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It's been a pretty tough week for us as Lorrie Adams, the wife of my good friend Randy Adams - the owner of the Creekside Bar and Grill here in Davenport - passed away on Monday evening due to what was diagnosed as Angiosarcoma, a not so common form of cancer. Lorrie had been in declining health over the past few months suffering a minor stroke about five months ago and being in and out of the hospital as they tried their best to find out what exactly was wrong with her. After an M.R.I. and then a subsequent upper G.I. showed a growth on her heart, a specialist from Loyola Medical Center in Chicago was brought in to Trinity Health Center's Rock Island campus to work on Lorrie on Monday. No one expected anything less than another miracle of modern medicine, but it turned out that the growth on her heart was a golf ball sized cancerous tumor. After the doctor cut that off her heart, he began to look in her lungs as she had been having trouble breathing as of late and it appeared that a blood clot had developed. When the doctor opened her lungs, he found they were ravaged with cancerous tumors. There wasn't much he could do other than try to make her comfortable for the final hours of her life. She passed away on Monday evening. She was 42. (Click here to read her obituary in the Quad City Times.)
This has been especially tough on Randy, as well as Lorrie's father, Randy Brekke, who does the ribs at Creekside Bar and Grill. And it's been tough on me, as well. Seeing my friends grieve the way they have this week has been very hard. No one was expecting this, although Lorrie had been battling health problems for years.
She was a Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma survivor about 8 years ago. She moved back to Iowa about five years ago and picked up a romance with Randy that began over 15 years ago. When they decided to get married, Lorrie asked me if I'd become an ordained minister through the Universal Life Church. I'm far from being a religious or spiritual person, but I thought enough of Lorrie and Randy to get my credentials and to perform the ceremony in the rose garden of Vandeveer Park in Davenport on September 18, 2010.
The Brekke/Adams link has been in place since Randy Adams and Randy Brekke met during an apprentice program at the Rock Island Arsenal 20 years ago. Many of those people in that class all became good and close friends, and even though I wasn't in the class, I became good friends with many of them, as well. When Lorrie came back to Iowa for a visit in the early 90's, Randy had just gone through a divorce and they sort of got together. Actually, their first date was a Billy Joel concert - they went to it with Cindy and I. I don't remember too much about the concert other than we all got drunker than hell on Leinenkugel Red that evening.
Lorrie eventually went back to California, Randy found a lady in Davenport and got married, then divorced about five years ago. When Lorrie decided to come back to Iowa to live, she found out that Randy was getting a divorce and they immediately hooked up for good. As Randy Brekke told me earlier this week, "They were just meant to be with one another."
After Randy got Creekside Bar and Grill back from his ex-wife, Lorrie immediately put her mark on the place. She changed the menu, changed the food purveyors, changed a lot of the staff and really whipped the place into shape. Her two sons, Stephen and Ryan, stepped in to work the grill and they came up with some interesting new menu items. Lorrie could be a little bull-headed and abrasive to some, but she was also a smart and determined person who knew what she wanted. Randy proudly called her a co-owner of the place, even after she went back to working as a unit secretary full-time at Trinity's Bettendorf location as the bar was beginning to burn her out.
Lorrie's memorial service is later today and it promises to be one filled with tears and laughter. Actually, Lorrie would be the kind of person who would be upset if people were crying over her demise. She had an infectious laugh and I'm going to miss that. In fact, I told both Randy's earlier this week that I really wished I would have had a recording of Lorrie's fast-paced cackling laugh. It immediately brought a smile to my face when I would hear it.
Randy and Lorrie were able to get away a few weeks ago to head down to Memphis and Tunica, MS for a few days. Randy said, "I'm glad we were able to do that. She'd wanted to do that for a long time. But I certainly didn't expect that to be our last trip together."
No one did. That's the precious thing about life. Lorrie will be missed by friends and family, but none more than Randy. And that's the toughest part for me seeing an old friend grieve the way he has. Time will eventually heal the hurt, but with Randy's love for Lorrie, it will take a long time.
I had finished my morning meetings in Champaign on a recent visit there and I had contemplated stopping at The Burger Barge outside of Peoria for a burger on the way home. The only problem is that by the time I would have gotten there it would have been close to 3 p.m., too late to enjoy a great burger if I was planning on eating with my wife later that evening. I decided to go find a barbecue restaurant that I'd driven past on my way into Champaign the previous evening - Boneyard Barbecue. I pulled in there around 1:30 and had missed the lunch rush.
Boneyard Barbecue is located at 25 E. Springfield St. in what was the old Fireside restaurant. (See map) After a place called Rocks closed up in the summer of 2009, Anthony Donato teamed up with Eddie Geovanti's - owner of Geovanti's in Champaign - to open the Fireside, a contemporary bar and grill known for their wings, burgers and - for Springfield, IL natives - their own variation of the horseshoe sandwich.
Donato eventually bought Eddie Geovanti out of both the Fireside and Geovanti's, but found that running both businesses was troublesome, considering he also ran a property and business management company on the side. Enter George Dries.
Dries was the owner of BoBo's BBQ, which was basically a mobile food service that parked in lots around Champaign selling his Southern-style barbecue out of his food truck since 2008. Bobo's was a popular destination for people in and around Champaign and he soon found that he needed a permanent place to sell his barbecue. Donato was looking for a partner for the Fireside location and the two got together to change the bar and grill into Boneyard Barbecue in the fall of 2011.
Dries and Donato updated the inside of the restaurant to make it more of a sports bar atmosphere that also sold burgers and sandwiches along with BoBo's barbecue specialties. There is an outdoor patio (albeit along busy Springfield Ave.) and a large party room for private events. The owners are also huge University of Illinois sports fans and the outside of the building is painted in the school colors of navy blue and orange. Large "I's" for Illinois adorn the outside of the building. For an Iowa Hawkeyes fan like me, it was a little galling to walk into the place.
I took a seat along the north side of the rectangular bar with the windows looking out onto the patio behind me. I was greeted by a bartender, Hannah, who was outgoing and chatty. Rather chatty. Actually, I noticed that with all the help at Boneyard Barbecue were chatty with their customers. Not that there were a lot of customers in the place at that time of the day, but Hannah sure liked to talk.
She gave me a menu to look through and, as always, when I go to a barbecue place that I'm not familiar with I like to go for a combination platter just to try a little bit of everything. They had a handful of combinations - brisket and pulled pork, ribs and brisket, ribs and chicken, ribs and pulled pork. Actually, what I really wanted was ribs, pulled pork and brisket. I just decided to go with the brisket and pulled pork. What was sort of interesting and rather peculiar was that you had to order your choice of barbecue sauce to go on the meat. They didn't have sauce bottles or containers anywhere in the restaurant. You had your choice of mild or hot, or a combination of the two. I got mine with the combination.
Two sides came with the barbecue platter - I got baked beans and mac & cheese. I had to pick between those two and fries, mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet corn, cole slaw, sweet potato fries, cottage cheese or green beans.
After about 10 minutes, Hannah came out with my barbecue combination. The mac & cheese, I could tell, was going to be pedestrian, at best. And it was. And the baked beans weren't much better. I should have asked her for some sauce on the side to help zip up the beans because they were pretty weak on taste. And that was another minor quibble on my part - there was no extra sauce available in bottles or containers.
The brisket was more of a pulled beef variety rather than sliced. However, it was moist, tender and tasted good with the smoky and very sweet barbecue sauce that Boneyard Barbecue had to offer. I forked some of the excess sauce on the plate in with a bite of the baked beans and it helped the taste tremendously.
The ribs featured four bones slathered in the barbecue sauce. I really wish I would have gotten the sauce on the side when I got to the ribs because I could tell that they had a unique rub on the outside. The ribs were very meaty, also moist and tender. The sauce was a little overpowering for the taste of the rib meat. It was also so sweet it was sticky. One thing that Boneyard Barbecue needs to offer is wet naps or at least a warm wet towel to use while eating the ribs. I had to go into the restroom and "squeegee" my face and hands off after I finished the meal.
Hannah came over to me and asked, "How was it?" I told her the truth - it was good. I can't say it was outstanding barbecue, but it was good. I've gotten spoiled on good barbecue in Kansas City and in Des Moines, two places that, I feel, has the best barbecue in the Midwest. But Boneyard Barbecue acquitted themselves very well and would have stacked up against many barbecue places I've eaten at in the past. If I do get a chance to go back I'll try the ribs dry or with sauce on the side. I want to taste the meat on the ribs without the interference of the sauce. Not that there is anything wrong with the sauce, but it did overpower the taste of the meat. And I've found that if barbecue joints do that with their meat, they're trying to hide something.
If there's anything that causes more food arguments in the state of Iowa, it has to be Maid-Rites. Maid-Rites are, quite simply, loose meat beef sandwiches served on buns. It's like a hamburger, only the meat is steamed in bins and falls out on wax paper as you eat them. In the 1900's, nearly every town of any size in Iowa had a Maid-Rite and natives from each of those towns will swear that their local Maid-Rite is the best. I grew up in Newton, IA and the oldest continuous Maid-Rite-style shop is located there. And while the sign out front still says "Maid-Rite", the official name of the place is now Mr. Dan's Sandwich Shop. But to the locals in Newton, it's still the Maid-Rite.
The Newton Maid-Rite has a long and interesting history behind it. Here it is -
After he opened the original Maid-Rite sandwich shop in Muscatine in 1925, Fred Angell was looking for a location to put a second restaurant. He settled upon the Central Iowa town of Newton, home of the burgeoning Maytag Washer Company. Fred figured the workers would love his loose-meat sandwiches.
The Newton Maid-Rite opened in 1926 and it was originally known as the Maid-Rite Hamburg. The original building was a stucco and wood structure with a wooden sign out front cut in the form of a lady with a broom. I believe this may have been the Maid-Rite Maiden that Angell's wife used as the first logo of Maid-Rite shops. Angell ran the Newton location for six months before selling it to Gus Foster.
Mr. Foster ran the Maid-Rite in Newton until 1937 when he sold it to Ethel Shelley, who was described as a "colorful lady." Some older people in Newton remember Ms. Shelley and fondly remember her running the shop in the late 30's into the early 40's.
Also in 1937, two years after franchising the Maid-Rite name (the first food franchise in the Midwest), Fred Angell decreed that all Maid-Rite's add a seasoning to their meat. Ms. Shelley and Cliff Taylor, who founded and owned the Marshalltown Maid-Rite location since 1928, decided that they didn't want to use the seasoning. I understand they fought Angell who finally backed down on his commandment. Actually, I believe every Maid-Rite that was franchised after 1937 had to use the seasoning, but the Newton Maid-Rite and Taylor's Maid-Rite in Marshalltown were "grandfathered" in to not having to use the seasonings.
In 1944, Cliff Taylor passed away and his son, Don, took over Taylor's Maid-Rite. Don Taylor then bought the Newton Maid-Rite from Ethel Shelley. A young man by the name of Quentin "Bud" Holland who worked for the Taylor family in Marshalltown was asked to move to Newton to run the operation there. Bud and his wife, Marty, moved to Newton where they raised two girls, Mardy and Chris.
Bud and Marty Holland eventually purchased the Maid-Rite in Newton from Don Taylor in 1958 and promptly renamed it Bud's Maid-Rite. The original building was a small stucco structure with two entrances on the front side. To get from one side of the counter to the other, patrons would have to walk out the front door on the one side and re-enter in the door on the opposite side.
In 1962, the front half of the present-day Maid-Rite in Newton was reconstructed. While it was being built, patrons ate in a screened in room in the back of the building. The locals referred to it as "the shack in the back."
In 1964, Mardy Holland was a junior in high school and her younger sister, Chris, was a sophomore. Bud and Marty decided to add a room in the back and put in a basement underneath. This became sort of the defacto "teen center" in Newton. It had a serving counter in back, a jukebox and booths for the teen-aged kids to hang out. With sisters who were Mardy and Chris' age, I remember this part of the Maid-Rite very vividly. It was the place to go if you were a teenager in Newton in the mid to late 60's.
In 1970, Bud and Marty retired and sold the Maid-Rite to Dan and Pam Holtkamp. The Holtkamp's had moved to Newton in 1968 as Dan had taken a job as an accountant for the old Parson's Manufacturing. They fell in love with Newton and wanted to make the town their permanent home to raise their kids. The Holtkamp's jumped head first into the business. Dan had a degree in business and one of the golden rules in business school is not to tamper with success. The Holtkamp's did little to the Maid-Rite after they took over and the transition was smooth. In fact, for years people still referred to the Maid-Rite as just "Bud's".
About the biggest change the Holtkamp's did was to take out the teen room in the back, change that into a full service seating area and open a back entrance to the restaurant. They also put in a drive-up window for people to get their Maid-Rites, fries and shakes. The Holtkamp's also introduced a smaller Maid-Rite - the Joey Rite (named after their son) - for smaller appetites. The Danielle Special (named after their daughter) was a Joey Rite, small soft drink and ice cream. The Holtkamp's also put in the Jaarsma Connection, a small counter in the back of the restaurant that served fresh Dutch pastries from the Jaarsma Bakery in Pella, IA.
Today, the back room has pencil sketches on the wall above the booths of the four owners of the Maid-Rite since late 1926 (below left).
One thing that Dan did not do was change the way the meat was prepared at the Maid-Rite. He told me one time that he doesn't use any seasonings in his meats, the way his predecessors did in their day. And the key is that he buys his meat from the same supplier who Bud Holland was using for years before Dan became the owner. Dan continues to grind his own beef in the basement. The taste of the Newton Maid-Rite comes from the old steamer that is used to cook the meat (above right). The steamer has been internally seasoned over the years and years that it's been used to make countless Maid-Rites. The only thing that is added is a little bit of salt added to the top of the meat before the Maid-Rite is wrapped up in wax paper.
In 1982, the Angell family sold the Maid-Rite franchises to a company in Des Moines. The Maid-Rite franchise company was eventually bought by a gentleman by the name of Bradley Burt who insisted that all Maid-Rite franchises have uniformity in the way they prepared their sandwiches. He wanted - no, demanded - that all Maid-Rites buy their meat from his company and prepare it in a specific way. Dan Holtkamp and Don Short, the grandson of Cliff Taylor, resisted the changes and were allowed to continue to do business they way they had.
However, in 2006, the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals decided that the bins that the older Maid-Rites around the state used were deemed to be "unhealthy" as they allowed for the cooking of raw meat next to fully cooked meat. This is a process that Maid-Rites have used for well over 70 years, and they usually have a stainless steel partition in the bin to keep the cooked meat from the raw meat. Once the raw meat is cooked through, the partition is removed and the meat is all mixed together. As far as I know, no one has ever gotten sick from this type of cooking method.
Both Short and Holtkamp said that the changeover to new steamers would be cost ineffective for their businesses and Short led the appeal to the state of Iowa to overturn the ruling. However, it was determined that the original Maid-Rites were in violation of the administrative guidelines set forth by the Iowa Department of Inspections. But, both the Newton Maid-Rite and Taylor's in Marshalltown use the same old steamers and cooking process, so I'm guessing they were able to beat the ruling somewhere along the way.
The biggest change happened a few years ago when Dan Holtkamp silently changed the name of his shop to "Mr. Dan's Sandwich Shop". For years, Holtkamp's workers referred to him as "Mr. Dan" and the nickname stuck. Dan is still running the place daily, his big smile and friendly demeanor greeting customers as they come in. Dan told me, "You know, I'm 72 years old and I've owned this place for 41 years. If I'm able to - and I plan on doing it - in five more years I'll have owned this business in the same amount of years that all three of the previous owners owned it." I'm not betting against him.
Sadly, one of the biggest changes to Dan's business has been the downturn thanks to the closing of Maytag in 2007. Lunch time at the Newton Maid-Rite was an adventure and scene of much jockeying of seats throughout the place trying to get a Maid-Rite and get back to work at the office or factory. I learned a long time ago that you just don't go to Maid-Rite between noon and 1 p.m. on weekdays. Unfortunately, that isn't the case any longer. Business at the Newton Maid-Rite is still steady, but it's not at the same level that it was years ago.
During Newton High School reunion weekends, the Maid-Rite is overrun by former residents back in town for their class reunions. The blackboard on the east side wall has been there for years announcing food specials, game scores, events and even allowing patrons to post their own notes on the board. The menu boards on both walls, I have to believe, are the same ones that have been in the place since Bud Holland refurbished the place in 1962. The front part of the Newton Maid-Rite hasn't changed much - if any - since the building was reconstructed 50 years ago.
I was passing through Newton on my way home recently and decided to stop in and have a Maid-Rite. Actually, I like their Cheese-rites - basically a Maid-Rite with a slice of American cheese on top. And I love to drink milk with my Maid-Rites and/or Cheese-rites. Don't know where I got that from, but I always order a large milk when I have a Maid-Rite.
The Cheese-rites are wrapped in an outer wrap with yellow stripes to denote the cheese on the sandwich. When the Cheese-rite is unwrapped, the excess meat falls out. A spoon is provided to pick up the loose meat on the wrapper. In the winter time, the Maid-Rite also has chili and it's good chili. What I like to do is get a bowl of chili and pour the excess meat into the chili after I have the Cheese-rite.
Some people will ask for the Maid-Rite/Cheese-Rite moist. I like mine a little dry, just as ordered. Like the original Maid-Rites, everything is mustard, pickle and onion. I put a little ketchup and, surprisingly, a little more salt on my Cheese-Rites before I eat them. I hardly EVER put salt on anything, but I like my Cheese-rites salty. The buns that Dan uses are pretty basic, but it's never really been about the bun at Maid-Rite all the way back to the day of Bud Holland. The meat is the thing that keeps bringing me back to the Newton Maid-Rite.
It's sort of like the people in the Quad Cities who grew up eating Harris Pizza and thinking that it is the best pizza in the world. Being from Newton, I think the Maid-Rites from the Newton Maid-Rite are the best in the world. I will admit there are others who think Taylor's in Marshalltown is better. Of course, there are thousands of natives of Ottumwa who think the Canteen's at the Canteen Lunch are the best. People in Sioux City think the "taverns" at Miles Inn are the best. But I could easily be accused of being provincial when it comes to the Newton Maid-Rite, or more correctly Mr. Dan's Sandwich Shop. It's the oldest and, I think, the best.
Let the debate continue...
I spent the night in Champaign, IL recently, in town for a morning meeting the next day. It was one of those evenings where I really didn't know what I wanted for dinner. Being on the road so much, I sometimes get burned out on restaurants and don't know exactly what I would like to eat on a given night. I had thought about Indian or barbecue. There was a steakhouse just down the street from my hotel. I decided to get in the car and head north on Neil Street toward the downtown area. I passed William St. and I noticed a restaurant with a lighted and festive looking outdoor patio. It piqued my interest, so I went back around the block to see what it was. It turned out it was a Mexican restaurant - El Toro Restaurante. (See map) I debated with myself for a few seconds trying to determine whether or not I wanted Mexican food or not. Then I thought, "You know, a margarita would taste pretty good." So I pulled into the parking lot on the west side of the building and went inside.
El Toro is a 10 restaurant family-owned regional chain with three locations in Champaign/Urbana, and five more Illinois locations in Rantoul, Bloomington, Monticello, Danville and St. Joseph. They also have El Toro Bravo restaurants in Cincinnati, OH, and Walton, KY on the southern edge of the Cincinnati metro area. The original restaurant is on W. Springfield Ave. in Champaign. In 1998, Victor Fuentes and his uncle, Manuel, opened their first restaurant, originally called El Torero. It was a small place, seating only about 100 people, tops. The Fuentes were joined by Victor's brothers and sisters, his wife and other family members in the business.
The Fuentes family opened their second location - called El Toro I - in Urbana in 2002. A third location on S. Neil Street opened in 2004. Their growth continued with the purchase of a Mexican restaurant in Springfield, IL (since closed) and opening the St. Joseph location in 2007. They moved from the original location to a space that was two and a half times larger on W. Springfield early in 2007. Victor and his brother, Sammy, are the main partners in the El Toro chain today.
Business at the S. Neil St. location had also grown tremendously over the years. They ended up moving in February of 2011 to a new location at the corner of William St. and S. Neil, closer to downtown. Even though the restaurant faces William St. and the main entrance is from the parking lot behind the building, the restaurant location maintains a Neil St. address.
It was around 7:30 when I got into the place. I was met at the hostess stand by a pleasant young lady who asked me if I wanted to eat in the bar or in the dining room. I took a look in the bar area, a very nice bar area that had high tables, high backed chairs, a nice bar with a couple televisions on the back wall.
There are two dining rooms in this particular El Toro - the middle room off the bar area that is well-lit, and the front dining room that features a fireplace, wooden beams across the ceiling and full-size windows looking out onto the patio on the south side of the building. Since it was still winter, the patio was closed, but strings of lights illuminated the outside of the place.
The hostess sat me at a table in the middle room off the bar area and dropped off a menu with a small menu listing their specials they had that night. My server for the evening, Alfredo - a pleasant 40-something man - came over to ask me what I wanted to drink. I told him that I wanted a margarita on the rocks, no salt.
As I waited for the margarita, I took a quick look through the menu at El Toro. Now, I've said for a number of years that there has to be some sort of a Mexican restaurant godfather who comes up with the menu items for Mexican restaurants. A number of them - like Azteca in the Quad Cities and El Maguey in the St. Louis area - all seemed to have the same combinations and under the same number. El Toro was another cookie-cutter Mexican restaurant when it came to their menu. Combination number 23 on the El Toro menu is a taco, chile relleno and a tostaguac - which, I believe - is the number 22 on the Azteca menu. The number 1 on the El Toro menu - a taco, two enchiladas with rice and beans - is, I believe, number 1 on the El Maguey menu. Nevertheless, it's all good in my book. It's like going into a McDonald's and knowing that the number 4 value meal is the same everywhere.
Alfredo came out with my margarita. Chips and salsa had been placed on the table by another server moments earlier. He wanted to know if I was ready to order. Since the menu was similar to many other Mexican restaurants like El Toro, you'd think I'd have an idea as to what I wanted. But I really didn't. They had a lot of seafood specialties on the menu - I was leaning heavily toward the shrimp tacos. But I was thinking of getting a chimichanga or maybe some fajitas. I told Alfredo that I needed a little more time.
The chips were fresh and warm and the salsa was pretty average. It was very similar to the other cookie-cutter Mexican restaurants where I've eaten. The salsa wasn't bad at all, just similar to others.
The margarita, I have to say, was outstanding. The mix was not overly sweet or syrupy. It had an adequate amount of tequila in the mix - at least enough where I could taste the booze. I made short work of the margarita.
I had picked up the specials list for the night and saw something on there call the "Fajita burrito" - a large burrito filled with fajita meat (your choice - chorizo, chicken or steak) with grilled onions and bell peppers, then guacamole is added. It's folded and then topped with a melted Mexican cheese. When Alfredo came back I ended up ordering the steak fajita burrito. Even though the margarita was excellent, I decided for my next drink to get a bottle of Dos Equis Amber beer.
My meal took a little longer to get out to me than normal for Mexican restaurants of El Toro's type. I'm sure they were cooking everything up from scratch on the grill and then placing it inside the burrito. It was a huge burrito that covered the majority of the large plate that it came on. There were some herbs - probably cilantro - that were mixed in with the Mexican cheese sauce on top of the burrito.
The burrito was packed with a lot of meat and veggies. The steak fajita meat was good and flavorful. It wasn't outstanding or it didn't knock my socks off. But it was typical of this type of Mexican restaurant. Good and serviceable. That's all I'm looking for in a Mexican restaurant like this.
I couldn't eat the whole thing, so I ended up picking most of the steak out of the center of the burrito. I dipped the steak in the salsa a couple times to help zip up the taste and that was good. I ate what I could and left a good portion of the large burrito on my plate. Alfredo wanted to know if I wanted a box, but I declined. It was all I needed.
The fajita burrito special at El Toro was a great value - $7.95 for that big thing. My bar tab for the margarita and the Dos Equis Amber was higher than my food tab (like that's a surprise). As I said, the burrito was good - not outstanding - but good Mexican-style comfort food. The margarita was well above average. At a place like El Toro you know you're going to get a pretty good meal at a pretty fair price. I'm sure there are other options for Mexican food in Champaign, but considering I sort of came across El Toro as I was driving down the street I was happy that I found it. The margarita, alone, is worth the trip to one of their locations. That is, if they make them all the same - and I'm guessing they do.
I had eaten at Yats Cajun and Creole restaurant in Indianapolis a few years ago and I thought the food was pretty good (see that entry here). On a recent trip to Indy, I had booked a room in the far southern Indianapolis suburb of Greenwood and I got into town late in the day. I was hungry and wanted something quick. Not far from my hotel at the corner of E. County Line Road and US Highway 31, across from the Greenwood Park Mall is a Yats location. (see map) I pulled in just moments before they were scheduled to close.
My initial visit to Yat's on Massachusetts Ave. (known as "Mass Ave." to the locals) just north and east of downtown Indianapolis was about six years ago. I had the gumbo on that visit and it was very good. I was sort of looking forward to trying something else on their limited menu of Cajun food.
I did some digging into the background of Yats for this particular entry on Road Tips and found that the owner/founder of Yats seemed to be a pretty interesting guy. Joe Vuskovich (pictured right) is a Louisiana native who learned the tricks of Cajun food as he worked in his family's oyster boat business. Yearning to strike out on his own, at the age of 19 he opened his first restaurant - Visko's Seafood - in Gretna, LA just across the Mississippi River from downtown New Orleans. Helped out by family members, the young Vuskovich soon opened a second restaurant - The Steam Room - in New Orleans. Both restaurants were so successful that he was named the 1979 American Express Restaurateur of the Year, given out annually by the National Restaurant Association.
However, still being a young guy, Vuskovich felt that he was getting burnt out on the restaurant business. He ended up moving to Palm Beach, FL and taking up the game of polo. It had become somewhat of a passion for him in New Orleans and he decided to go head long into the game in what is arguably the polo capital of North America.
Vuskovich had an older brother who was a doctor in Florida who decided that he wanted to move to Lexington, KY and follow his passion for race horses. Joe Vuskovich decided to follow his brother up to Kentucky and began to grow herbs and spices in a green house where he would grind and package the Cajun spices and sell to restaurants and restaurant supply houses. It was in Lexington where he met his wife, Regina, who became his business partner.
Vuskovich opened his first Yats restaurant (the terms "Yat" is a New Orleans native's way of asking "Hey, were you at?" Only it comes out sort of like "Hah, where yat?") in Lexington in 1996. They continued to grow their herbs and spices to sell to Cajun restaurants. It was a good thing they didn't give up their Cajun seasonings business because the people in the heart of the Blue Grass State didn't take well to Vuskovich's authentic Cajun cuisine.
(Pictured left - Joe and Regina Vuskovich. Photo courtesy Indy.com)
In 2001, the Vuskovich's Cajun seasoning business faced a crossroads. A couple of their largest wholesale accounts went out of business and they'd lost a handful of restaurants that they would pre-packaged specific Cajun spice blends. On top of that, they were faced with a renovation of the dilapidated buildings the Vuskovich's had to grow their herbs and spices in. Trying to figure out something new to do, they took off toward Chicago to see what opportunities they might get into next. However, an overnight stop in Indianapolis showed the Vuskovich's that this mid-sized American city could use an authentic Cajun-style restaurant. The couple instantly fell in love with the place and opened their first Yats location on College Ave. in Broadripple (see map). It was a no-frills, counter service only restaurant that served the authentic Cajun specialties that Vuskovich grew up with in Louisiana.
The first three months were slow and the Vuskovich's wondered if Indiana was more of a "meat and potato" state. However, a good review of the place started to bring people in. Suddenly it was the hottest restaurant in Indianapolis. They opened their second location in the Mass Ave. Art District area of Indy and then opened locations up in Fisher's on 96th St. (see map) and down south in Greenwood. I understand the Vuskovich's are looking to put in a location in Bloomington near the Indiana University campus.
The Yats locations in and around Indianapolis are only open until 9 p.m. through the week and it was about 8:45 when I walked in. The menu in the restaurant is located on a chalk board near the front counter and it can change daily - and even hourly. When I got into the restaurant, it was practically empty of customers and a number of items on the board were crossed out. "We were pretty busy earlier," the young guy behind the counter explained to me.
One thing that Yats is famous for is their Maque Choux (roughly pronounced Mock Shoo), a traditional Southern Louisiana dish that combines corn, bell peppers, garlic, tomatoes, onion and celery that are braised in bacon fat, then cooked with a chicken stock before chicken, crawfish and/or shrimp are added later on. I was sort of upset to find that they were out of the Maque Choux that particular evening. "One of our more popular dishes," the young guy told me.
With not much on the menu to choose from - and I'm sure these guys were getting impatient with a late straggler walking in - I ordered a half and half order of red beans with andoiulle sausage and rice, and another Yats specialty, chili cheese etoufee with crawfish. They basically take chili cheese sauce, add crawfish in with it and spread it over rice. A half and half order is $7.95 and comes with a couple slices of Yats homemade butter toasted bread.
They don't have beer at Yats - about the only minus I can see in the place - so I just had water with my meal. It wasn't more than a couple minutes when I head the cook in the back yell, "Red beans and sausage, chili cheese etoufee half and half!" My plate was sitting on a ledge across from the soft drink dispenser which, in turn, was next to a shelf with all different kinds of hot sauce with little tubs that you can pour the sauce into. Since no one else was in the restaurant at that time, I just grabbed a bottle of Tabasco to take back to the table with me.
The red beans with the andoiulle sausage was good. It had large spicy chunks of sausage and the mixture was very good. Zapping it with liberal amounts of Tabasco helped zip it up even a little more.
The chili cheese etoufee was, well, interesting. To look at it sitting over the rice, it didn't look too appetizing. But the etoufee had a smoky cheese taste to it. Bite sized chunks of crawfish were interspersed throughout the mixture and with the help of Tabasco it was a pretty enjoyable concoction. I wasn't certain what I liked better - the red beans and sausage or the chili cheese etoufee. Both were good, not outstanding, but completely serviceable as a fast, authentic Cajun style offering.
And it was filling. I was having trouble finishing what I had on the plate. Both portions were more than enough for that late in the evening.
As I was eating my food, another couple came in to order food. "You guys still open," the guy asked the counter man.
"We're still open," he replied. "As long as the 'open' light is on and the door's unlocked, we're open!" He was a very likable guy, to say the least.
Suddenly a man walked in and he was there to pick up a to-go order. After he got his order, someone else came in to pick up another to-go order. I heard the cook in the back said, "We always seem to get busy right before we close."
I really liked Yats gumbo on my first visit to the Mass Ave. location a number of years ago. On my second visit to the Greenwood location I found the food to be good, above average compared to other Cajun places I've been to. It was quick and completely authentic Cajun food served in the heart of America. I can see why it has become such a favorite restaurant for those who live in Indianapolis. It's no-frills approach offers absolutely no pretension on the part of the Vuskovich's who, from the research I came up with, appear to be some fun-loving people. That fun-loving ideology is what helps make Yats so good. The menu may be limited, but it's guaranteed to be fresh each day. One of these days I will go back and I will try the Maque Choux. That is, if they aren't sold out that particular day.
A few years ago, a casual friend of mine suggested that I try the Black Forest Inn restaurant in Minneapolis, a German restaurant that has been in business for right at 47 years (as of next Tuesday). I kept it on my culinary radar for quite sometime until I had an appointment near downtown Minneapolis one day on a recent trip to the Twin Cities and I decided to find the Black Forest Inn and have a little lunch. I found it on the southeast corner of Nicollet and 26th Ave. just south of downtown and west of I-35W (see map).
Black Forest Inn is located along a mile and a half stretch of Nicollet that is known to the locals as Eat Street. There are a literally dozens of restaurants along Nicollet featuring all different types of cuisine, most of them are cheap to moderately priced. Many of the restaurants are Asian-based, but you'll find a number of ethnic-based restaurants of all types along the stretch of Nicollet.
Erich and Gerhard Christ opened the Black Forest Inn on May 15, 1965. It was basically a small bar with an even smaller kitchen where Erich would make a handful of German specialties. Somewhere along the way Gerhard Christ departed and Erich was joined in the business in 1968 when he married his wife Joanne. In the mid-70's, the Christ's bought the property next to them, a dilapidated old building that they tore down and put in a German style beer garden along side the restaurant.
About 10 years later, the Christ's expanded their restaurant once again to put in an expanded kitchen which included a butcher area and a bakery. Black Forest Inn prides itself in the fact that they make everything on their menu from scratch in their kitchen and bakery. Within the past few years, the Black Forest Inn has added a breakfast menu that includes an authentic German-style oven-baked apple pancake.
It was just after noon when I walked into the restaurant and was greeted by Kelley, a young and cheerful waitress. She asked if I wanted a table or a booth. I went with the booth, which was old and wooden, probably from an old restaurant or pub that were probably moved to the Black Forest Inn a number of years ago. The first thing that struck me about the place was the smell of nutmeg that permeated the air. There's something about nutmeg and German food that I simply love.
The other thing about the place was the amount of artwork, ornate woodwork and antique lights throughout the place. There were two brightly colored antique gas light fixtures hanging from the ceiling, a ceiling that featured some equally brightly colored paneled artwork. From the front of the restaurant, throughout the two dining areas and into the bar, the Black Forest Inn is literally its own art gallery. Click here to learn more about the artwork and decorations throughout the restaurant.
The bar area features a an old wooden bar with a series of etched paneled windows along the back. Glasses hang from the ceiling above the bar and old world beer spigots come up from the front of the bar. The beer garden sits just beyond the bar area. Walking into the bar is like walking into a Bavarian country inn.
One of the most noteworthy pieces of art at the Black Forest Inn is a photograph by the famed portrait photographer Richard Avedon. Avedon was in Minneapolis in 1970 attending a showing of his work at the nearby Minneapolis Institute of Arts and frequented the bar at the Black Forest Inn during his time in Minneapolis. At the end of the exhibition, Avedon presented the Christ's a large photograph that he took of the Generals of the Daughters of the American Revolution at a soiree they were attending in Washington, DC about 7 years prior. It surprised the Christ's as they didn't really know Avedon all that well, but they happily hung it on the north wall of the bar.
In 1986, a regular patron of the Black Forest Inn bar, a one Ellis Nelson, had a few German beers to drink one particular day and decided that the photograph annoyed him. He took out a pistol and shot at the photograph three times. Two of the shots hit the photograph - click on the picture to enlarge it - one hit a lady in the back left in the chest, the other hit a lady in the back right just above the eye. The third bullet hit the wall.
Of course, all hell broke loose inside the restaurant and Nelson calmly got up, went to the nearest police station and turned himself in. Nelson was charged with a misdemeanor, fined and had to give up his firearm. When informed of the attack, Avedon was said to be very upset. The Christ's looked into what it would cost to fix the photograph, but when informed the costs would be astronomical, they left it as it is. When Avedon passed away in 2004, the Christ's shrouded the picture with a black sash.
The lunch menu at the Black Forest Inn is basically a condensed version of their dinner menu with a handful of soups, salads and sandwiches added in. I was kind of in the mood for an authentic German dish and they had both a wiener schnitzel and sauerbraten on the lunch menu. They also had a bratwurst entree with the sausages made in house. I took a look at the reuben for a second, but decided that I was getting kind of burnt on reubens as of late. So, it was down to the schnitzel or the sauerbraten. When Kelley came back I mentally flipped a coin and it came up sauerbraten. I also got a side of their red cabbage to go along with the meal. I also got a pint of the Spaten Lager beer with my lunch.
Surprisingly, it wasn't all that busy so it didn't take long before Kelley came out with my food. The ample amount of sauerbraten came with a side of spatzle, made fresh daily, and a generous serving of gravy. I also got a couple of homemade German-style hard rolls with butter. While the beef sauerbraten was very tender, the taste of the meat was bland. Very bland. I couldn't really taste anything in the beef. And I was waiting for the tangy taste of nutmeg or ginger in the gravy, but there was none. It was highly disappointing.
The red cabbage was slightly better, but served at almost room temperature. It wasn't warm at all, but it did have some good flavor to it. It was much better than the sauerbraten, but was also disappointing in that it wasn't served warmer than it was.
I did finish the disappointing sauerbraten, bland gravy and all, and made a serious dent in the red cabbage and some of the spatzle. It's hard to say this, but the highlight of the meal was the Spaten Lager beer. Compared to a number of German restaurants that I've been to over the past few years, Black Forest Inn was at the low end of the scale. I was very disappointed in the food, although the service I received from Kelley was exemplary. It wasn't very busy at the Black Forest Inn during the height of the lunch hour and I wonder if that has anything to do with the food. Even so, the bar area alone would be worth going there for a couple beers and to see the Avedon photograph with the bullet holes and the rest of the artwork the Christ's have on display. I'm not certain I'd get the food.
I found myself in Ames, Iowa one evening staying overnight for an early morning meeting with a prospective dealer. Not knowing much about the culinary fare of Ames, I asked the girl at the front desk if there was a steakhouse or an Italian restaurant that she recommended. Her face lit up and said, "Yeah! Actually, you can have both at a place not far from here!" She recommended I try Pazzesco Pasta and Chophouse out on the western edge of Ames on Lincoln Way (see map).
Pazzesco (pronounced Pad-ZEE-sko), which roughly means "wild, crazy and fantastic" in Italian is the brain child of Chris Patterson, a native of nearby Nevada, IA (we Iowans pronounce Nevada as "nuh-VAY-da" with the long "A" in the middle). Patterson was a graduate of Iowa State University with a degree in Hotel, Restaurant and Industrial Administration and co-founded GNC Restaurants, a multi-concept restaurant group based out of Ames. He ran GNC for about five years before moving on to work for the Cracker Barrel restaurants.
After becoming a District Manager for Cracker Barrel, Patterson went on to work as a Regional Manager for Canyon Cafe, a Southwestern-cuisine restaurant chain based in Dallas. Patterson worked for Canyon Cafe for four years before the restaurants were purchased by AVADO Brands, a restaurant holding company that owned a number of Don Pablo's Mexican restaurants as well as a number of Hops Grillhouse and Brewery locations. (AVADO filed for bankruptcy in 2007.)
Soon thereafter, Patterson (pictured right) then went on to work with the Leeann Chin, a Twin Cities-based contemporary Chinese fast food chain. Patterson opened the first 3 Leeann Chin locations in Kansas City, eventually opening 7 total in the area. From Leeann Chin, Patterson went on to become the President and C.O.O. of Austin Grill, a multi-location Tex-Mex restaurant in the Washington D.C. area.
After Austin Grill was sold in 2008, Patterson decided that he wanted to do something else. He wasn't overly happy with the new owners and he was finding solace in music. He had formed an alternative country music group - Leaving, TX - in 2004 and the group had gained somewhat of a following in the Washington D.C. area and even toured parts of Europe. But the restaurant business was in his blood and he decided to move back to his roots in Iowa soon after Austin Grill was sold.
The Broiler steakhouse on the far west side of Ames was a popular place to eat for over 45 years. (Years ago I had a t-shirt with "The Broiler" on the front of it. Don't quite remember how I got it as I'd never been to The Broiler, but I used to wear it all the time when I played basketball.) The original Broiler closed for awhile around 2007, but reopened in the fall of 2008. It didn't last long, closing for good sometime in 2009. The building sat idle until Patterson came back to Ames and decided to open an Italian steakhouse in the place. Patterson literally gutted the place and formed the restaurant to his vision. Pazzesco opened in July of 2010.
(Pazzesco in Ames. Photo by Scott Dresmel, courtesy Ames.Patch.com)
Patterson is also a partner in a new gourmet burger place in Ames called Oddfellows Burger Kitchen - a restaurant on Ames' north side that opened earlier this year. I might have to try that place at some point. (Update - I did try Oddfellows very recently. Look for that entry on Road Tips in the coming weeks.)
Kellie Doyle is the chef at Pazzesco. Doyle's grandmother immigrated from Italy and many of the recipes used at the restaurant were handed down by her grandmother's ancestors. Patterson has also added some of his own recipes from working in Italian-style restaurants years ago. Doyle has been Patterson's chef since he opened Pazzesco.
Since it had been years since I'd been on the west side of Lincoln Way in Ames, I wasn't too certain where Pazzesco was. As I started to get out on the fringe of town, I saw a brightly lit side along the south side of the road just past the Boone County/Story County line. A handful of cars were in the lot when I pulled in.
A hostess met me at the front counter. She asked if I wanted to have a seat in the bar or have a table in the dining room. I went with the dining room option and she took me to a table along the wall near the front of the restaurant. The only problem was that a large family with two very loud and shrieking kids were at a large table just behind me. After a bit, I almost got up to go to the bar. But the adults were able to corral the kids and their loud screaming after awhile.
The main dining room was long and narrow with a number of old pictures on the wall. A fire place was at one end of the room with a number of tables throughout the subtle-lit room. It was cozy and inviting, even with the little kids still whining behind me.
The hostess had left me a menu and my waitress for the evening, Lindsey, came out to greet me and to take my drink order. I saw an Italian beer on their menu that I hadn't had in quite sometime - Menabrae. Menabrae is one of the oldest continuous breweries in Italy starting out in 1846. They had the lager and the amber Menabrae at Pazzesco and I got a bottle of the lager.
While I was waiting on my beer and looking through the menu, another person brought out a basket of bread and a plate with herbs and garlic swimming in garlic oil. The bread was halfway dried out and sort of bland, but the herbs and garlic oil made it taste a lot better.
Most of the items on the menu were your basic Italian entrees. They had veal and chicken parmesan, as well as chicken and veal piccata. They had pork piccata, too, and that sounded very interesting. I was going into the place thinking of getting a steak - they cook it either over a charbroiled grill, or they broil it in a concoction of better and garlic then serve it with a brown butter sauce. Oooo... I was so damn tempted to get a steak. But the veal piccata kept talking to me.
Lindsey came back and asked me if I had any questions. I asked her if the veal slices they had were large or more like medallions. She tired to use her hands to size the veal for me and she wasn't doing a good job of describing it. I said, "Wait, forget it. I'll make it easy for you and get the veal piccata." It was served on a bed of angel hair pasta with capers. I also ordered a house salad with their homemade garlic parmesan dressing.
The salad was a bunch of assorted greens with some croutons tossed about and the dressing on the side (below left). The dressing was a creamy garlic parmesan that was neither all that pungent in garlic nor parmesan cheesy. It was a pretty pedestrian salad. But the half-stale bread dipped in the olive oil and herbs was still getting my attention.
When Lindsey brought out the veal piccata (above right), I could tell from the looks of it that I was going to have trouble liking it. The veal had a heavy breading over it, then it looked like it had been stuck in a microwave to melt a bit of shredded mozzarella cheese. At first I thought it was a cracker and corn meal crust on the veal, but then I couldn't figure out what it was. The veal was stiff and tough - so tough that I had to ask Lindsey for a steak knife. Even with the steak knife, it still didn't cut very well. It was chewy and not very flavorful. The pasta under the veal was woefully overcooked and somewhat mushy. It didn't roll up very easily on the fork and the only spoon available at the table was a small one that made it difficult to roll the pasta on the fork. The capers were strong and forward in taste, but they were the only things on the plate that were. Still, the bread and the olive oil and herbs were saving the meal.
Looking back, I should have gone with my first instincts and gotten the steak. The veal was not very good, the pasta was overcooked and the salad was "eh!". But even with the nearly stale bread, the garlic herb olive oil dip was the highlight of the evening. That, and Lindsey's stellar service. Even though it was a good value, I can't really say that I was overly impressed with the food at Pazzesco. From reviews I've read on a handful of sites, it appears they do have a following and people do like the place. It could have been an off night, but the veal seemed like it was deep fried rather than pan-cooked. I probably won't be back to Pazzesco anytime soon. But if I do, I'd get the steak rather than the veal.
I still firmly believe that Salerno's on Grand on Chicago's near West side and Vito and Nick's on the city's South side are number 1 and 1A when it comes to the gold standard of thin crust pizzas I've experienced in my lifetime. But I'm always on the lookout for a new place that has great thin crust pizza. Sometime last year, I was talking with one of the salesguys at Abt Electronics during a recent visit and I was telling him about how great the pizza at Salerno's and Vito and Nick's really was. He said, "Oh, no. I've got a place that will beat both of those places hands down." It was an Italian restaurant on N. Lincoln Ave. in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood - Pat's Pizzeria and Ristorante. Although he admitted that he had never eaten at Salerno's on Grand or at Vito and Nick's, he was adamant about how great the pizza was at Pat's Pizzeria. I immediately put it on my list of places to visit and I finally had a chance to do so a few weeks ago.
Pat's Pizza (as the locals call it) has been around since 1950 when Nicholas "Pat" Pianetto began to make and sell his homemade pizza out of his house on N. Sheffield Ave. It was truly a family affair with his wife, Janett, and their four kids helping out in the kitchen. Nick, Jr. began to work in the business full time when he was 17 and has spent over 45 years perfecting the pizza at Pat's Pizza.
There are some unique things about a Pat's Pizza that goes beyond your usual pizza place. First of all, in order to get the dough paper thin, it takes 5 days to make the crust. It's flattened, rolled and stored in the refrigerator until it's ready to be used. Pianetto changes his crust from the summer to the winter months because grain fed dairy cattle that are kept inside in the winter make the fresh mozzarella more greasy than range fed cattle. The more greasy content in the cheese causes the crust to saturate and begin to droop. Nick Pianetto, Jr. wants the crust to be consistently firm and crisp year round.
A homemade pizza sauce that the Pianetto family worked on for years to perfect is applied to the dough. Toppings, including homemade fennel sausage, fresh veggies and other offerings such as grilled scallops, goat cheese, prosciutto and barbecue chicken are added. The pizza is placed into an old Fauld's revolving pizza oven and cooked for 10 to 12 minutes. The result is a paper thin crust people topped with ample amounts of toppings and swimming in fresh mozzarella cheese.
Over the years Pat's Pizza has been named the best thin crust pizza in Chicago a number of times. About a year and a half ago, WGN-TV in Chicago named Pat's the best thin crust pizza and did a segment on the pizza. (Click here to see the video segment. The girl in the video is Brittney Payton, the daughter of the late, great Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton.)
Pat's Pizza moved to their present day location on N. Lincoln about three years ago. (See map) The corner building features a narrow dining room with booths on the long wall and a couple booths back in the corner on the opposite wall. Tables with checkered table vinyl cloths are in the middle of the restaurant. All the tables and booths have paper wrap on top of the table cloth and crayons are provided for those young and old who want to doodle on the paper while they wait for their food.
I was seated at one of the booths along the long wall of the restaurant by a cheerful hostess and given a menu to look through. Pete's Pizza has more than just pizza including a number of Italian specialties such as a seafood linguine in a wine and tomato sauce, Chicken Vesuvio, pork piccata (that sounded REAL interesting - I've had veal and chicken piccata before, but not pork piccata), as well as a large number of vegetarian and cheese-only pasta dishes. But I was there for the pizza - I had to go with a small Italian sausage, pepperoni and mushroom pizza.
After I ordered my pizza, a little anti-pasto plate was set on my table that had black and green olives as well as slices of a hard Italian cheese. I knew it wasn't parmesan or mozzarella, but I couldn't put my taste buds on what exactly it was. All I know is that it was good as were the green olives. The black olives, however, were a little gamey in taste. I had one, but not the others.
Less than 15 minutes after I placed my order, my small pizza came to the table. One of the waiters had dropped off a red pepper flake shaker as well as a dried oregano shaker. Along with the parmesan cheese that was already on the table, I knew that I would use them all at some point. But for the first couple of pieces, I was going au natural.
The pizza at Pat's Pizzeria is cut into party squares. I later found out that in Chicago this type of thin crust pizza is referred to as "tavern style". I especially love the center "honey pot" cuts from party cut pizza. And the taste was very good. I can't say it was as good as the thin crust pizza at Salerno's on Grand or at Vito and Nick's, but it was certainly in the immediate neighborhood. The sauce was tangy and faintly sweet, the cheese was very fresh and flavorful, and the fennel sausage was outstanding. The mushrooms were also very fresh and I did like the pepperoni. It wasn't too salty, but still had a little zip to the taste. It was a truly a tavern style pizza - it went very well with a beer. And I love pizzas that taste great with a beer. Adding the parmesan cheese, dried oregano and red pepper flakes to some of the subsequent squares just helped heighten the taste.
While Salerno's on Grove remains my "holy grail" of thin crust pizzas, I have to say that the pizza at Pat's Pizzeria and Ristorante was certainly in Salerno's neighborhood. I don't know if I've had a thin crust pizza where so much planning and preparation goes into the making of the pizza. I was overly impressed with Pat's Pizza and knew that I would be back again at some point. I can easily see where they've been named the best thin crust pizza in Chicago by voters a number of times over the years. The pizza is that good.
I had a stretch of travel where I was on the road for 10 nights out of 11 earlier this year. I had gotten into such a food funk that I was burnt out on every type of cuisine. I had gotten into my hotel in the Twin Cities suburb of Bloomington and tried to figure out what I wanted to eat that night. I could have easily walked across the parking lot to Joe Senser's, but I really wasn't up for that. I had a couple three ideas in mind and I got in my car and started to drive around. I went past a sushi place and I didn't think I was up for sushi. Yes, I know. I wasn't up for sushi. That's how much of a food funk I was in. I went to an upscale tavern down the road and the parking lot was packed. Besides, I could have just stayed at Joe Senser's if I wanted food like that. I had an Indian restaurant on my GPS and I decided to go toward that place, even though I wasn't certain I even wanted Indian food that evening. I'm glad I had the address in the GPS, because the Indian restaurant would have been tough to find. The GPS took me right up to Biryani Indian Cuisine. (See map) (Photo courtesy Edina Patch.com)
Sandwiched between a Chinese restaurant and a Domino's Pizza outlet, Biryani has been in business since 2009 after it took over the space from Chapati, a Northfield, MN-based Indian restaurant. If you look closely at the sign on the front of the building you can see that "Biryani" is printed over the old "Chapati" on the sign. In fact, Mohammed Uddin, who was a chef at Chapati at the Northfield location, bought the Edina restaurant and the changeover from Chapati to Biryani took two days. Along with his son, Noor Islam, Uddim kept many similar dishes from the Chapati menu, but offered various culinary signature twists along the way.
Biryani is located on a quiet side street in an Edina neighborhood that has more office buildings than houses. It's tucked back off of Amundson Ave. just south of 70th St., just west of Highway 100. Seriously, if you're not specifically looking for it, or had a GPS like I did, you wouldn't really know where it was.
And because of all the office complexes in the immediate area, most of Biryani's business happens over the lunch hour when they have an extensive buffet. So, it was fully understandable when I got there around 8 p.m. one weekday evening and found the place all to myself. The hostess sat me at a glass-topped table with a linen tablecloth underneath along the long wall of the restaurant. The long buffet was opposite to where I was seated. She gave me a menu and a waiter came to bring me a tall glass of water and left a full carafe of water on the table. They must have some really spicy food at Biryani.
I always seem to get vindaloo or curry dishes when I'm at an Indian restaurant. I looked long and hard at them and something sort of jumped out at me - there was beef on the menu. I don't know if I've ever been to an Indian restaurant where beef was on the menu. I was immediately interested in how that could be considering Hindu's view cows as sacred.
When the waiter came around to take my order, I was still in that food funk where I really didn't know what I wanted. I told him that I was in a quandary as what to order. He said, "Well, our name is Biryani. We're pretty much known for that." I had looked at the biryani - a basmati rice dish made with herbs and seasonings with nuts and raisins mixed in. I told him that I'd had biryani before (actually, Cindy had it and I tried it - I liked it) but I wasn't keen on nuts and raisins. He said, "Oh, we can keep the nuts and raisins out!" So, I ordered the shrimp biryani along with an order of the garlic/cilantro naan bread. The waiter said, "Hope you're hungry. That's a lot of food."
And he wasn't kidding - he soon brought out a heaping plate of the shrimp biryani along with a basket of the garlic/cilantro naan. The naan was light and flaky with a smokey, burnt edge from the tandoor oven. Along with a Kingfisher beer, I was set.
The biryani was good, not spicy, but not overly forward with the spices, either. While I liked it, I remembered why I like vindaloo and curry dishes more - it's the sauce. I love dipping the naan bread into the sauce. There were a dozen or so medium-sized shrimp that had been sauteed in oil and spices and they were pretty good. But as flavorful of a dish the biryani was, I found it to be a little too dry for what I was looking for that evening.
There was no way I was going to be able to finish the biryani, although I did dig through the basmati rice and pick out all the shrimp. And I was able to finish two of the four pieces of the garlic/cilantro naan. I had made a significant dent in the biryani and if I hadn't been traveling I would have taken the leftovers with me.
When the waiter came over to take my plates away, he asked me how it was. I said, "The biryani was good, but I like vindaloo or curry entrees better."
He said, "We have a great vindaloo. You'll need to try it sometime." I told him that I would.
But in the meantime, I told him, "You know, I've eaten at a handful of Indian restaurants over the past couple three years. This is the first place that I've ever seen beef on the menu."
The waiter explained to me that while beef is sacred to Hindu's, it's not for many others in India, primarily Muslims. Without saying it, I figured out that the owner was Muslim. With the name Mohammed Uddim, yeah, that's usually a clue that he's Muslim.
It turns out that Uddim and his son are from the Kushtia district of Bangladesh. While much of the food is the same, it's more of a combination of flavors from Central Asia, the British Isles, as well as India. But 90% of the population of Bangladesh are Muslims and they will eat beef. So, when I see beef on the menu in an Indian restaurant, I'll know it's really a Bangladeshi restaurant.
I'm still a neophyte when it comes to Indian food and I'm starting to know what I like and what I don't like. While I did like the shrimp biryani at Biryani, I'd still rather go with something like a curry or vindaloo dish on my next visit. Considering it's only five minutes away from the hotel I usually stay at when I'm in the Twin Cities, I'm sure I'll be back to Biryani at some point.
Since 1937, Town Topic in Kansas City has been churning out burgers for the masses, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. What started out as a White Castle, Town Topic uses a flat grill and smashes onions into the top of the burger patty during the cooking process. When they're done, the patties are flat and crispy on the outer fringes with caramelized onions embedded into the meat. I've been wanting to try a Town Topic burger for quite sometime and I had the chance during a recent trip to Kansas City. (Photo courtesy of Serious Eats.com)
There are three Town Topic locations in the greater Kansas City area - the one on Broadway just north of Southwest Blvd. that I went to (see map), another one literally around the corner and three short blocks away on Baltimore (see map), and a third location in what was the old Valentine Diner in suburban Shawnee Mission, KS (see map). Only the Broadway location is open 24 hours, the other two close around 7 p.m.
The original Town Topic opened in 1937 as a White Castle just down the street from the current Broadway location. Owner Claude Sparks opened to little fanfare and rang up $21.00 in sales on his opening day. A few years later, Sparks said good-bye to White Castle and opened his first Town Topic diner four blocks north on Broadway in the Crossroads section just south of downtown Kansas City. The Baltimore Ave. location opened a few years later, and in the late 80's the Shawnee Mission Town Topic location opened. Today, Town Topic is still owned by the Sparks family with Scott Sparks running all three locations.
There's a somewhat large parking lot next to the Town Topic on Broadway. Actually, I think there are more parking spaces than seats in the little restaurant (I counted - it seats 13 with a stand-up counter along one window on which to eat). I was a little worried I'd be able to get into Town Topic as it was just before 1 p.m. and I knew that it was a pretty popular place during the day. But I was able to get in with no problems. I found a stool at the end of the counter and took a look at the menu on the wall behind the counter.
While burgers are the main item on the menu, Town Topic is also known for their breakfasts, homemade chili and thick milkshakes. I've been told that many a late night partier has downed Town Topic's "Truckstop Omelet" - a four-egg omelet stuffed with hashbrowns, cheese and your choice of sausage, bacon or ham. It sounds somewhat similar to a "Magic Mountain" that has satisfied the late night hunger cravings of drunks for years at Ross' Restaurant in Bettendorf, IA.
The burgers at Town Topic aren't very thick, so I ordered up a double cheeseburger with everything from one of the three waitresses working behind the counter that day. And because they aren't very thick, it doesn't take long for a burger to show up in front of you.
The crusty outer shell of the meat patty sealed in the juices and flavor of the burger. I'm guessing the flat griddle that the burgers are cooked on is probably close to 70 years old and it makes for some great flavoring to the burgers. The burger, itself, was pretty good sized (I'd read where they were the size of White Castle "sliders" - they were much bigger than that.) and they easily covered the somewhat average bun. While I still have a slight aversion to "smashed" burgers, I'm quickly warming up to the concept thanks to the taste of the burgers like the one at Town Topic. I'm glad I got a double as a single would have been overwhelmed by the bun.
And the burger was good at Town Topic. I can easily see why thousands of people have craved their burgers since 1937. The place is a local institution in Kansas City and full of nostalgia and history. While I'm not overly certain that I'd race back to Town Topic, I'm sure I'll go back at some point in time. And like it's been since the 1940's, the original Town Topic will be exactly the same on my next visit, whether it be later this year or in three years.
