DIS Dads Rust Belt Road Trip (2 UPDATES--1/18)

[afwdwfan]

Since you haven't updated in about a week, I thought I'd jump in here and post this for Scotty!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Since you haven't updated in about a week, I thought I'd jump in here and post this for Scotty!

The truly sad thing is, I wanted to offer some alternatives from the current Eagles roster for him and was like...

It could be worse. I have nothing against the Packers. If he'd picked someone on the Cowboys...

LeSean McCoy is really the only guy on the team playing at a Pro Bowl level.

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

What makes an event memorable to you? Odds are, there is something about it that was unique, and it’s that uniqueness that makes it stand out. You might see some scenery that is indescribably beautiful. Or meet someone who tickles your funny bone in a new way. Being that we’re all fans of Disney Parks, we can certainly describe many attractions, shows, and moments that we could never have seen anywhere else. And some things are hideously awful in a train-wreck sort of way, making them unique as well.

And I’d say there’s a little bit of all of those categories in this Louisville institution: Lynn’s Paradise Café.

Described by the owner (you’ll never believe this, but her name is Lynn) as a restaurant that is also an “ongoing art project”, Lynn’s has been receiving quite a bit of national attention lately. Their website boasts of making appearances on several different networks, including the Food Network, the Oprah Winfrey Show, and recently on the Travel Channel’s Man V. Food. In fact, the day we ate there, signs at the reception desk were posted saying to tune in that night for the debut of their Man V. Food episode. Plus, it was listed in Road Food, which meant it had to be good.

We’d actually heard about the place through FreezinRafiki and family, as they’d taken a weekend trip to Louisville and raved about the place. When I’d mentioned to Barry that we were going to Louisville, he made the statement, “You HAVE to eat there.” Allrighty then.

It was approaching 2 p.m. since we’d spent quite a bit of time at the Louisville Slugger Museum, so we were all ready for food at this point. Not knowing how popular the restaurant was at peak times, we thought going at an odd hour would make sure we got in without much of a wait. It worked perfectly—no wait at all, even with a party of 12 people!

As a side note, we somehow had a sit-down meal with 8 kids at our table and not only lived to tell about it, but enjoyed our time. I consider this a small miracle.

You know how some restaurants decorate by throwing all sorts of crazy crap on the walls? They’ve got nothing on Lynn’s. I’m struggling with how to describe this place. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so in place of a couple thousand words of rambling, incoherent description, let’s take a look:

See what I mean? It’s fun, whimsical, and a bit of a train wreck. But if there’s a message that stands out to me it’s, “We don’t take ourselves very seriously.” If you haven’t figured it out by now, I love people who don’t take themselves seriously. That’s my crowd.

As you can see, various sculptures, plastic flower displays, and other indescribable knick-knacks dot the parking lot. You enter through the gift shop (kind of a backwards Disney attraction), where you can browse more whimsical oddities before being seated. The dining room itself is full of unique tables (one has a model train inside), and each chair is a different tacky vinyl number straight from a 1960’s kitchen. Heavy on the kitsch, if you know what I mean.



I really need to stop hanging around Barry so much.

Anyway, the walls are graced with paintings, random mannequin legs wearing loud pants, some sort of tree-thing, and various entries in Lynn’s annual Ugly Lamp Contest. It’s a visual assault that will either have you running for the exits or laughing out loud. We chose the latter.

Thankfully, the food is another matter. If there’s anything they do take seriously, it’s the menu, and by and large the food was terrific. Julie had a fried green tomato BLT sandwich. She LOVES fried green tomatoes, and since none of the rest of the family likes them, she doesn’t get them very often. So she was salivating over this menu offering. Too much, actually. I had to remind her to use her napkin.

She said it was delicious, but there was only one problem—it came out a little cold. It must have been the first sandwich they made from our order.

The tradional Louisville dish is the “Hot Brown”, which is a turkey, cheese, bacon and tomato sandwich baked in a melted cheese sauce. I thought about getting that one, but I opted for the Smokehouse Sandwich, which consisted of grilled chicken, swiss cheese, bbq sauce, ham, and onions and was absolutely fantastic. I think I also got bacon on it because, well, it’s bacon. The sandwich was huge, tasty, and I would definitely get it again. I think I should try the Hot Brown at some point, though. I guess I’ll have to just get 2 meals next time.

I can’t for the life of me remember what Jay and Donna ordered, but they both were raving about the food as well. Let’s call it 4 thumbs up for Lynn’s.
Afterwards, we wandered around the gift shop. Let’s see if we found anything interesting.

If I had a phrase to describe the gift shop at Lynn’s, it would be “The Place To Buy Your Stocking Stuffers”. Hopefully Julie won’t look at these pictures too closely to find out what I got for her this year.

No trip to Lynn’s is complete without a walk around the parking lot.

Julie likes artsy close-up pictures of flowers in bloom, so I took this one of the plastic flowers for her. Aren't they beautiful?

All in all, we felt that Lynn’s Paradise Café was one of the highlights of the trip, and our favorite meal. The food was terrific, the atmosphere was fun, and the experience was memorable. And I even got some Christmas shopping done in July.

Coming Up Next: Illegal swimming, yet another DisDad meet, and ice cream for dinner!

 

[afwdwfan]

LeSean McCoy is really the only guy on the team playing at a Pro Bowl level.

I've definitely loved having him on my fantasy team!

Described by the owner (you’ll never believe this, but her name is Lynn)

“We don’t take ourselves very seriously.” If you haven’t figured it out by now, I love people who don’t take themselves seriously. That’s my crowd.

Mine too!

You enter through the gift shop (kind of a backwards Disney attraction)

Well duh. It's a restaurant. Always put the gift shop where the captive audicence will be. Marketing 101.

and each chair is a different tacky vinyl number straight from a 1960’s kitchen. Heavy on the kitsch, if you know what I mean.

I really need to stop hanging around Barry so much.

Don't we all...

I don't think there are enough pages.

Coming Up Next: Illegal swimming, yet another DisDad meet, and ice cream for dinner!

Oh, please tell me you didn't swim in the Ohio River!

 

[Cinderella's Fella]

Mark, been to The Paper Moon yet?

 

[MEK]

What an awesome place!!!! I love anything that is on Man vs Food. Did you ask what the challenge was? I can just picture that place filled with locals chanting "Adam Adam Adam".

Hurray for a fried green tomato BLT. so funny because that's exactly what I had in savannah. And I thought I was being unique.

Great pictures. They really did describe the place perfectly!!!!!

Oh - and the pics of the kids - wonderful!

 

[glennbo123]

Allrighty then.

Ace Ventura, Pet Detective.

Classic picture!

The comedian Emo Phillips (who has a great website by the way link) once said, "I had to learn about women the hard way -- through books."

All in all, we felt that Lynn’s Paradise Café was one of the highlights of the trip, and our favorite meal. The food was terrific, the atmosphere was fun, and the experience was memorable.

Lynn's sounds awesome....I'd love to check it out sometime!

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Mark, been to The Paper Moon yet?

I have not, nor have I heard of it before...

But it appears a road trip is in order! Care to join us?

 

[Cinderella's Fella]

I have not, nor have I heard of it before...

But it appears a road trip is in order! Care to join us?

As it is written, so shall it be!

 

[FreezinRafiki]

We’d actually heard about the place through FreezinRafiki and family, as they’d taken a weekend trip to Louisville and raved about the place. When I’d mentioned to Barry that we were going to Louisville, he made the statement, “You HAVE to eat there.” Allrighty then.

And I was RIGHT! (for once....)

As a side note, we somehow had a sit-down meal with 8 kids at our table and not only lived to tell about it, but enjoyed our time. I consider this a small miracle.

Thus the magic on Lynn's. Try doing that at an Applebee's. Or Olive Garden.


Or Lou Malnati's.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so in place of a couple thousand words of rambling, incoherent description, let’s take a look:

Those are some nice words you have there.

Heavy on the kitsch, if you know what I mean.



I really need to stop hanging around Barry so much.

That's fine. I can still hang out with Julie and the kids, though, right?

The tradional Louisville dish is the “Hot Brown”, which is a turkey, cheese, bacon and tomato sandwich baked in a melted cheese sauce. I thought about getting that one, but I opted for the Smokehouse Sandwich, which consisted of grilled chicken, swiss cheese, bbq sauce, ham, and onions and was absolutely fantastic. I think I also got bacon on it because, well, it’s bacon. The sandwich was huge, tasty, and I would definitely get it again. I think I should try the Hot Brown at some point, though. I guess I’ll have to just get 2 meals next time.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Hot Brown:

And it was delicious!

You look.....confused.
(And if you got any good tips, can you pass them along?)

All in all, we felt that Lynn’s Paradise Café was one of the highlights of the trip, and our favorite meal. The food was terrific, the atmosphere was fun, and the experience was memorable.

 

[FreezinRafiki]

I really need to stop hanging around Barry so much.

Don't we all...

I don't recall who said it, but at one time in my life I believe I was described as "infectious."

 

[afwdwfan]

I don't recall who said it, but at one time in my life I believe I was described as "infectious."

Infectious like rabies? Kind of makes sense!

 

[GoofyIsAsGoofyDoes]

And I’d say there’s a little bit of all of those categories in this Louisville institution: Lynn’s Paradise Café.

This will need to be tried…

Described by the owner (you’ll never believe this, but her name is Lynn)

Whoooooooo! Dude… that’s like… almost cosmic is scope!

Plus, it was listed in Road Food, which meant it had to be good.

That would be the definitive endorsement for me.

When I’d mentioned to Barry that we were going to Louisville, he made the statement, “You HAVE to eat there.”

See… there are moments when we really should listen to Barry.



Not many mind you, and lord knows how you’ll be able to correctly identify each instance… but it does occur.

You enter through the gift shop (kind of a backwards Disney attraction)

That’s the Cracker Barrel Method (which was derived from “Stucky’s” and I’m really dating myself here)

and each chair is a different tacky vinyl number straight from a 1960’s kitchen. Heavy on the kitsch, if you know what I mean.

I suspect Andy will have something to say about that sentence.

Lynn’s annual Ugly Lamp Contest.

That’s a winner right there
(just hearing of the concept had me cleaning off my monitor).

It’s a visual assault that will either have you running for the exits or laughing out loud. We chose the latter.

You chose wisely…

I guess I’ll have to just get 2 meals next time.

The DCL model

Good as that amalgam of hats and glasses is…
it’s the tags that make that shot funny.

So… now you’re an expert? Or… were you just looking at the pictures?

All in all, we felt that Lynn’s Paradise Café was one of the highlights of the trip, and our favorite meal. The food was terrific, the atmosphere was fun, and the experience was memorable. And I even got some Christmas shopping done in July.

Win… win… win… win.
Ya’ done good.

 

[Shannon84]

Love the book!! nice pick sounds like the gift shop was as fun as the restaurant!!

That restaurant seems awesome and the food sounds amazing..the "hot brown" sandwich sounds yummy I think you should have ordered two meals..for reporting purposes of course

 

[Mrs. Knowitall]

We’d actually heard about the place through FreezinRafiki and family, as they’d taken a weekend trip to Louisville and raved about the place. When I’d mentioned to Barry that we were going to Louisville, he made the statement, “You HAVE to eat there.” Allrighty then.

Let this be a lesson to you: Always do what Barry says!

It’s a visual assault that will either have you running for the exits or laughing out loud.

LOVED IT!!!! In fact, I asked the Captain if we could decorate our house like this!

She LOVES fried green tomatoes,

and since none of the rest of the family likes them,

Untrue! Sarah started liking them this year!

she doesn’t get them very often.

This is true. It's a lot of work to go through to make them....

She said it was delicious, but there was only one problem—it came out a little cold. It must have been the first sandwich they made from our order.

Would I get it again? Possibly... if I asked them to bring it out right away. Otherwise, I might go with the infamous Hot Brown.

If I had a phrase to describe the gift shop at Lynn’s, it would be “The Place To Buy Your Stocking Stuffers”. Hopefully Julie won’t look at these pictures too closely to find out what I got for her this year.

shhhh.....don't let Mark see my pictures.....

Mark, been to The Paper Moon yet?

I have not, nor have I heard of it before...

But it appears a road trip is in order! Care to join us?

As it is written, so shall it be!

I'm in!!!!!

Thus the magic on Lynn's. Try doing that at an Applebee's. Or Olive Garden.


Or Lou Malnati's.

 

[stopher1]

Christopher is a terrific guy and conversationalist.

Awwww, shucks, thanks Mark.





Just thought I would pop-in and say hi. Join in on your fun... but like with Barry, I wanted to use my ninja skills and sneak up on ya!

He and his family have had a rough year with various events, but he's maintained a positive attitude and it was obvious that they had a close family, built on faith and a lot of love for each other.

Oh my golly, yes, YES, YES, we have. But if life didn't throw in a few loops now and again, there would be no fun in it! I like to think that this was they year we rode to the top of The Tower of ... wait, which one is it again that you won't ride?!?!... TERROR, and instead of just going up and down a couple of times and stopping (because that's really all that one does) - we went up to the top of TOT and after the up and downing, were sent careening over across the esplanade there and immediately were linked up with the track for Rock N Roller Coaster and sent along our merry way - blazing at 60mph in less than 2 seconds.

As with all of the folks we met on our travels, it was an honor to have spent the time with them.

And we say the same about you. Honest. I mean it. Ask Julie... mine, not yours.

We had to let the van air out a bit, thanks to the temps still in the 90's for the week. Eventually we settled in for the drive to downtown Indianapolis.

Like it was far ... took you all of 10 minutes.

We headed straight into the heart of the city. Traffic wasn't too bad, as it seemed everyone else was heading out of town for the end of the workday. As we drove straight down Meridian Street into the city center, we hit Monument Circle, constructed around--you'll never believe this--a monument! This is a monument to sailors and soldiers from Indiana who have served in various campaigns. There's a museum underneath it that looked interesting. Unfortunately, the entire thing was surrounded by construction fences and undergoing a rehab, so I guess that will have to wait for another time.

It truly is interesting too. The museum underneath is dedicated to the Civil War. Pretty cool, too. NEXT TIME YOU COME... (hint, hint), we'll have to plan it and actually go inside.

Being an experienced road engineer, I'm happy to report that we did not get stuck going around and around the circle while I pointed out various landmarks over and over.

That's really more because it was designed by someone el... oh never mind.

We were on our way to the Old Spaghetti Factory downtown in order to meet yet another member of the DISDads club, Christopher (stopher1 on the boards). We found it in fairly short order, and a parking lot nearby was offering "Special Event" parking for $5 for the evening. I thought that was nice of them, considering any meeting of DIS Dads is always a special event. After all, we're "special" people.

At least I think you are... the restaurant is also just a short walk from Conseco Fieldhouse, the Convention Center, and Lucas Oil Stadium... so special events are going on all the time. Not to burst your bubble or anything.

As we waited, we noticed quite a few women in the restaurant who were dressed in fashions that were, shall we say, maybe a little too young for the women wearing them. This, plus a preponderance of New Kids On The Block t-shirts led us to put 2 and 2 together about that Special Event: nearby was a joint New Kids On The Block/Backstreet Boys concert. And somehow we missed out on this!

Hey now - when you said you wanted to get together, all we talked about was food - not entertainment. I figured having my kids along would be enough.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say we got the better end of the deal.

Why thank you sir!

Here we are. Note that Stopher came properly dressed for the occasion.

Most definitely. It IS one of my favorite shirts. Have it on right now as I type, as a matter of fact. Not because I am trying to relive the evening or anything - just because I like it, and I've had it on all day. One I wear at least a couple of times per week. I just happen to be DIS-ing at the same time.

He is originally from Southern California

and was actually a Cast Member at Disneyland for a few years.

If you ever have a question about Disney Parks, Stopher is the man to answer it. We have yet to stump him on anything, and believe me, we've tried.

Not in a while though... I miss that.

But then, I haven't been spending night and day on the boards either... and have been spending a lot of time working on my blog and other stuff - so I'll just lay it on the line and take the blame for that one... it's my fault. (Not really, but that's just the kind of guy I am)

We had a great time with their family.

And we had a great time with you and your family too.

I had the "Meat Lovers" platter, because anytime a restaurant has something on the menu called "Meat Lovers", that's usually what I order.

My favorite thing on the menu.

Matthew was wearing a spacer on his teeth and we talked about how every so often he had to turn a crank on the mechanism in order to spread his teeth properly on his jaw. So I had fun making cracks at his expense over how dental devices haven't really evolved much from medieval torture.

He's got the actual braces on now... the torture comments continue from him.

Annie and I mostly made faces at each other across the table, so I'm guessing she liked me too.

She talked about you for days afterward...

And our wives just rolled their eyes at us, so the bonding was complete.

No surprise there - at all.


WOW. I haven't checked out a TR from anyone in a very, very, very long time. You should feel special that I chose to check yours out. (Don't find it coincidental though that I searched through to find anything about your stop in Indy... and your time with me. It really was because it was YOUR report, Mark! Honest.)





Say hi to Julie for me... oh wait, I can do that myself on Facebook.

 

[KatMark]

Great update, Mark. What a great looking place; and the food looks yummy!

As for the picture above, all I can say is....don't bother. You guys will just never get it right. But we love you anyway.

 

[Echo queen]

I have enjoyed your report.

Have you or any of your readers gone to Winter Wonderfest at Navy Pier? We will be visiting family 2 hour north of Chicago for the week before Christmas 12/16 to 12/27. My boys are 13 and 16 just wondering if its worth the traffic and parking to go into the city. We are Texans so we would not enjoy out door activities for long. There may be younger kids with us as well.

Any other suggestions? We have visited during warmer times of the year and gone to the MSI and other attractions.

Thanks

 

[middlepat]

I have enjoyed your report.

Have you or any of your readers gone to Winter Wonderfest at Navy Pier? We will be visiting family 2 hour north of Chicago for the week before Christmas 12/16 to 12/27. My boys are 13 and 16 just wondering if its worth the traffic and parking to go into the city. We are Texans so we would not enjoy out door activities for long. There may be younger kids with us as well.

Any other suggestions? We have visited during warmer times of the year and gone to the MSI and other attractions.

Thanks

Our family enjoys the MSI during the holiday season as they show Christmas around the world with displays of various Christmas traditions. (And its indoors)

 

[Captain_Oblivious]

Well duh. It's a restaurant. Always put the gift shop where the captive audicence will be. Marketing 101.

Seems to work for Cracker Barrel.

I don't think there are enough pages.

Definitely not. If a book really could be written on the subject, it would make a mint.

Oh, please tell me you didn't swim in the Ohio River!

What an awesome place!!!! I love anything that is on Man vs Food. Did you ask what the challenge was? I can just picture that place filled with locals chanting "Adam Adam Adam".

It wasn't the ultimate challenge, just one of the places he stopped by on the show. They did stay long enough to make french toast by using a catapult to fling the bread onto a grill in the parking lot, though.

The challenge was at an ice cream parlor. The guy had to eat a huge sundae. He ended up having a...um...reversal of fortune.

Hurray for a fried green tomato BLT. so funny because that's exactly what I had in savannah. And I thought I was being unique.

Sounds like you and Julie would get along!

Great pictures. They really did describe the place perfectly!!!!!

Oh - and the pics of the kids - wonderful!

Ace Ventura, Pet Detective.

+1

Excellent use of rare smileys, I might add.

Classic picture!

The comedian Emo Phillips (who has a great website by the way link) once said, "I had to learn about women the hard way -- through books."

Lynn's sounds awesome....I'd love to check it out sometime!

Definitely worth the trip!