Apple Holler

Imagine...  you are 5 hours into a 9 hour drive. The kids are cranky. The wife is cranky. The husband, being the hero that he is, sees a sign for a farm and restaurant. Without mentioning it he pulls off and parks. That is exactly how we landed at Apple Holler. He claims we were hangry. I believe him, that's a real thing in this household.

We walk into this cute little place. I feel like I've time hopped back into the 90's and landed in hillbilly Timbuktu. When you first walk in you see a cute country store with baked goods, jams, pies and souvenirs. The waiters are dressed in overalls. Everything is dark and every surface is made of wood.

Our young waiter is overly happy and seems helpful. We ask him what's good. He tells us their burger that's stuffed with apples and topped with cheese is great so we order that with a side of onion strings. We ordered our little girls home made macaroni and cheese. We wanted to try a pie so we decided one burger and ask that the pie comes out at the same time.

The waiter comes back with water and gives us 2 straws for the 4 of us.  Next he brings our food. He forgets the pie. We eat our food. The burger was good but there is absolutely no sign of apple anywhere. Either they gave us the wrong burger or their apple stuffed burger has one microscopic apple piece in it. Not sure. It was also under cooked. But! The cheese was good and so were the onions. The girls loved their noodles.

We wait and wait, as we still have 4 hours left on the road with tired kids. We keep waiting. We all take potty breaks. Finally! The waiter comes back and tells us he'll bring our pie. Great... not really the time now buddy. What feels like 10 minutes longer he comes and tells us they don't have any more apple pie and asks if this other flavor (cheery?) will do. We declined. We wanted it with our dinner and by then it was time to get back on the road.

The front is so cute we did take time to take some photos. The farm would have been fun but it was closed.

Overall, I'd not hesitate to check this place out if I were you. I'd just be sure you know it's not a stop into an average diner. You'll be here a while but it's kind of fun.

Handsome Henrys

I had heard a few people mention Handsome Henry's. I didn't know it was a pizza place, nor did I know it was within a mile of where I was currently staying. Most importantly, I didn't know just how amazing Handsom Henry's would be or I would have been all over this place!

A couple weeks into our stay, I finally made it to Handsome Henry's. We were seated at a squishy little center table. I hate center tables. They shouldn't even exist. Booths are so much easier and a lot more comfortable. Anyway, I wasn't pleased with our seats.

Our waitress came out and got our drink order in a timely fashion. She quickly returned with drinks. My little girl's drink was in one of those cups you get to take home that came with a lid and the waitress made the coolest little design with the extra long curly straw. Simple details like that seriously win me over!

We ordered and waited the perfect amount of time for our food. I ordered the Crab Rangoon pizza. My husband got the Sirloin Steak pizza.

I usually write about my favorite item last but the Crab Rangoon pizza was SO amazing I have to write about it first. Imagine heaven in your mouth. There you have it. Crab Rangoon Pizza. Not good enough? Ok... Crab Rangoon pizza is a pizza made with "Garlic cream cheese, imitation crab, green onions, mozzarella, crispy wonton strips and sweet chili glaze". If you love crab wontons like I do, you will die. This is basically a giant pizza version of a crab wonton. The creamy sauce is outstanding. The subtle crab flavor adds a uniqueness but fun edge to pizza and the sweet chili glaze as a final touch makes this pizza thee very best pizza that I have ever eaten in my life. Now to be fair, it's hardly "pizza" but I don't care. This is my favorite food. Numero uno. Best food I've ever put in my mouth. That's how good it is. Just a warning, it's incredibly rich. I could only eat once piece before I had to steal my second and third slices from my family to make up for all the goodness of this creamy, sweet dish. I'm afraid this pizzas only downfall is that you really can't eat this as a meal. I'm afraid of the painful stomach ache that would follow.

The Sirloin Steak Pizza was almost as delicious. The biggest difference here is that you can actually consume a few slices of this one without feeling sick. The Sirloin pizza is made with "Sliced tender sirloin steak, tomato sauce, chopped green peppers, sweet onions and diced tomato topped with provolone cheese". The steak pieces are good size and good quality. The sauce wasn't actually tomato sauce as they claim however. It's half tomato sauce half BBQ. I think that's not only a creative idea but I thought it was pretty great tasting too. My husband really isn't a fan of sweets though so he was off put by that and was pretty frustrated that the menu didn't state that. Don't let that deter you though. This is an excellent pizza! As I said, the meat is divine, the sweet onions are perfect the tomatoes add the perfect touch of acidity to the mix.