Tom+Chee - Kennesaw, Georgia

The Tom+Chee in the name of this place is for tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. A restaurant that specializes in grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup? Yes please! 

What better to do on a chilly, damp day than dive into a bowl of soup and a crispy, comforting, warm sandwich? Nothing better that's what. Faced with just such a day recently the Dining Companion and I stopped in at Tom+Chee.

The brightly colored red and yellow space is the perfect antidote for a drab day.

Hanging over the counter is a menu board that lists not only the dozens of grilled cheese options but also the soups, salads and grilled donuts(!) that are available. To the left is a chalkboard that shows all of the days specials. You order at the counter and the food is delivered to you at your table. Standard fast casual set-up.

There are so many choices that it can be a little overwhelming. The Dining Companion ordered the Tom+Chee and I ordered BBQ+Bacon with a Soup Dipper. The Dippers are small containers of soup to, you got it, dip your sandwich in. I love that.

TOM+CHEE
diced tomato+garlic seasoning
+mozz+cheddar+hardy white bread

BBQ+BACON
bbq potato chips+bacon+american+hardy white bread w/a creamy chicken soup dipper

The sandwiches were crispy on the outside and warm and gooey on the inside. Just like you'd expect from a grilled cheese sandwich.

Oh, I also ordered the Grilled Donut of the day because of course I did. The donut this day was the Buckeye. A grilled donut topped with chocolate, peanut butter mascarpone, chocolate syrup and mozzarella cheese. I know!

This was the strangest thing I've eaten in a long time but man oh man, it was crazy good. Don't try to make sense of this insanity; just eat it.

(this is the first donut that's tempted me since my visit to Voodoo Doughnut last year)

The Buckeye - A grilled donut topped with chocolate, peanut butter mascarpone, chocolate syrup and mozzarella cheese

Everything we tried was good and there are enough bread and cheese choices, add-ins and variety that I'm sure we'll be back. I may or may not be plotting what my next donut is going to be. Maybe.

Happy dining!

Deep in the Heart of Dixie

Once again our merry little band is hitting the road. The East Coast is beckoning once again.

We had a good time in Texas. All that barbecue, all those icehouses, all the great seafood and TexMex cuisine. (I sense a theme here!) We've often vacationed in Texas and with all of our new found knowledge those vacations will be more fun than ever.

But, for all that, there is something about the East Coast that keeps calling us back.

So off we go. Heading east along I10 and into the Atchafalaya Basin, crossing on the Atchafalaya Swamp Freeway and its 18 mile bridge. East through the cities of the Mississippi Gulf Coast. And finally north towards Georgia and the Carolinas. 

We took our time and stopped a few places on the way. The Blow Fly Inn in Gulfport, Mississippi had been on my radar for a while. Too many Diners, Drive-ins and Dives viewings I suspect. But in any case, I wanted to check it out and the Dining Companion was kind enough to indulge me.

There wasn't much of a crowd the day we stopped for lunch. We were warmly greeted and seated at a table by a window.

I spotted a favorite of mine on the menu, a pimento cheese burger, and just had to order it. The Dining Companion ordered a Gulf Coast staple; a shrimp po'boy. 

Pimento Cheese Burger

Shrimp Po'boy

Lunch was good but I honestly didn't see what all the fuss was about. Maybe this place lights up with a crowd? Hard to say. I'm glad we stopped and that I had the chance to cross if off my list.

It's strange and comforting to travel along roads both familiar and made new by the haze of a capricious memory. Was that place there before? Did we stop here on a previous trip? It seems known and unknown at once.

Which, in a way, is nice. We get to rediscover old friends and discover new to us places along the way. But travel can be like that. It can make the old and familiar seem new and the new seem like an old friend.

Happy travels y'all!

Another Sunrise, Another Beginning

We had a nice trip through the south. The weather was good and our newest family member proved to be a great traveler. We really couldn't have asked for more.

Ready to hit the road!

Along the way we enjoyed some beautiful scenery.

We even managed to make time to stop for breakfast at my favorite breakfast spot in the country, The Red Eyed Mule. Love!

Best breakfast sandwiches ever - The Red Eyed Mule - Marietta, GA

And now we're back in the land of the biscuit breakfast. Not that I'm complaining. There's definitely an art to great biscuits and there are no shortage of wonderful examples here.

And all of this for the princely sum of $3.50

To say nothing of the Pimento Cheeseburgers, Shrimp and Grits, Low Country Boil. I'm happy to be back in the South. And just to be on the safe side I've added some extra time to my workouts cause you know, Southern Food!

It's nice to be in familiar surroundings and also interesting to see how things have changed over the years. I'm sure we'll revisit some favorite places and discover some new ones along the way. I'll be posting my thoughts and impressions as well as thoughts on the places we visit and the great food I know we'll be eating. Now pass the biscuits and lets get this party started!

Happy travels!

Note: The title is a quote: Another Sunrise, Another New Beginning ~  (Jonathan Lockwood Huie)

Onward we go...

I wanna die with a worn out passport
In the pocket of stolen jeans
On a beach somewhere I've never been before
Full of people I've never seen

And I want my body filled with
More alcohol than blood
Don't take this as self destructive
Because this wish is filled with love

So we drank and talked for hours
About the places you wanna go
I suggested every country in the world
And I never heard a 'no'

(-Worn Out Passport- The Copyrights - abridged )

Is it scarier to be at the mercy of the winds or to fight the ocean for the course you choose? It's hard to tell some days but this much I know - in order to have a chance at either you have to set sail.


Happy travels!

Note: Travel will take us through the gulf states soon. Stay tuned for more stories, new places and if we're lucky, some delicious food.