Tyler TX Facebook

Follow Donny on Twitter

Username:
Password:
  Remember Me   Forgot password?  Register
0-9  A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z  

Find or Refer a Contractor in Tyler

Jersey Mike’s Wins in the End

October 15th, 2009

For those looking for a great place to stop for lunch, Jersey Mike’s makes a delicious sandwich for a reasonable price. Now, I like an occasional Subway sandwich as much as anyone but I find that on completing one, I can hardly remember having eaten it. Not so with Jersey Mikes. At JM they build their sandwiches using only the freshest ingredients. And trust me when I say that this sandwich shop can satisfy even the biggest appetite.

My personal favorite is the cheese steak sub. Now as someone who has eaten a genuine Philly Cheese steak sandwich on the actual streets of Philadelphia, allow me to testify to the fact that they are pretty hard to beat. Well Jersey Mikes can’t beat them, but they come closer to matching them than anything I’ve tasted in Tyler or East Texas. The meatball sub is also one of their delicious signature sandwiches.

Jersey Mike’s is no big secret in Tyler. Lunch time brings out quite a mixed crowd. This store is a great place for a bite on the go, or an informal business lunch. In comparison to other area sandwich chains, I would place Mike’s near the top of the heap. In my opinion it beats out both Subway and Quizno’s. McAlister’s serves delicious fare, but due to personal reasons makes for awkward social situations. Newk’s is good, but priced too high for what you get. Schlotzsky’s is also serves some excellent food, so I find it a close call between them with JM winning by a nudge.

So the next time you find yourself craving a sub sandwich, try something other than the usual stops. Try Jersey Mike’s, it is located at 4754 South Broadway next to Eye Mart Express. I think I can guarantee you will remember eating there.

Motherhood

October 15th, 2009

If you visit Tyler’s Broadway Square Mall, walk into one of the most well-known maternity stores in the country, Motherhood. Pregnancy is one of the most beautiful times in woman life. Sometimes women don’t feel so beautiful. As your stomach grows and your hips spread, and you begin running into everything within a five foot radius, everyone smiles and complete strangers ask you to rub your stomach. Comfort becomes a thing of the past. But through it all at least you can look stylish.

Motherhood has beautiful dresses for each season. Find a cute jacket for those cold winter days or a fun summer dress for the hot summer afternoons here in East Texas. You could even get a cute dress to be able to doll up for a hot date. If you are trying to be comfortable, well, as comfortable as it gets, they have t-shirts and tank tops, find comfortable pants or cute jeans that emphasizes your baby bump. Find fun styles even when your twice your normal size!

After you have your baby Motherhood also has nursing bras and nursing tank tops to make feeding your baby easy as possible. You want to give the best for your child so let Motherhood help.

So if you are having a hard time find cute clothes while you are big and pregnant, come visit Motherhood and scope out the great sales. You can come find your style here and leave looking great and feeling great!

Great Cooking in East Texas

October 14th, 2009

As I get older, I find that I am becoming a traditionalist in nearly every way, and yes this also applies to food. I am a firm believer in patronizing local restaurants who cook foods native to this particular region. In Texas, one of our primary cultural foods is barbeque.

We have numerous barbeque restaurants in and around Tyler, some of which are quite good, but only two are locally owned, with local cooking methods and local pride. The Purple Pig is located on 155 between Tyler and Palestine. When you hear folks talk about out of the way establishments who serve out of this world food, they may well be discussing the Purple Pig. Here is the authentic Texas barbeque you’ve been hearing so much about. This local fav has become an East Texas tradition in and of itself. In fact it has expanded gradually over the last couple of years in order to accommodate more customers and a growing reputation. The atmosphere is rustic, but that is after all, what you want in a barbeque joint. The food takes priority over all other concerns. I have often taken out of town guests there in order to give them a genuine Tyler, Texas experience.

The Pig’s menu consists of all the barbeque favorites from ribs and brisket to sausage and pork wings, yes pork wings, and they cook them like no one else. All the meats they serve are smoky and tender, and (if applicable) fall off the bone. My personal favorite is the sliced brisket. They also serve the old standbys like baked beans and coleslaw.

The Pig also takes a monthly road trip to Canton Trade Days. Events like this no doubt help to spread the gospel of the Purple Pig! For more info on this particular gospel, see their website, located at www.purplepigcafe.com. Better yet, pay them a visit. They’re open seven day week. For more on great Tyler barbeque see the Tyler Blog section of this site, and look for the title “Texas cuisine at a Tyler landmark.”

The Reality of Hospitals in Tyler Texas

October 12th, 2009

Tyler Texas is quickly becoming one of the biggest growing retirement communities in the state. The reason for this is because of the two hospitals, East Texas Medical Center and Trinity Mother Francis. Though I have very little experience at either of the hospitals I have found that they are completely different.

As I walk through the front door of Trinity Mother Francis, huge, in labor, and in more pain then I ever imagined, I get sat in a wheel chair and pushed up to the elevator. Once I got up to the counter to check in, I thought I finished all the paper work before hand, but I had a pile of paper work that I still had to sign and fill out. Finally I thought they were going to bring me into my room but I was sadly mistaking. They brought me into this large room with about six bed and each separated by a curtain, and each bed with another girl screaming at the nurses to get them into their own room. Frustrated with a horrible headache and feeling like there is a terribly large pole shoving in my back I am left there with no nurse. I began to get sick and throwing up and still no nurse. Finally someone comes and asks if my nurse even knows that I am no sick and really in labor. Soon after I get moved into another room and this time the bed is a little more comfortable. After I was still sick and throwing up in a small trash can that they gave me, my mother-in-law asks where she could move the trash can. The nurse turns and rudely yells at my mother-in-law. Just wait it gets much worse. I wait awhile in excruciating pain, until the doctor comes in to give me an epidural.

After about twenty minutes of the epidural not working I tell my nurse that I thought I came out. She tells me that it is all in my head. The worse pain in my life is all in my head? I ask over and over to get the doctor to check and finally she does. He walks in and what do you know? The epidural has fallen out and was not working. So the doctor has to redo it and the nurse has to hold me up. I knew that I was falling off the bed and the doctor told her over and over to help me scoot back onto the bed, but she wouldn’t. I guess you might think that I am not the best patient, but I wouldn’t have complained at all if she did her job that she got paid for while I was in the worse pain of my life. I delivered in this room and had a great doctor. The most beautiful little girl entered into the world. They quickly began to move me once I was able to walk again. I was so tired and just wanted to go back to sleep. Once they moved me into my third room they began to bring more and more paper work. I was lucky enough to have a shower in my room, but other girls had to walk down the hall to take a shower in the shared bathroom.

Though my doctor was a great doctor. I hated getting moved from room to room and I was treated horribly by the nurse. I do not recommended to anyone to have a baby there. I was very disappointed.

Just a couple years later I was once again pregnant and about to have my second little girl. This time I decided to go to East Texas Medical Center. This delivery was a little different from the beginning because I was induced. I arrived at 5:00 in the morning and was led into a really large room. I sat there comfortably without any paper work to do, because I filled it all out before going up there. Two nurses walked in being really helpful and they were extremely nice. They helped me in everyway that I needed them. I started into labor and the nurses kept on checking on me and getting everything I needed without question and with understanding of my discomfort. I contracted, labored and recovered in the same room. I wasn’t asked to get up or move around. I was constantly checked on during my recovery. My second beautiful girl was born here and every memory is so wonderful. The hospital felt cleaner and more comfortable. Even the food was better here.

My recovery was longer and much more painful with my first child at Mother Francis, but at ETMC I healed quickly and with very little pain. The nurse at Mother Francis did things wrong and this caused me more pain later.

I was very frustrated at ETMC that they did not send in the form that I filled out for the social security card, so it ended up being a lot more work in the long run, but I know that that was not a normal thing, and that it was just a mix up.

I know that I do not have much experience to completely compare the two hospitals, but with the experiences that I do have I completely recommend East Texas Medical Center and many other mothers that I have talked to that have babies delivered at both hospitals agree with me.

Double-Dave’s: Improving Tyler, 1 Pepperoni Roll at a Time

October 8th, 2009

East Texas often gets a bad rap for it’s light social scene. People say “there’s nothing to do in Tyler except go to restaurants and watch movies.” I used to complain in this way until I found a gem called “Double Dave’s Pizzaworks” in Times Square off South Broadway, a place where I could hang out day and night for months on end. Easily.

While I cannot speak for women, Double-Dave’s Pizzaworks certainly offers guys exactly what they want: Excellent pizza, cold beer, large TV’s and video games. Who could ask for more?

“But wait,” you might argue. “That’s not unique at all. One pizza joint can’t make Tyler cooler all by itself.” Technically, this is true. Even if I was to rave about Double-Dave’s outrageously good lunch pizza buffet, you might still object. But I would smile confidently. Because I know something you do not know: Pepperoni Rolls. Double-Dave’s secret weapons. Many places have great pizza. Only Double-Dave’s can offer spicy pepperonis blanketed with hot, smooth mozzarella cheese and wrapped in a piping hot roll. Okay, other places have them too. But not like this.

How good are they? Good enough to make Tyler a cooler, happier, and possibly more peaceful place to live.These babies will keep you up at night, not from heartburn but from heartache and regret. You could have eaten one more. You should have eaten one more. When can you go back? Is there a football game coming up which would give you an excuse to go back? No? A baseball game then? Soccer? A reality show? Perfect. Because even that kind of visual nonsense would be worth an order of Pepperoni Rolls.

If you can enjoy a football game at Double-Dave’s, you should plan on it. The big screens are more than sufficient, and the scoreboard makes the experience seem even more realistic somehow. Throw in a large Pepperoni-Sausage-and-Mushroom and a drink–they have a modest selection of Coke and Beer–and you’re set. If your kids get bored during the second half, slip them five bucks in quarters and they will disappear into the game room, leaving you alone with your buddies, the game, and your boy’s half-eaten pepperoni rolls all to yourself.

And after the game is over and you find yourself at home and half-hungry already, thank your lucky stars that Double-Dave’s will now deliver more of those perfect pepperoni rolls directly to your front door.

Isn’t Tyler awesome?