Back in August I went to One World Cafe and got the chicken and waffles. I had high hopes for this dish you don’t find at many restaurants because One World usually has fantastic fare from their eclectic menu. Well it came and there was sausage gravy with it. I don’t eat sausage gravy because it has a certain kind of grey-gross lumpy look to it. Strike one. Then I moved over to the chicken and waffles and tried them. Instead of fried chicken they used seasoned chicken strips which, at least for my tastebuds, left a kind of weird taste in my mouth. Strike two. But I did see that they had pizza on the menu and decided to come back and see if they can redeem themselves with their pizza pie. Or will this be strike three and they’re out? Well, let’s go and find out. Swing batter...schwing!
Here we are at One World Cafe at the corner of University and Main which has become quite the controversial street corner in Peoria. Let's go in and see what's going on.
Wow, there's a big crowd in here tonight and there's a wait for a table. I'm meeting friends here, but of course I'm about 40 minutes early due to my obsession with having to be the first one there.
So we need to kill a little time and I know the perfect place to murder these precious little minutes...the bar!
And look who's bartending, Jessie who we met on our last trip. I ordered a bottle of Pabst and she asked if I wanted to call the cap. I didn't know what she was talking about and she told me that underneath the Pabst cap is a number and a mark from a card like a Queen or a Heart. So I called the Four of Hearts, let's see if I get lucky...
The Queen of Clubs...waahh, waahh, wahhh, waaaahhh!
They change out the taps often here and this is eight of them for this month. Check out the pumpkin on the left end.
Check out eight more over here, nice selection!
I took a stroll over to the dining room and it's a full house...hey, we just got photobombed!
The photobomber at the end of the table is none other than MBIP pal and Contributor, Jimmy LaHood! He's here with his friends after they were part of a production at Bradley called "Spring Awakening." Jimmy and his friends were in the band and from the end of the table on the left are: Charlie, Susie, Jimmy, Damon, and Joel. Susie was the music director, Joel played keyboard, Damon played cello and Jimmy was on guitar. It turns out Susie lived in New York City for nine years, so I sat down and had a nice conversation with all of them. Then I realized it was time to meet my friends and got up...
And found my friends at the front door! I love it when the timing is perfect like this. Tonight's special pizza guest stars are, from left: Don, Lisa and Leah! Time to let this cheesy party begin!
A table had just cleared, so the host for the evening led us to it. Perfect!
I forgot to get a picture taken of all of us at the table, but that's where we were sitting.
Ben is our waiter for the evening and here he is yukking it up with Leah and Don.
Leah was nice enough to bring me a bottle of mustard! And it's inglehoffer, the Cadillac of mustards! Thank you Leah!
We started off dinner with an appetizer of Chinese Egg Rolls. The crispy egg rolls are fried and stuffed with cabbage, carrots, rice noodles and shrimp. It comes with a traditional sweet and sour sauce and I mixed that with the inglehoffer mustard and it was really a tasty treat. We're off to a wonderful start tonight!
On a trip to the bathroom, I noticed this sign which is a photo project by Stacy Hanna and David Vernon. You can read about the project here and here. Basically it's two photographers and their takes on a common theme.
This is Stacy's photo of the bridge over the Illinois River...
Here's David's take of the same subject. If you look real close at both you can also see a faint obligatory mirror shot which just adds to the wonderfulness of it all.
Okay, back at the table the hot sauces have arrived and once again it's the all-too familiar pairing of Frank's (yawn) Red Hot Sauce and Sriacha. Next week I gotta remember to bring Ragin' RR's giant Tabasco sauce!
Alright, Ben has arrived with this week's pizza pies and they look fabulous! Ben is balancing three of them and Lisa is holding up the fourth one. Let's check them out!
Don got half cheese and half sausage...
Lisa got the Basil Pesto Chicken...
Leah got the Primo which is Italian sausage, pepperoni, mushroom, onion, red and green peppers in a traditional pizza sauce.
I gambled and got something really different, a breakfast pizza. I got the Hearty Country which is a pizza topped with scrambled eggs, diced potatoes, ham, sausage, bacon and shredded cheese. I figured a specialty item like this is either going to be really good or really bad. It looks tasty, so we're off to a promising start!
I put two slices of the breakfast pizza and one slice of Don's cheese pizza on the cooling plate for the all-important cooling process.
The breakfast pizza was very good! The crust had a nice taste and consistency to it and with the scrambled eggs, cheese, bacon, sausage, ham and potatoes, it's like a tasty breakfast buffet in every bite. I declare that this redeems One World from our chicken and waffles night back in August!
The cheese pizza was really good too. Lots of melted cheese, a crispy crust and zingy sauce. If you haven't tried the pizza at One World, I suggest you try it soon!
It was a great night and in addition to wonderful food we had some lively conversation at the table and as Lisa pointed out, not one of us pulled out a cell phone the entire evening, so good for us! But as you can see, Leah, Don and Lisa have left and the place is getting ready to close for the evening, so there's just one thing left for me to do...
Take a picture of this giganzo cow ass on the wall and head on back to MBIP World Headquarters.
Okay, time for the next day cold pizza challenge and as you can see, the craft beer corner is still empty, I'll try and fix that by next week.
It's delicious! We'll see you all tomorrow!
Pizza Rating
Three and a quarter Chef Boyardees—They definitely redeemed themselves and I highly recommend the pizza at One World. Try the breakfast pizza for a really unique tasting pie!
One World Cafe
1245 W Main Street
Peoria
309-672-1522
Related posts: YOP @ Monical’s Pizza, Goodfellas, Two25 In The Mark Twain Hotel, McCritter’s Bar & Grill, Firehouse Pizza Pub, Grady’s Pizza, Castle’s Patio Inn, Aurelio’s Pizza, The Pour House, No Wake Zone, Farmington Pizza Company/Acme Saloon, Tobin’s Pizza, Joe’s Sports Grille, Broken Tree, Hoops Pub & Pizza, Oliver's Pizza & Pub North, Rizzi’s on State, Bacci Pizza, Veterans Pub and Pizza, Larry’s Driftwood Pizza, Norwood Pub ‘N’ Grub, Barrister’s Pizza and Pub, Mickie’s Pizzeria, Double A’s, Lucca Grill, Avanti’s, Leonardo’s, Lou’s La Grotto, Knuckles Pizza, Davis Bros. Pizza, Kenny’s Westside Pub, Dave’s Pizza, Peoria Pizza Works, Sugar and Agatucci’s.
There's a big old goofy man,
Dancing with a big old goofy girl,
Ooh baby,
It's a big old goofy world.
Surprise link, click on it...I dare you!
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