Nickelberry's Pizza & Dewmocracy

Many native Eldridge-ians are surprised by the sudden change of name of Paul Revere Pizza. It is now Nickelberry's Pizza. Instead of the handsome horse rider, we now are welcomed to the restaurant by a giant Gerber baby wanna-be. What does a baby have to do with pizza? And I'm just gonna say it, no sense beating around the bush... Nickelberry's sounds a little too similar to Dingleberries, which does not excite my palate in the least.














To see if the pizza had changed at all, I gave Nickelberry's a call and ordered a medium pepperoni, our usual Paul Revere order. I was able to add a side of breadsticks for a nickel (ahh it all makes sense now). Well the old pizza patriot box has been replaced by the generic map of Italy or, as they call it, 'Italia.'














The bread sticks are coming! The bread sticks are coming! They arrived as usual, wrapped like an oversized baked potato.














I opened the pizza box and, lo and behold, it looked and smelled the same as Revere's pepperoni.














The bread sticks also looked the same, slightly browned and positioned around a reservoir of buttery garlic sauce.














The final test: Taste. Yep, Nickelberry's Pizza tastes exactly the same as P.R.'s. So what's the deal? I couldn't dig up any info, but it looks like Paul Revere is still a legit pizza chain, so the local owner must have parted ways with the franchise.

You have to have pop (some call it soda, they are backwards and weird) to wash down the grease and allow for maximum pizza burpage. Purpose: to combat the heart burn and allow you to once again enjoy the pepperoni goodness you just consumed.

I found the three new Mountain Dew flavors at Target, so I bought them for a side by side comparison. In the least surprising move ever, Richie drank all three.














The first flavor is White Out- a grapefruit and lemon lime soda. He describes it as 'Squirty.'














Not bad.














The second flavor is Typhoon. It blew him away.


















Actually, it just blew and ended up half full in the garbage atop my massive collection of kettle corn bags and skinny cow wrappers. He said it was too fruity. I took a sip and agreed. It tastes like a very sweet fruit punch with overwhelming pineapple flavor.


















The third flavor is Distortion, which is essentially Mountain Dew with an extra kick of lime. Hee-yah

















Our connoisseur swishes the green liquid to allow for maximum taste bud action.


















It vaguely reminded him of the limey green rivers served at our favorite ice cream parlor, Lagomarcino's. But really, it's just Dew with more fake lime flavor.

Congratulations White-Out! A 12-pack of you is now stowed in our refrigerator to be consumed over the next...oh 5 hrs or so during non-stop Modern Warfare matches. You can vote for your favorite flavor HERE.

Pizza and pop- a classic American pairing, much like Jim and Pam, they are meant to be together.

If you liked Paul Revere's simple and greasy pizza, go ahead and try dingle..i mean Nickelberry's Pizza. Tell them the giant baby sent you.

Boone Drug and Soda Fountain

One of a dying breed... an old fashioned drug store with a lunch counter! Boone Drug (617 W King) originally opened in 1919. Like many pharmacies at the time, they included a soda fountain and lunch counter. Unlike many of those pharmacies, they continue to serve food and ice cream today.




























We snagged a bright yellow booth and was waited on by a young girl in a paper hat. Delightful!













The menu is typical lunch fare such as burgers, hot dogs, sandwiches, and wraps. With a side of codeine.

















They seemed to training some new people, so the food took awhile to come out, but it was really good. I was expecting mediocre average lunch fare, but everyone was really happy with how their food came out.




Cooking up meth and burgers






Richie got a burger of course. It's so cute, it almost looks fake with that round bun and green lettuce poking out.





Straight from an Archie comic.









and Richie IS Jughead















He also tried some Blue Sky Root Beer.













I got a blackened chicken wrap. That sucker was spicy! Like snot was running out of my nose spicy. And, as you can see, the veggies were very fresh and not from a bagged salad.














My only complaint is that they claim to be a soda fountain, yet didn't offer any homemade soda concoctions. They did have ice cream floats and shakes though.













So it was a pretty neat place to visit for lunch. It's one of those places old people probably love to take their grandkids to so they can tell them boring stories about getting sodie pops there as youths. The drug store part came in handy too, as I was able to pick up some Tums and hydrocortisone after we ate.

Lagomarcino's

I wish I could go back in time and visit Lagomarcino's in the early 1900s. Just being in the original is like taking a shot of nostalgia. You feel all warm and fuzzy and wish you could experience the place like your grandparents did. The original is located on 5th Ave in Moline and opened as a candy store in 1908 by Angelo Lagomarcino, an italian immigrant. The business is still owned by the family. Since then, they have expanded into ice cream, sodas, and lunches. They are pretty famous for their hot fudge sundae which is served with the hot fudge on the side, so you can pour it on as you eat. Interestingly, the hot fudge recipe was bought off a traveling salesman in 1915.














We visited the Lago's in the Village of East Davenport, which used to be a pharmacy, then a Happy Joe's until 1997 when it became Lago's. While the Moline location has the same furnishings from 1908, the Davenport store has the same feel because it was furnished with booths and lights from old soda fountains in Iowa.














Lunches are light, featuring sandwiches on their delicious light rye bread, with chips, salads, or fruit platters. The desserts are truly decadent and rich, most of the menu is their original sundae concoctions. View the menu here and see for yourself.













We all tried different sandwiches, club, tuna salad, and roast beef. then, of course we tried different drinks, a raspberry malt which everyone fought over...













banana lemonade...













and a Lago- a soda that tastes like root beer with cherry grenadine. Of course they also have the sweet and syrupy green river- a bright green lime flavored soda.













Both Lago's continue to sell their fabulous chocolates and candy. It's expensive- 20$ a pound, but it's the best in the area. the chocolate is unbeatable. I always get a small bar for about $1.50. We also got some mint malted milk balls.

Anyone coming from out of town needs to stop here to try some ice cream or soda. It's a one of a kind Q-C experience.