Road Tips

Unpacking the Suitcase One Last Time...

I always wondered when this day would come.  The day when I would not be packing up my suitcase to go back out on the road.  

If you're a regular reader of Road Tips, you've probably noticed a dearth of entries over the past few weeks.  That's because I lost my job in late September of last year.  

I had worked for my company for 19 years.  About 3 years ago, the man who hired me in 2002 retired and sold the company to a French investment firm who was the parent company of the two biggest audio companies I represented.  The first year was a rough one for many of my colleagues.  Well over half of the North American sales staff was gone within 9 months of the new ownership taking over.   Worried about my job that I really liked, I kept my head down and forged forward.  

By the start of 2020, I was the only one in the U.S. who the new ownership group hadn't replaced with an independent representative company.  Of course, COVID hit in March of 2020 and I didn't travel for months on end.  Then in the summer of 2020, the guy who had been hired to be the sales manager for North America - and a very nice guy who I got along with very well - was fired.  

I had been considered "management" up to that point, being part of Zoom meetings and helping with strategy and forecasting.  Suddenly, the French owners hired two guys who were basically put above me.  I found myself slowly sliding down the corporate totem pole.  I was suddenly not included in calls and memos from the new upper sales management team.  

By last summer, I saw the handwriting on the wall.  The new sales management team wanted to take away 3/4's of my territory.  I didn't like it, I expressed my heartfelt disappointment with it, but I went along with it.  

Finally, things came to a head in September of last year.  On September 30th, I was blindsided on a Zoom call that I was expecting to just be a routine end-of-month sales meeting.  Sitting in a hotel room in Omaha getting ready to go out and call on accounts that day, I was told in the video conference that my services would no longer be required.  I knew deep down inside that day was coming, but I sort of expected it toward the end of 2021 or in early 2022.  I just didn't expect it to be at the end of September of last year.  

And it wasn't that I wasn't doing my job or hitting my numbers, I was.  The hoops the new sales management team were making me jump through became more numerous and much smaller as last year went on.  And some of the smaller hoops had razor blades attached.  They were trying to force me out, but I wouldn't go.  They finally made the decision to bring their own guys in.  

It turns out that I'm pretty well-known in my industry and the phone calls and e-mails of support I received in the first two or three weeks after getting terminated were welcomed and heartfelt.  I heard from a number of people from audio companies who reached out to me not long after I became a free agent who basically said, "Hey, man!  We know you, you have a great reputation in the industry.  We'd hire you in a moment's notice if we had a position open.  Keep in touch!"  

But follow-ups with some of those companies yielded similar responses three or four months later.  It was pretty disheartening.  

A friend of mine called me a couple weeks after I had been let go to offer his best wishes and told me that he was down-sized from his dream job a number of years ago.  In the conversation he told me, "I'm sure you're getting a lot of phone calls from friends, dealers and colleagues.  But let me warn you.  The phone calls will stop, then you'll be wondering where your friends are."

That's exactly what happened. 

I did have a couple offers to work for some companies in the audio field, but they would have been "pioneering" jobs - i.e., a position where I would have had to work my ass off to market new or obscure products to a small (and shrinking) dealer base for high-end audio products.  I didn't want to do that.  

I had a chance to buy a firm that represented some pretty good audio companies from a friend of mine who was retiring.  However, after a couple three weeks of negotiations and conversations, I determined - and my friend agreed - that the companies he represented wouldn't necessarily follow me because I bought his company.  It was with a bit of anguish that I decided to not buy my friend's company. 

I had been talking with a company that represented both home audio and car audio/accessory products.  But the last thing I wanted to do is having to call on stores that sell anything to do with car audio or accessories.  I was almost relieved when they told me that they had gone in a different direction in terms of hiring someone else.  

And it's not that I didn't get a lot of other offers - I did.  But they weren't for jobs I felt comfortable doing.  

There were a handful of jobs that came up through the social recruiting sites such as Linkedin, Indeed, and Zip Recruiter.  I could have been an insurance salesman 8 times over by now.  But I don't want to sell insurance.  Financial planners have come calling trying to recruit me to work for them.  But I'm bad at taking care of my own money, let alone someone else's money.  

I had a couple very positive interviews with a local ad agency looking to hire someone to take the place of a retiring salesperson.  I was told that the money that I needed would be there based on the revenues the salesperson generated.  Then in what turned out to be the final interview, I found out that the key accounts the salesperson was in charge of had been divvied up among other salespeople in the agency.  The money I had been told would be there suddenly wasn't.  

I didn't take the job.  

By that time I really needed to find a job as my severance was up.  Having to start dipping into savings, I reached out to companies outside the audio industry.  I had some interviews here and there, but nothing concrete.  

There were a number of jobs that popped up on the various social employment sites that fit me to a tee.  They were all travel oriented, all sales and marketing jobs, and something that I would have excelled at.  (After all, I have spent nearly 20 years selling stuff that absolutely no one needs.  If I can sell products like that, I can sell anything.)  After applying and getting preliminary meetings, nothing happened. 

Same thing happened with some headhunters I had been in contact with.  I probably talked with five or six different headhunting companies.  Some were enthusiastic of my skill set, as well as my experience of working in business-to-business situations.  But after awhile, many of the headhunters completely ghosted me.  

And I suddenly figured out why.  They're all doing a deep background check and finding that I'm at an age where I should be thinking of retiring rather than trying to find a job.  

I have friends who are retired and seem to be enjoying life.  I'm not that kind of person.  I think it would drive me nuts to be retired.  The last six months have been tough enough hanging around the house and not getting in the car and going to call on accounts like I've been doing since 1993.  Traveling was in my bones, it was part of my life.  Even my wife - who has been with me since 1993 - has known me to do nothing but travel while we've been together.  I used to joke that if I was home for more than two weeks at a time that my wife would be wondering when I was going to be leaving again.  

I have to admit - I had a great job.  I got to travel and go and do and see.  I was able to go to Paris, London, New York City, Seattle, Los Angeles and Montreal.  Of course, my regular travels took me to the great cities of the Midwest - Chicago, St. Louis, the Twin Cities, and even Fargo!  (I loved Fargo!)  I ate in some great (and not-so-great) restaurants as well as some really unique places.  The perks of traveling sent my wife and me to Hawaii a couple times.  We loved our vacations to places such as Southern California, the Gulf Coast, out to Colorado (especially Steamboat Springs), and to the Southeastern seaboard thanks to airline and hotel points that I had accrued.  

But that's pretty much over now.  

I've come to the realization that I probably won't be able to find a job where I'll be able to travel.  While I do have something in the works, it won't involve travel.  

It will basically be an 8-to-5 job, 5 days a week, working in an office looking at a computer screen.  I haven't worked in an office setting outside my home since - well, forever.  I've had to recalibrate my brain over the past couple three weeks to say that it's OK to take this job even if it's not exactly what I want to do.  But the guy who is interested in hiring me is a good guy with a well-established business and I know I can help him out in the capacity that he's looking to fill.  And like anything in life, it will take some time to get used to.  

Even though I won't be adding much to Road Tips, I'm going to keep it going for the time being.  I've invested over 16 years of this where I can't just let it go away.  And I don't want to just write about the restaurants in the Quad Cities.  That sort of narrows my reader base.  But, if my wife and I take off on a weekend trip and find someplace that's interesting, I may make an entry. 

It's sort of funny - Road Tips was once recognized by a popular (at the time) on-line travel site for the popularity of this blog and was getting well over 100,000 hits on their site from readers all over the world.  I've also been threatened by people for giving bad reviews, I've been asked (and even pressured) by some restaurants to visit their establishments, I've been asked to allow people to do their own entries on the blog, and I've been approached by companies to put advertisements on my blog.  But I stayed true to myself and didn't want to monetize my hobby.  

While I'm going to miss writing about the places I've eaten at or have experienced in my travels, there's a couple things I'm not going to miss.  I'm not going to miss eating alone the vast majority of the time.  Dining as a single is awkward enough, especially when you want to try a nice restaurant.  And I'm not going to miss the loneliness of the hotel room - wherever that hotel room is.  (I have to tell you - spending a birthday alone in a hotel room is not fun.  And being sick on the road - also not fun.)  

I've had a great run and I have to thank those of you who have indulged my little hobby and encouraged me over the years.

My little hobby that took on a life of its own.  

As I told many of my accounts when I was let go that this doesn't mean good-bye, but I'll see you next time.  

And if someone out there is looking for a seasoned sales professional who is willing to travel, drop me a line. 

Until then, thanks for looking in to Road Tips!   

Iron Spike Brewing Company - Galesburg, IL

My wife had taken a series of three-day weekends during the holiday season and the weather on one of the Friday afternoons was just outstanding - sunny skies, light winds, temperatures in the low-50's.  She thought it would be fun to take a short drive and maybe go somewhere for lunch.  I had recently seen a short news segment on one of our local television stations about the Iron Spike Brewing Company in Galesburg, IL - about a 45 minute drive from the Quad Cities.  We had known about Iron Spike and we had wanted to go there at some point, and we figured what better day than that sunny and warm December day.    

Matt Engelhaupt grew up on a farm outside Galesburg, but eventually made his way out to San Diego to go to school to become an architect.  While in school on the west coast, he got a gig tending bar at Stone Brewing Company.  He later started to help in the brewery cleaning tanks and other chores.  It was at Stone Brewing where Engelhaupt developed a love for home brewing.

Moving back to Illinois, Engelhaupt continued to experiment with home brewing while working as an architect.  But it was a chance meeting with Dogfish Head Brewing founder Sam Calagione at a brewmaster's conference in 2008 that convinced Engelhaupt to consider a change of vocation.  After trying some of Engelhaupt's beers, Calgione told him that he really needed to think about opening his own brewery.  

It was another four years before Engelhaupt finally put together a plan to open his own brewery.  He found an old building in Galesburg that used to house a community center, but before that it was the central fire station in that city from 1905 to 1970.  But in order for Engelhaupt to make his concept work, he needed to have food served at his brewery.  He turned to a young man who grew up in nearby Williamsfield, IL who had an extensive background in restaurants of all types to partner with him in his venture.  

Ryan Cardwell had his first experience working in his parents restaurant in Williamsfield at the age of 13.  From working in his family's restaurant, he ended up working for a couple national chains learning more about the business end of things.  Cardwell was hooked on the restaurant business and he ended up taking a two-year course at Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in Chicago.  After getting out of school, Cardwell eventually ended up out in Colorado working as the executive chef at the Sonny Lubick Steakhouse in downtown Fort Collins, as well as the catering chef at a Fort Collins butcher and deli shop.  

Engelhaupt approached Cardwell about coming back to Galesburg to partner with him in opening his brew pub.  In 2013, the two secured the purchase of the building from the city of Galesburg and set about putting in a full brewery, kitchen and restaurant.  

The build-out was a challenge as the building was over 100 years old.  They took out the drop ceiling on the main floor and took down walls that were built for the community center.  The original fire pole from the fire station was kept in place and the second floor was designed as a game area for the brew pub complete with golf simulators, pool tables and dart boards.  A large glass wall was built to separate the dining area and the brewing area.  They refinished the original concrete and brick floor and put in a bar opposite the brewery room.  

Engelhaupt and Cardwell had to come up with a name for their venture.  They decided it had to be something that honored the history of Galesburg.  The railroad has always been a big part of Galesburg's heritage and there's even a museum that pays tribute to the history of the railroad that was so important in the development of the city.  They decided to call the brewpub the Iron Spike after the spikes that were used to help lay the tracks when the railroad first came to Galesburg in the 1800's.   

To help Engelhaupt and Cardwell run the restaurant, they hired Dan Hite who had experience managing bars in the past to be their general manager.  By March of 2014, they were ready to open.  Their first day of business was so successful, they had to shut down the second day because they had run out of beer and food.  

(Matt Engelhaupt left Iron Spike not long after helping open the brewpub looking to do something else.  He got together with Steve Zuidema, the founder/owner of Front Street Brewery in Davenport, to help him figure out his next move.  It turned out that Zuidema, who started Front Street Brewery in 1992, and his wife, Jenni, were looking to retire.  Engelhaupt and three other investors ended up buying Front Street Brewery from Zuidema.) 

We had taken the backroads down to Galesburg and pulled up in front of Iron Spike Brewing Company around 1:30.  There's a free city parking lot across the street from the brewpub and we parked there.  (see map)  The stately old brick building sort of reminded me of the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.  The garage doors that were used for the old firehouse were now closed up and one of them was used as the front entrance.  In warmer months, a patio area is set up in front on the left side of the main entrance.  You can see remnants of the concrete etched "Central Fire Station" on the front of the brick facade above the second story windows.  

As we walked into the brew pub, I realized that we needed our face masks as Illinois still had mask restrictions in place, but Iowa did not.  I had my mask with me, but my wife had left hers in the car.  As I was getting ready to run back out to grab her mask, the hostess - who along with the rest of the staff were masked - said, "Aw, don't worry about.  Most of the people that come in here aren't masked.  As long as we are, we're fine."

She took us to a table in the middle of the dining area of the brewpub.  The tables were butcher block thick with metal and wooden chairs.  The dining room was large and spread out with a high ceiling with Edison lights and exposed ductwork.  The room had character.  Songs by Seattle 90's grunge bands Soundgarden, Alice in Chains and Pearl Jam were some of the background music we heard while we were there.  

The bar area was on the east side of the dining area.  Purple accent lighting shown down on corrugated tin on the front and sides of the bar.  If you click on the picture above right, you can see the original firehouse pole in the far corner of the bar.  

We had been given menus and our server for the afternoon was a young guy by the name of Matt.  He came by to greet us and said that he'd be right with us.  It wasn't all that busy and Matt was the only one working the dining area that day.  

Opposite the bar behind a 12' x 20' glass wall were the brewing kettles and apparatus. Colorful murals of the Galesburg Fire Department emblem and other fire station-themed artwork were on the wall next to the windows that looked into the brewery area.  

 
The 10-barrel brewery has the capability to make 310 gallons during a brew cycle and they can run up to 3 brew cycles a day.  Iron Spike brews approximately 2000 barrels (approximately 62,000 gallons) of beer annually.  In addition to the brewing tanks, there's also a can line in a building behind the the brewery that allows Iron Spike to can and package 12 and 16 ounce cans.  Their beers are sold in over 25 Illinois counties from the northwestern part of the state down through Central Illinois.  

The beer menu was on the wall behind the bar.  Like a lot of microbreweries, Iron Spike rotates some of their beers, but keeps their more popular offerings year round.  My wife and I wanted to try a couple of their beers - a seasonal hazy New England India pale ale and the Flatback American-hopped IPA.  Both beers were pretty good, but I liked the flavor of the hazy IPA a bit better than the American IPA.  I got a pint of the hazy IPA and my wife got a half-pint of the Flatback American IPA.  

Looking through the menu, we found some foods that were worthy of a chef who got his education at what was one of the more prestigious culinary schools in its day.  The bacon-wrapped meat loaf sounded appealing to me, as did the Cajun chicken tetrazzini served on a bed of spaghetti tossed with sautéed peppers and mushrooms, and finished with a spicy cream sauce.  The grilled salmon caught my wife's eye, while the blackened-marinated mahi mahi fish tacos definitely caught my eye.  

Iron Spike also had a number of burgers on the menu.  The Iron Spike burger featured a blend of 60% Black Angus beef and 40% ground bacon.  I've sort of winced at that much bacon mixed in with beef, but one of these days I'll give it a try.  Just not that day.  They did have a handful of other burgers including the onion & mushroom burger with sautéed onions and mushrooms with Swiss cheese.  There was a guacamole and bacon burger, as well as a bison burger, the "Sunrise" burger with cheddar cheese, bacon and an over-easy egg, and the Asian Crunch burger topped with a spicy Asian sauce, crunchy onion strings and pepper jack cheese.  

They had a grilled or breaded chicken breast sandwich, a grilled mac & cheese sandwich, and a pulled pork sandwich on the menu.  Appetizers included beer-battered portobello mushroom strips, a spinach artichoke dip served with tortilla chips, and grilled shrimp tossed in a sweet chili sauce.  Salads included a Buffalo chicken salad, a grilled chicken Caesar salad, and a smoked salmon and spinach salad that piqued my wife's interest.  Iron Spike also had flatbreads including chicken alfredo, pulled pork and a margherita style.  You can also build your own flatbread pizza at Iron Spike with various toppings, cheese and sauces.   

I thought about getting one of the burgers, but the mahi mahi fish tacos were intriguing, as well.  I was having trouble figuring out what I wanted to get, and at the last minute I did a complete shift and went with the reuben sandwich.  It featured house-roasted corned beef on grilled rye bread with sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and a house-made Thousand Island dressing.  Fries came as a side with the sandwich along with a pickle spear.  

My wife was really thinking hard about the smoked salmon and fresh spinach salad that came with dried cranberries, toasted pecans, chopped celery and fresh dillweed, then finished with an olive oil and lemon juice combination.  But she ended up getting the fish and chips - wild caught cod filets beer-battered and deep-fried.  But she didn't get the fries, she asked Matt if she could substitute a dinner salad with their house vinaigrette dressing.  He said that was no problem at all.  Besides, if she wanted a fry or two, she could have some of mine.  

I was not unhappy that I got the reuben sandwich.  It featured generous amounts of tender and flavorful corned beer with a very mild Swiss cheese to complement the meat.  There was enough sauerkraut to make it noticeable, but it wasn't overpowering.  And the same with the house-made Thousand Island dressing.  It gave the reuben a tangy taste that mixed well with the other flavors.  The fries were also very good - crispy on the outside and not overcooked at all.  

My wife was very pleased with her beer-battered cod.  I had a bite of one - I normally don't care for deep-fried fish - but the batter was light and had a nice taste to it.  The fish wasn't overcooked, nor did it have a fishy taste.  It was very good, as well.  

I really don't why we hadn't tried Iron Spike Brewing Company before this.  We don't seem to go south into Illinois all that much when we go exploring or looking for places to eat.  The food was very good, the service was friendly and efficient, the atmosphere was inviting, the music they played was excellent, and the beers we had were as good as the food.  With many tantalizing options on the menu, my wife and I said that we'd have to come back at some point and try more of their food items.  Iron Spike Brewing Company was definitely worth the drive for us.  

First Watch - Lee's Summit, MO

A guy who had worked for one of my accounts for over 20 years had made a monumental decision last summer to leave that store and open his own store on the opposite end of Kansas City.  He and I had been in talks about picking up some of my lines and he was getting ready to open his doors last fall.  We made plans for a breakfast meeting near his home in Lee's Summit, MO just outside of Kansas City.  I told him to name the place and he suggested we meet at First Watch, a breakfast/lunch bistro located in the new Streets of West Pryor mixed-use development in Lee's Summit.  

I had seen First Watch restaurants in some of my travels, mainly on vacations to the South and Mountain West.  But I had no idea the extent of the number of First Watch locations.

John Sullivan was living in Denver in the late 50's and early 60's managing a steak and seafood restaurant.  He hated the long hours and wanted to try a concept of a breakfast place that focused on just breakfast, brunch and lunch that would close in the mid-afternoon.  He chose the ski village community of Aspen to open his restaurant.  In 1963, Sullivan started Le Peep, one of the first - if not the first - upscale bistro-style restaurants that focused on early and mid-day dining only.  Many of the dishes at LePeep were egg-based because eggs were more of a stable commodity than beef was at the time.  (Well, and that's certainly true today.)  

Le Peep, of course, was a hit - and continues to be so today - and it wasn't long before Sullivan opened more locations in the greater Denver area.  He was joined in the firm by Ken Pendery who worked for the same steak and seafood restaurant as Sullivan.  Pendery eventually became the president and CEO of Le Peep and by the early 80's they were looking to sell the growing chain of restaurants.  

Another veteran of the Colorado restaurant industry, Buddy Waldman, headed a group of investors who ended up buying Le Peep in 1981 with the plan to take the concept nationally.  Sullivan and Pendery stayed on during the transition, but the two soon left the company after a falling out with the new corporate ownership.  

(My French-Canadian colleagues used to get a kick out of seeing the Le Peep restaurants when we would be in Denver for trade shows years ago.  The term "peep" is evidently a Quebecois word for a certain sexual act.)  

Looking for a new challenge, Sullivan and Pendery moved out to California to start their new breakfast/lunch venture.  The two found a place overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Pacific Grove, CA, just outside of Monterey.  They opened their new restaurant - First Watch - in 1983.  The name First Watch comes from a nautical term for the first duty time of the day on ships.  They opened a second First Watch location in San Mateo, CA in the South Bay area of San Francisco.  

In 1986, Sullivan and Pendrey moved their base of operations to Bradenton, FL and continued their growth of the First Watch concept.  They decided to keep many of the restaurants company-owned with a handful of franchise locations.  In 2014, First Watch bought the 20 locations of the Phoenix-based Good Egg breakfast/lunch cafe chain, then a year later they purchased the 114 locations of the Colorado-based Egg and I restaurants eventually converting them to First Watch restaurants.  

Today, there are nearly 400 First Watch restaurants in 20 states - primarily in Texas, Florida, and Arizona.  (Ironically, there are no First Watch locations in California, the state where they first started.)   The Lee's Summit location opened in the summer of 2021, the fourth location in the Kansas City area.  (A First Watch location in the Corporate Woods business park in suburban Overland Park closed a little over six years ago.)  

First Watch locations are open from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. daily.  They won't seat anyone after 2:15 p.m. and the restaurant locks their doors at 2:30 sharp.  They rely upon the freshest ingredients and produce for their food, and they don't have a deep fryer in any of their restaurants.  They feature a number of vegan items, and they also are conscious of dietary restrictions or allergies with many of the foods they offer.  And to celebrate their 35th year in business, Fresh Watch released a cook book - "Yeah, It's Fresh" - that showcased 75 of their more popular breakfast, brunch and lunch items.  

We had agreed to meet at the Lee's Summit First Watch location at 8:30 a.m.  I got there a little early and I'm sort of glad I did as I had a little bit of trouble navigating through the area as it's just off I-470 and U.S. Highway 50 off NW Pryor in Lee's Summit.  (see map)   But once I saw it in the distance in the Streets of West Pryor complex, I was able to drive right to the front of the place.  

I went inside and my breakfast meeting guest had not yet arrived.   The restaurant featured dark wood flooring with matching dark wood tables and chairs.  An open kitchen was in the back of the place with and outdoor dining patio off to the side.  There weren't a lot of people in the place for a weekday morning.

I was greeted by a young lady at the hostess stand and I was taken to a table with banquette seating along one of the outer walls of the place.  I detest banquette seating, but since there wasn't a lot of other people in the place, I settled in for breakfast.  She dropped off a couple menus for me to look through as I waited for my guest to show up.

Our server that day was a pleasant young lady by the name of Sydney.  She asked what I wanted to drink and I asked if they had espresso.  "Uh..., no, I'm sorry," Sydney said hesitantly.  "We don't have espresso."  I was sort of incredulous that a place like First Watch wouldn't have espresso.  They did have fresh brewed coffee, but no espresso.  I ended up ordering a glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice. 

My guest made it in a little late, but no big deal.  "My mom doesn't live far from here," he explained to me after he sat down.  "We go out for breakfast every once in a while and we came here a few weeks ago.  She won't go anywhere else for breakfast."  

The breakfast items feature omelets, benedicts (including a BLT benedict and a smoked salmon benedict that got my attention), frittatas, pancakes (including a lemon ricotta pancake that sounded sinfully delicious), Belgian waffles and a couple of French toast breakfasts including the Florida French Toast that featured French toast covered in sliced bananas, strawberries and kiwi fruit.  First watch also had quinoa or granola breakfast power bowls and three or four Mexican-inspired breakfast plates including a spicy chicken/chorizo chimichanga served with grilled potatoes.  Lunch items on the menu featured grilled and deli-style sandwiches along with four or five types of salads.

I was torn between a number of items, but I was still sort of full from the meal I had the previous evening.  Although the Farmhouse Hash with house-made corned beef hash topped with two eggs and avocado slices sounded good, as did the green chile/chorizo omelet, I ended up going light and getting the avocado toast with two over-easy eggs.  The plate was dusted with paprika and chopped parsley.  

They have combination breakfasts at First Watch such as the Tri-Fecta - choice of either a Belgian waffle or a pancake (multi-grain, regular, blueberry or a banana-crunch or carrot cake-pecan pancake), eggs made-to-order and a side of either smoked bacon or pork sausage links.  My guest got the blueberry pancake with eggs over-easy and a side of bacon.  The pancake - which was the size of a hubcap - took up most of the plate and Sydney had to go back and get a smaller plate with the bacon on it.  A side of strawberry compote came on the side with the pancake.  

My avocado toast was OK - the avocado spread was salty, however.  But the multi-grain bread that is made special for First Watch was very good.  My eggs were good - nothing special.  The breakfast was a little expensive - $11.90 for the avocado toast and eggs - but it was fine for what it was.   

For my first visit to a First Watch location, I thought it was fine for what I had.  It's pretty difficult to do anything real special with two eggs over-easy and avocado toast.  My guest - who had eaten at this First Watch a handful of times - was more than happy with his Tri-Fecta breakfast consisting of a blueberry pancake, eggs over-easy and a side of smoked bacon.  I did like the fact that they had fresh-squeezed orange juice, but I was sort of blown-away that a place like First Watch didn't have espresso or cappuccino.  It didn't matter, however.  Breakfast, brunch and lunch bistros/cafes are extremely popular and with the lineage of being the offspring of the first restaurant of this concept, First Watch has had a large head start over all the other places of its kind across the nation.  

Darkbird Taphouse - Peosta, IA

Our local newspaper - the Quad City Times - has downsized their news staff over the past few years which means fewer stories with a local angle.  These days, the bulk of the the newspaper is filled daily with articles from other news outlets around the state of Iowa and the Midwest.  One article that they had back in early December was from the Dubuque Telegraph-Herald on a new craft beer and wine-centric restaurant in the fast growing town of Peosta, IA - a bedroom community located just about 15 minutes south and west of Dubuque off U.S. Highway 20.  My wife had a Friday off and was sort of in the mood for a little road trip.  We took off going north out of Davenport and I made it over to Peosta to search for this new restaurant.  After some confusing twists and turns trying to get to the place, we finally pulled up in front of the Darkbird Taphouse to check it out.  

It had been less than a month since Darkbird Taphouse had opened their doors.  And that went against our usual 90-day start-up period we try to give restaurants to try and work the kinks and newness out of their system.  But the article intrigued me enough where I wanted to go to a place that wasn't a brewpub, but a place that highlighted craft beers from across Iowa, parts of the Midwest and beyond.  We weren't even really thinking about food, but if they had food we'd certainly consider it.  

Jeff Burds is the man behind the Darkbird Taphouse.  The local entrepreneur helped start Dimensional Brewing Company in Dubuque along with co-owner/co-founder Tom Rauen in November of 2018.  Living out in Peosta, Burds saw the potential for a modern-style taphouse that he wanted to build on a greenspace area in southeast Peosta.  Burds went to the Peosta City Council in March of last year with his plans for a $2 million dollar building that would be the focal point of other development in the area.  Work started on the site later in the spring and the building was finished in late October.  After a handful of soft-opening dates which featured live music, Darkbird Taphouse opened around Thanksgiving of last year.  

To run the place, Burds called on his daughter-in-law Amanda Burds to manage the day-to-day operations.  To run the kitchen, Burds hired Andrew New.  For the previous five years New worked in the kitchen at Brazen, an upscale bistro in downtown Dubuque that my wife and I have wanted to go to for quite sometime.

We sort of knew where Darkbird Taphouse was, but it was so new that it didn't show up in our GPS.  My wife used her phone to direct us back onto Highway 20 eastbound from Peosta and we saw the building just north of the divided highway on a frontage road.  We got off at Thunder Hills Road and then took a left onto Thunder Valley Drive, the frontage road that goes in front of Darkbird Taphouse.  (see map)  As I said, it was a little confusing for our first visit, but will now know how to get there on subsequent visits.  

We were lucky the day we went to Darkbird Taphouse - they fully open (bar and kitchen) at 11 a.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  They open at 2 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday, but the kitchen doesn't open until 4 p.m. those days.  They're closed on Monday and Tuesday.  There was a large parking lot in front of the building.  

Going inside, we found a large open space with a high ceiling with exposed ductwork and ceiling fans, polished concrete floors, and large southern exposure windows that let in an abundance of natural light.  Two garage doors were on the east end of the space that could be opened in warmer months for access to an outdoor patio.  

We took a seat at a booth along the west wall of the tap house.  It's counter service at Darkbird Taphouse and beer and food menus were available via a QR code that we could easily scan with our phones.  

I was sort of intrigued by some of the beers they had available on tap.  Of course, they had beers from Dimensional Brewing Company out of Dubuque, but they also had beers on tap from breweries such as Exile Brewing out of Des Moines, and brews from 3 of our favorite microbreweries -  Pulpit Rock out of Decorah, Wake Brewing from Rock Island, and Contrary Brewing out of Muscatine.  I was also surprised to see beers on tap from breweries from different parts of the country including Weldwerks out of Greeley, CO.  

They had four or five hazy IPA's to choose from on tap and I went up to the counter to see if we could get some samples.  It turned out that Amanda Burds was working the bar area that day and I asked her about samples or some flights.  She told me that they did have flights of 4 available, so I picked out 4 of the hazy IPA's they had on tap.  My wife and I agreed that the Juicy Bit's hazy IPA from Weldwerks was the best of the bunch.

It was a limited menu for the time being during our first visit to Darkbird Taphouse.  (We were told the menu would expand as time went on.)   There were appetizers such as fried pickles, a beer house pretzel, cheese curds and a charcuterie board that were available.  Chicken tenders, a reuben sandwich and three different burgers were available.  Frozen pizzas from Chad's Pizza - which is out of Cedar Falls, but has an outlet in nearby Dyersville - were also available. 

We had a beer and my wife started to think that maybe a burger didn't sound too bad at that point.  We made our choices and I went up to the counter to order them from Amanda.  About 15 minutes later, Andrew New came out of the kitchen with our two burgers and served them to us.  

My wife went with the beer cheese burger.  They make their own beer cheese sauce at Darkbird Taphouse.   Fresh lettuce, sliced tomato and red onions, and pickles came with the burger.  Battered fries came on the side.   

I went with their regular cheese burger that came with Muenster cheese as well as the battered fries.  It was a generous slice of Muenster that they put on the burger which sat on a lightly toasted bun.  The burger patty was thick and juicy.  

And it tasted very good.  I was pleasantly surprised at how good the burger tasted.  The condiments were fresh, the bun was soft and spongy, and it held together well with all that was going on with the burger.  The battered fries were also very good.  They had the right amount of crunch on the outside while maintaining that nice feathery potato texture and taste on the inside.  

We had finished up our burgers and Andrew New came out to check on us.  As he was was clearing our plates, he asked how the burgers were.  There were absolutely no complaints on the burgers from my wife and I, and we were both very happy we ordered them.  

After finishing up our lunch, we decided to go up the stairs and check out the second floor mezzanine area.  There was a small bar up there and a door that went out onto a deck that overlooked the patio below.  A number of tables with chairs were in the space and you could look out over a heavy railing onto the taproom below.  

Sitting up at the small mezzanine bar with an open laptop computer was a guy who we had noticed running around the place earlier.  I asked him if he was the owner and he said, "Well, I pay the bills here."  It turned out that it was Jeff Burds and we were able to talk with him for a moment.  

I told him that we were from the Quad Cities and we had read the article from the Dubuque paper in our local paper.  Jeff was sort of surprised that the article made it into the Quad City Times.  "I know it was in the Waterloo newspaper," he said.  "But I didn't know that it was in the Times."  

I asked him what the relationship between Dimensional Brewing Company and Darkbird Taphouse was.  "Well, I helped start Dimensional," he said in a vague fashion.  "Other than that, there's no real relationship other than we have some of their beers."  I thought it was kind of odd that he was being somewhat evasive about the relationship, figuring that possibly he wasn't part of the ownership at Dimensional any longer.  

We were asking him about some of the beers he had on tap, including the Weldwerks hazy IPA that we liked so much.  "There's a beer wholesaler up in Wisconsin that we've been working with who will get tanks of some beers from around the nation from time to time," Jeff Burds told us.  "That's where the Weldwerks comes from."  

When I asked him about the beers from the Quad Cities area and he said, "I have a son who has a girlfriend down in the Quad Cities."  Burds chuckled and said, "He's my runner for the beers from down there."  

There wasn't much - if anything - to complain about during our initial visit to Darkbird Taphouse in Peosta.  The place had been open for less than a month, but it seemed that there were no operation kinks or service problems new restaurants tend to experience during their first 90 days.  The beer selection was interesting, the burgers we had were very good, it was a nice atmosphere in the place, and the service we had was very friendly.  Although it's a bit of a haul from our home up to Peosta, we figured that it would be another place where we could go for a weekend drive once the weather warms up again.   Well, then again, it would be a nice place even before springtime hits.  

 

Great Revialist Brew Lab - Geneseo, IL

One very nice fall Sunday afternoon a couple months ago, my wife wanted to go for a little drive.  I was up for our regular burger and bloody mary Sunday, so we drove over to Geneseo, IL via backroads.  We tried to get into the Geneseo Brewing Company, but we found that they were closed until 3 p.m. on Sundays.  I remembered that a new brewery had taken over the old Lionstone Brewery in Geneseo, so we ended up heading out there. Five minutes later, we pulled up in front of the Great Revivalist Brew Lab.  

Not long after I did the original post on the Lionstone Brewing Company in 2017 (click here to see that post), I received an e-mail from Logan Hamilton who let me know that he was no longer the head brewer at the brewery.  He never told me the reason why, other than he was going to get back into teaching.  

Through the grapevine, I had heard that Lionstone owner Steve Fiers was looking for someone to take over the brewery/brewpub.  In 2019, he was introduced to Seattle native Richard Schwab who began to negotiate the takeover of the Geneseo operation.  

Schwab literally grew up around beer.  He had family members who were all home brewers and Schwab started to help brewing beer when he was in junior high.  He continued his interest in home-brewing beers as he climbed up the corporate ladder in the telecommunications industry traveling across the nation.    

His job brought him to the Quad Cities about 8 years ago and Schwab was impressed with the variety of breweries in the area.  He became friendly with the brewers at Great Bend Brewery in downtown Davenport and Schwab became part of that group who experimented with different styles of beers.  

Leaving the corporate life, Schwab took the leap to buy the Lionstone Brewery in early 2020 and was in the process of rebranding the brewery as the Great Revivalist Brew Lab.  But a day before he was set to take over the Geneseo location on May 1, a tragic natural disaster took place that knocked out his friends at Great Bend Brewery in downtown Davenport.  A Hesco barrier that was holding back the waters of a historic flood on the Mississippi River caved and the onrushing water inundated the Great Bend Brewery with up to 3 feet of water effectively knocking the place out of business.  

After floodwaters subsided, the owners of the Great Bend Brewery decided not to carry on.  In came Schwab to buy that location with plans to revamp the property that included the original brewing operation and a building across the street that he was planning on turning into a small brewpub.  Plans were to have the Davenport location of the Great Revivalist Brewing Company up and going in late 2021, but so far that plan has been pushed back into mid-2022.  

We pulled into the parking lot of the Great Revivalist Brew Lab around 1:30 in the afternoon.  Really not much had changed from when we were in to Lionstone Brewing a couple three previous times.  

We initially sat at a table near one of the floor to ceiling windows in the front of the brewpub.  However, I looked over at the bar and noticed a familiar face behind it.  It was an old friend from working events for the City of Davenport over the years, Neil.  Neil and I had lost contact for a handful of years, but for some reason we kept running into one another at different places around the Quad Cities where he was working for the now closed Crust pizza restaurant, and when he would help out with the Floyd's Burgers food truck when it was parked at various brew pubs around the Quad Cities.  We decided to go up to the bar and have Neil wait on us.

After exchanging pleasantries with Neil - who told us he was wearing various hats for Great Revivalist Brew Lab - we took a look at the list of brews they had on their beer list.  But, of course, I was there for a bloody mary, as well.  Neil promised that he made a great bloody mary and I sent him away to start on that while we looked at the beer list to see if there was anything that caught our eye.

We wanted to try some samplers and we decided upon the Project Hazy IPA and the Mile 19 pale ale (Geneseo is Exit 19 on I-80 in Illinois).  I was also sort of interested in trying the seasonal Pumpkin Eater pumpkin and yam spiced beer and Neil suggested his favorite beer they had at the time - the Ryevolution rye and red ale.  The Ryevolution red ale was pretty good, the Pumpkin Eater was a little too strong on the taste buds, and we liked both the Project Hazy IPA a bit more than the Mile 19 pale ale.  

Neil's bloody mary was more of an artisan bloody mary with a splash of beer added to the mix.  It was a bit more thin in texture than I like for my bloody mary's, but it was still pretty good.  

While we were enjoying our beers and the bloody mary, Neil had dropped off a couple food menus for us to look over.  They still had the big wood fired pizza oven in the corner of the restaurant that was there when we would come out to the Lionstone Brewery.  They still had a number of pizzas and flatbreads on the menu - something that we had said we were going to try at some point, but never did.  Salads, sandwiches, and appetizers such as wings, a spicy tot poutine, and a combo basket of fried pickles and fried Wisconsin cheese curds were also on the menu.  

While I had my heart set on a burger, my eyes wandered over to the mahi mahi grilled tacos - I'm always a sucker for good grilled fish tacos.  Fresh cole slaw, pico-de-gallo, and a cilantro/lime ranch dressing came with the fish tacos that were also available deep fried.  The fish tacos gave me pause, but I still ended up going the burger route.  

They had three different types of burgers on the menu at Great Revivalist - a sharp cheddar and bacon burger; an avocado/queso burger with pico-de-gallo and a Creole aioli; and a traditional burger with a choice of cheddar, Swiss or pepper jack cheese.  I went the traditional route with some pepper jack cheese.  I had a choice of sides which included truffle fries, kettle chips, cottage cheese and a side Caesar's salad.  But they also had tots and I had to go with those.  

My wife saw the blackened grouper sandwich on the menu and she asked Neil if they could hold the bread on the sandwich.  It came with lettuce, tomato, and an onion slice with the Creole aioli on the side.  She got a choice of sides and she went with the house-made cole slaw.  

My burger was on a pretzel bun that was, quite frankly, sort of dried out.  In fact with the vegetable condiments and a little ketchup on the burger, the bun literally disintegrated.  And that was a shame because the burger patty was very good.  I ended up using a fork and knife to finish off the burger.  The tots were excellent, however, especially with some Cholula splashed onto them.  But, it's pretty tough to screw up tots.  

My wife was more than impressed with the grouper.  It was light, flaky and had just enough Cajun spices on it to give it a kick, but not too much where it was too spicy for my wife.  I had a small bite of it and I have to say that it was better than my burger.  And my wife let me share some of her Creole aioli for some of my tots.  That had a wonderful flavor to it and I almost liked it better on the tots than the Cholula sauce.  

After we finished our lunch, Neil invited us to take a look at their back patio where they put in individual greenhouse-style huts that they use for outdoor dining in the winter.  They first started doing this in late 2020 to provide dining space when inside dining restrictions were still in place.  With most restrictions now lifted, the little huts were such a hit with Great Revivalist patrons that they decided to bring them back again for the winter of 2021-22.  The plexiglass huts will seat 4 to 6 people and each have their own heater.  I understand there is a wait list for the huts on the weekends.  

The top of a old silo had been fabricated on one end of the deck to provide another space for dining or drinking outside in the elements.  While it wasn't as nice as the huts, it was kind of a neat rustic touch.  The deck overlooked an open field with a creek and featured chairs and stools to relax on.  It was a little cool that day - definitely cold in the shade - so there weren't many people hanging out on the deck.  

Our first visit to the Great Revivalist Brew Lab was deemed a success with a very good hazy India pale ale, a delicious chunk of blackened grouper, a bloody mary that was pretty good, and a burger that even though the pretzel bun disintegrated, it was still edible.  It was also good to see our friend Neil and to get caught up on the goings and doings of the Geneseo location and the upcoming Davenport location for Great Revivalist.  We have a number of breweries and brewpubs within a 25 mile radius of our home and it's good that Great Revivalist Brew Lab continues on in Geneseo.  

Twisted Tail - Beebeetown, IA

Since 2010, the Iowa Beef Industry Council has sponsored the Best Burger in Iowa contest.  Bars and restaurants across the state vie for the annual crown through a initial voting system (re: creative ballot box stuffing) and then the top 10 vote getters are visited by a panel of judges who determine which place has the best burger in Iowa for that year.  Over the years, I've been to all of the places who were named as having the best burger in the state, save for 2019 winner Wood Iron Grille in Oskaloosa and this past year's winner, Bambino's in the small town of Ossian near Decorah.  (Click here to see the previous Road Tips entries on the Best Burgers in Iowa.)  The 2020 winner is located just about 25 miles north and east of Omaha, and on a recent trip out there I stopped into the Twisted Tail in Beebeetown, IA to give their award winning burger a try.  

Now, if you're a regular reader of Road Tips, you know that I like to think of myself as somewhat of a burger connoisseur.  I have over 300 entries in my Burger Joints category alone, so I think I have a pretty good grasp of what makes a good burger.  And I have to say that a couple three of the Best Burger in Iowa contest winners I've tried over the years were, well, not very good.  And some that were winners, well, I thought they were good, but not what I would call an excellent burger.  So I always went to a place who had been named as having the Best Burger in Iowa with a bit of skepticism.

And that's how I was when I pulled up to the rustic Twisted Tail which is located about a mile north of Interstate 880 - which connects I-80 and I-29 in extreme western Iowa - in the unincorporated village of Beebeetown.  (see map)  The place wasn't all that fancy from the outside and the small lot in front was packed with a combination of SUV's and pickup trucks.  I actually had to park down the street a bit from the Twisted Tail before I made my way into the place.  It was good that it was a popular lunch spot.  

The Twisted Tail has been around since 2011.  Local real estate broker/auctioneer Ed Spencer and his wife Ruth bought the building and resurrected the old steakhouse that had been on that corner for a number of years before.  Two of their children - Luke Spencer and Hannah Spencer-Johnsen - manage the restaurant for the family.  On weekends when the place gets really crowded for the Friday night ribs or the Saturday night smoked prime rib, you'll see Ed and Ruth's grandchildren bussing tables and sweeping the floors.  

Over the years, Ed and Ruth Spencer have accumulated a number of antiques rifles and historical pictures of the surrounding area.  Many of those antiques and pictures were on display on the knotty-pine walls of the restaurant.  Hardwood floors and a tin ceiling gave the Twisted Tail sort of a hollow-sounding feel, but with the waning lunch crowd it wasn't all that loud in there.  

I ended up seated at the small bar toward the front of the long and narrow restaurant.  I took a seat and the bartender that day just happened to be Hannah Spencer-Johnsen.  She seemed to be distracted and somewhat agitated.  She greeted me curtly and offered me a menu to look over and walked back into the kitchen.  I just figured she must have been having a rough day.  

She came back moments later and asked if I wanted anything to drink.  I saw that they had a number of beers on tap including craft beers.  They had the Toppling Goliath Psuedo Sue out of Decorah on tap and I ordered up one of those while I looked through the menu. 

I was definitely there for the burger, but they had a number of sandwiches, salads and appetizers available.  Their dinner menu served in the evenings featured steaks, seafood, and the aforementioned ribs on Friday night and smoked prime rib on Saturday night.   The Twisted Tail is also sort of locally famous for their Philly cheesesteak sandwiches including a Buffalo chicken Philly topped with pepper jack cheese, grilled onions, green peppers and jalapeños.  Just reading that on the menu made my stomach go "burp!"  

Hannah came back a little more composed than she was before and took my order.  I ordered the mushroom/Swiss cheese burger made with the locally-sourced beef having an 80-20 lean-to-fat ratio.  I had a choice of sides and they really only had French fries, sweet potato fries or onion rings.  I thought a bit about what side I could get and was a bit apprehensive about the onion rings.  But I ordered them anyway.  But that quickly changed when Hannah came out of the kitchen with a bit of exasperation in her voice that they were out of the onion rings.  OK, no problem.  So, I went with the French fries.  

About 20 minutes later, a young lady brought my burger out to me.  It was served on a small baking sheet pan with checkered wax paper on the bottom.  The fries were the battered kind that can be good or can be iffy.  Fortunately, these fries were the good battered fries - nice and crispy on the outside, and warm and flaky on the inside.

But, unfortunately, I couldn't say that about the burger.  Although it looked pretty good at first glance, I started to notice some things.  First of all, the bun was too dry.  With the veggies, ketchup and yellow mustard on the burger, the bun literally disintegrated by the time I was halfway through the burger.  And burger patty, itself, was woefully overcooked.  There was absolutely no juiciness to the meat and even with the veggies and the condiments it was a pretty lifeless burger.  I did all I could do to finish the last bite of the burger, but I was highly disappointed with what I got.  

A number of years ago, I had to go to Sioux City and I took Highway 20 across the state from Waterloo to get there.  The very first winner of the Best Burger in Iowa contest (2010) was the Sac County Cattle Company restaurant in Sac City, IA and I stopped by there on the way out to try their burger.  It had been 4 years since they had been awarded for having the best burger in Iowa but if you read the Road Tips entry here, you can read about how a horrible of a burger it was.  

The same thing happened when we went to Mediapolis, IA to the 61 Chophouse to have the 2013 winning burger.  My wife and I were both underwhelmed with the award winning burger there.  In fact, a couple locals we talked to after our experience were sort of incredulous that the place won the best burger contest.  (Click here to see the Road Tips entry on the now closed 61 Chophouse.)  

I would have to say the burger I had at the Twisted Tail was probably right in between the burger at Sac County Cattle Company and 61 Chophouse.  The burger patty was overcooked, there was no juiciness in the burger that was supposedly an 80-20 blend, and the bun was dried out.  I'm giving Hannah the benefit of the doubt regarding my initial impression of her as she seemed harried and somewhat frustrated.  A lot of restaurant managers and owners have been feeling that lately.  But, once again, I have to question the people who go around and judge the burgers for the Iowa Beef Industry Council.  I would hope that a place that was named the top burger place by the organization would have some consistency in what they serve.  The burger at the Twisted Tail was woefully lacking in any quality taste or texture.  It was highly disappointing.

FoodAffair Bistro - Bettendorf, IA

There's been a trend of casual upscale breakfast/lunch bistro-style restaurants that have opened in the Quad Cities over the past couple of years.  One of those is a place that we'd been wanting to try for awhile - FoodAffair Bistro.  My wife had a good friend of hers come into town for a long weekend recently and on the day that she was to leave to head back to her home we decided to take her out for breakfast.  We decided to head over and give FoodAffair Bistro a try.  

Aman Razdan grew up in Mumbai, IN.  While he was a youngster, he worked in his parents restaurant before coming to the U.S. in 1998.  He settled in the Quad Cities and ended up getting into the culinary program at Scott Community College.  While going to school at Scott Community, Razdin got a job at Le Figaro, a now-closed French restaurant in Rock Island run by Rachid Bouchareb.  Learning under Bouchareb, Razdan did a little bit of everything in the kitchen to preparing salad dressings to preparing charcuterie boards and cheese plates.  

After graduating from Scott Community College, Razdan became the pastry and sous chef at the Red Crow Grill in August of 2002.  Razdan worked at Red Crow Grill until March of 2004 when he was hired to be the head regional chef for Holiday Retirement Corporation.  Working out of the Palmer Hills Independent Senior Living facility in Bettendorf, Razdan oversaw the kitchens for 16 Holiday Retirement properties in the Midwest.  

Pictured at right - Aman Razdan.  Photo courtesy Quad City Times. 

After nearly 3 years working with Holiday Retirement, Razdan was hired to be the head chef at the Best Western Steeplegate Inn in Davenport.  Three years later, Razdan went to work as an executive chef at a local hospital.  During his time at the hospital, Razdan - along with his wife, Martina - started to work on a business plan to someday own their own restaurant.

In 2015, the opportunity arose to buy the Red Crow Grill where Razdan got his first job out of culinary school.  Red Crow Grill had been open for 16 years and Razdan wanted to change things up and put his stamp on the restaurant.  Red Crow Grill closed on July 1, 2015 and over the next two months, Razdan spruced up the place and came up with a menu that he classified as "global fusion" focusing on Asian, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean and Latin cuisines.  In early September of 2015, Razdan and his wife opened Hemispheres Bistro.  

A few years back, one of the Quad Cities iconic hotels - Jumer's Castle Lodge - had closed and the property was bought by developers who tore down the structure to make way for a Home2 Suites hotel, a gas station/convenience store, and an out-building that would house a coffee shop and a restaurant.  Dr. Rajiv Mallik - a cardiologist - and his wife, Dr. Namrata Mallik - an internal medicine specialist thought the restaurant spot would be a good location for a bistro.  

The Mallik's approached Aman Razdan and asked if he would supervise the kitchen for them.  Razdan envisioned a restaurant that would focus on eclectic breakfasts and lunches, along with gourmet coffee and tea, smoothies and shakes, and a full bar.  Friends of the Mallik's - Dr. Sanjay Pancholi and his wife Karishma - also became investors in the new restaurant.  FoodAffair Bistro opened for breakfast only on Dec. 21, 2020.  Within the next few weeks, they had added lunch items to their mix.  

To get to FoodAffair Bistro, it's a little tricky if you're not a resident of the area.  From Spruce Hills Drive just east of Interstate 74, you have to go north on Utica Ridge Road.  About 100 yards north of the intersection of Spruce Hills and Utica Ridge is an entry point that takes you to Home2 Suites and a Kwik Star.  Just before you get to Kwik Star, however, the entrance into the parking lot for FoodAffair Bistro is on your left.  FoodAffair Bistro is located on the south side of the building with Milltown Coffee occupying the north end of the building. (see map)

Now, my wife and I had driven through the parking lot a couple times on weekend mornings and found the parking lot to be packed.  We figured that FoodAffair Bistro was also packed so we never stopped in.  But upon entering the restaurant, we found it to be much larger than we imagined from the outside.  It featured a number of booths lined along a half wall that looked into the kitchen area.  More booths and tables were situated along the wall and into the middle of the space.  Orange accents were prominent throughout the restaurant.  

The bar area was off to the left side as you walk in.  FoodAffair Bistro featured a number of craft beers and wines in addition to a full cocktail selection.  Just past the bar area was a separate room that could be used for additional seating, meetings, or receptions.  There was also a small private dining area in the back corner of the main dining room.  

Throughout the restaurant, there are original works of art by local artists who are cancer patients or who have survived cancer.  The owners of FoodAffair Bistro teamed with Living Proof Exhibit, a local non-profit organization that provides therapeutic programs for cancer patients and survivors, for the artwork in the restaurant.  Dr. Namrata Mallik personally picked out a number of original abstract paintings by local cancer survivors to showcase (and sell, if one was inclined to do so) in FoodAffair Bistro.

Our server that day was a young woman by the name of Heather.  We had menus dropped off at our table when we were seated by a hostess and we were going through them when Heather stopped by.  She offered us a choice of still or sparkling water.  After we opted for still water and Heather went away, I said to my wife and her friend, "Well, you certainly don't get your choice of water at Perkins or Village Inn!"  

Since they had gourmet coffees and a full bar, I took full advantage of that.  I ordered one of their bloody mary's, a Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing IPA, and a double espresso - just to get me started for the day.  All three were very good for 9:30 in the morning.  Our friend got a mocha and my wife went with just a regular coffee.  My wife remarked at how good their coffee was.  I thought their espresso was excellent.  

The menu is short, but interesting.  There were the usual omelets, pancakes, scramble skillets, eggs benedict plates, and pastries for the breakfast side.  They had basics like eggs, bacon and hash browns, and they had a special that day which I ended up getting and will describe in a bit.  

On the lunch side - which is served after 11 a.m. and up until 2 p.m. (weekdays only) - they had a number of items including appetizers such as vegetable spring rolls, Indian-style samosas, smoked ceviche, and smoked chicken nachos.  Sandwiches include a prime rib burger, a Cubano sandwich, a bacon/lettuce/tomato/avocado sandwich, and a chicken tikka sandwich served on Indian naan bread.  Soups and salads were also available. 

However, their lunch menu also featured steaks, chicken, seafood, pork and ribs.  They had tandoori chicken available for lunch, as well a flat iron steak with a ginger soy sauce, and lamb chops.  Sides such as sweet potato fries, mashed potatoes, basmati rice, a fruit cup, and vegetables came with the main entrees.  

My wife and our friend went with the basic breakfast - two eggs (your choice), bacon, toast and hash browns.  My wife went with just two eggs over easy, along with whole wheat toast.  She got fresh squeezed orange juice along with her breakfast.  Our friend got scrambled eggs topped with cheddar cheese.  My wife thought her breakfast was fine for what it was.  But she did remark that the hash browns were very good.  

I went with the special they had that day - the corned beef hash eggs benedict.  The corned beef and potatoes were served on toasted rye bread with two poached eggs on the side.  The corned beef hash was topped with a scallion cream sauce.  A side of Boetje's mustard and a sweet chili drizzle completed the plate.  

It was - in a word - outstanding.  The corned beef was juicy and tender.  The scallion cream sauce just heightened the taste sensations with each bite.  Even the poached eggs had a quality taste.  I was more than happy with what I got.

Since this visit, my wife and I have tried to go back to FoodAffair Bistro a couple times for lunch.  We went on New Year's Eve day to get a sandwich or a burger, but we were informed that there would be a 45 minute wait.  There were numerous open tables, but we figured that it probably had more to do with a staffing issue than reservations.  A week later, we went in on a Sunday for a burger and a bloody mary, but we were told that they only do breakfast on Saturday and Sunday.  

Nonetheless, our only visit - so far - to FoodAffair Bistro was a good experience.  I can't say enough about the corned beef hash with the scallion cream sauce and the poached eggs.  My wife felt that her breakfast - as basic as it was - was also very good.  And the bloody mary/double espresso/craft beer starter I had was a spot-hitter.  One of these days we'll make it back to FoodAffair Bistro for lunch because we know that if their lunches are as good as their breakfasts, it will be another good experience. 

Kalona Brewing Company - Kalona, IA

It was a beautiful sunny Sunday recently and my wife was antsy to get out of the house and enjoy the day.  She suggested we take a ride along the Mississippi head west and south out of the Quad Cities.  We took off around 11 a.m. and I drove down to Muscatine to go to the Contrary Brewing Company, one of our favorite little microbreweries in the area.  However, when we pulled up just before noon, we saw that they don't open until 1 p.m.

Undeterred to find a microbrewery and my wife willing to continue to drive on a beautiful day, I pointed the car west and went to the small town of Kalona, IA to check out a brewery that I'd heard about, but had never been to before.  Just after 1 p.m., we pulled up in front of the Kalona Brewing Company.  

With the last name of Brewer, you'd think that your destiny would be brewing beers.  And that's sort of what happened with Kalona Brewing Company co-founder Lee Brewer.  While living in Seattle in the mid-80's and working as a painting contractor, Brewer came across one of the first craft breweries in Seattle - Redhook.  One day, Brewer walked into Redhook - which was housed in an old transmission shop - and asked co-owners Gordon Bowker and Paul Shipman if they needed any basic labor help at any point.  They told Brewer to come back on the following Saturday.  He did go back and eventually Brewer was helping with brewing and bottling the Redhook beers on a part-time basis.  

Learning from the brewers at Redhook, Brewer started to brew his own beers at home.  This led him to a friendship with Mike Hale, the owner/brewer at Hale's Ales, a microbrewery in the Seattle suburb of Kirkland.  Brewer caught on with Hale's Ale and helped brew beers for Hale for a couple years.  

In 1994, Brewer decided to move to Iowa.  He landed a job at Fitzpatrick's Brew Pub - one of the first craft breweries in Iowa City - where he worked off and on for a few years before going back full-time to contract painting.  Brewer continued to make his own beers at home and he reached out to a long-time friend from the Seattle area, Ted Nagy, with an idea he had come up with.

Nagy was a machine designer who became friends with Brewer when the two would sit around and enjoy some of Brewer's home-brewed beers.  While living in Iowa, Brewer dreamed about running his own brewery and he got with Nagy to talk about the possibility.  Nagy had turned into a serial entrepreneur and thought that a brewery situated in Iowa might be a good thing.  

Pictured right - Ted Nagy and Lew Brewer.  Photo courtesy Kalona Brewing Company Facebook page.   

Nagy eventually moved back to Iowa to run a plastics injection molding firm.  At one point, Nagy and Brewer thought about starting a winery.  But the two knew that the climate wouldn't allow for high quality grapes to be grown.  So, they went back to the idea of starting a brewery in the small town of Kalona, IA, about a half-hour drive south and west of Iowa City.  

They were having trouble finding a building in Kalona for their brewery and were resigned to the fact that they would probably have to build a brewery in a rural area outside of Kalona.  But in 2011, a building in downtown Kalona became available.  It was a former farm implement store and was large enough for a brewery and a tap room.  The two signed a deal to buy the building.  

Of course, there are always snags along the way and their quest to start a brewery was no exception.  Brewer and Nagy literally had to start from scratch putting in plumbing, heating and ventilation, and redoing the floor of the old building.  Then during the build-out, they found out that their original plan of just having a brewery and a tasting room didn't meet city code.  In order to be able to serve their beer on the premises, they had to put in a restaurant.  That effectively cut down on half of the space they had allotted for their brewery operation. 

Undeterred, Nagy and Brewer went ahead with their plans for a brewpub.  Then another bit of luck came about.  The Miller building next door to the building they were already in had become available.  They jumped on that spot and were able to use all their brewing equipment that they had originally invested in.  

To help with the build-out, Brewer enlisted the help of his son Sam who was living in Hawaii at the time.  And realizing that with the increased brewing capacity, Brewer had to have an assistant.  

Lew Brewer turned to a local man who he'd known for a few years, Warren Yoder.  Known as "W" to his friends, Yoder worked for his family's hardware store/building supply business, but dabbled in making his own beers for a number of years.  Brewer asked Yoder if he'd ever considered brewing beer as a full-time vocation.  At first, Yoder declined saying that he wasn't certain he could jump into uncertainty after working for the family business for 17 years.  But a week later, Yoder went back to Brewer and agreed to become his assistant.  

With the help of Nagy's wife Becky, the group decided to use only locally-grown or locally-raised products for both their beer and for the food they would serve in the restaurant part of the brewpub.  Kalona is a community that is home to a number of Mennonite and Amish families, and many of them grow produce and raise livestock.  Nearly everything the Nagy's and Brewer would need to brew beer and prepare food for the brewpub was literally at their doorstep.  

Brewer and Yoder started brewing their beers in 2012 while the restaurant part of the operation was being built out.  They distributed their beers in the Iowa City/Cedar Rapids area at first, but over time they began to self-distribute to the Quad Cities, Des Moines and other places in eastern and central Iowa.   

With the build-out complete, Kalona Brewing Company opened their doors for the general public on Sept. 13, 2013.  The Nagy's and Brewer obviously weren't superstitious as Sept. 13 fell on a Friday that year.  

Kalona Brewing Company is located at the corner of B Avenue and 4th Street in Kalona.  (see map)  The building was known as the B-4 building when Nagy and Brewer bought it in 2011.  It's in the heart of downtown Kalona which is known for its shops, boutiques and antique stores.  Kalona is a popular destination because of these shops and parking can be iffy.  However, since it was Sunday, many of the stores were closed and we were able to park on B Avenue just down the street to the east of Kalona Brewing Company.    

The inside of Kalona Brewing Company featured a polished concrete floor and and exposed truss ceiling.  Scattered with the tables in the space were couches and coffee tables giving the somewhat modern industrial motif a more homey look.  Natural light courtesy of the large windows on the south and west side of the brewpub splashed into the space.  Just past the bar were ceiling to floor windows that displayed the large brewing vats in the brewery.  

The kitchen area was situated in the back corner of the space.  It featured a large wood-fired oven and a prep area that looked out over the brewpub.  The head chef at Kalona Brewing Company is Kalona native Oliver Hassman who learned the ins-and-outs of beer and wine pairing with locally-raised/locally-grown foods at Vesta in Coralville, IA.  (Click here to see the Road Tips entry on Vesta.)  Hassman was the head chef at Vesta before joining the Kalona Brewing Company in 2018.  

We took a seat at a table in the corner out of the sun across from the kitchen area.  Our server that day was a young lady by the name of Kris.  She brought over a brunch menu that they serve from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday.  We weren't too interested in the brunch menu as my wife had breakfast earlier in the day and didn't want breakfast again.  (Although the Salsa Verde Toast consisting of two eggs over-easy, sausage, pickled onions all topped with a green sauce sounded interesting to me.)   Kris told us that the kitchen would switch over to the regular menu at 2, which was about 45 minutes away.  That was fine with us, as it gave us time to try some of their beers.  

The beer selection at Kalona Brewing Company is deep and varied.  The beer list featured a number of interesting beers including lagers, stouts, ales and wheat beers.  Some of the more interesting beers were a blueberry hefeweizen as well as a cinnamon-peach wheat ale.  We tried three or four samples - the Sucha Much IPA, the Hook & Eye hazy IPA, the Limber Legs Oktoberfest, and the Tree Stand German-style pilsner.  All were very good, but my wife selected the Sucha Much IPA and I went with the Hook & Eye hazy IPA.  The Hook & Eye was named after an attachment that Mennonites and Amish families would have on their clothing instead of buttons or zippers.  

Since we couldn't get lunch for awhile, it gave us some time to end up looking around Kalona Brewing Company.  They had a spacious wood-fenced patio in the back featuring a pergola over the concrete patio.  It was a nice fall day, but it was too cool to sit in the shade.  

We hung out back inside waiting for the regular menu to turn over.   Kris had brought over some menus for us to look over so we could make our choices right at 2 p.m.  It wasn't a lengthy menu, but it had some interesting items.  First of all, Kalona Brewing Company is somewhat famous for their wood-fired pizza made with a hand-tossed, house-made dough.  There were three sauces for their pizza - a San Marzano red sauce, an alfredo white sauce, and a pesto sauce.  While we weren't in the mood for pizza that day, the margherita pizza sounded good, as did their house-made sausage pizza.  

Kalona Brewing Company featured a handful of appetizers to share including coconut-ginger shrimp, chicken wings with a choice of either Buffalo sauce or a ginger chili glaze, a spinach-artichoke dip, and a burrata cheese plate with a gremolata garnish (chopped parsley, garlic and lemon zest) and served with apricots and dates.  There were a number of soups and salads on the menu as well as sandwiches, burgers and entrees such as a beer mac & cheese, fish & chips, a New York strip steak from locally-raised natural beef, and a stir fry.  

Kris came by just before 2 p.m. and said that she could take our order now for lunch.  My wife wanted to get the roasted beet salad Kalona Brewing Company had on the menu.  She loves getting the roasted beets in a jar from one of the shops in Kalona and she was pretty certain that the beets at Kalona Brewing would come from the same source.  The roasted beet salad came with fresh mixed greens, candied walnuts, and feta cheese.  A triangle of flat bread came on the side.  For her dressing, she got the house-made raspberry vinaigrette.  She thought the beet salad was outstanding and she offered me a bite of some of the roasted beets.  I never cared for pickled beets until I had some that my wife's grandmother canned a number of years ago.  These beets were especially flavorful with a bit of a roasted taste to them.  

I was in a quandary as to what to get.  Even though the menu wasn't all that vast, there were some things that definitely got my attention.  They had two burgers - one a regular burger with beef from JimRay Farms, a Kalona-area grass-fed cattle operation.  The other burger was the Diablo which was topped with a salsa verde, guacamole, and a jalapeño slaw.  (The Diablo sandwich was also available with a grilled chicken breast or with a portobello mushroom or a Beyond Burger patty for vegetarians.)  But in the end, I went with the meat loaf entree.  

The meat loaf featured JimRay Farms beef served on a bed of Kalona Brewing's beer mac & cheese, with a side of a sautéed fresh vegetable medley.  I got the small portion which consisted of 2 pieces of meat loaf instead of 3 for the large portion.  The meat loaf was topped with a red wine demi-glace.  I normally don't order meat loaf when I'm at a restaurant because my meat loaf at home is about the best I've ever had.  But I have to say this meat loaf was very good.  It wasn't dried out and it held a lot of great beef flavor.  The red wine demi-glace was a nice addition and I really liked the beer mac & cheese that came with the meat loaf.  I was not unhappy with my choice.  

My wife was torn between the chicken avocado sandwich and the grilled salmon Caesar salad.  In the end, the grilled salmon Caesar won out.  The salad featured Arcadian greens and a spring salad mix, and was topped with sliced red onions and shredded asiago cheese along with a house-made Caesar dressing.  I piece of grilled salmon finished the salad.  Another wedge of flat bread came on the side.  She was very happy with her choice of lunch that day.  

It had been a long time since we had been to Kalona and our visit to the Kalona Brewing Company had been a long time coming.  We liked virtually everything about our visit.  The beers were very good, the service we had from Kris was friendly, accommodating and she was fun, and the food was top-notch.  We're glad that we waited out the brunch period and got the regular menu, even though their brunch menu looked very interesting.  Kalona Brewing Company is a bit of a drive for us, but it was worth the trip.  And we look forward to the next road trip we make over to Kalona for shopping and a visit to Kalona Brewing.  Actually, I'll let my wife shop while I hang out at Kalona Brewing Company.  

BB's Lawnside BBQ - Kansas City, MO

Kansas City has so many great barbecue places and even though I've been going to the city for years and years, it's been difficult to try all of them.  While I was down in Kansas City earlier this year, I had the hankering for some barbecue and decided to go to one of the places I had tried to get into a couple times before, but it turned out the place - which is also a destination for live blues music in Kansas City - was packed both times.  I finally got a chance to have some barbecue at BB's Lawnside BBQ.  

Lindsay Shannon grew up in Kansas City and used to go to ball games at the old Muehlebach Field (later called Municipal Stadium) that was the home of the Kansas City Blues minor league baseball team, the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Baseball League, and eventually the Kansas City Athletics from Major League Baseball.  Municipal Stadium was located near the heart of the famous barbecue neighborhood surrounding 18th and Vine.  Shannon developed his love for barbecue at some of the more famous barbecue joints in the area including Arthur Bryant's, Harris' Barbecue and Gates Barbecue.  

When Shannon got into his teens, he found joy in listening to jazz music from a local Kansas City station during his lunch hour at home from high school.  At night, he could listen to blues music from stations such as KAAY in Little Rock, AR and XERF located across the border from Del Rio, TX.  He soon fell in love with some of the blues music of the day and began to immerse himself in the history of the blues.  But his first love was barbecue and while he was in college, he acquired his first barbecue smoker.

After college, Lindsay Shannon was living in Des Moines, IA for a time.  It was there that he met a young lady who was living downstairs from him in a duplex.  Jo Davis had moved from Pittsburgh after graduating from high school in 1968 to be closer to family in Des Moines and the two hit it off.  Jo and Lindsay were married in 1971.  

Jo and Lindsay Shannon moved to Kansas City soon thereafter as Lindsay started on a sales career and Jo started working for an advertising company.  By 1977, Lindsay was hosting a weekly show playing blues music on the local public radio station.  He was the founder of the Kansas City Blues Society in 1980 and was the booking agent for the blues stage at the Kansas City Spirit Festival for a number of years.  

In 1986, a local classic rock radio station - KCFX 101.1 The Fox - contacted Lindsay to see if he would move his popular weekly blues program over to their station.  KCFX had a much larger audience than the local public radio station and Shannon thought that anything he could do to help promote blues music would be a plus.  In 1987, Shannon began his career at KCFX and his Sunday night blues show from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. ran for over 25 years.  

But Lindsay really wanted to run his own barbecue restaurant.  He found a place in south Kansas City that had been built in 1950 as a roadhouse that was able to sell beer and liquor as it was just across the street from the Kansas City city limits.  It eventually became a barbecue joint in the 60's as Kansas City filled in around the restaurant.

Pictured right - Jo and Lindsay Shannon.  Photo courtesy KCFX - 101. The Fox

Lindsay had a guy who used to work at Harris' Barbecue who came down to the building to inspect the barbecue pit that was in place.  It was an old-style pit which burned wood and not pellets and it met with the approval of the veteran pit master.  The Shannons signed the lease on the building in the summer of 1990 as Lindsay quit his solid sales job.  BB's Lawnside BBQ opened in October of that year - the "BB" in the barbecue joint's name came naturally from blues great B.B. King.

In 1992, Jo quit her job with the advertising company to join Lindsay full time.  Jo ran the kitchen and books, and BB's Lawnside started to serve some of her Louisiana-inspired dishes such as jambalaya, red beans and rice, and gumbo.  

Lindsay had always wanted to combine his barbecue with blues music.  In 1991, Lindsay hosted his first music event - BB's Lawnside Blues & BBQ Festival - showcasing blues artists over a couple days in early September.  The event expanded over the years and in 1999 the Shannons added an outside deck for the festival.  The Blues & BBQ Festival now runs for nearly a week as blues artists and blues fans from all over the nation come to BB's for the annual event.  

For years, Lindsay and Jo's son Michael worked side-by-side with his parents in the business.  However, in 2012 Michael passed away unexpectedly dealing a personal and professional blow to the Shannons.  And earlier this month, I'm sad to report that Jo Shannon also passed away after 50 years of marriage to Lindsay.  

BB's is located just east of Troost Ave. on E. 85th Street.  (see map)  There is no cross street at Troost and E. 85th and Troost is on a viaduct over 85th.  To get to BB's, you have to turn onto a frontage road at E. 84th Street and head back to 85th.  BB's is located about 250 feet east of Troost on the south side of 85th.  

There was a moderate late lunch crowd in BB's when I went inside.  The rectangular dining space featured a bar on one end with some high-top tables nearby.  The inside stage area was on the far side of the bar in front of a wall of windows that let in a lot of natural light.  Vinyl red and white checkerboard table cloths covered the tables in the joint.  

There was posters from previous shows at BB's Lawnside as well as a number of posters of local blues festivals from over the years.  Photos of performers as well as other memorabilia covered nearly every inch of the walls.  I found myself lingering after finishing my lunch to check out some of the things they had on display.  I especially liked the sign that simply said, "BBQ, Beers, Blues!"  Music from blues artists such as Son Seals, Carey Bell, Pinetop Perkins (who I saw years ago at the old Blues Etc. in Chicago) and, of course, B.B. King played in the background during my visit.  

I sat down at one of the high-top tables near the bar area and was greeted by a young lady who asked what I wanted to drink.  They had Boulevard American Pale Ale in bottles available and I asked for one of those.  

The menu at BB's Lawnside consists of a number of smoked meats - turkey, beef brisket, ham, chicken, pulled pork and ribs.  Appetizers such as double beer-battered Spanish onion rings, beer-battered shrimp, pulled pork nachos, and chicken tenders were available.  Sandwiches such as a battered chicken breast, smoked Italian sausage, and a mixed meat sandwich featuring a little bit of everything were on the menu.  Dinners such as a barbecue meat loaf, smoked catfish, and half or quarter chicken plates were part of the offerings.  

I usually get a combo platter when I first go to a barbecue joint that I hadn't been to before.  They had a three meat platter with a choice of brisket, ham, turkey or pulled pork with two sides on the menu.  They also had a combo plate with ribs, Italian sausage and a choice of meat available.  But I was sort of in the mood for burnt ends.  

I ended up getting the getting the burnt ends dinner - a pile of brisket tips with battered fries and pit beans.  The burnt ends were served on a piece of white bread and dill pickle slices came on the side.  

Now, when I first started to go to Kansas City years and years ago, I tried burnt ends.  I found them to be dried out and somewhat tasteless.  I really resisted burnt ends for the next few years before I finally tried some as part of a combo platter at a rib joint.  I found those to be succulent, tender, and delicious.  I've warmed up to burnt ends over the years and found that the first time I had them was an anomaly.  The burnt ends at BB's Lawnside were outstanding. They were tender and juicy with a nice hickory smoke flavor throughout.  And at BB's Lawnside BBQ, they give you a pile of burnt ends for $14.50.  

The battered fries were interesting.  They were basically potato wedges, or more like potato spears.  When the platter was placed in front of me, I thought the battered fries were actually fried pickle spears.  The outer side of the battered fries were crisp and the inside of the wedges were light and flaky.  They were actually very good and they were made even better by squeezing some of the barbecue sauce on to them.  

Speaking of barbecue sauces, BB's Lawnside had 3 different sauces to choose from.  They had their version of a mild Kansas City sweet-and-smoky sauce, a hot sauce that was basically the same as the mild only kicked up a bit with some cayenne pepper, and a sweet peach habanero sauce.  Now, I usually stay away from anything habanero, but for some reason I squeezed a little out onto the battered fries and gave it a try.  It was cool, sweet and tangy on the front end.  But moments later this taste explosion erupted on the back of my tongue.  It was spicy, but not burn-your-face-off spicy.  It was probably too spicy for sensitive tastes, but I thought it was just outstanding.  In fact, that's all I used for the rest of my meal.  The pit beans mixed with some of the sweet peach habanero sauce had such a wonderful flavor.  

But I screwed up.  I should have asked to see if I could have purchased a quart of the stuff.  I've done that a couple three times with some sauces that I've really enjoyed in the past that I knew weren't available for retail purchase.  But I didn't.  And that sort of sucked.  Oh well...

I finally got the chance to experience BB's Lawnside BBQ after getting shut out on a couple of previous visits when the place was packed because of live music playing in the joint.  I have to say that I liked nearly everything about the place.  It was the quintessential dive barbecue joint.  The blues memorabilia, alone, is worth a visit to BB's Lawnside. The burnt end platter was outstanding and the battered potato fries were surprisingly good.  And everything was made even better from the deliciously sweet and spicy sweet peach habanero sauce that they make in house at BB's Lawnside.  It's not a fancy place compared to some other barbecue places in Kansas City, but don't let that fool you.  BB's Lawnside is a top-notch barbecue joint in a city famous for their barbecue.  

Founders Brewing Company - Grand Rapids, MI

During our vacation earlier this year up in the Grand Rapids area, we visited many of the local breweries the city has to offer.  Quite possibly the most successful and high profile brewery in the city is Founders Brewing Company.  We found out that they had a taproom with a kitchen that featured deli-style sandwiches and hand-tossed pizzas.  We decided to head to Founders for lunch one day during our time in Grand Rapids.  

It's sort of interesting how I found out about Founders Brewing.  My Michigan brewery of choice for a number of years was Bell's Brewery based out of Kalamazoo.  About 10 years ago, my wife and I were on a vacation trip to Michigan and it seemed like every place where I tried to order a Bell's Two Hearted American IPA - a staple at bars and restaurants around the Midwest - didn't have it.  About the only Bell's beer that we encountered at places in Michigan was the Bell's Oberon Ale wheat beer.  However, most places had the Founders Centennial IPA available.  At one place, I asked the bartender as to why there seemed to be a dearth of Bell's beer - especially when their brewery was just down the road in Kalamazoo.  I was told that Bell's founder Larry Bell could be, well, sort of a prickly individual - only the term the bartender used a much stronger term than that.  "A lot of places have just given up trying to work with Bell's," I was told.  "The guys at Founders are good guys and they make good beer."  I've since sort of migrated over to the Founders All Day IPA which is a lighter version of the Centennial IPA.  

The history of Founders Brewing starts with two college buddies who had a common interest in home-brewed beers.  While he was in college, Dave Engbers received his first brew kit as a present from his parents.  His older brother had already been making homemade wine, beer and mead, and Engbers parents thought that Dave would enjoy brewing his own beer.  

Mike Stevens was enamored with the growing culture of west coast craft beers, especially the beers from Sierra Nevada.  He set about to try and replicate some of those beers at home.  Even though he threw out his first batch of beer, he persevered and little did he know that his hobby would later become his vocation.

Stevens and Engbers met at Hope College in Holland, MI and found their common interest in home brewing beers.  Engbers was the one who first proposed having their own craft brewery at some point after some of the west coast craft breweries he was so fond of.  

By 1994, both were out of college and started to work on a business plan they could present to banks and other investors for financing for their brewery.   By 1997, they had procured approximately $350,000 and were ready to open their brewery.

Pictured right - Mike Stevens and Dave Engbers.  Photo courtesy Craft Brewing Business.  

Coming up with a name was the next thing to do.  Initially, they were going to call their brewery Canal Street Brewing Company as a homage to the street where the bulk of Grand Rapids breweries were located before Prohibition.  In the process of doing background work on the history of Grand Rapids breweries, the two found a picture of four men who were owners of breweries back in the 1880's.  Above the four men was the term "Founders" which meant those gentlemen were the founders of the breweries.  Steven and Engbers used that picture on their early bottles they had brewed.  Some of their early customers started to refer to their beer as "Founders".  Both Engbers and Stevens figured out that was probably a better name than Canal Street Brewing Company.

The first Founders brewery was a 9800-square foot building known as the Brass Works Building on Monroe Street in Grand Rapids.  (Monroe Street was originally called Canal Street before the turn of the 20th century.)  By 1998, Founders opened their first tap room serving beers to the public.  Because they were on a shoestring budget from under-capitalization, Engbers and Stevens were the brewers, bartenders, bar managers and owners.  

Founders beers weren't exactly setting the world on fire.  By 1999, the co-owners had fallen behind on financial payments and at one point their only income was from the tips they were receiving working at the bar.  But it soon became evident that the two were going deeper and deeper into the hole.  

By 2001, they were far behind with payments to the bank and they were behind in rent to their landlord.  Plus they were 8 months behind in paying state taxes.  One day, they got a certified letter from their bank saying they had 6 days to make up the payments of which they were in arrears.  Their landlord caught wind of it and immediately demanded payment or he would lock up the building with a chain and lock.  Really down on their luck and not thinking straight, Engbers went out and bought a large bolt cutter that he thought they would have to use if their landlord or the bank locked them out.  

Instead of having to use the bolt cutters, Stevens and Engbers started to canvas other potential investors around the area to see if someone would help them get out of their dire situation.   One of those potential investors was Grand Rapids area philanthropist Peter Cook.  During their meeting, Cook gave no indication that he was interested in investing in their brewery.  But he did give them this advice, "Look forward to the future and not backwards at the disaster."  

After leaving their meeting with Cook, Stevens and Engbers were all but sure they would be forced into bankruptcy.  They went back to their taproom to have a "come-to-Jesus" realization meeting with themselves. They realized the beers they were making were bland and they didn't even really like them at all.  They started to talk about the beers they wanted to make at some point, not knowing if the bank would be showing up in the next couple days to serve papers on them.  

However, the next day they got a call from their bank.  Peter Cook had made a phone call and guaranteed the bank loan and authorized a line of credit for more financial help for Steven and Engbers.  Other investors stepped forward to help pay off other debts the brewery had accumulated.  That was the impetus the duo needed to continue on with their venture.  

Engbers and Stevens then fired their head brewer at the time and brought in a new team that included Jeremy Kosmicki.  With Kosmicki's vision, Founders dumped their boring beers and came up with some exciting beers such as the aforementioned Centennial IPA, the Kentucky Bourbon Stout - commonly known as KBS - that was aged in bourbon casks, and the Dirty Bastard Scotch ale that became Founders signature beer.  

As Founders Brewing Co. grew, they continued to lose money.  Distribution problems, mounting costs and the lack of a proficient space to brew their beers was the biggest problem.  Their original location could only produce approximately 5000 barrels of beer annually.  A larger place would allow them to produce more beer and to one day pursue national distribution.  

In 2006, Engbers and Stevens found a building that was an old trucking warehouse on Grandville Ave. SE just south of downtown Grand Rapids.  The 27,000-square foot terminal had closed in 1991 and had sat vacant since then.  They were able to renovate it into a brewery and they moved into their larger facility in 2007.  The brewery was soon producing 11,000 barrels annually and was growing exponentially over the next few years, finally going into the black and being able to begin to pay back investors and financial institutions.  In 2014, Founders announced a $35 million dollar expansion adding another 12,000-square feet to the building that would give them the capacity to produce up to 900,000 barrels of beer on an annual basis.  By 2018, Founders was the 14th largest brewery in the United States and was producing over 550,000 barrels of beer annually.   

To help finance that expansion in 2014, Stevens and Engbers sold a 30 percent stake in Founders Brewing Co. to Mahou-San Miguel, the largest brewer in Spain.  And in 2019, Mahou-San Miguel bought another 60% of the brewery allowing for Engbers and Stevens to stay on as combined 10% share holders in the brewery.  The further investment by the Spanish family-owned brewery was designed to take Founders nationwide.  In all, it was estimated that Engbers and Stevens were paid over $295 million dollars for their controlling stakes in Founders Brewing Co.  Not too bad for a couple guys who were hours away from bankruptcy just 20 years ago!

Founders Brewing Company is located between the Grand River and the US 131 freeway that winds north south through Grand Rapids.  (see map)   Parking is sort of limited in the area, but we found a parking spot on the north side of the brewery along Williams Street SW.  

As we went to the front door of the public entrance to Founders Brewing, we found their beer garden to the left.  It was a good sized open air space with benches, picnic tables and outdoor heaters for cooler days and evenings.  It was a brilliant sun-shiny day when we were there and we sort of contemplated about sitting outside for a moment.

On the far end of the beer garden was a full functioning bar with high-top tables and heaters hanging from the ceiling.  It was open on the sides, but it appeared that there were plastic screens that could be rolled down to continue to make it a functional space even on cold or rainy days.  

The main area of Founders Brewing Company features the original beer hall.  Heavy on wood accents, the main hall has a stage at one end for live music events.  Garage doors that can be opened to the beer garden are part of the beer hall with a long ornate bar opposite the garage doors.  

We took a seat in the middle of the beer hall and were given a couple food menus and beer menus to look over.  It wasn't long before our server, a 30-something guy by the name of John, came over to greet us.  It turned out that John had worked in the kitchen at Founders Brewing for 5 years before he grew tired of being in the back and wanted to interact with people out front.  Before he started at Founders, he told us he was a pastry chef.  "But, man, the 3 a.m. work calls got to be too much after awhile," he said.  John gave us a few minutes to get settled in as we checked out the lengthy list of beers they had to offer in the tap room.

It turned out that John was very helpful in trying to figure out which beers to try at Founders.  They have three different classes of beers at Founders - Class 1 features some of their well-known beers as well as some seasonal beers.  Class 2 beers are the more eclectic beers including their nitro-based beers and fruit-based beers including their Rubaeus pure raspberry beer.  Pints were $6.50 each for the Class 2 beers while Class 1 beers were $5.50 a pint.  

Class 3 was the upper echelon of beers available at Founders.  These were generally the highest in alcohol content (ABV) and featured some of their barrel-aged stouts.  An 8-ounce glass of these ales ran $7.25 each. In all, Founders featured 10 beers available that day that weren't available outside of their taproom.  

As we were looking over the menus, John came back to our table with two small glasses of their Kentucky Barrel Stout infused with cinnamon, vanilla and cocoa.  "It's sort of our breakfast stout," John told us.  It was complex in its flavor, but we decided that it wasn't for us.   

John was asking what we liked in beers and we both said we like the IPA's or hazy IPA's.  "I don't want to try an All Day IPA because I can get that anywhere," I said.  John said that most people don't get their mainstream beers in the taproom because of the large list of other beers that are available.  

We decided to get a flight of beers to start out with and John was very knowledgeable in the differences between some of their IPA's.  We settled on four beers the Red's Rye IPA, the Unrivaled IPA, the Hello Jane IPA, and a special IPA - Ales for ALS where the proceeds of the beer's sales went to the ALS Association earmarked for research.  

John brought out the flight of beers we'd ordered up and he brought along another one that he said he really liked - the Scarlet Dawn IPA.  Red's Rye IPA was a little too much of a whiskey taste for me.  The Unrivaled IPA was smooth, as was the Hello Jane, but just a bit more hoppy in taste.  The Scarlet Red was all right - it was basically a combination of a red ale and a session IPA.  I'm afraid that it really didn't trip my trigger and I apologized to John for that.  "No problem," he said.  "It just happens to be my favorite beer right now and thought you might like to try it."

However, the Ales for ALS was my clear favorite.  This had a bit higher ABV (7.1%) than the other IPA's we had tried and it had a wonderful flavor.  My wife thought it was a bit too forward, but she liked the Hello Jane IPA as it was sort of in between the Ales for ALS and the Unrivaled.  I got a pint of the Ales for ALS and my wife got a pint of the Hello Jane.  

The menu at Founders Brewing featured a number of appetizers such as chips and guacamole or chips and salsa, a Bavarian-style pretzel, bourbon-barrel smoked chicken wings and a beer cheese dip that was made with smoked Gouda, cream cheese, chopped fresh garlic, red peppers, spinach, all blended with a combination of their Centennial IPA and the Red's Rye IPA.  The beer cheese dip comes with seasoned crostini and tortilla chips. 

14" hand-tossed pizzas were part of the menu as well as a handful of salads.  But deli-style sandwiches were the main items on the menu.  The "Devil Dancer" featured roasted chicken, Muenster and pepper-jack cheeses, jalapeños, banana peppers with a chipotle mayo.  The "Backwoods Bastard" featured barbecued pulled-pork, Colby Jack cheese, house-made cole slaw and a house-made barbecue sauce.  They had their own rendition of a Philly cheesesteak sandwich at Founders, as well as a ham and cheese sandwich made with cheddar and Swiss cheese with Founders Dirty Bastard stone ground mustard.  

John must have come over three or four times while we were trying to figure out what we wanted to order for lunch.  It really shouldn't have been that big of a problem, but we were just sort of taking our time trying to figure out what to order.  After the third time John came back and we weren't ready, I began to apologize profusely.  "No problem," John said.  "Take your time.  I'm not going anywhere."  

My wife was sort of torn between a couple things - she thought about getting the turkey reuben on sourdough bread, but ended up getting the "Blushing Monk".  It consisted of cranberry/chicken salad topped with provolone and smoked Gouda cheese, finished off with lettuce, tomatoes and red onions on a Mexican-style telera roll.  She got a half and she was glad she did because it was huge on its own.  She got a side of their house-made cole slaw.  She really enjoyed the sandwich, but she thought the cole slaw was just all right.

I had the same problem figuring out what I wanted.  They had a smoked-pork Cuban sandwich, as well as a smoked pastrami on Polish rye.  But John talked me into the reuben sandwich - "Rubin's Reuben".  It featured thin-sliced house-made corned beef with sauerkraut cooked in Dirty Bastard beer.  It was topped with Swiss cheese, 1000 Island dressing and served on Polish Rye.  It was excellent.  Once again John didn't steer us wrong.  

After we finished up our lunch and paid the bill, we took a little look around the rest of the tap room.  The addition that was built back in 2013 added a separate tap room next to the gift shop and the office area.  There was a separate bar in there and was a bit more cozy than the main tap room. 

Part of the secondary tap room had a display of Founders memorabilia through the years.  There were old bottles, photographs, and other items they had accumulated since Founders started nearly 25 years ago.  It was sort of neat to see some of the awards they had won for their beers over the years.  

While there are a large number of great little craft breweries in Grand Rapids, a trip to the area can't really be complete without a visit to Founders Brewing Company.  There are some locals in Grand Rapids who we talked to about Founders who felt that Mike Stevens and Dave Engbers literally sold out the craft beer movement when they gave up majority interest in Founders Brewing.  But I look at it as a way to preserve their legacy from taking their little two man operation that was on the verge of insolvency 20 years ago and making it into one of the largest breweries in the United States.  The Founders Brewing tap room was a great place to relax and have some of their special beers that are not available elsewhere, and to nosh on some pretty good sandwiches.  We can't say enough about the service we had from John who was friendly, helpful, knowledgable, patient, and had a great sense of humor.    Founders Brewing Company wasn't even our favorite brewery that we visited during our trip to western Michigan, but we realized that it was good to go pay homage to one of the pioneers of the craft beer movement in Grand Rapids.