One of the long time draws, at least in our family, is their fountain drinks.  They have what we call the “good ice” (e.g. pebbled, not cubes) and they always have bottles of cherry and vanilla syrup on the counter next to drink machines so you can easily turn your Coke into a hand-mixed Cherry Coke.  It always seems to taste better when you add your own cherry syrup to your Coke.

But the future has arrived.  In place of the standard self-serve fountain machines they used to have and bottles of cherry syrup, they have installed 3 of what have to be newest version of a Coke machine that I have ever seen.  Instead of a row of dispensers lined up across the front of the machine, there is a big tall silvery gray machine with a hole in the front, ideally sized to hold a cup.  Inside the hole you can dispense ice into your cup.  There is also a single fountain dispenser.

The logistics are this:

• Push your cup against the ice dispenser at the back of the machine
• Fill your cup with the desired amount of ice
• Put your cup down under the lone fountain dispenser
• Refocus your attention on the touch screen monitor positioned in front of your face, at eye level
• Select the drink you want
• Push the silver dispenser button just below the touch screen
• Hold the dispenser button down until your cup is full of your preferred soda

When we sat down to eat our table was situated in a way that I could watch people try to use these drink machines.  And it was very interesting to watch.  It made me wonder how much time Coke spent watching people try to use these things.  There were a variety of reactions as people walked up to them.

I saw an older couple walk up to them.  The gentleman didn’t say anything, but you could tell he wanted nothing to do with the machine.  He watched his wife try to figure it how to make it work and then handed his cup to her once she had it down.

The wife on the other hand, was at first a little confused, not sure where to start.  She put her cup under the dispenser and waited.  Nothing happened.  She realized she had to push a button on the touch screen.  Once she picked her flavor of soda, she waited for it dispense.  But the machine would eventually get tired of waiting for her and revert to the main screen and then she would have to select her flavor again.   Finally she realized that not only did you have select the flavor, but you then had to push the button to dispense your drink.

This seemed the most common approach of the people I watched in the 20 minutes or so I was sitting there.  People would first register slight confusion about how the machine worked.  They would figure out how to select the flavor of soda they wanted.  Then they would wait for the drink to come out.  Which wouldn’t.  So they would select their flavor again.  More than once I watched a person go through this process several times before they figured out that you had to also push the dispenser button.

I also watched someone that thought the touch screen would work like an iPad or iPhone screen and they not only pushed the icon for their choice of drink, but tried to drag it across the screen using Apple’s gestures approach to navigation on a touch screen.

In addition to the touchscreen approach to drinking soda, Coke also added the concept of organizing things in folders.  I was after some lemonade, so I touched the recognizable Minute Maid Lemonade icon on the screen and was immediately presented with about 5 other choices.  Lemonade, Cherry Lemonade, Strawberry Lemonade, Light Lemonade and some others I can’t remember.  This seemed to be the case for every icon on the main screen.  You couldn’t just touch the Coke icon.  You had to choose Coke and then choose from the family of Coke drinks.  Or choose Diet Coke and then choose from the family of Diet Cokes.

The future of drink dispensing is already here at a mom and pop drive-in in a small Utah town..  And in order to get a drink you need to know how to navigate a touch screen interface and the concept of folders.  Select Coke and then choose Coke, Cherry Coke, Vanilla Coke, etc.  Select Diet Coke and then choose Diet Coke, Diet Cherry Coke, Diet Vanilla Coke, etc.

It’s getting hard to get a drink these days.  Figure out how the dispenser works, choose which variation of Coke you want. After drinking my cherry Minute Maid Lemonade I wished Coke had spent more time on the drink and less on a fancy way to dispense it.

Whatever happened to just ordering a burger and a Coke?

On this visit my daughter and I both got milkshakes to eat on the road after we finished our meals. While eating hers my daughter turned to me and asked why shake places never put enough stuff in their shakes. In this instance she was eating a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup shake and was having a hard time finding more than a few brown flecks of chocolate in the shake. It was almost like someone wanted to add a little color to a plain vanilla shake.

Unfortunately I didn’t have an answer for her. I could only empathize with her disappointment.

The silver lining, if there can be one in the middle of a shake that didn’t reach its full potential, is that I think we uncovered a great new business idea. It is a riff on the ever present shave ice shacks that invade Utah every summer from Memorial Day through Labor Day. We are going to buy a shave ice shack, install a small soft-serve machine and produce premium shakes that always have more chunks of what you want than you thought possible. It’s brilliant. It will change the world. Or at least will be a place where your peanut butter cup shake will have peanut butter cups in it.

As we were walking down the street looking for it, at first we thought it wasn’t even open.  It was dark and there was a sign posted on the bottom of the front door.  One of those signs that looks like a building permit posted in the window.  Luckily we crossed the street and looked closer.  It was open. But quite empty.  I guess that is to be expected since it was something like 8 or 8:30 when we got there.  We had several of their starters and of course I went for the margherita.  Very good wood-fired style pizza.  Would definitely go back again.  And don’t miss Capogiro Gelato across the street.  They have a very very good dark chocolate gelato that was a nice ending to the night.

Still hot from the oven

Nothing quite beats the smell of a Danish pastry straight out of the oven. This is an order for a friend who is going to take them to a reunion of former Danish missionaries. A little intimidating…I hope they measure up.

Fresh, hot margherita pizza from Antico in Atlanta

Earlier this year I started making somewhat regular trips to Atlanta. On one of those early trips as well as a later trip I ate pizza at Atico Pizza Napoletana.

Walking in the front door it is obvious this place is all about pizza. Approaching the counter there is usually a cooked pizza on display, showcasing a special that day. Order a pizza, pick a drink from the cooler, pay for it and wait. On both visits I have glanced at the case full of cannoli next to the ordering counter, but I’ve never thought seriously about ordering any. It’s all about the pizza.

On my first visit, I wasn’t quite sure what to do after I ordered. I had a receipt that guaranteed my pizza would come out at some point and I could lay claim to it. But looking around, there is a counter with stools lining a couple of the windows, in a separate room there is one large farmhouse table. All around the edges of that room there is equipment and ingredients lined up. It looks very much like it is part of the kitchen where the pizza is prepped. Yet there is always people around the table eating pizza when I’ve been there. Off the back of that room is another large room with three big wood burning ovens lining the back wall and pizza cooking in full swing. Out in front of these ovens are more tables as well as the staff making pizzas and working the ovens.

There is definitely a fuzzy line between those working at the restaurant and those eating at the restaurant. Once I got my head around that during my first visit, I sat down to wait for my pizza. Margherita. I always order a margherita on my first visit. I figure if you can’t make a good margherita then chances are nothing else on the menu is going to be that great either.

The pizza came out scalding hot on a half-sheet pan lined with parchment. It was good. Very good. I repeatedly burned my mouth eating it. And it was worth it. This first visit I was by myself and they only make one size of pizza so I figured I would eat half of it and leave the rest. But I couldn’t stop. I ate the whole thing.

On a second visit I was with someone else so we got a margherita and something with sausage and other goodies on it. Both very good. Antico is definitely on my list of places to get a great margherita.

If you are ever in Atlanta it is well worth the visit.

Antico Pizza
1093 Hemphill Ave
Atlanta, Georgia 30318
+1-404-724-2333
http://www.anticopizza.it/

Fat Matt's with the artistic glow of an iPhone camera

Traveling for business can be good and bad.  Bad that I’m away from family and that it isn’t always convenient to the other commitments I have in my life – have you ever tried to coach a soccer game when you are 1500 miles from the field at game time?  Doesn’t work.  On the good side, there are always new places to eat.

A couple weeks ago I was in Atlanta for some business meetings.  Luckily for us, one of the people I work with lives in Atlanta and she made sure that for our dinner that night we avoided all hint of national chain foods.  We had dinner at Fat Matt’s Rib Shack.  And let’s just say Fat Matt’s is very focused on their food.  Not too much worry about decor, ambience or other ancillary things like those.  That is good thing.

You walk in the front door and run into the order counter.  The menu is focused and to the point.  In the group I was with we ordered a full slab of ribs, a chopped pork sandwich (for me) and several of their side dishes – “Rum” baked beans, coleslaw, brunswick stew – and a slice of pecan pie for dessert.  I’m not much of a BBQ expert so all I can really say is that it tasted good.  The highlight of the night though was the band that setup and started playing about halfway through our dinner.  You can’t really beat southern barbecue in Atlanta listening to some live blues music while you eat.

I would recommend a stop at Fat Matt’s if you are in Atlanta.  Music is live every night of the week.  There is a small indoor dining room and some patio seating out front.

Fat Matt’s Rib Shack
1811 Piedmont Avenue Northeast
Atlanta, GA 30324
(404) 607-1622
www.fatmattsribshack.com

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So for over a year now I have wanted to go back to Roosevelt to try the Round Robin.  Since first hearing about it, with the help of my brother-in-law I’ve learned more about the place:

• When it’s open, it’s only for three days a week, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday I think (or maybe it was Thursday, Friday, Saturday).
• I say “when it’s open” because it often closes without warning and will be closed for several weeks before it opens again.  Having family in Roosevelt will be a big help if when we go back, because they can tell us if it is operation before making the two hour drive out there.
• It’s owned and run by a polygamist family, whose leader is known as the Prophet.  He was the one wiping down the tables and keeping the place clean when I was there.
• It was packed the night we were there

And the food…

• they raise cows and butcher their own beef.  Fresh meat on the burgers.
• make their own buns and pickles
• make their onion rings and french fries from scratch
• sell homemade desserts…we bought their sugar cookies and chocolate cake on our visit
• serve incredible slushes (pineapple chunks in the pina colada one) with about 15 flavors to choose from
• make a really good fresh lime slush (definitely don’t miss this one)
• make all their own sodas, True Cola anyone? or Bubbles? or Dr. Robin? or homemade root beer?

So I was there for the first time on a Friday night, late in March.  I ordered a bacon cheeseburger, fries, and their root beer.  And I want to go back and try it again.  I only got tastes of their fresh lime slush, onion rings, fried shrimp dinner, and didn’t try any of their shakes.

It is a unique place with some really good food.  Just be forewarned, even when it’s open the waits can be long.  When we ordered they warned us that it would be about 30 minutes before our food was ready.   Not a place to go when you are in rush, but you can’t say they don’t make it fresh.

Round Robin Drive Inn, location info is on my Utah Drive-Ins map

I have a general rule I follow when trying a new pizza place.   In my mind, if they can’t make a good cheese or pepperoni, then it’s pretty likely they aren’t going to be any better when they add more toppings to the pizza.  So for this first visit we ordered a 20″ pie with half pepperoni and half cheese.  And it was good.  It came hot out of the oven, thin and floppy, kind of a thin New York style.   Oddly enough, the more it cooled, the more crispy and crunchy the crust got.  Don’t take this as a bad thing.  But I’ve never had a pizza quite like it.

Overall well worth the visit and I definitely hope to get back again.  Go eat there before more people discover this and it gets busy.

Slab Pizza
669 East 800 North
Provo, UT
www.slabpizza.com

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I went there with my brother, who tends to the person that is most often with me when trying out new places, especially pizza places.  He was adamant that we get their stuffed crust pizza.  Lucky for us it was a Tuesday night and the Tuesday night special was buy one pizza, get one free.  Pizza one: stuffed crust with sausage and onions.  Pizza two: thin crust with 1/2 pepperoni and 1/2 cheese.

The pizza wasn’t anything that made me put it on my list to get back to anytime soon.  First up was the stuffed crust.  And based on the difficulty of even finding it on their menu board, obviously it is an after thought. A couple layers of their standard crust and some of their standard pizza sauce slathered across the top.  And really heavy.  The toppings were hard to discern in the gobs of cheese on it. My expectations weren’t high on the stuffed crust to begin with and this met them.

While we were eating my brother brought up a good point.  If you go to a Chicago pizza place anywhere outside of Chicago, what kind of pizza do you expect to get?  Not sure about the rest of you, but I definitely expect deep dish.  So either you are a Chicago-style pizza place serving deep dish or you are a pizza place with some really good thin crust pizza.  Why confuse customers by claiming a tie to Chicago and then pushing your speciality as thin crust pizza?   Doesn’t make any sense.  Seems to me that one of the fundamental rules of business is to not do anything that will confuse your customers any more than necessary.  If you are pizza place and you have to justify, on your menu, why your speciality is thin crust pizza because your name has Chicago in it, then change the name.

The thin crust did have some merit.  A cracker-y crust with some straight up sauce and toppings.  If I go back I will stick with that and stay away from the stuffed crust.

Sweet Home Chicago Pizzeria
1442 E. Draper Parkway
Draper, UT 84020
801-545-0455
web: http://www.sweethomechicagopizzeria.com/
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