Truckers' BBQ Talk: Briskets, Burgers & Brews

🔥 Description:

Welcome to The Truckers Radio Lounge — the place where truckers finally get to throw it in neutral and talk about real life outside the cab. Hosted by Stacey Yearout, founder of Sabren Group LLC and host of The Truckers Radio Podcast, this show dives into the downtime: barbecuing, grilling, camping, family time, weekend hobbies, off-road fun, fishing, sports, music, bonfires, and everything that reminds us who we are when we’re not chasing miles.

No dispatch. No ELD beeping. No stress. Just stories, laughs, conversations, and the simple things that make life worth living when we finally shut it down for the night.

Pull up a chair, because this is where truckers become people again.

The Truckers Radio Lounge is the official downtime destination for America’s drivers. This podcast brings you the human side of the trucking lifestyle — everything we do when we’re not hauling freight. Hosted by trucking veteran and author Stacey Yearout of the Sabren Group, this show highlights the passions and hobbies truckers love: grilling and backyard barbecues, home-cooked meals on the road, fishing trips, hunting season, camping, motorcycles, classic cars, outdoor adventures, music, family time, and mental health breaks from the grind.

Each episode delivers real conversations, tips, stories, interviews, and lifestyle moments that remind us that life is more than a DOT clock. Whether you’re parked somewhere watching the sunset or sitting at home enjoying your time off, The Truckers Radio Lounge gives you a place to relax, unwind, and connect.

Transcript

Dolores 0:00

“Welcome to The Truckers Radio Lounge where the road slows down, the grill fires up, and life gets real. I’m your host, Stacey Yearout, and this is where we talk about everything we love outside the driver’s seat. From barbecuing and bonfires to family, fishing, and the little things that keep us grounded when the miles ain’t calling our name. This ain’t freight talk this is life talk. So kick back, grab a chair, and settle in. You’re in The Truckers Radio Lounge.” Welcome to the Truckers Radio Lounge. This is the first episode we're going to do a truckers lounge. We don't like to run down the road driving a truck. We like to be human and barbecue, and we're gonna talk about food and things we like to do at home. So we got Mike from Texas. We got Paul from Illinois. We got Daniel from Florida. We got Sean from North Carolina. Everybody with me. How's everybody doing? Well, I think William opted out. We'll get him next time. You might give him a try unless you think you got plenty now. Oh, okay. All right, boys. What's y'all's favorite thing you like, like to do when you're at the house? I thought we weren't gonna talk about that stuff. Not that kind of stuff. At least keep it PG 13, you know? Exactly. PG 13. You never know. You never know with Daniel, that's for sure. Hey, Paul? Yeah, I'm the comic. I'm the comic relief. Oh, is that the deal? I guess? Yeah. I nominated myself, Uhhuh earlier. We were, Sean and I were having a discussion about some food and, you know, back in the day it was, you were either Coke or you were Pepsi and we were talking about chicken fingers and he's never had canes before. And it seems like now there's a chicken finger war. You're either Zaxby's or Canes. Kings has got way, way bigger than Zaxby's. Zaxby's is pretty much Eastern Southeast Regional and then they got a few in Utah, but like, they don't have any of those where I live. Well, you're from Illinois? Well, actually I'm not from there, but I live there. Yeah. Oh, I can't say that all from Hep. I can't say that I've invited, I'm one of them. I've had rai a Canes a couple times. They're, they're good, but I like, I don't like the lack of sauces, you know, I think they need to have more options. I was there a few months ago and they actually had like another sauce and not just the cane sauce. They added, I don't even remember what it was now, honey mustard. They also add a size that means fit for grown men. Yeah, no, they're good. They're just expensive. They're expensive for what you get. So Zach, I like Zaxby's sauces. I like good extra ones and Yep. A fries in them. Well see. Y'all done lost me. I like me a good prime rib or ribeye or you know, of course Tomahawk we're talking about, you know. Yeah. But we ain't, we can't all be bougie like you Stacey. Yeah. Ain't be about bougie. Just like what you like, I mean, yeah. I like that stuff too. And by God I can't afford it. Well, you know, there is that. I'm going, I'm gonna buy me one time up out in the backyard. I'm go there and whittle a steak, coffee's ass every time I get ready to grill. It's a lot cheaper that way. Yeah. Yeah. I'm getting ready to fire up the smoker here in a little while and do me some wings, some drum sticks and some wings on the smoker. Some. Yeah. I'm still waiting to find out if we're gonna just say screw it this year and go out for Thanksgiving or, or if I'm cooking Well, the only thing I probably would cook would be the Turkey, but I've decided no more oven baked Turkey forever. I don't think I'll ever do another one. They just dry and they suck. No, no, no way. Batch cock of Turkey and Brian Spatchcock throw that son. Bitch in the smoker and that's the way to go, you know? Oh yeah. I like smoke Turkey. Yeah. We're gonna be doing two turkeys and a, yeah, we're gonna be doing two turkeys and a ham this year for Thanksgiving. I'm gonna smoke one, the wife's going to cook one in the oven and then the ham's going to go in the oven. I wanted to do the ham and the smoker too, but that's, they call that double smoke. Yeah. Well, I tell you what, you take that, that is what they call, and you put it on that smoker and you feed your wife that smoked ham. She'll never talk about an oven ever again. All I know, that's why I do mine. I put'em on the smoker. But the trick to that is you gotta get that, that temperature up a little bit on that, on that ham and go dry it out. I started doing them on the little higher heat, you know, run'em up there a little bit, kinda get that absorbed in. Probably want a good glaze on it to help hold the moisture in too, wouldn't it? You can. I'm not a big glaze kind of person. I mean, I, I don't really care much for the sweetss and the sugars and things like that. I mean, I try to stay as. Low carb as I can. I know a lot of people try to, but I mean, some people like the brown sugar glaze and all that. I'm just not a great big, I like the natural flavor of the smoked meat and the salty and, you know, I like all that. But we do, I kind of get the best of both worlds. I deep fry the turkeys and then I have the wood-fired smoker set up, fired up, ready to roll. And when they're done deep fried, I put'em in a pan and set'em in the smoker. And once you bring'em outta that deep fire while it's hot and that fresh outta that grease, that Turkey will absorb that smoke quick. So you got smoked deep fried Turkey. And then I've got the hams on there too. And I mean, it is unreal. I mean, we got about half of our boys like to smoke Turkey. I used to just smoke it period. And then we started deep frying and. Everybody loved that, but we didn't really want to kind of make a decision between the two. And I said, well, you know what? We can do both. So I deep fry'em, put'em in the smoker to keep'em warm until they're ready to go on the table. So you kinda get the best of, that's an interesting idea. Hey, it works. I tell you that it works, I try to throw, a good amount of hickory and cherry. I used a real wood-fired smoker, the big pit. I call a, big birth out there. I put that, that's enough, the hold.'cause we do three turkeys, three deep fried turkeys, and two hams we got people coming and stuff. So definitely can't leave out the cheesecake. But it just don't go on the smoker though. Oh, I'm sure there is a way you'll find it. Well, you know, I have figured out a way to smoke the macaroni and cheese. I know that, oh yeah, that macaroni and cheese man on that smoker that gives it all new name. So I, well, going back to Turkey real quick, I've never actually made a deep fried Turkey, but I've had it a couple times. I just never owned the equipment to do it, you know, but mm-hmm. Well, the deep fried Yeah. This year. All my, my, go ahead. I said to say Deep fry is the way to go. Yeah. I've heard people say that, but I really like the smoke Turkey too, yeah. Well, that's why I do both. You know, hey, we only do Thanksgiving one time a year, so gonna make it all count. That's my favorite meal of the entire year. And I'm gonna smoke a, just a breast for, for me and me only be, I'll be on that for the next week or so. We'll do one in the oven and a ham in the oven. Oh yeah. The week after Thanksgiving I'll be eating ham and Turkey sandwiches. Mm-hmm. Oh, you can't beat it. I'm trying to figure out what I'm gonna do. I'm debating if I want to try to be a good boy and just eat like green beans and Turkey on Thanksgiving, or just say, screw it and eat whatever. No, no, no, no, no. Damn Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving's kind of a freebie. That's a free all, you don't start a diet before Thanksgiving. No going on. Sorry. I'm over, over by Atlanta. You know, I guess. Yeah. But, you know, most definitely, you know, the, the Thanksgivings is definitely what's coming up now. I'm trying to talk on me into letting me do some, some corn beef brisket and stuff for, for Christmas dinner. I ain't got no confirmation on that yet. I think I'll burn them out on it now. You said beef tenderloin? Beef tender. I usually get a couple of them. Couple whole tenderloins. I trim'em down myself and, I like them in the oven. And, don't really take a whole lot. It some olive oil on there and sea salt, black pepper. Sometimes I'll use a little rosemary or thine just take it so about 145. And then, slice it up. Sometimes I'll take the trimmings, I'll cut them up. Medallion, use them in a stew. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I like it. Some good tenderloin tea, but I know my, my corn be brisket's my specialty. I think, uh, that, that's, I tried that once, but it came out so damn salty. Can't overdo the rub on it. You gotta lightly put the rub on it and leave it alone. But I, now, I rinsed mine off pretty good before I. I put it on there, but you can't overdo the rub either. Most of your rubs is, curing salt base. You can't just overdo the, you just lightly with the rub and, and put'em on there. And I do'em for a good 15, 16 hours, sometimes even more, you know? Then, I mean, they get a good bark on them. Everything, they just fall apart. Did you pre-soak the, when you do the, the, the, corn beef, did you put like, soak it in water to leach some of the salt out first or you just rinse it off on me? A lot of times I'll, I'll let'em sit for an hour or two in, in the sink, in some water, you know, just to kind of get it, you know, I just don't, I don't like'em too salty. But, you know, I think your biggest thing is you just can't overdo your rub on them.'cause you've already got the, the brine. And all that. You just gotta lightly do the rub on it. So what are you fixing for Thanksgiving? Mike? I don't know, man. I mean, I liked corn beet brisket. Now, one year I did, I went over to Sam's and I bought four of those big, the whole loin of the beef, ribs and beef, short ribs, and cut them into individual ribs. We've got all the meat on the backs of them, and I did them on the smoker. Man. They turned out freaking awesome. They really was. They were so tender and so, so juicy. I mean, they were just like that tail fat off the ribeye or that loose meat is just so good, right? That's the way them beef ribs are. They're awesome. Normally, I like to do a lot of barbecue. I keep that smoker hot year round. That's probably one of my things I like to do the most when I'm home and not in the truck, you know, is to put a piece of meat on the smoker. Of course, you know, I'd smoke a salad if I could. I think Shada smoked a pork butt. Yeah. You were all back, didn't you? Yeah. I just smoked a, a pork butt, three, four weeks ago. Yeah. Think some homemade pulled pork. Oh yeah. That's what I'm talking about. I, I like, I've done that a couple times this summer. I've gotten lazy though. I haven't done shit for like, probably three months. Yeah. It's easy to do that sometimes, you know, get tired and being gone all the time, but, you know, you gotta have something, some kind of release, you know, when you're home, stuff you like to do. Yeah, yeah. I'm usually working in the yard or working on one of the cars or Right. Smoking something or. Nothing illegal or, yeah, just in case safety's listening. Not that kind of, not that kind of smoking. Yeah. All these crazy things, Cleveland steamers, alright. We still mother, we still record. Yeah, we were just talking about them steamers earlier. If, if my mom was alive, she'd probably pull me aside and say, you need to stay away from him. Yeah. Alright. We recording? Okay. I'm just messing with you, Paul. Well, yeah. With is just eating. Sorry, go ahead. I missed it. I said fortunately I was on other line talking. We're talking about firehouse. We missed all that all right. I was back up. Let's talk about Firehouse. Firehouse, firehouse Subs. I said I like the New York steamer, and Sean said he liked the Cleveland Steamer. What I said, I said, is that anything like the C steamer, that if that, if it, then I don't want it. Well, got screeching haul down. Get me twisted. Oh yeah, this traffic. Come on and say if anybody from Cleveland's listening, we apologize. Right. Well, I guess we can take that a step, further step if anybody's listening, we apologize. Yeah. We're professionals. Don't try this at home, that's for sure. Yeah. Firehouse, we had one round here. It just didn't stay. They went out of business, so I like Firehouse. Yeah, I do too. I do too. They, but I haven't been there in like probably three or four years. They just don't fit in my diet plan. Yeah, you'd have to get like a Bunless one just. I know, Jimmy John's, they, they have a call, like they call it like the un witch or something like that. It's basically a sandwich without a bun, just lettuce wrap. Yeah. I'm not a big fan of that either. I don't like Jimmy John's that well either. I guess they finally started offering toasted subs, but up until recently, they never did. They were always just cold only. Right, right. I never had been a big fan of the Jimmy John's. A friend of mine, he owned a couple of franchises and he said he made driving a truck than his wife did, running all three franchises, so they sold'em out and got rid of them. Wow. I like the Ultimate Porker, I think it was called. That's, that's the one I, I, I've probably been to Jimmy John's like. Four times in my life. And I think I always got that same sandwich because it's the one that just looked the best, but Right. But I don't know. It's all right. One time I tried the Unhitch version and that just really sucked. Hmm. I don't think, you know, it still can't get past that. That good old Philly steak cheese steak, man. I mean that, that's the best on the planet. There's a good old Philly steak stuff from Philadelphia or Jersey. You know Jersey makes a hell of I make mine save. That still ain't the same. Ain't Mike about them. It ain't the same if it don't come outta that East coast.'cause the damn water is what makes the bread. Gotta have that damn water outta the Hudson River over there. I got one of those black stones. I like to do my own East States Ash. Right. All you gotta get is a meat slicer and you get that, that ribeye where it's almost frozen and you slice it down real thin. I put together a Texas one down here now jalapenos and, and white queso. I'll tell you what. That on there, get some long hot peppers. You know them long hots that they put on that. Remember that pork sandwich there at Tony, Luke? Stacy? Yeah, I remember that man. Roast pork. Yeah, that was good. Me and the wife stopped up there. We was going up to visit her mama. Yeah, it was good. She was. You might as well just, you might as well just get elastic pants. You go up there for a couple days, you gonna, you know, Paul knows what I'm talking about. He went in, he's the only one that ever ordered a six pack of cheese steaks up there at, at, Steve's Princess Steaks, whatever. I never ordered that much, ever. The last time I went up there, I went to the, what, the original Tony Luke's, which is what Nick and Tony's now, or Tony Nick's or whatever it's called, and I think it's called Mix. Yeah. So I ordered a double meat and it, I did not need double meat. That already must have came with a ton of meat'cause that thing was overflowing with meat. I couldn't barely eat the whole thing, but I didn't want to put it in the fridge to try to eat it cold the next day because I was just afraid it would just ruin the sandwich. So I just, I, I went through it. I finally, I wrapped half of it up, waited like half an hour. I was like, screw it, I'm gonna finish eating it. But it had so much meat on it. So yeah, if I get up there again, like next week or something, I would, just order regular meat there. But. At Steve's or Tony Luke's though double meat had nowhere near that quantity of meat. So it was a good sandwich, but it, it was actually probably too much meat. Really? Well, it'd be good for carnivore diets. You could just eat the meat and not the bread. But that's the way I do it. I just order, just say, yeah, order double meat, no bread, no bun or anything. Something like that, you know? I mean, that's the best, I mean, I try to stick with the carnivore diet the best I can. You know, ain't going to here on Thanksgiving. I'm just gonna go ahead and throw that out there. They going to be some cheese steak. So when you said no 500 times to me, when you said no 500 times to me, are you saying no, just go ahead and eat the dinner? Thanksgiving Day is a free for all. Every year. There is no, okay. There's no diet allowed on Thanksgiving Day period. No. And if you die in the process, they'll put the flag in half mass. It's like the president when he dies. Mm-hmm. Yeah. You know I'm gonna be in trouble'cause shit, the next morning I'm leaving for vacation, so I gotta get back on my way. Oh yeah, you're going on a cruise. Oh yeah, I know. That's, I got eight days on a cruise ship. Unlimited food and all you gonna eat, huh? I gotta stay back on my diet. So I'm gonna do Thanksgiving, then back on the diet and then go on the cruise. I ain't really got much of a problem staying on the diet, on the cruise.'cause I mean, eat all the steak and seafood I want. You know, especially at the buffet, you can just go there and just load her up. I, the only thing I've ever eat on the buffet, on the cruise ship is, is breakfast. I mean, I just don't. Do the buffet. Yeah, we do that too. You know, I do the formal dining, you know, a lot of the breakfasts, I do the formal dining. Now Royal Caribbean, I like the breakfast buffet way better than Carnival, but they definitely, they got it going on, on Royal Caribbean for the breakfast buffet. Now far as the formal dining, I like that better, you know, just the formal meal, just whatever you get. A lot of those are really good. Well, on sea days, what do you usually do? Brunch. I do the brunch, that Sea day brunch. I always do that in the formal, what is that exactly? I don't know what that is. Well, it's like a breakfast. Is that a caramel thing? Yeah, it's a carnival thing, you know, I mean I think they do the C day brunch even on Royal Caribbean too. Just basically it's a, your breakfast you got, you can get other stuff. That worked out pretty good. If we do anything for like a lunch, I mean, I'll go get, you know, one of the burger places I go get a couple of the patties and just eat that, you know, I'm good with that. I don't really eat the bun or nothing, no fries. But for the most part, I try to just not eat 10 times a day or nothing. I'll eat a couple times a day and I'm good. Maybe do breakfast and dinner and that's it most of the time. Yeah, pretty much. Just because it's there don't mean you gotta take advantage of it, you know, keep yourself at bay. I don't wanna weigh, 50 pounds more time I come back off vacation. It is nice to have the extra stomach. Extra prime rib or extra ribeye or New York strip or something like that, you know, I'll get an extra one, you know, and just won't eat all the other stuff. I mean, every once in a great while, I'll slip a little dessert cheesecake in there or something once in a while, but not very often. I mean, you gotta live a little bit, but for the most part, man, I mean, it's just, it's, it is real easy to do mind over matter. Daniel, you're the comic relief. Go for it. I'm stuck in my face right now. I'll just talk about food. Yeah, absolutely. No, I do the real coke. Nah. Probably a monster. Even better, even I haven't decided, I got a big old milk cart and thing of those whoppers, you know the, the little chocolate moballs? Oh yeah, yeah, I remember those. Yeah. Yeah, I saw them in the store the other day. I, that I had them in multi milk balls. I haven't had them in a long time. Somebody brought up a Diet Coke. I used to work with a fellow great big old boy for lunch. Every day. This guy would go to McDonald's, order three Big Macs, a large fry, and a large Diet Coke. I mean, if you're eating three Big Macs and a large fry, what the hell kind of good is a diet Coke gonna do you? Hey, gotta give it some effort somewhere. It was either the extra Big Mac or the, or the Diet Coke. Well, we could have got four Big Macs on a glass of water, large fry. I mean, he had to do something about it. Give him a for effort. I give it to these guys that eat for a living like Guy fii, that guy on Texas bucket list. All they do around is drive around all day and eat, tell, tell what they think about it. Why can't I get a job like that? You can, Mike. You just gotta put some effort into it. I've been putting effort in for the last 45 years. It got me nothing real far. You gotta based on that, man versus food. I dunno if I'd wanna eat some of the shit that's still on. Oh yeah. Yeah. But that guy was trying to say that guy there, that he did all that and he would do all those food challenges. He damn near died. He quit doing that shit. Yeah, he's lost a lot of weight. Damn. Yeah, he's still a pretty big boy now. He has a TV show and he also does stuff on the, first week piece, the ones that does, hot ones that YouTube channel and street channel. He's got a couple different, he's got a YouTube show and a history channel show, but yeah, he's still a way bigger guy than he was like when he first started Manning versus food, like 20 years or so ago. He was probably like, you know, a hundred and, 85 pounds or something. But yeah, I bet you he's probably about food and he was half the size. Oh, he lost a bunch. Yeah, I know about all that. He had to. Yeah, there's a lot of that, uh, Adam, Adam Shipman or some, something like that. Shipman, yeah. Richmond. I saw Richmond. That's it, maybe. Yeah. Richmond. Yeah. He was on a, history channel was doing something like the food that built America and it was all different stuff, you know, from Hershey's or Coca-Cola, Campbell's. He wasn't that big of a guy when he was doing that show. Was he? The man versus food. He got really big. Oh, he was always going to these places and they were doing the challenges on top of all the other restaurants in that town that he would eat at. And you know, then they'd go to this one and like, you know, the big Texan, they, you know, and he would eat the 72 ounce steak and the potato and everything else. You know, or he'd go to that place that has the five pound hamburgers. So let's just say he's got a lot of t-shirts for finishing. Tim, I ate a pound hamburger one time and I thought it was going kill me. That's how I, but alone a five pounds. That's how I found that slim. You remember that Stacy? That Slim Belly? Yeah. Slim Deli. Yeah. That was for man versus food. Mm-hmm. Oh, okay. Shit, what's that guy's name? The one that used to eat all the gross stuff. The other day on the, yeah, those two guys were together. They did a, a wing hot wing challenge thing where they asked questions or whatever to each other, and that was on, the first piece, the one, it was kinda like a hot one's challenge, I think they called it. And, but yeah, he wasn't a very skinny guy and that, that video's really, really recent. Like just came out in the last month. Shoot. Now there was a lady I watch on YouTube quite a bit. Sometimes her and her fiance both do the eating challenges and he's like six foot six or something. He is a really big dude, but her, it's like Katina Eats kilos, I think it's called. She's a former woman's bodybuilder and she, I've seen her do the big Texan challenge and beat it, and she beats a lot of these challenges and she's only like five foot two. And she's pretty trim, but she also spends about half the year working out and not doing challenges. And she works out a lot. I don't know. I've seen that, that steak and that whole meal of the big Texan, I couldn't, I couldn't do it. Ain't no way. No, I, no. Yeah, I'm a big boy and I could eat a good amount, but yeah. There's no way in hell I could ever do all that. I eat that 36 steak and I was sick to my stomach. That's a roast. That ain't a steak. That's half of the seven two gonna eat that. Wow. But yeah, you have to what? Either shrimp cocktail, like a salad and like a baked potato with it. And a roll. Yep. And a roll man. That's way too much. I've been there like twice now. First time I went there with Mike here, I'd never been there before. And yeah, they were pretty good. But yeah, I didn't even contemplate trying that challenge at all. No, I mean, it just, if you really look at like, the whole thing, the drink, the super size, the potato looks like a Nerf football. I mean, it's just huge. Then you've got the salad that's enough to make a family like a salad bowl at an olive garden. Then you got 72 ounce of sirloin. Now if they made that some bitch outta ribeye, we might have to talk, or filet. Or filet. Yeah. That Sir Lauren. No, no. I'd be like, and you know what, it, it couldn't be that good of a. Cut of meat. So you're going to be chewing on that for days trying to get that down. Ain't no way. Yeah. You know, there's gonna be lot of choice or it's not prime for Oh, ain't no way. Hmm. You know, there's a lot of restaurants out there that's got a lot of good food across the country. Just ain't real. Sure. You know, we've eaten, you know, I know we've gotten into some stuff over the years. You know, me and Mike, we, we hit that, we knocked over that daggone fogo to chow up there in Portland, Oregon. I thought they was about to throw us out of there. I think I had to drag Mike Cal there with the heels. He was squealing. Yeah, that was, that was probably the best one I ever been to. Yeah, that one and the one in Chicago, right Downtown Chicago. Up there. Right, right up right down from Trump Towers. That one right there was probably one of the best ones. That one in, in, in that Portland, Oregon was one of the, one of the, two of the best ones that I've ever been to. Of the fog, the chows. I got a thing, you know, for Brazilian Steakhouse where they bring out meat out and just, you know, slic it off there on your plate. Oh, that, that pineapple man, that damn pineapple. I remember rodio, we, they got mad at it over that pineapple. Yeah. I tend to, I had a little, I think I pissed him off on the pineapple just a little bit. All, you know, we were all wanting the pineapple and finally they brought it out and then just acted like a ans about it. But hey, we got some pineapple anyway. Yeah. Yeah. Out roasted where some of the other ones just cold and you just go. I've never been to one. When they roasted, they all roasted was, I believe it was, what's the other one? Not Redio, Texas. Dave, Texas. What the other one talking about? Rios. Oh, the other one. Fogo, I think it is just, they just have it with the buffet, I think, and it's just sliced up the little slices. I think, unless I'm thinking of technical paper, Joe. No, they, they got it on the buffet too, if you want that. It's regular pineapple, but if you want the, the, oh, okay. The grilled pineapple, they'll bring that to you too. We were down for my son's birthday there last year. We was down in Atlanta, the one down there. And I have to say they done really good job with that. But one of the things that stuck out in my mind, I never ate there as I got a cream burlee cheese. It was a piece of cheesecake that had cream bet poured over it, and then they took the little torch and, and Oh, I'm telling you that that was probably the slice of life that I'll remember to the day I die. That was good. That, that Portland, Oregon, though they were, they were dropping filet mignon on the plate the size of this cell phone. Oh yeah. I mean, with butcher salt on it. It was like a little, you know, like the little banana breads you ever get'em in the truck stop sometimes they bake them and the loves will. Oh yeah, the little and the foil. That's about how big that, that piece of filet was. Oh yeah. They, and they just kept bringing them. Yeah, they were doing that same thing with the up there in Chicago, but they'd bring out on a plate just every so often they'd bring out a big old porter house that was sliced or pre-sliced and just throw big, medium rare pieces on your plate. Uh, juicy man. That was good. Yeah, that definitely, that was a good one. That was when me and the wife went up there and we stayed at Kensington Hotel there down from Trump Towers. That was a nice place. you know, they got the big Texan there in the Oklahoma, but I'll tell you another little sweet little spot. If you just like a good, this place looks like it's about to fall down, I ain't gonna lie. Tiny little place called the Coyote Bluff. And that is probably one of the best hamburgers I ever, my life. It is like a Tex-Mex type deal, A coyote bluff. It's over by the right down from the Walmart there. And I have to say, that place was wild. It looked like an abandoned building about to fall down. They'll stand out there at lunchtime. They'll have 15, 20 people standing outside waiting in line to get in there to eat that Cattleman Steakhouse over in Oklahoma. City's not half bad either. I never been there. Well, I suppose you know who had a good steak that, hotel across from the Petro in Colby, Kansas. Yeah. I, there was a little hotel over there with a steak steakhouse in, it's a, that's a big steakhouse type deal. I figure what they call that there. It's I mean, you can't really go wrong with steak in Kansas, man. I mean it's, you know mm-hmm. Cattle country. I'm surprised they didn't Go ahead and cut that off its ass out back there and bring it and throw it on the grill there for you. That's how that place was in Livingston, Montana. That, it's called the peat. There's a rest area there on 15, right. When you're coming from Idaho on the northbound side. And you walk down this road and it's like a, a abandoned, like from a western. And they had one little light bulb, but no, you know, globe on it. And I'm thinking, man, I wonder if this place is, and they were open, they had a grill in there and everything. They'd give you the steak. You could cook your own steak in the bar. They'd give it to you raw on the plate. Hmm. 500 degree grill in there. Yeah, it was, that was a nice stop. I think I remember you talking about that place at one point. I still got a little wooden coin. They gave me free drink. Next time I go up there. In my wallet. I've never been back. It's been like four years, five years. Think you'll ever go back at some point. They pay me enough to go up there. I, I just don't, I don't ever go out that far west anymore. Yeah. What if they're still in business? Yeah. I don't know. COVID might have took them under. They said that place was haunted. The people that bought it was a young couple that was running it and they said that the upstairs was haunted. Like it's been like a legend or something that they said. They don't go up there often. I'll tell you a place I really enjoyed ain't there no more, but it's up in West Virginia, right there on 64. There's a place called Rutten Bucks Steakhouse. I think I remember that. You probably know where it's at. Yeah, I think I remember that one. Running bucks over here. They right across the river from you. Yeah. That was a good place. It was one of them places you had, you know, you'd throw your peanut shells on the floor and mm-hmm. Real good place. Yeah. That was a place down in Alabama that we went to when we were visiting some wife's family down there. It's called Bama Bucks. And man, they had bison, they had elk. I mean, they had all kinds of stuff and they had, it was basically outside, around the restaurant. It was almost like a damn zoo. They had all these animals that they'd raise all around, either like buffalo, you know, they'd have all different kinds of meat, I mean, it was a beautiful place. Big old log, cabin type building. Man had a big old elk and stuff out there. You could get elk meat, you could get whatever you wanted called Bama bucks. Yeah. There was a place back in my old hometown, which I haven't been there in years, but, so I don't know if this place is even still there, if it's a pizza place called Power Works. But you could get all kinds of exotic meat and stuff on your pizza. You get alligator rattlesnake sausage, bison, I can't remember what all else, but they had all kinds of exotic meat. I mean, it was, it was expensive, but definitely, it was really good. I'd definitely like me some Gator tail. You got me thinking about day on, CASHS or down Louisiana over there at Frog City. Ah man, that place over there, they used to have the best catfish and shrimp over there ever. And I think that, that couple that used to cook over there, I think they left, they said they took all their recipes with'em, but I think they, they rebounded their self pretty good. I mean, they definitely had some, some good gumbo. Yeah, I remember Broad City got a little place around the corner from him. Quirky bells. They got some good gator tail. Oh, I love some gator tail. Used to be a, here you go, Daniel. A Blythe station agent arrested, a commercial truck driver and an immigration checkpoint. Now you would call that Bly or Blythe? Bly. It's Blythe. Yeah, I agree. When you go to Wiffle. No, it's not Wiffle. It's Blytheville. You got the locals determine the The call. If you ask any of the locals, they'll say Wiffle like the locals are all idiots. Infrared. That's, that's like you going to China and saying, you speak American now. Yeah. Well, Uhhuh, I can pronounce the letter L. They can't. I always called it w. Mm-hmm. That girl in the TA had four teeth. She said, wiffle, I, I'm, I'm going with whistle. That's right. She had four teeth, so she couldn't pronounce Whiteville because it just, the air went right through the gaps in those four teeth they came out with. Yeah, but the sad part, that girl, that girl had four teeth was from Palka, Florida and that, I don't doubt that the meth was probably better up there than Whiteville. I doubt it. She was probably the one that's transporting it. Well, yeah, there's a lot of places out here, man. They, that little old barbecue place over there west of, little Rock had that catfish mean you stopped Delaware. Mike, I'll tell you what that place is. Little old, little old ball on the wall. Oh, the Marlton Drive-in. Oh, that place got some good, good catfish and shrimp and barbecue. Pretty good, man. I'll tell you a place I ain't been to in a long time that I actually kind of enjoyed going to. Not saying that it was the greatest food in the world, but just the atmosphere. I kinda liked the old Black Bear Diner. I thought they were super cool. They was definitely something to, something to do. It was about like a Denny's, but you know the atmosphere better, a little better. So Denny's on steroids, they're better than Denny's, but, well, yeah, but we, along those lines, we got one, I think it's St. Charles, Missouri, just outside of St. Louis. And we go to that one occasionally. Me and my wife like that place a lot. Mm-hmm. Well, I'll tell you what the best thing is though, is a damn Mexican food truck. Oh, man. I prefer Mexican restaurants. No, no, no, no, no, no. Not damn. You get down to, to Laredo or McAllen, you get one of them damn food trucks. That taco truck. Oh my God. I, I remember, I remember when Mike, Mike was riding with me one day. I said, man, I'm gonna show you a little slice of life right here, Bobby. No, I think I was about have the dragon metal burrito and a Mexican Coke. Oh, I'm telling you. Hey, you know who had good food down there? Believe it or not, in that saladon terminal, them Mexican ladies that used to make that coffee mm-hmm. With them, breakfast tacos. Yeah. I never did get any right there in the terminal. Dude. I never was over there at that terminal on that one. Now it used to be a industrial boulevard. There used to be a little hole in the wall. Taco truck used to set up outside of, over where Landstar terminal was. That's, that was over the Landstar terminal. That new one they built. That was a pretty neat little place. Now they do some barbecue over there every now and then. They had a big smoker, but, that wasn't half bad. I'm trying to think of anything else. I mean, there was some good barbecue all through Texas. Texas definitely got some good barbecue. I mean, I like barbecue from all over the country now. Kansas City's big, the big beef ribs, the tri tip and beef ribs in Kansas City. That's, oh, I love that tri tip that's where I like, you know, Kansas City got the market on that now. Texas got some good, the beef, short ribs too. They do a real good job on the beef. Short ribs. They definitely do. Now Kansas City does too though. They like that, that sweet, dark, smoky sauce. I like that about up there. Kansas City, I'm sitting right in front of here. I got a, this, place in Longview here that opened up, they're with the Texas Top 50 Mm. And they, I got some of their ribs sitting right here. They're really good too. Not quite fall off the bone, but enough to where like, you know how they're just tender enough to where all you gotta do is really just put a little pressure on it and they just, or it comes right off. I mean, they're perfect. Oh yeah. Without a doubt. They make them beans over there. I know you don't like that, cumin, but they, they use a lot of cumin in these beans. They're pretty good though. I gotta give them. Y'all like cumin? I mean, I do to a degree, but I think that the cumin is, is more of a Tex-Mex style and. Usually chili with beans. Is cumins a pretty common thing to put in Chili con Carney, you know? Yeah. And chili of course. But you know, like barbecue, barbecue sauces and stuff. I'm not a big fan of a lot of cumin. I mean, I pay, I may put a little in it, but I'm just not, not a big fan on the TexMex. I mean, I like TexMex if that's why I go to eat. But for this barbecue, I really don't think that the, the cumin belongs in a lot of it. You know, like if I'm doing North Carolina barbecue or sauces, I don't put cumin in it. I mean, that's a, that's a vinegar base. Oh. You know, and I do a lot of the barbecues, kind of, my style kind of revolves off that North and South Carolina, barbecue there. I do use quite a bit of vinegar base injection and stuff. If I got my own little concoction objection of, apple cider vinegar or white vinegar, I actually, I use a, a little bit of applesauce and I use, pineapple juice and I inject a lot of my stuff with that, especially with my porks stuff, my ribs and stuff. That's the, I started rubbing my ribs down. Yeah, I thought honey mustard. And then as a binder and putting the, putting the rub on them. That honey mustard definitely does a, a real nice flavor on pork, pork butts and stuff like that. Yeah. I'll put a honey mustard on it too. I thought North Carolina was, style was mustards based. They have some mustard, but most of theirs is dis it's a vinegar base, you know, if you look up North Carolina Yeah. Vinegar sauce. It's, it's a almost a straight vinegar. Just got a little brown sugar, white vinegar, apple cider vinegar, right? Like the actual recipe for, you know, North Carolina barbecue sauce is half, half, half and half white vinegar, pineapple, cayenne pepper, spoon of, the pepper flake, you know, got the seeds and stuff. And then they use, a little bit of salt and then, a spoon or two of, brown sugar on there. And then they mix that. All of it's real thin water thin. But that's a real good barbecue sauce. I used to make that a lot, especially when, dieting wise, it's a lot less carbs than your other stuff. Oh man. Cumin is definitely a no-no. Yeah, and don't do the cumin in North Carolina. You'll find cumin in, like, you'll, you'll find a lot of it around Arkansas, around St. Louis ribs. You'll, you'll find some coolman up around Memphis. It all spurs off of that TexMex. That's a whole lot of it. I'm not saying it's bad, it's just my style of barbecue. I, I don't use a lot of it in it. I just, I just looked it up. South Carolina is the mustard one. That's the mustard where they use mustard base. Right now I like a good mustard base. Now I make a, what I call a North Carolina hot. Barbecue sauce and I do a mustard, springing off of that too, you know, and that North Carolina hot is kind of a mixture of my homemade, mild and just a plain vinegar based, North Carolina barbecue sauce. And then I'll mix it together. It's a real thin, but it's kind of got a sweet kick to it with a hot kick. And I'll grind up some real, I take some of that Hammond arrow ground Hammond arrow and put in and kind of give it a little kick underneath that, that sweet to That's a good sauce. It actually is. And I make a mustard one out of it too. Yeah. So I know when it comes to doing like briskets and whatnot, or chicken briskets, pork, a lot of times I end up just trying to. You know, if I'm trying to wash the carbs, you know, and doing keto or carnivore or whatever, I, I stay away from a lot of that stuff. Well, I, at least, well sauce wise, I'll just buy sweet baby rays or something like sugar free. But rub wise, you know, I get like butt rub or there's a couple others I found. But I find that a lot of the big name brands like QS and Meat Church and or Cosmos, I'm sorry, cosmos or Meat Church or a couple of these others, they have so much sugar. Like a lot of times sugar is a first or second ingredient. So a lot of times I just, you know, the butt rub has though, has some different peppers in it. Salt. Salt and some different pe ancho peppers I think it is and stuff, so. Right. No, it's real good. I try to use that kind of stuff to avoid the adding a whole bunch of sugar, you know, right now, hold on a minute now, the meat Now Meat Church. If you're doing beef. And you do that. Holy cow. That does not have any sugar in it whatsoever. I've actually got the recipe to make that, that rub myself. And it just, it's got smoked paprika primary, a lot of salt, curing salt, and it, it just, it's got your, your hard large pepper flake ground, fresh ground pepper in it and stuff, but it don't have any kind of sugar in it in that one. That's a, that's a heavy smoked pepperoni, pep pepper, rika base on that one. I've made that one before. I, I'd have to double check, but I think when I went through the, all the bottles that my, yeah. I went through, they, they sell like, I don't know, six or eight, 10 varieties of em. Pretty much all of em. Mike likes that store at corn, meat over in Highland, Illinois. Mm-hmm. And they sell all that stuff there. They and, know that I found one that's got sugar for sure. Yeah. No, the Honey Hog, I only found one. Yeah, the honey Hog. Most definitely. I thought it might have been Holy Gospel. Maybe. Yeah. I think I thought it might have been Holy Gospel. Holy cow. One of them. The Holy Gospel maybe. And the holy cow. Maybe. Now the Holy Gospel is kind of a, a suppressed base of the holy cow, but you don't want to use the holy cow in a pork. I can tell you right now, you'll ruin that pork bud that's made for cow beef.“That’s gonna wrap it up for today’s episode of The Truckers Radio Lounge. Out here, we’re more than just drivers we’re fathers, mothers, friends, cooks, storytellers, and human beings with a whole life beyond the asphalt. Thanks for sitting a spell and kicking back with me. If you’ve got something you love doing off the road grilling, hunting, fishing, fixing up your ride send it in and be part of the conversation. Keep the fire burning, keep the stories rolling, and until next time… this is The Truckers Radio Lounge, powered by Sabren Group LLC. We’ll catch you on the flip side.”