Road Tips

O'Donovan's Irish Pub - Minneapolis

I was staying in downtown Minneapolis earlier this summer as I had an appointment the next morning with a client in the immediate area.   The hotel I was staying at I had never stayed at before and I was sort of curious as to what was close to the hotel to grab something to eat.  There were a few options, but one place that stood out was an authentic Irish bar that had been around for a number of years.  I thought I had eaten there before, but when I walked into the place I realized that I had not.  Here's the story of my visit to O'Donovan's Irish Pub.  

Dermot Cowley was born in Dragheda, County Louth along the northeast coast of Ireland.  As soon as he was old enough, Cowley worked in restaurants near his home.  At the age of 18, he took off for America and got a job as a busboy at Rosie O'Grady's in Times Square in Manhattan.  He worked his way up the ladder and eventually became a bartender at Rosie O'Grady's (which closed earlier this year after 43 years in business).  

Nine months after coming to America, he found himself as a bartender at Smith & Wollensky at 3rd Ave. and 49th St. in Manhattan.  Cowley stayed at Smith & Wollensky for 11 years and while he was there he met a young lady from Minneapolis by the name of Laura Peterson.  Dermot and Laura eventually married and she convinced him to move back to Minneapolis for a change of scenery.  

Dermot Cowley had no problem finding work at an Irish pub on Nicollet Ave. - the Local - where he eventually became the manager.  (I realized after the fact that the Local is the place that I had been to years ago and thought was possibly the same place as Donovan's.)

Pictured right - Dermot Cowley.  Photo courtesy Heavy Table.  

In 1999, the owner of O'Donovan's Irish Pub was looking to get out of the business.  The interior of O'Donovan's was all imported from Ireland down to the tin ceiling panels and many of the light fixtures.  Cowley thought it was time for him to take the plunge into restaurant ownership.  He purchased O'Donovan's and that was the start of his small restaurant empire around the Twin Cities.  In addition to O'Donovan's, Cowley owns Lola's Lakehouse in suburban Waconia.

I got into town around 8:00 p.m. and was looking for a place that was close.  It turned out the O'Donovan's was a block away from the hotel at the corner of N. 1st Ave. and 7th Street, just across from the famed First Avenue nightclub which launched the career of Prince and has hosted a number of other Twin Cities area bands and artists such as The Jayhawks, Hüsker Dü, The Replacements, Soul Asylum, and Lizzo.  (see map)  

Walking into O'Donovan's is like walking into a pub in Ireland.  I've never been to Ireland, but I've been to England and the decor, vibe and ambiance is similar to some of the English pubs I've visited.  A stacked stone fireplace was the centerpiece of the restaurant which was actually a lot bigger than it looked form the outside.  There were two bars in the place (one was closed off as it was a slow night), and a handful of little rooms with various seating options were found throughout the pub.  I have to admit that I liked the place from just looking around before I took a seat to eat and grab a beer.    

I took a seat at the far end of the bar and I literally had my own order window for myself.  At first, I thought it was a server station, but there was a chair and sitting there and I sat down.  It wasn't longer until the bartender by the name of Nigel came over to drop off a food menu.  Nigel was one of those servers who is what I call "neutral".  He was neither welcoming, nor was he standoffish.  You run into those kind of "neutral" people at restaurants from time to time.  They had Smithwick's on tap and I ordered one of those while looking over the menu.  

I found the menu to be somewhat strange at O'Donovan's.  They only had four or five appetizers, a couple of salads that could be eaten as meals, and just a few Irish-style meals such as corned beef, fish and chips, shepherd's pie, and an Atlantic cod sandwich.  They had a burger on the menu, as well as a reuben sandwich, chicken curry with fries, and a grilled rack of lamb that had been marinated in balsamic vinegar.  

I thought about the shepherd's pie, and they also had corned beef and cabbage on the menu.  But I also saw that they had a corned beef poutine - fries topped with slow-cooked corned beef and topped with sautéed onions and a white cheddar cheese sauce.  I thought about it for a moment, then realized that it probably wouldn't have come close to the smoked meat (corned beef) poutine that I had in Montreal a few months ago.  

The only problem is that when I was ready to order, Nigel was nowhere to be found.  They have a patio in front and along the side of O'Donovan's, but there weren't many people sitting out there.  I finally saw Nigel walk in from the outside and I thought that he was probably working as a server for the patio, too.  But then I saw another young lady who was taking care of people on the patio, so I didn't know why he was going outside.  

When Nigel finally came back and hurriedly asked me what I wanted to eat, I told him I would take the third option on the corned beef page - the corned beef sandwich.   From the description on the menu - "Tender thick slices of hot corned beef served on a delicious pretzel roll, with sweet onions and whole grain mustard" - I thought that sounded pretty good.  

And it looked pretty good when it was set down in front of me.  But the first bite into the corned beef sandwich told me otherwise.  

First of all, the toasted pretzel bun was hard and dry.  The corned beef - while thick - was far from tender.  The meat was dry and lacking in flavor.  It was all I could do to choke down the sandwich, having to take a sip of beer with each bite to add some moisture to what I had in my mouth.

And within no time, I needed another beer.  But, once again, Nigel was gone.  I had a clear look at the front door and I noticed he was outside just standing there and talking to a couple people.  It was maddening.  There weren't a lot of people at the bar, but he seemed to be away from his post for an inordinate amount of time.  I had to stop eating the sandwich until I was able to get either another beer or at least some water, it was that dry.  

I will say, however, that the fries were pretty good.  They were the thick type with a crunchy outer shell and that soft, pillowy filling inside.  The fries were the saving grace for the meal.

Nigel finally did come back in and he saw that I had an empty glass.  "Another one," he asked again in a hurried manner.  I nodded my head and he poured another glass of Smithwick's for me.  When he sat the beer down in front of me, he didn't ask how my meal was.  If he did I would have told him this - the corned beef sandwich was one of the worst I had ever had.  The meat was way overcooked, tough and lifeless in taste.  

And that sort of summed up my visit to O'Donovan's.  The corned beef sandwich was subpar and the service wasn't the greatest.  For as much promise I saw in O'Donovan's when I first walked in, the food and service was beyond disappointing.  Maybe it was an off-night, but first impressions count and I certainly wasn't impressed with O'Donovan's on what was my first visit there.  And I probably won't be going back in the future.  

City Works - Schaumburg, IL

Earlier this summer, I was in the northwest Chicago suburb of Schaumburg for a trade show.  Attached to the hotel where the trade show was held was a restaurant where I decided to have lunch at one day.  I took a break and sauntered over to City Works located next to the Hyatt Regency hotel.  

As I'd never been to City Works before, I found out after the fact that it's part of a 9 location chain.  The City Works Eatery and Pour House restaurants are part of the Bottleneck Management Group which got its start in 2001 when college buddies Jason Akemann and Nate Hilding opened Trace, a two-story rock and roll-themed restaurant in Chicago's Wrigleyville neighborhood.  Akemann and Hilding ran the business for six years before they decided to expand their holdings with a new restaurant in the Wicker Park area.  In order to pull that off, they enlisted the help of another college friend, Chris Bisallion.  

Bisallion and Hilding grew up in a small town south of Chicago.  They both ended up at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington, IL and that's where both met Akemann.  After college, Bisallion worked at an investment firm for a number of years working his way up to a regional vice-president.  With the company getting ready to expand, Bisallion joined Bottleneck Management in 2007 in charge of site acquisitions.  The group then opened the Boundary, a neighborhood sports bar that closed in 2019.

Pictured right - Chris Bisallion, Jason Akemann and Nate Hilding.  Photo courtesy Illinois Wesleyan University.  

From there Bottleworks Management opened Sweetwater Tavern + Grill along Michigan Ave. in Chicago in 2010.  (Many may remember the space as the old Bennigan's restaurant that had a high profile along one of the world's most famous streets.)  Other restaurants followed including the 2011 opening of South Branch in the Chicago Loop and Old Town Pour House in Chicago's Old Town neighborhood in 2013.  That same year, they opened a second Old Town Pour House location in Oak Brook.  Today, there are two other Old Town Pour House locations - one in far west suburban Naperville and another location in Gaithersburg, MD, the groups first foray outside of the state of Illinois.  

In 2016, Bottleworks Management opened the first City Works Eatery and Pour House in Minneapolis.  The City Works concept beyond what their Old Town Pour House restaurants offered.  It offered an upscale sports bar experience with 90 beers on tap - many that were from local breweries in the Twin Cities area.  A Philadelphia-area City Works came on line in 2016, while a third one opened near Pittsburgh in 2017.  Other City Works Eatery and Pour House locations opened in Doral, FL, Frisco, TX, and Fort Worth, TX.  City Works locations opened in Ohio, Florida, and Massachusetts after that.  

It wasn't until 2019 when Bottleneck Management brought the City Works concept to the Chicagoland area by opening the City Works in Schaumburg.  There are two other City Works Eatery and Pour House locations in the far northern suburbs of Vernon Hills and Wheeling.    

The dining area at City Works is a large open space with wooden beams across the ceiling.  A long bar with a number of flat-screen television hung on the wall behind the bar showing various sports, but primarily Chicago White Sox baseball that day.  A line of booths filled up about half the restaurant while tables and chairs were between the booths and the bar.  

They have outside dining at City Works, as well.   It looked like a nice area to dine or to hang out in the sun and I was sort of surprised that more people weren't taking advantage of the patio as it was nice weather that day.  I did notice that only a couple tables had umbrellas and they weren't open.  I would have thought more emphasis would have been placed on putting people on the patio.  

Since I was a single diner, I ended up sitting at the bar.  I parked myself in front of a large flat screen television with the baseball game on.  Three guys were working behind the long bar and it was a flurry of activity going on.  Finally, one of the bartenders with the name of Jason came over to greet me and to drop off a food menu.  He asked me what to drink and since they had 40 beers on tap, I had to take a minute to digest the beer menu.  

The beer list was on the wall on the far end of the restaurant area.  It featured a lit board with removable slats with the listed beers where they could easily change out for rotation purposes that was mounted to a decorative stone wall.   The majority of the taps are dedicated to local craft beers such as Metropolitan, Two Brothers and Short Fuse Brewing - all three that I have visited or have drank their beers before.  In the mood for a hazy IPA that day, I ordered up a Son of Juice hazy from the Maplewood Brewery and Distillery on N. Maplewood in Chicago.    

As I checked the menu, I immediately saw that they were in brunch.  Well, I didn't want brunch.  I wanted a burger or a sandwich or something completely different from the brunch offerings they had .  When Jason came over to take my food order, I told him that I wasn't in the mood for brunch and that I'd probably just finish up my beer and go grab lunch some other place.  "Wait a minute," he said as he pulled the brunch menu away from me.  "Let me see if I can get them to do something off the regular menu for you."  

He came back moments later out of the kitchen just off the bar and handed me a regular menu.  "Yeah, they said it would be no problem," he said.  I was more than impressed that he was able to accommodate me.  

And, man, did they have a lot of stuff on the menu to choose from.  They had a number of appetizers for single orders or to share with two or more people.  City Works also had a large variety of soups and salads for the offering, and they had a good number of burgers and chicken sandwiches to choose from.  They had pasta dishes and barbecued ribs on the menu, along with main entrées such as a bone-in center-cut pork chop, a peppercorn-crusted rare ahi tuna steak, and a grilled chicken breast served with a mix of white rice, andouille sausage and succotash with a creole butter/chile oil mixture.  They also had a few vegetarian options on the menu, something that I had suddenly been keen on seeing on menus because I work with a guy who is a vegetarian.  

The ahi tuna steak sounded really good, but then I saw the tacos section.  City Works had Chicken Tinga tacos, brisket tacos, barbecued pulled pork tacos, mahi mahi (albeit battered) tacos, and spicy shrimp tacos.  But the one that jumped out at me were the ahi tuna tacos.  I figured that these would tie me over until dinner that night where I was going to have a good ol' thin-crust REAL Chicago-style tavern pizza.  

The soft flour tacos were filled with poké-style ahi tuna and topped with an asian slaw mixture with pickled green chiles, chopped cilantro and served with a sesame ginger vinaigrette that had a cool, yet spicy bite to it.   The ahi tuna tacos were simply outstanding.  There were so many taste variations going on that I swear I must have said, "Mmmmm...." with nearly each bite I took of the tacos.  The homemade crispy tortilla chips on the side were more for decoration for me as I concentrated on the wonderful ahi tuna tacos.  

When Jason asked me how the tacos were, I had my mouth somewhat full and I gave him the thumbs up.  He was still in front of me when I swallowed my bite and before I took my next bite, I said, "These are a spot-hitter!"  

About the only sour aspect of my visit to City Works was this note at the bottom of my ticket: "Due to increased costs of operations, a 3% surcharge has been added to all checks.  This charge may be removed from dining room checks upon your request."  Look, I understand that profit margins in restaurants can be razor thin.  Alcohol is definitely a profit center for many of these restaurants while food costs continue to rise.  And I suppose that the 3% surcharge is cheaper than reprinting about 150 menus with higher food prices.  Still, I just see it as another sneaky fee - like credit card surcharges that are popping up all over the place - that restaurants are starting to implement.  I liken it to a baggage fee that airlines charge passengers.  

With all that said - I didn't ask for the charge to be removed.

Even knowing now that City Works is a small chain, I would have no problem heading back in for another meal if I were to find one in my travels.  The food selection was varied and interesting, the ahi tuna tacos that I had on this visit were outstanding, and the beer selection was top-notch.  And I have to give my bartender/server Jason a shout out for allowing me to order off the regular menu as they were in the midst of brunch and I didn't want brunch.  City Works was a pleasant find in the far northwest suburbs of Chicago. 

El Patio de Albuquerque

Fresh off the plane at Albuquerque's Sunport International Airport, my wife and I shuttled over to National Car Rental to pick up our rental vehicle.  It was just before 1 p.m. when we got the Toyota Highlander and I had it planned out that we would have lunch in Albuquerque before heading up to Santa Fe for a few days.  I had previously looked for restaurants near the airport and one sort of popped out at me.  I did some research online before we went to New Mexico and I was pretty sure I wanted to have lunch at this place - El Patio de Albuquerque.  

Dave Sandoval and his wife Gloria started El Patio in 1977 after he served with the Marines in Vietnam in the 60's.  An engineer by trade, Sandoval was living in Hollywood, CA after getting discharged from the military but decided to move back to New Mexico to open a restaurant with his wife and father-in-law Tom Baca.  Sandoval wanted a simple restaurant that fit comfortably in a neighborhood that served old family-recipe New Mexican-style cuisine.  

The Sandoval's and Baca found an old house near the University of New Mexico campus that fit their needs and renovated the front yard into an outdoor patio seating area.  As the restaurant grew, the Sandoval's young sons Tom and Chris worked in the restaurant.  Tom learned most of the recipes from his grandfather who ran the kitchen at El Patio de Albuquerque for 35 years.  After Tom Baca retired, Tom Sandoval took over the kitchen for the restaurant.  A few years ago, Dave and Gloria Sandoval stepped back from running the day-to-day operations for the restaurant and their youngest son Chris took over.  A few things changed with the brothers in charge of the restaurant including a second location that opened in 2018 on Albuquerque's northwest side.  Chris is also in charge of El Patio de Albuquerque's catering business.  

After getting the rental vehicle from National, I punched in my GPS for El Patio de Albuquerque.  It turned out it was less than a 10 minute drive to the restaurant.  We pulled up in front of El Patio de Albuquerque just after 1 p.m.  (see map)  While you can't see the building from the street because of the trees in the patio area out front, the deep blue picket fence between the sidewalk and the patio really stood out.  The restaurant is on a street that has a number of funky little shops and restaurants up and down the way.  We were able to park on the street just down from El Patio de Albuquerque.  

We were greeted by a woman - Mary - who asked if we wanted to eat inside or out.  It was a warm day - unseasonably warm by Albuquerque standards for that time of year - but it was dry.  Under the shade trees, it was particularly pleasant.  We took a seat along the wall which had a New Mexican landscape mural painted on it.   They had what I would classify as "yacht rock" music playing over the sound system that was piped out onto the patio area.  Music by Pablo Cruise, Player and other 70's light-rock heavyweights serenaded us as we chilled out on the patio.  

After being seated, Mary gave us a couple menus.  I immediately ordered a Dos Equis Ambar and some chips with salsa and fresh guacamole.   The salsa had a bit of a smoky bite to it and the guacamole was fresh and flavorful.  It was nice just hanging out on the patio having lunch after leaving Iowa just 5 hours prior.  

The menu wasn't all that big at El Patio de Albuquerque which I think is good.  They open at 10 a.m. and have breakfast items such as a cheese enchilada topped with an egg and a choice of green or red chile sauce, huevos rancheros (eggs served any style on a tortilla), and a smothered breakfast burrito.  Breakfast items are served until 3 p.m. daily.  New Mexican-style lunch and dinner specialties on the menu include cheese and onion enchiladas, a bean and cheese burrito, fajitas, and chile rellenos.  Many of the items on the menu were vegetarian friendly, something that I notice more often working with a guy who went vegetarian a couple three years ago.  They also had a green chile cheeseburger on the menu and on Friday's they offer grilled Atlantic cod tacos.  

But I knew what I wanted even before I looked at the menu.  I had been jonesin' for some New Mexico green chile soup ever since we decided to go to there on our vacation.  And I knew that any Mexican/New Mexican-style restaurant would have it.  And the green chile stew they had on the menu at El Patio de Albuquerque did not disappoint.  The first thing I noticed was that they put potatoes into their green chile soup.  When I had gotten green chile soup/stew in Colorado, I don't remember it ever having potatoes in it.  Anyway, it was a nice addition that I'll have to think about when I make green chile soup at home.  It also featured big chunks of tender pork in the stew and had an outstanding flavor.  

A side of beans came as a side with the soup along with a flour tortilla shell.  These were pinto beans and not refried beans.  I decided on this trip that I liked pinto beans a heckuva lot more than refried beans.  And for good measure, I got a ground beef taco.  It was served in a hard shell corn tortilla and topped with chopped lettuce and tomatoes.  I would have to say the taco was just sort of "meh!"  

I also got a sopapilla that came with my meal.  Sopapillas are basically a puff pastry deep fried traditionally in animal fat.  But El Patio de Albuquerque fries theirs in sunflower seed oil.  It was a like a little puff ball and I used it to dip into my green chile stew.  I had noticed honey on the table when we first sat down and I wondered why they had honey.  My wife surmised that it may be something that people put on their breakfast orders.  After we finished the meal, I asked Mary what the honey was for.  "Oh, they're for the sopapillas," she said.  "And we use real honey to go with our sopapillas."  I was sort of mad with myself for not trying the honey with the sopapilla.  And that was not a mistake that I made again as many places we ate at during our time in New Mexico came with sopapillas and they had honey on the table.  

My wife ordered the green chile chicken enchiladas.  "Our most popular item on the menu," Mary said as she was jotting down my wife's order.  "Good choice!"  

Chopped lettuce and tomatoes and a small tub of sour cream came with the chicken enchiladas, as well as sides of pinto beans and papas - basically fried potatoes with some sort of a coating on the outer shell.  We found that papas were a staple of New Mexican cuisine and were found in burritos, enchiladas and other stuffed foods such as sopapillas stuffed with potatoes, meat and sometimes eggs for a breakfast dish.  

My wife was ecstatic over her choice.  "The chicken is so fresh and tender, and that sauce just helps enhance the flavor," she said between bites.  

After we finished, we were talking with Mary and telling her of our travel plans for the rest of our vacation.  She told us of some good places to eat in Santa Fe and up in Chimayo.  But she also said, "I grew up around Santa Fe and I have to tell you, the food that we have here is as close to the food my grandmother used to make when I was a little girl.  This is real New Mexican food."  

Before we left, we went into the restaurant to use the restroom and to look around before we took off for Santa Fe.  Just inside the front door was a small indoor entry way that could accommodate about 10 people.  Artwork hung on the wall including the painting of a large hot air balloon as Albuquerque is the home of the International Balloon Fiesta, the largest hot air balloon festival in the world which is held the 2nd week of October annually.  

Just past the entry way room was the main dining area.  It, too, was also small and had an "L" shape to the dining room.  More artwork was on the walls of the wood-floored, low-ceilinged room with a large painting over the fire place that appeared to be a Steller's Jay, a relative of a blue jay that is found in the U.S. Southwest down into Mexico and Central America.  

Also on the mantel of the fireplace was a small framed photograph of two people that looked like it was taken in the 1930's or 40's.  "That's the people who owned this house before it was a restaurant," Mary told us.  "In fact, their grandson comes back to Albuquerque at least once a year and always comes in here to get a meal and to reminisce about being in the house when he was a young boy."

I don't think there was anything to dislike about El Patio de Albuquerque.  The cozy nature of both the outdoor patio and the inside dining area, the authentic New Mexican-style food, and the friendly service we experienced were all part of what turned out to be a good first visit to the restaurant.  I sort of wanted to go back and try their fajitas or have breakfast there, but it never worked out.  But if I ever get back to Albuquerque, I will stop back in at El Patio de Albuquerque. 

Flight Bar + Grille - Huxley, IA

Coming down from Minneapolis on a recent trip to the Twin Cities, I decided to continue on toward Des Moines rather that taking the Avenue of the Saints cutoff that shaves about an hour of my drive back home.  The main reason was to stop in the small town of Huxley just south of Ames to try a burger at the 2023 Best Burger in Iowa contest winner, Flight Bar + Grille.  

Since 2010, the Iowa Beef Industry Council has held a contest for the Best Burger in Iowa.  Semi-finalists are determined by a voting campaign (the ballot box is usually "stuffed" by fans and friends of a particular burger joint), and the top 10 vote-getters are then visited by a handful of judges who try the establishments signature burger.  The judges then determine who they feel has the best burger out of the 10 they tried.  Some of the previous winners, well, I thought 2 or 3 of them were pretty bad burgers and I was sort of scratching my head as to why the judges thought that particular burger was the best in Iowa that year.

(As and aside - I've hit all of the winners (click here to see the Road Tips entries on the Best Burger in Iowa category), with the exception of 2 - 2019 winner Wood Iron Grille in Oskaloosa, and 2021 winner Bambino's in Ossian.  One of these days I'll get to those two places to try their burgers.)

The couple who started Flight Bar + Grill have a Quad City-connection.  Matt Pacha and his wife Marianne grew up in Eldridge, IA just north of Davenport.  Pacha got his start at Hy-Vee in Davenport and worked there during high school and into his first couple of years of college at St. Ambrose University.  He wound up as an assistant store manager at one of the Hy-Vee stores in Davenport, then was transferred to one of the Hy-Vee stores in Ames, IA in 2015 where he became the director of store operations, eventually becoming an assistant store manager.  

Pictured right - Marianne and Matt Pacha.  

When Matt was transferred to Ames, they settled in Huxley, IA, a fast-growing commuter town between Ankeny and Ames.  It was similar to Eldridge and they immediately felt an affinity with the town.  Their dream was to start a community-style pub where all ages could congregate over food, drinks and live sports on TV.  

The local high school were named the Bombers and had a B-52 bomber as part of their logo.  The Pachas wanted to use the flight theme for their restaurant and decided it would simply be called Flight.  Work on the restaurant began in the summer of 2021 and hired Katie Boughey as their executive chef.  Boughey and Matt Pacha had worked together at the east Hy-Vee in Ames.  Work progressed and by early March 2022, Flight Bar + Grill opened for business.  

And just a little over one year in business, Flight Bar + Grille hit the jackpot by having their double-smashed patty Foundation burger was judged the best burger in Iowa for 2023.  For each Foundation burger sold at Flight Bar + Grill, the Pachas donate $1 to the Ballard Education Foundation, a non-profit designed to "enhance the educational experiences and opportunities available to students of Ballard Community Schools."

I pulled into Flight Bar + Grill just about 1:30 p.m.  It's located in a strip mall on the far north side of Huxley just about 8 miles south of Ames. (see map)  It's a little strange to get to Flight as you have to pull into the Fareway parking lot and drive to the north side of the strip mal.  Parking was plentiful in the lot in front of the brick building that housed Flight Bar and Grill.

I had accumulated a number of e-mails on my drive between Minneapolis and Huxley and I needed a place to spread out and work on my computer while I had lunch.  It was a nice day and the hostess suggested sitting outside on the covered patio.  I didn't really want to sit outside trying to work, so I went for a table inside the main dining room which was well-lit by the large windows on the north and east side of the room with exposed ductwork in the ceiling.  The hostess seemed to be adamant about seating me outside, but I wanted a four-seat table in the dining area.  She reluctantly dropped off a menu at the table I picked out.  (Note to servers and host staff - Why can't I sit where I want to?  Especially when the restaurant is less than packed?)

My server that day was a nice young lady by the name of Alesha.  She was extremely pleasant during the duration of my visit to Flight.  There weren't a lot of people in the restaurant while I was there, but the high ceiling with no sound treatment, the big windows and the concrete floor told me that this place probably got pretty loud when it filled up.  Alesha asked me what I wanted to drink and I noticed on the drink menu that they had the Big Grove Easy Eddy hazy IPA on tap.  That was an easy choice for me.  

Burgers were the highlight of the menu, but they also had sandwiches, wraps, soups, salads and appetizers to choose from.  It wasn't an extensive menu, but there were enough interesting items to choose from.  

The Foundation burger had two smashed patties on a brioche bun topped with cheddar cheese, bacon, grilled onions and topped with a house-made ground mustard aioli.  Lettuce and a tomato slice finished out the burger.  That sounded good, but it also sounded like a lot of other flavors and I wanted to have a taste of the burger meat more than anything else.  

While the mushroom/Swiss cheese burger with a black pepper aioli sounded intriguing, I went with the Classic burger - a double smashed-patty burger topped with cheddar cheese and a garlic aioli.  I asked Alesha if she could put bacon on it and she said it was no problem.  For a side, I got their house French fries.  

There was a problem with my burger from the start.  First of all, there was no cheddar cheese on the burger.  I thought about asking Alesha to see if she could bring some cheese, but then I thought not.  A large dollop of garlic aioli was placed on top of the bacon which formed an "X" across the top of the burger.  

From the first bite I could tell the burger was over-seasoned.  Whatever salt concoction they put on the burger, well, it was way too much.  The bun was spongy, but there was too much of it.  I started to peel the edges off the burger with each bite.  The garlic aioli was overpowering and there was too much of it on the burger and combined with the over-seasoning, it really hid the taste of the beef in the burger.  It was sort of disappointing and turned out to be somewhat of a gut-bomb.  It sat in my stomach for a long time and I wasn't really hungry when I finally made it home later in the day.  

The fries, however, were pretty good.  They were of the battered variety and had a nice soft potato inlay.  But the burger was so filling that I only had a few before I finally threw in the towel.  

Once again, I have to question what the judges in the Best Burger in Iowa contest were thinking when they named the burger at Flight Bar + Grill as the best in Iowa for 2023.  The Classic burger I had wasn't too much different from the award-winning Foundation burger - other than the cook forgot to put the cheddar cheese on it.  I just wasn't all that impressed with it.  But I do have to admit that Flight Bar + Grill was a nice place and probably a very popular place with the people in the town of Huxley.  I have to hand it to the Pachas for putting something of that caliber in the small - but growing - town.  

The License Plates of New Mexico

As much as I travel by car, I see a lot of license plates from various states around the country.  On long trips around the Midwest to help break up the monotony, I used to play a game - License Plate Bingo - where I would check off all the states license plates I would see on the roadways, especially in the summertime.  I would occasionally see cars sporting plates from Alaska and Hawaii.  (A few years ago, there was a car with Hawaii plates in the Quad Cities for a couple three years.  Turned out it was a student at the Palmer School of Chiropractic who had his car shipped over to the mainland to use while he was in school.)  

But the ones that really stick out to me are the ones that I see from New Mexico - especially my all-time favorite plate that I'll talk about in a bit.  We saw 'em all during our trip to New Mexico earlier this year.  

A lot of states feature drab-colored or classic-style license plates.  The fonts and background colors of Indiana's current plates look so much like the Iowa plates that it's tough to tell the difference.  Some states have so much clutter on their plates that it's difficult to figure out what state they're from.  

Over the past few years the state of Iowa has suddenly figured out that people don't want silos and buildings on their plates and they have issued a "Blackout Plate" consisting of white letters and numbers on a black background.  It looks great on my car and on my wife's car - both are white - and it looks good on black or grey cars.  

The state of Iowa has 29 commemorative plates for various colleges and universities around the state.   A few years ago, a number of license plate "hackers" thought the Dordt University license plates looked pretty nice on black or white cars.  Dordt's uniform colors are predominantly black and white with gold trim and enterprising people would hide the "Dordt University" with a license plate frame and would put black tape over the "Defenders".  Hiding any lettering on a license plate is against the law in Iowa, but the state saw how popular the white on black plates were.  

In 2019, Iowa passed legislation creating the "Blackout Plate".  For a one-time $60 fee, people could get the black and white plates. The first week they were available to all 99 counties, they sold out.   In all, the state has issued nearly 490,000 "Blackout" license plates generating nearly $26 million in voluntary tax revenue for the state.  It appears that other states are starting to catch on to the idea.  Utah has now made a "Blackout" plate available and there is a wait of nearly 6 to 8 weeks to get the tags.  

And that's kind of interesting because Utah's regular issue license plates are one of the more colorful ones I've seen.  It features a picture of Delicate Arch from the Arches National Park on the background of the plate.   North Dakota's, South Dakota's and Nevada's license plates also feature colorful scenic backgrounds.  They definitely stand out color-wise even though it's difficult to make out what the pictures are when you're passing someone at 78 mph on the interstate.  

But the New Mexico plates have always stuck out - and it really doesn't have anything to do with background pictures or the fonts they use.  They're just, well, noticeable.  

Actually, New Mexico has three standard issue plates.  The two that are the most well-known are the red on yellow license plate, and the yellow on turquoise license plates.  Both feature the Zia sun symbol in the middle of the plates.  The Zia sun symbol represents the four main directions, the four seasons of the year, the four periods of each day (morning, noon, evening, and night), and the four seasons of life (childhood, youth, middle age, and old age). The center of the sun symbol stands for life itself.  New Mexico is also the only state that uses the "USA" as a tag after the state name to make sure that people don't mistake the plates for Mexican plates.  

The red on yellow plates were first introduced in 1958 and went through some variations over the years.  Since 1978, the red on yellow plates have been the primary license tags on vehicles in New Mexico.  

The yellow on turquoise plates were introduced in 2010 and were immediately named as the "Best New Plate" by the Automobile License Plate Collectors Association (yes, that is a real organization!).  It was the first time a New Mexico plate had been honored by the club which was founded in 1954.  

Because turquoise is the de facto "state color" of New Mexico, it was a no-brainer to issue plates in that color.  New Mexico's nickname "Land of Enchantment" is featured prominently on both license plates.

It turns out that New Mexico has a number of specialized plates.  New Mexico has SIXTY different plates to either choose from for people who are qualified to have them.  That has to be a nightmare for law enforcement.  But in a state where there are 2.1 million people living, I suppose there are enough different variations that allow that many different types of plates.  

The plate themes are very diverse - there are 10 license plates for 8 colleges and 2 junior colleges in the state.  There are specific license plates for residents of Santa Fe and Las Cruces.   The "Wildlife" plate features a roadrunner on it.  (We didn't see a roadrunner while we were there, much to my dismay.)  There are license plates that commemorate or honor Boy Scouts, bass fishing, Route 66, breast cancer awareness, pollinator protection, and retired fire fighters and state police.  (You can see all 60 vehicle and motorcycle plate styles for New Mexico by clicking here.)  

We saw a couple plates that I thought were somewhat interesting during our trip to New Mexico. There were plates that honored retired veterans from each of the branches of military service.  They also had disabled veteran plates as shown below left.  The veterans plates of gold on navy blue with an eagle on the side really stood out.  

Another plate that we saw from time to time was the Farm & Ranch Heritage tag that showed support for New Mexican farmers and ranchers.  What seemed to be most interesting in all of this - the vehicles that sported these plates were all high dollar SUV's or pick up trucks.  I especially got a kick out of seeing this one (above right) on a Mercedes GLA SUV.  

But the best license plate is also a standard issue plate that New Mexico first introduced in 2017.  This is my all-time favorite license plate - the "Chile Capital of the World" tag.  It features gold lettering on a black background with green and red chiles shown prominently on the side.  This was also awarded the "License Plate of the Year" the year it was issued by the ALPCA.  

I first saw this plate when my wife and I were in Colorado Springs in a hotel parking lot in August of 2018.  The plate just jumped out at me.  It immediately became my favorite license plate.  Each time I see one of the "chile" plates, I smile.  The color combinations of the red, green and gold just pop off the black background.  

I wanted to get a novelty "chile" plate while we were in New Mexico.  And while I don't like to go into the tourist trap places like they had in Santa Fe, Albuquerque and Taos, I did stop to take a quick look around in some of them to see if they had novelty "chile" plates.  All efforts turned up futile, which, quite actually, was fine with me.

However, my wife and I were driving the backroads between Santa Fe and Albuquerque and we stopped into a "trading post/museum" (more of a tourist trap) in the small town of Los Cerillos.  There they had a few antiques and they also had license plates.  They had a "chile" license plate for sale, but they wanted $12 bucks for it.  I thought about it for a moment, had it in my hands, and thought, "No, I'll find a novelty plate somewhere in Albuquerque."  

But my wife was adamant.  "If you want this plate, I'll buy it for you."  I hemmed and hawed for a moment before she finally picked up the plate and took it to the front counter and bought it for me.  

I usually don't buy much of anything as far as trinkets or collectables on vacation, but this car license may be the best thing that I brought home from a vacation.  And I have my wife to thank for that.  

I have it proudly displayed in my office.  And I get a bit of a smile each time I glance at it.  

Buddy Boy Fine Barbecue - Minnetrista, MN

I have a former account who has his "shop/man-cave" out in an industrial area near St. Bonifacious on the far west side of Minneapolis.  About 4 years ago as I was driving out to his place and saw a barbecue joint on the side of the road - Buddy Boy Fine Barbecue - that always stuck in my head.  On a recent trip to the Twin Cities, I had some time to make the drive out to the Minnetrista area and have something to eat at Buddy Boy.  

Joe Cox was a military brat whose father met his mother in Taiwan and married her while stationed there.  After Joe was born, the family moved multiple times to different countries with different types of cuisine and different ways of preparing the food.  He was fascinated by the different ways to make wood-fired foods, especially the first time he went back to Taiwan and watched his mother cook food over charcoal and wood.  After the family relocated to the western suburbs of Minneapolis, the young Joe began to experiment cooking his own food over open flame.  As a teenager, he got a job as a dishwasher at local restaurant.    

After graduating from high school, Joe Cox joined the Marines.  He was drawn to kitchen duty and traveled all over the world while working as a cook.  Cox learned to cook over fire from people in such diverse locales as Spain, Indonesia and Portugal.  After being discharged from the military, Cox entered culinary school learning the finer points of working in a kitchen.  

Pictured right - Joe Cox.  Photo courtesy Lake Minnetonka Magazine.  

In 2005, Joe and his wife, Jennifer, started their own culinary catering company - Cox Culinary Arts - focusing on providing locally-raised food made for wedding receptions, graduations, parties and other events.   In 2010, Joe and Jennifer welcomed Lionel Stewart into their company.  Stewart shared Joe's love of smoked meats and Cox's company soon got a reputation for having some excellent catered events featuring their barbecue.  

Joe Cox took a full time job with a local food service company in the Twin Cities, but still catered weddings and events on the weekends.  Of course, many of the people who had their barbecue at parties told Joe that he needed to open a restaurant.  The Cox's thought about it and came to the realization that maybe they could do some barbecue, but on a limited basis.  

Joe and Jennifer found an old diner along Highway 7 outside of Minnetrista that had been closed for some time.  After some renovation and Jennifer redecorating the restaurant, Buddy Boy Fine Barbecue opened in 2017.  Initially, the restaurant was only open for 4 hours on Saturdays, but people would come from miles away to stand in line for the barbecue at Buddy Boy.  

The restaurant eventually opened three days a week and is now opened for four days - Wednesday thru Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.  By the time the brunt of the COVID pandemic was over in early 2022, the Cox's deemed they needed more room.  They tore down the old gas station just to the west of their restaurant and broke ground on a new place in June of 2022.  The new - and much larger - Buddy Boy Fine Barbecue opened in May of this year.   The old diner that their original restaurant was in is being renovated into a new concept eatery under the name of Hash House.  (Pictured left)  Cox hopes to have the breakfast/lunch only restaurant opened by the end of 2023.  

It was around 1 p.m. when I pulled into the parking lot at Buddy Boy Fine Barbecue.  (see map)  I was sort of taken aback because I remember the place being smaller with a pitched awning.  I didn't know they have moved into a new building earlier this year.  The original Buddy Boy was across the parking lot to the east of the new building.

In front of Buddy Boy was an outdoor stone patio with a covered seating area.  A stage for live music was on the opposite end away from the building.  Off to the side of the outdoor patio area were a number of smokers including a mobile smoker.  In addition to being a barbecue chef, Joe Cox also dabbles in welding and he has made many of his smokers with the help of a couple friends who got him interested in welding.  Cox has made smokers ranging from a small 36 gallon smoker all the way up to a 1000 gallon-sized smoker.  

 

Entering Buddy Boy, the large kitchen and prep area with electric smokers was off to the left.  It was a clean kitchen - one of the more clean kitchens I've seen in a barbecue joint, let alone any restaurant..  

It turned out that Joe Cox was tending meat in the smoker and he saw me taking pictures of the kitchen area.  He laughed and said, "I hope that you aren't from the health department!"  I told him that I had never seen a barbecue joint with such a clean kitchen area.  Then I saw the slabs of ribs they were preparing to put into smokers inside and out front.  Joe had one of his guys hold up a slab of ribs to show how meaty they were before they were cooked. 

I didn't know the drill about ordering at the restaurant and the sign at the front counter said to head directly to the cashier to order.  I knew they had a bar, so I figured that it was one of those places where you had to order your food at one place, then order drinks from the bar.  After going through the menu, I placed my order with the cashier and went to find a place to sit. 

The dining area was a spacious room with kind of a modern industrial look.  There was an impressive lunch time crowd in the pace and it was pretty loud because of all the concrete, metal and glass in the restaurant.  

Off to the side of the dining area was the Whiskey Room, a room that could be used for private gatherings or overflow seating.  There was a garage door that could be opened during warmer weather that went out onto a back patio for additional room. 

I ended up sitting at the bar which is on the opposite end from the kitchen.  They had a number of beers on tap and I ended up getting the Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing hazy IPA.  What I didn't know is that I could have ordered my food from the bartender instead of at the counter from the cashier.  It's a guess that after 4 p.m. on the nights they're open they have a wait staff in place.  

As with most barbecue joints when I go to them on my first visit, I like to get the sampler platter.  But the sampler platter they had on the menu at Buddy Boy consisted of nearly all their smoked meats - turkey, brisket, pulled pork, sausage and a 1/2 rack of baby back pork ribs.  That would have been good for two or three people, but way too much for me.    

Buddy Boy had barbecue meat by the pound, but that seemed like a lot of meat.  Sandwiches on the menu included a smoked BLT with smoked bacon, the Cubano with pulled pork, ham, and pepper jack cheese, and the Big Buddy which had pulled pork, brisket, sausage, and cole slaw.  They had a burger on the menu as well as a couple pasta dishes where you had your choice of smoked meats to mix in with the pasta.  Wood-fired steaks are available after 4 p.m. on the days Buddy Boy is open.

They had a number of appetizers on the menu - the charbroiled oysters were really of an interest to me.  But I was looking for barbecue and I ended up ordering the brisket burnt end appetizer.  (They also had pork belly burnt ends on the appetizer menu.)  They had three sauces that were distributed in small tubs - a sweet, a tangy and a spicy barbecue sauce.  I also got a side of the baked beans.  

Now, the burnt ends were REALLY burnt.  The first time I had burnt ends in Kansas City years and years ago were also really burnt and hard to chew.  I swore off burnt ends until a few years ago when I had some excellent burnt ends at a barbecue place.  These burnt ends were similar to the ones I had in Kansas City all those years ago.  They were too chewy, dry and well over-cooked.  Some were rock hard.  Even adding some barbecue sauce on them didn't help the taste and texture.  They were highly disappointing.  

The baked beans were good, but they were even better when I put some of the spicy barbecue sauce (which I didn't think was all that spicy) on them.  They were thick and had chunks of pork mixed in with the beans.

Looking back, I have to think that the overcooked burnt ends had to be an anomaly for Buddy Boy Fine Barbecue.  I wish I could have tried some of their pulled pork and sliced brisket, but I didn't want to buy a pound of both to try - considering I was traveling and didn't have a cooler.  Given the large crowd in there for lunch, their food had to be good.  I just pulled the wrong card out of the deck when I ordered the burnt end appetizers.  I don't know if I'll make it back to Buddy Boy Fine Barbecue anytime soon, but I would like to try some pulled pork or brisket on my next visit.  I'm sure it would be a lot better than what I had on my first visit.    

The Demise of the Lake Church Inn Tavern & Grill

When I travel along Interstate 43 between Milwaukee and Green Bay, I always try to stop at the small unincorporated town of Lake Church, just east of Belgium, WI.  Traveling through Lake Church, the county road takes you right up to the edge of Lake Michigan.  (See map)  There's a small parking lot there where I can park and walk out to the shore's edge to stand and watch the waves roll in.  It's like my little moment-of-zen where I can sort of just zone-out for 5 to 10 minutes looking at the lake.  I was able to do that when I was up in Wisconsin last week.

Driving through Lake Church, however, I sensed that something was amiss.  There was this old building that housed the Lake Church Inn Tavern & Grill that became one of my favorite little joints that I've come across in my travels.  I had been fascinated by the place ever since I found this little spot off Interstate 43 a number of years ago.  (Click here to see my original entry on the Lake Church Inn Tavern & Grill.)  I was even more fascinated after meeting the owner and one of the regulars who gave me the history of the 170-year-old building which was a notorious speakeasy during Prohibition.  I loved the fact that they had Pabst Blue Ribbon on tap and Blatz beer in bottles.  And they also had a great burger.  It was simply one of the coolest places I've found. 

But it appeared that the building was gone.  I hadn't been there for about a year and the stately old building was nowhere to be found.  I was sort of discombobulated as I sat at the intersection trying to get my bearings where the building used to be.  Getting into the hotel in Milwaukee that evening, I did a Google search for the Lake Church Inn Tavern & Grill.  And I was horrified and immediately saddened to learn that it had been destroyed by fire in May of this year.  

Owner Dave Maiman - known to the locals and regulars as "Uncle Dave" - had just left the building around 5:30 p.m. on May 17th when he was suddenly called back as a fire had broken out in the kitchen.  The fire quickly spread throughout the 175-year-old building and there was no chance to stop it.  22 fire departments descended upon Lake Church to battle the fire as they also had to contend with high winds which helped fan the flames.  The building burned through the night and was finally out around midnight.  The building was a total loss.

Pictured left - Firefighters battle the blaze at the Lake Church Inn Tavern & Grill.  Photo courtesy of Ozaukee Press. 

It was determined that electrical wires in the wall of the kitchen area shorted out and started the fire.  The old building had no safeguards in place to contain the fire and it went up in flames in no time flat.   The employees and about 8 patrons evacuated the building and no one was harmed, save for an employee who suffered from a bit of smoke inhalation trying to save some items from burning up in the flames.  

Dave Maiman remarked after the fire that he was hoping to pass the business along to the next owner who would keep the bar/restaurant going.  And he lamented the loss of the hand-carved back bar and the original tin ceiling tiles that dated back to when the building was built in 1848 - the year Wisconsin became a state.  But mostly he was going to miss the people who came into the place that he owned for over 20 years.  People had eaten or imbibed at the Lake Church Inn Tavern & Grill for generations and suddenly it was no more.  

 

Pictured left - Dave Maiman makes his way past the rubble from the aftermath of the fire at the Lake Church Inn Tavern & Grill.  Photo courtesy Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.  

On a subsequent visit to the Lake Church Inn Tavern & Grill, Maiman had told me that he was getting old and was looking for the right person to buy the establishment. But now after the fire, that obviously won't happen.  Maiman said in an interview after the fire that he didn't know if he was going to rebuild the restaurant.  But, quite honestly, how could you? There's no way to replicate the vintage mid-19th century building, the hand-crafted bar, the tin-ceiling panels, and the homeyness that the Lake Church Inn Tavern & Grill had.  The debris was long gone, the land that the building sat upon had been leveled off, and a thick grassy patch was in place of where the building used to be. I'm just thankful that I got to experience the place on a couple three occasions and will sadly miss the Lake Church Inn Tavern & Grill. 

Albuquerque, New Mexico

During our vacation to New Mexico this past summer, we flew into Albuquerque to start our adventure.  While we went up to Santa Fe for a few days, we did plan on coming back to Albuquerque for a couple days before flying out back home.  Before we went, we heard just enough bad things about Albuquerque from people who have been there - and haven't been there - to scare the living bejeezus out of my wife.  And when she found out that we were staying downtown - which didn't get a lot of rave reviews from those supposedly in the know - she was willing to call off the trip.  

Long before I started to travel extensively and gather up hotel points like they were Chiclets, my wife and I had some pretty adventurous nights at some hotels that were - well, let's just say they didn't offer bathrobes for their guests.  One night in a hotel in downtown Berkeley, CA about 25 years ago still haunts my wife to this day.  But as I told her, we weren't going to be walking around downtown Albuquerque at night and the hotel we were going to be staying at was an upper class boutique hotel.  That still didn't seem to calm her fears about staying a couple nights in Albuquerque.    

Earlier this year, Albuquerque came in at 17th in the nation in terms of major crimes (aggrevated assault, rape, and robbery), but homicides - which peaked at 120 for the city of 565,000 people in 2022 - are down slightly so far this year.  Still, Albuquerque ranks 11th in homicides per capita per city in the U.S. in 2023.  Memphis is No. 1 and we've been to Memphis a couple three times over the years and my wife has never freaked out about going down there.   

It's all in the stories and who is telling it.  I had a douchebag co-worker years ago who used to live in Albuquerque who said he saw a guy get shot in the face when he was living there.  But he was so full of shit and a complete and utter asshole who was eventually fired from the company I used to work for, we all KNEW that he never saw anybody get shot in the face - in Albuquerque or any other place he ever lived.

Anyway, enough of that for now.  I was actually kind of looking forward to our time in Albuquerque.  Like any city in the southern or southwestern part of the U.S., it has its problems - crime, homelessness, drug use, illegal immigration.  But it also has over 300 days of sunshine a year, the cost of living is very reasonable, it has some stunning vistas just a short drive from the city, and it celebrates New Mexican culture with festivals, events, and - most notably - their restaurants.  

After some nice days up in Santa Fe and a day trip up to Taos, we made it to Albuquerque on a sunny afternoon at the end of the work week.  We stayed at the Hotel Andaluz which has a bit of history behind it. (see map)  

The hotel dates back to 1939 when it was opened as a Hilton hotel, the first Hilton property owned by Conrad Hilton outside the state of Texas.  The hotel - designed by Dallas-based architect Anton Korn - was the first high-rise building in New Mexico.  After a new Hilton hotel was built near the newly opened freeway through Albuquerque, the original Hilton was sold in 1974.  It went through a number of owners, upgrades, and name changes over the years before it became the Hotel Andaluz - the Spanish spelling for the region of Andalusia in southern Spain - in 2009 after a $30 million dollar renovation.  In 2019, the Andaluz became part of Hilton's Curio Collection of boutique hotels.  

The main lobby of the hotel features traditional New Mexican architecture with splashes of Spanish and Mexican motifs with an oasis-style theme.  The lobby was actually called The Casbah and featured small rooms off to the side of the two story lobby area.  When we checked in, there was a local veterans group doing a memorial ceremony in the lobby.  It was sort of awkward as my wife and I were pulling our bags around men and women in uniform and past an honor guard ready to present the flag for the ceremony.   We didn't know if we should wait until the ceremony was over to check in or what.  When a hotel employee pointed us to the check in area, we went ahead.  

On the far end of the lobby area were three stained glass sculptures that were used as the back drop for jazz combo who played in the Casbah the following evening.  The bar for the Casbah was toward the front of the building, next to the hotel's restaurant - MAS Tapas y Vino.  We never did try the restaurant while we were there, but we did spend some time in the downstairs bar.  

There was also a second floor bar that had an outdoor patio.  The bartenders were younger and they set off sort of a cavalier vibe where they just were going through the motions.  We tried to talk them up on places to eat in the area and they both just sort of looked at one another and shrugged their shoulders in an "I don't know" manner.  We went back one night and while they were somewhat busy, I stood at the bar waiting to order drinks for nearly 10 minutes before I gave up and we went down to the lobby bar to grab a nightcap.  When I told the downstairs bartender that they didn't want to wait on me upstairs, well, all hell broke lose.  Evidently, the downstairs bartender was the hotel's bar manager and he called upstairs to ream the two bartenders a new one.  Next thing I know, the male bartender came downstairs and apologized to my wife and I for not waiting on us.  He was profuse in his apology and we gave him a pass.  But my wife and I both got a free drink at the lobby bar out of it.  

The entry way of the hotel featured original western murals by artists Ben Turner and Lloyd Moylan.  The murals depicted events and rituals such as native Pueblo Indians dancing and early settlers traveling across the high New Mexican plains.  There were sculptures and artwork throughout the lobby area from local artists.  

Just off the lobby was a closed room with a plaque outside the door that said, "Martin J. Chavéz Library".  It was a small den-style library with a large fireplace as the centerpiece of the room with shelves of books from the collection of the former 3-term mayor of Albuquerque Martin Chavéz.  Chavez was a proponent of sustainable living for people in Albuquerque and the Hotel Andaluz embraced the sustainable ideals and was awarded just the second LEED Gold Certification for sustainability efforts by hotels in the United States. 

We had picked out our room on the Hilton application before we arrived, but upon our arrival we were upgraded to a junior suite.  The junior suite was pretty small with a small living room, a somewhat cramped bathroom and a small bedroom with a queen-sized bed.  But it was a hotel where bathrobes were supplied which checks the box of "classy hotel" for me.  

We did get out and around to do and see in Albuquerque and one of the places my wife wanted to visit on the advice of a chef we met in Santa Fe was Los Poblanos, a historic inn and organic farm on the northwest side of Albuquerque.  (see map)  The inn dates back to the mid-1930's and is known for its own sustainability growing food used in their restaurant on the grounds around the inn.  We were told to have dinner one night at Campo, the inn's farm-to-fork restaurant.  We took a look at the menu while we were there and we felt it was out of our price range.  Rooms at Los Poblanos start around $400 a night.  

Los Poblanos is also somewhat famous for their lavender products with a large irrigated lavender field which is prominently placed near the front of the inn.  There was a farm shop on the grounds which featured lavender products grown on the farm, as well as herbs, spices, salts, along with crafts by local artisans.  The smell of fresh lavender permeated the air around the fields, even on a hot day.

We also went to Albuquerque's Old Town area.  Now, my wife had it in her head that Old Town was one of the areas in Albuquerque to stay away from.  However, as we were heading toward the Albuquerque Botanical Gardens, we drove through the heart of Old Town.  I was looking around at the shops, art galleries and small restaurants along the streets and I said, "This place doesn't look too bad!  In fact, it looks pretty interesting!"  

My wife was perplexed because she thought all along - getting her erroneous information from someone or someplace - that Old Town was a rough place.  But there was a nice plaza surrounded by marketplaces, museums and small boutique hotels.  There was a low-rider car show that was going on when we were walking around Old Town.  We also found a great restaurant that I'll talk about at a later date.  

Albuquerque was somewhat surprising to me.  I didn't feel threatened at any place we went to.  We obviously stayed out of the wrong sections of the city, but we did find some neat places to visit.  We took a scenic drive up to the top of the Sandia Mountains that border the city's east side.  And we ate at some very good restaurants in the city.  Like any city in the Sun Belt of the Southwest, Albuquerque has its problems.  But we felt comfortable enough during our visit that we wished we would have spent a day or two more in the city before heading back home.  

 

Tavola - New York City

In New York earlier this year for an expo that was put on by one of our largest accounts, I was joined by my colleague from Montreal to help out with our display.  It turned out that two of our former co-workers who we had worked with before joining the German company I work for now were at the same expo.  We all decided to go out to eat after the expo had concluded for the day and it turned out that there was an Italian restaurant just down the street that one of the guys was familiar with.  It was short walk down to Tavola in the Hells Kitchen neighborhood of Manhattan.  

There are hundreds of Italian restaurants in New York City and my goal was to get to one while I was there for a few days.  And it turns out that Tavola is one of the more famous ones in the city.  There's even been a critically acclaimed short film that centers on Tavola that came out in 2021.  Of course, there's always a story behind the restaurant and this one is pretty interesting.  

Nikola (Nick) Accardi grew up in the small Sicilian coastal village of Castelventrano.  Nick grew up around food and learned how to cook from uncles who were professional chefs.  Instead of going to culinary school, Nick moved to the Basque region of Spain and apprenticed under chef Serge La Point.  He moved back to Sicily where he sourced extra virgin olive oils and ancient bread flour for restaurants when he wasn't working as a chef. 

Pictured right - Nick Accardi.  Photo courtesy the New York Times.  

Moving to New York in the mid-80's, Accardi opened Cola's in the Chelsea neighborhood of mid-Manhattan.  Specializing in Sicilian and southern Italian cuisine, Accardi made a name of himself in the New York City culinary community at the small neighborhood restaurant.  

But in 2011, an opportunity came up for Accardi to take over a landmark grocery store in nearby Hells Kitchen and he jumped at the chance.  

A long time and somewhat famous Italian grocery store - Manganero's Grosseria Italiana - is where Tavola stands today.   The store originally opened in 1893 and expanded in 1956 to include a sandwich shop next door - Hero-Boy.  Hero-Boy was famous in Manhattan for their six-foot long hero sandwiches and their paper-thin sliced meats.  

Manganero's was part deli, part grocery store that - it's been said - introduced both the hero (sub) sandwich and pesto to the U.S. in the early to mid-20th century.  When Hero-Boy was opened, the grocery store continued to make sandwiches, as well.  That eventually led to a dispute between two brothers who were the fourth generation of family members to run the business.  After a split of business assets, one owned the market/deli, while the other owned Hero-Boy.  The dispute centered on trademark infringement and a ruling went against the brother who owned the Italian grocery store.  Saddled with legal debt and tired of fighting in court, Manganero's closed in 2011.  10 years later, a developer stepped in and bought the building that Hero-Boy occupied and wanted to revamp the property for another business.  Hero-Boy closed their doors in 2021.  

When Manganero's Grosseria Italiano became available, Accardi took over the building to put in a pizzeria/Italian restaurant.  He kept part of the grocery store intact paying homage to the Manganero family who owned and lived in the building for over 100 years.  Using homespun Sicilian recipes including Neapolitan pizzas, along with a bit of Basque offerings he learned in Spain, Accardi opened Tavola (Italian for the table) in 2012.  Accardi also owns Vito's Slices and Ices just up the street from Tavola, and was the owner of the short-lived Tavolina two doors down from Tavola.  

Tavola and Accardi were featured in director Nikolas Grasso's short film Tavola starring Margin Alexander as Giancarlo who befriends Accardi (playing himself) on a chance meeting between the two in front of Tavola after Alexander's character told Accardi that he, too, was from Castelventrano, Sicily.   The short film debuted at the Los Angeles Italia Film Festival in 2022 and won awards at film festivals in Italy, Korea and California.  The short is just under 14 minutes in length and can be seen by clicking here.  (Spoiler alert, the very table that Accardi and his guest are seated at in the movie short is the same table that I sat at when we were at Tavola.)  

It was after 4 p.m. after we got out of the expo we were in that day and one of my former colleagues suggested Tavola just up 9th Street between W. 37th and W. 38th (see map).  We all hadn't had lunch and I thought it would be good to have an early dinner and then explore midtown Manhattan in the evening.   The tall neon sign outside Tavola was easy to see down the block from both directions. 

The first steps into Tavola was like walking into the original Manganero's in the mid-1900's.  High tin-tiled ceilings with fans with connecting belts and early 1900's-style ceiling lamps hung over the restaurant.  Store shelves with olive oil, bags of pasta, and bottles of wine were prominent in the front of the building giving a nod to the history of the building.  I liked the tile walls with the mirrors built in along one side with a boar's head looking out into the restaurant.  Toward the back was a counter with stools that was the lunch counter that was in Manganero's for years.  

In the far back of the space were the large wood-fired pizza ovens.  Sacks of garlic heads, round parmesan cheese balls, and cured prosciutto ham halves were hanging in front of the ovens.  The pizza ovens weigh about 7000 pounds and are made with clay from the Vesuvius volcano.  The were mammoth ovens, some of the biggest I've ever seen in a restaurant.   I considered getting a pizza at Tavola, but I still had one night left in the city and was planning on trying to find a New York-style pizza joint before leaving for home.  

One of the waiters came over to us and moved two tables together in front of the grocery shelves in the front of the restaurant.  After being seated, our server by the name of Nicole came over to greet us and dropped off menus.  I immediately ordered a Peroni because it had been somewhat of a long day.  

The menu consisted of a number antipasti appetizers, pasta dishes, entrees that featured chicken, pork and beef, and - of course - the wood-fired pizzas.  To be quite honest, I really wanted to try one of their margherita pizzas just because I knew everything would be fresh.  But I was looking for something more on the order of pasta.  

While there were a couple things that interested me, I couldn't pass up the Pappardelle al Ragout Bolognese - large ribbon pasta made in house that is sautéed in a veal with wild mushrooms in a tomato ragu with a touch of cream added.  And it was a winner.

My colleague from Montreal is a vegetarian (as opposed to a vegan who go full bore non-dairy) and while they do have a vegetarian lasagna dish on the menu, with Nicole's help they were able to come up with a vegetarian pasta dish.  It looked pretty good, but I'm sure it didn't taste anywhere as good as mine did. 

One of my former co-workers ended up with the Spaghetti al Fruiti di Mare - spaghetti that is sautéed with prawns, calamari and clams in a light tomato garlic/white wine sauce.  I'm generally not too big on a red sauce with seafood, but it was light enough on the tomato sauce that it didn't look like it overpowered the seafood on the plate.  He said it was fabulous.   

And my other former colleague got the house lasagna - sheets of pasta with the veal ragu, fresh buffalo mozzarella and parmigiano cheese.  It didn't look like lasagna you'll find in most other restaurants, but it still looked delicious.  And he told that me that it was very delicious.

It's always good to get caught up with old friends over a good meal and the food we all had at Tavola was perfect for just that.  I can't rave enough about the homemade pappardelle pasta with the veal and wild mushroom ragu.  It was simply outstanding.  My dining mates were all extremely happy with what they got.  As I said, there are hundreds of Italian restaurants in neighborhoods across the five boroughs and into New Jersey.  But I can't imagine that there are many better than what I experienced at Tavola.  I was looking for an authentic, old-school Italian restaurant in the heart of Manhattan and I definitely found it at Tavola.   

Fall Along the Mississippi

For the past few years, my wife and I have been taking off for a day or two going up the Mississippi River from the Quad Cities taking a look at the changing leaves in the fall.  Between travel obligations and other things going on, we haven't been able to get away when we wanted to this past October.  It had been such a late fall around the Quad Cities - many of the trees in our neighborhood hadn't begun to change until late October - we thought we may have a shot at seeing some colorful foliage if we went north toward Dubuque and up to Prairie du Chien, WI.  

After spending the night in Dubuque, we took off across the river into southwestern Wisconsin.  We had eaten at at supper club near Hazel Green, WI the night before and we were a little discombobulated getting to the restaurant in the dark down a forested road heading toward the river.   We wanted to see it again in the daylight and headed back to the restaurant.  My wife had noticed a road - Bluff Road - from the previous evening and we decided to take it up along the river.  (see map)

It was a cool and cloudy day and the colors just seem to pop out more on cloudy days.  We found a number of trees had lost their leaves, no doubt from a strong cold front with gusty winds that had moved through the midwest the day before.  But the trees that still had their leaves had such radiant colors that they just seemed to pop out along the roadway.  The tree-covered mounds of southwestern Wisconsin looked similar to a fireworks display with bright yellow, burnt orange and deep red plumes seemingly exploding in each direction.  They were even more vivid against the greens of the grass pastures and the trees that were just getting ready to change.  (As always, you can click on the picture to enlarge it.)  

We got off Bluff Road just south of Dickeyville, WI and took US Highway 61 to the Potosi corner at Tennyson and went down the ravine road and into Potosi.  From Potosi, we took Wisconsin state highway 133 up to Cassville and went north from there.  We found a road just north Nelson Dewey State Park - Closing Dam Road - that started out with black top pavement, but quickly devolved into a one-lane dirt road along the bluff.  (see map)  

We thought we had been on the road before, but we realized later on that we had not.  The one-lane road was a veritable tunnel of trees with the railroad track in between the road and the Mississippi River.  Had anyone been coming toward us, I'm not certain where we would have been able to pull over to allow them to get through.  My wife had me stop a number of times along the road to snap pictures of the brilliant colored foliage on the trees that had yet to lose their leaves.  

The reason we knew we had never been on the road before is that it dead-ended near Lock and Dam 10 on the Mississippi.  Enlarging the map on my GPS, it showed that we were directly across the river from Guttenberg, IA.  My wife was a little amazed at that.  She didn't realize how far north of Dubuque we had gone on the Wisconsin side of the river.  

We had to turn around and head back out on Closing Dam Road toward the county highway that got us there coming out of Cassville.  But heading back south on the dirt road offered us a completely different perspective of the colorful scenery that was behind us as we went up the road.  Once again, we had to stop three or four times to get pictures of the surround area with the contrast of the greens, browns, yellows and burnt orange colors we experienced.  

Getting back on County Road W north of Cassville, we took the road up and around to County Road V which we took a left on and went down in the small river hamlet of Glen Haven, WI.  Years ago, my wife and I would take weekend road trips to Prairie du Chien, La Crosse and others cities along the Mississippi River on the Wisconsin side.  One time we found a small dirt road outside of Glen Haven -  Dugway Road - that we absolutely fell in love with the drives we would take on it in the spring and in the fall.  (see map)  We figured it had been years since we were last on that road.  

Now, Dugway Road is similar to Closing Dam Road a few miles south along the river in that it's a one-lane dirt road that was strewn with leaves that had fallen from the trees.  However, there are notches cut into the side of the bluff that allow cars to pull in to allow oncoming traffic to pass by.  

The trees along Dugway Road were spectacular.  There were other cars out enjoying the scenery along the road that day, but it wasn't a traffic jam by any stretch.  It seemed like every 100 yards we were stopping and taking in the scenery.  The crisp fall air combined with the smell of the leaves on the ground made it even more enjoyable.  

Dugway Road comes out just south of Bagley, WI on Country Road A.  Taking A into Bagley, it eventually turns into County Road X which heads up along the river to the entrance of Wyalusing State Park and its stunning views of the bluffs on both sides of the Mississippi River.  We knew that if we went up to Wyalusing (or it's Iowa counterpart - Pikes Peak State Park - just across the river) that the views would be remarkable, but we also knew that both places were probably packed with people and cars looking at the colorful leaves.  Plus, we were suddenly on a time constraint as our main goal for the day was to get to the Edgewood Locker and they closed at 3:00 p.m.  (We made it - at 2:45 p.m.)  

We hit the right day for leaf gazing along the river in southwest Wisconsin.  There's just something about the way the colors jump out on cloudy days.  We ran into some sun on the way home and while the colors were brighter, it also highlighted the drabness of the nearby trees that had already lost their leaves.  The three back roads that we took to look at the trees are great little rustic roads that offer great views of the trees in the fall, but also some excellent views of the river.  We'll probably head back to this area in the future when fall comes around again.