• The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t, Robert I. Sutton
• Hundred Percenters: Challenge Your Employees to Give It Their All, and They’ll Give You Even More, Mark Murphy
• Scientific Advertising, Claude C. Hopkins
• State of Search Engine Marketing Report 2010, EConsultancy & SEMPO
• Google SEO Report Card

Novels

• Guardian of Lies, Steve Martini
• Digital Fortress, Dan Brown
• Flashforward, Robert J. Sawyer
• Pirate Latitudes, Michael Crichton

Personal

• Finding God in the Shack: Seeking Truth in a Story of Evil and Redemption, Roger E. Olsen
• Better Dads, Stronger Sons: How Fathers Can Guide Boys to Become Men of Character, Rick Johnson

Real Life

• Bad Boys of the Black Hills…And Some Wild Women, Too, Barbara Fifer
• Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life, Winifred Gallagher

Books on deck
This is a list of the books I am either currently reading or are stacked up on my nightstand to be read as soon as I can get to them.

• Bloom County: The Complete Library, Vol. 2: 1982-1984, Berkeley Breathed
• Heaven’s Wager, Ted Dekker
• The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown
• When Heaven Weeps, Ted Dekker
• Ford County: Stories, Ted Dekker
• Thunder of Heaven (Martyr’s Song, Book 3), Ted Dekker
• Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer, John Grisham
• Eaters of the Dead, Michael Crichton
• The Bourne Identity: A Novel, Robert Ludlum
• Sounding Forth the Trumpet: 1837-1860 (God’s Plan for America), David Manuel and Peter Marshall
• Pagan Christianity?: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices, Frank Viola
• Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior, Ori Brafman and Rom Brafman
• I Will Teach You To Be Rich, Ramit Sethi
• Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man’s Soul, John Eldredge
• The Journey of Desire: Searching for the Life We’ve Only Dreamed of, John Eldredge
• Branded Male: Marketing to Men, Mark Tungate
• Pull: Marketing Secrets The Fortune 100 Use, Keith Chambers
• Audience, Relevance, and Search: Targeting Web Audiences with Relevant Content, James Mathewson, Frank Donatone, Cynthia Fishel
• Marketing in the Age of Google: Your Online Strategy IS Your Business Strategy, Vanessa Fox
• Tested Advertising Methods, John Caples
• The Soccer Mom Myth, Michele Miller
• Your Gut is Still Not Smarter Than Your Head: How Disciplined, Fact-Based Marketing Can Drive Extraordinary Growth & Profits, Kevin Clancy
• The Anatomy of Buzz: How to Create Word of Mouth Marketing, Emanuel Rosen
• The Art of Writing Advertising: Conversations with Masters of the Craft: David Ogilvy, William Bernbach, Leo Burnett, Rosser Reeves,, Denis Higgins

• Confessions of an Advertising Man, David Ogilvy
• Getting to Plan B: Breaking Through to a Better Business Model, John W. Mullins
• Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell
• Trade-Off: Why Some Things Catch On, and Others Don’t, Kevin Maney
• My Life in Advertising, Claude C. Hopkins
• Choosing a PPC Management Pricing Model, Search Marketing Now
• Crush It!: Why NOW Is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion, Gary Vaynerchuk

Novels/Entertainment

• Kiss, Ted Dekker and Erin Healy
• A Girl of the Limberlost
• Bloom County: The Complete Library, Vol. 1: 1980-1982, Berkeley Breathed
• Cemetery DanceDouglas Preston and Lincoln Child
• BoneMan’s Daughters, Ted Dekker
• Offworld, Robin Parish

Political/Historical

• Fox’s Book Of Martyrs: A History Of The Lives, Sufferings And Triumphant Deaths Of The Early Christian And Protestant Martyrs, William Byron Forbush
• From Sea to Shining Sea: 1787-1837 (God’s Plan for America), David Manuel and Peter Marshall

Personal

• The Way of the Wild Heart: A Map for the Masculine Journey, John Eldredge

Most of these books can be picked up for free (plus shipping) from my Bookins trade list.

Books on deck
This is a list of the books I am either currently reading or are stacked up on my nightstand to be read as soon as I can get to them.

• Guardian of Lies, Steve Martini
• Digital Fortress, Dan Brown
• Bloom County: The Complete Library, Vol. 2: 1982-1984, Berkeley Breathed
• Flashforward, Robert J. Sawyer
• Pirate Latitudes, Michael Crichton
• Heaven’s Wager, Ted Dekker
• The Lost Symbol, Dan Brown
• When Heaven Weeps, Ted Dekker
• Ford County: Stories, Ted Dekker
• Thunder of Heaven (Martyr’s Song, Book 3), Ted Dekker
• Eaters of the Dead, Michael Crichton
• The Bourne Identity: A Novel, Robert Ludlum
• Bad Boys of the Black Hills…And Some Wild Women, Too (Bedside Reader Series), Barbara Fifer
• Sounding Forth the Trumpet: 1837-1860 (God’s Plan for America), David Manuel and Peter Marshall
• Rapt: Attention and the Focused Life, Winifred Gallagher
• Finding God in the Shack: Seeking Truth in a Story of Evil and Redemption, Roger E. Olsen
• Better Dads, Stronger Sons: How Fathers Can Guide Boys to Become Men of Character, Rick Johnson
• Pagan Christianity?: Exploring the Roots of Our Church Practices, Frank Viola
• Wild at Heart: Discovering the Secret of a Man’s Soul, John Eldredge
• The Journey of Desire: Searching for the Life We’ve Only Dreamed of, John Eldredge
• The No Asshole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn’t, Robert I. Sutton
• Hundred Percenters: Challenge Your Employees to Give It Their All, and They’ll Give You Even More, Mark Murphy
• Scientific Advertising, Claude C. Hopkins
• Branded Male: Marketing to Men, Mark Tungate
• Tested Advertising Methods (Prentice Hall Business Classics), John Caples
• The Soccer Mom Myth, Michele Miller
• Your Gut is Still Not Smarter Than Your Head : How Disciplined, Fact-Based Marketing Can Drive Extraordinary Growth & Profits, Kevin Clancy
• The Anatomy of Buzz: How to Create Word of Mouth Marketing, Emanuel Rosen
• The Art of Writing Advertising : Conversations with Masters of the Craft: David Ogilvy, William Bernbach, Leo Burnett, Rosser Reeves,, Denis Higgins

This Ain't Your domino's Philly Cheesesteak Pizza!

A few weeks back Jen and I attempted to eat lunch at Jimmy’s Restaurant and Lounge in North Canton, but instead ended up in Akron at Lindsay’s Amber Restaurant. It’s a somewhat comical story that I already told in my Amber’s review so I won’t get into it here. This Sunday we gave Jimmy’s another shot and I have to admit to being very surprised. I’m happy to say that my first impressions of Jimmy’s was way off-base.

From the outside Jimmy’s Restaurant and Lounge doesn’t look like much. It almost gives the impression of a biker bar or perhaps some country bar out on Podunk Highway in the middle of nowhere.

Jimmy’s Restaurant and Lounge isn’t in the middle of nowhere, it’s right off portage a couple of blocks from the strip. Nor is Jimmy’s a biker or country bar that serves up sub-par food to a bunch of hicks. If that’s your impression as it was mine, just get that out of your head right now.

A view of the bar and TVs from my booth.

We got to Jimmy’s around one in the afternoon on a Sunday. There were half a dozen over-40 folks at the bar drinking and eating with another half dozen people spread out over a few booths. The bar centers the room and is the main focal point with booths and tables lining the walls. There is a sunroom section of the restaurant with another dozen tables enclosed in three glass walls and glass ceiling.

We took a seat and started looking over the menu. We were approached by none other than Jimmy himself, working his restaurant on a Sunday afternoon. He asked if we’d like him to make some recommendations and he ran down the list of some of his favorites. Throughout our meal Jimmy worked is way around the restaurant talking to patrons, having a few laughs and drinking beer.

There were at least five TV’s placed in the main room with at three visible at any one time. Three different football games played with another couple of screens showing Keno. Our waitress wore a Steelers shirt but assured us Browns fans are welcome too, often mixing at the bar.

I asked Jimmy about their Philly Cheesesteak Pizza. I’ve only seen those at Domino’s so I was curious. Jimmy said it wasn’t his favorite but he’d take on the challenge of beating Domino’s Philly Pizza in taste test. If I thought Domino’s version was better then I wouldn’t have to pay for my lunch at Jimmy’s. I couldn’t pass that up.

I can’t say for certain who’s is better. They are both good, but very different from each other. The best way to describe it is this: you can often find a great hamburger at a restaurant but sometimes you just want a Whopper from Burger King. Does that make the Whopper superior? No, it’s just fast food candy. Domino’s philly cheesesteak pizza is fast food candy. The philly cheesesteak pizza from Jimmy’s offered a more refined, mature taste that required a little salt to bring out it’s full flavor.

This is what happens when I forget my camera and have to take pictures with my iphone. The lasagna looked much tastier than this picture presents.

Needless to say I never ask for my lunch to be comped, and gleefully took half of my large pizza home for later.

Jen ordered the lasagna with garlic bread. All of Jimmy’s pasta is home made and you can tell the difference. The noodles were thicker and much more tender than you get from the store-bought stuff and that made the lasagna that much tastier.

We were also served a couple pieces of bread that tasted like home made. It wasn’t fresh-from-the-oven warm and the bread itself was average but the sesame seed crust was extremely flavorful. The only negatives at Jimmy’s was the spotty silverware which I hate, the house red Italian dressing which Jen felt was flavorless.

If I had to describe Jimmy’s Restaurant and Lounge I’d say it’s Cheers in the latter years. It’s not a bar for the young, hipster crowd, but more for the mature sports loving adults that like to get some great food with their friends or family while they watch the game. The wait staff is very friendly and they do a lot of chatting up the guests at the bar and tables.

During the day time hours Jimmy’s gets a lot of regulars, but a varied crowd in the evenings when they have their events: karaoke on Wednesdays, Frick and Frack on Thursdays and other live music on Fridays and Saturdays.

More Jimmy’s Info

My Cost: 2 Adults – $35
Hats off: 4/5
Jimmy’s website
Jimmy’s menu
Yelp reviews
Google Reviews and info
Location:
4262 Portage Street Northwest
North Canton, OH
(330) 494-9096‎

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Somewhere under all those mushrooms a pasta awaits to be eaten.

I normally do all my eating out with Jen but on a few occasions I find other/new friends to eat with. I got to know @martijen on Twitter. She’s a freelance copywriter and I’m frequently in the need of copywriting services for my clients. I invited Jen out to lunch as a get-to-know-each-other session and see if we wanted to work together.

We set a lunch date which got bumped a couple of times due to my own illness, then finally were able to meet a few weeks later.

I made a few wrong turns on my way there but eventually found the place. I had actually driven right by the parking lot, but its in the back and I didn’t see any signs. Once I found the front of the restaurant I drove to the back and parked.

Jen and I arrived pretty much at the same time so we introduced ourselves and headed in through the back door.

Lunch was great. So is Jen.

The inside of Main Street Grille was a bit dark. We walked past the bar area and were seated near the front door where some natural light filtered in. At first glance, Main Street Grille looks small, but the multi-room layout makes it much larger than it appears.

Initially, I thought Main Street Grille was a small two room establishment with a small bar. I’ve since returned to have dinner with Jen (the usual one) and Rachel and we discovered there’s a lower level as well.

The downstairs features another room with a dozen or so tables, a small bar, a sitting area, a piano and a projector. When I asked what the projector was for, the waitress told me they play classic movies during dinner on Tuesday nights. (By classics, they mean Cary Grant movies, not Die Hard. Oh well.)

Both times the silverware was splotchy which is not the kind of thing I like to see at a restaurant. The waitress brought me my salad and some bread. There is not much to say about the salad, nothing spectacular, but the rolls were warm and extremely good.

I’ve been trying to broaden my culinary horizons when I eat out these days, so I ordered some type of Portobello Mushroom pasta. (BLAST! I forgot to grab a menu on my way out!) As you can see from the picture above, the pasta was absolutely covered with Portobello Mushrooms and sun dried tomatoes. Absolutely fantastic.

That's one big chunk of meat!

Jen (from Twitter) got a Mozzarella Salad which looked good, though they went a bit light on the vinaigrette. Jen asked for some more on the side and the waitress was happy to get it for her.

On my next visit I ordered the prime rib. What I got was almost half a cow! This was the thickest, juiciest, and tastiest prime rib I have ever had the pleasure of being placed in front of me. It melted in my mouth and the taste was like nothing I’ve ever had before. It was every bit worth $27!

Jen ordered a tasty Chicken Bruchetta pasta and Rachel got the Seafood Alfredo. I didn’t taste the seafood pasta but I did have some of the Chicken Bruchetta. Rachel loved her seafood pasta, but Jen thought the Chicken Bruchetta would have done better with some balsamic glaze. I added a bit of salt when I tried it and enjoyed it very much.

I enjoyed both my lunch and dinner experiences equally. The downstairs offers a classier atmosphere, one that you might expect from a much more expensive restaurant. Lunch was just as good, and in all cases the service was wonderful.

More Main Street Grille Info

My Cost: 2 adults – $22
Hats off: 5/5
Yelp reviews
Google Reviews and info
Location:
123 South Main Street
North Canton, OH 44720
(330) 497-1117

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I’m an avid reader and maybe something in here will strike your fancy too.

Business

• Cunningly Clever Marketing, Andrew Wood
• The Sticking Point Solution: 9 Ways to Move Your Business from Stagnation to Stunning Growth During Tough Economic Times, Jay Abraham
• Ogilvy on Advertising, David Ogilvy

Novels

• Blessed Child, Ted Dekker & Bill Bright
• A Man Called Blessed, Ted Dekker & Bill Bright
• The Associate: A Novel, John Grisham
• Dead Heat (Political Thrillers, No. 5), Joel C. Rosenberg
• Terminal Freeze, Lincoln Child

Political/Historical

• The Monster of Florence, Douglas Preston with Mario Spezi
• The Light and the Glory: 1492-1793 (God’s Plan for America), David Manuel and Peter Marshall
• Guilty: Liberal “Victims” and Their Assault on America, Ann Coulter
• Inside Delta Force: The Story of America’s Elite Counterterrorist Unit, Eric L. Haney

Personal

• Can Man Live Without God, Ravi Zacharias
• Bold Love, Dan B. Allender

Most of these books can be picked up for free (plus shipping) from my Bookins trade list.

Books on deck
This is a list of the books I am either currently reading or are stacked up on my nightstand to be read as soon as I can get to them.

• Kiss, Ted Dekker and Erin Healy
• Cemetery DanceDouglas Preston and Lincoln Child
• Eaters of the Dead, Michael Crichton
• BoneMan’s Daughters, Ted Dekker
• Offworld, Robin Parish
• Guardian of Lies: A Paul Madriani Novel, Steve Martini
• Digital Fortress, Dan Brown
• Fox’s Book Of Martyrs: A History Of The Lives, Sufferings And Triumphant Deaths Of The Early Christian And Protestant Martyrs, William Byron Forbush
• From Sea to Shining Sea: 1787-1837 (God’s Plan for America), David Manuel and Peter Marshall
• Sounding Forth the Trumpet: 1837-1860 (God’s Plan for America), David Manuel and Peter Marshall
• Confessions of an Advertising Man, David Ogilvy
• Getting to Plan B: Breaking Through to a Better Business Model, John W. Mullins
• Outliers: The Story of Success, Malcolm Gladwell
• Trade-Off: Why Some Things Catch On, and Others Don’t, Kevin Maney

Warm, tasty and melts in your mouth.

This may come as a surprise to you but I really don’t get to eat out that often. Many people I know eat out several times each week. Usually a quick lunch at a sandwich shop or maybe something more extravagant. Between breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week, I’m lucky if I get to eat out two or three times.

Now that I’m writing about all my experiences I’m trying to go out more frequently and to make it something worth writing about. When on a budget, eating out has to be strategic. I frequently use coupons from Restaurant.com. I’ve got a stack of them sitting next to my computer.

Sunday morning Jen and I decided we’d go out for lunch. We grabbed a stack of coupons, put the bark collar on the dog and headed out.

After church, about a quarter til 11:00, Jen rummaged through the stack of coupons and found one for Jimmy’s in Canton. Pulling into the parking lot the place looked suspect. Lots of plastic hanging off the patio areas and very few cars in the lot. As we got out and made our way to the entrance someone met us at the door. “We don’t open til noon,” he said brusquely.

Ah, that explains the lack of vehicles. He could have been friendlier, though.

The rest of the coupons we had were for places in Akron. We either had to take the 30 minute trek or go to someplace local. Ichiban Japanese Buffet was on my mind but we figured, what the heck, we don’t get out of Canton much, lets try the Ohio Brewing Company in Akron.

We got off the freeway and followed the GPS to the restaurant. I drove past looking for a place to park, and found meter parking just down the street. Jen thought it was a good idea for me to walk up to see if they were actually open before we pumped the meter full of coins. Good thing she’s brilliant. Not only was Ohio Brewing Company closed, the front door was heavily chained and padlocked shut. Uh-oh. Someone was bad.

What’s next on our list? How about Cilantro Thai and Sushi? We have a coupon for that. So we drove another ten minutes only to find that Cilantro is closed on Sunday until dinner. Sigh.

By now we’ve just about given up on lunch. Three restaurants. Two cities. One hour. Zero food. Does that seem right to you?

We have one more coupon for Lindsay’s Amber Restaurant in Akron. My belly needed food so I was praying they were open.

We pulled into the parking lot in front of Lindsay’s and sure enough the place was hopping. But what’s this, is it seniors only day? As we drove by and peered through the windows, that’s about all we saw inside. Then we saw carload after carload pull up and unload more seniors.

Trepidly we walked in, looked around, and spotted a few people under 60 that didn’t appear to be eating with someone who has their Buckeye Card. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t have any problems with older folks. I plan to be one myself some day. But I still fancy myself as young (though I’m rapidly approaching 40) so I want to eat where all the “cool kids” eat.

We took a seat near the front and watched as older folks continued to pour in. Lindsay’s Amber Restaurant is a very popular place on Sundays. The joint filled up quickly, but the staff handled it all smoothly. At no point did we feel the waitress took too long to take our order, deliver our food or check back up on us to make sure we were doing okay.

Loaded Potato Skins

We were delivered some very warm, and very tasty bread. A whole loaf was brought out to us with butter. It was soft and melted right in your mouth. Wow. I’m not a bread guy, but this was good stuff. Unfortunately we had no bread plates so we made quite a crumb mess all over the table.

Chicken Strip Salad

I ordered the potato skins and a Swiss Mushroom burger. Jen ordered the chicken strip salad.

The potato skins weren’t so much skins as slightly hallowed out potato halves. Plenty of potato left in these skins and that’s all right with me. The skins were about as good as I’ve had anywhere, if not better. Loaded with cheese and bacon they are served with my favorite condiment; sour cream.

Mushroom Swiss Burger

Jen enjoyed her chicken salad plenty, too. I ordered one to go (to hit the $35 minimum for the coupon) and even then I was plenty pleased with it.

The Swiss Mushroom burger didn’t do anything for me. I think I have to stop ordering hamburgers at restaurants. I get such good burgers from Jen and I love a Whopper above all others, that everything else pales in comparison.

The service was great, the atmosphere was typical and the food was good. If I lived in the area I could see Lindsay’s being a place to go when I needed an easy meal with friends on a Sunday afternoon.

More Lindsay’s Amber Restaurant Info

Cost: Three meals plus appetizer – $39
Hats off: 3/5
Yelp reviews
Google Reviews and info
Location:
1395 Canton Rd
Akron, Ohio
(330) 733-9611

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The Gyro. The tasty sauce and tomatoes are hidden under all that meat.

It was a dark and rainy evening, I was fighting off the last remaining bits of being sick and food was on my mind as it definitely wasn’t in my belly. Not looking to spend a great deal of money, Jen pulled out some coupons for Papa Gyros, we put the bark collar on the dog and headed out.

We traveled the 10 minute drive to Papa Gyros and exited the vehicle as the rain was subsiding. Papa Gyros is a small little place with probably less than a dozen tables in total. The entry way was spacious leaving plenty of room to wait in line (if necessary) to order at the walk-up counter.

Jen chit-chatted with cashier while I snapped a few photos of the establishment. We paid and no sooner found a booth when a waitress approached us asking me to please not to take any more pictures.

I was perplexed and it obviously showed. She volunteered that orders came from management and asked if I would like to talk to the manager. “Yes, please.”

A few minutes later management came to our table, I explained to him why I was taking pictures and showed him my hot-off-the-press The Hero Of Canton business cards. This seemed to convince him I’m not a competitor out to steal company secrets. Both the manager and the waitress were very nice, respectful, and I appreciate them allowing me to take and post these pictures of their restaurant.

Jen was excited about the tiny ketchup bottle. Yeah, I didn't get it either.

The dining area was spotlessly clean. That’s seems to be the exception these days and it was worth taking note of. The staff obviously took great care to provide quick clean-up as patrons left and ensure the restaurant consistently looks fresh.

When we received our food the waitress offered to refill our drinks for us. They have one of the serve-yourself fountains so I thought this was a very customer-focused gesture. I’ve heard about Papa Gyros excellent service and was now seeing it first hand.

The Gyros we ordered were massive. This wasn’t a simple pita sandwich, this was mammoth portion of meat stuffed into a bursting roll of pita bread. And it was good. It’s been years since I’ve had a gyro and I always liked them. This one was exceptional.

It took me a while to figure out how to eat the darn thing. It was simply too big and juicy to pick up with your hands without falling apart all over the place. I opted for the knife and fork, but that created issues with the paper layered on the bottom of the plate. I had to be careful with my cuts so I didn’t end up with strips of paper in my bites. Neither Jen or I could finish the entire sandwich and took half of each home, which made an excellent lunch the next day.

Initially I wasn’t much enamored with the fries, but then I rarely like restaurant fries. I was spoiled growing up on McDonald’s french fries. I added some salt which did a little, threw some ketchup on there and that improved them a bit more (I rarely eat fries with ketchup.) Jen suggested I try vinegar. I’ve never (knowingly) had vinegar on my fries and I liked what I tasted. It gave the fries a whole new twist.

If you’re looking for a good Gyro, Papa Gyros is the place. It’s rare that I leave a restaurant thinking I can’t wait to eat here again, but this was definitely one of those times. Oh, and in case you didn’t know, it’s pronounced Year-roh, not Jy-roh.

More Papa Gyros Info

Cost: 2 adults – $19
Hats off: 4/5
Papa Gyros menu (pdf)
Yelp reviews
Google Reviews and info
Location:
2045 Cleveland Ave NW
Canton, Ohio
(330) 456-9000‎

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A sandwich just ain't a sandwich unless it's got a slab of cow in it.

I wanted to title this post “Just Another Cock-a-Doody Sports Bar” but I was afraid that too many readers wouldn’t get the reference to Misery. I wasn’t being disgusting, I promise.

Sigh.

I don’t go to chain restaurants too often anymore. It’s not that I have anything against them–there are plenty of chains that I enjoy quite a bit–it’s just that over the past several years I hadn’t really had an opportunity to explore. You don’t find those hidden gems or experience the local flavor when all you do is chain restaurants.

But every now and then I make an exception. Especially if it’s one I’ve never been to before, and someone else is paying.

Monday was one of those days. Jen was looking for a place to take the kids before we headed off to Nickajack Farms. She dug up some coupons from my entertainment book, put the bark collar on the dog and we headed out.

Roosters is one of those clever restaurants. You know the ones I’m talking about. The kind that make their employees wear 15 pieces of flare or have chotchkies hanging all over the walls. That doesn’t make it a bad place to eat, its just that kind of place.

I enjoyed reading many of the signs on the wall that said things like “My wife and I were happy for 20 years, and then we met,” or “Super lotto: One winner, millions of losers.” Basically, Roosters is a fun, casual joint.

See? They're fun and causual, it says so right there!

Most restaurants have several dining sections, but Roosters on Dressler is just one giant open room. The tables were large enough to sleep three comfortably. It was clean and spacious making it a perfect place to go when you have large groups. Kick back with some friends, drink a few brewskies, and watch one of the many large-screen TVs hung on the walls. I counted 32 of them. (Could that be right? Someone please verify.)

Roosters is essentially a kid-friendly sports bar. They boast a pretty decent kids menu, including a pretty decent grilled cheese sandwich and fried macaroni and cheese. Jen ordered both for her kids, finding the fried mac and cheese greasy enough to make a pizza jealous. I tried one; T.G.I. Friday’s does it better.

After studying their sizable menu, I ordered a steak sandwich with onion and mushrooms. As far as steak sandwiches go, I enjoyed it as much I’ve enjoyed any other. The steak was cooked as ordered and it came with plenty of toppings. The mushrooms and onions are my favorite steak topping, rarely ordering without, and these did not disappoint.

Jen ordered chicken strips, a favorite of my own kids. I never quite understood the whole eating chicken strips at a restaurant. That’s kind of a pull-it-out-of-the-freezer-and throw-it-in-the-oven meal. Surely there’s something better on the menu! But as far as chicken strips go, Jen rated these a 4 out of 5 which says something.

Our appetizers were served with our meals. We got a hold of some bacon cheddar wedges and onion petals. The only other place I’ve had cheddar wedges was from Jack-in-the-box. I can’t say I noticed a distinguishable difference other than the wedges at Roosters are slightly smaller but come in larger quantities. More wedges, more bacon and more cheese.

The onion petals were quite good, better than I’ve had at most places. The sauce they come with was also very tasty.

The meals at Roosters don’t come with the obligatory fries but most items are cheap enough that they don’t need to. It gives you the opportunity to select an appetizer of your choice to go with your meal.

Our waitress was great, and very good with the kids, paying far more attention to their nonsensical ramblings than was warranted. Though she certainly wasn’t keeping up on her 80′s music trivia. For shame!

Roosters is a pressure-free restaurant. It’s perfect for a casual meal with friends and family. You don’t go having have high-expectations of the food, nor do you leave disappointed. But you might have some fun while you’re there.

More Roosters Info

My Cost: 2 adults, 2 kids – $28
Hats off: 3/5
Roosters website
Roosers Restaurant menu (pdf)
Yelp reviews
Google Reviews and info
Location:
4335 Dressler Rd NW
Canton, Ohio
(330) 546-7001

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4,636 songs, 12.7 days, 17.75 GB. I have 90% of these songs on CD.

How many total artists?

139 artists of which I have full-length albums. Artists of which I have one or two songs as part of a compilation are not included.

How many total albums?

353 full albums.

How many total movies?

224 movies, 17.2 days, 147.96 GB. All legally purchased. Almost all of them ripped from my DVD collection.

How many total TV shows?

13 series, 64 seasons, 1,227 episodes, 29.6 days, 261.90 GB. The only show not represented here that I have on DVD is Battlestar Galactica and three seasons of LOST (I can’t rip blu-rays yet.)

Sort by song title – first and last

First: “A.D. – B.C.” – Ken Tamplin/Shout. This is a rarely listened to tune from an artist that I enjoyed a great deal in the 90′s.

Last: “99 Luftballons” – Nena (Greatest Hits of the 80′s vol. 4.) Now I can’t get this out of my head.

Sort by time – shortest and longest

Shortest: 0.20, “Pad Tai” – One Bad Pig (I Scream Sunday.) There were several shorter “songs” that were really more like musical interludes. This was the first that could classify as a true song.

Longest: 14.23, “Free Bird (Live)” – Lynyrd Skynyrd (All-Time Greatest Hits.) I had a Staind song that was 21 minutes long but it’s almost all dead air so I recalibrate it to end at 4 minutes, therefore I didn’t count it here.

Sort by Album – first and last

First: Audios – The Greatest Hits, Audio Adrenaline. I have all the albums except maybe one greatest hits from Audio A. This one had an unreleased song so I felt compelled to buy it.

Last: 7even Year Itch: Collective Soul Greatest Hits 1994-2001. I have all the Collective Soul albums too, again this one had an unreleased song. This was before the days of iTunes where you could purchase only one song from an album.

Sort by Artist – first and last

First: A-Ha, “The Living Daylights” from the James Bond Theme Song Soundtrack.

Last: The 5th Dimension, “Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In”, from the Forest Gump Soundtrack. Odd how the previous question both were greatest hits, and this one both are soundtracks.

Top five played songs

109 – “Get Me Bodied”, Beyonce. I only have two Beyonce songs. I love this one the most.

103 – “I’m Shipping Up To Boston”, Dropkick Murphys. The only song by this band, again, a really awesome song.

95 – “Just Like Paradise”, David Lee Roth. And again, the only song I own from DLR. This was popular my Junior year in high school. Always brings back memories.

95 – “Follow You Home”, Nickelback. I love Nickelback.

91 – “Animals”, Nickelback. No really, they rock.

Find the following words. How many songs show up?

Sex: 1 song. I found this comforting.

Death: 13 songs. I found this disturbing until I realized that all but two of them come from a P.O.D. (Payable On Death) album.

Love: 340 songs. I found this enlightening.

You: 654 songs. Who me? Or you?

Home: 68 song. This includes 22 songs from Collective Soul’s “Home” album and 14 from Michael W. Smith’s “I’ll Lead You Home” album.

Boy: 229 songs. This includes 55 Beach Boys songs, 126 Newsboys songs, 18 Pet Shop Boys songs. Take those away and I got 30 songs about boys.

Girl: 41 songs. That’s better.

First five songs that come up on Party Shuffle

What’s this party you speak of?

5 Artists with the most songs

247 songs, 22 albums – Petra. Another band I have all their studio and live albums including most of their greatest hits albums. They last studio album rocked.

181 songs, 13 albums – Bon Jovi. I have all their stuff, including their 4-disc, 50-song B-sides release.

134 songs, 11 albums – Collective Soul. Got them all and they still keep cranking them out. Good band.

130 songs, 11 albums – Third Day. Got all the albums except a live one which is on my Christmas list.

126 songs, 13 albums – Newsboys. Got all their albums. Consistently good through the years after their first three attempts.

110 songs, 11 albums – Audio Adrenaline. OK, so this makes six, not five, but I just wanted to round out the bands that broke the 100 song mark.

Smothered in cheese, this philly cheese steak omelet left something to be desired.

Ever have one of those mornings when you planned everythign just right only to find out you had your timing off? Sunday was one of those days.

Jen and I were going to try out the adult Sunday School class before church service so we had to make sure each of us was up earlier than normal for a Sunday morning. I knew we had to leave before 8:45 to make sure we could get to class by 9am. I was ready to go on time but found Jen to be running a bit late. curling her hair and, you know… women stuff. She finished up about 8:50, we put the bark collar on the dog and headed out.

There are two routes we could have gone and, absentmindedly, I took the longer route. Come five minutes after 9 and we were still five minutes out. We figured better never than late, so we opted to make another detour to breakfast instead. We’d still have enough time to eat and get to the 11 O’clock service on time.

Not far off our route was Bill and Mary’s Diner. Just the night before @MAPSAirMuseum had tweeted me the suggestion, “Could be THE BEST steak and eggs b’fast in the area.” What better time than now to check it out?

Bill and Mary’s Diner in North Canton is a small diner on Main Street, just across the street from Mama Guzzardi’s Italian Restaurant. We were told to seat ourselves so we found a table in the front of the restaurant up against the far corner. The dining area stretched back parallel to the kitchen on the entrance side.

We got our menus and drinks in short order and spent some time looking over our dining options. Bill and Mary’s has some traditional favorites on the menu as well as some items that are off the familiar path. The menu contains a number of items that could have used some explanation (What’s on a Bubba Burger?) but no details were provided.

If you like soda, Bill and Mary’s have their own brand of Cream Soda and Root Beer. had it not been breakfast, I would have tried one. Maybe next time.

I love a good Philly Cheese Steak. Whether its a sandwich, a Pizza (my favorite pizza of all time,) or… what’s this? A Philly Cheese Steak omelet? Oh, I gotta have that. I decided to forgo the recommendation made by @MAPSAirMuseum and ordered the Philly omelet instead, which comes with home fries and English muffin.

I was a tad disappointed with the Philly Cheese Steak omelet. Maybe I’m just a cheese steak snob, but it didn’t do it for me. The omelet tasted just fine, just not as good as I expected. The home fries were another matter all together. With enough salt they were good enough to eat, but didn’t have enough natural flavor of their own to make them worth the effort.

Jen ordered a couple of eggs, some sausage links, a handful of potato cakes, and a pancake with wheat toast. She didn’t think her meal was anything worth writing home about either, with one glaring exception. What was that exceptional exception that exploded all expectations? What was that delectable delight that was so dang delicious?

Potato cakes.

I’ve never had potato cakes before. The closest I’ve ever come is the hash browns you get with your Egg McMuffin at the Micky D’s. But those aren’t potato cakes are they? No, those are the red-headed step-child of potato cakes.

I’m a big fan of potato. I loved baked potato, I like french fries from all sorts of places, I like potato chips, I even like Mr. Potato head. But the king of all things potato? Potato cakes. Is this what all potato cakes taste like? Are these the standard bearer of potato cakes?

Is Bill and Mary’s Diner the flagship diner in the world of potato cakes? Because if I ever have potato cakes even half this good again I’d still be a very happy man. And top that off, they are served with with the world’s all-time best condiment: Sour Cream! Just when you thought potato cakes couldn’t get any better!

While I was drooling over the potato cakes on Jen’s plate I realized something completely non-potato cake related. Sunday School wasn’t at 9am, it started at 10am! Jen and I had time to finish our meal and make it class with time to spare!

Bill and Mary’s is a traditional breakfast and lunch diner. The service wasn’t particularly fast and the food wasn’t exceptionally good. Service was a bit slow with a lot of chatter going on behind the counter. It was simply a place to come and get something to eat. Nothing more.

There are a lot of places I would avoid and this certainly isn’t one of them. If I ever find myself late for church again I might make another stop there for breakfast, but it’s not a place I’d go out of my way for. Except for those potato cakes. I’d go out of my way for those.

More Bill and Mary’s Diner Info

My Cost: 2 adults – $18
Hats off: 2/5
Bill and Mary’s Diner Menu
Yelp reviews
Google Reviews and info
Location:
1022 N Main St
North Canton, OH
(330) 494-9036‎

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