Rockingham Road Dairy Freez

Tastee Freez is no more.  But it has arisen from the depths of ice cream hell to become DAIRY Freez.

At first glance, Dairy Freez isn't much different from it's predecessor.  The menu board is exactly the same.

DAIRY FREEZ

TASTEE FREEZ: 100% MORE TASTEE

We arrived around 5:30 on a Tuesday night and had to wait about 5 minutes for someone to take our order.  After we ordered, the crowd cleared out a bit, but our food still took about, oh, AN ETERNITY...or 15 minutes.  We grabbed a table and unwrapped our Freez feast.

All day long, Richie was belly aching for a burger.  He ordered a double cheeseburger basket with fries and coleslaw.  He said the food was OK.  The burger was OK, the fries were OK, the shake was OK.  Very descriptive.

He was disappointed that the bun was not toasted and said it kind of ruined the burger for him.

                                 
I decided to try the Philly chicken.  The chicken was basically grilled, chopped, capped with white cheese, and stuffed into a hot dog bun.  I'm not picky, it was delicious, and I skipped the bun anyway.  A cute little sparrow benefited.

My "loaded" fries were a big letdown.  Scant amount of cheese was melted into a rubbery glue on top of their crinkle cut fries.  The bacon was chopped into a few large pieces and sprinkled on top.  I barely touched them.

I capped off my meal with a gummy bear shake.  The gummy bears infused a light fruity flavor into the vanilla ice cream.  They then rested peacefully on the bottom in a mass grave of mutilated gummy bears.  I drank for awhile, then grabbed a spoon to properly lay the bears to rest in my mouth.

Richie got the Nerds shake, also fruit infused, but try to suck a nerd through a straw.  It cannot be done.

I think Dairy Freez is a cool place, a throwback to "simpler times," or so I'm told.  The food was fast food quality but it certainly wasn't fast.  To be fair, it can't be easy to cook food in that tiny little cracker box.  There aren't many better options for drive-in food in the QCA, but you could try Big Dave and Holly's in LeClaire.  As for the ice cream, I will give you the green light.

Cook Out

After a trip to the Boone "Mall," we headed to this place called Cookout. One might say it looked a little "ghetto" because it was obviously a Wendy's that had the dining room removed and buzzing neon lights tacked on the roof, but it looked intriguing.













Similar to Sonic drive-ins, customers must either walk up or use the drive thru. It was a nice night, so we walked up and got our first glimpse of the huge heavenly menu. I say huge because they offer 36 varieties of shakes and heavenly because you can order just about anything as a side for your meal! Who wouldn't want to order a chicken sandwich with a side of chicken nuggets anda corn dog? Wash it down with peach cobbler or Hi-C punch milkshake. Oh- everything on the menu is less than $3.50.














The beverage choices also excited us because they have fountain Cheerwine. For those who don't know, it's a cherry pop found predominantly in the south and is usually sold in glass bottles.














While I ate a healthy dinner of fro-yo from Marble Slab and some Entenmann's cake, Richie ordered a chargrilled burger "cookout-style" with chili, coleslaw, mustard, and onions. (Similar burgers can be found on many menus down there.) For his side, he ordered fries with cajun seasoning.




























The whole rest of the trip, he kept commenting on wanting to go back there, but we had to hit up other places and never made it back. I was disappointed as well because I really wanted to try a caramel cheesecake shake. Reportedly, they actually take a whole slice of cheesecake and shove it in the blender. Awesome.

When we got back to Iowa, I looked up info to see if it was a chain, and lo and behold, it is. Cook-Out started in Charlotte NC in 1990, supposedly by a disgruntled Wendy's employee. There are now 30 restaurants across NC. Not much else is known about the chain. CLICK HERE or on the menu sign picture for the glorious food details.

Doggie Styles Too

You don't have to go all the way to Chicago for a delicious dog. To satisfy your craving for a wiener, check out one of Doggie Styles 3 QC locations- Silvis, Milan, or the newest in SouthPark Mall. (Now you have a reason to go to SouthPark Mall!)
Well I originally went out to Milan to find a place called the Back Door Grill and Chill and instead found out that it is now Doggie Styles Too (576 W. 1st), which was fine by me. It actually opened there last year.
It's a cute little building with drive-up and walk-up windows, plus a dining room around back.














They offer typical drive-in type food but obviously are most known for their gigantic wieners and gyros.














Richie had to try a huge ween known as the HomeWrecker. It's a half pound foot long hot dog with cheese and onions and whatever else you want to pile on top.














He had no problem eating it, but apparently he had some issues digesting it because he is currently complaining about stomach cramps.













I'm not a fan of wieners, but I tried a bite of the dog and it was actually really tasty. All beef and seasoned really well.
I had to try the ice cream because that is my role as the sweets expert.

















So I ordered a Twinkie Sundae. They take two twinkies, split them open like a bun and put three dollops of ice cream on top. You can get hard packed or soft serve and you can choose sundae toppings. As you can see, I went for a naked sundae.













The ice cream was sweeter and more chocolately than DQs, so I enjoyed that. The Twinkies got soggy quickly as the ice cream melted into them, but that just made them so much more delicious and filling! major yums
Doggie Styles also serves a $5 all you can eat breakfast with eggs, biscuits and gravy, the whole works, so I need to go back and try it in the a.m. If you're looking for a mean wiener or sweet treat, give Doggie Styles a chance. Check out their hours and a short QC Times article HERE

Lou's

Richie recently stopped at Lou's Drive-In on his last trip to Peoria (4229 N Knoxville). We had been there last summer and I vaguely remember eating a chicken sandwich so I will defer to him for a review.


Lou's Drive-In opened in 1953 as a hot dog and root beer stand. Today it's menu includes a little bit of everything from tamales to tenderloins to Boca burgers. The best thing on the menu is the homemade root beer. They seem to have a two step process which remains a mystery to me as it involved two cups and two liquids that somehow came together to form the best root beer in the Midwest. I also enjoyed a strawberry malt.















The cool thing about Lou's is the outside seating and car hops that will take your order and bring your food to your car if you leave your lights on. And the food isn't tasteless like that multicolored craphole they call Sonic's. It's not open year round, so check it out when the weather's warm