Road Tips

Pazzesco Pasta and Chophouse - Ames, IA

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.

(Update - Interestingly, I may have had one of the last meals in Pazzesco.  I usually write my entries of places weeks in advance and it was mid-March when I was in there.  They closed on March 24 with a note on their web site saying they were looking for a new location.  So far, there is no indication that they've reopened.)

Taj of India - Indianapolis

It had been a long week on the road by the time I pulled into my hotel in northeast Indianapolis one evening around Christmastime. Not wanting to travel much in the month of December, I found myself staying in yet another hotel room over 4 hours from home. Sort of down in the dumps and burnt out from the travel, I wanted to get something different for dinner that particular evening but I wasn't sure what I wanted. I went to the front desk and I asked the girl if there were any brewpubs in the immediate area. She didn't know of any, but a guy standing there piped up that there was a sports bar that had a lot of beers to choose from not far from the hotel.

I ended up going there, but when I walked in the place was packed. It was loud and I'd had enough of dealing with people at that point. I turned around and walked out and took off back down 82nd St. near the Castleton Square Mall. Looking over to my right, I spied a place in strip mall - Taj of India. I quickly made the turn into the parking lot. (See map)

Actually, the parking lot was sort of full and I was worried that there would be a lot of people in the restaurant. But it turned out that a beauticians school was right next door to Taj of India and most of the cars in the parking lot were for people in there. When I went into Taj of India, there was only one other couple having dinner. I didn't know if that was a good sign or not. It was after 8 p.m., but I still thought more people would have been in the place. But it was quiet and would require only minimum interaction with other people.

Taj of India has been around since 1995. The original owner, Deep Mand, turned the reins over to Churdip Mand (don't know if that's a son or daughter or even if it's a relative), and Gurdap Singh. Taj of India is sort of locally famous for their lunch buffet they serve from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily. Their dinner hours are 5 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., seven days a week.

The dining room isn't all that large, but it still probably sat 50 to 60 people comfortably. A number of larger table that sat six people were in the center of the restaurant, while smaller tables ringed the walls. The lights were somewhat subdued in the place, but not dark enough that it was difficult to read the menu or the Indianapolis Star newspaper that I brought in.

I was seated at a table along the front wall of the restaurant. A young guy was the host and waiter. He asked me if I wanted anything to drink and I asked for a Kingfisher. He looked over in the glass-doored refrigerator and he said, "I'm so sorry, sir. We are currently out of Kingfisher." He gave me some other possibilities of Indian beers - Godfather, Haywards, Taj Mahal. I wasn't familiar with the first two, but I was with the Taj Mahal. I got a large bottle of that.

He brought me back my beer and a menu. The menu was rather extensive at Taj of India with a number of Tandoori and vegetarian dishes, along with a large number of chicken, lamb and seafood entrees. They also had a number of rice-based entrees, as well. I was having a lot of trouble trying to figure out what I wanted.

The shrimp vindaloo sounded good to me - shrimp and potatoes in a spicy vindaloo sauce. I do like vindaloo sauce, but I wanted to try it with shrimp instead of chicken. I then saw the chicken tikka masala - chicken chunks in a homemade masala sauce with onions, bell peppers and tomatoes. Ummm... that was a possibility. Then I saw the chicken mushroom - chicken chunks with fresh mushrooms in a creamy tomato sauce. Boy, I was really having trouble.

But at the top of the chicken part of the menu was the chicken curry - lightly seasoned boneless chicken chunks in a curry sauce complemented with other spices. The waiter came back over and asked if I was ready to order and I ordered the chicken curry. He asked how I wanted it prepared, "Medium or hot?" I said I wanted it somewhere in the middle - medium-hot, if he could do it. He asked if I wanted any naan bread to go along with the chicken curry. Absolutely! They had a bunch of different types of naan breads on the menu and I was torn between the ginger naan or the garlic naan - both topped with cilantro. I hemmed for a second and finally went with the garlic naan. I'm glad I did.

About 10 minutes after I ordered, the young man brought my food out to me and did it look good. One thing that I have a little problem with at Indian restaurants is the amount of rice that they bring to the table. With the garlic naan and the chicken curry, there was no way I would be able to make a healthy dent in the large bowl of rice he brought out. I did spoon out a little rice onto my plate and dumped the chicken curry on top.

Now, I'm far from an expert on Indian food but I do know if I like something or not. And I REALLY liked the chicken curry at Taj of India. It had a little spicy kick to it - the medium-hot was tolerable and I concluded that I probably would have been able to have it a little more hot in spiciness. But the overall taste of the spices mixed together with the curry was just outstanding. Dropping some of the curry chicken onto the very good - and very pungent - garlic naan was another taste treat. The smell of the spices permeated the area around my table and the overall taste of the meal as a whole was simply wonderful. I made short work of the chicken curry and used the garlic naan to sop up the remaining curry sauce from the bowl. I was like a man devouring his first meal in weeks. The garlic naan was so good that I ate the whole piece - something that I regretted doing. But it was so damn good.

Compared to other Indian restaurants I've been to, the service at Taj of India was pretty good. Granted, there was only one other couple at the place that night. But the young guy came back and checked on me to see how my meal was going on a couple occasions. And the price of the meal was pretty good, too. The chicken curry was $10.99 and the garlic naan was $2.95. The Taj Mahal beer was the kicker - it was $7.99 for a 22 ounce bottle. Ouch!

Back at the hotel, the aroma of the curry sauce and the garlic from the naan bread was still on my hands. I had a helluva time getting the smell off even after multiple hand-washings and a subsequent shower the next day. I don't know if those aromas were burned into my olfactory system, but I swear to God that I was still smelling the curry sauce and the garlic well into the next day. It was too bad that I wasn't in Indianapolis for another night because I would have gone back to Taj of India the next night and gotten the shrimp curry. I'm serious. It was that good. Like I say, I don't know if it compares well to other Indian restaurants, but Taj of India tripped my trigger. To me, it was absolutely fabulous. As I broaden my knowledge of Indian cuisine, Taj of India may be the standard I use from here on out. I'm certainly glad I went there rather than gotten a sandwich or burger at a loud sports bar. It was the perfect food at the perfect time.

(Update - I've been told that Taj of India was purchased in the fall of 2012 and has been transformed into Amber Indian Restaurant, a Carmel, IN-based Indian food restaurant opening their second location on 82nd St.  I'll have to go back at some point and give Amber Indian a try.) 

The Demise of Tastee Freez - Davenport, IA

Our household was in turmoil last evening after watching a gut-wrenching story on the 10 p.m. news - the Tastee Freez on Rockingham Road on the southwest side of Davenport was closing (see map). No reason was given for the demise of the little shop that was first opened in 1954 and served soft-serve ice cream, burgers, hot dogs and sandwiches, as well as milkshakes and malts. It was a wonderful summertime treat for us to take the 20 minute drive over to the other side of town and get an ice cream cone on a warm evening. (Photo courtesy Quad City Times)

The Tastee Freez on the west side of Davenport was a little slice of nostalgia from a time when people would routinely go out for ice cream after dinner. The building hadn't changed since the 50's and it was like going back through a little time warp when you walked up to the one of the two outside windows to place your order. Service was generally fast and efficient and you'd have your ice cream cone within moments after ordering.

In a city where Whitey's Ice Cream rules, the Davenport Tastee Freez had some of the best vanilla soft-serve ice cream I've ever had. For soft-serve ice cream, I liked it better than Dairy Queen and much better than the vastly over-rated Country Style ice cream that has a number of fans in the Quad City area. Cindy liked the chocolate/vanilla swirl, but when they would have their special Walnut flavor ice cream, she would go wild over that.

The highlight, however, was the people watching as you enjoyed your ice cream cone on one of the picnic tables around the building. People from all walks of life went to the west end Tastee Freez, some dressed in some interesting summertime clothes.

The current owner, Tara Kirschenmann from Moline, had owned the Tastee Freez since 1993. She was only the third owner of the franchise in its nearly 58 year history. No word as to why Kirschenmann shut down the Tastee Freez, nor if she was planning on selling the building and its contents. But the signage was taken off the building and the inside appeared to be bare from the picture shown above.

The Davenport Tastee Freez was the last of what was once dozens of Tastee Freez locations across the state of Iowa. There was a pretty good Tastee Freez in Newton, IA where I grew up. It was run by Paul Rose and not only had pretty good ice cream, but they had some of the best hot dogs I've ever had. Many a lunch was spent at the Tastee Freez in Newton until I moved to the Quad Cities over 20 years ago. (Westside Davenport Tastee Freez picture courtesy of Captain Ernie's Showboat.com)

Tastee Freez, as a company, began in 1950 in Newport Beach, CA. The original owners, Harry Axene and Leo Moranz, invented a pump-style soft-serve ice cream machine and the concept was an immediate hit. They began to rent out the machines and franchise the Tastee Freez name. The one on Rockingham Road was one of the first ones in the state of Iowa. As a little kid, I remember getting milkshakes from the Tastee Freez in Newton in cups that had the little Tastee Freez mascots on them - Tee and Eff (below left). Tee, I believe, was supposed to be male, Eff, was female. Or maybe it was vice-versa. It was hard to distinguish the difference between the two other than the "Tee" and "Eff" on their front.

Since 2003, Tastee Freez has been owned by the Garlardi Group, the owners of the Weinerschnitzel chain of fast food restaurants, found primarily west of the Rocky Mountains. In fact, you can find Tastee Freez soft-serve ice cream in over 350 Weinerschnitzel locations across the nation. But the bulk of Tastee Freez locations have closed over the past decade. Today, there are only 42 Tastee Freez stand-alone locations in 17 states including a dozen in Illinois, most of which are in the greater Chicago area.

So it's a sad morning around our house knowing that after a great meal of Cajun barbecued chicken that we won't be able to take the crosstown drive to help cool us off with a great Tastee Freez ice cream cone. Another part of life that we took for granted is now gone.

Merle's #1 Barbecue - Evanston, IL

A thank you to Road Tips reader Peter Lawrence who suggested that I try the third of the three Clean Plate Club restaurants, Merle's #1 Barbecue in downtown Evanston (see map).  The other two restaurants under the Clean Plate Club umbrella - Davis Street Fishmarket and Pete Millers - I've already visited and have written entries about them.  You can find the entry on Davis Street Fishmarket here and the one on Pete Miller's here.  Both those restaurants were very good, so I went to Merle's with great anticipation.

Merle's #1 Barbecue has been in business for nearly 20 years, first opening their doors in 1992 near the Northwestern University campus.  Merle's prides themselves on cooking their barbecue "low and slow", just as barbecue was meant to be.  Merle's menu features a number of appetizers, burgers, barbecue sandwiches, and wings that feature four different types of sauces - traditional Buffalo, barbecue, a combo of both or the "Light My Fire" ultra-hot wing sauce.   But their barbecue entrees are what people have been coming to Merle's for for years.   They feature Texas-style brisket, North Carolina pork, St. Louis-style ribs (either with barbecue sauce or dry rubbed), and barbecued chicken entrees.  Merle's features two different kinds of sauce - a vinegar-based Texas-style sauce that had a smoky taste with a bit of a bite of jalapenos, and a sweet and mildly spicy Chicago-style.

It was a short walk from my hotel to Merle's on a cool evening with the wind coming in off of Lake Michigan.  I sat at the bar as there was a wait to get into the sort of rustic looking dining area.  The night I was there, Merle's #1 Barbecue offers "all-you-can-eat" wings for $4.50 from 8 to 10 p.m.  They also feature an on-going special of Schlitz in 16 oz. cans for $2 bucks. A large number of Northwestern students were there enjoying the wings special.  That's all right, I was probably going to just sit at the bar anyway.  (Photo courtesy of Planet99.com)

I looked through the menu after I got a beer and I wanted to give the ribs and the brisket a try.  They had a ribs and meat combo for $18.95.  I got the dry-rubbed St. Louis-style ribs.  She asked if I wanted them to "fall off the bone".  No!  I saw on the menu that they had "fall off the bone" ribs and that more than likely means they parboiled them before they put them in the smoker or on the grill.  That's cheating in my book, and it kills the taste of the meat.   

Two sides came with the combo entree - I got their baked beans (a must for any barbecue place) and I thought about their cole slaw, but went with the mac-n-cheese instead.  I asked the bartender if I could get extra barbecue sauce on the side and she reached down below the bar and pulled out two Corona beer bottles - one with the Texas-style sauce and the other with the Chicago-style sauce with dispenser spouts on them and put them on the bar in front of me.  I looked at them and said, "Huh!  Now, this is rather ingenious!  What a great way to store barbecue sauce!"  

But I found out later on how they were able to use beer bottles with dispenser caps on the top.   

When the bartender brought my barbecue entree out to me, I was sort of taken back by the sizes of the sides and how small of a portion of brisket that I got.  While the sides were served in two pretty good sized bowls - neither of which I'd be able to finish - there was only three slices of brisket and about six ribs, primarily from the end of the row of ribs.

The brisket came with the spicy Texas-style sauce - well, it was supposed to be spicy.  I didn't think it was.  I took the beer bottle full of the Texas sauce and poured some more on the brisket.  It was thin and runny - no wonder they could serve it in a beer bottle.  The Chicago sauce - billed to be "sticky sweet" - was almost as runny and not too sweet.  Both were completely lifeless in taste.  I added both to the very mediocre baked beans and the sauces alone couldn't save the beans.  Sometimes you can do that with some barbecue sauces and baked beans.  Merle's sauces were bland and just not very good.  Their beans were some of the worst I've encountered in a barbecue restaurant.

The St. Louis-style ribs were charred and not much on the meaty side.  I don't know what kind of rub they had on them, but it didn't add much to the taste of the meat.  The meat was a little tough to gnaw off the bone.  The brisket was just OK, as well.  The meat was tender and had an average flavor that could have been helped out if the sauces were better. 

Last and probably least, the mac-n-cheese was just plain ol' mac-n-cheese.  It had no pizazz, no flavor, nothing.  It was about as neutral of a taste as you can get for mac-n-cheese.  I'm sure kids probably liked it, but they didn't even add anything to the cheese sauce other than the macaroni noodles.  Two bites of that and I'd had enough.  I sort of wish I would have gotten the cole slaw instead. 

All in all, I was overly disappointed in Merle's #1 Barbecue.  It's, by far, the weakest of the triumvirate of Clean Plate Club restaurants.  It was also one of the most disappointing barbecue experiences I've had in quite sometime.  The ribs were below average and you had to work hard just to get the little amount of meat they had on them.  The brisket was OK - the best part of the meal - but the sauces were runny, flavorless and not very good.  The baked beans were worse than the sauce and the mac-n-cheese was pedestrian, at best.  I'm sure Merle's has a number of loyal customers, or they wouldn't have been in business for nearly 20 years.  But I think I can find better barbecue in and around the North Shore area the next time I'm looking for barbecue when I'm there. 

(Update - It appears that others felt the same as I did about Merle's.  They closed the doors on the place just after the first of January of 2012.  It was said they lost their lease, but if what I read from others that were saying negative things about the place I'm sure it won't be missed.)

 

Buck's Bar - Mitchellville, IA

For the last eight years, the Iowa Pork Producers have been handing out the award for the Best Pork Tenderloin in Iowa to restaurants and bars around the state.  So far, I've written about visiting Augusta in Oxford, IA and trying their 2008 award winning pork tenderloin (click here to see that entry); and recently I posted an entry on Goldie's Ice Cream Shoppe in Prairie City, IA (click here to see that entry) and trying the 2009 winning tenderloin.  The 2010 winner was recently announced and the Iowa Pork Producers awarded the best tenderloin of this year to Buck's Bar in Mitchellville, IA - about 20 miles east of Des Moines (see map).  I was coming back from a couple three days up in Minneapolis with a side trip to Ames for a meeting when I decided to stop into Buck's Bar for a tenderloin on my way home.

It just so happens that one of my sisters lives in Mitchellville, about three blocks from Buck's Bar.  I called her up before I left Ames and asked her if she was home.  She said she was and wondered why I asked.  I said, "Well, I want to try a tenderloin from Buck's Bar and I wondered if you wanted to join me for a beer."

She said, "Oh!  I just had a leftover tenderloin from Buck's for lunch!  Sure, I'll meet you there."

It was about 45 minutes later when I pulled up in front of Buck's Bar in Mitchellville (see map).  My sister was sitting on a bench in front of the place waiting for me to show up.  It was about 3:30 p.m. when I got there, saving up my appetite for a Buck's tenderloin through the course of the day.

 

Buck's Bar is a relatively new place.  My sister explained that the original owner had built the place about three years ago, but went through a nasty divorce from his wife at the time.  The bar had opened, closed, then reopened about nine months ago under the ownership of Buck Bos.  It was sort of nice on the inside - open and well-lit with some tables and booths interspersed throughout the place.  There was a pool table and some other games that you'd find in any small town bar.  The bar area featured a three-sided bar with comfortable high-back seats. 

My sister discribed Buck Bos as a nice guy who is sort of a player with the ladies.  "He has a big smile and very white teeth.  He's always wearing Hawaiian or tropical shirts.  When I go to the State Fair, it seems I always run into him partying with a bunch of ladies at the beer tents." 

Sounds like my kind of guy.  I wanted to meet him after that, but he wasn't in his place that afternoon.  My sister and I sat at the bar and we were greeted by a tall, slender blond-haired bartender.  She asked us if we needed menus.  I said, "I understand that you guys have the award winning tenderloin for this year."

She said, "Well, yes, we do!  Would you like to try one?" 

Absolutely!  My sister was still full from her lunch a couple hours before and she just had a beer while we caught up on what's been going on with our lives. 

About 10 minutes after I ordered the tenderloin, the bartender brought it out.  It was a thin, breaded tenderloin cut in half with raw onion rings and pickles off to the side.  A side of fries came with the sandwich, but I wasn't interested.

It turns out that Buck Bos gets his pork from the same place Brad Magg at Goldie's gets his tenderloins - from the Fareway store in Altoona.  (Mitchellville and Prairie City are only about seven miles apart as the crow flies, and about a 15 minute drive between the two communities.)  The only difference, as it was explained to me by the bartender, is that Fareway does all the processing of the tenderloins for Goldie's - cutting, tenderizing, etc. - while Buck buys the pork tenderloin, does his own cutting and hand tenderizes them with a cook's hammer.  "Buck was using this thing that looked like a mallet at first," the bartender said to me.  "But then he got this big cook's hammer and he can really flatten them out."

While the tenderloin was large and hanging over the bun, it wasn't so flat and huge that the taste had been literally hammered out of it.   I've said many times that too often I've run across pork tenderloin sandwiches at restaurants where they're literally two sizes too large for the bun.  When they hammer 'em out to be that large in area, they also hammer the juiciness out of them, too.  Buck's tenderloin was big, but not big enough to make them dry in taste.

Now, I'm not usually big on breaded tenderloins - I like a good unbreaded, grilled tenderloin for a sandwich from time to time.  Buck's breaded tenderloin was good, better in my opinion than the one at Goldie's.  But as I confessed to the bartender after she asked how my tenderloin was, neither Buck's nor Goldie's could hold a candle to the Augusta in Oxford.  The breading at Augusta was better - it's more of a batter breading, I believe.  The bartender said, "We had a couple in from Creston the other day trying the sandwich and they said they liked the battered tenderloins better than the breaded ones." 

The pork tenderloin at Augusta in Oxford is still the best restaurant pork tenderloin sandwich I've ever had.

It's not that the tenderloin at Buck's was bad - far from it.  But I've had similar tenderloins at any number of places across the state over the years.  I honestly don't know how the Iowa Pork Producers can judge how one tenderloin is better than another.  The breading on Buck's tenderloin was better than the one at Goldie's, but quite honestly they're all pretty much the same.  But Buck Bos gets to wear the crown of having the Best Tenderloin in Iowa for a year and they've already seen a spike in business since they were named the 2010 award winners in early October.   And, quite honestly, other than getting the tenderloin, Buck's seems like a cool place to just hang out and have a beer.  I may have to stop more often to have a cold one with my sister as I pass by Mitchellville on my way to wherever.

(Update - My sister told me in August of 2011 that Buck's had closed its doors.  Rumors I've heard had something to do about a divorce, but I didn't think Buck was married.  In any event, the reigning Best Pork Tenderloin in Iowa is no longer available.)     

Silver Moon Supper Club - Fargo

A couple years ago, I took my dealer in Fargo out to dinner at Rescan, a wonderful Italian restaurant in the hip downtown area.  Before we went out to dinner, we met his wife for drinks at a place called the Silver Moon Supper Club - an upscale supper club that had opened just a couple weeks before.  I told him that at some point I wanted to take him out for dinner at the Silver Moon.  On my annual trip to Fargo this past summer, I did just that.

Monte Jones was a North Dakota farm boy who was obviously out of place in the upper plains.  After graduating from high school, he took off for New York City and became a dancer and choreographer.  After living in New York City for nearly 30 years, Monte moved back to Fargo, sensing a change in the attitudes of the city.  With Fargo being a small, yet somewhat cosmopolitan city in the middle of nowhere, Jones opened up a fine dining establishment called Monte's Downtown.  It was a big hit with the well-to-do locals and the people who came into town to do business. 

Let's go back to the 1940's.  That's when a supper club by the name of the Silver Moon opened in Moorhead, MN, just across the Red River of the North from Fargo.  From the early 40's until 1969, the Silver Moon was a grand old-style supper club - the kind of place where people would go for special dinners.  Monte Jones' mother used to work in the Silver Moon when he was growing up.  Jones and his partner, Jerry Erbstoesser, decided to open an extravagant supper club in downtown Fargo based in part on the old Silver Moon in Moorhead. 

The building that houses the Silver Moon was originally built in 1917 for a company that used the four floors and the basement as a warehouse for dry goods including clothing, linens, sheets, blankets and bedspreads.  The building was a warehouse for nearly 70 years before the space was no longer useful.  The building languished for about 20 years used for various things before a group of investors bought the space in 2007 turning the upper floors into loft residencies and allowing Jones and Erbstoesser to put the Silver Moon Supper Club on the main floor.

Jones and Erbstoesser envisioned a retro-styled restaurant, full of art deco and art moderne touches including clam shell booths, a water wall and a private eating area called Salon Privé.  They enlisted the help of Chef Josh Smith to come up with an interesting and varied menu - one that changes seasonally based upon locally grown foods found in the area.  Because of that concept, the Silver Moon's menu changes constantly and there's always bound to be something different to eat each time you go to the place.

It was late in the afternoon when I arrived into Fargo.  My dealer and his people were out working on a job site and were running late.  I ended up at a place for a couple three beers before he joined me after getting cleaned up.  We sat and talked business for a little while before we decided to head over to the Silver Moon on Roberts Street (see map).  My dealer's wife had been planning on joining us for dinner as were his two workers, but none of them were there when we showed up at 8 p.m.  

My dealer and I had a drink at the bar - a nice little modern style U-shaped bar with the bartender in a vest and black tie.  The owner, Monte Jones, whom I'd met on my previous visit to the place, came over to greet my dealer, whose wife and he are regular visitors to both the Silver Moon and to Monte's.  My dealer reintroduced me to Monte and I told him that I was looking forward to dinner that evening.  

One of my dealer's workers showed up about 8:30 and his wife finally showed about 10 minutes later.  The third worker had called and begged off saying that he was too tired to come out to dinner.  I told my dealer, "Man, you must have worked him pretty hard!"

My dealer said, "Oh, we were running wire in attic and crawl spaces today.  It was brutally hot in some of those spaces."  

The four of us sat at one of the Silver Moon's signature clam shell booths.  Personally, I don't care for booths like that - it's like you're on display for the rest of the restaurant, watching you eat and carry on in conversation.  But it was late in the evening and only a handful of people were in the restaurant.  

The Silver Moon also usually has someone in playing the baby grand piano that's up on a little riser in the main dining area.  But that night it sat silent.  When my dealer's wife inquired about that with Monte, he said that during the summer months he's been only having someone come in during the weekends.  "When the schools get back in session this fall (North Dakota State University and Minnesota State - Moorhead), we'll get our regular group of players to come back in." 

Our waitress came out and gave us menus.  I also ordered up a bottle of wine - and I have to admit that things get very fuzzy from here on out.  I'd had a few beers before we showed up to the restaurant, then a couple more while we were waiting.  I usually go back to the room and make notes of what we had to eat or drink at the restaurant, but I didn't get back to my hotel until 11:30 p.m. and I had a 5 a.m. wake-up call for a 7 a.m. flight out of Fargo that morning.  I immediately went to bed. 

So, I can't remember what kind of wine we got, but I do know it was red.  But I was the only one going to have beef that night - everyone else went with a seafood entree.  The night before in Dickinson, I broke up my two night streak of having steaks, going with some chicken dish at an Applebee's when I took my dealer and his crew out for dinner.  (My Dickinson dealer closes his doors at 9 p.m. and anything close to a fine dining restaurant in Dickinson closes at 9 p.m. - that's why we ate at Applebee's.) 

Three courses came with the dinner - salad, main entree and a dessert.  I ended up getting the Silver Moon's New York strip - rare - with a side of garlic mashed potatoes.  As I said, my guests all got seafood.  I do remember that my dealer got the shrimp and risotto entree, but I can't for the life remember what the other two got.  

The presentation at the Silver Moon is very good.  My steak was resting on a bed of asparagus spears with a small grilled onion slice on top.  From what I remember about the meal, it was very good.  Our waitress was also very good, she had a great sense of humor and took care of us very well.

After dinner, our waitress came around and showed us the dessert menu.  Something caught my eye on the dessert menu - the after dinner drinks.  And for $15 bucks they had a three-Scotch flight of drinks - the Macallan 12 year; the Macallan 15 year aged in fine oak barrels; and the 18 year Highland Park.  Now, I really have to tell you that at that point in the evening - close to 11 p.m. - I certainly didn't need that.  But for $15 bucks to have all three fine Scotch whiskeys I really couldn't pass it up.  I ended up passing on getting dessert and got the Scotch instead.  Let me tell you, I was feeling no pain at that point, but lingered a little longer in the shower the next morning after my 5 a.m. wake up call at the hotel.

So, from what I remember about the Silver Moon Supper Club - my steak was very good, the service was wonderful, whatever wine we had was very good, Monte Jones was a great host and the Scotch at the end of the night - which I didn't need, but had anyway - was a nice closer to the evening.  I wish I could get up to Fargo more often, but being that it's a nine hour drive - minimum - and a 3.5 hour plane trip (with a stop at Minneapolis-St. Paul to change planes), I just can't get up there as much.  But the way the economy in North Dakota is going, there's business to be had and I may be getting up there more often than once a year.  That way I can go back to places like The Silver Moon Supper Club and hopefully remember more about my meal.  

 

(Update - It wasn't long after my entry about the Silver Moon that Monte Jones shut the place down.  I know a lot of people were unhappy about his decision.  It was actually a cool place and one that would have worked well in a much larger metro area, but maybe not so much in Fargo.)

CND Gyros and Lounge - Chicago

A casual acquaintance of mine who I run into a couple three times a year in the Quad Cities - WQAD news anchor Jason Fechner - was telling me a while back about this hole-in-the-wall lounge in downtown Chicago that he's known about since his days in college.  The name - CND Gyros and Lounge - was intriguing enough.  What Jason stressed to me was that it was the quintessential dive bar with great gyros and burgers.  "This is the kind of place you'd love," he told me one evening over a couple beers during the Christmas holiday last December.  I made it my mission to give it a shot at some point.

I was in downtown Chicago one evening in late January, staying at the Hilton Garden Inn on East Grand at State.  Jason had told me that CND Gyros was on East Grand just east of Michigan Ave.  (East Grand goes underneath Michigan Ave.)  It was about a five minute walk on a cool night when I went there around 8:30 p.m.  It turned out that the lounge was open until 10 p.m., but I was told by the raspy-voiced lady behind the bar that when food orders are slow, they'll close the kitchen early sometimes.  Ohhh, OK.  I ended up walking back to the hotel and having dinner at the Weber Grill Restaurant, so the evening wasn't a total waste. 

I was back in Chicago in the Spring and happened to stay at the Hilton Garden Inn again.  This time, it was a warm evening as I walked down busy East Grand to CND Gyros and Lounge (see map).  The place is situated just to the east of the corner of N. St. Clair and East Grand, right next to the Volare Restaurant, an Italian restaurant that is favored by the local population.  (I really need to try Volare at some point.) 

  
CND Gyros and Lounge is owned and operated by John Xamplas, a Grecian immigrant who has run the place for years and years.  How the "CND" name came about borders on legend.   The story I got is that when Xamplas bought the business a guy by the name of Chris owned the building next door.  Xamplas couldn't come up with a name for his place, so he decided to call it "Chris Next Door" or shortened to CND.  I don't know if that's the true story, but that's the one I heard. 

The menu for the restaurant is located in the front window of the restaurant/lounge.  Not only is CND Gyros known for their gyros and burgers, they also have a homemade chili that is supposed to be pretty good.  "Behind our gyros, our chili is the second best seller on the menu," the same raspy-voiced bartender told me.  They also have something called a "Gyro Melt" - a Texas Toast sandwich with gyro meat topped with grilled cheese and cheddar cheese.  While the Gyro Melt sounded interesting, I wanted to give their regular gyro a try. 

I walked in and the kitchen was open this time.  Not knowing the drill at the place, I stepped up to the counter at the kitchen under the "Order Here" sign and ordered a gyro.  The guy behind the counter asked me if I wanted a "gyro sandwich or a gyro platter."  The gyro platter basically came with french fries.  No, I'll just get the regular gyro. 

While he made up my gyro, an elderly guy came to take my money.  It turned out this was John Xamplas, the owner.  On the right is a picture of John behind the counter. 

What I really wanted was to have a beer in the lounge area of the restaurant.  I figured that they made the food up front and then you had to order the beer at the bar.  I got my gyro - it was in a plain brown paper bag - and I went to the bar to order an Old Style.  "Bottle or draw, darlin'," the raspy-voiced bartender asked.  I got it in a bottle.  It wasn't cheap - $3.50 a bottle.  Yow!  But, yes, I was in downtown Chicago and it certainly beat the $7.00 bottles of beer I was buying out in Hawaii. 

I found a table in the back of the place and sat down to eat my gyro.  Actually, instead of a gyro on a flat piece of pita, this was more of a pita pocket.  Two chunks of tomatoes were at the top and the tsaksiki sauce was served in a cup on the side.  The pita pocket was stuffed full of the gyro meat and I have to say it was very good.  The meat was a little salty, but the onions were fresh and forward tasting.  It was pretty damn good. 

Equally impressive was the cold beer.  Now, I like cold beer.  And the beer at CND Gyros was ice cold.  It was a great compliment to the very good gyro I finished in rather quickly. 

    
I decided to go back up to the bar and have another beer.  There weren't many people in the place, only a handful of people eating gyros.  I understand that it can get pretty packed during the lunch hour and later in the evening, especially on weekends when they have karaoke on Friday nights.  I ordered up another ice cold beer from the friendly bartender and took a good look around the place.  Even though there were pennants, team pictures and other sports memorabilia on the walls of CND Gyro and Lounge, they had a sitcom on a regular national network on the two televisions behind the bar.  I thought it was rather strange considering the Cubs were playing on television that evening. 

There was a great stained glass ceiling light above the bar area.  Behind the bar was cluttered with lottery tickets, signs and notices, liquor bottles and a line up of beer bottles of the brands they sold.  You could tell from conversations going on between the bartender and some of the people seated at the bar these were regulars who were there. 

Jason was right.  It was the exact kind of joint that I love - a homey, comfortable dive bar that just happened to have very good gyros.  It's far from fancy, but it's not a skid row slum bar, either.  I'm not certain they've changed the decor or many of the fixtures since when they first took over the place.  And that's helps add to the charm of CND Gyros and Lounge.  It's not a tourist destination by any stretch, but I can see why the locals in Chicago keep coming back for the great gyros and cold beer.  I may have to come back in the winter and try a bowl of chili with a cold beer.  Actually, that doesn't sound too bad in the middle of the summer. 

(Update - Jason went into Chicago on August 21 for one last meal at CND Gyros.  As his comment below states, the owner, John Xamplas decided 37 years was long enough.  It's not that he wanted to close, but his lease expired and the building had been sold to a new landlord - a new landlord who obviously saw the old building has being more of a liability than an asset.  Jason told me it was a bittersweet occasion - one that he'd remember for years.  I'm glad that I was able to, at least, have one experience at CND Gyros.)

Newstead Tower Public House - St. Louis

(Update - Thanx to Joey H who informed me that Newstead Tower has recently closed.  But this burger is still available at their sister restaurant, Five Bistro.)

I have to apologize to whoever it was who gave me the suggestion of trying a burger at Newstead Tower Public House in St. Louis.  I try to give "shout-outs" to those of you who periodically read "Road Tips" when I get suggestions, but I struck out in trying to find where I'd gotten the suggestion.  Nonetheless, I did make it to Newstead Tower Public House on a recent visit to St. Louis.

Newstead Tower Public House calls itself a "gastropub", fashioned after similar public houses that serve food in the United Kingdom.  The gastropub concept has been popping up in larger metropolitan areas in America over the past couple three years and they usually offer unique foods to go along with a wide variety of beers to choose from.  Actually, the food takes precedent over beer in gastropubs.  

The owner and executive chef of Newstead Tower Public House is Anthony Devoti, who also runs the acclaimed Five Bistro restaurant just down the street.  (Update - Thanx to "St. Louis Steve", Five Bistro has moved to The Hill near Rigazzi's.)  Along with Five's chef Cory Shupe, Devoti brought his proven concept which features locally-grown foods and seasonal produce to Newstead Tower Public House when he first opened the restaurant in late 2007.

Newstead Tower Public House is only open for lunch Wednesday, Thursday and Friday; and opens for dinner only at 5 p.m. on Saturday's and Sunday's.  I was sort of lucky - I got in there just before they opened at 11:30 on a Wednesday.  The restaurant is located on Manchester Road in an area known as "The Grove" to the local residents (see map).  The building that houses Newstead Tower Public House underwent a radical renovation before the restaurant opened.  In fact, the whole neighborhood looked like it was getting some TLC from developers and property owners.  I went in the side door and took a seat at the bar.

The decor of Newstead Tower Public House was, well, spartan, at best.  One could probably squint and see a contemporary version of an English pub, but the interior was very minimal with a bar along the west wall and about a dozen or so tables in the dining area.  A large window ran the width of the south side of the bar looking out onto Manchester.  There were only a couple pictures hanging on the 3/4 wood paneled wall and three or four flat-panel televisions tuned to sports stations. 

I got a menu from the friendly bartender who didn't mind that I was a few minutes early.  I ordered up a Schlafly Pale Ale while I looked to see what all they had other than burgers.  Newstead Tower looked like the type of place that would have some interesting food - the menu cover, itself, was pretty interesting.  

The menu selections, while not all that extensive, were interesting, leaning more toward traditional English foods such as rarebit and fish and chips.  But they also had some intriguing items such as grilled farm trout, free range chicken and Prince Edward Island mussels.  I have a colleague in our main office in Montreal who is from Prince Edward Island and he claims - and I can personally attest - that the best mussels in the world are from P.E.I.  

But I was there for a burger.  Newstead Tower gets their beef from Fruitland American Beef  near Cape Girardeau, about 100 miles south of St. Louis.  Fruitland American Beef is well-known for their grass-fed beef which I'm neither here-nor-there in deciding if it's better than corn-fed beef.  Both are very good - different, but very good.  The burger at Newstead Tower is a 1/2 pound of lean ground chuck and you have your choice of caramelized onions, fresh grilled mushrooms or even a farm fresh fried egg along with five different choices of cheese. 

I ordered up a burger with Monterey pepperjack cheese and the grilled mushrooms.  Homemade potato chips come with the burger, but you can substitute pommes frites (what Europeans call French fries) for an additional $1.50.  Like I say, I was there for a burger and not necessarily the sides.  I ordered my burger medium. 

As I waited for my burger, people began to roll in for an early lunch.  It wasn't very long when the bartender brought my burger out.  Actually, he should have waited a little longer.

The burger, itself, was more rare than even-medium rare.  But I didn't know that until I had dressed it with the organic lettuce that comes with it, along with some homemade ketchup and a little bit of a stone-ground dijon mustard and then bit into the burger that was sandwiched between the top and bottom of a toasted and chewy homemade bun.  Now, I like rare beef, but I like my hamburgers to have a little bit more of a cooked quality to it.  I didn't have the heart to ask the bartender to take the burger back to the kitchen and get me another one - or at the very least to throw it back on the grill - especially since I'd already dressed it and had a couple bites. 

And actually, it wasn't all that bad.  The grilled mushrooms were flavorful and the cheese was a nice complement to the burger.  The homemade pickle slice was tangy, but I preferred not to stick it on my burger.  Other than the burger being severely undercooked for my liking, and the bun being a little more chewy than I care for, the Newstead Tower burger was very good.

The homemade potato chips, while light and flavorful, were way too salty for my taste.  I only had a couple three because of the high salt content, but if they weren't so salty I probably would have eaten more.  Then again, what's salty to me may be just right for others.  I hardly put salt on any food and I'm much more sensitive to salty foods.   

Newstead Tower won the Riverfront Times "Best Burger" award in 2008 and given the ingredients they use I'm not surprised.  Everything was fresh and flavorful, albeit the ground chuck was undercooked.  If I was a professional food critic, I'd have to go back again and make sure the burger was cooked before I could give it a better rating.  But don't take that as an indictment of the food at Newstead Tower Public House.  It's an upscale burger (and not cheap - $9.50 plus $3.00 for the cheese and mushrooms) and they feature quality menu items.  Burger and a beer ($4.50 for a pint of Schlafly) with a nice tip for the bartender used up a $20 dollar bill plus some accumulated change in my pocket.  I didn't expense it on my company credit card - I rarely do for lunch because they're so tolerant of my dinner tabs.  But next time I go back to Newstead Tower Public House to try a burger I may have to pull out the card.   

 

 

La Primavera Restaurante - Moline, IL

As I've said on a couple of occasions when writing in "Road Tips", the Quad City area is blessed with an abundance of authentic Mexican food restaurants. One place that just opened recently is La Primavera in downtown Moline (see map). Actually, La Primavera is also the name of the grocery store run by Yolanda and Angel Vargas just down the street from the restaurant. They had a little 20 seat restaurant in the back of the store where they served tacos and tortas. They became so popular that they opened up a full service restaurant a few doors to the west. (Photos courtesy of the Quad City Times)

As a little girl, Yolanda Vargas sold chickens from a road side stand in her native Mexico. She immigrated to the U.S. in the 80's and settled in Chicago. She eventually made it to Davenport to work in a friend's Mexican grocery. In 1989, Yolanda opened her first small store in Moline. Within three years, business was so good that she moved to a larger location. In 1999, the business expanded again and moved to its present day location on 6th Ave. in Moline (see map). Actually, the second location for the store was right next to where La Primavera restaurant is today.

Not only does Yolanda Vargas have a wide variety of Mexican foods in her grocery store, she also sells items such as clothing, Mexican-made goods and magazines. She also has a thriving distribution business for her fresh produce that she delivers to other stores and restaurants around the Quad City area. We go over there from time to time to get tortillas, authentic cuts of Mexican meats, limes and fresh produce when we're going to have a good homemade Mexican dinner.

La Primavera restaurant is run by Yolanda's and Angel's daughter, Claudia, and their son, Erick. It's housed in an old corner building that was once the very popular Glenn Moore's supper club years ago. Most recently, it was a Mexican restaurant called Chino's. I didn't care for the place all that much, but Cindy seemed to like it. She always wanted to go there, but I always balked at going back. Eventually, it went out of business a couple years ago.

The Vargas family came in and renovated the interior of the restaurant and painted the walls in festive colors. A huge old picture of the corner of 15th St. and 6th Ave. showing the building is on the wall. They replaced the spartan and shabby tables and chairs that were in Chino's with new booths and sturdy tables and heavy chairs. There's a small bar area toward the back of the restaurant.

We took a seat in one of the booths and the menus were on the table. The lighting is somewhat subdued in the place and I didn't have my glasses with me. I could hardly read the menu. The print was small and it was a red colored font against an orange background. I told Cindy, "I can't read this." My eyes finally focused enough that I was able to make out some of the things on the menu. Cindy, who wears contacts, wasn't having any problem reading the menu.

A waiter brought a basket of chips while we waited. Another waiter, who we figured to be Erick Vargas, came over to take our drink order. I got a Sol beer while he coerced Cindy into one of their special margaritas. "It's not overly sweet like other places," he said. "We don't use all that syrup in our margaritas."

It must have been a made from scratch margarita because it took quite a while for him to bring Cindy's to the table. By the time he got back with it, we were ready to order our food. Cindy ordered the steak especial, a thin slice of grilled beef steak with sides of grilled veggies, Mexican rice and refried beans. Cindy also has a soft spot for chile rellenos and she asked our waiter if she could get one ala carte. He said it was no problem.

I ordered the combination - a taco with your choice of meat, an enchilada and a tostada. I also ordered one "perna" taco - perna (Pee-air-na) is a type of pork that is marinated and cooked in mild juices and spices. I had to give that a try. For my taco with the combination, I ordered carne asada.

I will say that Cindy's margarita was worth the wait. It wasn't as sweet and syrupy as you find at other Mexican restaurants. It had a refreshing tart taste and had a generous amount of tequila. I sort of wondered what their special margaritas were like considering this one was pretty damn good.

We had finished our basket of chips and another waiter came over to see if we wanted any more. I hesitated, knowing that we'd be having a lot of food coming out in a short bit. But Cindy said, "Yes." He brought more chips and a second bottle of salsa. He told us, "You look like people who enjoy the hotter stuff. This is a little more spicy than the first bottle."

I wouldn't say it was overly more spicy than the first bottle, but it did have a little zip with a spicy aftertaste. I liked it immediately.

Not long after that, our waiter brought out Cindy's chile relleno. He explained that it was an authentic chile relleno from an old family recipe they got from relatives in Guadalajara. It was adorned with an avacado slice on top. Now, I forgot to bring in my new camera phone so I could get a picture of it, but it was worthy of a pic. Cindy used to chastise me for bringing my old Blackberry into restaurants, so it was by force of habit that I didn't bring my phone in with me that evening.

I will say that Cindy's chile relleno was very good. Cindy went so far as to call it "the best chile relleno I've ever had." It was a hefty poblano pepper with a very good brown sauce on top. I had a couple bites and it was very good.

Actually, I'm glad that we had the second basket of chips and that I had a couple bites of Cindy's chile relleno because it was quite some time before the rest of our food showed up at the table. Business was steady at the restaurant, but it wasn't overly busy. From the time we initially ordered our food, a couple came in, sat down, ordered, ate their food and left all before our main order showed up. I thought it to be a little strange that they brought out the chile relleno well in advance of the rest of the order. But quite honestly, we were in no hurry. It was a pretty relaxing environment.

When our food finally did show up, well there was a lot of it. Cindy's steak was pretty good sized, not all that thick, but it covered a large portion of her plate with the grilled onions and peppers on top. She said, "My God, I'm not going to be able to eat all this!"

The waiter had forgotten my carne asada taco and he went back to get one for me. In the meantime, I had the perna taco. Their version of tacos come with the meat, chopped onions and chopped cilantro on a couple small soft corn tortillas. No cheese. It was pretty good - a little dry, but still OK. The carne asada taco, after he brought it out, was similar. It wasn't bad, but I can't call it the best I've had.

My enchilada was a rather pedestrian cheese enchilada and the tostada was topped with refried beans and white cheese. Once again, it was OK, nothing special. I determined that if we went back, I wouldn't order the combination again.

Cindy's steak, on the other hand, was flavorful and tender. One thing that I liked about the waiter is that he would explain some of the dishes to the customers. He told us the steak is marinated in juices and spices (sort of like the "perna" pork) before grilling. Cindy thought the steak was just wonderful. But as she said it was way too much food - especially after a chile relleno and a couple baskets of chips. She didn't touch her rice or refried beans and hardly touched her grilled onions and peppers. And she wasn't able to finish the whole steak.

While our waiter was a nice guy, service was pretty slow. We were finished for quite some time before we were able to get his attention to get us our bill. He said, "Ah! We have it up front." I also thought that to be sort of weird as he was giving checks to other tables. OK, that's fine.

For all we got, including three beers and an a margarita, the bill came to just over $40 bucks. I thought that to be rather high for a Mexican restaurant. At first I thought they'd miscalculated, but after further review the bill was correct. Cindy's steak was $11.99 and her ala carte chile relleno was $4.50. My combination was $6.95 and my ala carte taco was $2.50. I guess it adds up fast when you order a lot of food to try.

All in all, La Primavera was good, but not outstanding in my book. Cindy, however, loved the food, loved our waiter, and loved the decor. We'll go back again and I'll have something different the next time around. Hopefully, it will be better than what I had on my first visit.

(Update - We noticed that they have shut down this location during a trip over to Moline late in 2011. However, they are still preparing food in their little restaurant in the La Primavera store just down the street on 6th Ave. We've eaten there once. Tacos are OK, but the menu is limited.)

Harbor Grill - Kawaihae, HI

 

When the Tsunami warnings were issued when we were on the Big Island, it basically screwed up our plans of having breakfast that morning at Harbor Grill in the northwest coastal village of Kawaihae (Ka-WHY-hey), just up the coast from our hotel in the Waikoloa Beach Resort.  Harbor Grill had come as a top recommendation for both breakfast and dinner from Rick, the concierge at the Hilton Waikoloa Village.  Since we couldn't make it for breakfast earlier in the day, we decided to go up for dinner instead that evening.  It was about a 15 minute drive from our hotel to Kawaihae on a beautiful Hawaiian evening.

The Harbor Grill is one of two sister restaurants side-by-side just off the highway coming into Kawaihae (see map).  The more casual Seafood Bar occupies the upper floor above a handful of small businesses just to the south of the Harbor Grill.  The Harbor Grill is the more elegant of the two with a somewhat antique nautical theme to the decor of the restaurant.  The owner of both restaurants - James "Popeye" Brisson - is sort of a local character around Kawaihae.  Brisson and his wife, Carolyn, have collected a number of old nautical artifacts and pictures and have done a wonderful job in incorporating them into a 1930's Hawaiian style building.

It was far from busy that evening at The Harbor Grill, quite possibly from the fall out of the tsunami warning earlier in the day.   The Harbor Grill had a few tables on an outside patio, but it looked more inviting inside.  We were seated at a table back in the corner and given menus to look over.

The chef and manager of the Harbor Grill, Darcy Ambrosia, features a number of fresh seafood dishes along with grass-fed Hawaiian-raised beef.   While the menu isn't extensive, it's interesting with pasta, steaks, ribs and, of course, seafood cooked in many different ways.

Our waiter came out and introduced himself.  I was sort of surprised when he said his name.  I asked again and he said what I thought he said the first time.  His name was "Lurch".  Lurch, like in the Addams Family.  I said, "Really?  Is that a nickname?"

He said, "No sir.  That's my given name."

I said, "Really?"  I didn't mean to be incredulous, but I'd never heard that name given to a person before.  I asked him, "Are you German?"

He said, "Well, I grew up outside of Cincinnati, but it is a German name."

Cindy said, "That's kinda neat!"

Lurch said, "Yeah, well, it's a great conversation starter with the ladies."

Lurch told us that he had been in Hawaii for 13 years.  He said that even though he gets back to the mainland from time to time to see his family, "this is home." 

We immediately ordered up a shrimp cocktail and I wanted a mai tai.  Lurch said, "We have the best mai tai's on the island.  Guaranteed."  I had to sign up for one of those.  Cindy wanted wine, so she ordered a glass of the Renato Pinot Grigio.

When Lurch brought the mai tai out, it was the deepest, darkest color for a mai tai that I'd seen on the island.   Cindy thought they put Grand Marnier in their mai tai, but it was the real 151-proof dark rum.  Lurch told me that along with the pineapple juice, they put lilikoi juice into their mai tai's.  It was absolutely as good as promised.  But you've really got to watch your intake with mai tai's.  This one was very good and a second one was almost ordered, but I decided to back off and get a Kona Big Wave Golden Ale after I finished the mai tai.

We were sort of stuck as what to get.  Lurch brought out the shrimp cocktail and told us of the special that evening.  They had a shinomo fresh-catch that evening.  Shinomo is sort of a broad-nosed swordfish that's lighter and more flaky than swordfish.  He said it could be grilled, steamed or grilled with cajun seasonings and served with stir-fried veggies and smashed potatoes.  That sounded pretty good.

Cindy was asking about the Red Thai Seafood Curry that was on the menu.  Lurch explained that it was a combination of a fresh-catch fish - that day it was ono - along with scallops, mussels and Thai veggies in a slightly spicy red curry sauce.  Cindy said, "Oh, that sounds good.  That's what I'm gonna have."

I was torn between getting a steak or seafood and I asked Lurch to re-describe the fresh catch special that evening.  When he got to the cajun seasoning part, I said, "Sold.  That sounds great." 

It was a 20 minute wait between our order and getting the food to or tables.  That afforded me another chance to have a Big Wave Golden Ale.  I was probably going to get a glass of wine with dinner, but the Big Wave Golden Ale was so light and refreshing as a beer that I couldn't pass up ordering another before the meal came out.

Lurch brought our meals out and I was pleasantly surprised at the size of the shinomo that was on the plate.  It was covered with tons of cajun spices - just as I like - and served with a creamy lilikoi sauce.  From the first bite to the last, it was just outstanding.  The taste sensations that exploded in my mouth were intense, but not overpowering.  The creamy lilikoi sauce knocked some of the spiciness out of the fish, but didn't detract from the overall taste.

Cindy said that her Red Thai Curry Seafood was equally wonderful.  We traded bites back and forth and I just loved that slightly spicy curry sauce they used on her entree.  The ono was light, yet had a lot of flavor.  We were in culinary heaven with this meal.

Lurch came out and offered us a dessert menu.  We were pretty full from dinner, but one thing caught my eye - a frosted lemon shortbread bar with a side of vanilla ice cream.  Cindy sort of protested, but when I reminded her we were on vacation, she said, "OK, bring us that and a couple spoons or forks or whatever."  And it, too was very good.  The lemon bar was very rich, but really had a great forward lemon taste.

Our meal at the Harbor Grill was one of the finest we had during our time in Hawaii, and we had a lot of great meals.  Not only was the food top-notch, the atmosphere was elegant, but relaxed, and our waiter - Lurch - was overly attentive, but knew when to leave us alone.  We did get one of their breakfast menus to take with us and I'm sort of upset that we never took the time to try out their Hawaiian sweet bread French toast with orange zest.  We'll just have to come back and try it at some point in the future, I guess.

(Update - In doing some research for linking some of the Road Tips entry to Urbanspoon, I found that Harbor Grill is now closed.  I hope Lurch found a job at another restaurant.)

Rosemary's Restaurant - Las Vegas

Rosemary's Restaurant in Las Vegas is not one of the typical high-end restaurants that have sprung up in the city over the past 10 to 12 years.  The biggest difference is that it is not connected to or in a major hotel/casino on the Strip.  Rosemary's is about 10 miles from the Strip out on West Sahara (see map), so it's a haul either via cab or car when you go.  I'd heard about Rosemary's Restaurant from a number of people and had wanted to go there when we were out there for CES last year.  However, with the normal large group of people in our company who usually dine out together, it was difficult to get a table at the last minute.  This year I made reservations a few days in advance of us going out to Las Vegas. 

There's a little bit of a local connection between the Quad Cities and Rosemary's owner and head chef, Michael Jordan.  Jordan was raised in Bettendorf, IA and learned how to cook while working in local restaurants as a teen.  Jordan's culinary path eventually took him to New Orleans where he hooked up with the legendary Emeril Lagasse.  When Lagasse opened the New Orleans Fish House in the MGM Grand in the mid-90's, Lagasse tabbed Jordan to run the place.  It quickly became known as having the best seafood in Las Vegas.  (I ate there about 12 years ago and while it was very good, I was not blown away by the food like I thought I'd be.) 

Encouraged by friends and patrons, Michael Jordan and his wife, Wendy (right), left Emeril's Fish House in 1999 and opened up a restaurant in Rio.  But the Jordan's weren't happy with the arrangements at Rio, so they moved to their present day location in a small strip mall in western Las Vegas in 2000.  Almost immediately, it became a favorite of local food critics and aficionados.  Rosemary's has racked up countless awards and recommendations for over 10 years.  I was very excited to have the chance to eat there. 

The reservationist at Rosemary's took my phone number and credit card number when I made the reservations about five days before we visited.  We had until 2 p.m. of the day we were to visit Rosemary's to cancel or a $75 dollar per person charge would be charged to my card.  She called again the morning of our visit to make sure that we were still coming.  I told her that instead of 10 people, we would only have nine.  She said that wouldn't be a problem. 

It was a 25 minute drive through traffic from the Mirage, where we stayed this year, to Rosemary's.  In addition to five of my colleagues from my company, we also had Gerard Chretian, the managing director for Focal Loudspeakers; Dominic Baker, the chief engineer and international sales manager for Focal; and Dominic's new assistant, Pierre, with us.  Gerard and Dominic eat in some world-class restaurants during their travels, and it turns out that Pierre grew up in a family that had both culinary and wine backgrounds.  I was hoping beyond hope that Rosemary's would not let us down.

We were seated at a table in the main dining room and given our menus for the evening.  We were immediately served two potato bread rolls that had been baked with butter and herbs on the top.  Even though I was the point man for the evening, I deferred the wine list to my colleague, Ian, who has a good eye for Italian wines; and to Pierre who has lived in nearly every region of France during his life.  My colleague, Jon, is a California native and is well-versed in some of the finer and more obscure California wines.  I was more interested in the food. 

Rosemary's features a prix fixe menu that allows you to select three items - appetizer, salad, and main entree - for a fixed $55 dollar price per person.  That wasn't going to be hard to do as they had a number of delectable appetizers to choose from.  The first thing on the appeitzer list was something called Hugo's Texas BBQ Shrimp - grilled large shrimp covered in a tangy barbecue sauce and served on a bed of slaw made with Maytag Blue Cheese.  In fact, you could tell that Jordan was paying homage to his Iowa roots as a handful of appetizers and entrees featured the Maytag Blue Cheese that is made in my hometown of Newton, IA.  Someone at the other end of the table immediately ordered up a couple orders of the BBQ Shrimp for the table to eat as many of us were famished. 

I noticed that they also had a seared foie gras on the menu.  It had been quite some time since I'd had foie gras - probably during a trip to France - so I was sort of interested in that.  Foie gras was part of the prix fixe menu, but at a $15 dollar premium.  I thought that would be a good deal. 

Rosemary's menu offers a little bit of Southern and New Orleans-style cooking, along with a hearty dose of Midwestern flair.  The menu had seafood, pork, beef and chicken dishes to choose from.  It's rather interesting to eat with Europeans as I've found that nearly every meal they go for beef.  Rare beef.  And that's what everyone at the table ended up having - beef. 

Five of the nine people at the table got Rosemary's signature Creole grilled prime ribeye - a large chunk of prime ribeye seasoned with Creole spices, grilled to taste and topped with red onion straws and a homemade steak sauce that was more of a gravy than a steak sauce. 

My colleagues, Simon and Todd, went with the grilled veal tenderloin - a tender veal loin, grilled and then cut into strips, served with sauteed asparagus, proscuitto and mushrooms, and then topped with a garlic reduction sauce.  That sounded yummy.  

Ian and I went with the roasted filet of beef - a 10 oz beef tenderloin filet, oven-roasted and served with horseradish-encrusted souffle potatoes, grilled asparagus and topped with an onion marmalade.  As part of the prix fixe menu I decided to parttake in, I also ordered the foie gras and also got a Caesar's salad.   

Ian picked out the first wine of the evening, a Charles Audoin Marsannay Cuvee Marie Pinot Noir.  It was a very light, yet flavorful wine to have with our appetizers.  And speaking of appetizers, my foie gras was very good.  It was far from being the best foie gras I ever had (that was at a restaurant outside of Paris about seven years ago), but it was still a wonderful treat to have this particular evening.  

Rosemary's also features a number of works of art around the restaurant.  They have one wing of the restaurant where they feature paintings and works of selected artists on a rotating basis.  This portrait is just as you come into the restaurant and is of Wendy Jordan's mother, Rosemary - the restaurant's namesake - when she was a little girl.  

Being that Michael Jordan was a Quad City native, I was hoping that I'd have a chance to meet him.  However, I was told that he was not in that evening.  "He usually takes a couple nights off during the week," our waiter said.  "Tonight just happens to be one of those nights."  That was sort of disappointing.   

Rosemary's also gained a little bit of notoriety as being the place where O.J. Simpson dined for the last time as a free man the night before he was sentenced to prison in 2008.  (Click here to read the story.)  A couple of the guys in our group thought it was sort of cool in a pop-culture kind of thing.  O.J. dined in the bar area on a couple appetizer plates that evening.  To go from Rosemary's to prison food for the next ten years or so was an interesting dichotomy. 

We let Pierre pick out the second bottle of the evening - a Philipe Livera Grevey-Chambertin en Vosne pinot noir that he was very familiar with.  He said he lived not far from the Cote du Nuits region in the French province of Burgundy and said that he knew Philipe Livera, the vintner and winemaker.  Actually, it was much heavier and not as good as the Charles Audoin Marsannay that we had earlier.

It wasn't long before they brought out my Caesar's salad.  It was pretty good, too.  I liked the dressing and they had two large anchovy strips across the top of the salad.  Once again, it didn't knock my socks off, but it was serviceable.   

Service and presentation is big at Rosemary's.  When our main entrees came, they were brought out by a group of waiters.  On cue, each of us had our plates served to us from the left (empty or dirty dishes were removed to the right).  When my tenderloin filet was served, the waiter dumped the steak on the table.  The onion marmalade fell off the top and onto the table cloth.  He immediately offered to get me another steak.  I said the one that I had would be fine as I picked it up and placed it back on the three asparagus spears. 

The evening went downhill from there.  And quickly. 

Ian ordered an Alta Vina Ardanza Reserve Spanish rioja before we were served our entrees.  For some reason, the sommelier either forgot about our wine or was distracted into doing something else.  Our food was halfway gone before the bottle showed up.  We had hoped to have it open, poured and breathing well before our main entrees showed up.

A couple guys at the other end of our table had also ordered a couple of sides - Southern style hush puppies and an order of Hoppin' John (blackeyed peas with ham, peppers and rice).  For some reason, those sides didn't show up to the table until our meal was almost completely over. 

As for the food, my filet was good.  It was cooked a little more medium-rare than rare, but that was OK.  Not the best steak I ever had, but good, nonetheless.  The horseradish souffle potatoes consisted of three dinky, football shaped objects that were literally gone in three bites.  The grilled asparagus was OK. 

My colleagues who had the veal tenderloins proclaimed it to be good.  Simon thought his was a little dry and maybe a tad overcooked, but he said there wasn't much to complain about.

However, the five guys who got the grilled prime ribeye - no one was happy.  It had to do with the steak sauce.  My colleagues complained the sauce was sweet and too overpowering for the meat.  Jon was seated next to me and the prime ribeye came with a side of their Carolina quick grits and I tried a bite of the grits with the sauce just to check out the sauce.  Ugh!  They were right.  It WAS overpowering.  It was way too sweet for my taste.  In fact, it sort of reminded me of the Marsala sauce I had recently at Fried Green Tomatoes in Galena - on the Veal Marsala that reminded me of my grandmother's Swiss steak. 

The prime ribeyes were cooked to everyone's liking, but the sauce killed the overall taste.  It was a huge disappointment to all involved.  It was a disappointment to me as I was the one who picked out the place. 

It was getting late, we were getting a little drunk and we were all very tired from a couple nights of little sleep coming up to the meal at Rosemary's.  The waiter came by to ask if we wanted any dessert, but no one wanted anything more.  Ian asked for the check and the waiter went away. 

Ian went outside for a smoke and one of the other waiters that had helped our head waiter came by the table.  He asked if he could get anyone anything else and I said, "We're just waiting on our check."  He said he would get it for us. 

Another 10 minutes passed.  I caught the attention of our head waiter and asked for the check.  He said, "It's coming right up, sir." 

By this time, Ian had come back in from having a smoke and he said, "We haven't gotten the check yet?"  Nope. 

A few of the guys decided to get up and go outside for some fresh air while I waited - overly patiently - for the check.  I caught the attention of the second waiter and said, "Is there some sort of problem with our check?  We're ready to go!"  He said he'd find out what the hold-up was. 

After nearly another 10 minutes, the head waiter brought out the check.  He had already affixed an 18% gratuity to the bill.  After waiting that long for the check, I was going to knock my normal 20% down to as little as 12%.  I was not a happy camper.

There was a lot of grousing and complaining on the ride back to the Mirage.  The consensus - including me - was that it was not worth the ride out to Rosemary's.  Although I was OK with my steak, I was disappointed for the guys who got the prime ribeye.  To a man, they all thought it was not very good. 

About halfway back to the hotel, my cellphone rang.  It was a 702 area code - Las Vegas.  It was the reservationist from Rosemary's.  I had left my credit card at the restaurant.  Crap!  I told her that I was going to let the guys off at the hotel and I'd be back out there before 11 p.m.  She said she'd have it for me up front. 

I dropped the group off at the Mirage and even though a couple guys volunteered to go back out to Rosemary's with me to pick up my credit card, I told them to go to bed.  It was my mistake, no use torturing anybody else for my brain fart. 

Traffic along the strip was horrible, even at 10:30 at night on a Thursday evening.  They were doing some street work along the strip and it was a bottle neck.  Add to that, the Las Vegas police had a car stopped in front of Treasure Island and were doing a thorough search of the car.  I finally got up to Sahara and turned west for the 10 mile drive back out to Rosemary's. 

I pulled into Rosemary's right at 11 p.m.  They were still open and I parked out front, kept the SUV I was driving running and walked in.  No one was at the host stand and there was a bartender talking to someone at the bar.  Finally, the head waiter for our table showed up and I said, "I evidently left my credit card here.  She called me and said it would be up front." 

The waiter looked all through the drawers at the host stand, under papers, menus, all over the place.  He asked the bartender if he knew anything about my card.  The bartender was clueless.  This whole time, the SUV is running out front with the doors unlocked and the motor running.  I could see some derelict walking by at 11 p.m. and jumping into the truck and pulling away.  And Las Vegas is full of derelicts. 

After about five minutes of looking, the sommelier came up front and asked if he could help.  The waiter said, "This gentleman left his credit card here and they told him it would be up front.  I can't find it anywhere." 

The sommelier said, "Ah!  I've got it back in the safe."  He rushed toward the back of the restaurant and I waited up front by the door with one eye on the still running SUV outside.  What should have been a 30 second stop had turned into nearly 10 minutes before the sommelier finally showed up with my credit card.  "Sorry for the delay, sir.  I had to help someone for a bit." 

I was just seething as I made my way back to the hotel, tired and drawn out from the experience. 

After I returned home, I received a call from someone from Rosemary's Restaurant - a lady doing some follow up wanting to know how our experience was.  I didn't hold back.  I told her about the service and how it quickly went downhill later in the evening.  I told her about the hold ups with the wine and the sides that we'd ordered.  I told her that the guys who got the ribeyes were not happy with the meal, mainly due to the sauce which was not very good.  I told her that we had to wait nearly 30 minutes for our check after we'd initially asked for it.  I said, "The service was not worth the 18% gratuity they automatically put on the bill due to our larger group."  Then I told her how I had to wait for nearly 10 minutes while they searched for and found my credit card. 

The whole time she was telling me how sorry she was and how she was going to report these transgressions to the owner.  I said, "Yes, the owner.  He wasn't there that evening.  I live in his hometown and was hoping that the experience of dining at Rosemary's was all that I heard it could be and more.  But I have to say that I was very disappointed."

She asked, "Will you be back out in Las Vegas at some point?"  I told her that we would most likely be back out there for CES in 2011.  She then asked, "Would you consider coming back to our restaurant." 

I said, "It was a consensus among our group that for the price, the service glitches and the taste of the food, that it was not worth the long trip from the Strip.  Yes, I will consider coming back, but that's about it." 

In a place like Las Vegas where there are now a large number of very good to world class restaurants to choose from (which wasn't the case as little as 20 years ago), you've got to be on top of your game each and every night.  Unfortunately, Rosemary's Restaurant didn't deliver on the promise of great food and great service.  Although they've won countless awards over the years, that particular evening they certainly didn't come close to hitting the level they've obviously achieved in the past.  My meal was very good, but not great.  But everything else was rather disappointing as a whole.  For that, we have probably crossed Rosemary's ResMichael Jordan said the closure of the restaurant that opened for business in May 1999 was "very tough."

He said there wasn't one precipitating event, but a slow progression, tied to the lingering dismal state of Las Vegas' economy.

"A whole lot of little things added up to a big one," Jordan said. "We always kept hoping it was going to make that turn. It was a hard choice, thinking about our family and our kids," who, at 14 and 9, have grown up with Rosemary's. "We were moving toward a point of really jeopardizing ourselves."

Rosemary's -- which was named for his mother -- had had three revenue streams: a catering division, a wing for private parties and the restaurant itself. A year and a half ago, the demand for catering dried up, Jordan said. Then, about eight months ago, private events started a sharp decline. They were down to the restaurant itself, and business there had fallen off sharply, with a normal evening serving 160 to 170 dropping to 60 to 70.

"That's a problem," he said.

They tried to make adjustments to compensate -- such as reducing lunch service to one day a week, and introducing promotions -- but "since March, the feeling has been in my gut that this is what we're moving toward."

"I'm in complete understanding of what happened," he said. "We're a luxury item, and those tend to have problems in these times."taurant off our list for future visits during CES.   

(Update - It appears the sluggish economy in Las Vegas over the past couple three years spelled doom for Rosemary's.  They closed in July of 2011.  Here's part of the story from the Las Vegas Review-Journal: 

Michael Jordan said the closure of the restaurant that opened for business in May 1999 was "very tough."

He said there wasn't one precipitating event, but a slow progression, tied to the lingering dismal state of Las Vegas' economy.

"A whole lot of little things added up to a big one," Jordan said. "We always kept hoping it was going to make that turn. It was a hard choice, thinking about our family and our kids," who, at 14 and 9, have grown up with Rosemary's. "We were moving toward a point of really jeopardizing ourselves."

Rosemary's -- which was named for his mother -- had had three revenue streams: a catering division, a wing for private parties and the restaurant itself. A year and a half ago, the demand for catering dried up, Jordan said. Then, about eight months ago, private events started a sharp decline. They were down to the restaurant itself, and business there had fallen off sharply, with a normal evening serving 160 to 170 dropping to 60 to 70.

"That's a problem," he said.

They tried to make adjustments to compensate -- such as reducing lunch service to one day a week, and introducing promotions -- but "since March, the feeling has been in my gut that this is what we're moving toward."

"I'm in complete understanding of what happened," he said. "We're a luxury item, and those tend to have problems in these times.")

Symposium Cafe - Davenport, IA

The Symposium Cafe is a concept restaurant that has never gained much steam with franchisees across the nation.  What appears to be the original Symposium Cafe in Durham, NC has been closed for nearly a year, and there looks like there's one in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, as well as a couple three in Canada.   I've eaten at the Davenport Symposium Cafe about four times now and I've had mixed feelings about the place.  My wife seems to like it a lot.  I've been tepid - at best - regarding the restaurant.  We had a planned holiday get together for dinner with friends and one of them picked the Symposium Cafe.  My reaction was, "Ohhh...OK, I suppose."

The Davenport Symposium Cafe is located in a small strip mall near the corner of 53rd Ave. and Utica Ridge Road (see map) in the middle of a belt of theme and both regional and national chain restaurants.  It's been open for a little over a year now.  The first time I was in the place was to buy gift certificates for the people who helped me with my rehab after my dual hip replacements last year.  I then met a friend for lunch there later in the summer.  I had the steak salad and it wasn't too bad.

At that time, I also met the G.M., Mike Chupka, the former owner of the Waterfront Deli in Bettendorf, who had come on board to be the manager for a group of investors headed by David Smith and Jim Bergman - two real estate developers based in the Quad Cities.  It appears, however, that Mike Chupka has moved on to a new venture - Rivals Sports Bar and Grill - which opened recently not far from our home in Davenport.

Executive Chef Josh Guthrie is in charge of a menu that features breakfast, lunch and dinner items served seven days a week.  The concept behind the Symposium Cafe is to offer various eclectic and gourmet dishes throughout the day, including breakfast that is served up to 5 p.m..  They also feature a number of specialty coffees, teas and hot drinks - sort of an upscale Starbucks, if you will.  And they also have a number of homemade dessert cakes they have on display in a case up front.   This, no doubt, allows people who are waiting for a table to get a good look at the cakes to get them thinking about dessert before they've even sat down to order.

Symposium Cafe is part bar, part restaurant.  They have a large bar area off to the left as you walk in that features a couple of flat panels behind the bar.  When I stopped in to get the gift certificates for my physical therapists last summer, I sat at the bar and ordered one of their Bloody Mary's.  I have to say it was pretty damn good.  The area around the the bar is large and it's a comfortable place to wait for a table in the dining room.

Two of the last times that we've been in before was to have breakfast and dinner, respectively.  Breakfast was on a Sunday and while the place was busy - a large group of elderly bus travelers was in the back dining room - the main dining area was not as busy.  However, our waitress must have been suffering from a hangover, or at least she intimated that she was not on top of her game after a night out.  We waited a LONG time for our food (we guess she forgot to put the order in), she forgot to fill up Cindy's coffee and she never came back to check if I wanted another Bloody Mary.  Finally, she never did come back to give us our bill.  We had to go up to the counter to ask for our bill.  She didn't get a good tip.

The next time we went was for dinner and it was early so we didn't really encounter any problems with our service.  However, one thing that I do not like about Symposium Cafe - or any cafe like it, for that matter - is when they have the banquette seating for a table up against a wall.  They have that against the north wall of Symposium Cafe and while it saves on space, it also takes away the intimacy of dining at a table.  It's like you're immediately part of the group or couple dining next to you as conversations can be easily heard back and forth between the two tables.  Some people may look at that as a chance to foster interaction between the patrons at different tables, but I view it as an intrusion for what should be a relaxing experience.

There were six of us who gathered on an early Saturday evening at the Symposium Cafe.  The other two couples were already seated at a table in the corner near the front.   Cindy and I were relieved to see that we wouldn't be seated along the wall.  Our server for the evening, Alex, had already given the specials for the evening which included prime rib and a seafood dish.  We spent the first hour having drinks and catching up with everyone while Alex patiently awaited our dinner orders.  He was overly patient, I might add.

When we finally got down to ordering, I was torn between a number of things.  I have to say the food I've had in previous visits to Symposium Cafe up to that point was good, but there really wasn't anything that tripped my trigger.  I decided to go with the Cajun New York Strip, rare.  For the sides, I had a choice of rice, mashed potatoes with garlic or broasted wedge potatoes.  I really didn't want any of those, but I ended up getting the garlic mashed potatoes.  A side of mixed veggies also came with the meal.

Cindy ordered the orange roughy, while three of the rest of the group got the prime rib special.  The last person, Jerry, ordered a bowl of the French Onion soup and an appetizer that consisted of a dozen hazelnut coffee encrusted grilled shrimp.  Cindy and I both got a glass of the Silver Palm Cabernet to go along with our meal. 

The place had filled up appreciably as the night went on.  But our waiter, Alex, was attentive and was helped out by other waitresses in bringing drink orders to our table.  I will say, however, that he did miss getting me a new beer when I'd asked for it earlier.  That was the only blemish on his otherwise stellar serving performance that evening.

Our meals showed up and here is my Cajun New York strip steak.  The plate presentation, to me, was a little jumbled and messy.  But the steak was cooked about right, probably a little more medium rare than rare.  The garlic mashed potatoes, however, were WHOA!  They should have called them mashed garlic with potatoes.  They were really garlicky, so much that it got my attention from the first bite.  Others in our group also remarked at how much garlic was in the potatoes.  One of our friends, Ladd, said, "I like garlic but this may be too much."  I made Cindy take a bite of my garlic mashed potatoes or she wouldn't have been able to be around me the rest of the evening, it was that strong.  But, quite honestly, I thought they were pretty good.

Cindy's orange roughy was good, she said.  It came with a bed of rice and mixed veggies.  One thing that she was a little miffed about was that lemon wedges weren't automatically brought to the table for her fish.  When our waiter came back to check on us, she asked for some lemon wedges. He quickly grabbed four or five wedges for her and brought them to the table.

The people who got the prime rib were all happy with their choices.  I took a picture of the prime rib our friend Karen had sitting next to me, but I inadvertently erased it.  She said she got her's medium, but wished she would have gotten it medium rare.  It looked a little more medium well than medium.  But the other two prime ribs looked great.

Jerry offered me one of his hazelnut encrusted grilled shrimps.  I like the taste of hazelnut, but I'm not certain that it went all that good with shrimp.  Between his French Onion soup and the shrimp, he said it was a good, but very rich meal.

What was probably planned to be a two hour meal with friends went well into the night with us talking about a lot of things, as we usually do when we all get together.  Some people were finished before others and Alex came by to clean some plates off the table.  Ladd's wife, Deb, pointed out something to me that I really had never thought of before.  She said, "You can tell how good a restaurant is by the way they clean the plates off the table.  To me, it's wrong if they come and ask to clear plates when people are still eating."

She said that it's awkward for the person or persons still eating and - to her - it's a sign that they want you to hurry up.  Ladd said, "I'm usually done well before Deb is and I'll keep a bite or two left on my plate so that when the waiter comes up and asks if he can take my plate, I can say, 'No, I'm still working on it.' "  You know, in all the years I've eaten in fine restaurants, I've never noticed that.  But come to think of it, I do remember restaurants where both sides of the spectrum have happened.  That's going to be something I'm going to watch out for from here on out.

Most restaurants want to have 1.5 turns per table per evening.  That is, if you have an establishment with 30 tables, they want to have 45 tables served during the evening.  Our table never got turned.  By the time Cindy and Karen decided to share a piece of carrot cake for a dessert, it was fast approaching three and a a half hours since we'd walked in.

Alex got a healthy tip for his service, plus the fact that we were at the table for quite some time after he presented us our bills.   My meal wasn't bad at Symposium Cafe and I got a better feeling about the place this time around.  While it's still not my first choice of restaurants to go to in the Quad Cities, I don't think you could go wrong with picking the Symposium Cafe from time to time.

(Update - Feb. 2013: They announced on Feb. 16 that Symposium Cafe would be shutting down after that weekend.  Evidently, the landlord got a better offer to lease the space from what is called a "national" restaurant chain.  Some people are upset that a national chain would replace Symposium Cafe, but I'm not shedding many tears over their closing.  The food was fine, but there was just something about the place that sort of bothered me when we ate there.  Now, if it's a Five Guys burgers moving into the space, I'll be very happy about that.) 

 

The Kitchen - Stillwater, MN

Stillwater, MN is a wonderful little community full of shops, restaurants, and other interesting places along the St. Croix River north and east of the Twin Cities.  It's one of the more picturesque communities in the Midwest.  It's certainly a treat to head out to Stillwater to get a good dinner.  While I was in the Twin Cities recently, I was on the far east side of the city doing a meeting for Ultimate Electronics and I've always wanted to go try a burger at a restaurant in Stillwater - The Kitchen.  I went out there for lunch that one day.

The Kitchen is located on South Main Street in downtown Stillwater (see map).  What sort of threw me a bit, it's actually located in the back of a small boutique mall on South Main.  You can see their outside eating area from the side street on the north side of the small mall.  There is an entry way into the mall off of the north side, but I went to the front of 326 S. Main and walked through the building, hoping as I kept walking along that I wasn't getting lost.  As I turned a corner toward the back of the main floor, there was a sign pointing up a set of stairs to the restaurant. 

The Kitchen is a contemporary American restaurant that was established earlier this year in what was the old Stone's restaurant in Stillwater.  Ben Hiza and Erick Harcey are the principal owners and also are involved with Victory 44 in north Minneapolis.  The menu at The Kitchen is an eclectic mix of items that include beef, poultry, seafood, and even something called "Duck, Duck, Goose" - a duck breast with duck hash topped with a goose liver sauce.  Intriguing, to say the least.  

But I had read during an earlier visit this fall to the Twin Cities that The Kitchen had something called "The Perfect Burger".  It's a half-pound burger topped with pickles, mustard, bacon and Minnesota cheddar cheese.  That's what I was looking for.  

I sat at the large, square bar in the restaurant.  I would have to say the place was about a quarter full for the lunch time.  It was a very rainy day and I'm sure it was keeping the crowds away that would have been there had the weather been nicer as the leaves in the trees were brilliant shades of red, orange and yellow around the area.  One of the chefs at The Kitchen, Dan, was seated at the bar going over schedules.  I got a menu from the bartender and ordered a water.  

There it was on the menu - The Perfect Burger.  When you have a restaurant that calls their burger "perfect" that means they're putting all the marbles on the table.  OK, let's see how good this burger really is.  

I ordered mine, medium, and the bartender asked if I wanted any fries or any other sides.  Nope.  Let's go for the burger.  He told me he'd get it out to me as soon as possible.  

Actually, it took a little longer than I expected.  After about 15 minutes, the bartender came out and apologized for my burger taking so long.  The chef at the bar asked him what was going on in the kitchen and he said, "Backed up."  

The chef said, "Do I need to go back there and help him?"  The bartender said he didn't think so.  And just then, a waitress brought out my burger.  

It was big and juicy, a very light and fluffy bun adorned the top.  There was large pickle slices along with two large strips of bacon.  The bartender asked if I wanted any ketchup and I took him up on his offer.  From the first bite I could tell it was a very, very good burger.  A true gourmet burger with a sharp cheddar cheese topping.  It was - totally - a spot-hitter.

The bartender came over and asked me how the burger was. I said, "Excellent.  Very, very good." 

The chef at the bar said, "Aw, you're just sayin' that 'cause I'm sitting here."  

I said, "No, honestly.  I eat a lot of cheeseburgers on the road and this is very, very good.  I don't know if it's a 'perfect' burger, but I don't know what a 'perfect' burger is."  

He said, "Our head chef came up with this burger.  We feature it at our sister restaurant and he just brought the burger over here to put on our menu.  Actually, I've had them at both places and I think ours is better than at Victory 44."  (I may have to try Victory 44 to make sure!)

The Kitchen's "Perfect Burger" is a little expensive - $8.95 - but it's a very, very good burger.  The jury is still out as to whether I can move it into my Top Ten list of burgers, but I have to give it a high honorable mention.  (It may also be time to update my Top Ten list.)  And while I have trouble calling the place a "burger joint", The Kitchen is a high quality restaurant that just happens to serve a good burger.  As for The Kitchen overall, I think they're going to be a favorite for tourists and locals alike for a long time in Stillwater.  

(Update - Upon doing some research to add links to Urbanspoon, I found that The Kitchen closed their doors in the early part of January of 2011.  No word as to why they closed.)

Good Bye to Ozzie's

The recent demise of Ozzie's sports bar in the Westport Plaza area of St. Louis was a personal blow to me.  It was one of my all-time favorite sports bars, anywhere.  I'd been going to Ozzie's since the mid-90's and for a long time it was a good place to get a pretty good meal, drink cold beer and to watch sporting events on one of the 50+ televisions they had throughout the bar.  But things had changed for the worse over the past few years for the place.  I thought the food began to suffer.  A couple of recent times I'd been in, the beer was nowhere close to being ice cold like I once remember.  Then the economy and competition in the Westport area caught up with Ozzie's and they were forced to shut their doors in late October. 

(To read my original post on Ozzie's, click here.) 

I was in St. Louis the week after Ozzie's shut down.  In fact, I was thinking about going there for lunch one day to grab a burger, but it turned out it would have been quite a trek in some heavy rain to get over there.  I ended up just getting a burger at a Fuddrucker's in South County.  I would have been devastated walking up to Ozzie's and finding the doors locked. 

For those of you not in the know, Ozzie's was named after the former St. Louis Cardinals and Hall of Fame shortstop, Ozzie Smith.   St. Louis restaurateur Ray Gallardo (who founded and owned the Casa Gallardo restaurants) opened the restaurant in 1988.  Smith decorated the restaurant with some of his numerous awards, along with other memorabilia from the Cardinals, St. Louis Rams and St. Louis Blues.  The place was an immediate hit with the people of St. Louis and a "must see" for Cardinals fans who would come from all over to see the Cards play in the summertime.  While the food wasn't all that great, it was more of the atmosphere that kept people coming back year after year. 

When I worked for a company in suburban St. Louis a number of years ago, Ozzie's was always one of the more favorite places for me to go to grab a quick sandwich or to catch a game that I wanted to see.  When we'd have sales managers from vendors come into St. Louis for meetings, invariably at some point we'd end up at Ozzie's.  I still run into guys at trade shows that I knew from years ago who bring up their visit to Ozzie's.  Ozzie's had a couple of private rooms that we'd take over from time to time and that, along with all the memorabilia throughout the place, made a lasting impression on some of the people we'd take there. 

Ozzie's menu was wide and varied, very typical of a high-profile sports bar.  They had a little bit of everything - appetizers, sandwiches, steaks, ribs, Mexican food, pasta.  While they didn't do anything great, it was adequate enough for what it was.  I did like their burgers and they had a dynamite blackened chicken sandwich.  And I did like their brisket sandwich, as well.  But most of the main entree choices were pedestrian, at best.   But the surroundings and memorabilia trumped the average food, in my book. 

The economic climate in St. Louis over the past few years has been deteriorating and that, undoubtedly, cut into Ozzie's bottom line.  But many people point to the establishment of Pujols 5 in Westport Plaza as the beginning of the end for Ozzie's.  Pujols 5 is named after the Cardinals great first baseman, Albert Pujols (left).  Before Pujols 5 opened up, Ozzie's management was told that it was going to be more of an upscale restaurant on the level of Mike Shannon's than a sports bar like Ozzie's.  Based on that information, Gallardo's management company signed a lease extension through 2015 and borrowed $150,000 to upgrade Ozzie's restaurant.   

It turned out that Pujols 5 (which I've not been to yet) was more like Ozzie's in terms of a sports bar and grill than an upscale restaurant.  At least, that's what Ozzie's alleges in a lawsuit that was filed last spring against the owners of Westport Plaza.  Ozzie's claims that with over 40 hi-def televisions, a menu that is more similar to Ozzie's than to Mike Shannon's, and the fact that they advertise themselves as the "newest and hottest of America's sports restaurants," Pujols 5 was, indeed, a sports bar and it violated the lease agreement.   

Westport Plaza's owners countersued Ozzie's for non-payment of rent.  As Ozzie's closed up, the lawsuit against Westport Plaza was dropped, but the countersuit against Ozzie's goes on.  Ozzie's held an auction after they closed to sell off some of the memorabilia, fixtures and equipment.  The owners of Westport Plaza now claim the auction was not authorized due to their lawsuit against Ozzie's management.  I'm sure it's going to get more messy as time goes on.  Stay tuned. 

With revenues falling and Pujols popularity helping drive people to the restaurant named after him, Ozzie's began to slip.  The food was noticeably more weak than I remember during the first few times I'd gone to the restaurant.  On our annual trip to St. Louis to see the Cardinals a couple years ago, we stopped into Ozzie's for a cold beer before the game.  But we were served slightly below room temperature beer.  I'd noticed the previous few times that I had been in, the beer coolers weren't very cold.  It just didn't seem to be the same place I'd once remembered. 

Sports bars come and go.  Some last longer than others.  Ozzie's lasted longer than most.  It had a good thing going for a number of years.   Unfortunately, they were overshadowed by a bigger name in St. Louis sports these days and that, undoubtedly, led to their demise.  However, the name Ozzie Smith will continue to live in the hearts and minds of St. Louis fans for years and years, even if his namesake restaurant will not. 

(Update - Ozzie's has reopened at a new location in downtown St. Louis (see map).  I've yet to make it into the new Ozzie's, but plan to during an upcoming trip to St. Louis.)

Goodfellas - Carmel, IN

I put on a new dealer in the northern suburbs of Indianapolis recently and we went to have a bite to eat at a restaurant that he was familiar with in Carmel - Goodfella's.  He said their pizza was pretty good and they had a full selection of sandwiches and other Italian foods.  It sounded good to me and we went there for dinner.  

Goodfella's is actually a small chain of eateries that started on Staten Island over 15 years ago.  34-year-old E. Jay Myers was making $40,000 a year working as a regional manager for Estee Lauder.  One Sunday while he and his brother-in-laws, Scott and Marc Cosentino, were standing in line waiting for a Brooklyn pizza joint to open up, Myers decided that it was foolish to come all the way over from Staten Island to get a good pizza.   Myers, a Jewish boy from Albany, NY who knew nothing about pizza (other than he liked it), and who knew nothing about starting a restaurant, began to plan out a pizza parlor that featured people would remember. 

The Cosentino's (Scot was a carpet layer, Marc was an NYC cop) and Myers each ponied up $25,000 - Myers came on a loan from his father, who thought Myers was nuts - and they began to work on their pizzeria each night after they worked their day jobs.  The most important part of the pizzeria was going to be the authentic wood-fired pizza oven, something that wasn't in a lot of pizza places across the city.  They also did their own marketing surveys, asking people at the Staten Island Ferry terminal how much they'd pay for a pizza with fresh ingredients.  In 1993, after reading countless pizza trade magazines and a few books on the art of making a pizza, Myers and the Cosentinos opened their first Goodfella's Brick Oven Pizza on Hylan Ave. on Staten Island in what was a former small office space.  It was an immediate hit. 

Within a year the Cosentinos and Myers opened a second location in Brooklyn before expanding their original location on Staten Island, doubling the seating (from 35 to 70) and putting in a second brick oven.  They began offering Goodfella's as a franchise with owners/operators starting in the late 90's.  A third location opened on Staten Island and another opened in Freehold, N.J.  Seven years ago, Mr. Abul Rahman bought a franchise and put it into far away Carmel, IN.  

Salvatore Russo is the head chef for the Goodfella's restaurants and works out of the original location on Staten Island.  Goodfella's has won numerous awards over the years including Best Pizza at the International Pizza Expo in 2001 and 2007.  While Myers left the business in 2007 to run a Bonefish Grill franchise in New Jersey, Marc and Scott Cosentino continue to run the day-to-day operations of Goodfella's.

It was around 7 p.m. when we got into Goodfella's, located in a small strip mall on Hazel Dell Parkway, just north of 131 St. (Main St.) on the east side of Carmel (see map).  The restaurant is partitioned into a dining room and a bar area.  Actually, the dining room was rather nice.  The booth we sat in was nice and roomy.  We were given menus and not long after we were seated a waitress brought out fresh bread and olive oil for dipping. 

My dealer raved about the pizza, which is thin-crusted and topped with many fresh toppings including homemade mozzarella cheeses.  They have a variety of sauces including a vodka tomato sauce that helped give Goodfella's their first Best Pizza awards in 1994 and 1995.  Their Sally Pie - which features lemon garlic chicken and roasted rosemary potatoes with a combination of fresh mozzarella, cheddar cheese, sauteed mushrooms and onions, then topped with a cheddar/scallion cream sauce - won the Best Pizza award in 2001.  Their Smokin' Goodfella - which has smoked mozzarella, Italian sausage, roasted pepper sauce, roasted peppers and onions - won the award in 2007. 

In addition to their pizzas, Goodfella's also has a full Italian menu, along with sandwiches, salads and appetizers.  They also have a wood-fired steak and a wood-fired pork chop on the menu.  Goodfella's was far from being a basic pizzeria like it started out to be in their original location in 1993.

While I was in the mood for pizza, something caught my eye - the Goodfella sandwich.  It featured fresh prosciutto, salami, provolone, their homemade mozzarella and topped with oven-roasted red peppers and a cream Italian dressing, then warmed in the brick oven until the Italian bread is nice and crispy on the outside. 

Now, a confession - one thing that I really miss from my youth are the "Hoagies" from Pizza Hut.  The taste of the Italian meats, cheeses and that tangy Italian dressing was to die for when I was in my teens.  Unfortunately, Pizza Hut doesn't offer the hoagie any longer - it would be the only reason why I'd go into a Pizza Hut.  So, anytime anything that resembles a hoagie pops up on a menu, I have to give it a try.  Much to the protestation of my dealer, he said he'd get a small Smokin' Goodfella pizza - old world style with slices of fresh mozzarella -  while I got the sandwich.  The sandwich came with their homemade "house chips", but I asked the waitress if I could get a small dinner salad instead of the chips.  She said there would be a small up-charge, but I didn't care.  She asked, "Would you like some of our homemade mozzarella on the salad?"  How could I say no?

I wasn't half-way through my salad when she showed up with my dealer's pizza.  She said my sandwich was on its way.  There wasn't a lot of people in the restaurant that evening and it doesn't take much time for the pizza to be made in an 800 degree (F) brick oven.  About the time my salad was finished, my sandwich showed up at the table. 

The sandwich was sort large and bready.  It was topped with a lot of meat and cheeses, plus there was the tangy Italian dressing taste to it.  Other than it being a little chewy, it was pretty good.  I've had worse Italian-style sandwiches before. 

My dealer's pizza was interesting.  It actually reminded me of a pizza from Pinocchio's, a wood-fired pizza place in the Illinois Quad Cities.  The sausage was crumbly, not the big chunks that I like.  Still, it smelled pretty good.  But I was happy with my sandwich.

I was back in Indianapolis about three days later and I was out in the Carmel area again for the evening.  I decided to go give Goodfella's pizza a try.  It was around 8:30 p.m. when I got in there and I ordered a 9" personal size Italian sausage, pepperoni, mushroom with grated mozzarella and the regular tomato sauce.  Yeah, I should have tried the Smokin' Goodfella, but I need to have my standard pizza for my first visit.  Well, it wasn't my first visit, but it was my first visit to get a pizza. 

It took about 10 minutes to get my pizza and it was piping hot when it came to the table.  The pizza was OK, nothing great. The crust was light and crisp. But I've definitely had better pizzas.  I just don't like the ground sausage on a pizza.  I've read where some pizza makers prefer to do it that way so you get a taste of sausage in every bite.  I'd rather have the big chunks and the taste sensation the sweet Italian sausage gives off when you bite into it. 

I've already made a mental note to go back to Goodfella's and try a Smokin' Goodfella pizza at some point in the future.  The sausage, pepperoni and mushroom pizza was OK, but if the Smokin' Goodfella is as good as advertised, it could make up for the tepid reaction I had for a Goodfella's pizza. 

(Update -  Not long after my last visit to Goodfella's, they closed the doors for good.  The Italian hoagie sandwich was good, but the pizza was just all right.  I guess the Indiana translation of the self-acclaimed "Best Pizza in the World" didn't come out as good as the New York edition.)

The End of Sam's Wines

The Chicago Tribune is reporting today that the controlling interest of Sam's Wines, a long time Chicago wine, liquor and beer emporium, has been bought by their major competitor Binny's.

(To see my earlier post on Sam's, click here.  To see my earlier post on Binny's, click here.)  

To see the article from the Trib, click here:

It's somewhat sad to see the demise of Sam's, one of the first wine and liquor superstores that I came across in the Chicago area.  My friend, Steve Weiner, was a big proponent of Sam's up until the Rosen family sold controlling interest in the four store chain to Arbor Investments, a private investment group, in 2007.  Sam's had been rumored to be in financial trouble for the past year.  Earlier this year, Sam's announced the closing of their Highland Park and their South Loop locations, concentrating their efforts on their original store in Lincoln Park and their store in Downers Grove. 

Over the past year, I noticed that Sam's seemed to be focusing on cheaper and more obscure wines in their on-line e-mail releases that I received on a nearly daily basis.  Steve Weiner told me that this was a conscious effort by the powers-that-be with Sam's to reduce overhead and inflate the profit margin.  It obviously didn't work.   

Binny's has 22 locations across Chicago (soon to be 24) and features a number of the same wines, liquors and beers that Sam's had.  In fact, I will say the selection of eclectic beers at Binny's was more impressive than what I found at the Sam's locations.  The only problem was price - Binny's was pretty proud of their stock and it was reflected in their higher prices.

In the long run, Binny's higher prices won out.  While you have to tip the hat to a company that has been in business for over 60 years, Binny's suddenly becomes the 800 pound gorilla in regard to beer, wine and liquor in the Chicago area.  I don't think there is anyone who can come close to them with their selection.  And that generally means higher prices for wine, beer and spirits.  I'll shop at a Binny's, but I'll miss the "warm and fuzzy" feeling that I got when I shopped at Sam's.     

Outlaw Blues - O'Fallon, IL

I was in the far eastern suburbs of St. Louis recently spending the night before I did a training for American TV the next morning.  Near my hotel was a Texas Roadhouse and a Buffalo Wild Wings.  It was late when I got in and I wasn't up for doing any research to find any "new" place to eat, so I headed over that direction, fully intending to make up my mind between the two when I pulled up.  But something caught my eye as I turned the corner - a restaurant about the size of the other two by the name of Outlaw Blues.  (see map)  I thought, "Huh!  Well, let me see what this is all about."

Outlaw Blues bills itself as a restaurant and saloon, with barbecue and southern-style food being the main draw.  They primarily do steaks, ribs, fried chicken, seafood, burgers, sandwiches, salads - a little bit of everything.  The menu was pretty full and diverse. 

Steve and Karen Edwards opened Outlaw Blues in November of 2008.  The Edwards also own Farmer's Restaurant in nearby Highland, and are part owners of Ravanelli's Restaurant with two locations in Collinsville and Granite City.  Steve Edwards wanted to have a restaurant that featured both Memphis-style and New Orleans-style barbecue.  And he wanted to have a restaurant that had a big bar.  He certainly accomplished his goals with Outlaw Blues.  

I got into Outlaw Blues around 8:30 on a Monday evening.  I was greeted by a hostess who wanted to know if I wanted a seat in the dining room.  I looked into the bar area and decided I wanted to sit in there.  There were a handful of people in the dining room, and a couple people in the bar.  I was greeted by the very friendly bartender and I ordered up a Schlafly pale ale, which they had on tap.  

So much on the menu sounded so good.  I get a little skeptical with a restaurant that has a vast and varied menu.  Those are usually the restaurants that can do everything well, but they don't do anything very well.  I was sort of interested in trying their barbecue, but their comfort food - including a meat loaf entree - was sort of enticing. 

I saw something that caught my eye at the bottom of one of the menu pages - the Perfect Pair.  You could get two pieces of Southern fried chicken and either some pulled pork or a 1/3 slab of baby back ribs.  Then they had the trifecta at the end - fried chicken, pulled pork AND a 1/3 slab of ribs.  Oh, boy.  I get to try a little bit of everything.  And I got two sides to go along with it.  

To my horror, I found that Outlaw Blues didn't feature baked beans as a side.  A barbecue place that has no baked beans?  What the hell is this?  Baked beans are a staple in barbecue joints.  Well, Outlaw Blues wasn't quite a "joint", but I would have thought they would have had baked beans.  Instead, I took red beans and rice, and a side of pickled beets.  (I don't see pickled beets on the menu very often.  Cindy got me hooked on pickled beets when she'd bring home jars of them from her grandma years ago.)

The bartender, a petite Asian girl, came over to take my order.  I ordered up the "trifecta" and she asked me, "What kind of chicken meat do you want?  White or dark?"

Now, I'm a fully grown man.  I don't have the faintest idea as to which pieces of the chicken are white or dark.  All I know are "thighs", "wings", "legs", etc.  I have no idea which is which.  I've never learned the difference.  I said, "Can I just get a couple of legs?"  She said she'd make sure that's what I got.      

It was a beautiful evening and Outlaw Blues features an outdoor dining area.  I contemplated going out there, but I was comfortable at the bar and they had something on TV that was pretty interesting.  Plus, the bartender - whose name I completely forgot - was very attentive.  When my beer glass had one last swallow, she was over asking me if I needed another.  Of course, there were only two other people sitting at the bar.

The bartender brought out my food.  She said, "The cook gave you three legs.  I hope that's OK."  I told her I could live with it. 

All right - where do I start?  Well, I had to try the fried chicken first.  The batter was flavorful and the legs were meaty.  They were very good.  I could have easily just gotten the chicken and been happy.  I don't think the chicken was quite as good as what I had in Savannah, but it was still very good. 

The pulled pork and the baby back ribs were very good.  The ribs were meaty, as well, and the pulled pork was tender and moist.  The barbecue sauce was nothing special.  It was a tomato base and didn't have a lot of pizazz to it.  It really did nothing to add to the flavor of both the pulled pork and baby back ribs.

The red beans and rice were - eh!  Nothing special.  But the pickled beets were absolutely wonderful.  They were sweet and didn't have that earthy taste you get from some beets.  And I was also served corn bread with maple butter.  I'm not big on corn bread, but this was very good.  The sweet maple butter was a wonderful complement to the bread. 

All in all the meal was good to very good.  Surprisingly, good to very good.  Pleasantly surprisingly good to very good.  I was a little disappointed in the barbecue sauce, plus the fact Outlaw Blues didn't offer baked beans as a side.  The red beans and rice were nothing special.  But the Southern fried chicken, pulled pork, and ribs were very good.  The pickled beets were excellent.  And I enjoyed the corn bread with the maple butter.  While Outlaw Blues does a little bit of everything, they do it well above average.  I was impressed with Outlaw Blues.  I hope the Edwards make a go of it.

(Update - Well, it appeared the Edwards didn't make a go of Outlaw Blues.  They closed the doors in March of 2011.  However, the place reopened as the third location of Edwards' Ravenelli's Restaurant.  They still have the great fried chicken on the menu, but all the barbecue and Cajun foods are now gone.) 

Restaurant Magnus - Madison, WI

As we've rolled out products into the American TV stores this summer, I've had to go to Madison a couple more times for meetings and trainings along the way.  Earlier this summer, I met my colleague, John Bevier, in Madison for another training session for one of the American stores there.   The night before the training, we went out to dinner with Gary Lahmers, the head of American TV's audio department.  Gary did a great job in suggesting the Tornado Steak House the last time we had dinner with him.  This time, he suggested a unique restaurant in downtown Madison - a Scandinavian restaurant by the name of Restaurant Magnus.  (see map).

Owned by the Berge brothers - Finn and Christopher; and Laura Jones, Restaurant Magnus is  run by head chef, Nick Johnson.   Restaurant Magnus had recently undergone a stunning transition.  For years, the restaurant was known as a wonderful place to get South American food - tapas style.  On June 1st, the restaurant became a Scandinavian restaurant with recipes culled from the Berge brother's upbringing just west of Madison.  While it rankled many of the locals that loved the small plates of food, the new menu was a bold and forward nod to the heritage of the Berge's. 

Gary and John were already seated in the very elegant, yet inviting, dining area when I rolled in.  There's a large parking garage just to the west of the restaurant, but I was able to park on the street.  Gary hasn't lived in Madison all that long, but one thing that he has already fallen in love with is one of my favorite breweries in the world - the Capital Brewery in nearby Middleton.  He said, "This is some of the best beer I've ever had!"  I told him that I'd been drinking Capital beers for nearly 20 years and I thought that it was the best a long time ago.  I still think their Special Pilsner is difficult to beat.  The only problem is that they had the Capital Wisconsin Amber and not the Special Pilsner.  We took the Amber. 

Gary is also a big fan of Aquavit, the strong Scandinavian liquor that is made out of potatoes.  He ordered three small flute glasses of chilled Aquavit.  I've had Aquavit before, but it had been years and years.  I forgot what it tasted like.  But Gary insisted, so I went along with him.  While I can't say that it's my favorite, it was pretty smooth.  I declined Gary's offer to have a third one with him after we slugged back the first two before dinner. 

We looked through the menus and came up with some appetizers to try.  We decided to get four things to try - raw Pacific oysters on the half-shell - a dozen that we'd share.  We also got a Jarslberg cheese tart, something called a smoked gouda cheese parfait, and brined steak tartare with pumpernickel and truffle mustard.  John said, "Jesus, I may not order any dinner tonight!"

And the appetizers were very good.  I especially liked the steak tartare with the pumpernickel and truffle mustard.  And for getting oysters in the middle of the upper Midwest, I'd have to say the oysters on the half shell were pretty damn tasty.

Even though Restaurant Magnus has a very extensive wine list, we decided to pass on wine for the evening.  We focused more on the good Capital Amber beers that we were drinking.  Plus after a couple of Aquavit's, John was starting to feel the alcohol coming on.  He told me the next morning, "I'm glad we didn't have any wine because I'd be a bowl of Jello right now." 

For dinner, all three of us weren't very adventurous.  We all went with the same thing - the Cardamom grilled beef tenderloin with a blackberry mustard, truffle-cauliflower puree and spinach.  I got mine rare, Gary and John ordered theirs medium rare.  Gary gave me a look when I said I wanted mine rare and he said, "Oh, a European is in our midst!"

Since we'd gotten a shitload of appetizers, we passed on getting a dinner salad.  We spent much of the time before we'd gotten our main entree in casual conversation.  Gary had just bought a new house in Madison and was anxious to get his family moved out there from the East Coast.  After living in Boston for a number of years, I asked how he liked Madison.  He said, "It's small."  Now, I have to put things in perspective.  Madison is about the size of the Quad Cities, but has a lot more to offer.  It's one of the more progressive cities - not only in the Midwest, but nationally.  I suppose Madison is rather small for a guy who lived in Boston for years and years.  I think of it as "the big city." 

Our main entrees came out and we dug in.  Mine was rare, all right.  But it was damn good.  Both John and Gary proclaimed their steaks as wonderful, as well.  The tenderloin sat on the bed of the blackberry mustard, truffle-cauliflower puree and fresh spinach leaves.  The presentation was excellent, the food as the same.

We ended up our meal by splitting a piece of blueberry cheesecake topped with a blueberry compote and a cherry coulis sauce.  I had a couple bites and it was very good.  It was all I could do to not order another piece for us. 

We finished off the evening with each of us getting a Macallan 15 year Scotch.  It was a great topper to a wonderful meal.   One thing about it, Gary likes to party.  He's an interesting and fun guy to be around.   

Restaurant Magnus was a very pleasant surprise, to say the least.  For a restaurant to make a complete and utter 180 degree change from South American cuisine to a Norwegian-based menu that relies upon locally grown food for its menu, that may be suicide for some.  But Restaurant Magnus was able to pull it off.  I'm sure they'll get the same kudos for this menu as they did for their last one.  

(Update - Citing a downturn in the economy, Chris Berge closed Restaurant Magnus in December of 2010.  Patronage at the restaurant had been slipping and Berge determined that he needed to serve 1200 diners in a week to break even.  He was getting about 700 a week toward the end.  Berge, who is an avid bicyclist, had planned to replace Restaurant Magnus with a "bike friendly" restaurant, but those plans were deep-sixed not long after the restaurant closed.)

 

Boston Blackies - Deerfield, IL

I've had friends in the Chicago area tell me one of the best burgers in town comes from Boston Blackies which has 8 locations throughout the Chicagoland region.  When I was in Chicago before my recent hip surgeries I sought out the Boston Blackies up in Deerfield (see map) for a late burger one evening.

Boston Blackies is named after the fictional character Boston Blackie, who was part of a somewhat famous series of radio programs, movies and television shows in the 30's, 40's and 50's.  Actually, Boston Blackie dates back to the 19-teens when he first appeared in novels written by Jack Doyle.  In the novels, Boston Blackie was a jewel thief.  When he made the transition to film and radio, he was a detective. 

The Boston Blackies restaurants are owned by the same family that owns the Carson's restaurants in the Chicago region, probably the most famous of all Chicagoland barbecue houses.  I've been to Carson's before (click on the Carson's link above to see my post) and while I thought it was OK, I didn't think it was anything special.  I was hoping I wouldn't be disappointed in Boston Blackies as sometimes I hear about places and expect great food, but am utterly disappointed by the end of the meal because of the hype. 

It was a little after 9 p.m. when I finished with my last account of the day and decided to grab something to eat before I went back to the hotel.  I walked into the Boston Blackies location on Lake Cook Road and asked if I could sit at the bar.  The restaurant's dining area was spacious, but because it was late in the evening, there wasn't a lot of people in the place.  I was given a menu by the hostess and I ordered up a beer from the bartender.

I found during my research on Boston Blackies that each location doesn't have the same menu.  For example, the Boston Blackies at the corner of Monroe and Canal in the Chicago Financial District as well as the location up in Skokie features breakfast.  While there were 14 different burgers featured on the menu at the Deerfield location, the River East location in downtown Chicago only featured six burgers on their menu.  But all Boston Blackies featured both carry-out and kid's menus making the restaurants both work and family friendly. 

As I said, the Deerfield location featured 14 different types of burgers on the menu.  Some of them were sort of interesting - the Greek Boy which was topped with feta cheese and a raw onion; the Cowboy with fresh guacamole and pico de gallo with pepper jack cheese, and the Fire Alarm with chili, cheddar and hot giardiniera on top.  I ended up going with a safe bet for my first Boston Blackies, however - the Swiss Connection.  It consisted of a 1/2 pound burger topped with Swiss cheese and mushrooms.  All Boston Blackies burgers are cooked to order and I got mine medium.  And you get a choice of either having a sesame seed bun, a Kaiser roll, or either rye or dark rye bread.  A fresh beefsteak tomato, lettuce and your choice of either cooked or raw onions comes with the burger, along with a side of Carson's cole slaw. 

If you're not in the mood for burgers, Boston Blackies also offers a number of different variations of chicken breast sandwiches, salads, steaks, pork chops and a slew of appetizers.  Some of the locations also offer Carson's ribs on the menu.  You can also find barbecue beef or pork sandwiches featuring Carson's barbecue sauce at nearly all of the Boston Blackies locations. 

About 15 minutes after I ordered my burger, it came out to me, served open face with a toasted sesame seed bun.  From the first bite I could tell I wouldn't be disappointed.  It was cooked a perfect medium, juicy and warm in the middle.  The Swiss cheese and mushrooms helped complement rather than detract from the taste.  I was happy the hype I'd heard about Boston Blackies was more correct than overblown. 

With a couple beers and a tip, my bill came to a little over $20 bucks.  Not exactly a cheap burger joint, but Boston Blackies is a nice place to eat.  Even if it's just for a burger.

OK, I found another good burger place in Chicago.  I'm hoping the other Boston Blackies locations are as good and consistent with their burgers as the one in Deerfield.  I guess I'll find out sooner or later as I look for a good burger in my travels around Chicago.

(Update - The owners of Boston Blackie's were arrested in March of 2010 for their part in a check kiting sceme that scammed two Chicago area banks for nearly $2 million dollars.  Since then, the Boston Blackie's locations were shut down soon thereafter.)

French Rose Bakery - Davenport, IA

                     

One of my worst guilty pleasures in my world is a bakery called the French Rose Bakery.  They don't really have a retail location as they sell their goods at one of the Farmer's Markets we go to nearly every Saturday here in Davenport.  And while they don't have a retail location, they are looking to move into one.  And the bad thing about it, it's not very far from our house.  

Cindy found out about the French Rose Bakery a couple years ago and she had an assortment of cinnamon rolls, eclairs, beignets and croissants delivered to our house for my birthday.  From the first bite of the maple eclair, I was in ecstasy.  By the end of the day, Cindy, her kids and I were fighting over the remaining maple eclairs.  

Then when I tried one of the French Rose Bakery cinnamon rolls, I went straight to heaven.  It was one of the best cinnamon rolls I've ever had in my life.  And just like finding a good burger, finding a good cinnamon roll is one of my life goals.  The French Rose Bakery uses nutmeg in the cream cheese frosting on the cinnamon rolls.  They're big and chewy, and there's ample amounts of cinnamon in the roll.  There's three or four restaurants and/or bakeries around the Quad Cities all well known for their cinnamon rolls.  But the French Rose Bakery is head and shoulders above 'em all. 

And their croissants are so light, flaky and flavorful that I would have thought they were made in France.  The first time I tried one of her croissants, I told Cindy, "This is unbelievable!  This is EXACTLY how the croissants in France taste!"  I have never come close to experiencing a croissant in the U.S or Canada as good as the one from the French Rose Bakery.   

The proprietor of the French Rose Bakery is a 20-something young lady by the name of Jennifer Ewert (right).  I've met her a couple times and she's a great kid.  Jennifer studied as a pastry chef at The French Pastry School in Chicago.  She grew up on the west side of Davenport and she uses an addition onto her parents home as her bakery.  Her mother, Mary, and father, Gary, help her out at the Farmer's Market in the parking lot at NorthPark Mall.  They're really great people. 

Jennifer tried selling some of her pastries at a local gift store, but that experiment ended after a few weeks.  She would invariably run out of pastries, disappointing dozens of people - like me -  who would stop in to pick something up.  Her mother told me earlier this spring that they really needed to have a place where she could bake and sell her good tasting stuff.  The last I heard, she was looking at a store front in a strip mall about a mile from our house.  That's not good, especially for my diet. 

Actually, the French Rose Bakery was probably responsible for a 10 to 15 pound increase in my weight over the past couple of years.  At least, that's what I accuse them of doing to me.  But now that I'm on a diet, I have to show restraint when I walk past their booth at the Farmer's Market at NorthPark Mall.  But those maple eclairs keep calling me and calling me! 

A couple three weeks ago, Cindy was out of town for the day.  But she told me to go up and get a half-dozen maple eclairs at the Farmer's Market from the French Rose Bakery.  She wanted to take some to work with her to show some people how good they were.  When I got up there, a lady I didn't recognize was running the stand.  I asked if they had any maple eclairs and she said, "No, I'm sorry.  She ran out of them at 3 a.m." 

I was kind of perplexed - she ran out of them at 3 a.m.?  Now, I know her eclairs are great, but running out of them at 3 a.m.?  What did she do?  Go hang out outside of the bars in the District of Rock Island and sell eclairs to the drunks walking by on their way home?  (Actually, that doesn't sound like a bad marketing idea.)

Instead, I got a cinnamon roll (and showing restraint, I cut the roll into thirds and ate those portions three mornings in a row).  I walked away and as I was nearing my car, I heard Mary Ewert calling for me.  She said, "I'm sorry, I can't remember your name, but you come here all the time."

I said, "Will." 

She said, "I'm Mary."

"I know.  We've met before, " I replied.

And then she began to PROFUSELY apologize for not having maple eclairs this morning.  It turned out that Jennifer had a big order of eclairs for another function and she ran out of maple flavoring for the frosting at 3 a.m.  Oh, OK.

Mary said, "But come back next week and we'll have more!"

Now, that illustrates how nice of people the Ewert's are.  She didn't have to come running after me to tell me WHY they'd run out of maple eclairs.  They were out of them, end of story.  But Mary went out of her way to track me down to apologize and explain herself.  Good people. 

Cindy and I went back the next week to pick up some assorted things for her dad's lady-friend's birthday the next day.  The weather was cold and blustery.  There were about 50% less vendors at The Farmer's Market at NorthPark that day.  And the French Rose Bakery was one of the no-shows.  I didn't blame 'em.  

In addition to her great croissants, cinnamon rolls, eclairs and beignets, Jennifer also has a full menu of cookies, cakes, brownies, dessert trays and cream puffs.  Her mother told us that she hoped to be able to expand her offerings when she moves into the retail space.  Boy, I think she has a lot to offer now!

But for now, Jennifer only sells selected items at The Farmer's Market on Saturday mornings, or they'll deliver to your home or business (in the Quad Cities only) for a $50 minimum order.  I know once she opens her retail bakery location, her business is just going to take off.  She's a little higher priced than some of the other bakeries around.  But the difference in taste and quality versus those other places is why The French Rose Bakery is a little more expensive.  

Man, I have GOT to quit writing these blog entries on an empty stomach!  

(Update - Unfortunately, Jennifer has not only quit selling on Saturday's at the Farmer's Market, but never realized her dream to open her own bakery.  While part of me is sad for her, another part of me completely misses those cinnamon rolls and maple eclairs.  I don't know if she's still doing any baking as her web site is down, as well.  Oh, well.  I'd probably be over 400 lbs. if she was still baking.)

Tillerman - Las Vegas

As I've said in previous posts about dining experiences in Las Vegas, it's difficult to get a large group of 10 or more people to get into a good restaurant during the annual CES trade show.  Given that it was a Friday night, I was having a helluva time finding a place that would be able to get us in before 9 p.m.  I finally decided to try an old stand-by, the Tillerman restaurant on East Flamingo (see map).  Surprisingly, they said they would be able to get us in.

The Tillerman is one of the "old school" supper clubs that have been on the Las Vegas valley landscape for a number of years.  Since they first opened in 1980, the Tillerman has been one of the favorite places for local residents to dine in Las Vegas.  And while I've eaten there two or three times previously, I hadn't been there for quite sometime until we were out in Vegas for CES this past January.  

There were 12 of us who ended up at the Tillerman for a 7:30 reservation.  For a Friday night right in the middle of CES, we were very surprised it wasn't more busy than it was.  I'm guessing the restaurant was possibly three-quarters full.  There have been times in the past that I've waited up to two hours to eat at the Tillerman.  But we noticed that a lot of restaurants were able to get larger groups in with little to no problems at this year's CES.

We ended up being seated right away at a large rectangular table in the main dining area.   There are four main dining areas in the Tillerman, including a mezzanine that overlooks part of the restaurant.  The main room has a high ceiling and features a number of indoor trees to give it more of a cozy, outdoor feel to the place.

The menu at the Tillerman is massive and varied.  While they're well known for their steaks and fresh seafood, they also offer pasta dishes, chops and chicken.  And they're pretty proud of their food at the Tillerman.  It's not cheap.  I don't remember it being all that expensive, but I've begun to notice that a lot of the old time restaurants in Las Vegas have raised their prices - some of them tremendously - over the past few years. 

For example - an 8 oz. center cut filet is $49 bucks at the Tillerman.  An Asian style Chilean sea bass is $42 bucks.  A 10 oz. Flat Iron steak with seafood ravioli is just a shade under $40 bucks.  And that doesn't include the side dishes such as baked potatoes, rice, Bearnaise sauce and sauteed mushrooms that range in price from $4 to $7.  There were a number of surprised exclamations from the guys in our group over the pricing.  And remember, we tend to eat a little more upscale when we're together as a group.

And the wine list is also sort of expensive, but they had a great selection of wines.  Since some of us were going to eat seafood, I initially ordered up a bottle of white and a bottle of red.  The white wine was the Ferrari-Carano Fume Blanc wine, a wonderful dry white wine that is one of my favorite whites.  The red we got was the Paraduxx blend that is from the Duckhorn winery that I like so well.  It was a great tasting and very interesting red that everyone seemed to like.   But the Tillerman wanted about $45 bucks for the Ferrari-Carano wine - a wine that you can easily find in stores for around $15 bucks a bottle.  And the Paraduxx - while somewhat expensive in stores at around $40 to $45 bucks - was priced at $115 at the Tillerman.  We knew it was going to be a pretty expensive bill to get out of the Tillerman.

In addition to the choices on the menu, the Tillerman offered some specials that evening.  I went pretty basic, however, in my choice.  For my main entree, I went with the 10 oz. "baseball-cut" sirloin steak with a side of broccoli in a hollandaise sauce with a side of peppercorn sauce for the steak.  That, alone, was $49 bucks for the whole shebang. 

But along with the main entree, they brought out a couple of "lazy Susan" salad bowl servers and placed them on our table.  You served yourself the lettuce, toppings such as cherry tomatoes, croutons, and small veggies; and a selection of homemade dressings including a very good creamy bleu cheese.  It was plentiful and good.

Along the way, our waiter was efficient, but rather stiff.  I would have liked to have someone with a little more personality waiting on us, but he did his job well, staying on top of our needs which can be pretty tough with a large table. 

Our dinners showed up and my steak was good.  It wasn't outstanding, but it was good.  It was cooked to a perfect medium-rare, and I enjoyed dipping a few pieces into the peppercorn sauce to give the meat a little more zip to the taste.  The broccoli was perfectly cooked and the hollandaise sauce wasn't as heavy as I expected it to be, which was fine with me. 

As we finished up our meal, the bill was brought to the table.  With tip included into the bill, it came to just under $1200 bucks.  No one - and I mean, no one - wanted to sign the tab.  Not only was it nearly $1200 bucks, but we didn't think it was worth $1200 bucks.  It was good - don't get me wrong - but we'd all had more fabulous meals with spending a lot less money.  Finally, I was the one who took the bill and presented my company credit card for the meal.  It was pretty tough to sign the charge slip and even more tough to write it up in my expense report about six weeks later. 

The Tillerman is very good, but - man - is it expensive.  In my opinion, it's not worth the money we paid to eat there.  Sure, the service was good, the food was good, the wine was good, it was a comfortable atmosphere and we were able to get out of there in under two hours.  But that's a lot of money spent for the level of food we got. 

(Update - I found this article that talked about the closing of the long time Las Vegas iconic restaurant in February of 2011.  A new owner who sunk a lot of money into the renovation of Tillerman couldn't make a go of the place.  Coupled with the recession and a horrific monthly lease she had to pay on the property, she couldn't make a go of the place.  Too bad.  It was a place that helped those realize what the old Las Vegas was like before all the mega hotels/casinos and the 4 and 5 star restaurants came to town.)  

Ripley Street Grille - Davenport, IA

We had planned on going into Chicago for Cindy's birthday in December.  But the weather that weekend started off with freezing rain, then we had plummeting temperatures with snow and high winds that caused blizzard conditions in parts of Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois.  We made the decision not to go in the night before all of that hit. 

Since we weren't going into Chicago, I told Cindy that I'd take her to some place nice locally for her birthday.  There's a new place in town down in the old Freight House building near Davenport's river front by the name of Ripley Street Grille (see map).  We decided to go there for her birthday.

Ripley Street Grille is part of four segments of the Freight House building - Penguins Comedy Club, Nan's Piano Bar, and Balls and Pucks Sports Cafe.  When Penguins Comedy Club was looking for a new place to move to, the co-owners - Bob Eckles and Jeff Johnson - wanted to have a building big enough to house a fine dining restaurant along with the comedy club.  They found the building big enough for the club, restaurant and more in the Freight House building.  The Freight House hasn't had the greatest track record in keeping businesses in the building.  There's been a series of restaurants, bars, clubs, etc. that have come and gone over the years that have been housed in the building.  For whatever reasons, the Freight House hasn't been able to sustain any life in any business. 

I think, however, that Eckles and Johnson have found the right combination of businesses to sustain the Freight House for a few years.  Although I'm not too impressed by Balls and Pucks as a sports bar, it's really nothing more than the bar area for Penguins.  But Nan's Piano Bar is regularly packed with people looking for a nice diversion of entertainment in the area.  And we've heard good things about the Ripley Street Grille.

Scott Elmer is the head chef at Ripley Street Grille.  Most of the menu is an eclectic mix of contemporary American food with steaks, seafood, pasta and sandwiches.  They even have a "build-your-own" burger for $7.50 that I wouldn't mind trying sometime. 

The parking lot attached to the Freight House building was nearly full when we got there around 7 p.m.  We ended up parking across the street in the old Union Station which was much closer to the entry way of Ripley Street Grille, anyhow.  We went in and checked in at the hostess station.  The girl asked if we had reservations and we said we didn't.  I said, "How long for the wait?"

She looked at me and said, "There's no wait.  We can get you in right away."

I sort of hate that when they ask if you have a reservation right off the bat, but that's normal procedure for most fine dining restaurants.  She led us to a booth just in an area near the front entrance.  Actually, I wouldn't have minded getting a table next to the large ceiling-to-floor windows that run along the south side of the restaurant.  But Cindy is perpetually cold from November 1 to May 1, so sitting near the window is generally not an option this time of year.  So it worked out.  

Our waiter came out and we started to make some small talk with him.  He wanted to know if it was our first time in and we said it was.  He talked a little bit about the restaurant and what they served.  He gave us a little bit of time to look over the menu.  In the meantime, I took a look at the wine list - a not too impressive list, I might add.  But there wasn't anything that was overly expensive, probably not wanting to immediately scare the locals who they're trying to get to come in to the place.

I found an appetizer that I wanted to try right off the bat.  I ordered up some of the scallop and shrimp scampi - medium-sized scallops and shrimp baked in a combination of butter, garlic and white wine, then topped with some Panko bread crumbs.  It was very good.  It was served with a soft homemade bread that was great to dip into the butter, garlic and wine sauce. 

When I ordered the appetizer, I ordered up a bottle of the Murphy-Goode Cabernet Sauvignon.  I'd had the wine before and they had a good price on it - $35 bucks.  I've seen bottles of Murphy-Goode go for $50 bucks at restaurants in the past.  

Our appetizer was well over before the waiter bought the bottle of Murphy-Goode out and the general manager of the place was right behind him.  The G.M. said, "Oh, you ordered the Murphy-Goode Cab.  That's my favorite wine on our list."  It was almost like he was patronizing me for making the selection.  

The waiter had the bottle, two large red wine glasses and a decanter.  I said, "Look, you don't really need to decanter the wine."

He said, "Yes, but decanting the wine will help bring out the fruit flavor."

I said, "Look, the glasses are large.  Once they get poured into the glasses, the wine will open up nicely.  We're not going to slam it back or anything.  Besides, decanting wine just seems too pretentious to me.  I've eaten in some fine dining establishments in Chicago, New York, L.A., where ever, and only a handful of places have ever offered to decanter the wine.  I know you're trying to put your best foot forward, but this is the Quad Cities, for God's sake."  

He said, "As you wish, sir."  And he poured the wine in our glasses, sort of miffed that he couldn't fulfill his waiterly duties.  But the wine was very good out of the bottle and I said, "This is great and it will be even better in about 20 minutes."  

After he left, Cindy said, "I would have liked to have him decanter the wine."

I said, "You know, there are places in this town that just go out of their way to be "big city" when even nicer places in big cities don't even try to do the things they do here in the Quad's."  I explained to her that while it must be nice for some people who think they're getting a world class dining experience in the Quad Cities, it just reeks of pretentiousness.  And I hate any signs of pretentious dining - especially in the Quad Cities.  

(As an aside - there's a place just up the river in LeClaire called Steventon's.  It's a fine dining place that I took Cindy to - once.  It was her birthday in 1994 and we went out there for dinner.  I had a crew neck sweater, buttoned down shirt and slacks on.  Cindy was similarly dressed.  I was told by the host that they normally don't seat men without coats and ties, but given that it was the middle of the week, they'd make an exception.  Well, it pissed me off so much that I've refused to go back - even AFTER we've heard they've relaxed on their dress code.  It wasn't like I was in shorts and a polo shirt like I was this past summer at The Inn at Kristopher's in Door County.  And that was a much nicer place than Steventon's.  Like I say, it doesn't matter what you have on - our money spends just as well as the guy who's wearing a coat and tie.) 

Our waiter came back and took our order.  Cindy ordered up the Chilean sea bass - a broiled sea bass filet topped with a Panko pecan breading with a beurre blanc (white butter) sauce.  Along with the sea bass came a vegetable medley.

Ripley Street Grille has prime rib on both Friday and Saturday nights.  And I thought the price for a 24 oz. cut ($32 bucks) was pretty reasonable.  So that's what I ordered.  With the prime rib I ordered some of their garlic smashed potatoes.   He asked how I liked my meat cooked and I asked him to bring it rare.  He said, "Well, our prime rib usually starts out medium-rare."

I said, "OK, that's fine.  But try to make it the most rare part of the medium-rare."  He said he'd see what he could do.

I got up to go to the bathroom and I walked through the restaurant.  The main restaurant is long and narrow with the bar on the other side of the main entrance to the restaurant (which is sort of weird).  I would say the place was about half-full with diners and there was a Christmas party going on in one of the rooms.  In the past, we've gone to places for Cindy's birthday where the restaurant was hosting two or three Christmas parties.  And because of that, the food usually suffers.  I was hoping that wouldn't be the case with Ripley Street Grille.  

When our food came out, I was astonished to see the size of the chunk of meat the chef cut off for me.  It was WELL over 24 ounces - possibly hitting 40 ounces.  The waiter said, "We took care of you on this one.  We're actually a little slow this evening and the chef just cut off the biggest piece of rare-medium-rare he could find."

I asked the waiter if I could get some fresh-ground horseradish.  He sort of looked at me funny and said, "I don't know if we have any."

I said, "Man, you serve up a great prime rib like this and you don't have fresh-ground horseradish?"

He said he'd check in the kitchen.  He came back with a small container of fresh-ground horseradish and said, "Well, I learn something every day.  We do have fresh-ground horseradish.  And the chef said, 'That guy knows how to eat prime rib if he wants the fresh stuff.' "  He said he'd been a waiter there since the place opened in June of 2008 and he said that he's served hundreds of prime rib dinners on the weekend and no one had ever asked for fresh-ground horseradish.  "We've got the creamy horseradish," he said.

I said, "Ah, creamy horseradish is for tourists.  Well, now you can impress your customers by asking them if they'd like some fresh or creamy horseradish with their prime rib."

There are times that I wish that I had a camera for some meals and this was one of the times.  The chunk of prime rib was - easily - two and half inches thick and about eight to nine inches in length.  I certainly didn't get short changed in that department.  And it was very flavorful and very tender.  There was no way I was going to be able to eat even half of the portion. 

Cindy was very impressed with her Chilean sea bass.  She gave me a small chunk of it.  It was very good, not very fishy tasting and it was also very rich.  The light breading and the white butter sauce were both excellent on the fish.  And she gave me a couple pieces of the asparagus that came with her vegetable medley.  It may have been the best prepared asparagus I've ever had at a restaurant.  It was fully cooked, but still had a nice fresh "crunch" to the bite.  I said, "Why is my asparagus at home not like this?" 

Cindy said, "Because you usually over-cook it." 

After we ate all we could, the waiter came back and asked if I wanted my prime rib boxed up.  I said, "Absolutely!  This will be good for two prime rib and eggs breakfasts in the coming days."

When he was picking up our plates, he asked if we were interested in dessert.  Cindy said she was, so he went through the list of items they had that evening.  One of the desserts was a flour-less black chocolate torte topped with a house-made whipped cream.  He also mentioned a vanilla-bean and almond creme brulee.  I said, "Oooo, the creme brulee sounds good, but I don't care for almonds all that much."

He said, "Quite honestly, I like almonds and I think they should put more of the almond flavoring into the creme brulee.  So, it might be OK with you."

He then said, "Look, you can give it a try and if you don't like it, I'll take it back and not charge you for it.  Fair enough?"

I said, "Geez, you can't go wrong with that."

Cindy ordered the very rich chocolate torte.  He brought them out and even though the creme brulee had a hint of almond flavoring in it, it wasn't overpowering to the taste of the dessert as a whole.  He didn't have to worry about taking the creme brulee back. 

After some initial uneasiness with our waiter, it turned out he was a pretty good guy - joking with us later on in the evening, he asked how the Ripley Street Grille stacked up against any big city place we'd eaten at.  He asked, "Were we too 'big city' for you?"

I said, "Not after we set and understood the rules and boundaries.  The service was very good, the food was excellent and we will be back at some point."

After dinner, we tried to go up to Nan's Piano Bar to check the place out, but there was a doorman at the bottom of the stairs who was telling people that it was closed that evening for a private party hosted by one of the local large realtors in the area.  Cindy was kind of bummed, but the guy said, "You should have my job turning people away who have been planning on going to Nan's for a long time.  That's what I'm up against this evening.

So, we ended up at a downtown Davenport bar where our buddies from Samurai Superfly were playing.  Leo and Bob Kelly, along with Greg Hipskind are better known as the musicians in Wicked Liz and the Bellyswirls.  But with Liz raising a family, she can't play as often as the guys would like to.  So the guys go out and do their own classic and contemporary rock gigs on their own.  It was a fun evening, to say the least. 

With very handsome tip to our waiter, our meal at Ripley Street Grille came to a little over $150 bucks.  It was worth every penny.  I thought the prices were well in line compared to other places in larger cities, the portions - albeit, a very abnormal piece of prime rib - were very adequate.  It was a great atmosphere and I want to go back and try one of their burgers for lunch at some point.   I hope the Freight House is able to sustain the businesses that now inhabit the place.  Ripley Street Grille was a great value with good service and a wonderful atmosphere.  It's definitely one of the best places to eat in the Quad Cities.

(Update - Less than a year after I made this entry, the Ripley Street Grille has closed its doors.  Actually, they are still serving for groups and private functions, but they are no longer a full service restaurant.  As good as the place was, the higher than average prices and pretentious nature of the place turned off a lot of local people.  That was pretty much echoed by the managing partner, Jeff Johnson, during an interview on one of the local television stations.  It's too bad because as long as I've lived in Davenport, the Freight House has had a number of restaurants and bars come and go.  Restaurants in downtown Davenport aren't doing all that well to begin with.  One of these days I hope they'll find a restaurant that earns its keep in the Freight House.)

Macaboos - New Castle, IN

Earlier this year, we were stuck in New Castle, IN for an evening, thanks to the fact that all the hotels within a 30 mile area around Indianapolis were filled due to the Indianapolis 500.  Or, I should say, hotel rooms in the Indianapolis area that were $99 a night on Friday night were suddenly $249 the evening before the race.  And there were people willing to pay that kind of money for those rooms.  I wasn't.

New Castle is an interesting town.  It's approximately 45 miles to the east of Indianapolis (see map).  The largest high school gymnasium in the nation is located in New Castle.  The Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame is there, as well as the New Castle Correction Facility, which holds 2500 inmates. 

New Castle was also home to a large Chrysler metal forging facility, which I'm told, employed close to 3500 people at one time.  However, Chrysler laid off a number of workers and eventually sold it a few years ago to Michigan-based Metaldyne, which, in turn was bought by a Japanese company three years ago.  Today, it employs between 500 and 600 people.

New Castle is also the home to Steve Alford, the former University of Indiana basketball star, who also was an Olympian in 1984, and who also was the head coach for the Iowa Hawkeye basketball program for eight years before running the program into the ground and leaving for the University of New Mexico in 2007.  (End of editorial comment regarding Steve Alford and University of Iowa basketball.)  One of the hotels in New Castle is the Steve Alford All-American Inn.  No, we didn't stay there.  We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express (which, as I write, is no longer a Holiday Inn property), next door. 

But there was this cool high-top sneaker between the hotels.  The other one was over by the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame.

Now, other than all that, there doesn't seem to be much of anything socially redeeming about New Castle.  We saw some very scary looking people with questionable upbringings in the short time we were there.  Plus the fact, other than an Applebee's, there's not much in the way of fine dining in the town.

We asked the front desk clerk if there was any good place to eat and she gave us a copy flyer on a place called Macaboo's located just south of the city.  It was a new sports bar/restaurant and I immediately vetoed that venue as a place to eat.  However, after driving around for a bit, then checking the Yellow Pages, and then asking a couple of the local yokels regarding a place to eat, it appeared that Macaboo's WAS the center of haute cuisine in the greater New Castle area.

Here's the conversation I had with a lady at a gas station/convenience store:

Me: Is there any place good to eat around here?

Lady: Now, what do you mean by good?

Me: You know, a place to get a good steak.  That type of thing.

Lady: Well, there's Applebee's...

Me: No, we don't want to do Applebee's.  We're looking for more of a steak house, supper club-type thing.  Is there something like that around here?

Lady: Well, do you want to drive for a bit?

Me: Well, as long as it's not 30 miles out of town.  We'll go back to Indy if we have to drive that far.

Lady: Well, there's this new place a few miles down the road.  I forget the name of the place, but I hear it's pretty good.

She turned to the girl working with her and said, "What's the name of that new place that opened up a couple months ago?"

Girl: The one outside of town?

Lady: Yeah, the one down by the Interstate.

Girl: Gee, I don't know.  Macabee's, Macadoo's, somethun' like that.

Me: You mean Macaboos?

Girl: Yeah, that may be it.  I don't know.  I haven't been out there, but I hear it's good.

Lady: Yeah, that's the place.  It's a little bit of a drive, but it's good food.

I'm guessing that "driving for a bit" for this lady was something less than a 10 minute drive.   Going to Indy was probably a two-day trip to her.

So, after initially vetoing Macaboos as a dining destination, we suddenly found it to be the ONLY place to eat in New Castle - other than Applebee's which was the absolute last ditch choice should this Macaboos turn out to be a complete truck stop diner.  We drove out south of town and found Macaboos just past the Interstate exit for New Castle (see map). 

We got out to Macaboos about 8 p.m.   It appeared to be a very nice, stately dark wood building just south of Interstate 70 (see map).  Ryan Ogle of Greenfield, IN bought the building that houses Macaboos about two and a half years ago.  After a few construction delays, the Macaboos bar opened in January of this year.  And the steak house opened two months later.   

There's a large central area as you walk in with a hostess stand just inside the door.  On the left side is a large bar area, and on the right is the dining room.  It's definitely rustic and "Old West" in its decor.  And there's a number of flat panel screens throughout that are showing the current sporting events. 

We were seated in a booth and our waitress brought out our menus.  Macaboos wasn't anything fancy, but considering what we witnessed in New Castle, it was a five-star eating establishment. 

I'm not going to belabor the point of this entry any longer.  Cindy had a chicken breast dinner with some potatoes, I had a very "iffy" New York strip steak with potatoes.  The steak was pretty thin, compared to other New York strips I've had at restaurants and at home.  But it tasted fine and wasn't over-cooked. 

I did take pictures of the place, but found out that my camera was set to "Manual focus" and not "Automatic focus".  I had pictures of the front, a couple interior shots and a shot of a soon to be opened outdoor party area next to the bar.  For New Castle, Macaboos was THE place to be. 

So, if you ever end up in New Castle, Indiana - and I hope you don't have to - there's really only one place to eat (other than Applebee's) and that's Macaboos.  But don't expect an "out of body" experience with the food.  It's serviceable and good, but not outstanding. 

(Update - not long after this post was published, the owners of Macaboos filed for bankruptcy and shuttered the place up in October of 2008.  The building sat vacant for nearly three years before John Montgomery bought the building and contents and opened up Montgomery's Steakhouse in August of 2011.)

The Overlook - Nashville, IN

When Cindy and I were spending the night in Nashville, IN recently, we went out for a nice meal at a local restaurant called The Overlook. The Overlook is part of the Salt Creek Golf Retreat just outside of Nashville (see map). The complex includes a hotel and private condos along with a picturesque 18 hole golf course.

We got to the restaurant a little before 8 p.m. To get to the restaurant, you have to go to the front desk area of the hotel and take a long hallway back to the restaurant. On one side of the main lobby is a large hall that was hosting a wedding reception that evening. We thought it was sort of odd as it was a Sunday night.

It turns out the Overlook closes at 8 p.m. on Sunday night. We got there at 7:55 and asked the hostess if it was too late to get a bite to eat. She said, "Oh, no. Come on in."

She sat us at a table that had a great view of the 18th fairway and green. A few golfers were still out on the course at that time of night so we had a great view of the action. The table in the foreground in the picture at the right is the actual table we sat at for our meal.

The place was about a third full when we sat down.  And they must not adhere to the 8 p.m. closing time on Sunday nights as there were at least two or three more sets of people that came in to dine after we were seated.

The Overlook had kind of a "modern rustic" theme to it.  It looked like at one time they tried to make it look like a lodge with two large fire places at either end of the room.  But the paint scheme was sort of a subdued pastel that gave it kind of an elegant look.   The tables weren't cramped and you weren't encroaching on anyone's space in the restaurant.

Our waitress, a nice middle-aged lady, came over to get our drink order and to tell us about the specials.   I said, "Geez, we're coming in at closing time.  Are you sure this is all right?"

As she handed me the wine menu, she said, "Oh, yeah.   We say 8 o'clock on Sundays, but we normally keep serving up past 9 p.m., especially in the summer when we get a lot of people staying out here."

The specials, which I really can't remember, didn't appeal to us as much as some of the items on the somewhat limited menu.   For main entrees, they only had 10 things to choose from - 3 steaks, 3 seafood dishes, chicken marsala, roasted pork pinwheel, chicken piccata and chicken fettuccine Alfredo.  But, quite honestly, they all looked good and I sort of like restaurants that try to focus on a small number of items rather than try to please everyone with a huge menu.   A lot of times they get spread so thin that the food suffers.

Cindy got the salmon filet, grilled and topped with a creamy lemon dill sauce.   It was then topped with shrimp and roasted almonds, and served on a bed of rice.   It did sound very good, but I went with the peppercorn encrusted filet, topped with a Bearnaise sauce.   I had my choice of potatoes, so I went with homemade hash browns topped with cheese and onions and green beans was the veggie of the day.

Cindy wanted some wine, so I ordered a half bottle of white wine.   There were only about three or four total wines on the list that I was familiar with, so I talked to the waitress to see about a couple of the whites they had listed.   She suggested a Steele Shooting Star Sauvignon Blanc.   She said it was probably her favorite white wine on the menu.   I wasn't familiar with it, so I told her we'd give it a try.  She said, "If you guys don't like it, then I'll get you another bottle of something else.   That way I can have an open bottle to drink after I get off work!"

It turned out that she wasn't going to be drinking out of our bottle after work.   It was a very nice wine - light, yet crisp with a nice dry fruit finish to it.   I would have rather gotten a red, but the white was going to be fine.

While we were waiting for our meal to show up, a guitarist-singer was entertaining in the restaurant that night.   He played mostly 70's and 80's music and did a very good job. Combined with the full picture window view of a beautiful course, the setting sun and the music, it was a very relaxing evening.

Our food came out and I have to tell you that it was very, very good.   Given the look of the restaurant, the great service we were getting, the atmosphere of the place, I wasn't disappointed in the food one bit.  My steak was a wonderful taste mixture of the cracked peppercorns, Bearnaise sauce and perfectly cooked medium-rare beef.   Actually, I will say the hash browns were just "so-so".   But that didn't matter.   I usually only take a couple bites of my potato when I get a steak and a potato side.

But Cindy's grilled salmon with the creamy lemon dill sauce was as good as advertised.   She gave me a couple of bites and it was outstanding.   I've got to figure out how to make a lemon dill sauce sometime. It was very delicious.

We got our bill and it was just over $80 bucks before tax and tip.   Our waitress, who was very good, got a nice tip.   And on the way out of the restaurant, I walked over and threw five bucks into the tip jar in front of the guitarist.

Sometimes when you find places like The Overlook out of the blue, it helps add to the magic of the experience.   But everything about the place was damn near perfect.   It's been a few weeks since we've been there and we still remark about how great The Overlook is.   If we make it back to the Nashville area, we'll probably stay at the hotel and have a couple more meals at The Overlook.

(Update - The restaurant at the Salt Creek Resort is now called the Brown County Steak and Seafood Company.  I don't know if it's the same people who run it, but I'm guessing it's not.  Still, it may be worth trying out if you're looking for something a little more upscale in the Nashville area.)

Deeter's - Carmel, IN

I've been spending a lot of time out in Indianapolis since I put on a new dealer there late last year.  Not long ago, I had a special showing of the Focal Alto Be loudspeakers at Ovation Ultimate in Castleton one evening.  After the event, I took the store manager, Duke, and the salesman, James, out for dinner.  Duke was trying to figure out a place to go and he said, "Oh, I know!  Deeter's!"

Duke explained that Deeter's was the "casual" part of the famous Glass Chimney restaurant in nearby Carmel.  I'd eaten at the Glass Chimney one time about 15 years ago and it was very good.  Deeter's is attached to the Glass Chimney and is named after the owner, Dieter Puska.  Puska opened The Glass Chimney in 1976.  It has long been known as "the" place for exquisite food in the great Indianapolis area.  He moved to the present location in Carmel (see map) in 1979.  He had the space in the building to open Deeter's, which he viewed as a more casual alternative to the upscale restaurant.  He called it "Deeter's" because he didn't want people to think it was pronounced "Diet-ers" and customers may think the place was a health food restaurant.   

However, Duke was telling me that Deiter Puska was retiring and he couldn't find a buyer worthy to buy the restaurants.  He was planning on closing the doors to both restaurants in a few days after we visited.  Duke said, "I want to go to Deeter's one last time."

Well, fair enough.  I like these guys and we decided to go all out for the evening. 

Most of the waitresses at Deeter's have been here for a number of years and it would be sad to see them all get laid off after Dieter retired.  We had one especially spunky older waitress who was fun to talk with. 

She gave us our menus and told us of some specials they had for appetizers and dinner specials that evening.  We ended up getting some before dinner drinks and I ordered a bottle of  chardonnay wine.

We were kind of hung up on a number of the appetizer, so we each decided to order something different from the appetizers specials that evening and try a little bit of everything.  I ordered the Oyster martini, Duke got the Prince Edward Island clams and James got the Spinach and Cheese raviolis.  They all sounded great. 

A number of the same food items that are on the menu at The Glass Chimney are on the menu at Deeter's.  Deeter's is definitely more of a casual "pub-like" atmosphere compared to the staid and elegant restaurant next door.  Comparing the two, I felt more comfortable in Deeter's than when I ate at The Glass Chimney years ago. 

When our appetizers came, we ordered up our main entree.  Duke was telling me the Veal Schnitzel was absolutely the best.  But I'd had jaegerschnitzel - veal schnitzel - the night before at The Rathskeller.  But Duke was adamant that Deeter's was the best.  So I took Duke's advice and went with the Veal Schnitzel with a side of red cabbage.  Duke got the exact same thing.  James went with the pasta special that evening which was beef and prociutto tortellini in a white sauce.   That sounded good, too.  James and Duke got the house salads and I got a cup of the lobster bisque.

The appetizers were very good.  The PEI clams were steamed perfectly.  I really liked the oyster martini, a large martini glass filled with shucked oysters and a spicy seafood sauce.  And the spinach and cheese ravioli was very good, as well.  It was almost too much food to have before the main entree showed up.

After the lobster bisque and salads, our food came out.  I have to tell you, my eyes must have gotten huge looking at the two large veal cutlets covered in breading they had on my plate.  There was no way I was going to be able to eat both pieces, let alone one.

However, I have to say that if Duke thought Deeter's veal schnitzel was the best, I would have to beg to differ.  The veal schnitzel at the Rathskeller walked all over the fare at Deeter's.   There was some taste to the schnitzel that was, well, it tasted burnt.  I didn't want to complain to Duke as he appeared to be devouring his veal schnitzel.  Still, I was able to finish one, but that was it.   Duke could only finish one of his cutlets of veal schnitzel, as well.  He said, "I'm going to take this other one home to my wife.  She's going to love this." 

I offered to give him my other cutlet and he jumped at the chance.  I wouldn't have eaten it even if I had a fridge to put it in.  Frankly, it wasn't that good. 

James' tortellini was "wonderful".  It did look very good.  I was sort of sorry I didn't go for something like that instead.  Oh well...

We were talking with the waitress about the two restaurants closing in a few days and she said, "Oh, we're not closing.  Dieter sold the restaurant to some people.  Everything is moving forward."

Dieter sold the restaurant to Corbin and James Roudebush, two real estate developers in Carmel, and Corbin's wife, Judith.   They plan to keep everything the same.  And it appears that with the exception of the retiring Dieter Puska, everyone else is staying on board.

Since Deeter's is staying in business, I'll have to give it another try sometime down the line.  You don't stay in business for nearly 30 years by having bad food.  But I'll probably stay away from the veal schnitzel.    

(Update - I haven't been back to Deeter's or Glass Chimney for awhile and I understand that Deeter's is now closed.  The Glass Chimney is still open, but I guess that Deeter's has closed.)

Au Jus - Milan, IL

A new restaurant opened recently in the Quad Cities - Au Jus.  Located on the far south side of the metro area in Milan, IL (see map), it's owned by Paul Lerminez and chef Randall Byrd.  Lerminez's son, Matt, is the operating manager of Au Jus.

 

Byrd is the former executive chef at Bud's Skyline Inn, one of our favorite restaurants in the area.  Byrd and Paul Lerminez opened Au Jus in August of 2007 in a building that used to house the Hodge Podge lounge in Milan.  From the outside, it's not much to look at, looking more like a roadhouse bar than a nice supper club restaurant. 

Cindy had heard about the place and she said she heard they had a Sunday breakfast buffet.  We went over there on a Sunday around 10 a.m. and pulled into an empty parking lot.  I said, "Well, either they're closed or they have a really shitty buffet."  It turned out they were closed.  I'm sure it probably didn't make sense for them to be open on Sunday mornings.

We ended up going back over on a Saturday night recently.   Au Jus calls itself a neighborhood bar and grill and there were a lot of people seated at the large square bar in the main room.  We were seated at a large table in the main room as all the booths were full of people.  It was actually a little loud and a little bright in the room, but it was manageable. 

And there were all types of people in there - some nice dressed ladies at the bar for what appeared to be a "girls night out".  Guys who looked like they were construction workers in t-shirts and jeans.  A number of older people were semi-dressed up and having dinner.  Three or four guys looked like they'd just come off the golf course.  There were families in there with kids dressed in baseball or soccer uniforms.  The clientele was sort of all over the place.

We both got a menu from our waitress and started looking over the offerings.  Right away, we could see that Randall Byrd had brought a lot of Bud's Skyline Inn with him.  In fact, I said, "Geez, this is exactly like Bud's menu."  And the salad bar was almost exactly the same as Bud's, right down to the great pickled beets. 

I was in the mood for some beef that evening and I ordered the large rib eye (16 oz.) with Buck's potatoes - homemade hash browns with onions and peppers.  Cindy ordered her favorite - the beef tournedos, two small and very tender filet's topped with a rich cream sauce.  We also ordered up some onion rings just to give them a try as an appetizer. 

When we went over to the salad bar on the far side of the bar, I looked into a small room and noticed subdued lighting, nice tables and a few people eating in there.  I sort of wondered what that room was.  Cindy thought it was a private party room.  But then I noticed that not all of the people in the room were eating together.  Hmm...  Why didn't they seat us in there, I thought.  OK, next time, we'll ask to be seated in there.

By the time we got back to our table, the onion rings were waiting there for us.  They were the same beer-battered onion rings we would get over at Bud's.  No surprise there.  Even though they brought a big plate stacked with rings, we only had a couple three each.

Looking a little more closely at the booths in the main room, Cindy said, "I think those seats are old church pews that were cut down to size."  Sure enough, they had the arm rests on the outside of the seating and the wood was cut in an ornate style.  Most of the booths were filled with older or elderly people - many of whom had a lot of trouble getting up and over the arm rest to get in and out from the booth.  Cindy said, "Boy, it's probably a good thing we didn't get a booth.  With your hip the way it is, you'd be having trouble getting into those booths!"

Our steaks showed up and - once again, no surprise - Cindy's beef tournedos were exactly like she gets at Bud's.  Very tender filet cuts, so tender you could probably cut them with a fork.  She offered me a bite and they were still very good. 

My rib eye was cooked to a perfect medium rare and it was topped with some seasonings that were salt-based.  It didn't detract from the taste of the meat and actually highlighted the flavor.  Even though I don't like to eat a lot of salt, it was actually very good.  I've had a number of steaks over at Bud's over the years and I don't remember them seasoning the beef when they grill it. 

The other thing about my rib eye is that they called it a 16 oz. cut of meat in the menu, but it had to be closer to 20 oz.  There was no way I could finish the whole thing.  It was cut very thick and it had a lot of great marbling throughout.  I got a "to-go" box and put about a quarter of it in there.

Our waitress was OK, nothing special.  She was overworked and we did have to wait on drink refills a couple times.   Still, we gave her a nice tip on top of the $65 bill we received.

Before we left, we wandered into the other dining area by the kitchen.  Cindy said, "Well, this is much nicer in here.  You don't have all the lights and the loud conversations going on at the bar."  We agreed if we came back, we wanted to be seated in that room.

And we probably will return sometime.  But I still like Bud's Skyline Inn a little bit better.  The food is almost identical, but the atmosphere is better at Bud's and it has more of a supper club feel than what Au Jus exudes.   Plus the service at Bud's is a little better, as well.  But at either one, you really can't go wrong with the food.   

(Update - Au Jus didn't stick around much longer after I posted this in June of 2008.  The restaurant closed down in early 2009.  Bud's, however, is still open and going strong.)

Big Mouth's - Champaign, IL

I stopped off to see a dealer in Champaign, IL on my way to Indianapolis recently.  It was late in the day and I offered to take one of the guys out for dinner.  He declined, saying that he had to go look at furniture with his wife.  He said, "Believe me, I'd rather go out with you."

Then he said, "Hey!  You're a big burger nut.  There's this place here in town that opened up last year called Big Mouth's.  You really ought to go check it out." 

Big Mouth's is a small Chicago-style hot dog place that happens to serve burgers, as well.  It began in November of 2006 in Normal, IL by two former Illinois State University students, Nick Lavorato (right) and Matt Martin.  They wanted to bring the taste of Chicago-style hot dogs and char-grilled burgers to Chicago area students going to college in downstate Illinois and across the Midwest.  They're looking to expand into Madison, WI and West Lafayette, IN in the coming months. 

The concept is pretty simple - they came up with a fun little place that caters to the daytime lunch crowd and to the late night partiers coming out of the bars.  Big Mouth's is open until 3 a.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings to accommodate the hungry bar patrons at closing time. 

They opened their second location in Champaign in the heart of the University of Illinois' Campustown area (see map).  They stuck with the same decor theme as the original location in Normal - orange walls, some picnic tables and regular chair and tables.  Big Mouth's doesn't serve beer, which is OK.  They also serve their Chicago-style dogs either char-grilled or steamed.  If I had to choose between the two, I'd still take a steamed Chicago dog over a grilled one. 

I got into the Big Mouth's in Champaign around 7:00 p.m.  It was a rainy evening and I was able to find some parking on the street around the block from the location.  The front door of the place was literally torn off and I didn't know it.  I grabbed for the handle and it fell into my shoulder.  OK, not a pleasant beginning for my first visit.  I asked one of the guys at the counter what was up with the door and he said, "Oh, man!  Is it broken again?  Well, we'll have to try to fix it." 

The menu is affixed to the wall and you order at the counter.  They call out your name for pick up when the order comes up.  But the names they've given their signature "Big Mouth Menu" items show that Lavorato and Martin have watched a lot of the same movies and television programs that I have over the years.

Their "Big Mouth Menu" includes the "Sonny Corleone" (James Caan's character from "The Godfather") which is two char-grilled Chicago dogs.  The "Al Czervic" (Rodney Dangerfield's character in "Caddyshack") which consists of two grilled Polish sausages.  The "Fred Sanford" (Redd Foxx's character from "Sanford and Son") that is a double cheeseburger.  The "Johnny Drama" (named after Kevin Dillon's character on HBO's "Entourage") which is a double chicken sandwich.  And there's the "Jackie Burkhart" (named after Mila Kunis' character on "That 70's Show") that's a double veggie burger.   Each Big Mouth Meal comes with an order of french fries, a 32 oz. pop and a fried Twinkie.  Now, I've never had a fried Twinkie, but I understand at 2:15 in the morning they're pretty tasty.

Big Mouth's in Champaign also had "The Farley", an homage to the late comedian Chris Farley that consists of two one-pound char-grilled hamburger patties topped with french fries, mayo, ketchup, mustard, pickles and onions.  Now, that would be interesting to see.

Even though the "Fred Sanford" was tempting, I just got the regular char-grilled cheeseburger and a pop.  I got grilled onions on it and passed on the mayo. 

Since I was the only one in the place at the time, I took a look around at some of the artwork on the walls.  I understand Lavorato and a friend of his went to great lengths to find some of the kitschy items they hung on the walls.

After about 15 minutes, I got my cheeseburger.  I have to say it was very good.  Very messy, but very good.  Unlike some cheddar cheese burgers I've gotten in the recent past, the cheese didn't overpower or detract from the taste of the burger.  The grilled onions also were very good.  I normally don't get grilled onions as they seem to give me heartburn, but these were a very tasty compliment to the burger.  And my stomach wasn't upset. 

While Big Mouth's may not be the best burger I've ever tried, it's a good one.  I may have to try a burger and a Chicago dog sometime when I'm really hungry in Normal or Champaign.  Their motto says it all "Big Meals for Big Mouths".  Unless you really try, you'll never leave Big Mouth's hungry.    

(Update - Big Mouth's closed in the summer of 2011.  I have no story as to what happened to the place, other than it closed.)

Coyote's Mexican Grill - Villa Park, IL

Staying at the Courtyard by Marriott in Elmhurst, IL recently, I asked the night desk clerk where she thought some really good Mexican food was in the area.  She didn't even flinch when she said, "Oh!  Coyote's Mexican Grill down on Roosevelt Rd." (see map)  She told me they had good food and great margaritas.  And in the summertime, it's one of the best places to eat as they have a pretty nice courtyard. 

She had me sold when she said they had great margaritas.

It was about a 10 minute drive from the hotel down to the restaurant.  I actually passed it and had to double back to the strip mall where Coyote's Mexican Grill sits back in a corner.  I walked up to the place and I thought, "Man, where would you have an outdoor courtyard around here?" 

Then I spotted a gated in area in the clear corner of the mall that was an open air area with tables, chairs and a nice little fire pit.  I'll bet it would be nice to sit out there in the summertime, I thought. 

I went in and it was getting late - it was 8:30 and they close at 9:00.  I'm always worried that I pissed the cooks off when I show up in the final minutes of the work day when they're trying to clean up and get out of there.  In fact, other than a couple people watching television in the bar area, I was the only one in the dining room.

The owner told me I could sit anywhere, gave me a menu, and he asked what I wanted to drink.  I told him a margarita on the rocks, no salt.  He said, "What size?"

He told me they have four sizes including a liter-sized margarita. I said, "What the hell.  I'll go for the liter."  When he brought it out, I thought, "Now, how in the hell am I gonna drink THAT!?"  The glass was filled with over a quart of margarita!

One of the bus boys brought out chips and salsa.  The chips I couldn't tell if they were made in house or not and the salsa was OK, nothing outstanding, but it wasn't bad.

There were lots of interesting things on the menu, but I got sort of interested in what was called the Burrito Especial - a burrito filled with chunks of steak that was cooked over mesquite.  It came with a side of rice and refried beans.  Man, it sounded great, so I went with that.

I nursed my margarita passing the time until my food came out.  It didn't come out quickly which told me one of two things - the cooks were making it from scratch; or they had turned everything off in the kitchen and were pissed they had to make one last meal for a gringo coming in late in the evening.  I was hoping for the former and not the latter. 

When the plate came out, it was filled with a large burrito and the sides.  I eagerly dug into the burrito and I was not disappointed.  It was wonderful.  The taste of the mesquite on the steak chunks wasn't overpowering, yet it was strong enough to give the burrito a smoky flavor.  It was a good meal to finish out the day.

But, as I was finishing up my meal, I reached across the table to move the basket of chips out of the way.  As I did that, I tipped over the margarita glass - which, thankfully, was mostly ice and water at this point.  I apologized profusely to the owner, but he was very helpful in coming over and wiping up the spilled ice and water.  I felt like a complete idiot. 

He invited me to come back in the summertime when they got their patio reopened.  He said, "It's been voted as one of the nicest outdoor dining spots in the Chicago suburbs." 

I told him I would come back sometime.  But the next morning, Coyote's Revenge got me.  Either there was something exotic in the food, or the cooks really did get back at me for coming in so late.  Still, the food was very good and I would like to go back.  Coyote's Mexican Grill is sort of tough to find, but it's well worth looking for when you're in the western suburbs of Chicago.

(Update - I was in the mood for Mexican food one night in the summer of 2009 when I was in the western suburbs of Chicago and I went by Coyote's hoping to give another shot in giving me "Coyote's Revenge".  Unfortunately, I found their doors were closed.  Oh well...)

InPlay - Des Moines

InPlay Sports Bar is located just south of the nearly new Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines (see map).  For years, concert goers, sports fans and conventioneers had to either trapse all the way from Veterans Memorial Auditorium to the downtown area of Des Moines to get a drink.  Not any longer - InPlay is a three minute walk from the main doors of the Wells Fargo Arena.

InPlay is a franchise based out of Urbandale, IA (a suburb of Des Moines).  There is also an InPlay in Omaha, and there was an InPlay in Peoria, IL that recently closed up.  It's very similar to a Dave & Buster's or a Jillian's where they mix food, sports, and games geared toward adults.  They market themselves to corporations or groups, and they have a family theme to the place, as well. 

Michael Stessman is the managing partner and you can usually see him around InPlay most of the time.  This InPlay opened in June of 2007.  The one in Omaha opened later in the year. 

I stopped into the InPlay one evening around 5:00 p.m. for a sandwich and a beer.  The place was nearly full with people who were waiting for the evening session of the Iowa Boys State Basketball Tournament.  I got a seat at the bar and ordered up a beer.  They had a special price on 16 oz. draft beers from 3 to 7 p.m., so I took a Bud Light. 

Actually, the bar area is called The Stadium Bar and Grill.  They have a lot of flat panel televisions playing sports in high definition.  That's where they serve the food, as well.  I got a menu and it had the usual sports bar food such as appetizers, burgers and sandwiches.  There were a few main entrees, but I wouldn't trust a place like this for steak or pork chop. 

The gentleman seated next to me had what appeared to be an Italian Grinder - Des Moines style (similar to the Gizmo's that I love so much).  I asked him if that what it was and he said, "Yes, and it's very good."

I told the waitress I'd get that with some fries. 

I looked around the place and it's a two-story establishment with some area downstairs that I didn't go into.  But it featured arcade games, a rock climbing wall, pool tables and other things to keep people busy while taking more of their money.  It wasn't as large or roomy as a Dave and Buster's or a Jillian's, but for Des Moines it was probably OK. 

I noticed there was a large meeting room near the bar area that was being used for some hospitality room.  It looked kind of nice in there with televisions on the wall and some nice wood paneling. 

I went back to bar after about five minutes and began to talk to the man next to me.  He was in town to see the basketball tournament and he said to me, "Man, this is great.  Before, you'd have to walk all the way down to the Marriott to get a drink between sessions.  Now, it's a one block walk and I can be back in my seat in 10 minutes after I leave here." 

My sandwich showed up and it was good.  Not outstanding like the Carl's Gizmo's are at the Iowa State Fair, but still very good.  It had a good flavor to it, it was nicely proportioned with the right amount of mozzarella over the seasoned ground sausage and beef.  It could have used a little more taste kick to it, but I was happy with it. 

I don't know if a place like InPlay will make it.  Given its close proximity to the Wells Fargo Arena and Vet's Auditorium, I'd say it's got a good chance of doing so.  Even if it's just for a quick drink before or after a show or event, InPlay has a pretty captive crowd.

(Update February 2012 - Somewhere along the way, InPlay became All Play.  But now it's become the new home for the Des Moines branch of Buzzard Billy's.  Buzzard Billy's original location on Court Street was closed after flooding there last year.  They're still working on the changeover and I've heard that they were going to keep some of the arcade games in the place, but I'm not certain if that's correct.)

J.T. Whitney's - Madison

I was in Madison recently and took one of my dealers out for dinner at J.T. Whitney's, a brew pub on the southwest side of town (see map).  J.T. Whitney's has been around since 1995 and they brew some pretty good beers to go along with some pretty good food. 

It had been a long time since I'd been into J.T. Whitney's.  My dealer's store is not far from the place and he suggested going over to have a couple beers and a sandwich, nothing fancy for dinner.  I don't know if I'd ever had the food at a J.T. Whitney's, other than appetizers, so I thought I'd give it a shot.

J.T. Whitney's is owned by David Bookstaff, and the head brewmaster is Richard Becker.  Actually, one of the original co-owners of J.T. Whitney's was my friend Paul Zach and his father, Skip, who also owned The Avenue Bar in Madison.  (Skip passed away a few years ago and Paul is the owner/manager of The Avenue Bar.)  Paul told me they sold off their interest in J.T. Whitney's a few years ago after the place got established. 

Richard Becker continues a long heritage of brewers in his family that dates back to the late 1500's in Germany.  His family owns the Mahrs Brau Brewery in Bamberg, Germany and an uncle runs it today.  Through the years, the family's specialty was to make smoked ales.  And preserving the family tradition, Richard Becker has made a number of smoked ales over the years.  I have to admit that the J.T. Whitney smoked ales that I've tried in the past have been outstanding.  I especially remember a Scotch Smoked Ale that I first had at the Great Taste of the Midwest Beer Festival a number of years ago. 

We walked into J.T. Whitey's just before 8 p.m. on a weeknight.  A band was setting up getting ready to play.  A number of people where in the place, including a number of younger kids making a lot of noise while their parents ate and drank beer. 

My guest and I bellied up to the bar and he was greeted by name by one of the bartenders.  I said, "So, I guess you come here often."

He said sort of smiled and said, "I've been here a few times, yes."

My dealer told me he liked the place because all they sell is their own-brewed beer.  No Miller Lite, no Corona, just the beer they brew.  In fact, more than once we heard people asking for a name beer while we were seated there.  "Sorry, we only serve what we make."  I don't find many brewpubs like that. 

We got food menus and the beer menu, and ordered up a couple of beers.  My guest got the Badger Red and I got one of the Smoked Porters they had on tap.  Now, I'm not a big fan of porter beers, but I have to say the Smoked Porter from J.T. Whitney's is just outstanding.  It's light and superbly flavorful with a hint of the great smoked flavor I remember in their smoked beers.

We ordered up an appetizer of boneless chicken wings in a Buffalo/Ranch dressing.  We sat and talked about things enjoying our beers until the appetizers came out a little while later.  As they set the boneless chicken wings down, there were nine little pieces of boneless wings in the basket topped with this Ranch dressing with some Buffalo wing sauce mixed in.  I was sort of disappointed and felt they were somewhat overpriced ($7.95) for what we got.  But I didn't bitch.

We ended up getting a couple more beers and ordered our food.  Even though J.T. Whitney's does have full dinner entrees, we went with sandwiches.  My guest got the Reuben and I went with the French Dip sandwich topped with mushrooms and swiss cheese. 

We finished our second beers as the sandwiches were brought out to us.  My sandwich was OK, nothing special.  In fact, the au jus sauce was very salty.  But the meat was piled high and the mushrooms gave it a nice flavor.

My guest's Reuben looked very good - corned beef piled high on dark German rye bread topped with sauerkraut and Thousand Island dressing.  I sort of wished that I'd gotten that instead, but I've been on such a Reuben kick lately - mainly since I first saw this picture on the cover of the most recent issue of Bon Appetit magazine - that I didn't want to get burned out on them.  I was satisfied with what I got. 

We decided to take off just before the band got to playing, which was probably good.  J.T. Whitney's has a lot of wood throughout the place and there were a lot of younger people in the place whooping it up.  We were having trouble hearing each other even though we were seated next to one another.  When the band started, we wouldn't have been able to hear each other at all.

Like all bars and restaurants in Madison, J.T. Whitney's is smoke free.  That's certainly a plus when you go into a place for food.  And even though the food at J.T. Whitney's is just a step above average, I have to say the beer is much better than the food.  I may have to get a growler of the Smoked Porter the next time I go to Madison.  But I'll pass on the boneless chicken wings.

(Update - JT Whitney's closed their doors in March of 2009.  They have since been bought and replaced by a brewpub called Vintage Brewing Company.  I still have not given that new place a try.)

Alcatraz Brewing Company - Indianapolis

A place that I've visited a few times before and stopped into during a recent trip to Indianapolis is the Alcatraz Brewing Company in the heart of the downtown area in the Circle Center Mall at the corner of Illinois and Maryland (see map).  I had a busy day and wanted to get a quick bite to eat.  I happened to be near downtown so I stopped in. 

Alcatraz Brewing Company came to Indianapolis in 1995 as part of a group of four A.B.C.'s that were under the California Cafe corporate umbrella.  The original Alcatraz was located in Orange, CA, while two more were in Tempe, AZ and Detroit, MI.  In 2003, California Cafe went bankrupt and the Alcatraz Brewing Companies in Indianapolis and Orange were bought by the Tavistock Restaurant Group, along with six California Cafe locations.  The A.B.C.'s in Detroit and Tempe folded in December of 2003.

Even though both Alcatraz Brewing Companies are under the Tavistock corporate umbrella, they are radically different in both their menus and the selection of beers they make.  Both have sort of the same decor - they're supposed to be reminiscent of the old Alcatraz prison in San Francisco Bay with steel bars and metal seats throughout the restaurant.  At first glance, you sort of think, "What the hell?"  But the concept works very well.

Omar Castrellon (right - picture courtesy of Indiana Beer) is the head brewmaster at the Alcatraz Brewing Company in Indianapolis.  Omar has been at A.B.C. in Indy since 2002.  Omar got his start in the brewing business working at the old Heidelberg brewery in North Carolina in the early 90's.  He did the grunt work at first before rising to the position of head brewer just before the brewery shut down.  He kicked around at a couple three brewpubs before getting the call to come to Indy.

Omar brews a number of annual and seasonal beers for the Alcatraz in Indianapolis.  He does a very good job at it, as well.  I'm sort of partial to their Pelican Pale Ale - an American pale that has a nice hoppy and citrus taste to it; and what they call The Devil's Ale - a very smooth beer with a light copper color to it that has a light hoppy flavor.

It was around 8 p.m. when I got into Alcatraz Brewing Company.  A couple people were at the host stand and I asked if I could eat at the bar.  Sure, no problem.  So I found a spot at the bar and ordered up a pale ale from the bartender.

I got a menu and began to look over what they had for that evening.  Alcatraz Brewing Company has the standard brew pub fare - appetizers, burgers, sandwiches and salads - but they also feature some nightly specials, as well as some interesting entrees.  The chef at A.B.C. likes to incorporate some of Omar's beers into his recipes such as the beer-battered fish and chips, smoked ribs with a sauce made of the dark ale beer they have, and beer-battered chicken strips. 

One thing that I've had before at the Alcatraz Brewing Company and I wanted it again was the Jambalaya Fettucine with blackened chicken, andouille sausage, and prawns in a spicy Creole cream sauce with fettucine noodles.  I got a house salad along with my order and I was set for food.

Sitting at the bar, you get a good look into the open kitchen area at the Alcatraz Brewing Company.  It was hopping with a lot of activity that evening.  On the wall behind the bar are a couple of flat panel televisions that had games turned on.  I was able to catch some basketball and read some of my paper at the same time. 

Before he brought me out my food, I asked the bartender for a glass of A.B.C.'s October Bock that was featured on the beer board behind the bar.  This Munich Maarzen style of beer had a very smooth malty taste to it.  I thought it would work well with my meal.

Soon thereafter, my bartender brought me out my bowl of the Jambalaya Fettucine.  I couldn't quite tell for sure, but I think my prawns were just plain ol' shrimp.  Of course, I can't really tell the difference between shrimp and prawns.  But they were still good, just the same. 

The andouille sausage was very flavorful.  The blackened chicken didn't have quite the spicy bite I normally expect with blackened food.  But the fettucine and the Creole sauce was very good.  It wasn't overly spicy, but it did have a noticeable bite to it.  It was a very large portion and after picking through the chicken, shrimp and sausage, I still had a lot of fettucine noodles to go through.  I left a few in the bowl.  The meal was a spot-hitter. 

Compared to other brew pubs that I've been to in the past, I have to say Alcatraz Brewing Company compares favorably to the best of them.  The food is good - consistently good.  The beer is also very good.  I think Omar Castrellon does a good job with the beers he brews.  The place can get loud with a lot of people dining and drinking.  But it's comfortable and casual and is a place that I'll continue to go to when I get the chance in the future.

(Update - Alcatraz Brewing Company, which had been in place since the mall opened in 1995, closed in early 2011.  It has been replaced by a California Pizza Kitchen.  I'll withhold my editorial comments on CPK at this time.)

Hunter's Club - Rock Island

Hunter's Club in Rock Island has been around since 1931 and is a historic icon in the Quad Cities.  They have been under new ownership for a little over a year now, but we hadn't been in since the old owners were in charge.  We decided to go over for lunch on a Saturday a while back and see what it was like.

Hunter's Club is famous for their hamburgers, garnering "Best of the Quad Cities" for a number of years in a row back in the 90's.  They would charbroil them on a grill just behind the bar and the smell of the burgers would just hit you when you walked in the door.  But the new owners did extensive remodeling on the place and the grill is now back in the kitchen area opening up more room behind the bar.

Bill Hunter, Sr., founded Hunter's in downtown Rock Island (see map) as a speakeasy toward the end of Prohibition.  When Prohibition was repealed in 1933, Hunter's Club became the second establishment to receive an Illinois state liquor license.  The first bar was in Chicago, but it has long since gone out of business.  Hunter's now holds the oldest state liquor license in Illinois.   

(As an aside - if you saw my post on the old Berghoff restaurant and bar here, they were the holder of Chicago liquor license numbers one and two, but not the first two State of Illinois licenses.)

Bill Hunter, Sr., put the charbroiler in the restaurant in 1956 after visiting a restaurant in downtown Chicago that featured burgers cooked over an open flame.  It was the first flame-broiled burger in the Quad Cities.

Hunter's son, Bill, Jr., took over the operation and ran it until the mid-80's when it was bought by Todd and Debbie Mosenfelder.  The Mosenfelder's continued the legacy of the great charbroiled burgers and added other items to the menu including full dinners and new sandwiches.  They also started having live jazz music on the weekends featuring a number of local jazz musicians.

In 2002, the Mosenfelder's sold the business to Alan Mosley who ran the business for four years, slowly running it into the ground.  He eventually closed the doors of Hunter's Club in August of 2006, but the place was almost immediately bought by two Quad City men - Mark Polaschek and Ray McDevitt, who used to own Dalton's in downtown Davenport. 

Polaschek and McDevitt spent over $500,000 dollars in renovating Hunter's Club and it really needed it.  They cleaned the place up, replacing the old ceiling, putting in new windows and a better ventilation system.  They upgraded the entraces in front and on the side where the parking lot is.  And they revamped the kitchen offering more space in which to work. 

The one thing they didn't want to do was to screw with the success of the burgers, something that suffered with the previous owner.  I have to say that I was disappointed the last couple times I went to Hunter's to get a burger.  It was generally over-cooked and lifeless.  And I hadn't been back for nearly two years. 

We tried to go there one time last summer on a Sunday as they used to have burger basket specials on Sunday.  But the new owners decided to close on Sundays, so they're open from Monday thru Saturday.  I don't believe they do the live jazz music on weekends either as the area where the musicians would play is now full of coolers.

Cindy and I went in on a snowy Saturday afternoon around 1:30.  Hunter's Club was defintely cleaned up and much more bright and less smoky than the old place.  But the smell of burgers cooking on the grill wasn't as prevalent as it used to be. 

We sat in one of the old original booths the new owners kept in the restaurant and the lady waitress came over and asked for drink orders.  I got a beer and Cindy got a pop. 

I took a quick look at the menu, which had been revamped, but still prominently featured the burgers.  The Hunter Burger is a half-pound chargrilled burger that comes with lettuce, pickle, onion and tomato.  It's 50 cents more for cheese.  A buck more if you want bacon or sauteed mushrooms. 

Cindy just got the straight Hunter Burger, cooked well done (Yuck!  She just loves having the life cooked out of her burgers.)  I got a Hunter Burger - medium - with pepperjack cheese and sauteed mushrooms.  With the burgers, you get a basket of fries and a 2 oz. container of cole slaw. 

It wasn't more than about 15 minutes later and the waitress brought out our burgers.  The sauteed mushrooms were the canned kind.  They were OK, but I wish they would have been a little more fresh.

But, still, they didn't detract from the taste of the burger.  From the first bite, I was in heaven.  Hamburger heaven.  My burger was juicy and flavorful.  The bun was light and tasty.  The toppings - including raw red onions - weren't overpowering.  I couldn't get over how great this burger tasted. 

Cindy even thought her overcooked burger was very good.  I could smell the charred odor from across the table.  But she liked it and was happy with the taste.

The fries were OK, nothing special.  The cole slaw had kind of a fishy smell to them.  They could have easily added a few more fries and deep-sixed the cole slaw.  That would have been fine by me.

Well, I used to think Jack's Locust Street Tap had the best burger in the Quad Cities.  I still have an affinity for Jack's and their burgers, but I'm afraid I have to say that I don't think I've ever had a better burger in the Quad Cities than the one I had that afternoon at Hunter's Club.  I'll have to go back a couple more times to make sure they're consistent.  Then I'll make the final determination as to which one is better.

But right now, I have to say it's Hunter's Club.

Update - As I usually write these blog entries days in advance, a rather disturbing revelation came my way last Saturday.  I was in dire need of a good cheeseburger for lunch and I drove over to Hunter's Club.  As I walked up to the door, I saw a handwritten sign that said, "Hunter's Club Will No Longer Be Serving Food." 

I about crapped on the spot.  I wondered what the deal was.  Well, I found out yesterday in this article in the Quad City Times.  The owners felt the restaurant business was not profitable and their turning it into a sort of convenience store.  I'm really bummed because I wanted to try one of their cheeseburgers to see if it would be as good as the last one. 

So by default, Jack's goes back to having the best cheeseburger in the Quad Cities.  And I'll be having lunch there today.   

Agio - Indianapolis

While in Indianapolis recently to have a meeting with a potential new dealer, I took the dealer, one of his minor partners and two of his salespeople to a neat little restaurant that I've been to before called Agio.  Located along Massachusetts Avenue just north and east of downtown Indy in what is known to the locals as the "Mass Ave Art and Theater District" (see map), Agio is an Italian/Mediterranean restaurant that features a number of eclectic items to choose from their dinner menu.

Executive chef Joseph Heidenreich and general manager Jeff Wright are the co-owners of this trendy little restaurant that I first went to about 8 years ago.  When the dealer suggested Agio for lunch, I jumped at the chance to revisit the place. 

We made our way into the elegant art deco-type dining area and took a table along the wall.  It was a little cramped, but we made do. The lunch menu at Agio is significantly pared down from the dinner menu.  They did offer a couple of specials including their made-in-house cioppino, a seafood-based stew that was first made by Italian immigrant fisherman in San Francisco in the 1800's.

I went with the Italian beef sandwich - a baguette sandwich with tender beef, Fontina cheese, peppers and and onions, except I had them hold the onions.  The minority owner went with that, as well.  The owner of the dealership went with the Agio Caesar salad with chunks of grilled chicken.  One of the sales guys got a half order of the spaghetti marinara with baked egg plant parmesan. 

The other sales guy got the spaghetti marinara with grilled sausage and peppers.  I almost went with that, but then remembering this was a business lunch and the less messy the food, the better the chance that I wouldn't "smeg" on myself, I opted for the more pristine sandwich.

And even though this was a business lunch and we weren't drinking, I asked to look at the wine list just for my own enjoyment.  Actually, it's a pretty nice wine list for the size of the restaurant.  And nearly each of the wines listed are available by the glass as well as by the bottle. 

We were talking business up to the time we received our lunch.  But then the talk turned to food while we were eating.  The Italian beef sandwich was wonderful.  The Fontina cheese was a wonderful unexpected addition to the sandwich.  The beef was very tender and the baguette bread was soft and flaky. 

The one guy who had the spaghetti with grilled sausage and peppers in the marinara sauce proclaimed it to be wonderful.  It looked out of this world.  But, then again, I had to be prudent not to throw marinara sauce on the front of my blue dress shirt.

All in all, everyone liked their meal.  The owner had been there before and he was impressed that I knew the place.  The other guys had never been there before.  I offered to take them back to Agio for dinner and good wine some evening if we were able to consummate a deal. 

With drinks and tip, the meal at Agio came to just under $80 dollars.  I thought it was a good investment, because back at the store the dealer agreed to take on our Cambridge Audio line of electronics and agreed to a full line demonstration on our Focal loudspeakers.  That really excited me because I haven't had much business coming out of Indianapolis and I really like going to the city.  Now I'll be going a little more often than I have.

And I'm glad we went to Agio.  I think it helped seal the deal before it was actually done.   

(Update - Agio closed in the summer of 2011.  I looked into doing a company dinner at Agio during the CEDIA Expo in September, but found out that they had closed.  No word as to if they were going to reopen.)

La Vineria - New York

My first meal in New York came moments after we checked into our hotel.  My colleague, Todd, lives in Montreal, but has New York City for his territory.  Along with our colleague, Simon, we took a quick walk up Fifth Avenue and ended up walking down 55th St. and into a little Italian restaurant called La Vineria. (see map)

Chef Andrea Giacomoni is the owner of this little quaint place in the middle of Midtown Manhattan.  It's small and cozy.  It would be a romantic place for dinner and it's a great place for lunch. 

La Vineria (which means "The Vineyard" in Italian) has a number of wine bottles lining the walls of the place.  The kitchen is open in the back and you can look in and see the chef and sous chefs preparing the meal.  La Vineria features a brick oven for their signature pizzas and a number of their main entrees. 

The menu for lunch was similar to the one they have for dinner.  Many of the menu items are based on rural Italian dishes including fish, poultry, and wild game.  The special for that day was a venison roast cut into cubes and served over potatoes and carrots, and topped with a venison sauce that was really just gravy. 

We took a few minutes to look things over, but Simon declared that he had to have a caprese salad with fresh basil, tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella.  I said, "I'd help you eat some of that."

So we got two orders for the three of us.  We could have easily gotten a third one, it was so good.

For lunch, Todd ordered the venison special, Simon ordered the Pappardelle with duck ragout and seasoned mushrooms, and I got the Pizzelle pasta with spicy Italian sausage and broccoli.  We also got a basket of assorted homemade breads for us to snack on while our food was being prepared.

When our lunch was brought out about 20 minutes later, we were ready to eat.  My Pizzelle and Italian sausage was wonderful.  The Pizzelle were small, flat pasta shells, not like the Italian cookies most people think of when they think of Pizzelles.  And the Italian sausage had a wonderful spiciness to the meat.  Even with the broccoli in a red sauce, it worked. 

Todd offered me a bite of his venison.  I'm not big on game food, but I took a bite of one of the venison chunks.  The brown sauce that went with it was very good - it had kind of a peppery taste to it.  And the venison was moist and tender, but I still didn't care for the overall taste of the meat - even with the sauce.

Pappardelle pasta with the duck ragout and mushrooms was given a "thumbs up" by Simon.  After he finished, he said, "That was great, but I really think I could have more of that buffalo mozzarella."

With three glasses of wine and lunch, the bill came to just over $70 bucks.  My first experience of eating in New York was just what I expected - good and expensive.  Todd said, "There's a lot better restaurants in this town, but I like this place.  It's got a great 'homey' feel, the food is good and the service is great."  But like Todd said, there's hundreds of these little Italian restaurants all throughout New York.  The restaurant competition is heavy.  If a restaurant wasn't good, it wouldn't be in business very long.

Well, La Vineria certainly has been here awhile and it isn't likely it will be closed six months down the line...

(Update October 2011 - Well, La Vineria probably wasn't closed six months down the line, but on my recent visit to New York I was told by my colleague, Todd, that his favorite little Italian place was, indeed, closed.  Just like a number of restaurants of its type, La Vineria succumbed to the economic downturn.  Too bad.  It was a cool place.)

Kin Khao - New York

After our experience at The Ear Inn, we walked a few blocks to the east to the SoHo area of Manhattan to have dinner at Kin Khao, an upscale Thai restaurant. (see map) Now, I think the world's greatest Thai restaurant is Crazy Wok (now Tantro Asian Bistro), not far from our house here in Davenport.  So Kin Khao would be a great measuring stick for "the Wok". 

Kin Khao, which means "eat rice" in Thai, is one-third of the Eat Rice group of restaurants in Manhattan.  The other two are Kelly and Ping with one in Soho and the other in the Bowery.  Kin Khao opened in 1991 and has been a favorite destination for Thai food for New Yorkers for years. 

We were able to be seated immediately in a big circular booth just past the bar area.  We could easily see into the kitchen to see the chefs preparing food for the patrons.  The atmosphere was classy, yet muted with a darkened dining area that made it feel cozy.  The place was about three-quarters full, but it wasn't loud at all.  It was a nice experience. 

The menu at Kin Khao was similar to other Thai restaurants I've been to, but they had the menu divided into regions of Thai cuisine.  They had Northern Thai food, coastal Thai entrees, and Central Thai food.  There was a lot to choose from. 

One of our guests, Fred Z from Los Angeles, is a vegetarian. Fred was a little worried that he wouldn't be able to find much in the way of vegetarian on the menu, but it turned out Kin Khao had a good selection of vegetarian dishes, as well.

Before we started, we each ordered drinks.  I ordered a Singha, the most popular beer in Thailand.  However, Todd's girlfriend, Jennifer, ordered up Kin Khao's specialty drink for the evening - a Mojito.  Simon and Todd followed my lead with a Singha, while Fred stuck with water.

I was interested in a number of things on the menu.  They had a grilled pork dish with garlic, chilis and onions that looked interesting.  I also kept looking at the sauteed shrimp with garlic and black pepper.  As our waiter began to take our order, I was getting ready to order the sliced steak with a lemongrass marinade until I noticed the sliced beef cooked with Thai basil, garlic and onions.  Since that was about as close to my favorite meal at Crazy Wok back home, I'd see how well Kin Khao did theirs.  So I ordered that. 

After about a 20 minutes wait, our orders came to the table.  The presentation was nice, the food looked good and it was time to dig in with the chop sticks.  My sliced beef with basil was good, very good.  Not as outstanding as the beef with basil I get back home at Crazy Wok (Tantro), but it was certainly very good.  The chilis did give it a nice little kick. 

Frankly, I can't remember what everyone else got, but they were all pleased with their offerings.  Including Fred who is very particular about his vegan foods, but he was overly happy with his dish. 

Kin Khao used to be a lot more popular back in the 90's, but I'm sure it still holds its own against other Thai restaurants in Manhattan.  For New York, I thought the prices were very reasonable, but still much higher than what you'd find in the Midwest.  Still, I'd recommend Kin Khao for a very nice Thai dinner and a great atmosphere if you get to New York.   

(Update - Unfortunately, Kin Khao in Soho is closed.  Actually, it closed not long after we ate there.)

Cascina Ristorante - New York

One of the Italian restaurants I ate at in New York during my trip there was a nice little place in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood on 9th Ave. (see map) called Cascina Ristorante.  Opened in 2001, Cascina features a brick oven for baking pizzas and homemade breads, as well as for cooking meat and fish entrees.  And it has one of the most extensive wine lists of any restaurant I've been to.

The owner, Emilio Barletta, is not only a restaurateur who owns, or partially owns, three other restaurants in the Manhattan, he's also an architect who designed the decor of Cascina to resemble that of a rustic Italian kitchen from the vineyards of Italy.  The term "cascina" is used to describe a place where people in the wine growing regions of Italy would gather to make food in a warm kitchen.  In fact, Cascina has a stake in an Italian winery - Cascina Orsolina vineyard - outside of the picturesque Northern Italian town of Moncalvo. 

Actually, my boss, Daniel, and my two colleagues, Todd and Simon, have eaten at Cascina before.  Two years ago at the AES Convention in New York, they had reservations at a restaurant not far from Cascina.  Upon arrival, they found their reservations had been canceled because they were 15 minutes late.  The restaurant told them it would be 45 minutes before they could get them in.  Since the restaurant they wanted to eat at had no bar area in which to wait, they went across the street to a bar to hang out for 45 minutes.  Coming back to the restaurant 45 minutes later, they found that, once again, their reservations had been canceled because they didn't stay in the "immediate area".

Daniel was mildly pissed and they took off walking down 9th Ave. until Daniel looked into Cascina and said, "Let's eat here."  They were able to get them in right away and according to Daniel "the food was good, the wine was excellent and we had a great time."  He wanted to go back to the place.

The only problem is that he didn't know the name of the place.  Todd had an idea as to where it was, but didn't know quite know how far it was from the convention center.  Trying to get a cab at 6 p.m. on a Saturday night in Manhattan is nearly impossible if you're hailing one on the street.  So, along with Focal Professional head Jacques-Hubert Constant in tow, we hoofed it over to 9th Ave. and started north looking for the restaurant.

Finally, after walking about 10 blocks, Todd said, "Daniel, this is the place."  It had an open front to the building with seating outside.  Todd went in and found that we could be seated immediately for dinner. 

They took us toward the back and put a couple of their heavy wooden tables together for us.  I took the high-backed bench seat next to Todd while Simon grabbed one of the heavy rustic wooden chairs across the table from me.  Daniel and Jacques-Hubert sat at the opposite end of the table.

Each of us were handed a menu by the very beautiful hostess (whom Todd found out was part Egyptian and part Hungarian).  Soon, we had assorted homemade breads with extra virgin olive oil sitting on our table. 

As I said, the wine list at Cascina was one of the most extensive I've ever seen in a restaurant.  Wine Spectator magazine awarded Cascina with their 2007 Award of Excellence for their selection of wine. 

It didn't take Daniel long to pick out a bottle of wine.  He chose an exquisite, and expensive, bottle of wine, the 2000 Ornellaia Tenuta dell'Ornellaia - Bolgheri, a wonderful blended Italian.  It was brought to the table by Cascina's director of wines, Gianni Onofri.

The Ornellaia was a full-bodied red that had an explosive taste with a wonderful lingering finish.  The wine's blend was 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 12% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petite Verdot.  It was just outstanding. 

Before ordering our main entrees, we ordered a mish-mash of appetizers including a large caprese salad platter with buffalo mozzarella, carpaccio (thinly sliced and very rare beef filet), and calamari.  It was all just out of this world. 

For our main entrees, I had a hard time deciding what to order.  I finally got the veal scalloppine - cooked in a lemon and wine sauce and served with spinach.  Simon got one of the specials of the day - slices of monkfish cooked in a white wine sauce and served with garlic, basil, tomatoes and spinach.  Todd got the Osso Bucco - a veal shank simmered in a red wine sauce with vegetables and served on risotto.  Jacques-Hubert got the lamb shank special they had that evening, and Daniel was the only one who opted for pasta - the Stracci all’Astice - wide noodles served in a white cream sauce with chunks of lobster.  I almost went with that or the Osso Bucco before settling on the veal scalloppine. 

In the meantime, Daniel ordered another bottle of wine.  This time it was the 2001 Tenuta Il Poggione Brunello di Montalcino, a wonderful red that wasn't as expensive or as tasty as the Ornellaia, but it was still very good with the meal.

As far as the meal was concerned, my veal scalloppine was OK.  Disappointingly OK.  It didn't have much pizazz to the taste, the portion was excruciatingly small for the price, and I've had better veal scalloppine at a chain like Maggiano's or Biaggi's.  Much better, in fact. 

Todd said his Osso Bucco was also OK.  He didn't think it had that much flavor, as well.  Simon was disappointed in his monkfish.  But Daniel seemed to like his pasta dish and Jacques-Hubert was fully satisfied with his lamb shank.  For as outstanding as everything was up to the main course, most of our dishes were a complete let down.

I was so bummed, I didn't even get any dessert - although the homemade tiramisu was tempting.  But because we'd spent a lot of money on wine and our meal, Gianni Onofri brought out five generous samples of their extensive selection of Grappa (a type of Italian brandy).  Cascina boasts the largest collection of Grappa in New York City - 80 selections in all. 

Each of us tried a sip of the various Grappa selections and decided to vote on which one we liked the best.  There was a lemon flavored Grappa, one that was blueberry, another that was just straight Grappa, a raspberry one, and a honey flavored one.  The fruity ones were heavily sugared, but we all seemed to like the honey one the best.

Even though Cascina Ristorante was very nice, the build up to, then the let down at the main course spoiled a wonderful overall experience.  There are tons of great Italian restaurants in New York City and I'd try to find another one before going back to Cascina.        

(Update - Cascina Ristorante closed for renovations before the end of 2010 and supposedly has not reopened.  The web site is still active, but a number of review sites on the Internet say that it is closed.  That's probably for the best.  The food wasn't all that great.  It was highly disappointing.)  

Esashi - New York

Our first night in Manhattan, we were invited to go out to dinner with the two owners of Dangerous Music, a company that manufactures control devices for the professional music industry.  They wanted to go to Esashi, a little sushi place in the East Village area of Manhattan.  Oh, man!  Sushi in New York!  I couldn't wait!

Esashi is owned by Yukihiro Ishiyama and his wife, Minako.  They have been in business on Ave A. in the East Village since 1991 (see map).  Esashi is named after Mr. Ishiyama's home town of Esashi, Japan (see map).  Esashi is right on the coast and as a little boy Mr. Ishiyama and his friends used to catch incredibly fresh seafood and their families would have the catch that night for dinner.  Mr. Ishiyama opened Esashi with the plan to make sushi the same way he remembers having it as a little boy.

There were five of us who met up at Esashi around 7 p.m.  The two guys from Dangerous Music - Bob and Chris - used to run a recording studio around the corner from Esashi and they frequented the place before they got into making control components.  Bob lives in upstate New York and every time he comes back to New York, he always takes in Esashi.

And there's a big reason why - it was some of the best sushi I'd ever had in my life.  The spicy tuna rolls were very good, but the salmon and the toro, or fatty tuna, were unbelievably great.  I also had a couple shrimp, just for good measure.  I was devouring the sushi, it was so good.  And I washed it all back with a couple tall and ice cold Asahi beers. 

We went for a second round and I ordered exactly the same thing I ordered the first time.  My colleague, Simon, decided to go exclusively with the toro sashimi style.  The chunks of toro were huge.  I should have gone that direction. 

For those of you who don't like sushi, Esashi has a full menu of cooked items, as well.  My colleague, Todd, who grew up on Prince Edward Island, and who loves seafood, has an allergic reaction to raw seafood.  He had to go with the salmon teriyaki - a marinated salmon, broiled and served on a plate with assorted vegetables.  He said it was outstanding.

Esashi was very good.  And expensive.  With tip, the bill came to just over $500 bucks.  But it was well worth it.  The fish was very fresh, the restaurant had a great atmosphere, and the service was exquisite.  Esashi would be a place I'd highly recommend for sushi in New York City.      

(Update October 2011 - Before my recent trip to New York, I suggested to my colleague Simon that we go back to Esashi as it remained one of the more awesome sushi places I'd been to.  Simon quickly told me, "It's closed."  I asked him when it closed and he said, "Dunno, but's it's closed."  Bummer...)

The Broiler - St. Peter's MO

On a trip to St. Louis, recently, I found myself out in St. Peters, a town where my old company was located before I started to work for my present company over five years ago.  One of the places we used to go to for lunch when I would visit the main office was The Broiler, a nice little restaurant in St. Peters (see map), just south and a little east of Mid Rivers Mall.  It was close to lunch time and I decided to stop in for one of their great burgers.

Now, I didn't really know how to categorize The Broiler.  It's first and foremost a steakhouse, but they have a very good burger that they make out of ground chuck (they grind it themselves).  It's cooked over a charcoal grill and served on a very good toasted bun.  It's got excellent flavor and texture.  It's tough to beat.

The Broiler has been in business since 1988 serving great steaks to a rapidly growing area west of St. Louis.  I first went there in 1995 when my then-boss took us there for dinner one evening.  It was then I was told their burgers were the best around.  On my next trip down to St. Louis, I made a point to stop into The Broiler for a burger.  I wasn't disappointed.   

I got into The Broiler around 1 p.m. and went into the bar area.  The place hasn't really changed much since the last time I'd been in three or four years ago.  The bar/lounge area is cozy and unpretentious.  The main dining room is a little more formal, yet not stuffy or snooty.

The tables in the main dining area are covered with a nice linen tablecloths and it's got kind of an old-time supper club feeling to it, even though it's in a small strip mall.  One of the neater things about The Broiler is that in the main dining hall, you can look through a window and see the chef cooking meat over the charcoal grill.

I sat at the bar and the bartender asked if I'd like to see a menu.  Their lunch and lounge menu is more appetizers and sandwiches than their main dining menu.  But I do have to say that I've been in there on slower nights, sat at the bar and was able to watch a game on TV and order off the main dining room menu. 

But I really didn't need a menu this time.  I knew exactly what I wanted.  Provolone cheeseburger, medium, with the steak fries.  I said to the bartender, "I haven't been in here for quite some time, but that was always what I used to order for lunch.  I hope it hasn't changed."

The bartender said, "Oh, heavens no.  It's just as good as the last time you were in."

About 15 minutes later, my cheeseburger showed up.  I have to say that I forgot how good it really was.  The burger was juicy and delectable.  The bartender was right - it was just as good as the last time I was in.

When I listed my Top Ten Burger places last week in a post here, I put The Broiler just outside of the Top 10.  I may have to rethink that after my most recent visit.  It was very, very good and a place that I'll keep coming to for a good burger when I'm in the St. Peters area.  Which, I'm sorry to say, isn't all that often any more.  But I'll just have to make the time to drive out and stop in.       

(Update - It had been quite some time since I'd been to The Broiler and I decided to go there for lunch when I was in the area during a trip to St. Louis in February of 2011.  I pulled up to The Broiler and noticed a sign in the window and no cars in the parking lot.  It had closed.  I was very bummed because I really wanted one of their char-grilled burgers for lunch that day.  Too bad.  Another great little restaurant goes by the wayside.) 

More on Le Francais

The recent closing of the venerable Le Francais restaurant has touched thousands of food and restaurant aficionados, not only in the Chicago area, but across the nation.  The restaurant, once called the Best in America by Bon Appetit magazine, quietly closed their doors a couple of weeks ago. 

Two recent articles in the Chicago Tribune centered on the memories former patrons had of Le Francais (click here to view article); and the other focused on the reasons why Le Francais closed (click here to view article). 

Phil Vettel, the restaurant critic for the Chicago Tribune, pretty much validated what I said in my original blog entry as to why Le Francais closed.  It was the competition from high end restaurants in the downtown Chicago area - restaurants that Vettel says were inspired by Le Francais to push the culinary envelope.

As Vettel points out, many of these restaurants aren't French, but they offer some of the finest styles of food available in America.  And while Le Francais' prices were exorbitant to the extent only the well-heeled or those on unlimited business expense accounts could afford, a number of similarly great restaurants popped up over the past 10 to 15 years in downtown Chicago.  Suddenly, one didn't need to drive the 28 miles one way from downtown Chicago to get a world class meal.

Actually, as Vettel said in his article, while it's not surprising Le Francais finally closed, it's surprising that it lasted as long as it did with the competition in place over the past few years.  Restaurants come and go, but Le Francais obviously had a large place in the heart of their customers. 

I'll tell you - both times I ate there, it was No. 1 and No. 1A on the list of the best meals I've ever had in a restaurant.   

Le Francais Closes

It appears the world-renown Le Francais restaurant in Wheeling has closed and will not re-open.  Chicago Tribune restaurant critic Phil Vettel reports on his blog site that current owner Michael Moran quietly closed the doors of the restaurant last week.  A voice greeting on the restaurant's answering machine said the restaurant was "temporarily suspended service", but a number of people who have inside information said the restaurant will more than likely not reopen. 

Once the gold standard for all other Chicago area restaurants, Le Francais opened in 1973 under the leadership of the noted chef Jean Banchet.  The restaurant went through a series of ups and downs, most recently with Moran buying the restaurant back in 2004 and trying to make a go of it again. 

But with the proliferation of world class restaurants that have popped up in the downtown area of Chicago, people staying downtown on business weren't quite willing to make the 25 mile trip out to Wheeling to get a five-star meal like they used to in years past.  Even with Moran bringing former Le Francais chef Roland Liccioni (right) in as a partner, Le Francais just couldn't make a go of it. 

I drove by the restaurant one evening recently and it looked like it was closed then.  No cars in the lot, no activity at the door.  And it was only 7 p.m. on a Thursday night.  I wasn't quite that surprised to hear that it had gone out of business. 

One of the earliest posts I had on this blog was in regard to Le Francais and the two times I had the fortune to dine there.  (Click here to read.)  I've eaten at some top notch restaurants, but none of them have come close to the presentation, the taste sensations, and the classiness Le Francais exuded.   

Thousands of people have eaten at Le Francais over the years and I'm sure many will have tons of memories of what was once one of the finest restaurants, not only in Chicago, but in the U.S.  It will be missed. 

The Demise of Capital 1900

I've been on the hunt for beers while on the road lately, getting ready to fill the beer fridge for the summer months.  While in Madison recently, I stopped by the Capital Brewery in suburban Middleton (see map) to pick up some of my most favorite beers.  I wanted to pick up a couple cases of Capital's Special Pilsner (my favorite beer of all); a case of the Bavarian Lager; and a case of 1900, a light pilsner brewed from a late 1800's, early 1900's Wisconsin beer recipe. 

When I went to look for the beer in the new Gift Haus they have at the Capital Brewery, I couldn't find the 1900.  I asked the girl in the shop if they had any 1900 in back.  She said, "Oh, honey.  We haven't made 1900 in almost a year." 

I was crestfallen.  1900 was one of my favorite beers.  It's been around since 2000 when a number of Wisconsin breweries entered a contest to replicate a pre-Prohibition Wisconsin pilsner recipe that many breweries of the day used to make their pilsner beers at the turn of the 20th century.  Each brewery was able to give their 1900 recipe beer their own signature. 

Long story short - Capital's 1900 recipe won the contest.  Brewmaster Kirby Nelson decided to bottle the beer and market it by simply calling it "1900".  It was a great tasting beer, not as heavy bodied as the Capital Special Pilsner, but had a great finish to the taste.  I was told by Kirby Nelson once that it was as close to an original Old Style beer from 100 years prior as anything.

When asked about why they weren't brewing 1900 any longer, the girl told me, "Since we started to brew our Island Wheat beer, we didn't have the capacity to brew the 1900 any longer."

I told her I was bummed.  She said, "Yeah, I was too when I found out we weren't going to brew it any longer."

Her story is similar to the one I told here about Leinenkugel's Northwoods Lager, another great beer that I really liked but they quit brewing to introduce Leinie's Sunset Wheat. 

See a pattern forming here?

Wheat beers are the rage with many of these small breweries and - I'm sorry - I just don't like wheat beers.  But a lot of people do and they seem to be selling. 

Instead of getting a case of 1900, I ended up getting one of the first cases of Capital's summer seasonal brew Fest.  I asked her if they had any of the Winter Skal left, as I didn't pick any up this past winter (it's only available in Wisconsin and I hadn't been in Wisconsin since last November).  She said, "No, I'm sorry.  That's been gone for a while, as well." 

I wheeled the cases out to my car and brought the dolly back in to the gift shop.  She said, "Hey, come with me.  I've got something for you."

I followed her into Capital's Bier Stube and she went behind the bar and pulled out a Winter Skal from the cooler.  "I knew we had a few left in the cooler.  Here's one on the house since we don't have the 1900 left and you weren't able to get Winter Skal this year."

I took it and thanked her for the gift.  And I had it that evening in the hotel room.  It was very good. 

I am bummed about the demise of Capital's 1900 beer.  It was a great beer to drink anytime.  But, it's not like there are no other beers to drink.  Just like anything, I'll have to get used to having no 1900 to drink.      

The Letter Club - Omaha

Thanx to Chuck Ellis who informed me the Letter Club has closed their doors. 

I wrote about the abundance of great sports bars in the Omaha/Lincoln area in a post over a year ago.  I don't know if I've been to an area that has such a large selection of very good sports bars.  The Letter Club in Omaha (see map) may have set the bar a little higher for the other sports bars in the area. 

The majority owners of The Letter Club are former Nebraska Football players Aaron Taylor and Scott Frost, and former Nebraska Baseball player Aaron Bilyeu.  Actually, the official name of the place is The Scarlet and Cream Letter Club - after the colors of the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

I met up with my buddy, Chuck Ellis, at The Letter Club one evening during a recent trip to Omaha.  Actually, The Letter Club is located within the new Village Point shopping center and is within sight of the new Hilton Garden Inn on the far west side of Omaha, the hotel that I stayed at during my visit. 

The main room of the bar/restaurant looks a little industrial, but it has two 25 foot diagonal projection screens on either end of the main room.  And there are another 40 televisions of all sizes located throughout the place, including 13" televisions at each booth. 

And all through the place was Nebraska Football memorabilia.  We had to take a quick look at some of the stuff before we sat down.  And we had to look at more of it before we left. 

Chuck and I sat at the bar and had a few beers.  Since he had already eaten that evening, I grabbed a menu from our bartender, Amanda.  The menu consisted of normal sports bar food with appetizers, burgers and sandwiches along with some main entrees consisting of steaks, seafood, pasta and chicken.

It wasn't busy at the bar, so Amanda clued me in as to what the best sandwiches were from the grill.  She convinced me to try the Oskie Chicken Sandwich - a grilled spicy chicken breast topped with a slice of corned beef and a generous slathering of chipotle mayo sauce.  It came with seasoned fries, but for a buck more you could substitute onion rings.  I went in that direction.

I wish I'd gotten the seasoned fries (even though I might not have eaten the seasoned fries, either).  The onion rings absolutely sucked.  They were inedible.  Chuck, who heads the meat department at an Omaha area Hy-Vee, said that it looked like they were the pre-made frozen variety.  Whatever they were, they were horrible.

But as bad as the onion rings were, the Oskie Chicken sandwich was outstanding.  Amanda certainly didn't steer me wrong on the chicken.  It had a great taste sensation to it.  I don't eat enough chicken sandwiches on the road, but I will come back to The Letter Club and get that sandwich again.  It was very good. 

The Nebraska football program has a storied past and a lot of great memorabilia is on display at The Letter Club.  Along with the abundance of televisions throughout the place, and the good food (though don't go for the onion rings), and a nice selection of beers, The Letter Club is a great addition to the already large number of very good sports bars in the Omaha/Lincoln area.    

Andiamo - Las Vegas

One of the best kept secrets of Las Vegas cuisine is Andiamo located in the Las Vegas Hilton.  This quiet little Mediterranean/Italian restaurant is sort of hard to find, but it's one of the better Italian restaurants in the Las Vegas area. 

The atmosphere among the marble floors and terra cotta walls is classy, yet intimate and cozy.  Linen tablecloths top each table and the service is top notch.  I've eaten there a couple times now and both experiences have been absolutely outstanding. 

Executive chef Ray Sansotta fixes up an eclectic mix of pasta and seafood with a spicy and flavorful flair.  And the Maitre d', Mr. Apicella, is one of those old time greeters that makes you feel important when you walk up to his stand. 

As I said, Andiamo is sort of hard to find (see map).  You walk through the Plaza Bar and it's situated next to the Hilton Steakhouse (also another very underrated and very good place to eat in Vegas).  It's tucked away around the corner from the bar area so it gives it an even more intimate feel to the place. 

We ate as a group of 10 for dinner one evening after a full day of appointments during CES.  Actually, we had an addition of one just before we were seated.  But Mr. Apicella made arrangements with tables and chairs and our 7:30 seating went very smooth and seamless. 

We started out with two huge plates of hot and cold anti-pasto - Italian meats, calamari, shrimp, roasted peppers, pickled mushrooms and other wonderful starters.  The wine list was impressive with a number of Californian and Italian wines.  Once again, I yielded to my colleague who knows Italian wines much better than I.  And he picked out a great Italian red that was light, yet robust.  (I wish I could remember the names of these wines or at least write them down). 

I ordered a spicy seafood dish that consisted of fettuccine noodles in a tomato-cream sauce with flakes of red peppers, topped with ample amounts of huge shrimp, scallops, lobster meat and clams.  I had loaded up on the anti-pasto before the meal, so I opted out of getting a salad before the meal. 

When my meal arrived, I was served this huge plate loaded with seafood and pasta.  And it was - in a word - killer.  Unbelievably great.  There was so much seafood on the plate that I couldn't tell if it was a seafood plate with pasta, or a pasta plate with seafood.  The spicy tomato-cream sauce was very good and packed with flavor. (One of my Canadian colleagues at the other end of the table got the same dish and he thought it was TOO spicy.)

Andiamo can be a little pricey.  Per head cost of the meal was around $60 bucks and the wine was about $80 a bottle (we had three bottles).  Compared to Il Fornaio, Andiamo blew away the meal we had the first night we were in town.  Andiamo is one of the great hidden treasures in Las Vegas.  I hope they stay that way. 

(Update - Andiamo closed down and replaced by Casa Nicola.  Click here to see my entry on Casa Nicola.)

Ted's Montana Grill - Schaumburg, IL

I recently had to run our daughter into Chicago for her to fly out to England to meet our other daughter who is studying in Spain this year.  She said that since she wasn't going to be eating for awhile while traveling, she wanted a "stick-to-your-ribs" kind of meal before she left.  I decided to take her to Ted's Montana Grill.

I've written about Ted's here first as a steakhouse; then again as a burger joint.  They bill themselves as a classic American grill that happens to serve comfort food.  I do like their bison steaks and burgers - the best of their kind that I've ever had.  But they also serve something called bison pot roast and I've always wanted to try it.

We got in to the Ted's in suburban Schaumburg just before noon and we were promptly seated in a spacious booth.  Our waitress was a red-haired Scottish lady with a big smile, Wilma.  Within 90 seconds we found out that Wilma retired from United Airlines after working 30 years as stewardess, she was working part-time at Ted's because the airlines cut 50% of her pension, she celebrated her 60th birthday in her native Scotland, and the actor Sean Connery kissed her on the cheek on her birthday.  She was a real trip and I liked her immediately.

She asked if we'd ever been to Ted's before.  Oh, yes.  I told her I'd been to different Ted's Montana Grill's many times before.  She said, "So you're a veteran, now.  You know the story, then." 

I said I did, but my daughter didn't.  She talked about the lunch menu and the daily blue plate specials.  The special that day was a slow roasted pork loin with cooked carrots, mashed potatoes and gravy. 

Out of the blue she offered us a sample of their bison pot roast.  I hadn't completely been sold on getting the pot roast as of yet. (I thought about getting a bison burger, only cooked a little longer this time than the last time I had a burger there.)  She brought us out two small bowls with shredded bison meat over mashed potatoes with a little gravy.  I have to say it was very good.  So, I went with the bison pot roast (which is available daily) and my daughter went with the pork loin blue plate special. 

While we were waiting for our food, the day manager came over, introduced himself, shook my hand and said, "I understand that you're a veteran of Ted's Montana Grill."  I told him that I travel a lot and I try to stay away from chains, but I've never been steered wrong by eating at a Ted's.  I was hoping he'd give me a gift certificate, but that never materialized.

Wilma brought our food out and the pork loin with carrots and mashed potatoes was exactly what my daughter was looking for.  And the bison pot roast with mashed potatoes, gravy and a side of green beans was just great for me.  The bison meat was tender and the gravy was a excellent complement to the meal. 

I was intrigued by the gravy so I asked Wilma after I'd finished what was in it.  She said, "Oh, you know I should know this, but I'll check in the kitchen." 

She came back out and said the gravy with the pork loin was a combination of chardonnay wine, cream and natural juices, while the beef gravy was also a combination of natural juices from the meat and Kitchen Bouquet.  I could have sworn there was some red wine in there with it, but Wilma said, "Nope, Kitchen Bouquet and juices.  I know it doesn't sound glamorous, but it's good, isn't it?"

It was a spot hitter. 

I'm always looking for a "stick-to-your-ribs" meal on the road and I'll be going back to Ted's Montana Grill for the bison pot roast again. 

(Update - Ted's Montana Grill closed a number of restaurants in the fall of 2010, including the one in Schaumburg.  That's too bad because many of them were in places that I travel to - Wichita, Omaha and Kansas City.  I suppose with such strong competition for steakhouses in those markets, Ted's Montana Grill felt it would be better to focus on markets where they could succeed.  Another reason why this particular Ted's probably shut down was that a Weber Grill Restaurant  opened just up the road from the old Ted's location in late 2006.  That particular Weber Grill location was always packed.  However, I'm not without a Ted's in my travels.  There are still 3 in the greater Chicago region and a couple in Indianapolis.)

Gendler's

(Note - Gendler's has, indeed, closed their doors)

The oldest wine store in the Quad Cities may be shutting their doors soon.  Gendler's Wines and Spirits has been in business since 1916 when Russian immigrant Max Gendler opened a grocery store at a location near downtown Rock Island. With the repeal of Prohibition, Gendler began to sell beer and liquor at his grocery store in 1934. 

Over the years, Gendler's daughter, Rosalyn, and her husband, Jerry Zeffren (right), ran the business from the little building that seemed to be bursting from the seams.  In the late 50's, Jerry and Rosalyn took a trip to Europe and were told to drink wine and not the water.  Jerry had some interest in wine before that, but really began to learn about wines after that trip.

In 1963, Jerry began to sell wine in addition to beer and liquor.  Eventually, Gendler's ceased being a grocery store that sold liquor.  The Zeffren's then changed the name to Gendler's Wine Cellar and began to sell gourmet food items along with the ever growing stock of wines from Europe and eventually California. 

When I first moved to the Quad Cities over 15 years ago, I was told Gendler's was the place to go to get beer and wine in the area.  Jerry, and his longtime manager, Jim Stephens, were great guys to work with.  Jerry taught me a lot about some obscure wines and could special order me Capital Brewery products.  He ended up stocking some varieties of Capital beers because I was ordering a case or two a month from him.  I honestly miss Jerry.

In 2001, Jerry and Rosalyn, both well into their 80's, sold the business to local businessman Tom Getz.  Getz, who owns Moline Forge, a long-time local foundry that makes forged steel parts for John Deere, moved the business to its present location in Moline in John Deere Commons (see map) and changed the name to Gendler's Wine and Spirits. 

The new location was definitely a step up from the old building Jerry and Rosalyn were in.  It was easily two and a half times larger than the old location, with double the amount of parking.  The display racks were easier to get to and they added more wine to choose from. 

But it didn't have the same charm of the old building.  Even though Jim Stephens was still on hand, it just wasn't the same as Jerry greeting you, taking you by the arm and showing you some obscure wine that he just got in from California or South America.  Jerry never steered me wrong on a wine. 

About a year and a half ago, Tom Getz and his wife, Karen, were driving home from Chicago when Tom Getz fell asleep and lost control of his vehicle.  Karen was seriously injured and has been in constant need of medical care.  Getz recently announced that Gendler's has been losing money and the stress of his wife's slow recovery has been taking a toll on him.  He said that they were looking at closing the business because of the number of competitors in the market, most notably the Hy-Vee Food Stores that have an extensive wine and liquor department in many of their stores here in the Quad Cities.

I have to admit, I don't go to Gendler's like I used to.  Even though they do have a good selection of wines, I don't know if it's because I shop for wines while I'm on the road, or if it's because the old time charm is gone in the new location, or if it's because Jerry Zeffren is no longer around.  It's probably a combination of all three. 

Getz said that he'd make his mind up sometime in the next few days as to the fate of Gendler's, but he's leaning toward closing.  And it's sad.  To me, it's another instance where new owners took the charm out of a business by trying to make it bigger and better.   

Cafe Matou - Redux

Cindy's birthday is just before Christmas.  The only thing she asked for this year was a nice meal in a quaint French restaurant in Chicago.  She said, "Not that fancy one out in Wheeling. (Meaning Le Francais.) But some place nice and cozy."

Since I'd eaten there recently, and we were going to be staying downtown, Cafe Matou immediately jumped into my head.  (By the way, I found out that "matou" is French for "tomcat" - hence, the outline of a cat in the logo.)

From my earlier visit, I found Cafe Matou to be a culinary experience that may be tough to top at many restaurants in the Chicago area.  Chef Charlie Soucher utilizes fresh and unique ingredients within an ever changing menu to prepare meals that are similar to those served in villages and rural areas across France, only he adds contemporary American twists to the food along the way.

I had made reservations weeks in advance for the Saturday night before Christmas, thinking that we'd have a problem getting in.  Turns out that it wasn't all that busy, but it was still wise to plan ahead.

The menu was completely different from the last time I was there, which was expected and appreciated.  Cindy was going to try something new - she didn't know what, but she was dead set against going with something she was familiar with.

One of the items on the menu was a fish called monchong (right), something we definitely were not familiar with.  The waiter explained to us that monchong was a deep sea fish that was once considered to be a "throw-away" fish that was caught in nets with tuna.  But it's recently become a favorite of Pan-Asian cuisine across the United States.  You can read more about monchong here.

My stomach was in turmoil a little bit and I didn't think I should go for seafood.  So I went with a basic grilled strip steak, topped with a Cabernet reduction sauce with garlic butter button mushrooms with a side of garlic mashed potatoes.  It was sort of like the flank steak and risotto I had my previous visit, but not the same.   

Ordering wine at Cafe Matou is an adventure since all of their wines are French wines, and I don't have the knowledge of French wines like I do American or South American wines.  I think I'm getting better at it, but I'm still not as comfortable when ordering.  I remembered that we had a Gigondas wine from the Rhone Valley the last time I was in, but it turned out they now had TWO Gigondas wines listed and I couldn't tell you which one was which. 

I talked to the waiter, who was a young guy, and he was not much help on choosing the wine.  So, I decided to go with the more expensive of the two Gigondas. 

The waiter brought out the bottle, opened it up, I tasted it, it was good.  We were sitting there for a moment and suddenly a guy came up behind me and reached for the wine bottle.  He turned it around to look at the label and he said, "Oh, yeah.  You've got a good wine there." 

I didn't have a chance to see who it was, all I saw was a white jacket sleeve.  I said to Cindy, "Who was that?"

She said, "That was the chef!"

I said, "Really?"

She said, "Well, it said 'Chef Charlie' monogrammed on his jacket."  We were guessing the waiter went back to talk to Charlie Soucher about our wine pick and he wanted to double check that we got the right Gigondas. 

As we were waiting for our main courses, Cindy got to looking at some of the interesting art work on the walls.  The art is all original paintings done by local artists in the Bucktown area of Chicago.  Cindy used to do some still life paintings so she was intrigued.  Honestly, I never noticed the artwork during my first visit. 

Cindy's monchong came out with steamed rutabagas - something she's definitely not tried before.  She said it was a sweeter tasting fish than she'd expected and was happy that she order it up.  My strip steak was good, nothing fancy or exciting.  But the way my stomach was feeling, I didn't need exciting. 

I wasn't going to get dessert, but Cindy insisted on doing something.  She looked at either the creme brulee or a dessert that was baked bananas with figs and prunes.  I told her the baked bananas with figs and prunes sounds like something they'd serve for dinner at retirement homes.

She went with the baked bananas and fruit and I took the creme brulee.  I know I shouldn't have gotten it as my stomach was still a little upset, but I went with it anyhow.  What the hell - it's Christmas time. 

And I'm glad I got it.  You're talkin' to a guy who has eaten creme brulee across France and in some of the best restaurants in the United States and I'm not certain that I had creme brulee as good as what I had that evening.  Usually, the custard under the caramelized top is warm after they've taken the torch or broiler to the top.  But this custard was cool and refreshing.  I was only planning on having a couple bites, but I ended up finishing nearly the whole thing - much to the consternation of my stomach. 

Cindy's baked banana and fruit dessert came out as a piece of pie and she said it was delicious.  She offered me a bite and I refused.  I've never cared for the taste of bananas, but she told me that it didn't really taste like bananas. 

Cindy loved the food and the experience at Cafe Matou.  My food was good, but pretty basic.  I don't think my meal was as good as the last time I was there, but it was still good, nonetheless.  But as long as Cindy was happy with it, I was happy, too.  And she was ecstatic.

Cafe Matou may not get the press or the accolades of some of the more famous Chicago restaurants, but I'd put their food up against any one of those places.  It's a little out of the way, but this hidden gem is worth the journey.

(Update - I was informed in November of 2010 that Cafe Matou has closed.  Charlie Soucher is approaching 60 years of age and he wanted to slow down.  The Soucher's are planning on moving to Mineral Point, WI and possibly will open a restaurant there.)

Leinenkugel Northwoods Lager

During my recent trips to many liquor stores and wine shops in Minnesota and Wisconsin, my main focus was to find some of the Leinenkugel Northwoods Lager.  It had been quite some time since I'd found any and I was sort of wondering what the deal was.  After all, it was - by far - my most favorite Leinenkugel beer.

Leinenkugel Northwoods Lager was first brewed in 1986 and it was initially known as Leinenkugel Limited.  It won the gold medal at the Great American Beer Festival in 1993 for the best American Lager category after having garnered a silver medal in 1991. 

Leinie's Northwoods Lager has a rich taste for a Lager with a hint of caramel and pale malts added to give it a great smooth finish.  There was nothing even close to the taste of it.  It was especially great on a hot summer afternoon. 

When I could find it, I used to buy cases of the stuff at a time.  But it began to become increasingly difficult to find late last year.  I know the guy who works in sales for the Miller distributor here locally and I asked him why I was having trouble finding it locally.  He said he didn't know, but would let me know.  Well, he never let me know.

I bought my last couple cases of the Northwoods Lager in Milwaukee in the springtime.  Little did I know at that time that Leinenkugel was on the verge of discontinuing the beer. 

I was at a liquor store in Madison recently and I asked a lady working there if they had any of the Northwoods Lager.  She said, "I believe they discontinued that beer in the summer time.  You may want to check their web site."

I went to the frequently asked questions section of the Leinenkugel web site to see if I could find out what the deal was. The very first question had to do with the brewery discontinuing the Northwoods Lager.

Basically, it came down to the fact that Leinenkugel doesn't have the barrel capacity to continue to brew their Northwoods Lager and Amber Light beers.  With the increased popularity of Leinie's Honey Weiss and Berry Weiss beers, they had to make a decision as to what to do as they don't have the room to expand their facility. 

They're leaving the door open for a possible return of the Northwoods Lager at a later time.  I absolutely hope so.  I've been nursing my last six pack of the beer over the past couple of months.  I have one left in the beer fridge that I'm saving for a special occasion. 

Such as tomorrow night at 5:30... 

Meritage Cafe and Wine Bar - Chicago

As I've mentioned before, I recently put on a dealer in the Wicker Park/Bucktown area of Chicago on North Ave.  One of the reasons I like these guys so much is that they share the passion for great food and wine just as I do.  And they've turned me on to a number of great places to eat in the short time we've been associated.  One of those places is the Meritage Cafe and Wine Bar on North Damon in Chicago (see map).

Meritage Cafe opened in 1997 as a contemporary American restaurant with a Pacific Northwest flair.  Their menu consists primarily of eclectic seafood, but they also offer bison steaks, pork loins and duck on their menu. 

The Meritage Cafe has had a string of great chefs over the years.  Jonathan Harootunian (right) was the first executive chef of Meritage.  Harootunian's signature French country with Asian fusion dishes were the hallmark and success of     Meritage.   Harootunian left in 2001 to become the executive chef at Courtright's, a 4-star restaurant in suburban Willow Springs (see map).

Dirk Flanigan (left), who cut his teeth at a number of restaurants in the Chicago area including La Tour, Madame B and Meritage's sister restaurant, Echo - all of which are now closed - slid over from Echo and took over Meritage.  He kept the touch of French country cuisine with Asian fusion on the menu to go along with the seafood dishes that made Meritage famous.

In 2004, Flanigan left to open the ill-fated Blue Water Cafe in downtown Chicago.  The restaurant was in business for less than a year before it closed.  Troy Graves, the former Meritage sous chef under Flanigan, is now the executive chef and is more than ably continuing the fine tradition of culinary classics at Meritage. 

The evening I took one of the guys from my dealer to Meritage, the place was half full.  It was rather late, about 9 p.m.  But as I've found with a number of eclectic restaurants in the immediate area of the Meritage Cafe, 9 p.m. is early for many people.  It's not a big place and the solarium area on the north side of the building was closed off making the restaurant more intimate and cozy.    

Everything looked interesting on the menu.  I wanted seafood that evening so I went with the pan seared scallops with lobster risotto and asparagus.  My guest took the chef's special that evening - salmon and escargot, with mushrooms and baby beets in a watercress puree. 

We each got a salad - mine was pretty basic with greens and a house vinaigrette; while my guest went for the organic spinach greens topped with Maytag Blue Cheese and beef carpaccio with a spicy blueberry vinaigrette.  He offered me a bite and I almost grabbed our waitress to take mine back and bring me one of those salads. 

The wine list was nice - not large, but it certainly had a lot of choices.  My guest told me that red wines upset his stomach.  That's OK, since we were both going with seafood I picked out a 2004 Duckhorn Sauvignon Blanc.

The meal, of course, was outstanding.  Both meals were light, but filling enough.  The wine was a perfect complement.  With some light jazz playing in the corner, the atmosphere added to the enjoyment of the meal. 

After the meal, we looked at the dessert menu and I saw they had a lemon-vanilla creme brulee.  I said, "Man, I really want that, but I don't think I could eat the whole thing." 

My guest said, "Well, I'll split it with you."  So we ordered it up with two spoons. 

A couple minutes later, the waitress - who did a great job all night - came back and said, "I'm sorry, but the chef just informed me we're all out of the creme brulee for the evening.  Can I interest you in something else?" 

We were so crestfallen going from the prospect of having great creme brulee to getting completely shut out that we ended up passing on dessert.  Oh well...

Our bill with tip was about $110 bucks - I didn't think that was too bad considering the bottle of wine was $47 dollars.  The Meritage Cafe and Wine Bar is a neat little place with great food.  It's highly recommended. 

(Update - Meritage Cafe closed sometime in 2009.  Too bad.  It was a neat little place.)

Cafe Matou - Chicago

One of my dealers in Chicago recently opened a new location on North Ave. in the Bucktown/Wicker Park area - an upper middle class to upper class area full of middle-aged people in Chicago.  There are a number of great little restaurants that the guys at my dealer have turned me on to.  One of the restaurants that we went to recently was Cafe Matou, a quaint little French restaurant on Milwakee Avenue (see map).

Chef and owner Charlie Socher studied French classical and country cuisine as an apprentice in France at the highly rated Au Quai des Ormes and Jacques Cogna restaurants.  A Chicago native, Socher came back to the Windy City to be the head chef at The Chardonnay, a highly acclaimed restaurant that closed years ago.  In 1997, Socher opened Cafe Matou and based his menu on contemporary French country cuisine.   

In 2004, Socher and his wife, Susan, opened Charlie's on Leavitt in the Lincoln Park area of Chicago.  The restaurant featured contemporary American cuisine in a casual setting.  But that combination didn't work well in the yuppified Lincoln Park area and the restaurant closed earlier this year.

Cafe Matou offers a menu that changes daily, seeking to integrate the freshest available food products each day.  You'll find a number of game meats available including venison and duck on any given day. 

The wine list was almost exclusively French.  I don't have the knowledge of French wines as I do with wines from California or South America.  I asked our waitress what she suggested.  We told her our preferences - a rich, hearty red.  She immediately suggested a Gigondas wine from a small winery in the Cotes du Rhone region of France.  Since I had many Cotes du Rhone wines on my trip to France last fall, I said that was fine.

Cafe Matou also has a nightly prix fixe (or fixed price) menu that averages around $20 to $25 per person - considerably less than comparable restaurants that offer French cuisine at fixed prices.  Going that route leaves you at the mercy of the chef as to what he is serving that night, but sometimes that's kind of fun. 

We thought about trying the prix fixe menu that evening, but it was a seafood entree and only one of us wanted seafood.  We started out with a choice of salad appetizers.  I got the gorgonzola stuffed grilled breaded red pepper in a tomato sauce.  One of my guests got the house salad with bleu cheese topping.  And my other guest went with a seafood cake blend.   

For my main entree, I got the broiled flank steak on risotto with button mushrooms in a light sauce.  It was just outstanding. One of my guests went with the lamb ribs, five small meaty and marbled ribs in a wine sauce.  My other guest ordered the herbed salmon on bed of wild rice.  Their's was equally outstanding, as well.

After dinner, we looked at the dessert menu, but opted to pass.  I, instead, went with a good top shelf Scotch and my guests followed suit.   

Cafe Matou is a small, quaint and unique restaurant.  Like many of the restaurants in Europe, it doesn't get busy until after 8:30 p.m. The service was outstanding and even though the bill was a little pricey ($250 plus tip) it was a great culinary experience.  It was a very memorable dinner, to say the least. 

(Update - I was informed in November of 2010 that Cafe Matou has closed.  Charlie Soucher is approaching 60 years of age and he wanted to slow down.  The Soucher's are planning on moving to Mineral Point, WI and possibly will open a restaurant there.)

Smokin' Al's Barbecue - St. Louis

I got into St. Louis one night recently and I was tired and hungry.  I decided to give Smokin' Al's Barbecue a try, given that it was just around the corner from my hotel. 

Smokin' Al's is located on Hampton Ave. (see map) near Forest Park.  They've been in business for about five years and have won the best barbecue in St. Louis for four straight years in a poll conducted by the local restaurant review magazine, Sauce. 

Smokin' Al's is a funky little place, not much to see on the outside or the inside.  They have two cookers set up outside.  One is out in front, the other one - much larger - is in sort of a recessed pit along the back side of the building.  The wood they were using was sort of a sweet smelling wood.  Definitely not hickory or mesquite.

Their menu is typical for most barbecue places.  Slabs of ribs, brisket, pulled pork, chicken - things like that.  And, thank God - they serve cold beer. 

It was getting late when I walked in - about 20 after 8.  They close at 8:30 thru the week.  You have to order at the front counter and I asked if I had to get this to go.  The girl behind the counter said, "Oh, no.  You don't have to leave.  We'll be here cleaning up well after 8:30."

I ordered the combo platter of pulled pork and brisket, and got a two rib sampler to go with it.  I got two sides with the combo platter so I went with their baked beans and french fries.  And I got a couple of ice-cold Budweiser's to go along with them.

Smokin' Al's serves their ribs in what they call "St. Louis-style", with the sauce on them.  Actually, I was led to believe that St. Louis-style ribs were they way they cut the ribs and not how they served them.  OK, whatever.  It furthered my contention that there are no such things as St. Louis-style ribs. 

The girl called my number and I went and got the food.  The brisket and pork were piled high on buttered Texas toast, and the two rib sampler was laid on Texas toast, as well.  They were covered with Smokin' Al's hot "Wolf Sauce".  The sides of baked beans and french fries were generous, too. 

But the one thing it lacked was a zip to the sauce.  It was sort of vinegary, but didn't have the zest that I like in a barbecue sauce.  The beans were completely different from the sauce - they were swimming in a brown sauce, heavy on molasses. 

The pulled pork was good, the brisket was better.  The ribs were, well, I've had a LOT better ribs than what they had at Smokin' Al's.  They weren't too meaty, and they weren't very tender.  The smokiness in the meat wasn't as much as I thought it would be.  And the sauce, I felt, was a little too neutral with the ribs.

Actually, I thought the best part of the meal were the french fries.  They had some sort of an herb on them and they were cooked to perfection.  You got the full potato tasted to them and they were hard not to eat.  I usually don't eat french fries, but these were damn good. 

The meal with a couple of beers came to about $16.75, which I didn't think was too bad.  But if people in St. Louis think that Smokin' Al's is the best barbecue in the city, I think they're sadly mistaken.  My next trip to a barbecue place in St. Louis will be to Super Smokers.  Hands down, the best barbecue in St. Louis, in my opinion.

(Update - Smokin' Al's didn't make it.  I went to get some barbecue there recently and found that they were closed.  Their web site is still up and I'm wondering if they do catering work, but the restaurant is definitely closed.)