Incoming QTGG Baby!

That is right.! Post coming in 3…2….1……

What is up QTaholics? We are back like the Emperor in Rise of Skywalker…. some how we have returned! Wait you didn’t see that movie? Well then that makes you smarter than me. What a stinker. I am sure Star Wars movies and shows since then have gotten better right? Right?

You suck Kathleen Kennedy.

Here is the thing. We suck. Yeah it’s true. I mean it has been years since we have updated this. I am sure the one reader we had has since left. Sorry about that folks. If either of us was smart enough to use the time thing Tony Stark made in Endgame we would, but if we were that smart we wouldn’t be writing a blog about QT food – we would be hosting a TV show about QT food. Wait that’s an idea. Think the Food channel would entertain a show about just gas station food? We could call it Gas Food, or Food Gas or Station Stops or Convenient Food or Poops and Food, oh man that’s terrible – how about this, submit your idea for a TV show name. Not that I am going to do it, if I can’t help but update this every few years, what makes you think I have enough initiative to host a TV show. I do want to laugh at the ideas you – ours millions, um thousands, er hundreds, damnit, tens? of readers will come up with.

You may be asking yourself, “Self, why did Rob pick today to restart this glorious food blog that I have been missing?” Well in addition to being a full time staffer here at the QTGG, I am also in Corporate Learning and Development. I have spent the last nearly 8 years working at my own business, as can be seen in some other posts. Recently I made the move back into the corporate world. Here is the kicker – the office that I come into 3 days a week is near the office Steeephen and I shared all those years ago. Ah those early days when the bun warmer under the rollers was a revelation of burning bush to Noah levels, See what I did there? To quote The Who, new office, same as the old office. Or at least they said something like that. With the return to familiar grounds, near by what was our “home” QT, I felt that was the universe’s way of saying “Rob it’s time”. Who am I to turn down the call of the universe? I mean if you don’t listen to the universe you aren’t any better that David Tepper. The universe keeps telling him he sucks at being an owner, but he doesn’t change and he just keeps sucking. Well sir I’ve met David Tepper (I haven’t), I know David Tepper (I don’t), and I am not David Tepper (really I am not).

In the office today, in a spontaneous team meeting around a variety of topics, the topic of gas station food arose. There were words spoken of WaWa and Sheetz. No one mentioned Bucees, but that place is going to be it’s own write up. In that moment I felt moved. Something stirred in me that I had not felt in many years. Like a vibrant phoenix rising from the ashes I felt a new – baptized in the spirit if the QT. I had to share the news. I had to tell these new comrades of the food experience of the QT. I could not stay quiet.

So track this please – 1. New Office near home QT. 2. New team hosts spontaneous convo about gas station food. That my friends is the universe not just mailing you a credit card application, not just calling like someone trying to buy your house, not a door to door guy trying to fix your roof – but like a really motivated Jehovah’s Witness that really wants to save you from hell who doesn’t just knock on the door, but who kicks the door in like Steven Segal and Chuck Norris combined telling you that you are saved! That is a mental image. Now if I turned that down, well that is just skibidi Ohio and if you don’t know what means, well that is on you. Keep up with the times brah.

Now with all that out of the way – on to the review!

Today, since it was return to QTGG, I decided to go back to the rollers. Previously on the GTQQ, The Dock and I have shown our love for some QT dawgs, so I went that direction, but with the corn dog variety. I do have some issues with the design. To truly be a corn dog it needs to have a stick. Lack of stick makes this more of a pig in a blanket than a corn dog. The bread is also a bit too dense and cake like to be considered corn bread. This is more of a dog wrapped in breading. I am going to try to disassociate the corn dog name from this offering. If I graded it against corn dogs it would get something like .420 chomps out of 5. .420 because you would have to be high to think this is a corn dog.

I paired the faux corn dog with a cherry lemon Sundrop. I don’t have a logical reason for the pairing, but like Taylor Swift and insane concert ticket prices, they just seem to go together. I do hope that the faux corn dog is better than this new album of hers. I mean it’s so bad that I think she and the album might break up later and then she will write an album about how this album did her wrong. No matter what happens though it isn’t Taylor’s fault though. So no matter what happens with the chomps rating it isn’t Sundrop’s fault. Sundrop can not be faulted. Full Stop.

Biting into the faux corn dogs gives a pancake sensation. I feel like its just a lower quality of wrapping sausage in a pancake. The taste of the QT dog does over power the lack luster breading. With all due respect, and remember I am saying with all due respect, I would skip this offering and just go to the hot dogs. The only positive is this is an easy vehicle for mobile hot dog eating while maintaining dipping ability. As a sit down food I am going to rank this 1.000000001 chomp out of 5, but as a mobile dog option (more so than a corn dog) I will rank this as a 1.99999 chomps out of 5. I just can not go to a 2. We have standards here at the QTGG. Low ones, but we have them.

And there you have it. So to recap, SW really sucks and it’s Kathleen Keneddy’s fault and Marvel isn’t too far behind these days. We aren’t smart enough to go back in time to update the last few years of QTGG. We should create a TV show but we need names. Chuck Norris and Steven Segal as Jehovah’s Witness seems like a show we need. The new TayTay album isn’t good, sorry Swifties. You have no idea what skibidi Ohio is, don’t be cappin. Sundrop is the elixir of the Gods and is to be held utmost high. The QT corn dog is most certainly not a corn dog and while it pains us to say it – just not very good. Choose a different QT roller option – all of the other choices is better than this. Also to the guy that looked like a dope dealer at the door…. hope business picks up for ya.

Consider this our Fellowship of the Ring. We haven’t even made it to the Mines of Moria yet. Gandalf hasn’t been taken out by the Balrog yet. I guess I should have said spoiler alert, but you know what? If you haven’t read the books OR watched the movies, that isn’t my fault. Seriously what is wrong with you? We will return…….

So for now, I must bid you adieu, so goodbye, mwah and goodnight. Bang

Hello… Is this on? Hell Yeah it’s on….

Yo Yo Yo! What is up QTaholics? Yes! I am back like Jordan wearing the 45! If that reference doesn’t make sense, go read some NBA history, Rook. So anything new going on in the world? I hear 2020 was a great year! Sorry we missed it! It has been a LONG time since we had a good high quality post to the blog – and by a long time I mean never, but today seems like a grand day to reset the bar. Don’t worry the bar is still low.

I have visited the QT multiple times over the last 24 months. Each time I was prepared to write up an article on the food I had and the overall experience. I never did it though. Call me lazy, call me uncommitted to the craft, Call Me by Blondie, Call Me Maybe… well you get the idea. I know what you are thinking right now. “Rob, why write a post today? What changed?” Well I am glad you asked. I am still lazy, but my love for the QT has never waivered. What actually spurred me to write this? What rekindled my passion for sharing my QT love and sent a warm fuzzy feeling in my loins? Well it was a discussion at the bar yesterday. I just hope this post delivers better than that last season of Game of Thrones – ugh we all waited for so long for that garbage. Such a let down. Imagine investing years into something and then you see where it ends and you think wtf happened? At least here at the QTGG we never got your hopes up.

The Belfast Mill is one of my favorite spots in Charlotte, ok not one of, it is my favorite spot. In discussion there yesterday with my buddy Kyle and Jeremiah, the bartender, it dawned on me that during these pandemic times I had really failed you all. The QT is a beacon of joy in an increasingly dark world. I had been selected by the universe to carry this brightness to every corner of the globe and when the world needed me the most I disappeared. Kinda like Avatar Ang, I was frozen in a giant ice ball, except it wasn’t really an ice ball and I wasn’t frozen. Either way, I am back baby and have reaffirmed my devotion to the QT and to you my beloved reader. So LFG!

I taught a class in Dallas today, not the one in Texas but the one in NC. There are cowgirls at this Dallas too – but nothing like the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders, don’t get your hopes up. On my way back home down 321 I saw the QT in the distance and the bar conversation echoed in my ears and I had to pull into store #1042.

The one avid reader we have knows that I love the rollers and by love I mean I consider the food on the rollers high eating. Basically you have like a Ruth’s Chris steak, then you have QT roller food and then everything else. If gas stations could get Michelin ratings the QT rollers get 4. What? Michelin ratings only go up to 3? Yeah I said what I said. 4 BABY! I walked in and immediately headed for the rollers, natch, but then I reminded myself that while I was here to quiet the growing pain in my stomach, I was also here for you the reader. Rather than go with the buffalo chicken stick or other roller items we have already reviewed I opted for something different.

The QT fresh kitchen, with their food engineers, always surprise me with my options. Over the last 2 years they have expanded at a high rate. The only thing growing faster is THIS LINE HAS BEEN REDACTED TO BE RESPECTFUL TO TENDER EYES AND EARS. I opted for a flatbread. While I had multiple options I went with the bacon chicken ranch. I also threw in Spicey Ranch 3D Doritios and a Milkyway. For beverage I went with an A&W.

Now, for the part you are all waiting for – no not the end of the article. Shut up Karen. I am talking about the food review!

The ordering process has been streamlined. If you all recall in the old days, you know before the empire Luke, you ordered the food and then went to check out with your food. Now you order, take your ticket and pay and then return to the counter to pick up your food. My wait was as shorter than Gamestop stock. The flatbread was really good. A surprising amount of chicken for $3.50. The Doritos were spicier than I expected and quite good. The A&W paired very well with the flatbread but not so hot with the Doritios. I would recommend a typical cola of a recent vintage over the rootbeer though. Better yet get some liquor. Overall, I give the flatbread 4.78 Chomps out of 5. My only complaint was the wrapping allowed the food to cool off quicker than expected. Maybe Yeti needs to make some overpriced food wrap to keep hot and cold items longer. Of course if Yeti offered that QT would need an F&I person to work out the 5 year payment terms on my lunch. Maybe a better plan is just should have eaten in the car vs bringing it home.

Now that we have the food out of the way I wanted to give a shout out to the QT for the checkout process. You know all the jokes about needing Chik Fil A to do vaccines because they move the drivethru so fast? Well check out the QT. One cashier and two lines. While card is being approved they take the next customer. Boom Boom Boom That’s what I am talking about Willis.

And with that, I shall close this first post of 2021. I know that without this blog during lockdown you were lost, wondering where you could go for food and gas during lockdown. I promise to never leave you guys again. We are soul mates wondering through this silly game of life together, looking, yearning and celebrating the most important moments in life, like staring into the rollers wondering not what is, but what could be. It’s a QT world – we just live in it.

Merry QT Day! Rejoice!

Welcome back to the QT Gourmet Guide!

It has been awhile since we had a chance to make an entry, but a special day lured me to the blog like a moth to a flame or Steven to the rollers.

I want you to stop for a moment and feel the Spirit of QT.  Remember the days of years gone by when the family would celebrate QT Day Eve by sitting around the fire and telling stories of buffalo chicken sticks and cheese taquitos.  We would wake up the next morning and run downstairs to see what Saint QueTicus had left us in our QT bags that were hung with such care.  We would run to look under the QT tree that was adorned with various QT items such as 5 Hour Energy bottles.  What was left for me?  Was this the year I would finally get that QT tumbler?  Sadly no, not today.

Today I celebrated the 61st Anniversary of the opening of the very first QT by stopping in a new QT for me!  Store #1057 in Clover SC aka Lake Wylie.

My first impression of the store was a typical layout, but the employees were amazing.  The two QT fresh kitchenginers were very nice and said hello as I was reviewing the ordering kiosk.  The cashier was a very kind young woman that took the time to speak with an older customer.  I usually keep my ratings to food, but in this case I want to call out the help.  Keep up the good work!

Now onto the food.  You know there are MANY items I have had that I loved.  Sadly today was not one of them.  And on QT Day!  I chose the turkey and cheese croissant, chips and a Reese’s Pieces ice cream treat and a Cheerwine bottle to wash it down.

The croissant gets 3.1 chomps out of 5. Was it bad?  Well no.  Was it good? Not really.  It was kind of like the Star Wars Movie, Solo.  Perfectly serviceable, but not something I really needed.  I mean did we really have to ruin Han’s mystery?  We already knew all we needed to know!  OK back to the topic….  As I have mentioned I don’t really eat veggies and asked them to hold the lettuce and tomato.  The sandwich arrived with both, which I removed.  I will say both veggies looked very fresh and there were 4 slices of tomatoes!  Only one slice of cheese though and far too much turkey.  IMO they just need some adjustments in the turkey to cheese quota which should be no more than 3:1.  The ice cream was solid as always and comes in at a 4.72 chomps out of 5.  This gives us a total rating of 3.78 chomps out of 5 – don’t try to do the math.  It’s extremely advanced math that you probably can’t do.  Shut Up.

I was able to sit outside the QT and enjoy my food, hard to take things to go on a motorcycle.  If you have read the blog you know I have done this before.  Unlike the Gastonia experience, this was very pleasant.  A nice breeze and no weirdos walking around talking to themselves.  Only complaint was there was but one table and little shade.  I think for next QT Day I am going to ask for more tables with better umbrellas!

Happy QT Day to all and to all a goodnight!

A little bonus content for you though.  In the last few weeks we have hit various QTs while making trips to tailgate UNC Charlotte football.  The large parking lots have been nice to navigate an ambulance in and the food has been like a blessing from the Gods.  I was told next time I went into one though I needed a shirt on – in Clemson SC of all places.  I figured in SC shirts were always optional….

 

 

Transformer Pizza Boxes

I heard an ungodly noise in my office this morning and realized it was my stomach screaming at me, “Feed me, Steven!” Queue the earworms that combine to make up Little Shop of Horrors. The thought of not being able to get that music out of my head is scarier than anything I’ll see this Halloween. You’re welcome. Anyway, I went to my friend, Gretchen, and convinced her it’d be a good day for us to make use of my $9.99 supreme XL pizza coupon at the QT. She obliged and off we went.

Tamia, at store #1065 (devoted readers will remember her from the OQToberfest post) crafted our pizza perfectly, but I’m not here to do a repeat pizza review. Gretchen and I noticed a cross-shaped perforation on the top of our pizza box. We though, “Hmmmm… Maybe you can divide the top into four sections like plates.” It turns out we’re geniuses, and, SHOCKER!, QT designs highly intuitive products. Their designers could teach Apple a thing or two. While eating our pizza, we noticed some hieroglyphic images on the back of our pizza box like two British explorers from the 1930s.

It turns out our hypothesis about the plates was right! See, Mom?!  Grad school is paying off already. But wait! There’s more! The glyphs seemed to be indicating that the box contained an as yet undiscovered use.  Leftover storage. I decided it was best, as your local QT connoisseur, to test the transformer box. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves, but let’s just say I give this 5 out of 5 chomps for form, fit, and functionality.

Well done QT!  I hope our readers have a Halloween that is as spectacular as mine. Be on the lookout for more exciting QT discoveries.

OQToberfest

Prost!

The last you heard from the QT Gourmet Guide, Rob made a bold claim; to bring me back to the blog. Well, the man delivers! After receiving a desperate plea from a fan scribbled on the back of a 7-11 receipt, I’m back. I’ll still giving Rob the credit though.

Just in time for a new QT blog holiday; we like to call it OQToberfest! Not original, but, hey the Germans don’t spell it with QT either. Rob and I connected recently and decided to leverage the roller grill to broaden our cultural horizons. Enter, two hot dogs (make that one hot dog; more to come), a pretzel with mustard, and some German (?) chocolate cake. We met at store #1065 (shout out to Oshay and the crew), where it all began, and made the rounds knowing we had to visit the rollers. To our horror and dismay, one of the rollers was down. We suspect the roller grills are likely not manufactured in Stuttgart. I proceeded to load my dog with traditional German mustard and kraut, while Rob went a decidedly different direction; ketchup and spicy deli mustard. That must be how they celebrate OQTober in Gaston County, NC.

On to the QT Kitchen. No OQToberfest celebration would be complete without a warm pretzel, so a pretzel we had. Tamia, the chef du jour at the QT Kitchen, got a litter nervous when she recognized us as the power duo behind the QTGG. Nonetheless, she did a superb job of crafting our German fare.

Now for dessert, we searched high and low for one more German product to round out our celebration. We eyed what appeared to be a strudel in the pastry case, and discussed some Danishes, but decided the name implies non-German origin. Rob finally settled on a chocolate cake, clearly marked “German.” When it was marked may be called into question; however, it’s still there.

 

Wait! What?! No OQToberfest brew? We thought it best to stay away from actual barely-pop beverages and chose A&W (however you pronounce that in German) rootbiers instead. FYI… QT carries an Octoberfest beer for the occasion if you need that to round out your cultural experience.

Not to spend too much time reviewing items we’ve already covered, but we must say Rob’s hotdog was delicious. He gave it a 4.87/5 chomps. Unfortunately, Steven never got to taste his as it crashed to the parking lot with a thud not heard since Berlin 1989, and let’s be honest, those little plastic containers aren’t built like Panzers. Thank you Mr. Reagan.

As for the pretzel, also serh gut. So fresh! You wouldn’t even know they’re imported direct from Munich! Add a little mustard, and you almost feel like you’re wearing lederhosen. Thank God we’re not. Pretzel rating – 4.95/5 chomps.

Don’t forget the “German” cake. It must have been good because Rob didn’t share. To quote him, “If a Volkswagen car was a brownie, it would taste like this.” I’m really not sure how to take that; however, Rob says it rated 4.45 (the Germans surrendered in April of ’45 in case you’re wondering). Keep in mind this rating comes from a man two days into a no bread, soda, or sweets diet, but it did look good.

That, my friends, is the story of how two rogue GAStronomes resurrected the QTGG and launched a two-block cultural celebration right under the nose of the Axis powers at 7-11.

What’s next you ask? We have it on quasi-fairly-decent-good-adequate authority that a new international item will be debuted next month at the QT. The news is too big to post here; however, we will bring it to you live next month, most likely on a Tuesday.

Auf Wiedersehen!

 

Already? Bet you weren’t expecting that!

Whoa – a new entry so soon?  As Destiny’s Child once said – I don’t think you’re ready for this jelly, but here it comes! (I know this is just Kelly Rowland and not all of DC, but you know what?  I think she carried DC.  Yeah that is right.  Hate all you want.  Take that Queen Bey)

As I mentioned in my last entry, when I work in Lincolnton, I pass a QT.  Store #1042 to be exact.  Today’s class started at 7AM and finished at 11AM.  I had not eaten breakfast, so needless to say by the time I rolled by the QT my stomach sounded like Ben when Grizzly Adam’s said “Hey”.  That is to say it was growling.

Before I get to today’s installment of a food review, let me send a shout out to DJ Stevie D.  We are are slowly reeling him back into the QT blog fold.  The last entry of the cheeseburger dawg sent him to a QT faster than the Cowboys 2018 playoff dreams went up in smoke.  Now you, the millions, oops, thousands, damnit, hundreds, ok ok tens of QTGG readers have to call out to ole Steve-0 and urge him to return to the motherland.  Ok now on with the review…

I walked in and had every intention of hitting up the QT Fresh Kitchen.  I was thinking a toasted sandwich honestly.  I hadn’t had one of them since the trip to this very QT way back on 7/12/17.  You know the one with Hunter.

I went to the kiosk to order, which has markedly improved since our last entry on SOPs.  Screen is bigger and menu is all picture driven, Gaston County residents say “We luv pitchers”.  While reviewing the kiosk, I looked over at the pizza rack and it called to me like a divine call to service.

Now I know we have reviewed the pizza before, but I realized it had been quite awhile since then and the item may have fallen in quality or gotten better.  I decided to pick up a pepperoni slice.  Now, because we here at the QTGG are dedicated to bringing you only the finest in Gas Station Food Journalism, I refused to stop there.  In fact, my last entry was something like a renewal of vows.  I have rededicated myself.  So I needed something old and something new!  It was then that I saw it.  I have never, in all my life, seen something like this.  They call it a Brookie Muffin.  A frankenstein combo of cookie and muffin.  I picture the QT folks in a facility like this cooking up their new inventions.  (5 bonus points for anyone who knows what movie this is from):

The QT Kitchen Innovators, from henceforth shall be known as QTKIs, come into work each day to think of new things that mankind had never even considered.  Sharks with laser beams?  Bollocks!  Take that Dr. Evil, you ain’t got nothing on the QT, except a mini me.  I would kinda like one of those – can you make that happen QTKIs?

Here take a look at this thing:

 

 

OK So lets review this shit.  Oops.  EARMUFFS!

The pizza was actually a bit improved.  If you will recall, we liked the pizza, with a small issue with the toppings dispersion.  The toppings were routinely heavy on the end of the slice, leaving crust side lacking.  I am happy to say that at this location, it has been rectified!  (Some of ya’ll read that as rectumfied and giggled, it’s ok, I don’t judge)

Much better!  Sauce to bread factor was a solid 12:1 and the pepperoni to slice quotient was a stellar 42.5.  World record is 48.37 for comparison sake.  I rate the pizza today at 4.76 chomps.

The Brookie, well now this was an experience.  Part chocolate chip cookie and part chocolate brownie muffin.  Now let me be clear – it was awesome.  With that said, I do have some suggestions.  The cookie portion was too small.  It was mostly typical brownie/muffin with SOME cookie.  It was really like 85% muffin, 15% cookie.  I would recommend that the QTKIs increase that to a 70/30 or 65/35 ratio.  Overall, I give this new creation a 4.47 chomps rating.  The lower rating is simply to reflect the potential of said item and should not be read as an indictment of the product.  Speaking of indictments, I think President Trump would like these.

Last part of today’s entry is that I opted to have lunch there.  That is right, I ate AT the QT.  Now, I have no sense of smell.  That’s right,  I am like an X-Men.  It is just the next stage of human evolution and my hearing and eye site are amazing.  I imagine though that the ambiance was an odd collection of car fumes, gasoline and QT food awesomeness.  There was a weird dude walking around though,  either he was behind in child support or the mob was threatening a hit.  I dunno, maybe it was both.  I did hear him say he was working the door at Leather and Lace tonight though – that is him to the right in the picture.  Shout out to him for keeping it down and protecting Sugar and the rest of the ladies on the main stage!

The only other thing I need QT to fix is the lack of WeeFee.  I enjoyed watching people pump gas and the traffic go by and the classic Gastonia people watching, but adding some WiFi would be a great addition and would encourage more folks to spend some quality time here.  Sure beats the heck out of a McDonalds in Alabama – eh Kyle?

So to recap:

• Getting Stefan back in the fold is a priority
• New kiosks – awesome
• QT Kitchen Innovators – knocking it out of the park
• Pizza – Still good and improved
• Brookie – Good but could be even better!
• Eating at the QT – Interesting, could be better with the WiFi
• Kyle – Made us stop at a shady McDonald’s in Bama

Based on the increased frequency of blog entries we may need to increase what we charge.  How much would you be willing to pay?  What?  We have to pay you to read this schlock?  Get outta here…

Hello… Is this thing on?

Hello….hello…hello…. Is there anybody in there… Just nod if you can hear me….Is there anyone home?

QTaholics… what is up?  We know you have felt comfortably numb without us.  Go ahead and sing with us… “Guess who’s back, back again, QTGG back, tell a friend” (thanks Em that new music is dope!).

Stevphen and I know that you wake up every morning hoping, praying, wishing that the QT Blog will make it’s triumphant return and reclaim it’s rightful status as the number 1 QT blog in all the land.  Your destiny has arrived!

Go buy a lottery ticket, book that vegas trip, throw down some cash on the blackjack table, play some illegal video poker, throw in on a game of Hold’em and go ALL IN BABY because today is your lucky day!  Ok, we know you are excited and probably hyperventilating at this moment.  Here breath into this….

  Ok now that you feel better, on with the review!

I was teaching an Anti-harassment and Diversity class in Lincolnton today.  Class started  at 6:30AM this morning, you read that right 6:30!  Needless to say when class was over at 10:30AM I was really hungry.  You are probably thinking to yourself, “Rob, why are you telling me when and where you were teaching this morning?”.  Well the reason this is such a critical piece of information is because I do not have a QT in my hometown of Belmont.  There is one though at the 321 and 85 interchange on my way home from Lincolnton.  I swung in there like the General Lee with Roscoe P Coltrane hot on my bumper…

   Yeeeeee Hawwww………

I walked in and hit the rollers faster than a DC movie can bomb at the box office… (do you bleed?).   Since my last trip to the QT there has been a new addition and let me tell you, the heavens parted, the angels sang and a light shown upon me.  A cheeseburger dawg!  That is a cheeseburger shaped like a hot dog.  Check this thing out.

 

As you can see I added a Buffalo Chicken stick, some chips, an RC and some Junior Mint things.  All in all, a great meal.  Since we have already raved about the other items I am simply going to rate the cheeseburger dawg.  I loved it!  Beef and cheese all wrapped together and it slides right onto the bun.  I give it 4.87 Chomps out of 5.  The only thing holding this amazing item back is I felt like the cheese to meat quantum ratio is a bit off.  I think it could use a bit more cheese.   Next time I may use the liquid cheese for nachos to up the cheese factor to a standard 5 parts to a dozen.  You can be sure that we here at the QT blog will bring you our thoughts around this item with added cheese!  Now that I have shared this with you, I expect you all to fly into the QT like this:

Well let me go ahead and wrap this up.  Hurricane Florence is nearly upon us!  OK Well, it’s still like a few days away, but the news is trying to convince me this is the end times.  I feel like I need to go stock up on water, bread, peanut butter, Jack Daniels and well now cheeseburger dawgs from the QT!

Stay safe out there my friends and should we live through the weekend we will be back to bring you more QT goodness!

 

Hello?

Hello, can you hear me
I’m in Carolina dreaming about who we used to be
When we were younger and free
I’ve forgotten how it felt before the world fell at our feet

It is time to get the thing back on track.

Dread it. Run from it. Destiny still arrives….

 

 

 

Back Where it All Started

What is up QT-A-Holics?  If you won’t admit you have a problem, then neither will we.  We here at the QT blog hope your summer is going grand!  In fact, I bring you this QT update from the coast of North Carolina – on Topsail Island.

Now let’s get down to business – my last trip to the QT!

Last week I had a few meetings in Charlotte and one of those took me close to the birth place of the QTGG!  I attempted to dig Steve-O from his digs over at his employer, but they are knee deep in a big merger – shout out to my Peak 10 buds and best off luck as you bring together the Peak 10 and ViaWest families.  I have no doubt it will come off great!  So no Stevey-Dee this trip, I was flying solo – just like Fogell before he became McLovin.  If you haven’t seen that movie, go see it.  Seriously.

Now, I took advantage of my geographical location to eat a full lunch at Joe Mammas Grille.   Joe Mammas is worthy of their own blog honestly.  The meat ball sub OMG…

Please to not take this as a slight against our beloved QT.  Man can not survive on QT alone and I had not been to Joe Mammas since I departed my position with Steveee.  I saved my desert experience for the QT.

I am an avid follower and watcher of Game of Thrones.  It you watch the show you know anyone can die at any time.  Like this character?  Yeah he just died.  How about that one?  Yeah she died too.  As the series winds down, we really have whittled down the cast and only the most important characters are left on the board.  Well my trips to the QT are beginning to look like that.  I have weeded through much of the food and I am down to the really good stuff.

Ice Cream is basically the QT version of Tyrion.  A great character with a great arc and one you just enjoy following.  I had already had my full meal, I knew dessert was the choice and I knew ice cream was where I was going to land.

Now you might be thinking – “Rob, this is a terrible blog entry.  You have done ice cream before.”  Well you are right and wrong, this is probably a terrible entry, but it has nothing to do with ice cream.  Honestly, I feel like I am mailing this one in.  Just stay with me though.

The Dock and I had discussed having a meeting outside at the QT.  We even discussed this with Lisa-Lisa (no not Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam), (no no Lisa Lisa from The Weasel either), this is our old compatriot Lisa.  On a side note – Lisa Lisa from Cult Jam was so hot!

Anyway, I utilized the QT kitchen and got a Reese’s Pieces Ice Cream.  I actually had them double up with the candy.  I then assumed an outdoor seating spot.

Solid outdoor atmosphere here.  I had a few people walking in the store stop and say hello.  One police officer stopped and chatted with me as well as I guy I think was homeless or maybe he was just a hipster, hard to tell these days – even the homeless have i-Phones #thanksobama.

Anywho, the ice cream itself was really good, the added candy was a bit too much though.  I recommend sticking with the standard allotment.  The candy to ice cream ratio was just way off and 5.7 rating.  Overall, I give the ice cream a 4.37 chomp rating.  That rating goes up to a 4.84 rating when taking into account the QT outdoor seat facilities.

So for the recap.  Summer good.  Peak 10/ViaWest Merger happening.  Steven MIA. Lisa Lisa hot. Outdoor seating cool. Ice cream good.

Let’s be honest this will probably be the last QTGG entry until sometime during football season.  So with that let me wish you all a wonderful summer season and remember the QT make s a great stop for those end of summer road trips!

There can be only one, may it be The Highlander… I mean the QT!

Here is some trivia for you.  Did you know Stev-ee Dee plays the bag pipes?  Well you do now!  What is that?  Is he Scottish?  Nope – dude just kills it with music.  He even opened for 7 Nations!  Modern day day Edie Brickell I tell ya.  Sans New Bohemians of course.  He even let some musicians he met at Carowinds crash at his place.  Good dude that guy is.   But bag pipes man, good stuff.

So this takes me to my recent stop a the QT.  I had just spent a weekend at Grand Father Mountain in the mountains of North Carolina.  Every July, they host the Highland Games and my family attends.  It’s a great time.  People wearing kilts, listening to Scottish music, playing Scottish games, drinking, laughing and well more drinking.  Leaving on Sunday, after having packed camp up, left me wanting for food.  Not camp food cooked over an open fire with a lovely smokey taste mind you.  I am talking the food of modern innovation – the QT!

In attendance at these games was my brother in-law Hunter.  Hunter grew up in coastal Georgia, but now lives in Arizona where he basically runs a copper mine (ROCKS!).  Have you seen the trucks that work in those mines?  He showed us one.  It was huge! (queue “That’s what she said“).  Anyway, back to the matter at hand here.  Hunter came to the games with us and had never eaten at a QT.  Lucky for us, there is one off 321 near the 85 interchange.  Divine Providence.

Once we walked in, I tried to convince Hunter to advance strategically towards the rollers.  Hunter loves military history and tiny tanks.  He likes to paint those, like Rommel’s tanks from North Africa kind of thing.  I was tryng to speak his language.  He insisted he was not eating off rollers from a gas station.  Knowing I wasn’t going to win this engagement I instituted attack pattern Delta, he also loves Star Trek.  Pattern Delta is a redirect toward the QT kitchen.

He would not admit it, but I believe he was impressed with the ordering process.

I mean look at that smile!  Clearly he was quite excited about this experience.

We both ordered bacon, egg and cheese sandwiches on sourdough (sourdough! at a gas station!).  He opted for a Cheerwine and chips.  I chose a Sprite, a chicken taquito off the rollers and a Milky-way.  I had been roughing it all weekend, I deserved a candy bar.

I rate my sandwich 4.3 out of 5 chomps.  I opted out of the added bacon, looking back on that, it was a mistake.  Bacon quotient needed to be higher.  The chicken taquito on the other hand was superb.  It was so good that I couldn’t wait to eat it.  Thus, all you see is an empty wrapper.

Here is what Hunter had to say:

• It was a bacon egg and cheese with extra bacon (clearly a good move by Hunter to go with extra)
• I was hungry, I ate it
• Efficient order process
• Fountain drinks were too far from kitchen
• 2 1/2 chomps
• Did not go very well with regular Cheerwine
• Good selection of chips but didn’t eat them all

Now my take on this is – clearly Hunter loved it.  He just wasn’t willing to say it.  Our chomp ratings are on a sliding scale allowing us to curve the ratings if we believe the person rating wasn’t fully prepared for the awesomeness which really throws them off.   HEY!  Stop complaining about that.  You and I both know the only reason you passed high school trigonometry was the teacher curving the grade.  Or maybe that was just me.  Anyway, once we curve Hunter’s score we come to a respectable 3.98 with the only thing stopping a higher score was his lack of roller food.

A little added note here.  While waiting at the QT kitchen I witnessed a customer complain about the coffee she got.  She used some fancy terms, I don’t speak coffee.  She said Chai, mocha, something….  The QT Kitchen staff kindly explained to her the computer mixes it all. Customer was still upset, at which point a manager refunded her her money.  Two takeaways – one, while the QT does many things well, if you want some snooty coffee go to a snooty coffee shop.   Two, the QT staff understands service.

We here at the QTGG hope you and your family are having a wonderful summer.  With football season around the corner, make these days count!  Hit the road and see something or someone.  Do something fun.  See new things.  Go see the friend in high school that bullied you and punch them in their face and take laugh at them while they writhe in pain.  OK, well maybe don’t do that last one, but go have fun!  Hit the road!  And make us here at the QTGG happy, make your tummy happy and make Jesus happy –   stop at the QT!

Next – We review the QT App!