Adventures in Touring: FOOD!

One of the hardest things to do on tour is to get a good meal.  I know this sounds crazy; you might say: there are so many options, you have a food allowance, or you get to eat out where ever you like.  These are all very true but I’ve learned in my years of touring that we often stay the night in very small towns at hotels just off the highway and where the only restaurants open are McDonald’s and Dairy Queen.   When you actually stay in a larger metropolis you revel at all the available options, but you can find yourself overwhelmed too, how do you know what’s good and what is just over priced slop?  You can turn to the internet, which can be very helpful; I prefer to use yelp in my reconnaissance where Georgina typically goes with trip advisor.  Both very helpful websites but they can only get you so much information, if the restaurant gets 2 two star reviews, 4 three stars, 5 four stars and 1 five star, how do you know you aren't going to end up with a 2 star experience?  I have also learned that hotel staff doesn’t seem to eat out very often.  Once in a while you will get a great recommendation about a hole in the wall gem that only locals know about  (Café de Camp in Billings MT) but this is rare. 

I say all this to explain how creative we can become in the search for a great meal.  We had the opportunity to try out a great East Indian restaurant while we were in Lincoln, NE about a week ago and the food was fantastic, when we realized that we were passing through Lincoln again today and around lunch we had to look up “The Oven” again in hopes of a guaranteed great meal.  It was the night before our return to Lincoln that we discovered that “The Oven” wasn’t going to be open on Sunday for lunch.  In most situations you would say oh well and move on, but not us.  We knew what our evening prospects were for dinner and they did not look good, so we started concocting a plan.   I’m sure the person answering the phone at the restaurant never expected a call like they got but we decided there was no harm in asking.  First we checked if they could do an order for pick up for the following day?  They of course seemed confused.  We explained that we loved their food but were only going to be around at lunch and asked if anyone would be at the restaurant even though they were closed.  The answer was yes; some of the kitchen staff would be there to start preparations for the evening service.  Everything fell into place from there, we placed our order that night, they placed it in their fridge and we made plans to meet them on our lunch break the next day for pick up.  The next day came and we began our journey with a bit more anticipation than normal.  We stopped in Lincoln for our lunch break and walked up to the restaurant hoping that all our planning had worked and that the kitchen staff had been informed of our unique arrangement.   It went off without a hitch, the woman in the kitchen seemed a little surprised by our appearance but knew exactly who we were and what we were there for.  A large bag full of tasty treasures was handed over and we were on our way.   5 hours later we were setting up the best microwaved dinner I have ever had in a hotel.

"Rae and Georgina enjoying yet another food adventure - Ivanna Cone in Lincoln, Nebraska.  Mmmmm . . . homemade ice cream"