Wow... I mean... wow... No REALLY... WOW!!!!! Yesterday we took our daughter to Ottumwa's water park, "The Beach". On our way back... my husband told me of Goldie's. A restaurant in Prairie City, IA that he had taken his dad to for lunch one day. Apparently, his dad had found an ad in regards to this little diner, and had wanted to go try out their "Mingo" sandwich.
My father-in-law was very sick at the time and was on a very strict diet so my husband told him... "You can have whatever you want today!" (Sometimes you just have to let people do something that will make them happy. You know?) So off they went... to Goldie's.
When we pulled in, I saw it as just a small town ice cream shop. Nothing fancy... small... PACKED with people and definitely quaint! We parked (at the ONLY spot available in the lot) and headed in. Initially I thought, perhaps we should eat outside... they had picnic tables set out and a few people were sitting there, but upon looking inside (though it looked swamped!) we found one lone table in the corner. Regardless of the fact that it was "messy" and the tip still lay where the customers left it, we went inside and sat down.
A very sweet lady walked up... greeted us, cleaned the table and welcomed us. She handed us menus and my husband immediately told me about the "Mingo" sandwich. As I looked I read and saw... "tenderloin and sausage" sandwich. WHAT??? Ok... so here's the deal.... I am sooooooooo not a "mix my food" kind of gal!!! NOT!!! I stared at it a moment and said to my husband... "Seriously??? A tenderloin AND a sausage sandwich together???" He smiled and said... "I'm telling you... Pop LOVED it!" Well... he decided he was getting JUST the tenderloin sandwich and of course, my daughter wanted a cheeseburger. I looked again at the description and sighed. Yes... I HAD to find out more about this sandwich.
Once again the sweet lady walked up to us... smiled and asked if we were ready to order. *sigh* "Ok, first... tell me about this Mingo sandwich." I asked. She grinned and said.. "It's BIG!" Yes... but... that doesn't matter, I can certainly take a doggie bag home... I just can't imagine a tenderloin AND a sausage sandwich??? Together???? "LOTS of people LOVE it!", she says. *HUGE sigh* "OK... I'll have the Mingo!" My husband smiled at me.. KNOWING full well... me and "mixing" just is NOT normal.
A few minutes later... here comes the food. I looked at it and just thought.. "Ok, here goes nothing." I cut the sandwich in half and took a deep breath. I looked at the sandwich and looked for a point where I would get a bite of the tenderloin AND the sausage. I sunk my teeth in... took a bite and looked up at my husband as I closed my mouth and watched him smile... waiting... I believe I chewed once and (as he says) my eyes bulged out and I heard him say.. "Well... how is it?". My mouth full I mumbled... "OH MY GAWD!!!" And he laughed... "That's what HE said!!!!" He giggled and I mumbled once again.. "OH MY GAWD!!!" Shaking my head.. "yes"... I finally swallowed and once again.. "OH MY GAWD!! This is AWESOME!!" LOL
Yes... I IMMEDIATELY fell in love with the Mingo sandwich!!! It WAS a big sandwich but I had NEVER tasted anything quite like it before!! I am truly in love!!! Bite after bite, I truly felt I was in heaven! My husband, eating his sandwich, kept smiling and every now and then giggled again.. "Your eyes bulge with EVERY bite." he said. HA!
Our waitress came by and smiles.. "Well... what do you think?" Me... "OH MY GAWD!!! This is awesome!!" She laughs as did my husband. I'm hooked!
I only ate half the sandwich and FOR SURE, I took the remainder home! But... we aren't done yet! Time for dessert! Oh yes... I HAD to have dessert. It's an ice cream shop for goodness sake... you HAVE to have ice cream!
I settled on a turtle sundae. Ice cream... hot fudge... caramel sauce and pecans. Sounds great. Oh and look... there isn't a SMALL on the menu! Ok... so every ice cream item is either served as a medium or a large. Fine... I'll take the medium. Hubby orders an apple pie sundae... our daughter a brownie sundae.
It takes a bit... not sure why.. but it does. Then... here she comes. She sets my sundae in front of me. My eyes settle on how HUGE a serving it is and that the ice cream looks like it's going to topple over the side of the dish. THEN... I see the MONSTER pecans heaped all over it! So... without politely waiting for everyone to get their dish... I take my first bite of just the ice cream. Again my husband watches with a smile.... "Oh my gawd!!! Wow... this is sooooooooo much better than DQ ice cream!!" I push my spoon in and this time I grab up the pecans... some fudge and some caramel. Eyes bulge once again! The fudge, the caramel... thick... hot... AND soooo chewy! This is just insane! A 1st class sandwich and THEN... THIS???? Wow!
My husband's sundae arrives with LOADS of apple pie goop on it and a comparable amount of ice cream... WITH the same droop exploding over the side as mine did. Hee Hee
Finally, my daughter's brownie sundae came. She too ordered a medium. It seemed like forever for hers to arrive, and we couldn't figure out why. Then... finally it came. It had a HUGE brownie in the middle that appeared to be home made. (Seriously ok.. A HUGE piece) of brownie in the dish... FROSTED!... and on BOTH ends... a HUGE amount of ice cream. LOADED with hot fudge and.. nuts everywhere! No way will she eat all this... NO WAY!!! She digs in and honestly... I do not think she even finished 1/3 of it!! Of course we ALL had to take a taste of each other's sundaes and hers was no exception. It was heaven as well! She looks at me.. looks at dad and says... "Can I take this with me?" LOL Uhhh no... we have a half hour drive to get home still. If you're full now... no way can you eat it in the car without it melting everywhere before we arrive. LOL She has to leave MOST of the sundae behind.
I don't remember a time when I've been to a restaurant, ice cream shop or any type of establishment such as this that I actually grabbed my phone and called someone to say... "OH MY GAWD.. You HAVE to come eat here!" LOL LOL
It was truly an awesome experience and I know I've NEVER felt this way about a food establishment before! MAJOR kudos to Goldies!!! MAJOR kudos to my father-in-law (he is not with us any longer and I soooo wish I could tell him... "Wow.. you REALLY hit a home run with this place. Thank you!"... and MAJOR kudos to my awesome husband for sharing this experience with us.
Who'd a thunk a sandwich could inspire soooo much writing! LOL
2 comments:
Wow- sounds fab, but no pix???? of the infamous sandwich and desserts?????
I did chuckle, because your DH took his Dad there, and now he's no longer alive???? Hope it wasn't blamed on Goldie's-LOL.
Love reading your stories, they are so heartwarming and funny. Thank you for sharing. Have a Great weekend.
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