We did indeed,drive south

 Why hello again. It's been what? I believe last April was our last post. Anyways and yada yada. Our life got busy with new jobs and vacations. And more than likely our postings will be scattershotted here and there too.

I've had this bucket list destination floating around my head for a few years now. My fall road tripping leads us usually north. This trip we headed about 80 miles south.

That said let's go!

The new I-74 Bridge over the Mississippi River going to be great when it's done.

As I said. I've had this bucket list Tenderloin in my head for awhile now. This beautiful fall day it was time to check it out.

Out west of Peoria Illinois is the Spoon River area.

A neat bar n grill out in nowhere.

Okay let's get to the meat of this post.

We went to Spoonies Bar and Grill in London Mills Illinois for a breaded tenderloin. Now Spoonies is a quite unassuming bar from the outside but the inside was pretty nice.

We did a little sight seeing too.

Shall we step inside? Spoonies has a real nice vibe and obviously we were outsiders,but our waitress was really friendly and efficient. It was pretty quiet when we got there around noonish but soon started filling up.

I did not take pics of the mens room and that's a good thing. The mens rooms was trashed,but the wife said the womens room was really nice. Go figure.

The menu.

Moll wanted some fried cheese curds. They were great.

Having fun with the food.

Sher got a small side salad.

A musical intermission while I gather my thoughts. You should have guessed I would play this song.

Let's get down to why we drove a bit for todays blog post. Hopefully I don't come off as a Debby Downer.

As usual the kid ordered her standard chicken strips and fries.We started this blog six years ago? Moll has been a consistent chicken strip kinda girl from day one. She found her thing. 

The wife and I ordered Spoonies legendary breaded tenderloin. Sher got pickles. I got onions. We all got fries.

The part of this post I have been struggling with is at hand. While this tenderloin looks awesome and it is impressive in person. 

The taste. It had a nice cornmeal breading and it looked great. From my first bite, I knew. There was no taste. Sure I could taste the onions and bun. I really couldn't taste the meat or the breading.Eye contact with Sheri was all it took for her to agree with me.

I so wanted for this tenderloin to live up to the hype I have read about on various blogs and Facebook postings. Alas. Today was one of our days where we were let down. Don't get me wrong. Spoonies tenderloin wasn't bad or nasty. It just had no flavor to it. I could have ate till I was stuffed,but there really was no point to that.

We weren't even really sure how we would give this a 1 to 10 rating. 

Was our day wasted? Hell no. The drive down to Spoonies from the Quad Cities was nice as we had never been to that area. The kid was in an agreeable mood. That's something coming from a sixteen year old girl.

I will say. The hamburgers coming out of Spoonies kitchen looked tasty too so they might have that down , I don't know.

Sometimes although very rarely do we visit a place that doesn't live up to our expectations. I hadn't pumped up Spoonies, but I read enough about them to want to check it out. You can go there and judge for yourself. The wife and I might just be spoiled with some awesome tenderloin joints closer to home. And I do love to get in the car and see what's over the horizon.

As an aside. We stopped in Milan Illinois at the new Meatheads and wasted a twenty dollar bill.

We will be back. Probably be a pizza in our future.

As always dear readers.

Scotty.

Big Head Todd

 Said it best. But Yes said it better.

So what does Big Head Todd and Yes have in common? Well themes in songs and life. Circles and Rounds and coming and goings and back around. 

So today we are revisiting a place we went to around three years ago. It's no surprise to you readers we have kind of split this blog into two halves. There's pizza and then there is all the rest of food we venture forth to try out.

The wife and I had been jonesing for a breaded tenderloin and well around here there is only option.

http://www.stoutsirishpub.com/

Faithful readers of this blog know we had been there  a few years ago. Is Stout's in Clinton worth the drive for a breaded tenderloin? Heck yeah it is!

The pictures do not do this tenderloin justice. The wife and I both ordered a tenderloin when we could have split one and still had leftovers.

Let's go. I know it's been awhile and yours truly has actually lost a few pounds,but let's have a whiskey.

The short trip to Clinton from our house is about a 30 minute drive.

The menu. All apologies for my crappy camera skills.

Now. The reason for the trip. Stout's breaded tenderloin. Your's truly has had quite a few bpt's over the years. Stout's is one of Iowa's best and I'm not lying. 

https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/entertainment/dining/2019/04/23/iowa-breaded-fried-pork-tenderloin-sandwich-trail-eat-your-way-through-iowa-foodie-tour-near-me/3540725002/

 

The tenderloin. The wife and I both got a bpt when one between us would have been sufficient.

Half way thru. and already thinking leftovers.

If you are needing that Iowa goodness that is a BPT go to Clinton Iowa for the in my opinion the best tenderloin ever.

Would yours truly bullshit you? Why would I.

Scott.

Kool & The Gang said it best!

 So this is the end of the year. I'll not inject my personal thoughts about our countries situation and instead think positively.

New Years Eve. The holidays are winding down and well, the party just keeps on rolling. Now it's one birthday after another for a few weeks.

Let's go!

My bother in law Dave's birthday is on New Year Eve so we usually do a party for him. Dave wanted steak. So steak is what most of us had.

We tried to get reservations for a few places around the QC ,but most were full up. So Dave decided to head back north to Wapsi Oaks. Wapsi Oaks is a Nine hole golf course just west of Calamus Ia. About a good twenty minute drive for us.

https://www.wapsioaks.com/

Had to start out with a drink or ten.

Wapsi Oaks's clubhouse.

I had done my usual front loading so I might as well tour the bathroom, right? Right.

Pretty clean although we were there fairly early. 

Alright let's get this party started! Might as well have an Ole Fashioned while Dave is buying.

I must confess. I'm 56 years old. There ain't no partyin all night long for me anymore. I digress.

I'm getting hungry. Let's peruse the menu shall we? Wapsi's New Years menu was fairly small,but that's ok. We came for the steak.

Got to do the salad bar for starters. The usual fixings,but everything was fresh,crisp and tasty.

Obviously today's blog post is not pizza. Steak was what we all came for. We did a blog post about Wapsi Oaks almost two years ago. For a place relatively in the middle of nowhere they do up some righteous steaks and I'm not lying.

My two brothers in law had an 8 oz filet. The wife,nephew and I had the 14 oz New York strip. Everyone's steak came out just as we wanted them too. 

If you want a great steak with a little road trip Wapsi Oaks is well worth the drive.

Better include the steak pic!

Happy Birthday Dave! This post is for you. I couldn't ask for a better brother in law.

Oh yeah I almost forgot the cake pic.

Here's to the end of 2020. Life goes on and more birthdays to come. 

Thank's to all of you that check out our humble little corner of the internet. We hope you enjoy our road trips and visits to the many fine scarfing establishments our area has.

Scott ,Sheri and Mollie

We did indeed pay the Ferryman today

 And I will explain in a bit.

Be that as it may. Not much in this world upsets yours truly. As you all faithful readers have noticed I have melded music with my reviews and I will stay true to that. 

But word of Eddie Van Halen passing away has been a gut punch. I loved his playing and all of their albums be they DLR era or even the Sammy times. Buy all Van Halen music. Indeed we can't get that stuff no more.

Okay. So we have finally got off our duffs and pizza blogged the last few weeks. This is our favorite time of year to road trip and see the sights.

So today is like prime time for us to dive north and see trees,buy beer,ride boats,drive curves,eat pizza. Don't worry faithful readers it will all come together I promise.

Today is kinda early October. We drove north to buy some beer.We always stop at Kielers. Located in Dickeyville Wisconsin.

http://kielersgroceryandliquorstore.com/

And when we leave. We head farther north towards Cassville Wisconsin. Beautiful roads and scenery leading to a really good time.

We have made a tradition of trying to ride the Cassville Ferry from Wisconsin over to the Iowa side. We do not get to do this every year and this is the first time for us in about 4 years. Certainly not because we don't want to. Just because we work and so forth.

https://cassville.org/ferry/

Why we paid the ferryman.

A few pics. This is so much fun.

My ladies in red. The car and my loves. That Camaro loves curves. Not my car,but lord I drive it.

So. A day that makes life worth living. And well? Isn't life worth doing things,going somewhere,eating pizza,drinking some rum,breaking the speed limit,acting the fool?

Now. Shall we eat some pizza? Indeed. I have hinted and teased and wanted to try this place out for ever. Coming from north of Dubuque it was time to try out a pizza joint long on our radar.

We finally stopped at Shot Tower Inn.

https://www.shottowerinn.net/

While walking inside. They had some pictures on the wall.

Those of us of a certain age in The Quad Cities mid 70's will remember Shakey's Pizza.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakey%27s_Pizza

Okay. Did you enjoy are trip pics? We had so much fun today.

Shot Tower Pizza! 

The menu.

I had to visit the bathroom.

After all of this living today. We finally got to the pizza. Shot Tower Pizza has long been on mu pizza blog radar. Today we had it.

As usual. The kid ordered chicken strips of some sort. We ordered a sausage,pepperoni and onion pizza.

I messed up. A few in door pics.

Let's not forget the pizza.

We ordered a medium thin crust sausage,pepperoni and onion pizza. The kid got chicken strips as usual.

First impressions was this was a Shakey's Pizza from days gone by. And a Happy Joes type crust. 

Sher and I both started thinking about growing up in the Quad Cities mid 70's. Shakey's and early Happy Joes come to mind.

We loved Shot Tower Pizza. And if this is as close as we can get to old school Shakey's Pizza?  I am all aboard. Good pizza and good times.

Scotty.