Okay, today was supposed to be a road trip to Kewanee, but it snowed on Sunday and the roads weren’t in great shape, so we had to do a little bit of last minute reshuffling and we decided to keep it local. However, the guy who was going to drive to Kewanee agreed to do the local driving so I could have more than a couple of beers and who is this guy I’m talking about?
Well, you'll see in a minute as we open the door that's being knocked upon...
The Beatles? Wait a second...this can't be, John and George are dead and this picture is in black and white. MBIP is always brought to you in living color! And that's not even my door! Let's try this again...
Okay, that's more like it, it's MBIP Contributing Writer, pal and wheel man, Scott Turley. And he's all bundled up because it's colder than fuck-all outside and we also got our first snow of the year.
After a couple of beers to warm Scott up, we're off and running on this wintry night.
As you can see, there's the evidence of the first snowfall and the roads are pretty empty out here.
I thought we'd go to Oliver's, which was on my list of places to go and with just a few more weeks left, I thought this was a good choice since our road trip got cancelled. We hit the other Oliver's on Willow Knolls Drive last June. But this is the original Oliver's, so I wanted to include it on the tour. Now let's get inside, it's freezing out here! I haven't mentioned this much this year, but I fucking hate winter!
Ah, this is much better, nice and warm and since the weather is shitty, there's plenty of seats at the bar. As you can see, Scott has already planted himself there! Let's go join him.
Eric is the bartender for the evening and here he is serving up an ice-cold Budweiser. Eric is also a Trivia Host for Team Trivia Illinois and hosts the weekly trivia contest here every Monday night.
There's the back of the bar with the lit-up inventory on display.
Here's a half a dozen of beers on tap you can choose from.
A lone Milk Stout tap stands over here. I love the way the hand grips the tap at the top of it.
As you can see, there's also a good selection of bottled beer chilling out behind the bar in this huge iced-up cooler.
Overhead, fans spin beneath a wooden A-frame ceiling.
Tables sit opposite the bar to drink and dine at.
I love the vintage concert posters in here. George Harrison and Bob Marley are sandwiched in between The Rolling Stones and George's old band The Beatles, who we saw at the top of the post! Which is a good excuse to cue this up and have it stuck in your brain all day.
This is one for The Ramones at the Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium in 1980. It says they're appearing with, "Very Special Guests," which translates into they hadn't booked the opening band when they printed the posters.
It's the fabulous Johnny Cash! This 1986 Radio Music Hall concert starred the Man in Black along with Bob Dylan, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson. I would've loved to have seen that show!
Check out this painting of the Peoria Heights Water Tower! Very cool and it sure brings back some frightening memories for me!
There's a separate dining area here in the back and I'm guessing this room could also be rented out for private parties. And there's something else pretty special back here...
Free popcorn!
Scott took a picture of me happily filling up a bowl, we have food on the way, but I can't resist free popcorn!
Speaking of food, as we returned to the bar with the popcorn, our appetizer of fried cheese curds had arrived. We were going to get chicken wings, but Eric suggested the cheese curds, which I've never eaten before so that's what we ordered and here they are, let's dig in.
Wow, these are so good! It's Wisconsin White Cheese covered in their own PBR batter and then deep fried. They have a little crunch on the outside that then leads to rich, velvety melted cheese.
The condiments have been placed before us meaning that it's just about time for this week's pizza pies!
Scott and I each got a personal pizza. Mine is topped with ham, sausage, bacon and onion and it looks really good.
Scott got the veggie pizza and it looks mighty tasty too!
A paper plate serves as the vessel for the all-important cooling process. Time for another beer!
This is really good pizza! The toppings are fresh and I like the homemade sauce, but what really makes this pizza stand out is the crust! It's a thin and crispy crust and the texture and taste of it is probably the best I've had on the tour and Scott agreed. Eric said people are always raving about the crust and that part of it due to the pizza oven they use that has had year's of cooking and makes it a great seasoned pizza oven.
I could've eaten the whole thing, but I left a couple of pieces for the next day cold pizza challenge. Oh the sacrifices i make for MBIP!
Okay, time for a bathroom break just to prove the fact that you can't buy beer, you only rent it.
Uh oh, what's this...a bulletin board...and if you've followed this blog for any amount of time, you know what that means...
The ongoing MBIP versus ASDC business card duel! Too bad ASDC, it's three to one this time! Better luck in the future, I'll let you win the next time I have to have a cavity filled to make sure you use a lot of Novocaine!
Okay, time for the next day cold pizza challenge. Last week I drank the bottle of beer that Scott brought to full up the craft beer corner in the MBIP fridge and I need to get some beer to fill it up because a pesky member of the Nude Family is back in here. Those people give me the creeps!
It's delicious! Thanks to Scott for driving and everyone at Oliver's for great pizza and hospitality! We'll see you all tomorrow!
Pizza Rating
Four Chef Boyardees—A really tasty pizza with about the best crust I’ve ever had!
Oliver’s Pizza & Pub
1231 E. Samuel Avenue
Peoria Heights
309-681-1779
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Surprise link, click on it...I dare you!
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Bonus Oliver Pizza Art by Jaws the Cabbie!
Proving that great minds do indeed think alike (see the “Surprise” Link), Jaws the Cabbie sent in this piece of Oliver inspired pizza art. Great work on this one, Jaws! Thanks!
