Today’s post happened because of two things: The Greg and Dan Show and facecrack. A couple of weeks ago I was scrolling though my timeline on facecrack, wasting minutes...okay, hours, that I’d never get back again when I came upon this post from the aforementioned Greg and Dan Show:
That got me thinking about Jiffy Pop. I haven’t had it for years and wondered if it was still a magical treat that’s as much fun to make as it is to eat? And then the restaurant Sugar came to mind. Over two years ago when we were doing our MBIP Pizza tour, I went to Sugar and slid Gumby into their Italian wood-fired stove and while it wasn’t the best of times for Gumby, I really enjoyed it! There’s a picture below and the entire episode can be seen by clicking right here.
Anyway, these two thoughts combined and now I’m obsessed with wanting to try and cook Jiffy Pop in the Italian wood-fired oven at Sugar.
Here’s the Jiffy Pop, now we just need to get over to Sugar!
And look, here we are at Sugar! I absolutely love it when things work out like this! It's an MBIP miracle!
There’s lots of outside seating in front, but it’s too bright out here for me, so let’s go inside. And as we head in the front door I see two pretty faces behind the cash register and one of them is familiar! That’s Karla, on the right, who we know from visits to Salt in the Heights and Alejandra is on the left. Great to see both of them!
I ordered my dinner and then went to the dining room to choose my table. Since I’m dining alone tonight, I chose a small table in the middle and plopped down. I love the condiment bucket on the table and they have three different hot sauces in there. Very impressive!
Here’s the view from my table and I wandered back up front and got a photo of the guys back in the kitchen area making some pizzas. Over to the left of the kitchen/prep area are the eight beers on tap. Meanwhile, back at my table...
Dinner is served by Alejandra!
I’ve always gotten pizza here and wanted to try something different, so I got the meatloaf entree, which comes with roasted vegetables and a side portion of mac ‘n cheese. It looks and smells fantastic! I think we should just go ahead and dig in!
Wow, this was such a great dinner! The meatloaf is crispy on the outside and tender and juicy inside. The meatloaf is a blend of beef and sausage and it’s really flavorful. It’s wrapped in a thin blanket of Gouda cheese and topped off with homemade tomato sauce. The cheese and tomato sauce really compliment the meatloaf nicely and it’s a tasty dish. I’ve had the mac ‘n cheese here before and just like last time, it doesn’t disappoint. It’s creamy, rich and really cheesy! It’s got toasted bread crumbs on top and it’s such a great side dish for the meatloaf, this was a great meal! Now I’m just wondering, what oh what should we have for dessert? Oh, wait...I know...
Jiffy Pop!
There’s the massive wood-burning Sugar oven and Mario, JoJo and Pancho all agreed to help with the cooking of the Jiffy Pop and I for one am really excited about all of this! Mario and JoJo peeled off the outside cardboard and JoJo slid it into the oven and there it is. The oven is currently running at over 500 degrees! I’m anxious to see how it cooks up this tin of Jiffy Pop.
Karla’s documenting the action with her phone as JoJo slid the Jiffy Pop out after a couple of minutes. It was kind of lopsided and looked a little deformed, so we all agreed it needed to go back into the oven for another minute or two.
Karla continued to document with her phone as JoJo slid the Jiffy Pop tin out after a few more minutes and this baby is just about ready to explode! Perfect timing and Mario took it and is opening it up. I was anxious to see how the popcorn cooked up, I was a little afraid it might be all burnt up from being in that hot oven. But...
(Drumroll, please...)
Check it out, it cooked up perfectly! It looks delicious!
We sampled it and it was really good and almost every kernel popped up! I think Sugar should add Jiffy Pop to the menu as an appetizer! Thanks to Karla, Alejandra, Mario, JoJo and Pancho for a fun night at Sugar and for cooking the Jiffy Pop in the Sugar oven. I can honestly say that this was truly a magical treat that was as much fun to make as it was to eat! We’ll see you all tomorrow!
Sugar
826 SW Adams Street
Peoria
309-676-0848
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