Food Stop 4: Bentley's Country Kitchen, Greenville IL

So before I begin this post, I have to apologize for the lack of photographs in this post. My stupid brain, perhaps critically poisoned by inhaling powdered butterfly wing dust all day yesterday, keeps forgetting that i should take my camera everywhere that I go. To make matters worse, my stupid iPhone4's camera is still not working! The darn camera is still stuck on the virtual shutter screen making it totally useless for pictures. 


But yeah, it's morning on Saturday. Richard very kindly allowed me to spend the night in the guest bedroom of his nice home. Feeling a little peckish this morning and having some time before I have to take off from Chicago later in the morning, we go for breakfast. Being a small town and not having too many places open for breakfast on a saturday morning, Richard takes me to Bentley's Country Kitchen which sits at the corner of W. College & N. 3rd. The storefront looks slightly out of place among the traditional brick facade of the rest of the block. From the outside, everything screams "60's diner"!! Polished aluminium, black and white tile and glass blocks adorn the store front looking like that dinner in Back To The Future 1 (or was it 2??), where Marty goes back to to 1955 and meets Biff for the first time.  As explained earlier, i don't have any pictures, but guess what?? Google Street View Does!!!



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A quick trip through the door reveals a nice quaint little diner with a disproportionate amount of old folks eating breakfast.  I order a black coffee while Richard surveys the menu before finally noticing some chaffing dishes laid out at the back of the diner.  As it turns out... it's a diner breakfast buffet! A quick look at the offerings and we made up our mind... the buffet it is!


Up for grabs were the standard breakfast fare, scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage patties, french toast sticks, fruit etc. But the thing that really stood out was the mound of freshly baked biscuits next to a huge chaffing dish of white gravy. I grabbed some biscuits, slathered on a hearty helping of gravy, and together with some bits of protein, sat down for some chow.


The protein was ok, pretty standard. But the biscuit & gravy..... Outrageously superb! Most buffet style biscuits were rock hard hockey pucks and probably taste like it too. Many are left out so long that they become bricks. But these were nice and moist. Nice and flaky on the outside but soft, moist and spongy on the inside. They were mildly seasoned and buttery which was quite nice indeed. The gravy was also very tasty. Smooth and creamy (as opposed to harsh and lumpy) with a nice mild hint of freshly cracked black pepper.  
Apparently others must have agreed with me because I look up and see that on the wall next to the kitchen, is the "Biscuit Eating Wall of Fame".  To get your picture and name up on the wall you need to eat to eat 2-1/2 plates of 4 large biscuits (i.e 10 biscuits). To beat the reigning Greenville IL biscuit eating champion, you're gonna need to chomp down on a whopping 26 biscuits! There are currently 8 people on the wall. The waitress asks me if i wanted to try to make it onto the wall, i politely declined saying that i may have to go train for a couple of years before coming back for a try. Not every asian is a Kobayashi you know....!!


So if you are ever in Greenville Illinois, stop by Bentley's Country Kitchen and pick yourself up some biscuits and gravy. Who knows, you could be the next Biscuit Eating Wall of Famer...


Thank You Richard for Being such an awesome host and for your hospitality. Come and see us in Houston sometime!

I liked, 
- The affordable breakfast
- The nice quaint (small town) setting
- The awesome Biscuits and Gravy!


I Didn't Quite Like, 
-That i just wasn't hungry enough to make it on the Biscuit Eating Wall of Fame


Bentley's Country Kitchen
Address: 111 North 3rd Street, Greenville IL, 62246
Phone: (618) 664-0328
Website: None >:(





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Day 4: West Memphis AR to Greenville IL

There's something different about the weather today. When i got into West Memphis last night, it was sweltering hot. This morning, there were nice cool raindrops from the sky. Good that it was cool, but bad that it may mean that i won't be able to leave West Memphis this morning if it continues to rain. But thankfully when i return outside after breakfast at the hotel bar, the skies held back. Once again I got the steed saddled up and off I went along I-55.


The change in the weather was so evident today. The hot humid air was replaced by cool refreshing dry breeze. Time passes so quickly while you are cool. Before I knew it I was at my halfway point of Skieston AR looking for the exit to I-57 which will take me into Illinois. The good thing about time breezing by (so to speak) is that when i finally reach my destination, i don't feel like i just got run over by a Dodge Ram. The bad thing is that it feels like i have missed everything in between. 


What i didn't miss today however were the butterflies. It seems as if the cool weather has brought about a swarm of fluttering critters from Arkansas all the way to Greenville IL. Unfortunately, it seems fluttering butterflies have a tendency to to find their way out of the pastures and onto the blazing highways and into the way of hungry vehicles that would obliterate them in a blink of an eye. As soon as i began the journey today, i seem to have lost track of the number of butterflies that my helmet alone has squished. Every couple of miles i would hear a little "snap" accompanied by a small explosion of gooey liquid on my helmet shield. For every one that i see on my shield, there are at least 10 more that bombard by body in every place. It was actually quite disturbing at the end of the day when i shake off my jacket and powdery bits of wings and bug bits fall to the floor. 


Gruesome as this might sound, squishing bugs with my body moving at 80 mph has actually taught me a lesson or 2 about life. You see, as much as it probably hurts the bug, it hurts me quite bad. It was astounding how much hurt a little butterfly can inflict when travelling at a high relative velocity. I have ran into butterflies while jogging in the park or whatever, but hardly even knew they were there. Even if i did see it, i would be able to avoid the bug pretty easily. But being pelted by the same feathery butterflies at 80 mph sometimes causes quite a "thwack" as if being shot at by paintball guns in winter.

Life is kinda like that.... When I am taking it slow, deliberate and composed, being careful of every step that I take, the little things don't trip me up. Even if i do see the stumbling block in my path ahead, I still have the ability to step over it. Worst comes to worst and i don't see it and actually trip up, the fall is still quite bearable. However the opposite is also true. The harder I run, the faster i go, the more stressed i get, it gets more and more difficult to see all the stumbling blocks in my path ahead. Tripping up suddenly becomes a very high possibility and when we do trip, the fall is immensely painful and difficult to recover from. 


Perhaps my life is racing a long way too fast. So many times i plow headlong into a little stumbling block because I either don't see or i see it at the last sec and have no way to avoid it. But whatever the case, because i have been travelling so fast, it would be difficult to recover from a fall, even if it is caused by a seemingly small object.


"Be still and know that I am God". Psalm 46:10.

Day 3 (part 2): Overnight in West Memphis AR

Well, as expected, I didn't quite make it over to Memphis TN. I did however manage to make it to West Memphis AR though, just across the bridge from Tennessee. By the time I pulled into the area, I was just about half dead and whatever will I had left to keep going on was fading fast (very fast). I look over to my left and see the Ramada hotel sign peeking out from just over the horizon just off I-40 and that was it... no more.. i had to stop. So i pulled over onto the service road and pulled out my iphone to see what kind of money it was going to cost me should i decide to stay here. I go to the Ramada website and was quite dismayed to realize that it was going to be a whopping $135 for the night (which will put me terribly over budget). 


Just as i was resigned to eating Ramen noodles for the rest of my trip, somehow I heard a voice, which i swore was the voice Travelocity gnome, whisper in my left ear to go check out the Travelocity website.. which i did and found the same hotel listed for $77 !!! So i placed a booking immediately which surprised me because i didn't think they would allow bookings 5 min before you were expected to check in!! But anyway, i did... and it actually went through and sent me a confirmation e-mail. Well, i pulled into the hotel and went to check in. Not surprisingly they didn't have my confirmation yet, so i pulled up my reservation receipt that i got from travelocity on my iphone. The guy took my confirmation number down and disappeared into the room behind the counter and after a couple of minutes, emerged and said that everything checked out and that they had a room for me... hooray!! So i pulled around back to my ground floor room, unloaded the bike, covered it up nicely, armed the alarm system and got settled into the room.


I broke my rule tonight and ordered pizza. I was so tired that there was no way i was going to be  physically able to go out to eat tonight. So the pizza arrives and i was working on my first slice when my keychain starts buzzing and chirping. Apparently something had set the alarm off on the bike and my keychain was letting me know. I quickly rushed outside through the door to see a rather large pickup truck with tinted windows parked between me and the bike, obscuring my view of it, so i quickly dashed out and around the truck to see what had become of my bike.  To my surprise, there was a little old lady with a walker on the other side of the truck with an elderly man helping steady her! I silenced the alarm immediately.  The little old lady looks up and sees me and before i could apologize, she says "I don't know what I did, but i think i upset your motorcycle here!!".  Apparently she took a little longer than most people would to get out of the truck and while she was steadying herself on her walker, set off the proximity sensor on the bike! I apologized profusely for startling her and helped her though the door into the hotel. Well... at least i know that my $500 investment in the scorpion alarm system works! Even if it catches unsuspecting old women.


Nothing much else tonight except getting gorged on pizza and being kept awake by the couple playing "twister" in the room next door right behind the wall above my head.


Tomorrow. It's a ride through Arkansas and onto Illinois!

Day 3 (part 1): Longview, TX to West Memphis, AR

I really didn't want to get up this morning. After being hunched over all that time yesterday, i really needed a hard surface to sleep on last night to straighten my back. Thankfully, Jung had a whole lot of living room floor for me which I greatly appreciated. 


Today was another marathon run (or at least it felt like that). Another 6 hours in the hot southern sun . I left Longview and headed Northwest towards Texakarna and then caught I-30 towards Little Rock. Then swung west on I-40 towards Memphis. 


The trip today officially made it the longest daily back to back rides I have ever made on a sportbike. I have made relatively short return rides to and from Big Bend National Park in West Texas and have made return rides to and from New Orleans, both with at least a one or 2 days in between where I got to rest up. But never had i done this back to back arriving in the evenings, sleeping and then taking off again in the morning. Although it's only day 3, my body feels like i'm 80. My back doesn't bother me as much as my wrist does. I guess constantly having to hold the throttle in place from an elevation that is higher is really straining my wrist. At least on a cruiser the handlebars are usually located in a comfortable elevation and separation. On a sportbike, riding with my weight forward means that i'm constantly putting my weight on my arms (and hence my wrist), while at the same time having to be gentle on the throttle. In order to alleviate the discomfort on the wrist, I have my right foot on tippy toes on the foot peg and rest my right elbow on my knee. This seems to help with the wrist a little bit.


But eh... enough whining....This Army Lieutenant ain't going to let a little tingle in my wrist get the better of me. I am brought back to 10 years ago back in the military where we get by day to day on one word... 忍!!!! (endure!) After all, "Pain is merely weakness leaving the body". 


Right around Texakarna, I hit the Arkansas border. Being a local highway (as opposed to an interstate hwy), I actually managed to stop and snap a pic of the sign that welcomed me.

Bye Bye TEJAS! Hellow Arkansas!

Food Stop 3: Country Tavern Bar-B-Que, Kilgore Texas

When Jung tells me that he's taking me to go eat Barbeque, inside my brain was a little voice trying to break out and say "BBQ???!! I'm from Texas HELLOOO!!!??" But then I realized that if there is anywhere to go for good BBQ, it's gonna be here in Texas.  But yeah... We leave the bike parked outside a local Starbucks, I hop into Jung's car and off we were to what he assures me is the best darn BBQ on the face of God's great earth. So off we were to the boonies... which is ironic because coming from Houston, the city of Longview IS the boonies.


30 min later, we pull into the parking lot of a red corrugated single story steel building. You know you are in texas when every vehicle in the parking lot is either a Chevy or Ford pickup! Here's a pic of the frontage of the building.

I swear we must the only Asians which anyone has seen outside Rush Hour 3 because the moment we step food into the place, I felt every head turn and eye in the room caress my body to see if maybe i was hiding a pair of nunchucks anywhere in my pants or something. But my fears proved unfounded as we were ushered to a nice quite booth in the corner.


The decor was pretty nice. Simple & rustic country style. A pretty good sized bar adorned one end of the building while the ever-playing jukebox cranked up Shania Twain & Taylor Swift at the other end of the building. The main floor consisted of neatly arranged dining tables and a nice pool table in front of the bar.

The menu was simple enough.... BBQ!!! Protein choices were Ribs, Brisket, Turkey & Sausage or a combination of the above.  To compliment the protein (but mainly to steal prime tummy real estate from the yummy meat), are your choice of two sides, Coleslaw, Beans, Potato Salad & Chips. All served with a mandatory side of sliced white bread and sliced fresh onions just in case you need a convenient excuse for shedding a tear over eating some of the best ribs of earth.


Since the Ribs were highly recommended, I ordered a Rib platter with Coleslaw & Potato Salad while my host decided with the Rib & Brisket Platter. 10 min later, the food shows up!

The first thing I notice is that it is not exactly like South Texas BBQ. It wasn't nice sloppy oooowy gooowy goodness that i was used to. In fact, there wasn't any sauce on it at all. But if you so choose to adulterate your protein with BBQ Sauce, they bring out the customary bottle of sauce just in case.

The as mentioned earlier, these were definitely not sloppy ribs. They had a beautiful smokey flavor and were quite sweet with a nice layer of caramelized brown sugar that sent my tastebuds into overdrive. The "fall off the bone" tenderness made it easy to strip every rib to the bone (so to speak). They didn't last long.... within a couple of minutes, this was all that was left....

 
Well, needless to say, we really enjoyed our dinner. If I were to rate this against any of my other BBQ experiences, this one has to definitely rank top 3! It is quite unfortunate that they don't have any other branches elsewhere, and definitely unfortunate that Kilgore, Tx is located far from most of us. But if you ever find yourself in North East Texas, you definitely HAVE to stop by here and git yourself some ribs. Your taste buds will thank you!


And thank you Jung for being such a great host!

I liked, 
- The Awesome Meat!!
- Nice Ambiance & Nice background music that's not too loud.


I Didn't Quite Like, 
- That it is a little far away from the beaten path. Little inconvenient for most people to get to.




Country Tavern Bar-B-Que, Kilgore, Texas
One of the best Dry Rub BBQ i have ever tasted!
Address: Farm-to-Market  Road (FM) 2767 and Hwy 31 (Close to FM 3053, West of Kilgore)
Phone: (903) 984-9954
Website: None >:( 
Map:

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Day 2: Austin, Tx - Longview, Tx

Well, it seems that my butt hurts a bit less this morning. My right wrist seems to feel mildly better. With such a nice breakfast at Kerbey Lane this morning, my tummy is also happy. After dithering about, packing and stuff after breakfast, it was going to be a late departure, around 11 am. By then, it was sweltering. Even while I was loading my bags onto the bike I was sweating buckets.

Taking US 35 N towards Waco was pretty uneventful... and boring to say the least. The flat plains between Austin & Waco look pretty much like... well... the rest of of Texas. Two rows of hot black asphalt flanked by alternating scenery of either trees, farms or cow pastures. And then I hit Waco..... My trusty iPhone 4 tells me to break tracks from US 35 and swing a right onto TX 31.  I guess I must have had a messed up preconception that local roads were going to be slow going and tedious, but to my surprise, the first speed sign i see on the 2 lane highway is 70 mph!! (65 at night).  Not only that, but the close proximity of all the trees, vegetation, homes and animals to the edge of the road made sure that i was fully engaged in the american country experience.  

I have decided that my favorite stretches of road are the 2 lane pine forests. Somehow the breeze that wafts through the pine forests are very cooling and refreshing. The smell of the woods remind me that i'm not in downtown Houston anymore. 

I finally pull into Longview at around 5pm in the afternoon and like any city slicker trapped out here in the boonies, headed straight for the nearest Starbucks for my Grande Non-Fat Upside Down Caramel Macchiato.  

Interestingly enough, my last gas stop in Longview (right before starbucks) proved to be somewhat interesting as I notice that attached to the main building of the gas station, was a little barn with what seems like half an airplane sticking out of it's roof, as if it had just crashed into it! There was, what seemed like the hapless pilot of said plane peering over the top of the roof and staring at me filling up my tank of Gas! As if this wasn't strange enough, closer inspection revealed this to be none other than a drive through liquor store!! You drive through the rear with your empty pickup truck, and leave through the other end with booty in tow. I would load up, but unfortunately with my "truck bed", i'd be lucky to even fit an empty can of beer!

Food Stop 3 - Kerbey Lane Cafe, Austin Texas

While writing Saddling Up - Part 2, I used my camera to take a picture of the bike in full regalia. I then hurried indoors to upload the pictures so that I could get in on more post before taking off. Stupidly, I left the camera on the computer desk and there today it still sits. Since my iPhone 4's camera is basically doo doo, i decided it would be best to actually go buy a camera. I eventually settled for a Canon Powershot SD 1300SD, but that aside, while being rung up by the guy at Best Buy in Austin, I asked him for a good place to go eat breakfast tomorrow morning. He rattled off a couple of names but one in particular i have heard over and over again... Kerbey Lane Cafe. So... the next morning, I found myself standing here....

The place pretty much blended in with the rest of the cottage homes along the street. There wasn't really any assigned parking, so you'll have to park along the street and pretty much compete with the rest of the block for parking. I got lucky. Somebody just pulled out just as i rode in and i snagged myself a spot right on their front step, right next to the little pathway that lead up to their main entryway.

Once inside, I was warmly greeted and ushered to my window seat. The decor was pleasant, purplish red walls with lots of wood paneling gave it a nice homely feel. The one thing that felt somewhat out of place were the round psychedelic discs that adorn almost every wall. I later found out that they were 3D paintings which, if you stared at them through 3D glasses (graciously provided at the bar), made it seem as if you were on a crazy acid trip. 

After recovering from the trip, i finally had a chance to look at the menu. Most of the foods were your typical American breakfast foods, eggs, bacon, ham etc. A good part of the menu was dedicated to tex-mex (which i love). But today i decided to take my waiter's advice and go with their signature pancakes served with 2 eggs over easy and a slice of ham. I picked 2 pancakes... Blueberry and Apple Whole Wheat.

Defecting from my standard black coffee in the morning, I go with something on the menu which really caught my eye called "Hibiscus Phizz". It actually turned out to be pretty good. In keeping with the whole "low sugar" lifestyle that is so overtaking Austin, what is listed as "Sprite" on the menu, turns out to be of course..."Sprite Zero". But regardless, the fizzy red concoction was quite refreshing, throughly hydrating me for my long day ahead.

Next the food arrives... HOLY COW!! The pancakes are huge-mongus!! Here's a shot of the platter (iPhone 4 included for a sense of scale). 

 The eggs were... eh..eggs... you can't really mess up eggs over an easy. The Ham?... Terrible.... Obviously grilled in some way, all the nice juice probably fell into the fire and were instantly obliterated, leaving what I can only describe as "Ham Jerky".  Left that one aside for the ham fairy... 

Now on to the pancakes. I slice into one and holy holy holy cow... look how thick it is.

Now i had wished i had left the protein alone and just worked on this beast. The pancakes did not disappoint and more than made up for the ham jerky. Nice and fluffy. Even the Apple Whole Wheat actually tasted nice and fluffy and not papery like some of the wheat pancakes that i have had the ill privilege to have made acquaintance with. Both pancakes had a very mild flavor but had bits of fruit (blueberry & apple) cooked into it that gave that burst of flavor every once in a while. They brought out a little bottle of warm maple syrup, but my take is to ditch the maple syrup as it totally overpowers the mild flavors of the pancakes. The whipped butter was a good pairing, providing some moistness to the cake. Not too much though... otherwise once again the delicate pancake gets smothered to death. 

I liked, 

- The quaint surroundings and nice ambiance.

- Friendly staff

- Interesting original menu items.

- Huge pancakes which didn't have overpowering flavors.

I Didn't Quite Like, 

- Hard to find parking sometimes.
- The grilled ham.

Kerbey Lane Cafe

Address: (Original Location) 3704 Kerbey Lane, Austin Tx 78731 (Info on other locations on website).

Phone: (512) 451 - 1436

Hours: 24 hours!!! (Perfect for the late night munchies).

http://www.kerbeylanecafe.com/