Move Your Buns!!! - Rudy's Hot Dog- Holland, Ohio

   Rebbel signed up to work and sent me on one of my least favorite chores. Grocery shopping! Always too many people getting in your way,  and I always end up going somewhere else because the super duper store, with miles and miles of shelves, don't carry that one item that your wife requested. On this quest it took three stops and the bread lady was in my way, but not with the bread I needed.  In my head I just thought " I wish she would move her buns!!",and chuckled to myself.  Anyway, I try to make an unpleasant task better by lining up some good food. I thought about my options and decided on Rudy's Hot Dog in Holland,  Ohio.  Rudy's is a Toledo area landmark.  The President even stopped there on his way to the Jeep plant. I stop and get dogs when I am in Toledo,  and the craving hits me.                          
   The chili dog looks a lot like a coney dog to me, but they call it a chilli dog. The sauce is kind of spicy but not extreme.  the sauce is mainly what you taste in this dog.  The dog itself is not real impressive.  it is a boiled hot dog that in my opinion, washes away a lot of the flavor. There is no snap to them either. I found out you can ask them to be grilled so next time I will do that. They also tend to wrap them together if you order two, and that makes it hard to eat and drive.  Ask for them to be wrapped separately. Rudy's  might not be the best dog I ever had,  but with six locations and drive thrus,  they are handy.   They are one of the best you can get in the Toledo area.   The location I visited is 7170 Orchard Centre Dr in Holland, Ohio.  It's located in the area of the new big, beautiful Krogers. Note to shoppers trying out the new beautiful Kroger's... Sign up for the customer card if you expect to get the sale price or you might just end up at another grocery store you don't want to be in with the bread lady in your way!  You can find Rudy's Hot Dog's other locations and full menu on the web at www.rudyshotdog.com                  

A Toledo Area Secret - Mr Freeze - Toledo and Perrysburg, Ohio

I have been traveling to the Toledo area since I was a young boy. I have never heard of Mr Freeze until about a month ago. Somebody from work let me in on this secret. Mr Freeze is an ice cream place located at 2031 N McCord Rd in Toledo and 627 W South Boundary in Perrysburg, Ohio. They are known for their Turtle Sundae and Buckeye Sundae. They come in a styrofoam cup. The Turtle was loaded with ice cream caramel sauce, pecans, chocolate and whipped cream. The Buckye Sundae had ice cream, peanut butter filled buckye candy, peanut butter sauce, chocolate sauce and whipped cream. I ordered a small and it was all I could do to finish it. They have a lot of choices not mentioned here. The prices are very reasonable. There is one thing, be prepared to stand in line for a while. Evidently some people are already in on the secret!

THE PLACE For Prime Rib, Or Is It? - Eddie Lee's, Toledo, Ohio

"We're parked next to the green sign, " my sister Di told my wife. We were on the way to Cabela's parking lot to pick up her and my brother in law up to go try Eddie Lee's in Toledo.

She had a hot tip that Eddie Lee's was THE PLACE for prime rib in Toledo.

She had also told my wife that they would be where they parked the last time we went to Toledo. After my wife had ended the phone conversation with her, she looked at me and asked, "Do you remember where they parked last time? " I replied, " Uhhh no, that was only probably 6 months ago." "Well, we'll just look for the green sign", Rebbel said.

As we pulled in Cabela's, we realized that there were green signs all over the place. Thousands of them. We tried to figure out just where they were parked last time. Finally we called them back to find that they had gone in the store and weren't even in the vehicle parked by the green sign where they had parked last time we went to Toledo. So we snatched them from the doorway and off we went to what we hope was THE PLACE for prime rib in Toledo.

Eddie Lee's is located at 4700 Nantucket Dr. Once you see the Target store on Monroe, turn on the next street and you are there. The restaurant was very clean, and the service was extremely good. We were one of the first customers that day. In fact we waited in the car with hungry appetites just waiting for THE PLACE for prime rib to open.

My wife, sister, and brother in law all ordered the prime rib. I thought that I would order the perch just to try something different. I have to say I wasn't that impressed by the perch. I think it had to do with the type of breading that was used. The prime rib did bring tears to my wife's eyes though. That was only after she tried the horse radish and discovered it was just a little stronger than she thought. We decided that the prime rib wasn't the worst we had ever tasted,

it just wasn't the best. The seasoning wasn't there. Maybe we just had high expectations.

We did try their dessert, and I thought the fudge cake was delicious! My wife thought it was too fudgey!!!!???? My sister and her hubby shared a slice of cheesecake and that was also delicious.

What can I say about the restaurant over all??? In my humble opinion, it would be an o.k. place to take the family. The price is good, the service is good, the place is clean, and the food is so, so. For those who like fudge in their fudge cake, and real horse radish, it rocks! Just don't expect it to be THE PLACE for prime rib in Toledo, and whatever you do, don't tell the people you go with to find you parked next to a green sign at Cabela's. They may never find you.

Dog Gone Huge! - Tony Packo's, Toledo, Ohio

The Mother of All Dogs, MOAD for short. That is what Tony Packo's calls their huge hot dog I had to have. We arrived at Packo's after going to Jackson, Michigan in search of the original coney dog. Sadly that place was closed, maybe forever, and our second choice was also closed.
We really wanted a special hot dog by that point, so it was off to Tony Packo's in Toledo. Most people probably wouldn't drive from Jackson, Michigan to Toledo, Ohio just for a hot dog.....but we aren't most people and this was THE MOTHER OF ALL HOT DOGS!!
We went to the Tony Packo's Cafe on Monroe St. There are five other locations you can choose. One location is at 1902 Front Street, probably the most famous, and the others are located in stores throughout the Toledo area.
Tony Packos has been a Toledo institution since 1932. They were mentioned by Toledo native Jamie Farr several times in the television show M*A*S*H* and have been visited by many celebrities and politicians as the signed buns that are on the wall attest. The hot dog bun signing started with Burt Reynold's when he was in town for a play he was acting.
The M.O.A.D. is a sausage type dog covered with spicy chili sauce, onions and mustard, and natural casing for a crunch. Tony Packo's is a Hungarian Restaurant, and that is probably why things are a little spicy.
It is served with spicy chunks of Tony Packo's pickles surrounding it. We also tried the pickles deep fried and they were delicous. It is definitely the biggest hot dogs I have ever eaten and worth trying out. Just be warned the chili is not your mild mannered variety, and neither are the pickles. If your head sweats like mine when you eat something spicy, you might want to grab a couple of extra napkins. You can find more at this website: http://www.tonypackos.com/index.php

The Best Fish I Ever Put In My Mouth - Elephant Bar Restaurant

"This is the best fish I ever put in my mouth!" That is how my wife described the Macadamia nut crusted Mahi Mahi we were eating. I had to agree with her. We had first tried the Elephant Bar Restaurant located at the Westfield Shopping Center on Monroe Street in Toledo about one year ago. We were sent there by my friend Sheri. Whenever she would go to an interesting restaurant, she was nice enough to bring a take-out menu back. I was kind of reluctant to try this one, because we don't get into Chinese food. This menu had something called Pacific Rim Specialties that looked somewhat Chinese to me. I showed it to Rebbel though, and she wanted to try it.
The first thing you notice is the surroundings. Very colorful and anything but dull.
I tried the Shrimp Adventure Platter, and she went for this Mahi Mahi dish. I have to laugh now whenever we have Mahi- Mahi, because when we were visiting Key West with Rebbel's Mother, she mistakenly ordered it as Mahottie Mahottie, and another memory was made.
Anyway, Rebbel ordered it, gave me a taste of it and I was sorry for not ordering it, not that the shrimp was bad, but this was way better.
We went back in the summer and were horribly disappointed to find out that they only have this dish at certain times. So if you want it, you better get it now. What makes this dish so fantastic?
First the fish is deep fried and encrusted in the Macadamia Nut coating. Crunchy on the outside, juicy and moist, mild fish on the inside. They put mango salsa on the ends of the fish. It was served on a bed of rice. They also put a French Macadamia Nut Beurre Blanc Sauce in the mix and a green spicy dipping sauce on four corners. The dish was colorful in presentation, and the sweet, spicy, crunchy, soft combination was out of this world! You probably wouldn't want to order one of their mouth watering deserts even if you had room, because you would want this taste in your mouth as long as possible. There are probably many great things on their menu, but when you find something as good as this, its hard to let go. You can see this chain's page at http://www.elephantbar.com/