Cinnamon Rolls With a Side of Bluegrass Gospel

Johnson’s Corner is a full-service truckstop located in Loveland, CO, famous for its enormous cinnamon rolls  and rib-sticking meals.  It’s open 24/7 and hasn’t closed since their opening in 1952.  Besides the popular restaurant, Johnson’s Corner features a truckers’ store where drivers can rent books on tape, take showers, drop off FedEx packages, and hit the Internet.  There’s also a convenience store, a service station, and a chapel.  It’s that chapel that we’re most interested in here, because in addition to regular services and prayer meetings, it’s also the home of the National Bluegrass Gospel Jam.

The Gospel Jam takes place the second Saturday of each month from noon until 4 p.m., and it’s free.  Audience participation is encouraged.  Says Ron Camerrer, the founder of the Jam, in a Longmont Times-Call story by Magdalena Wegrzyn, “We don’t say a prayer or anything like that upfront. We just start playing and participating.”  If you enjoy bluegrass, grab your mandolin and sit in next month, March 13.  We’d suggest you attack a Johnson’s Corner cinnamon roll after the session, however, so as not to gum up your fingering.  If you don’t play, go to listen and sing along. 

See the Roadfood.com review of Johnson’s Corner here.

Hope in Sight for Edmonton’s Prized Bus Diner

Edmonton, Alberta’s Motoraunt at 12410 66 Street NW was one of the highlights of our Roadfood Cross-Continental Tour last summer, and owner Carol Reczak was the kindest hostess, chef, and server that one can imagine. The formerly mobile food bus was facing closure due to the city’s 200% rent increase. However, due to the efforts of many concerned citizens and the web presence of their Facebook page, Save Motoraunt!, the city has decreased the rent hike to 100%. Carol is forced to raise her prices, though the increased awareness and traffic may keep her from throwing in the dishtowel. We can still taste the savory char of our Motor Burger and Motor Dog with homemade potato chips and red cream soda sipped out of Ball jars. Please read Victoria Handysides’s article from Metronews Canada and visit the Motoraunt as frequently as possible…and tell Carol that the couple from Massachusetts say hello. Many thanks to our RF friends Kirsty & Darren for this timely info; see also Kirstine’s RF Forum Trip Report that inspired our visit!

Top Sandwiches of 2009

Since Roadfooders are busy posting their best-of lists for 2009 (thank you, WanderingJew and a71678), we’re beyond excited to have found another one of our Top Sandwiches of the Year (in the Non-Hamburger Category) at the eleventh hour. Searching street after street for quality BBQ in Santa Maria, California, we happened upon BBQ Land at 1975-A South Broadway. We were skeptical about the name, which sounded too hokey to be true, but oh, how we were wrong! This tri-tip sandwich on grilled bread exceeded our expectations exponentially. We were actually sad with every mouthful, for we knew our gastronomic ecstasy would eventually come to an end with the last bite. It was the red oak flavor and extreme tenderness that cinched the deal, and we’ll be dreaming about this slice o’ heaven until we plan our return to Santa Maria.

New Jersey Rippers in Los Angeles

No, this is not about the annual visit of the Garden State’s semi-pro rugby league to sunny Southern California for off-season conditioning—this is all about the Ripper hot dog, popularized by Rutt’s Hut in Clifton, New Jersey. Now these deep-fried beauties can be enjoyed clear across the country in California’s San Fernando Valley. We met fellow Roadfooder Mar52 (Marlene) for lunch at Fab Hot Dogs at 6747 Tampa Avenue in Reseda. Marlene certainly knows her hot dogs, as evidenced in her ongoing SFV dog report  in the Roadfood.com Forums. We ordered the Bald Eagle, which was Fab’s Ripper with their own mustard relish, and the L.A. Street Dog, wrapped in bacon and topped with veggies and condiments. Marlene built her own with bacon, grilled onions, and horseradish mustard. All were beyond Fab-ulous, and extra-special thanks go to Marlene for the habit-forming suggestion!

Crab Meat on My Mind

Marky90’s query about where to get the best crab cakes during a short layover in Baltimore got me thinking not just about crab cakes, but about crab meat in general and how honored it is at G&M Restaurant (804 N. Hammonds Ferry Rd., Linthicum, MD. 410-636-1777). In fact, G&M is one of the few places where I would highly recommend ordering stuffed shrimp. More commonly a clump of soggy breading, the stuffing of G&M’s shrimp is itself a mini crab cake, composed of big, sweet, pearly hunks of meat. Here is a close view of the crabmeat atop one of the three shrimp you get as a dinner entree:

Unexpected Roadfood find in the Palmetto State

Armed with lists, print-outs, and addresses of potential eateries, some Roadfood explorers might find an uncharted RF restaurant and call it luck, while others seek divine intervention in finding one that is actually open at certain times. Our own Buffetbuster (Cliff) experienced both recently while spending the weekend in South Carolina. After finding five Spartanburg restaurants closed on a Sunday afternoon (not a surprise in the South), his final destination was indeed open for business—and what a glorious meal was had! PK’s Homestyle Cooking at 1011 Union Street served fried chicken, green beans, squash, cornbread, Southern chow chow, and desserts galore on that magical day. The mouth-watering mac ‘n’ cheese above is just a sample of Buffetbuster’s finds, chronicled on his “Weekend in South Carolina” Trip Report in the Roadfood.com Forums. You can also become a fan of PK’s Homestyle Cooking on Facebook here.

Change of management portends slow decline?

Probably the worst sign that we could find on a Roadfood establishment is “Closed.” Running a close second is “Under New Management,” which usually invokes mixed feelings of nostalgia and curiosity (namely, will the food still taste the same?). There was no physical placard announcing a management change at this local drive-in, but we could tell that something was amiss as soon as we claimed our tray from the pick-up window. We’d even noticed different waitstaff at the register but crossed our fingers and waited patiently. The photos above show the change: on the left, last summer’s chili dog and onion rings, which we’ve now archived in our taste memory. Notice the lusciously grilled bun and the meaty chili underneath the dog with a squiggle of cheese sauce. However, the right-hand photos show the changed chili dog, which retains its pretty bun, but now it has the very bean-laden chili heaped on top, which was a disastrous mess to eat (most of the chili fell into the basket after a couple of bites). A shredded cheese mix is now used instead of cheese sauce, which has been an intriguing discussion point in the Restaurant Professionals Forums. And the onion rings are just not the same as before: flavor, texture, crunch. We’d once counted these onion rings among the state’s best, but these new ones weren’t worth finishing. The change was evident in the sparse crowd, too: on a sunny weekend afternoon, only two couples were dining near us, when the place was often packed last summer. In the end, we would indeed return to this drive-in and order other menu items, but it is no longer a “destination meal” for us.

Sylvan Park Reopens 4th Restaurant

You can once again get superlative meat-and-three near Donelson Plaza in Nashville, TN, as Sylvan Park has reopened their location at 2719 Old Lebanon Pike.  That location originally opened last year.  Two months after opening, it was sold and the restaurant became the Donelson Park Cafe, which closed early this year.  Just last month, Sylvan Park once again opened the location as their fourth Sylvan Park restaurant.  Read more in The Tennessean here and here.  In the Roadfood.com review of the Murphy Road Sylvan Park, Michael Stern says, “Sylvan Park is a simple little dining room that is one of Nashville’s great plate lunch restaurants.”

Fire Closes Coney Island Pizza Legend Totonno’s

As Tony Bad reported on the pages of the Roadfood Forums less than an hour after the fire was extinguished (just where were you on the morning of March 14th “Mr. Bad”?), Totonno’s of Coney Island, one of New York City’s beloved pizzerias, was badly damaged by a fire that may have begun with the coals from their oven.  The restaurant will be closed for the foreseeable future but owner Louise “Cookie” Ciminieri vows the restaurant will be repaired or rebuilt.

Read the story in The New York Times.  In our Roadfood.com review of Totonno’s (currently archived until they reopen) we said “Tottono's is in reality nothing more, or less, than a neighborhood pie shop that happens to make some of the world's finest pizza.”

Kaelin’s Has Closed

The restaurant that is said to have invented the cheeseburger has closed.  Kaelin’s, of Louisville, KY, was purchased from the daughter of the original owners in 2004 by Clark Property Solutions.  They said business has been down and they faced “real estate and operational” hurdles.  They are officially calling the situation “closed for remodeling,” but it doesn’t sound very promising.  Read more in The Courier-Journal of Louisville.

Pictured above, in a buffetbuster photo from the Roadfood.com review, is a plate of mini-cheeseburgers at Kaelin’s.