Tag: Restaurant

I Recently Dined At USA’s Best Restaurant!

California, Humor, Sierras

Copper Top BBQ is the  best restaurant in the USA as voted by Yelp in 2015. It’s not the best I’ve ever been to but the food is pretty good. It’s a walk-up joint with five picnic tables and a few bales of hay to sit on.  Copper Top is  located in Big Pine, California and I passed it as I was exiting Death Valley National Park last week.  It has great views of the Sierras but I had to eat in my car in the back lot. I had the Tri-Tip Sandwich($10). Very delicious and layered with about 3 inches of meat. The tri-tip wasn’t quite as tender as I would expect for the best. I’d give it an 8 out of 10.  Spago’s is the best eatery I’ve been to.

What’s the best restaurant you’ve dined at?

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The secret charcoal is now revealed!
The secret charcoal is now revealed!

 

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The signage was curious

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What Do Hurricane Mesa and The Flying Monkey Have in Common?

Desert Southwest, Utah, Zion

The Flying Monkey, a pizza joint in Springdale, Utah,  derived its name from an Air Force test track on the top of nearby Hurricane Mesa just outside of Zion NP. In the 1950′s the U.S. Air Force constructed a 12,000 foot test track on nearby Hurricane Mesa.   The track was constructed to test aircraft ejection systems using dummies.  

In at least one test series the rocket sled dummy was replaced by apes to identify the g-force effects of this type of ejection on a live being.  Hence the Flying Monkey name came into existence. They could have also called it the Screaming Monkey!

You can barely see in the image below a building or two at the top of Hurricane Mesa. Flying Monkey pizza is not just another pizzeria. It is wood-fired, thin crust, with aromas remindful of my days as a kid getting a slice from Alfonso’s in NJ.

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