Spring makes my mind wander to our own Roadfood experts Wanderingjew and The Travelin Man, who are gearing up for their College World Series & RF trip to the Midwest. But minor-league baseball makes my mind wander to the Frontier League’s Gateway Grizzlies just south of St. Louis, where the concession stand offers “Baseball’s Best Burger”: that’s a bacon cheeseburger nestled between two halves of a Krispy Kreme doughnut in lieu of a traditional bun. It’s a variation of greater Atlanta’s Luther Burger, which supposedly was invented by (or for?) soul singer Luther Vandross and popularized at Mulligan’s Bar in Decatur.

Mulligan’s has since closed, but East Atlanta’s Gravity Pub has resurrected both the Luther Burger and the Hamdog, a hot dog wrapped in ground beef then deep-fried, topped with chili, cheese, grilled onions, and served in a hoagie roll (this currently has no sports affiliation, to our knowledge). And let’s not forget Pittsburgh’s Roethlisburger, a gut-busting tribute to Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger. First made at Peppi’s on the North side of Steel City, this sandwich boasts ground beef, sausage, scrambled eggs, American cheese, and onions, all housed in a Portuguese roll.

In any case, we’re adding Peppi’s, the Grav, and GCS Ballpark in Sauget, IL to our short list for our next roadtrip. Hurray for sports-themed Roadfood!

The winner of last week's Roadfood.com poll: the sweetness of sugar cones narrowly beat the large capacity of the waffle cone.  In the poll thread, someone mentions dropping a mini-marshmallow in the cone before loading the ice cream.  This very clever idea prevents ice cream drippage out the bottom, but are we the only ones who enjoy biting off the bottom point and sucking the ice cream out?  No, we are not 6-year-olds, all evidence to the contrary!

"Birth of a Nation" shocked you!  "Gone With the Wind" amazed you!  "Ben-Hur" thrilled you!  Now, in the proud tradition of these great epics comes an epic for the 21st century!  Follow along as this humble gentleman from Pittsburgh, known by the single name buffetbuster, traverses the great state of Texas in search of Roadfood nirvana, and in the process achieves Roadfood greatness!

Yes, "the stars at night are big and bright" when buffetbuster travels through the heart of Texas.

Don't Miss It!

Roadfood Digest recently alerted readers to an interesting story in the Wall Street Journal about America's top hot dogs.  The author of that article, Raymond Sokolov, has written a follow-up article in the WSJ.  Seems readers took him to task for neglecting the coneys of Detroit.  It's fun reading.  Thanks to Russ Jackson for pointing the article out in the Roadfood Forums.

By the way, Michael Stern's photo, above, of a coney was taken at Coney I-Lander of Tulsa, OK.  Surprisingly, we have no good Detroit coney photos on the site.  Hopefully, that situation will be remedied before too long.

Last week's poll question pre-supposes that there are things one should never order in a diner.  1 in 7 people responding disagreed, saying, essentially, if it's on the menu, order it!  But the "winner" of this poll was salmon; 28% of you wanted nothing to do with diner salmon.  We'd have to agree.  But... we've had some excellent diner salmon.  The key is: where's the diner?  The good diner salmon we sampled was in a Pacific coast diner, and the fish was fresh and gently cooked.

The diners we're more familiar with, those in the Northeast, almost always begin with frozen fish, and even when they don't, it hardly matters, as the fish will be overcooked, dry, and sad (the photo above is of pristinely fresh wild salmon from Ecola Seafoods in Oregon; you'll never find anything like it in a Northeast diner!).  Clams came in a close second.  When it comes to clams, we want no doubts about freshness.  The Italian-style diner pastas we've tried have been overcooked and strangely seasoned.  But it's been mentioned in the Forums how there are Italian diners in upstate New York that turn out serious plates of pasta.  We plan to keep an eye out for them.

The fancy cakes and pastries in diners used to be a popular joke; everyone knew they were awful, and nobody ever ordered them (a second time).  At many diners, this is still true, to be sure, but we've run across quite a few lately that double as more than decent bakeries, especially in Dinerland (New Jersey).

And, we are very happy to report that only 12 people (out of 1036) said they'd never eat in a diner!

Last week's poll winner was barbecue, with 42% of the vote.  Barbecue certainly has distinct regional styles: the mutton of Kentucky, chopped pork, thin vinegar sauce, and mustard sauce of the Carolinas, dry ribs of Memphis, brisket and sausages of Texas, tri-tip of Santa Maria, CA...   Coffee came in last with 2%.  As Starbucks spreads across the country, it seems the Seattle style is becoming the national style.

The photo above  by Michael Stern is of a burnt-ends sandwich at L.C.'s in KC.  Highly recommended!

De Lorenzo Tomato Pies, the legendary 60-year-old Trenton restaurant, recently opened their first branch.  It's located in Robbinsville, NJ, a suburb of Trenton.  The original Hudson Street De Lorenzo's was started by the late Chick De Lorenzo.  Sam Amico (pictured above), Chick's grandson, is running the new Robbinsville location, while his parents remain at the Trenton store.  We put De Lorenzo's on the short list of greatest US pizzerias, but we've yet to try the new place.  Word has been that the crowds have been incredible.

ken8038 recently detailed a less-than-pleasant experience at the new store in the Roadfood Forums, but he also pointed out this rave review in The Newark Star-Ledger.  Biggest piece of news for old-timers: the new store has a bathroom!

We just saw a post in the Roadfood Forums by breezinby (his first post!) that Hocutt's has moved out of West Virginia.  They are now located in Bridgeport, Ohio, as of this past weekend.  Read about it in The Intelligencer.  The photo of Hocutt's baby back ribs above is by buffetbuster.

Longtime Roadfood.com contributor wanderingjew recently undertook a cheesesteak tour of Philadelphia.  Be sure to check out his amazing photo-documentary in the Forums.  That's his photo of a Lorenzo's Pizza cheesesteak at the top of this posting.  There are many more photos, along with astute commentary, and his cheesesteak ranking at the end of the article.  We personally feel he was too dismissive of the famous cheesesteak trio of Pat's, Geno's, and Jim's; we think all three are worth visiting.  But that's no matter; the places he did visit are equally worthy and don't get the attention they deserve.

mr chips has informed us that Nick's Famous Coney Island has closed.  Here's some info from a blog called cafe unknown.  Here's a story in The Oregonian.  And check out this video of Frank Nudo, Nick's owner:More...