PANDEMIC MEAT ADVENTURE

A scary title to a wonderful day of a Meat Adventure that Ms. Goofy and I took during these troubled times. We loaded up the Racing Honda II and put an empty ice chest in the back. We hit up three destinations of some of our favorite butcher shops. Our first stop was Lakeside Meats in Lodi. The image above is Bruce a butcher that we can call friend. Bruce remembers us from gong to Lakeside for over a decade. He invited us in back to see him in action making sausage. 

Our next stop was Lockford Meats. Lockford is famous for their sausage. We filled the chest with Dakota sausage a mild flavored meat tube that is our favorite. We had to wait inline 6ft apart of course. There is a reason for a line because of the value and quality that Lockford offers.

Our last stop was the House of Beef in Oakdale. They have a restaurant that has set up in the parking lot to adhere to the Health Departments Covid demands. We had a very nice lunch. After lunch we went inside to buy more meaty treats. Check out these Wagyu beef ribs.

To end our Meat Adventure I had to feast my eyes on  this table of pie. Oh my, I am in pie heaven. I did take home a delicious apple dumpling with a side of caramel sauce. It was great to get out of the house and stock up the Chilebrown Ice Cave. Until we meet again.

DOT"S SOUTHWEST PRETZELS

Ms. Goofy brought home some tasty snacks. They had a lot of flavor and just the slightest warmth that really made me enjoy them. Maybe I like them so much because they had these ingredients; enriched wheat flour, niacin reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid, salt vegetable oil corn, canola, soybean artifcial butter, oorn syrup yest, maltodextrn, tomato powder spices celery extract, dehydrated red bell pepper, MSG, garlic powder, onion powder, yeast extract, sugar, more corn syrup, disodium inosinate and disodium guanytate, cream, paprika, jalapeno pepper, citric acid, lime juice, lactic acid, silicon dioxide and calcium stearate, Me with out my spoon

OLD GREENWOOD BBQ

We are pleased to sing the praises of a new bbq restaurant; Old Greenwood BBQ. It is located at a golf course in Sunnvale California. Our bbq friend Ryan Pang is one of the owners and head pittmaster. Ryan is no stranger to competition bbq and also has lots of experience running successful bbq establishments. We were excited to give him a visit.

Old Greenwood BBQ has an extensive outdoor patio which has a great view of the golf course. This is perfect to appease the ever changing pandemic rule masters. Ryan gave us a tour of his new restaurant. He has his line up of smokers and cookers to create his award winning bbq. He navigated us though the menu and made a suggestion of what to order. That suggestion was everything. You place your order in the clubhouse and the order is brought to your outdoor table. There is a full bar in an adjoing room for those who imbibe. 

Today's star was brisket. Ryan knows how to achieve brisket nirvana. Brian is also a master of all the side dishes. Everything was made from scratch except the cole slaw. (promises this will be temporary). We really enjoyed the house made bbq sauces especially the sweet/tart mustard based sauce. If you happen to see Ryan ask him about the house made chicharrones. These are not on the menu but I am sure Ryan will take care of you.

With the recent closure of Phat Matts bbq we were overjoyed to learn about Old Greenwood bbq. I may have to learn how to golf.

FAREWELL PHAT MATT'S

The Pandemic has taken numerous lives and created havoc throughout our nation. It has also been devastating for small business such as Phat Matt"s bbq restaurant. It is with heavy heart that I pass the notice of closure on my friends business. Charlotte & Matt Gonzales are well know and loved in the bbq community. They have been business for almost ten years at this location. Before they competed in competition barbeque. These last several month they have been forced to close because of local and state decrees. This has created financial hardships. The landlord has made it know that greed has put the last nail in the coffin. Yesterday I went to pay my respects and get one last plate of brisket. Matt & Charlotte are great people and I know they will return to the bbq community again.

NEW THINGAMAJIG

We always enjoy watching Steven Raichlen and his bbq cooking shows. He  usually is promoting and selling a line-up of his endorsed bbq products. This one caught my eye and the price was inexpensive.  They are called Stainless Steel Smoking Pucks. The theory is you load up these little pucks with wood chips or wood pellets and put them on your grill. They heat up and start to spew directional smoke in the direction you place them. We shall see.

With the miracle of instant modern logistics they arrived almost immediately at my front door. I tried them on top of the grill loaded with wood chips to cook a steak. This was not the ideal situation for smoking but it would be good enough to see how much smoke they put out. Let say they worked. Smoke did billow out of all the orifices of this contraption. Was the smoke directional? Yes and no because smoke just came out of everywhere. Would I recommend this product? Not really unless you need something to gather dust with the rest of your thingamajigs.

FIRST SIT DOWN

We had our first sit down lunch in almost three months. This was a carne asada plate with rice and beans. It was so simple but so delicious. It was also so nice to get outside and pretend like things are back to normal. We did have to drive to an adjoining county for this meal because in our county everything is still shut down. I am not sure why that is?

MEMORIAL DAY

We are proudly flying the American flag on this Memorial Day. This flag has very special meaning to me because it used to be my father’s flag. He would display it on all appropriate holidays. The actual flag has been replaced several times but the pole is at least a half-century old