Along the Road Home

…taking a break from the 3 posts about the Strategic Air Command and Aerospace Museum, I’ve moved ahead, reviewing the dining experiences that we enjoyed along the road home to East Tennessee.

I’ve previously blogged about all 3 restaurants that I’m covering in this post.  Our first stop on the way home was for lunch at Ashley’s Apple Basket Grill in Macon Missouri.  This local favorite is located in the middle of the town’s downtown district and they always seem to be busy.  

Laurie went for a special…a half sandwich and a cup of soup.  In this case she had a half Patty Melt on grilled sourdough bread with a cup of bean and ham soup.  She enjoyed her lunch at this reliable stop along our route.  Not only is the food good, but so is the price. 

I’m not sure what the price was for her lunch special but a 4 oz. Patty Melt is $6.00 and an 8 oz. is $8.00.  Regular sides, which include such items as French fries, homemade chips, cold slaw, baked apples and pickled beets are an additional $1.25.

As for yours truly, I opted for the Tenderloin Supreme, a hand-breaded pork tenderloin topped with bacon and Swiss cheese and served on grilled sourdough bread. ($8.50) As a side, I ordered a cup of Potato soup.  A cup of soup is normally $2.00 and a bowl costs $4.00.  I was very happy with both the soup and the sandwich!

Ashley’s Apple Basket Grill is located at 215 North Rollins Street in Macon Missouri.  This restaurant is open from 6:30 AM until 8:00 PM Monday – Saturday and from 7:30 AM until 2:00 PM on Sunday.  Phone: 660-395-7015.  This restaurant with its menu can be found on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/ashleysapplebasketcafe/.

Our drive home from Omaha takes about 16 hours with stops so we almost always stop overnight at Mount Vernon Illinois.  Our restaurant of choice is The Frosty Mug Bar and Grill.  If there ever was a quintessential example of a local joint, The Frosty Mug is it!  It’s located away from the Interstate highways and it looks unpromising to the outsider.  Heck…there isn’t even a front entrance!  It’s in the back and you do have to know or learn where it is…

This is the busy bar at The Frosty Mug.  For the second time, we decided to sit in this area…even at the same table.  Everybody knows everyone here and the owner is always around.  The chatter at the bar can cover almost any topic and it can be quite interesting.

The last time we were here, they had a steak special that we both ordered.  But this time they had a Fish, Shrimp and Clam Strip Special that came with 2 sides, slaw and green beans, plus a slab of garlic bread.  Look at all that food!  It’s hard to beat the price at only $12.95!  Best of all…it was really good!

After dinner, we shared a dessert…peach cobbler with a scoop of ice cream. ($4.00) It was very tasty, a nice finish to way too much food!  FYI, Laurie had a Tito’s Vodka and tonic, and it was only $4.75.

The Frosty Mug Bar and Grill is located at 1113 Salem Road in Mount Vernon Illinois.  This restaurant has truly expansive hours!  Curiously although there doesn’t seem to be a breakfast menu, their posted hours are from 7 AM to 11 PM Monday – Thursday, 7 AM – 2 AM on Friday, 11 AM – 2 AM on Saturday and from 12 Noon until 10 PM on Sunday.  Phone: 618-242-3372.  Website: https://www.frostymugbarandgrill.com/.

A couple of family visits ago, we stopped off at Father Tom’s Pub in Cookeville Tennessee.  On the last leg of this trip home we decided to pay a repeat visit to yet another small town local dining establishment.

This may be a local restaurant…and the prices are quite reasonable…but the food options can be quite upscale.

Except at the back area where we were seated, Father Tom’s is a long narrow restaurant with a lot of character.  Note that it wasn’t busy because we were there for a late lunch…

The bar and Father Tom’s overall décor is a cross of warm woods, an ‘industrial’ ceiling and eye-catching wall décor.  We love the atmosphere in this place!

One section of Father Tom’s brick walls is decorated with a number of colorful signs from various artisanal breweries...and a wild chandelier.  Not only is there an extensive list of brews to choose from, the restaurant also offers a respectable list of wines for its patrons.  As for ‘spirits’, a wide variety of options are available to include a very nice selection of single malt scotches.

Laurie decided to have “The Big Cheese”, Father Tom’s version of a classic white cheddar and sourdough grilled cheese sandwich. ($7.00) It was accompanied by a cup of “The Strange Brew”, a classic Irish style beer cheese soup garnished with red pepper and accompanied by a piece of toasted baguette.  This was definitely true comfort food!

As I said at the onset, this is decidedly not a local bar with typical bar food.  By way of example, the specials during the week that I wrote this post included the following: For lunch the Shrimp-Peach-Mint Pad Thai ($10.00); at dinner it was the Sea Bass Dinner…the sea bass is coated with a black garlic crust and it’s accompanied by fingerling potatoes in black truffle butter with lightly smoked heirloom tomato relish. ($23.00)

For my lunch I selected the “Nine Iron”. ($10.00) This sandwich creation was constructed using corned beef, smoked turkey, Benton’s Bacon, Swiss cheese, Arcadian lettuce, tomato and garlic aioli. (I left off the red onion) For my side, I also had that great beer soup…minus the red pepper topping. 

This was a very satisfying sandwich with lots of flavor and contrasting textures  going on.  I would order it again!

Father Tom’s Pub is located at 32 North Cedar Avenue near the center of Cookeville Tennessee.  Phone: 931-854-9484.  Their website can be found at https://fathertomspub.com/.

I thought that it would be appropriate to end this post with a photo a neighbor took showing the sunset on a long drive home…

Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Thanks for stopping by and joining us on our journey home!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave