Breakfast: Best Western Continental Breakfast, Westmont, IL
Review – Hopefully no one reading this out there is expecting that this breakfast could possibly top yesterday’s. Allow me to end the suspense… it didn’t. It had the potential – the industrial strength waffle irons were again present, and this Best Western touted a “hot breakfast” where as Louisville only claimed a “cold breakfast.” Well, we got off on the wrong foot here when the waffle mix was presented in a large pitcher ready for the pouring. Handy, yes, but tricky to know exactly how much to pour on the iron. I ended up with two badly malformed waffles that only had one crispy side and an underside that resembled the surface of the moon. *sigh* The toppings were nowhere near as cool as yesterday – today there were only the standard butter and syrup (and the butter was in the little tubs that were nearly frozen solid, making it very difficult to spread). Need I remind you of yesterday’s lavish topping buffet? The squirty butter was ingenious. But I digress…
The other “hot” items were two lame looking pieces of French toast (pass), biscuits and gravy, and sausage wallowing in its own greasy juice. Appetizing. Overall, this breakfast was not as disappointing as the first day, but it was quite a letdown from the perfection of Louisville.
Lunch:,Sawmill Inn, Richfield, WI
Review – We found this glorified truckstop on our way from Chicago to Appleton. As Patrick mentioned in his journal, we tried to eat at the Apple Holler, but after our terrific experience with breakfast this morning, we were none to keen to eat more breakfast food. Hence, we kept on driving, and soon we saw the icon for the Sawmill Inn. It sounded authentically Wisconsin to me, so in we went.
The restaurant from the outside looked kind of like a non-chain Cracker Barrel. It was a log cabin that was very homey inside, and they sold penny candy and nostalgic Coke products at the cash register. Cute. Service was a bit timid but the waitress was perfectly pleasant. Patrick ordered a steak sandwich and I a BLT. When the steak sandwich arrived, it was a nice big piece of meat on a bun, but there were no real (I’ll say it again) “fixin’s” to speak of. Patrick gave it a hearty “good,” though, so he didn’t seem to mind. My BLT was stacked high with tomatoes, lettuce, and yummy thick bacon. The fries that came with both of our sandwiches appeared to be battered and were nicely crunchy.
I wouldn’t necessarily drive another 22 hours to go back to the Sawmill, but if you live nearby or happen upon this highway exit in your travels, we found it to be a pleasant alternative to the usual highway exit food finds.
Dinner: Tom’s Drive-In, Appleton, WI
Review – Finally, what I have waited 3 days and 22 hours in the car for! My beloved Tom’s. Four years ago, on my first trip to Appleton, I had never experienced the bliss now known to me as a fried cheese curd. To be perfectly honest, the description of it sounded kind of foul, but when Erik Hietpas volunteered to go out and get them right then before another minute of my life passed without experiencing a curd… well, I had to be polite and try just one. Or two…. or twenty. It was love at first sight and I have not stopped craving them ever since.
For those of you who don’t know what a cheese curd is, the best way I can describe it is that at the end of the cheese making when all the good cheese gets taken away to become the blocks sold in our stores, all of the remnants get globbed together to form this oddly shaped “curd.” You can eat them in their original form, when they actually squeak in your teeth, or the way I like them, fried. I like to say it is because it cuts down on the squeaking (I don’t eat snow peas for the same reason), but it really just adds to the fatty goodness.
Back to Tom’s, though. Tom’s was established in 1960 and, as I only found out about it in 2001, I have been trying my best ever since to catch up on all my years of missed curds. Tom’s serves burgers (the pizza burger is a good one… cheese and pizza sauce on a burger!) and brats (novel!), along with Don Hayes’ favorite, the perchwich. This is all so exciting for this little Floridian girl who never knew all the culinary delights of the midwest. They also make popcorn that tastes just like the way my dad makes it, and they sell it in individual sizes all the way up to the party bag, which we also get every time we come. I am pretty sure the Hayes might never eat Tom’s were it not for my visits!
For this night’s dinner, Don Hayes, Buttes des Mortes Club Champion, 2005, chose a perchwich from Tom’s. That meant I could have my beloved cheese curds one half day earlier than originally expected! The saliva started to run immediately. Patrick could not go and come back with our food quickly enough. I also ordered a burger, but that was a side item to me… a non-issue. Finally, the curds arrived. Even having been in the car for five minutes, the curds were still piping hot and glistening with grease. One bite and I knew… they were still the same salty, greasy, cheesy little nuggets of perfection that one can only find at Tom’s Drive In. Thank you, Tom’s. This sheltered girl from Florida salutes you.