Our Food Travels: 2010

The Food Train's final adventure for 2010 was a day trip to Wisconsin. We hit a lot of places, did a lot of things and had a lot of fun!

We started out the trip with a reservation at Franks Diner in Kenosha, WI for 7:00 am (reservations required for parties of 5 or more). www.franksdinerkenosha.com Needless to say we had to leave fairly early, so we picked up a fellow Food Train traveler at 5:00 am and set off in the snow for Kenosha. 2 hrs later (for what should have been a 1 1/2 hr trip) we arrived at Franks Dinner.

Franks Diner is a DDD place, and it is in an old train car, (fitting for the Food Train) with a dining room added on one side and a kitchen added to the back.

I had the Cinnamon Swirl French Toast: Three pieces of cinnamon swirl french toast dusted with

cinnamon sugar and a big slab of butter.

Cinnamon Swirl French Toast.

My husband and our friend had the Homemade biscuits and gravy. My husband said they were the best biscuits and gravy he's ever had. He gave me a bite and it was very good, and I do not like sausage gravy. The biscuit I had on the side was O.K. not great though, but the bite I had of his was real good. Our companion said her's was very good also. Oh yeah, and both of them had monster Bloody Mary's that were very good also.

The people working there were really fun and ready with a snappy come back for anything you might ask or be talking about. It was a really fun time!

We had caught up with two other Food Train members by this time, that had been delayed by the snow, and we headed for Milwaukee

Destination, A.J. Bombers. We arrived in Milwaukee to early for lunch, so we found a place to park and wandered around in a Little Italy type neighborhood for a bit. The first place was a bakery. www.petersciortinosbakery.com

We sampled many items and they were all very, very good! Biscotti, Twists (apricot), Apricot Tea cookies, some lemon puff pastry and many, many more!

Snacking right outside

Then we happened to see this sign that said "wine", never being one to pass up the chance to find a good wine we decided to pop in. It was an Italian food market.

This place is very nice. It's like an Italian "Fresh Market". They do have quite a selection of wine, and cheese and interesting meats. We decided we needed to do some sampling. We had some candied nuts, sweet and delicious, and some spiced olives and Peppadew peppers, very, very good. If you have never had Peppadew peppers I must say you really, really, REALLY need to try them! They are so sweet and have a very interesting spiciness, and they are very versatile. We also had this awesome cheese that is so nutty and flavorful! This is now our favorite brand of cheese. Sartori Bella Vitano

We had a blast and are still on our way to lunch, at A.J. Bombers. www.ajbombers.com/


photo by A.J.Bombers http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

A.J. Bombers is a burger joint that air-lifts peanuts and beer to your table.

photo by A.J.Bombers http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en

The Barrie Burger.

The Barrie Burger is a "1/4 lb burger with bacon and natural chunky peanut butter. Sounds weird but the two people in our group who had this burger both said it was very, very good. The peanut butter is a strong flavor in the burger but complements the meat and bacon very well.


Milwaukee Burger

The Milwaukee Burger is a 1/4 lb burger that has double WI Colby cheese, double Nueske's bacon and Schlitz onions. Very tasty!

Stuffed 'Shroom

Stuffed 'Shroom: "crispy fried or baked portabello stuffed with WI cheddar and muenster cheeses,with lettuce, tomato and Bomber sauce". This is a very unique portabello sandwich, the cheese is stuffed in the cavity of the portabello mushroom and it is breaded and deep fried. This keeps the cheese in and makes it very crispy and delicious! The two of us who ordered this "burger" really liked it. It was very crispy, and cheesy delicious.

Bomber Burger

My husband had the Bomber Burger: which is the AJ Burger and Stuffed 'Shroom stacked together. The AJ Burger has American cheese, tomato, lettuce and bomber sauce, then it is topped with a stuffed 'shroom to make it the Bomber Burger. He thought it was great, the crispy of the deep fried 'shroom with the burger and the cheese was just fantastic!

We had a great time.

If you are in Milwaukee and have a taste for a burger check out A.J. Bombers! On to the beer and cheese pairing at Sprecher Brewery! http://www.sprecherbrewery.com/index.php

We had reservations for a Beer and Cheese Pairing so you get a tour of the brewery and tasting of the sodas they make.

Then you go into a special tasting room for a pairing of 10 beers with 10 cheeses.

The sheet with the descriptions of the beer and cheese.

This was very fun, some good beer and surprising how the cheese changes the taste! It really does.

Their soda was good too.

Now on to Dinner at The Comet Cafe! http://www.thecometcafe.com

This is a DDD restaurant, the food looked really good the place seemed pretty cool.

I started the meal with a big hot chocolate and the Veggie Chili.

Yummy hot chocolate

The chili was great good seasoning and just as thick as I like it.

Ever since seeing the show I have been dying to try the AJs Compact Turkey Dinner. I was not disappointed!
It is "Three battered balls of roasted turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes smothered in gravy". They are just as awesome as they sound!

My husband and one of our friends had the Meatloaf Sandwich.

"A tower of meatloaf, bacon-chive mashed potatoes, grilled onions and tomatoes all on two slices of rye bread covered in beer gravy". They both said it was fantastic.

Our other two friends both had the Reuben sandwich. Grilled corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, and Thousand Island dressing on rye. They both liked it very much.