Best of....January - June 2008

I decided to do a 'Best of...' post covering the first 6 months of 2008. Not all of these places have been blogged about due to the trial and error phase of my blogging experience. But, we've been around a little and have experienced some great places that qualify for the 'Best of...' category.

Best Bakery (hands down) - Rockland Bakery, Nanuet, NY - I'm from the midwest, and I'm here to tell you that you haven't had bagels until you've had true New York bagels ~ and these are scrumptious!

Best Italian Restaurant -  Bianca's Ristorante Italiano in Ft. Myers, FL ~ never mind that we're friends with the owners, Bill & Stacy ~ this place is just incredible!

Best Cheesecake - Tahoe Joe's Famous Steakhouse in Vacaville, CA - try the cheesecake with the chocolate sauce to dip it in. Mmmmmmm......

Best Unique Place to Eat - The Place in Guilford, CT - it's all outdoors with industrical spools as tables and stumps as seats ~ they're slogan, 'Park your rump on a stump at The Place'. They only serve grilled, barbecued meat and a few skewers; the rest is on you. BYOB!

Best Roadhouse - No Name Pub in Big Pine Key, FL - just loved the atmosphere, service, and food here. 

Best 'House' salad - The Pasta House Company in Crestwood, MO - something about the artichoke hearts and the house dressing......even better as a leftover!

Best Buffalo Quesadilla (real buffalo/bison meat) - Big Texan Steakhouse in Amarillo, TX - home of the 72 oz. steak.

Best Italian Nachos - Johnny Carino's in Fairfield, CA - this may have been our first visit to a Johnny Carino's Country Italian restaurant. I know we were impressed with the italian nachos.

Best Mountain Pass that'll scare the pants off you - Monteagle Pass, I-24 at Monteagle, TN ~ you know it's bad when they have a stoplight for truckers, so not too many of them are going down at once.

Best Mountain Road that'll scrare the pants off you - Hwy. 501 between Buena Vista, VA and Lynchburg, Va ~ we pulled a 24' trailer over that road! (oh, and there is that 'back road' coming down from Big Bear, CA, on the desert side...that's just crazy....we pulled a trailer down that, too....hmmmm)

Best Truck Stops overall - Flying J - we'll plan our fuel stops around Flying Js.

I will edit and update as I go through my past posts!