab I can usually handle. The crab wasn't overpowering, but was definitely fresh, and the flavor was amazing. They were served with a side of Chipotle tartar sauce, which I loved because I could taste a lot of the pickle, and I LOVE pickles. Another great point to make is that they were baked, not fried, so they were crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and not greasy at all.

Now, the only thing I think my husband and I regret getting, was the lobster for two. It wasn't that it was BAD. You could tell the lobster was fresh, and even came with a cute instruction page, which is a good thing because we had NO idea what we were getting ourselves into. We have only ever had lobster tail that already came with the shell cut and the meat exposed. I think if we had to do it over again, we would have chosen something a little different off of the menu that was easier to eat and slightly more familiar to us.

If you are in Middletown, you MUST stop here. Not only for bragging rights, but for some of the most fresh seafood that you will find in the area. They also offer takeout, and have a deli counter filled with fresh seafood and other goodies. A link to their main website, and their Facebook page (that has the video from Diners Drive-ins and Dives) are listed below. If you don't stop here, you are missing out!

Anthony's Seafood Main Site

Anthony's Seafood, Facebook Page