Live, from Peoria Heights, it’s Saturday Night Cheeseburger starring this week’s host, The Silver Dollar Tavern and featuring The Ready For Prime Beef Player, Marty Wombacher. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome this week’s host from Peoria Heights, The Silver Dollar Tavern!
Off we go and you're probably noticing that this is the daytime. Well, in keeping with this year's Cheeseburgerly theme of revisiting the same place we went to last year, we're headed off to The Silver Dollar Tavern and their kitchen closes at 2PM, so this is a rare Cheeseburger Saturday Night daytime adventure. I'm kind of glad this happened because it's supposed to snow again tonight. I don't think I've mentioned this here, so I may as well throw it out now...I FUCKING HATE WINTER AND IT'S NEVER GOING TO END! Whew, okay, I feel better now!
There it is, The Silver Dollar Tavern, let's go park the car in the front lot.
"Parking in rear"...that's what she said! Oh boy, I'm cracking myself up over here!
I love the Christmas lights that they keep up year round outside of the bar!
What cruel words to put on a can!
Let's go in and forget about this winter that's never going to end!
This place never changes, that's what I love about it! Let's go snag one of those stools and get settled in!
Here's Mary, the pretty and friendly bartender whom I've known for years. Mary was part of our winter swimsuit edition back when we were doing POP magazine and the picture is on the bulletin board in here. We'll check that out in a little bit. I asked Mary if there was a specialty item in here that we could order in place of a cheeseburger and before she could answer...
Will, who was seated next to me pointed out an item on the menu. It's a breakfast dish called the "Mikey Special," named after the owner of the bar. Even though it's a breakfast item, it's served all day on the weekends. We've never had a breakfast dish here on MBIP, so I threw caution to the wind and ordered it!
Here's my view of the right side of the bar, check out the boar's head over there! It kind of makes you crave some lunch meat.
Here's the left side of the bar...hey, check out the man in the mirror! Is that Michael Jackson?
Nope, it's not Michael, it's Greg who was seated to the left of me. Greg told me he just moved back here from Nashville. Welcome back, Greg!
Here's three taps at the front of the bar...
And there's four more back here. Nothing too fancy or exotic, but some solid choices to be had!
There's tables and chairs in the side room over here to the right of the bar.
Here's a dart board and a pinball machine. Last year there was an Elvis pinball machine, but just like the King in days gone by, it appears it has left the building. Thank you...thank you very much!
Here's a shot of the bar from the perspective of the back room.
There's a pool table on the other side of the bar over here.
Here's the bulletin board that had Mary's POP swimsuit picture on it, but sadly, Mary told me that someone stole it recently! Well that's no good! I don't have that issue either, so I'm going to throw this out there: If you know who took the picture or if you're the one who took it, if you return it to the bar I'll buy you six beers at The Silver Dollar. Maybe you just wanted to borrow it for a little bit, so return it and I'll meet you at the bar and you can have a six pack on MBIP! If you don't want to drink all six beers at once, we'll get you credit for them.
Here's the photo of Mary on the bulletin board we took last year. Let's hope justice is served and it gets returned!
Meanwhile back at the bar, it looks like it's just about time for the Mikey Special to show up!
Okay, this looks...interesting to say the least. Not much color to it at first glance...
But once some hot sauce and pepper are applied to it and we dig in, it's quite colorful and very tasty! That outer layer is sausage gravy and inside is eggs, cheese and a slab of savory sausage all housed on top of a homemade biscuit.
Okay, fast forward to the night time and here comes more snow, the forecast calls for around four more inches. I FUCKING HATE WINTER AND IT'S NEVER GOING TO END! Okay, we'll see you all tomorrow.
My Meal
My neighbor at the bar, Will, suggested The Mikey Special which is an entree on the breakfast menu, but it’s served up till two in the afternoon on the weekends. I’m not a big breakfast eater, but I threw caution to the wind and took Will’s suggestion and ordered this dish that’s only served at The Silver Dollar Tavern. I have to admit to being taken aback a bit when it showed up. It appeared to be a big white blob on a plate. But as I dug in the dish came to life as I found scrambled eggs, cheese, a spicy and savory slab of sausage all resting on top of a hearty homemade flaky biscuit. Lots of different tastes and textures in this dish and it really hit the spot on a cold wintery afternoon.
SNC Rating
Two and a half Galloping Gourmets, it was very tasty and unique, but I have to confess, I like the cheeseburger better!
Silver Dollar Tavern
4322 N Prospect Rd.
Peoria Heights
309-685-9413
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