Roadfood-junkie Tours Restaurant, Diners, and Dives around Ontario's Small Towns

Small towns are some times swallowed up by a bigger town. The town of Aldershott is now incorporated into the much bigger city of Burlington, which is part of the city of Hamilton. Roadfood-junkie takes a step back in time to the sixties to a very real old fashion Hot Dog stand.

This place has been serving up Hot Dogs & Hamburgers since the early 1930's. It’s a roadfood-junkie dream of memories gone by.
A look at the place from the outside would turn most modern diners away and the inside is no better, but who in their right mind would want to take a chance and play with success…and modernize. No matter the appearance, this rugged old shack has patrons lining up to sample fast food, the way it should be; with out the glamour and the glitz. A gastronomical treat for anyone’s palate.
Picture Easterbrookes entrance


Lining the walls are paper plates with felt tipped menus. There are so many combinations of hotdogs and all priced slightly different that it is mind boggling to decide which to choose.


Patrons from times past have carved their initials, addresses and I love U’s into the counters, chairs, booths, walls and even the ceiling. There is a wall of fame from celebrity visitors and clippings from old news papers extolling the virtues of a Easterbrooke' hot dog.
Picture Easterbrooke’s wall


Service is fast and food is good. You order, and they give you a little tab off the receipt. The number on it is what they call out when the order is ready. Roadfood junkie always waits to get a booth, he likes to eat in style.

Picture Easterbrookes counter


Up until a couple of years ago, it was the only place you could still get a bottle of soda pop out of one of those old fashion water coolers. Now a person has to settle for those crummy cans. I miss selecting soft drinks out of the water cooler. They had far more old fashion varieties than just coke & Pepsi.
Picture Easterbrookes Hot Dog


Hotdogs, hamburgers, fries, and onion rings is the bulk of their menu. But you can order hotdogs in numerous configurations and by numerous names off the paper plate menus located along the ceiling.

All hot dogs are foot long dogs.
Choices range from Sauerkraut to Chili and everything in between and all named appropriately on the fancy paper plate menus. Anything fancier would spoil the décor.

The regular 12” dog is mustard, relish and onion priced at $2.35, the dog is plump and juicy, steamed no doubt; and the bun has a slight crust to it about as fresh as a bun can get. I have yet to try their hamburger, since my love affair for their hotdogs. Onion rings are dark golden but a have soft onion interior. They are very good, but orders are small. Save your money for another hot dog.

They claim to have real ice cream not that icy gloop and their milkshakes are still made the old fashion way. If for no other reason than to satisfy your curiosity take a drive and enjoy good eats at Easterbrooke’s. Remember, the Roadfood-junkie motto, goodfood, good service, good prices and good fun. And when I say rustic, I mean rustic

You can always work up an appetite with a walk around the Royal Botanical Gardens which is directly across the street on Plains Rd; then head on over to Easterbrooke's for a gourmet treat. It is worth a drive to smell the flowers and eat an Easterbrooke's Hot Dog. Enjoy the adventure and a trip back in time.

Roadfood Junkie Memoirs

Roadfood junkie a self proclaimed Connoisseur of unpretentious eateries around small towns of Ontario.
Perhaps, it is the childhood memories, the rustic atmosphere of diners, dives and good roadfood of bygone days. Food, like Mom use to make. The older generation grew up in a time when eating out was a special event. The younger generation has been weaned on fast food, the drive up micro-waved burgers and frozen French fries. Where is the fun in eating out and dribbling special sauce down your front? I’d rather be sitting in a booth conversing and joking with the wait staff, enjoy a bountiful plate of flavorful food and knowing I was getting value for my hard earned dollars.

They say you can't tell a book by its cover. Same goes for diners, dives and roadfood restaurants.

Eating out has its moments. When you walk through that door; it may, or may not bring back memories of days gone by. The decor does have something to do with the look and feel. A jukebox or a pinball machine may stir up memories of that Mom and Pop diner that you loved so much. The mood is hard to explain but many people, feel it, and the experience is memorable.
Booths offer more privacy, while an open table concept may be preferred by larger roadfood junkies. Counter stools may host the local gossip crowd, capable of solving world problems.

This roadfood junkie wouldn’t think of wandering into an unknown eatery and ordering a full course meal. Ambiance alone is inspiration enough to look at the menu over a cup of coffee. Sit back and watch the plates of food being delivered, watch for happy faces, take a few deep breathes does it exercise the senses and listen to the compadr’e. When I feel satisfied, I eat.Of course, we also base our decisions on recommendations.
We are not talking fine dining, this not where the average person eats. Remember, parsley is not food, it is a decoration for lack of food.

It is the ambiance and the anticipation that sets a Mom & Pop restaurant apart from a fast food, or drive through establishments. There is no mystery to searching out precooked micro-waved hamburgers and hot dogs.

We travel a lot to roadfood destinations; quite often with other foodie friends. We all have a common interest in good food, but likes and dislikes differ dramatically. When we all agree about a fun food time, we enjoyed our meal, and feel like we got value for money, I write and give praise where I feel praise is due, and sometimes, we agree, when the experience is not memorable. I write about that too.
I like to leave with a smile and that warm fuzzy feeling, that a good meal and good fun, was had by all. We’ll be back.

Food is a celebration of life and should be shared.