Swanky Franks has an active Facebook page yet I see news stories that they closed in 2013

Yes! That’s what got me. They have an active Facebook page that shows they’re making soup and other stuff. Maybe I just went there on a day they were closed or they went fishing.

If you look at the picture of the building here:

http://www.roadfood.com/Restaurant/Reviews/270/swanky-franks http://www.roadfood.com/Restaurant/Reviews/270/swanky-franks

To the right of that was an empty parking lot with a fence around it. Swanky Franks looked like it had some crap in the window.. like an old antique shop.. or like a business that was closed and just left stuff behind. The front of the building seemed to be just dirt or something. Looked like it was part of the construction next door.

And the password is…

Acerbic.

[;)]

I had to look that up, because I had no idea what it meant. Heck, by the time I get out of work I might forget.

Ever think of joining us on the New Jersey Hot Dog Tour?

Yes, a few years ago I was going to. My Girlfriend at the time was laughing that we’d be on a bus of people having hot dog farts.

Maybe I’ll see if my friend wants to go on the next one.. he’s the one I take on my road trips.

Later on when I get home I’ll post up what the rest of my itinerary was and I’ll list out why I was visiting some of the other places. Some of them are interesting too.

The last picture I have is from Capitol Lunch in New Britain, CT. It came out blurry, so I’m not posting it. From what I remember we had chili dogs and chili cheese fries. I enjoyed them a lot.

Unfortunately, my car had trouble. I was on my way to a hotel and the check engine light came on. We were going to go to Flo’s in Cape Neddick, ME the next day. The car was not driving bad and it was only a 2009 Toyota Corolla, so 6 years old, with 120,000 miles. I stopped somewhere and they read the code for me. Error code was related to the transmission.

It was getting towards the evening. I could have drove 1.5 hours north to the hotel and maybe had the car looked at the following day, or we could have drove like 8 or 9 hours back home and be near our friends and family and places we know. We decided to go home. Car drove just fine.

I was going to take it to a transmission specialist, but decided what the heck.. and went to Toyota to see if I could get financing on a new car. I ended up getting a 2014 Toyota Corolla with 18,000 miles that was only used as a dealer loaner vehicle. I was super happy because it was the first time in my life I got car credit on my own, no co signer. Just traded in my old vehicle as a down payment.

Also visited a store called Wild Bill’s in Middletown, CT.

http://www.wildbillsonline.com http://www.wildbillsonline.com/

https://www.yelp.com/biz/wild-bills-middletown https://www.yelp.com/biz/wild-bills-middletown

Awesome place! Tons of stuff to see. Records, movies, posters, stickers, patches, collectable cards, etc. The guy is building his own haunted house out back.

My friend picked up a pack of Ms. Cleo tarot cards. If you are unfamiliar with her,  Youree Dell Harris (born August 12, 1962), better known as Miss Cleo, is an American who describes herself as a psychic and shaman, and who achieved fame as a spokeswoman for a psychic pay-per-call service from 1997 to 2003. Harris has used various aliases, including LaShawnda Williams, Corvette Mama, Elenore St. Julian, Desiree Canterlaw, Janet Snyder, Maria Delcampo, Christina Garcia, Cleomili Harris and Youree Perris.[/sup]

Pretty much bought it as a joke. It was only $1.

We took some time out for fun. We visited Adventure Rooms. You’re locked up for an hour and have to figure out how to escape. The only thing you need are your street smarts and brain. Nothing physical. Nothing hidden out of reach if you’re short, etc. They have a few different rooms you can do.

The “Swiss Original” has a series of 3 rooms with various types of puzzles in them. You can skip around, but it’s recommended you do them in order as room one will give you something to help you in room two. Also, depending on how the employee is feeling he can kind of give you a clue or not.

I would highly recommend this! The guy who worked there, Zack, was super friendly, explained it well, and looked like Zelda.

Only about 30% of people complete this. More people in your group the better. We were almost done with room two, but our time ran out.

These things are getting popular and different ones are all over, but I also went to the same company they have a location in Montclair, NJ and it was excellent also.

No pictures allowed because they don’t want you giving away information about their puzzles.

Read my full review on Yelp! I’m Yuppi C: https://www.yelp.com/biz/adventure-rooms-connecticut-middletown https://www.yelp.com/biz/adventure-rooms-connecticut-middletown

Stop #7 – Ted’s Restaurant, Cromwell, CT

A non hot dog place on my trip. I was really craving a steamed cheeseburger. I’ve made them at home before, but wanted to try the original. I went here for breakfast. Plenty of parking. Inside is very roomy with a bunch of tables. There’s more seating behind me.

The first thing I noticed was this sign in the window:

I said to my friend, “Who the f— would support Breast Cancer?” and more importantly who the f— donates $1 to get their name on the sign. A few seconds later I realized it was covered up by the second one.. I hadn’t seen the full message.

We had steamed cheeseburgers and I ordered some loaded fries. I think it was jalapenos, chili, cheese, and bacon. Steamed cheeseburgers have no flavor at all. I already knew this from making them at home. Moistest burgers I’ve ever eaten, though. They were okay. The fries were fantastic, just kind of too much for my stomach to have for breakfast.

Stop # 6 – Blackie’s, Cheshire, CT

I had a couple stops between the last one and here. I had to skip them. I was getting full!

This place had a bunch of seats at the counter, but they were all full. A few steps up there’s a little room you can sit in with 6 or 7 tables.

Perfect! I don’t dance to begin with.

I believe they use Hummel hot dogs. There’s other brands I like better. They make their own spicy relish and sell it in jars. It was fantastic. I forgot to take a picture of my hot dog, but when I got home I made some with the spicy relish they sell. I first spiral cut my hot dogs and fried them:

Then topped them with relish:

Stop #5 – Bethel Hot Dog Palace, Bethel, CT

You know, I had some other stops planned before I got here. Franks & Frites.. I decided to just skip because we were getting full. Swanky Franks sounds awesome.. sounds like someone my Grandfather knew back in the 40’s. It was closed. Actually looked out of business. The lot next door or in front was being dug up and surrounded by a fence. Super Duper Weenie.. I think I skipped this one because they didn’t have a chili dog on the menu.

There’s plenty of parking outside, but it’s totally empty. However, the German Restaurant across the street was packed. That should have been a sign to go there, but we had already eaten several times in the day and we were on a hot dog only tour.

The sign outside has an evil looking thug hot dog on it that is kind of neat, but probably scares little kids.

The interior is bland. Cheap tables and mixed dollar store table cloth. Some were Christmas looking, others were plain red. The bathroom is super tiny. If you open the door you bump into the toilet and sink. There’s also a window right there, so it makes going uncomfortable.

We ordered hot dogs with chili. The hot dog was a foot long of unknown brand. When I asked the guy behind the counter what kind they use he said it changes every week based on what the distributor has for a good price. That means there’s no sign of quality control here. Every time you go back you’ll get something different tasting? The chili was super dry. I couldn’t finish it, not because of it’s size, because it wasn’t very good. Had it had some kind of liquid or oil to moisten it I might have liked it a little more.

I would definitely not come back here again.

Stop #4 – Pat’s Hubba Hubba, Stamford, CT

The interior reminds me of the TV show Saved By The Bell when they went to The Maxx. It’s colored pink and blue inside with some neon. Not my style, but if the food is good who cares? The bathroom was clean here. Interior is small, with a few seats at the counter and a few tables.

I had a hot dog with mustard, onions, and chili. I started eating and then realized I forgot to snap a picture of my dog. It’s split in half, grilled, and bun toasted. They use a hot dog of pork and beef mix from Master Chef. I’ve never heard of them before. The chili was similar to others I’ve had on my trip. It was good, but not as good as Texas Chili, not as hot either. The dog was grilled nicely, but my friend commented that he tasted a smoky grill like flavor. He didn’t like it. I thought it was the second best of the day, while my friend didn’t enjoy it as much as I did.