Day 3

We woke up hungry for some reason.  I assumed our stomachs have expanded from all of the food the first 2 days.  So what better way than to spend the day filling it up again.  I have gained a new respect for competitive eaters!

Old Hickory Pit Bar-b-q
38 Washington Ave. (Frederica St.)
Owensboro, KY

Our order:
Sliced mutton sandwich off the pit
Sliced pork sandwich off the pit
Chopped mutton sandwich
Chopped pork sandwich
Beans and slaw










Sliced Mutton sandwich.





Chopped pork.









George's BBQ
1346 E. 4th St.
Owensboro, KY


Our order:
Two burgoo
Combination plate mutton, pork and beef brisket







Burgoo.





Combination plate Brisket, Pork, Mutton.














Behind the scene at George's.








They gave us Christmas cards!







Ok we need a break.  We're dying.  We just hit two places in a row with no break.  We're running out of steam, and Day 4 is not going to happen.  We agreed that our health was in jeopardy at this point!  We went into downtown Owensboro and found a great little coffee shop!

Coffee Break:  Crème
http://www.myspace.com/thecremecoffeehouse  
109 East 2nd Street
Owensboro, KY






Video!!!!

































To the final mutton BBQ stop in Owensboro.  Don't fear the reaper….

Ole South BBQ
3523 Highway 54
Owensboro, KY

Our order:
Sliced mutton sandwich
Burgoo































Burgoo.





Chopped mutton sandwich.  My favorite of the 4.





















Ok we're stuffed.  We still have half of day 3 left.  Now what?  Let's get the heck out of here.




So we went up taking a break at Casino Aztar in Evansville Indiana as a detour because anything other than eating at this point would be a great idea.

Break:  Casino Aztar
Evansville, IN




I hit it BIG on the penny machine.  Go on vacation, make money.  Nice concept.






The LAST stop, number 14.  We just put BBQ in the Garmin GPS and it sounded like a good name so we gave it a shot.  Good call, GPS!

Landmark BBQ
3901 Broadway Ave
Evansville, IN

Our order:
Pork plate
Half slab of ribs
BBQ baked beans
Dump cake
Ski soda!







I wanted to get a shot of the exterior shack on the other side with the sign, but there was this hill.  And at the top of this hill was a big Rottweiler barking at me.   Then it started to come at me, so I ran inside of the restaurant.   I was informed "that was the neighborhood Rottweiler, he's friendly!"  I'm pretty sure I used up all of my luck on that penny slot machine.

The hill.



Inside… angry Rottweiler safe.








Soak Sandwich?  It's pulled pork and chicken mixed together.





The home stretch.  More ribs.





Pulled pork plate.












Here's a pic of me after the trip.




SKI Soda.   I was fascinated.  Because my last name ends with SKI.  Or maybe I was just wacked out from pork overdose.






How do you end 14 meals in 3 days?  With DESSERT of course!   It's called "Dump Cake"





The final photo.  Then back home to Chicago.  We were DONE.






I came home and stepped on the scale and somehow gained 15 pounds in 3 days.   Well, not somehow. We all know how.  But what did we learn?  BBQ is different every place you go, but it's GOOD everywhere you go.  And that 3 days is the absolute maximum number of days you can do this madness.  I've ran 10 miles and weightrained over the past 4 days, my weight has returned to normal and I look normal again.

 I hope you enjoyed this Porkumentary!

Mike Pawinski
chicagomike@yahoo.com

Day 2

Up the next morning and not feeling hungry, this was only day 2.  We walked around the streets a bit to try and burn some calories (didn't help plus it was freezing) and we made Starbucks stop.  Then over to Mississippi really quick to check out the famous Coleman's BBQ.  By far the best BBQ baked beans of all 14 places we visited.

Coleman's BBQ
Northern Mississippi

Our order:
Jumbo BBQ pulled pork sandwich
Mustard slaw
BBQ baked beans (best recipe found during trip!)
















Then off to Cozy Corner, another famous spot, and Pete really loved this place.  I was beginning to feel full!  Could you believe that?!?!

Cozy Corner BBQ
http://www.cozycornerbbq.com
745 N. Parkway
Memphis, TN

Our order:
Half slab of ribs
Sweet tea




Aquarium smoker using only charcoals!





According to the wall of photos, Danny DeVito and other famous stars have come here for the famous BBQ.



The ribs here are very meaty and have a buttery delicious taste.  One of the best on the trip overall.



Then over to Payne's BBQ, which is best described as Mama's kitchen!  Looking back behind the counter is a stove where the BBQ sauce is heated in a pot and stirred with a spoon.  A regular refrigerator and just felt very "at home".  The ribs were great – but later we found out the pulled pork sandwich is supposedly the best in Memphis.  Oh well, maybe next time!

Payne's BBQ
http://www.myspace.com/paynesbbqlamar  
1762 Lamar Ave.
Memphis, TN

Our order:
Half slab of ribs
Mustard slaw













Diamond in the rough here!  MORRIS GROCERY!   The inside of the grocery is as basic as it gets.  Dolly Madison and Little Debbie snacks, a deli case with only a couple things inside of it.  Beer.  Soda.  But this wonderful place – the owner chops his own hickory and smokes the pork and everything is from scratch.  This was the best sandwich by far, and we inhaled it even though we had just eaten a few times a short time ago.  I dream about this sandwich!  So, if you're ever in Memphis, make a little side trip to this place and you will thank me later.  The best pulled pork sandwich EVER.

Morris Grocery
10601 Macon Rd.
Eads, Tennessee

Our order:
Two pulled pork sandwiches




There's no place to eat inside, and if it's not freezing outside, here is the alternate dining area if you choose not to eat in or on your car!





The holy grail of BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches





I was doing this as well, as we had to head inside to wash up in their sink!





"I'm Peter Pawinski, Wedding Photographer www.peterpawinski.com and I APPROVE THIS SANDWICH!"




Next stop, OWENSBORO KENTUCKY!  Why?  Mutton BBQ.  What is mutton?  Old sleep.  Why?  Well, it has a history in that area and is a "dying art" of BBQ.  Word from the locals is that the seniors love it and it's not too popular with the young folk.


This is pretty much what it looked like for 5 hours from Memphis to Owensboro.


First stop in Owensboro, the tourist mutton stop called MOONLITE BBQ, apparently well known for their buffet.

Moonlight BBQ
http://www.moonlite.com
2840 West Parrish Avenue
Owensboro, KY

Our order:
Burgoo
Cornbread muffins
BBQ chopped mutton plate
Baked beans and slaw










Burgoo – Mutton Stew





A generous serving of BBQ Baked Beans





The chopped mutton plate






So we decided to drive around to see what was around.  Not much.  We were pulled over by the police on the highway.   Why?  Well, if there were signs telling us how fast to go more frequently, then we wouldn't have been pulled over.  One highway we were on was 70MPH, we switched highways and it was 55MPH.  We didn't see any signs saying otherwise.  We were let off since we were from out of town and didn't know the speed limit.  We checked into a hotel, and went into downtown Owensboro.  It's dark.  There's not a lot of signs telling you if a street is one way.  There's no bars.  No clubs.  NOTHING.  So we head back to the hotel, we're told of Texas Roadhouse and Buffalo Wild Wings.  We choose buffalo wild wings since they are pretty big over here.  It's the smallest Buffalo Wild Wings I've ever seen.  It was located in a strip mall.  So we went in, had a couple of beers, then called it a night and discussed if it would end on day 3 or day 4.

End of day 2!

Day 1 – 12-9-2008

BBQ is one of my favorite styles of food.  So why not make a vacation out of it?  My cousin Pete and I have discussed it before and what better time to do it than now?  Gas is cheap, nothing to do, time off of work.  We left on Tuesday just after 7AM, and our first stop was to be around noon in southern IL.     

John John's BBQ
http://www.johnjohnsbbq.com
103 North Mayor Caliper Drive
Colp, IL
 

Our order:
Two pulled pork sandwiches
Order of rib tips
Two sides of fried okra
Side of corn nuggets
Side of fries

This place was really good.  Smokey.   Delicious and a nice little appetizer to being our journey!


The places that are the best usually look like a shack








Meal ONE of FOURTEEN, this is the appetizer!





Close up of rib tips





On the way to and from John John's, we noticed that the Hot Spot Night Club had apparently gotten a little too hot one night and burned to the ground.








So our stomachs were full and we got right back on the highway to head to Memphis, and a billboard catches our eye as soon as we start the journey:  17th Street Barbeque, Award Winning!   Within 5 seconds:  LET'S DO THIS!!  We just ate, so what!!!


17th Street Barbeque
http://www.17thstreetbarbecue.com
2700 17th Street
Marion, IL.

Our order:
Half slab of ribs
Cole slaw and collard greens

Of all our fourteen stops, this restaurant was our least enjoyable experience.  It was a high class BBQ joint with cloth napkins and fancy décor.  A place you'd take a date for BBQ in southern IL.  If it's not messy it's not BBQ!











We finally arrived in Memphis and swung over to Germantown Tennessee.  The Germantown Commissary.  The rain was pouring and there was lightning, and there were many tornado warnings going on in the surrounding areas.  We didn't get any photographs of the outside due to the weather. 

Germantown Commissary
http://www.commissarybbq.com
2290 Germantown Rd.
Germantown,TN

Our order:

Jumbo pulled pork sandwich
Regular pulled pork sandwich
Deviled egg
Tamale

The pulled pork sandwich was FANTASTIC!
It was so good, I wanted to slap someone's mama!



















In downtown Memphis, right next to our hotel was the Rendezvous.  Dry rubbed charcoal grilled rib, known more as a tourist attraction for people seeking BBQ in the downtown Memphis area.  I really enjoyed these ribs, as they were different and I never had anything like it.

Charles Vergo's Rendezvous
http://www.hogsfly.com
52 S. Second Street
Memphis, TN

Our order:

Full slab split
Mustard slaw and BBQ baked beans















At this point we were STUFFED!!!!!  So we decided to take a walk down the street to Beale street.  What's it like?  Even though it was raining a little, there was still activity.  The streets blast with loud music, people are outside trying to lure you into their bars for drinks. 










We ended up inside of the Beale Street Tap Room.  There was quite a selection of beers on tap that we would actually drink such as Rogue's Dead Guy.  It was also our lucky day, $2.50 for all beers on tap.  5 for me, 5 for Pete!   The place was dead until later on.

Beale Street Tap Room
163 Beale Street
Memphis, TN














After drinking, guess what?  I'M HUNGRY AGAIN.  So down the street to Blues City Café!  The ribs were one of my favorites because they reminded me of Honey BBQ wings from KFC.  Very sweet ribs!  WARNING:  This photos have been tainted by beer consumption!



Blues City Café
http://www.bluescitycafe.com
138 Beale Street
Memphis, TN

Our order:
Half rack of ribs
Fries and cole slaw
Tamales (3)





















Back to the hotel down the street and that concludes Day 1!

I've been in a lot of deep thought lately, and becoming more aware of things deep inside, and just not sure what to do with it except to better myself and try to reflect my positive energy outward into the universe.  It's time for me to announce my dearest memories to the world instead of keeping them locked up inside.  Memories of people that are no longer with us, or with me, dead or alive, who have touched my life at one time or another.  You know who you are.  You have all made a difference.  A song I have written long ago, the chorus goes like this:  "Memories of you I hold all to myself, not to breathe another word to anyone else.  I'll try not to cry, I'll try to live another day.  I have no idea why things have to be with way."   Now I shall no longer hold this, for my heart grows heavy and I want to be free.  This is from all of my life, from the very beginning:

My uncle Wally.  You passed at a young age, my Mom's baby brother.  Your death was not in vein, it gave me a reason to become who I am.  Even though it tore half of my family apart, we all have found our ways.  All is forgiven, all is forgotten, but nothing will ever be the same.

Chuck, my uncle's best friend and love.  After Wally's passing, you left us shortly to be with him.  I miss you, too.  Both of you always made me laugh, smile and feel unconditional love in our family.

My uncle Pat, the Chicago Police Officer.  Shining your police spotlight into our living room at night to freak us out!  You are truly missed, and your dedication to being a warrior Angel on this earth has inspired your family to become great people; even your wife and son went into law enforcement.

Richard Montclair.  I met you in homeroom/division freshmen year in highschool, we sat next to each other and we just agreed to be locker partners.  I never saw you much throughout the years, but you would always leave me notes that you were borrowing assorted things from my right guard spray can to paper or pens.  You signed most of my yearbooks, and I remember the last time I saw you in the hall our senior year, the exact spot in passing by the stairwell.  Your life was taken away shortly after by a bullet, and the loss of your life inspired me to start getting my act together, and to join the Guardian Angels years later.  I think about you often.

Kara.  I met you at a party in LaPorte Indiana.  We made each other smile.  We chatted on yahoo a lot, then we talked on the phone.  I found out you were a professional singer recording dance tracks.  You sang to me over the phone.  You had the voice of an angel.  Taken away so soon from us, so young, I don't think you were even 21 yet.  I stopped hearing from you and didn't know what happened.  Then I read your obituary and finally heard what happened about the car accident.  I always will remember you, even though you only touched my life for a short time.

Laura.  We never met, but we became pen pals.  You lived in Florida, we talked on the phone for hours and hours.  You sent me letters, we shared a lot of things and always talked about meeting.  You were older, and I know you smoked a lot and drank a lot of coffee.  You had disappeared, and a year later your sister contacted me.  Your heart failed, and you were gone.  Another loss to this world, but another great memory and I will never forget you.

TG/ThatGirl from Yahoo Chicago chat 1.  I met you at Harp and Shamrock a few times, we talked here and there online.  You were talking about how your headache wouldn't go away, and you laid down to try and sleep and never woke up.  We all miss you.  So young, so sad.  You were so beautiful.

EarthAngel.  You hosted the big parties in LaPorte.  Later you would be taken away from lung cancer.  Thank you so much for bringing a lot of us "lost souls" together.  You made a difference, and you gave people the chance to unwind and have fun.

There are many other people who have passed, specifically that have taken their own lives.  Dos Prompt Man from Omega.  Squiz, I heard you also took your own life.  I have also heard of one or two yahoo chatters that I have run into online and maybe in person that have taken their lives.  Please know, help is out there, people do care.... never give up, it's never so bad that ending it is the solution.  Call a friend, go online, ASK for help.  We're here for you.  Rise above the darkness and just know that the pain you are feeling shall pass.  I promise, it will.

To all of those who I have loved and lost - friends, relatives, relationships.  You know who you are without mentioning any names.  I gave you my heart, you gave me yours, and for whatever reasons things happened and now we are no longer.  It is okay.  I forgive you, as I hope you forgive me.  I think about all of you, every day, when I begin to slip away and become sad... I remember my reason and my purpose.  I remember YOU, and how ALL OF YOU made me feel.  Memories of you, both sad and happy.  Never forgotten.  You helped make me this deep soul who cares.  I'll never forget any of you, and I love all of you.

All of you are part of me now, forever.  In memories, but in heart and spirit.

Love,
Michael

I entered the Body-for-LIFE 12-week Challenge back in 2000 and completing it, thinking that I had did it.  It turns out that LIFE is the challenge, it is the test put before us that we must constantly sharpen ourselves to pass to the next level.  The body is only one part of the puzzle.  MIND - BODY - SOUL - HEART.  I started with the heart, then the body.  The past 8 years have been the Soul-for-LIFE and Mind-for-LIFE challenges.  And now that I finally SEE it all as a whole, and how it all works together in harmony:  We are never finished, we are never done moving forward.  We are a constant.  We are a winning streak of forward motion.  Dark times will come, and those like you and me - TEAM RISE ABOVE, will prevail and overcome it.  Through ourselves, we reflect positivity onto others and never give up.  We know all to well that we've had some of the worst luck come our way, we've had some crazy things happen.  Dust it off.  Stand up.  Take a deep breath.  Climb from where you have fallen, up out of that dark place, and look up... and then, you see a higher ground you never noticed before.  You climb up to it.  You're there.  You see more than you've seen before around you and below you.  And the good news is, once you're there... you will always know how to climb back up to that point.  And that, my friends, is what Team Rise Above is all about.

Your friend,
Mike Pawinski

My cousin Pete hosted a most excellent smoke-out/BBQ Saturday night. Of course we had the sauces ready to go, even some Jamacian Jerk chicken wings with a 8-habanero rub, and if that wasn't hot enough, some really hot habanero dipping sauce (seeds and all). Yum! Much hotter than Melnick's and quite tasty. But then we broke out the 2 million scoville hot sauce. Drops were okay, but I poured quite a bit of it on a pulled pork sandwich. That, I must admit, was pretty hot and had me losing composure a little, but it did wear off.

Later on that evening, I was thinking about Blair's "Sudden Death" and I recall that being the hottest stuff I've tried to date. So I broke that out of the fridge and had Pete and his friend Dave try it. Confirmed, it was hotter than the 2 million scoville sauce. My test was rather suicidal. After a few drops, I was like... let's go for it. I grabbed a piece of white bread, poured it on and ATE it. Now that I would not do again the pain was intense and I actually broke down and went for the milk in the fridge (known as cookie dipping sauce lol). The milk would cool it on contact, but after swallowing the pain would return. The intensity was immense, and I don't suggest it ever! Dave's Insanity Sauce, as a baseline, was like ketchup and black pepper in comparison to Blair's Sudden Death. Let's just say.. I had a really bad Sunday! I think I can still feel it...

Here's a video with some of my old Cobra crew and what I used to hang with.... my 600HP baby is sold, but when I come back...I promise to be even more terrorizing to my opponents that before! Do it RIGHT or don't do it AT ALL! Life is short, PLAY HARD! Racing is in my blood forever!

--------------->03 Cobra video compilation

Mike

*UPDATE* - I ate all 10 no problem and so did Pete. I guess you could say we are very conditioned to hot peppers. My lips were burning a little and my fingers were too .. but as far as my mouth and stomach... nothing It is also 8 hours later, and I'm fine. No challenge as you can see from the video.






As some of you may know, I eat some HOT food, I can even handle my habaneros, although some I've found to be a little too intense. On Friday, Feb 29th my cousin Pete and I are going to attempt to eat the hottest wings in the world. This is serious. You have to sign a waiver to excuse the establishment of hospitalization, injury or even death. Eating all 10 wings, you became part of the wall of fame. There is a bell to ring if you are in too much pain to get an "antidote" to cool yourself off. What's the heat from? The Red Savina Habanero, which is used in pepper spray to blind would-be offenders, and is the hottest habanero pepper on the scoville scale. Anything hotter than that is not fit for human consumption and is considered hazardous material. For more info about the wings:

Metromix Chicago HOTTEST WINGS review

Location:
Jake Melnick's Corner Tap
41 E. Superior St.
Chicago, IL 60611
312-266-0400

We will be there sometime in the evening. If you are interested in attending, send me a message and I will personally contact you with the time we will be there on the day of the event. There will be photographs, and I am looking for someone with a video camera to tape the event, which will be uploaded to YouTube (but we need the camera first!). Any volunteers?

Wish me luck. I've been training for this and I think I just might make it through the 10 and be okay....

Mike

For those who don't get Check Please or missed it, we've got it on YouTube for you.

Here are the links:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=lRa1HvMGwFo

http://youtube.com/watch?v=OHYVkqJPubc

http://youtube.comf/watch?v=BbTSv-2uOXg

 
The first is for Tanoshii, the second is for Xni-Pec, and the last is for Timo and the wrap-up.

Tune in to Check Please on WTTW 11 Chicago this Friday (October 19th) at 8PM. There you will see my cousin and best friend Peter Pawinski as the main table reviewer (one of the stars of the show for that episode) for the restaurant he submitted, Xni Pec www.xnipec.us in Cicero, IL. We also went to Tanoshi sushi together for his review assignment. You will also be introduced to our friend Antonio (the owner) and his family, and I might be making an appearance (more than likely) in the restaurant having a good time :-). The restaurant will be closed to the public Friday night, so please if you wish to go, get there before Friday night or after Friday.

Rock and Shock, Peace and Love,

Mike Pawinski


update after the show:  Well the party at Xni Pec went well Friday night.  I was essentially not used for the cut scenes, you only see me for 2 seconds on the right side of the table just after the girl leaving rings the bell.  My cousin Pete did a fantastic job, and is now known as the "sexy gordita guy" because he called described it as "sexy" on the inside.  Hah!  Rock on!  He also mentioned his cousin during the Tanoshi review, that would be me ;-)

I had an incident happen on Friday night at a bar in downtown Joliet.  Everything was normal, we were just having a couple of beers and a good conversation.   The guy sitting next to me at our table dropped and stopped breathing (he also hit his head on the way down on the brick wall and hit his head, bleeding).  He was face down, his sister and I went down to the floor and rolled him on his back and his eyes were open, mouth open, not responsive.  I quickly checked for breathing and there was nothing.  I yelled to the bar to call 911, and I made a quick decision to yell if anyone knew CPR because I could not recall the steps since it has been several years since taking the refresher course.  Luckily someone came forward and began doing compressions.  On the 6th compression he sat up and took in a gasp of air.  I ran to the bar and got towels and ice for his sister to hold on his split head, and started to talk to him to keep him up.  The bar told everyone to leave but him and his sister who was holding him up on the floor, keeping pressure on his head with the ice/towel.  I asked his sister to keep talking to him to keep him conscious and thinking – he didn't know where he was or how he got on the floor.  He was seemed perfectly normal before the incident and after that he didn't seem right.  Ambulance came in minutes, they were loading him onto the ambulance via stretcher and he was covered in sweat… that's the last I've heard or seen of him, I do not have a status update but I had a rough weekend thinking and wishing that I remembered the rescue breaths because it's been years since my refresher class (I haven't been offered one).  I'm glad I remembered the steps of how to handle everything – the Graycor CPR/basic classes taught me that.

I feel sad about it, I guess I am dealing with it as I have never had anything like this happen to me before.  I'm sure it could be worse.. I know someone who lost someone in their arms.  I couldn't imagine that. 

Carpe Diem.

Love,
Michael