Road Tips

Krewe - St. Joseph, MN

When I was in St. Joseph, MN, a small community outside of St. Cloud, earlier this year, I ended up going to Bad Habit Brewing Company to check that place out on the advice of one of the guys who worked at my account in St. Cloud.  (Click here to read about my visit to Bad Habit Brewing.)  I was sort of surprised that literally across the street from Bad Habit Brewing was a New Orleans-inspired restaurant by the name of Krewe.  After finishing up at Bad Habit, I ventured across the street to Krewe to have dinner.  

It turned out that I was somewhat familiar with the owners of Krewe - they had been the owners of Model Citizen, a small restaurant that was formerly in Goat Ridge Brewing in New London, MN, a great little brewery that my wife and I fell in love with during our vacation in the Spicer/New London area a couple years ago.  Mateo Mackbee and Erin Rae Lucas met when he was a chef and she was a server at the now-closed Mozza Mia in the Minneapolis suburb of Edina.  While Lucas was a trained pastry chef, Mackbee grew up in a household with family recipes of Cajun and Creole food passed down to his Louisiana-born mother.  In the summers, Mackbee would go to New Orleans and help his grandfather who was a chef in a restaurant where the young Mackbee would learn more trade secrets from him.  

Looking for a change in scenery, Mackbee and Lucas had the opportunity to move to rural west-central Minnesota and open Model Citizen, a restaurant that relied upon locally-grown foods.  (Click here to see the Road Tips entry on Model Citizen and Goat Ridge Brewing Company.)   Even the shrimp Mackbee used in some of his Creole-inspired dishes came from a former cattle farm in the area. Mackbee, a black man in an overwhelmingly white area of Minnesota, had faced some racial issues with some of the locals while in New London, but he was able to work through the problems and Model Citizen gained a loyal following.

Pictured right - Erin Lucas and Mateo Mackbee.  Photo courtesy New York Times.

One of their fans was a St. Joseph real estate agent/developer by the name of Jon Petters.  Petters was in the process of building a new mixed use residential/commerical building in downtown St. Joseph - 24 North Lofts - and he had a space that he wanted Lucas and Mackbee to fill.  Lucas had put her culinary degree as a pastry chef to use while in New London and the couple wanted to have a Cajun/Creole restaurant and a bakery as part of their new venture.  Petters was able to get them a space next to the restaurant space he had in mind for the couple.  Lucas opened Flour and Flower, a Scandinavian-style bakery and coffee house - in February of 2020.  The pandemic hit just before the couple was going to open their restaurant, but they were finally able to open the door to Krewe in late May 2020.  

On the logo for Krewe, it shows that the restaurant was established in 1944.  Mackbee explained in an article in the New York Times that it was more of a tribute to his mother, a long-time Twin Cities educator, who was born in 1944 and who still oversees some of the food recipes Mackbee uses in his restaurant.  (Mackbee's father was former Minnesota Vikings linebacker Earsell Mackbee.)  

Krewe occupies the prime location in 24 North Lofts along College Avenue N. in downtown St. Joseph.  (see map)  Parking for the restaurant is available on College Ave. and other side streets near Krewe.  I had parked in the lot behind Bad Habit Brewing and walked out the front door of the brewery and across the street to Krewe.   

The interior of Krewe featured a contemporary design with bold colored walls.  The building faced the west so a lot of late afternoon light filled the dining room.  The open kitchen was fronted by a raw bar with oysters on ice in front of the seating area.  The dining room was filled with Zydeco music from New Orleans giving it a true Crescent City feeling.  

The three-sided bar featured colorful ceramic tiles on the face.  A single television sat on the wall of the back bar.  They had three bartenders working that evening and I ended up taking a seat in the center of the bar.   I looked to my left and Mateo Mackbee was seated at the corner talking with a patron.  I doubted he would have remembered me from our earlier visits to Model Citizen in New London.  

The bartender who waited on me that evening was Jack, a jovial and outgoing kind of guy.  He gave me a food menu and asked me what I wanted to drink.  They had a number of local craft beers on tap including beers from Modist, Fair State Co-op, Excelsior and Beaver Island Brewing Co.  They even had Hamm's on tap!  Their beverage menu featured a lot of wines to choose from, but I did notice that they had Kona Big Wave available in bottles.  I asked Jack to get me one of those.  

The menu at Krewe wasn't all that long, but it was more than what Mackbee and Lucas offered at Model Citizen.  In addition to oysters on the half-shell, Krewe offered appetizers such as hushpuppies, crab cakes, and boudin lumpia - Creole-seasoned braised pork with rice and in a rice paper wrapper.  Items such as crawfish étouffée, Creole mussels, and barbecued shrimp were available either as a main entree or a shared dish.  Also available as a shared entree was a 22 ounce ribeye, a smoked - then grilled - half chicken served with an Alabama white barbecue sauce, and a whole grilled fish with marinated onions and peppers all served with a roasted red pepper chimichurri.

The main entrees included a number of Louisiana favorites - smothered catfish, a thick-cut pork chop with onion gravy, red beans and rice, and a house gumbo that was made from a recipe Mackbee got handed down from his grandfather.  The smoked and seared duck breast with scallion pancakes also interested me.  

But in the end, I went with the shrimp jambalaya.  I'd had Mackbee's jambalaya during one of our visits to Model Citizen a couple three years ago.  It was true jambalaya made with the holy trinity of onions, celery and bell peppers in a tomato broth with a generous portion of shrimp mixed in with andouille sausage, chunks of chicken breast, ham and finish with a dollop of jasmine rice.  It was just as good as I remembered from Model Citizen.  It was a hearty meal, had a bit of a spicy bite to it, and the overall flavor was outstanding.   The jambalaya was a bit salty for my taste, but that wasn't a deal breaker.  The jambalaya at Krewe was more than worthy of any Cajun or Creole restaurant I've been in over the years.  

Krewe is one of those places that seems sort of out of place in a small college town in the middle of Minnesota.  And Mateo Mackbee's and Erin Lucas' back story of how they got to this place in their life is quite interesting.  The jambalaya I had was very good and Mackbee acquits himself quite well as a Cajan/Creole chef in the middle of the heartland.  From the comfortable atmosphere with Zydeco music playing in the background to the friendly and prompt service to the authentic New Orleans-style food, Krewe is certainly a great destination for good food.  I can only hope they're able to maintain the clientele to keep them going for years to come.  But with their food, it shouldn't be hard.

Bombay Cuisine/East West Brewing Co. - Grand Rapids, MI

While we were on vacation in Grand Rapids earlier this year, my wife and I visited a number of breweries in the area.  One evening, my wife was in the mood for Indian food, but I was still sort of in the brewpub mode thinking of a good place to get a meal with a good locally-brewed beer.  To the wishes of my wife, I looked up all the Indian restaurants in the area on my computer.  One immediately popped out at me - it was a combination Indian restaurant/brewery.  I said, "I think I found one that we'll both like!"  Later that evening, we headed over to Bombay Cuisine - East West Brewing Company for food and beer.  

Now, I like brewpubs and I like Indian food and there is only one other place that I have ever encountered that had that combination and that was Jaipur Brew House in Omaha.  (Click here to read the Road Tips entry on Jaipur Brew House.)  And the food and beer were both very good at Jaipur.  So, I had high hopes that Bombay Cuisine/East West Brewing would be a winning combination.  

About 22 years ago, Balwinder Bal opened the doors to his Indian restaurant, Bombay Cuisine.  He was soon joined in the business by his daughter, Monica.  The elder Bal became enamored with the burgeoning craft brewing industry in Grand Rapids and about 15 years ago he began to brew his own beers at home.  He figured that being a chef was similar to being a brewmaster - it was mixing ingredients to make things taste good.  

Pictured at right - Balwinder Bal.  Photo courtesy Grand Rapids Now.

Bombay Cuisine had a space next door where Balwinder Bal put in an English-style ale house/sports bar - Queen's Pub - in 2009.  That concept lasted for about 3 years until Bal brought in a young chef by the name of Jayson Leek to come up with a Southern-inspired restaurant by the name of Radix Tavern.  However, less than a year after Radix opened, Leek decided to head on and Bal sought another person to come in to run a restaurant in the space.  

Longtime local chef Dan Chudik stepped in to open Trattoria di Stagione in June of 2013.  Chudik was well known for his own Italian restaurant Tuscan located on the southeast side of Grand Rapids that closed a few years before he teamed with Bal to open the new Italian cafe.  Things went well for three years before Chudik parted company and took over a nostalgic 50's-style Fodero diner back on Grand Rapids' southeast side.  (COVID-19 and 2020 wasn't kind to Chudik and he was forced to close his diner.  However, it's been reported that he is moving the diner - all 20 tons of it - to Muskegon about 45 miles northwest of Grand Rapids.)   

Faced with another space that he had to figure out what to do with, Balwinder Bal decided to take his love for homebrewing to the next level and he announced that he was going to put in a brewpub.  Bal had an affinity for pale ales, but he also used spices that he cooked his Indian specialties for some of his homemade brews.  And he felt that bit of differentiation would make his new brewery unique in the face of an ever increasing market for craft breweries in Grand Rapids.  

First of all, Bal had Bombay Cuisine switch places with the space the other restaurants had been in and turned the old Indian restaurant into the brewpub.  Bal next hired a consultant to help him get his brewery up and running, procuring his stainless steel brewing tanks from a local Michigan company.  

Through a mutual friend, Bal was introduced to Teo Watson-Ahlbrandt, a brewery consultant based out of Ann Arbor.  Watson-Ahlbrandt - who consulted with a handful of start-up breweries before opening his own nano-cannery Edelbrau Brewing Company in 2019 - was intrigued with Bal's approach to combining culinary spices with craft beer brewing.   The two collaborated on some of the brews that Bal would later incorporate into his line-up of beers when he was getting close to opening his brewpub.  With beers in place and a bar manager hired, East West Brewing Company opened in December of 2016.  

Bombay Cuisine and East West Brewing Company are located in the Eastown neighborhood near the corner of Lake Drive SE and Robinson Road SE.  (see map)  We drove around the block and found parking on Richard Terrace SE and took a short walk to the restaurant/brewery.  

The combo Indian restaurant/microbrewery is a small and cozy place.  Bamboo light shades hung from the ceiling in the dining area that also had exposed duct work.  My wife especially liked the plant wall near our table as it gave the restaurant a bit of vibrancy, not that it needed it.  

We were seated at a table in the dining room near the bar.  The young lady who seated us was also our server that evening.  She gave us both a food menu and a beer menu to look through.  We both tried a sample of their Calipur IPA and we decided we liked it.  We ordered a couple of pints for us to enjoy while we looked through the menu.  

When East West Brewing Company first opened, there was a separate menu for the brewpub versus the Indian restaurant.  However, it all changed over to Bombay Cuisine's full Indian menu not long after East West opened.  Most of the items on the menu were typical of what you'd find in most Indian restaurants - lamb, chicken, and seafood dishes as well as a slew of vegetarian selections.  Bombay Cuisine also had tandoori items on the menu, as well as biryani dishes.  

Probably one of the more interesting items found on their menu was their melding of Indian and Quebecois dishes - Indian pub poutine.  They had four dishes that featured fresh cut fries topped with a choice of chicken tikka masala, butter chicken, a mushroom mutter sauce, and a chana pindi poutine with garbanzo beans mixed in a spicy tamarind sauce.  All of the Indian poutine dishes are topped with melted cheese.  The Indian pub poutine selections made me pause for a moment as I really thought about getting one just to see what it was like.  

We started out by ordering some Samosa, but we were informed moments later that they were out of them.  My wife decided to get the vegetable pakoras for an appetizer instead, but we never did get them.  I don't know if she forgot to place the order for them or what the deal was.  They weren't listed on our final bill.  

My wife selected the murg methi, a combination of two of her favorite sauces - butter chicken and tikka masala.  The murg methi intrigued me enough that we ended up sharing it family style.  We had also ordered up some garlic naan to go with our meal.  

The combination of the tikka masala and butter chicken was interesting.  It was a mild-plus sauce with a bit of a peppery taste on the back end.  The chicken was tender and cooked perfectly.  I complemented my wife on her choice of food.    

I was torn between the lamb rogan josh and the lamb saag in a spinach sauce.  And I have to say that I was still somewhat interested in the butter chicken poutine.  I wavered back and forth a moment before I finally pulled the trigger on the rogan josh.  

The lamb rogan josh was equally as wonderful as the murg methi.  It featured a slightly spicy curry sauce with cubes of tender lamb.  The spices and flavor were just outstanding.  And the Calipur IPA was a nice complement to the meal.  It was a lot of food, but since we didn't get either the samosa or the pakora for appetizers, I finished most of the rogan josh.  

Indian food is our comfort food and my wife felt she needed a hearty meal while I was still looking for good brewpubs to try in the greater Grand Rapids area.  It turned out Bombay Cuisine and East West Brewing Company was the perfect combination of what both of us wanted that evening.  The Indian food we both had was excellent and the house-brewed IPA they had on tap was a great complement to the Indian food.  The service was a little choppy - we had ordered an appetizer that we never received - but that was fine as the food we had more than satisfied our appetites.  I don't know if we'll make it back to Bombay Cuisine/East West Brewing Company, but if we do I really want to try the butter chicken poutine.  

Max's On The Green - Spicer, MN

Traveling through the Spicer/New London area of west central Minnesota not long ago, I wanted to get something to eat at the Goat Ridge Brewing Company in New London.  However, I found that their kitchen wasn't open that evening.  I remembered that there was a restaurant - the Little Crow Tavern - at the Little Crow Golf Resort located between New London and Spicer that my wife and I talked about going to when we were vacationing in the area a couple three years ago, but never did.  I decided to head out there for a bite to eat.  However, from the time when we were originally here and when I pulled into the parking lot, the restaurant had gone through a change in management.  It is now called Max's on the Green.  It wasn't a deal breaker and I went in to check the place out.

The Little Crow Golf Club originally opened in 1969, but in 2017 the golf club was bought by investors who did major renovations to the course, tore down and built a new club house/restaurant/bar, and added a GrandStay hotel and resort along with a small reception/conference center.   The new restaurant - Little Crow Tavern and Grill - opened in the spring of 2018, while the hotel and conference center opened in July of that year.  

After the golf season was over in 2019, Little Crow Tavern shut down and during the winter the facility searched for new management to run the restaurant/bar.  And they found a couple who had experience in running a restaurant - Corey and Traci Buchtel.  

The Buchtels had been involved with running the Sheep Shedde Inn - a small boutique hotel in Olivia, MN about 35 miles south of Spicer - along with an attached restaurant/bar called Max's Grill for nearly 20 years.  They jumped at the opportunity to take over the restaurant at Little Crow Golf Resort.  The Buchtels took over the space and decided to change the name to Max's on the Green to give some continuity to their restaurant in Olivia.  

The pandemic pushed back the official opening of Max's on the Green until June of 2020 when they were finally able to open with restrictions with patio only seating.  Full in-house dining began later in the year.  And whereas the Little Crow Tavern was a seasonal restaurant, Max's on the Green is open year-round.   

It was about 6:30 when I pulled into the complex that houses Max's on the Green.  (see map)  The clubhouse and restaurant are located on the back side of the hotel and I found a parking spot in front of the door to the restaurant.  

The outdoor patio was rather large consisting of all-weather furnishings and great views of the golf course.  It was a tad cool the evening I was there and there were only a handful of people seated on the patio having dinner and/or drinks.  

Max's on the Green features live music on the patio during the summer months.  I figured this had to be a hopping spot during the summertime.  The patio was very nice.  

This is the view of the golf course looking toward the west from the patio.  The putting green is in the foreground with fairways in the background.  The golf course features three 9-hole courses with a lot of water hazards throughout.  If I played golf - I gave it up years ago because I sucked at it - I would have loved to play this course just for the beauty of it alone.  

Inside the restaurant, there's a combination bar/dining area.  Doors on the side take you into a large reception hall that is used for events and meetings.  The dining area was about half filled with people when I got in there.

I contemplated taking a table in the dining room, but decided to sit at the bar.  I was greeted by Traci Buchtel who was the bartender that evening.  She gave me a menu after I sat down.  I ordered up a Kona Big Wave Golden Ale as I immediately noticed the familiar spigot when I sat down at the bar.  

The food choices were fairly basis at Max's on the Green.  They did feature steaks, ribs, jumbo fried shrimp, grilled salmon, and a grilled chicken breast topped with smoked ham, provolone cheese and a pineapple ring served on a bed of wild rice for their main entrees.  They had a number of appetizers - the usual fare such as nachos, chicken wings, and cheese curds.  Max's on the Green also featured burgers, sandwiches, flat breads and a number of salads to choose from.  Interestingly, they also featured three different variations of bratwurst including the Philly brat that was topped with Swiss cheese, onions and peppers.  That sounded quite good, but I knew the onions and peppers would be talking back at me later that evening.  

Max's on the Green also features a special off menu item each day.  That evening they had beef enchiladas with rice for the special.  I didn't even consider that as I continued through the menu.  

Honestly, I really didn't know what to get that evening.  Sandwiches such as the Classic Pastrami and the pulled pork on a hoagie sounded good.  I knew I didn't want a steak, and the BLTA (bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado) caught my eye, but we had our own BBLTA's (basil, bacon, lettuce, tomato, avocado) at home over the previous weekend.  

I was beginning to run out of options and I had it down to two different burgers - the Big Max, their signature burger topped with cheddar cheese, sautéed mushrooms and bacon; or the Frisco burger served on sourdough bread topped with Swiss cheese, bacon and mayonnaise.  I ended up getting the Frisco burger, only I asked Traci if I could get sautéed mushrooms on the burger.  She said it was no problem.

I had a choice of fries, kettle chips or steamed veggies with the burger.  For a slight uncharge, I had a choice of either onion rings or a side salad.  I asked Traci if they made the onion rings in house from scratch or if they got them from a food purveyor.  She sort of hesitated for a moment and said, "Yeah, we get them from a food service company.  They're all right."  She didn't sound too convincing in her voice, so I ended up getting the fries instead.  

The burger was on two toasted slices of sourdough bread.  It was a thick beef patty cooked medium with a hint of red in the meat.  The mayo, Swiss cheese, bacon and mushrooms were prominent on the burger that was served cut in half.  

The Frisco burger was actually very good.  I like a good sourdough bread burger from time to time and this was a spot-hitter for me.  The combination of the toppings didn't mask the bold taste of the beef and actually helped enhance the overall taste.  The fries were all right, but I concentrated more on the burger having only a few fries along the way.    

Max's on the Green was fine for what it is.  The menu is basic, the atmosphere of the dining/bar area is laid back, and it's tough to beat the views of the golf course from the patio behind the restaurant.  The owner Traci did a fine job of making sure that I had a full beer glass when I needed it, and the Frisco burger on sourdough bread was very good.  For a golf course restaurant, I'd call it average compared to some other golf course restaurants I've been to over the years.  But there's just something about the New London/Spicer area that makes Max's on the Green a little more appealing that the others. 

Fork + Ale House - Carmel, IN

I had a long day of calling on accounts in the greater Indianapolis area and ended up in Carmel toward the end of the day.  I wanted to get something light and maybe a couple good cold beers and I found a place that I wasn't all that familiar with - a brewpub by the name of Fork + Ale House.  

I hadn't been in Indianapolis since the fall of 2019 due to the pandemic and I was simply amazed at how built up the Carmel downtown area had become.  And Fork + Ale House is one of the newer restaurants in the Carmel Arts and Design District. It was opened in May of 2019 by Chris and Amy Long, well-known restaurateurs in the Indianapolis area.  The Longs started a chain of local sports bars - The Stacked Pickle - in 2010.  They grew the business to six locations with the financial help from former Indianapolis Colts football player Gary Brackett.  Brackett eventually bought Chris and Amy Long out of their shares in 2014 allowing them to spend time with their growing family.  

While on hiatus, the Longs worked on a new concept for a restaurant that was a combination small batch brewery with an eclectic mix of foods.  When Allied Financial built a new building in Carmel in 2018, a 3600 square foot space became available on the ground floor.  The Longs leased the space in 2018 and began the build-out for the small brewery/restaurant soon thereafter.   Months later Fork + Ale House opened to the public.  

There is an attached parking garage just south of the Allied Financial building and that's where I ended up parking my car.  (see map)  In front of the five-story mixed-use building is a public courtyard with outdoor table tennis, high top tables with umbrellas, and a green space for people working in the area to enjoy.  

Inside Fork + Ale House I found a long rectangular space with a long bar on one side with a number of flat screen televisions along the wall.  Exposed duct work hung from the ceiling and a series of high-top tables were situated close to the bar.  A couple of the large windows in the front of restaurant facing their outdoor seating area would raise to let in outside air on cool days.  It wasn't exactly cool when I was visiting there that evening.  Even with an exposed ceiling, concrete floor and lots of windows in the place, it didn't seem to be all that loud.  

I ended up seated at the bar and I was greeted by an bubbly and outgoing young lady by the name of Jenny.  She was sassy and had a bit of a fun smart-ass streak in her.  And she reminded me of the actress Nancy Travis.  After she gave me a food menu, she said, "You look like a guy who could use a drink!"   I took a look at their beer list and saw that they had something called Maui IPA from their own brewery.  I tried one of those.  It had a bit of a fruity back taste, but it was full-bodied with a nice hoppy flavor.  I later got one of their house-made hazy IPA's.  I liked the Maui IPA much better.  And if you didn't want one of their in-house brews, they also had a number of regional craft beers and domestic brands to choose from.

It was a pretty extensive menu at Fork + Ale including a number of appetizers and shareable plates, a dozen different salads to choose from, sandwiches and burgers, main entrees such as a Tuscan pasta dish with Italian sausage and grilled chicken, grilled salmon, and a smoked-meat sampler platter consisting of smoked pulled pork, turkey breast, turkey breast and chicken wings.  And they had pizza on the menu, too, along with calzones.  I saw one of the pizzas delivered to a guy seated down from me at the bar and it looked good.  

I was sort of in a food funk.  I really didn't want a burger, but the Ale Burger - a beer-infused beef patty topped with Swiss cheese, mushrooms and applewood smoked bacon - did sound pretty good.  I wasn't too keen on some of the other things on the menu including some of the sandwiches like the battered pork tenderloin sandwich or the Cubano sandwich.  Not a lot was popping out at me, although the beer braised-beef sandwich that was topped with giardinera peppers, fried onions, mozzarella cheese and creamy horseradish served on a hoagie roll sounded kind of good.  

Jenny must have come back three times to see if I was ready to order and I was still up in the air as to what I really wanted to have.  I damned near went for one of their pizzas, but I thought that would be too much food. Finally Jenny came back and asked, "So, you made up your mind?"  I told her that it was between getting a pizza or the fish tacos.  She said, "Boy, you couldn't have picked two different things on the menu!"  She said that while their pizza was very good, she really liked the fish tacos.  

So fish tacos it was!  Actually, I had a choice of grilled cod, chorizo sausage, smoked pork or quinoa for my tacos, but the grilled fish will always win out in this instance.  The tacos were topped with a cabbage slaw, an avocado slice, queso fresco (cheese) and a corn and black bean salsa.  It was all packed in small flour tacos and topped with a chipotle sauce that's made in-house.  A side of chips and a small tub of salsa came on the side, but I wasn't all that interested in those.  

There were a lot of flavors going on with the grilled fish tacos.  The fish was light and chunky, the corn and black bean salsa was a wonderful taste sensation with the fish, and the chipotle sauce gave it just enough of a zip on the tongue to make it all come together.  I realized after I finished the last taco that I would have been unhappy had I not ordered the tacos and gotten something else, they were very good.  

Don't be fooled by the extensive menu at Fork + Ale.  For all the different varieties of foods they offer, I have to think that this isn't like a chain restaurant who has a lot of food on the menu, but doesn't do any of them very well.  Given the crowd in Fork + Ale when I was there and the different foods I saw on tables around the restaurant, I'm sure they probably do everything very well.  I'll say my grilled cod tacos were very good and they had a number of other interesting items on the menu that I'd like to try if I ever get back there.  My server that evening was fun, outgoing and bubbly - and was a bit of a smart-ass on top of it, but in a good way.  I had two of their house-brewed beers at Fork + Ale and I liked the Maui-style pale ale better than their hazy IPA.  It was a great atmosphere and a fun place to have a meal.  

The End of an Era

On October 1st of this year, the family who owned the Newton Maid-Rite retired.  Dan and Pam Holtkamp had owned the Maid-Rite for over 51 years originally taking over from Bud and Marty Holland on May 4, 1970.  The Holtkamps owned the business longer than the previous five owners combined for the 95-year-old Maid-Rite. In September of this year, the Holtkamps sold the Newton Maid-Rite to Mike and Pam Brown who also own a recreational vehicle dealership in nearby Colfax, IA.  

The Browns will carry on the legacy the Holtkamps cemented during their tenure in the business that was opened in 1926 by Fred Angell, the founder of the Maid-Rite sandwich.  For the uninitiated, Maid-Rite's are basically loose ground beef sandwiches and have been a staple in Iowa for years.  There a handful of corporate-owned Maid-Rite restaurants around the state, and there are still others that were affiliated with the Maid-Rite brand in the past that feature loose meat sandwich on their menu - such as Taylor's Maid-Rite in Marshalltown, Ross' in Bettendorf, and the Canteen Lunch in Ottumwa.   At one point in time, over 400 Maid-Rite restaurants existed in Iowa and surrounding states.  Today, there are less than 30 corporate-owned Maid-Rites spread out over 5 states.  

Fred Angell opened his first Maid-Rite in Muscatine, IA in 1921.  He didn't really have a name for the place, but one of this customers remarked, "Fred, this sandwich is made just right!"  Angell adopted the term, changing the spelling to Maid-Rite and his wife came up with a logo of a lady with broom - the Maid-Rite Maiden - for the Maid-Rite Hamburg restaurant.  

Angell was looking for a second place to put restaurant and was focusing on communities that had a primarily blue-collar base.  Newton's Maytag Company was a logical choice as the company was growing by leaps and bounds due to their innovative wringer washing machines.  Angell opened the Newton Maid-Rite in 1926.  

The original building was a stucco and wood structure with two entrances on the front side. To get from one side of the counter to the other, patrons would have to walk out the front door on the one side and re-enter in the door on the opposite side.  Angell ran the Newton location for six months before selling it to Gus Foster.  

In the meantime, Angell opened a third Maid-Rite a year later in the town of Marshalltown, 30 miles north of Newton, home to the Lennox Furnace Company (now Lennox International).  Angell then sold the Marshalltown location to Newton resident Cliff Taylor in 1928 for just $300.  The original Muscatine site for Maid-Rite closed in 1998 making the Newton Maid-Rite the longest continuous Maid-Rite in existence.  

Gus Foster ran the Maid-Rite in Newton until 1937 when he sold it to Ethel Shelley, who was described as a "colorful lady."  I remember talking to older people in Newton years ago who remembered Ms. Shelley for her sharp tongue and a blunt demeanor, but who had a heart of gold underneath her gruff exterior.

In 1944, Cliff Taylor passed away and his son, Don, took over Taylor's Maid-Rite in Marshalltown. Don Taylor then bought the Newton Maid-Rite from Ethel Shelley later that year.  A young man by the name of Quentin "Bud" Holland who worked for the Taylor family in Marshalltown was asked to move to Newton to run the operation there. Bud and his wife, Marty, moved to Newton where they raised two girls, Mardy and Chris.  Bud and Marty Holland eventually purchased the Maid-Rite in Newton from Don Taylor in 1958 and promptly renamed it Bud's Maid-Rite. 

In 1962, the front half of the Maid-Rite in Newton was reconstructed. While it was being built, patrons ate in a screened in room in the back of the building. The locals referred to it as "the shack in the back."  After the renovation, it became the present day building with a single entrance in the front.  

In 1964, Mardy Holland was a junior in high school and her younger sister, Chris, was a sophomore. Bud and Marty decided to add a room in the back of the building.  This became sort of the defacto "teen center" in Newton. It had a serving counter in back, a jukebox and booths for the teen-aged kids to hang out. With sisters who were Mardy and Chris' age, I remember this part of the Maid-Rite very vividly and with fondness. It was the place to go if you were a teenager - and younger - in Newton in the mid-to-late 60's. 

In 1970, Bud and Marty retired and sold the Maid-Rite to Dan and Pam Holtkamp. The Holtkamps had moved to Newton in 1968 as Dan had taken a job as an accountant for the old Parsons Manufacturing. They fell in love with Newton and wanted to make the town their permanent home to raise their kids. The Holtkamps jumped head first into the business. Dan had a degree in business and one of the golden rules in business school is not to tamper with success. The Holtkamps did little to the Maid-Rite after they took over and the transition was smooth. In fact, for years people still referred to the Maid-Rite as just "Bud's".

Pictured at right - Dan and Pam Holtkamp (seated in center) and the Maid-Rite staff after they took over in 1970. I definitely recognize some of the other faces in this picture.  Photo courtesy Newton Maid-Rite Facebook page.

About the biggest change the Holtkamps did was to take out the teen room in the back, then change that into a full service seating area and open a back entrance to the restaurant. They also put in a drive-up window for people to get their Maid-Rites, fries and shakes. The Holtkamps also introduced a smaller Maid-Rite - the Joey Rite (named after their son) - for smaller appetites. The Danielle Special (named after their daughter) was a Joey Rite, small soft drink and ice cream. The Holtkamps also put in the Jaarsma Connection, a small counter in the back of the restaurant that served fresh Dutch pastries from the Jaarsma Bakery in Pella, IA.

One thing that Dan did not do was change the way the meat was prepared at the Maid-Rite. He told me one time that he doesn't use any seasonings in his meats, the same way his predecessors did in their day.  And the key is that he buys his meat from the same supplier who Bud Holland was using for years before Dan became the owner. Dan continued to grind his own beef daily in the basement.  The taste of the Newton Maid-Rite comes from the old steamer that is used to cook the meat.  The steamer has been internally seasoned over the decades that it's been used to make countless Maid-Rites. The only thing that is added is a little bit of salt added to the top of the meat before the Maid-Rite is wrapped up and served to customers

About 10 years ago, I happened to stop in Newton for a Maid-Rite and was warmly greeted by Dan Holtkamp similar to the dozens of times he had greeted me when I would stop in since I had moved from Newton 30 years ago.  He told me then, "You know, I'm 72 years old and I have owned this business for 41 years.  If I can hang on for another five years - and I fully intend in doing so - I'll have owned this place longer than the previous owners combined."  Well, not only did Dan make it another 5 years, he tacked on 5 more years for good measure!

It was in late September when I was driving through Newton on my way to Kansas City and I wanted to stop in one last time while Dan and Pam still owned the business to have a Maid-Rite.  I took a seat at the counter and ordered up a Cheese-Rite - basically a Maid-Rite with a slice of American cheese on top of the loose meat.  

Some things in life change, but Maid-Rites at the Newton location do not.  Oh, they're smaller than they used to be and they're more expensive.  But it is still served on a plain white bun, garnished with chopped onions and pickle slices, while the ketchup and mustard are applied to the bun with a mixing spatula.   With a metal spatula the loose meat from the steam bin is generously scooped onto the bun and placed on a sheet of wax paper.  The assembly process is pretty interesting to watch, especially during busy times.  The "run-over" of the ground meat is one of the nice little touches and every Maid-Rite is served with a spoon to scoop up the excess meat after you finish the sandwich.  

Dan came out of the back and did a double take when he saw me seated at the counter finishing up my Maid-Rite.  He came over and we started to talk.  I reminded him of what he had told me 10 years prior about wanting to own the place as long as the previous owners combined.  I said, "Well, you sort of blew that out of the water!"  

He said, "I made it to 46 years and I thought, 'What the heck? I may as well shoot for 50!'"  He looked fit and healthy for a guy of 82 years old.  

I asked him what he was going to do in his retirement and he said that he had two granddaughters in the Kansas City area who are pretty good basketball players and he and his wife were wanting to go down and watch some of their games.  "The oldest one is very good," he was telling me.  "She's got some offers to play college ball.  But the younger one may even be better."  

Dan told me that he was planning on sticking around helping with the transition past the October 1 sale date.  "Mike is going to do exactly the same thing that I did when I took over - nothing."  Dan said that he is keeping the same staff and said that Mike has installed two of Dan's longest employees as co-managers of the business.  "He's still going to have his business in Colfax, so he'll have to spend some time over there.  I don't think there's going to be much different around here other than Pam and I won't be here."  

There was an open house at the Maid-Rite on September 25 to fete the Holtkamps in their retirement.  Dan told me that the place was packed with well-wishers all day.  "But it was draining, and somewhat bittersweet," he said in a matter-of-fact manner.  Then his familiar smile returned as he said, "But it was fun."  

Before I left, I thanked Dan for helping me gain weight all these years.  "Aw, come on," he protested.  "You look great!"  We shook hands, we gave each other a hug, and I told him to have fun watching his granddaughters play basketball.  

Generations of families have enjoyed Maid-Rites from the Newton Maid-Rite.  It's the place where dozens of teenagers worked for the Holtkamps over the years.  It's the first stop for many people when they return to Newton.  It's always interesting to see who has signed the chalk board on the east wall of the establishment during class reunion weekends.  People come and go, but the Newton Maid-Rite has maintained a consistency over its 95 years in business.  Dan and Pam Holtkamp have carved out their own legacy enduring tough times after Maytag left Newton in 2007.  But they made it through the uncertainty and they rightly deserve the retirement they worked so hard for over the last 51 years.  It was quite the run. 

Uccello's Ristorante - Grand Rapids, MI

During our vacation stay in Grand Rapids, we were getting acquainted with the downtown area and we happened upon an area - Monroe Center Street - that had a number of restaurants up and down the street.  One restaurant caught the eye of my wife for it's Italian name, old world facade, and the dining patio in front of the restaurant.  We decided to give Uccello's Ristorante a try for dinner one evening.  

Faro Uccello immigrated from Sicily to Grand Rapids in 1976 and within two years he opened his first take-out pizza place - Faro's Italian Pizza.  Less than 10 years later, Faro's had grown to 7 locations around the greater Grand Rapids area.  In 1990, Faro sold his chain of pizza places and was in the midst of moving his family back to Sicily when circumstances changed and the Uccello family ended back in Grand Rapids.  

In 1996, Uccello opened Uccello's Ristorante Pizza and Sports Lounge on East Beltline Road in Grand Rapids.  The concept caught on and four more Uccello's restaurants opened over the next 20 years on the periphery of Grand Rapids.  But an opportunity to put a restaurant in downtown Grand Rapids came about in 2016 when Adriano Moscatelli, the owner of the popular Tre Cugini Italian restaurant retired in December of that year and closed the doors to his restaurant.  

Uccello's Hospitality Group - the corporate umbrella owned by Faro Uccello, his son Sergio, and Faro's son-in-law Mario Piccione - bought Tre Cugini in early 2017 and Uccello's replaced it with Mazzo Cucina d'Italia in May of that year.  However, less than a year later, Mazzo shut down and was replaced by a Uccello's location.   (In addition to the six Uccello's locations, the Uccello's Hospitality Group operate two Herb & Fire Pizza locations in the Grand Rapids area.)    

The Uccello's Ristorante in downtown Grand Rapids is located just across from Rosa Parks Circle, a popular destination especially for ice-skaters in the winter.  (see map)  Parking on the street is limited around and near the restaurant, but there was a public parking lot located just next door to Uccello's.  

The patio in front of Uccello's was set back from the front of the restaurant along a wide sidewalk along Monroe Center.  It looked nice enough as it was spread out and the tables were away from both foot traffic and car traffic on the one-way street.  It was just a bit cool out and my wife wanted to sit inside that evening.

Walking in to Uccello's, well, I immediately noticed that it didn't look like a nice little Italian restaurant but more of a sports bar with a line of flat screen televisions along the wall opposite the bar.  The curved bar had more televisions hung on the back wall.  I should have known better as this was nothing more than a glorified sports bar.  

We were shown to a table along the wall and given a couple menus to look over.  Our server that evening was also the bartender, a young lady by the name of Lexi.  I started out with a Deschutes Fresh Haze IPA while my wife ordered her usual top-shelf vodka and cranberry juice.  Later on when we got our meals, my wife got a glass of the house chianti and I got a glass of the house cabernet.  

The menu was a cross between what you'd see at a sports bar with some Italian dishes mixed in.  While they had calamari, bruschetta, and a margherita dip with Italian bread for appetizers, they also had wings, nachos, and chicken tenders on the menu.  "You don't see chicken wings on the menu at many Italian restaurants," my wife noted.  

While they had Italian specialties such as pasta dishes, chicken marsala, and Italian sausage with peppers, they also had a burrito, a grilled chicken wrap, and a turkey avocado with Swiss cheese sub on the menu.  And since Faro Uccello got his start in the pizza business over 40 years ago, Uccello's had pizza with their traditional crust, a thin-crust, and a thick crust pizza.  They also had a stuffed pizza available on the menu.  

Something in my bones was telling me that this was going to be a monumental mistake.  They had a four-cheese stuffed ravioli on the menu, but I would rather have beef or veal stuffed ravioli.  There was a fettuccine in a sausage cream sauce that caught my eye, but I wavered on that, too.  I ended up getting the chicken parmigiana.  

I should have listened to my bones.  When the chicken parm was brought out to the table, I almost recoiled in horror at what was presented to me.  It was a plate featuring two very overcooked breaded chicken breasts covered in a thin layer of mozzarella cheese.  A side of spaghetti with a small dollop of marinara sauce came with the chicken parm.  

When I cut into the chicken parm, I could easily tell that it was overcooked.  It was tough, the chicken was dry and there was absolutely no flavor to the meat.  My wife could tell that I was not happy.  When she asked me how it was, I said, "This may be the worst chicken parm I've ever had.  It's set all the other chicken parm's in the world back 30 years."  

My wife ended up getting the penne pasta in a tomato cream sauce.  She also got some grilled chicken on top of it.  Now, my wife's idea of a tomato cream sauce and what she was served was completely 180 degrees out of phase. She thought that it was supposed to be in a sauce, but it looks like the noodles may have been IN a tomato cream sauce, then taken out and served in the dish.  "Ahh...", she hesitated for a moment.  "I've had better."  She wasn't all that impressed with her meal, either.

I wanted to get some more marinara sauce to put onto both the chicken breasts - to help with the taste and make it more easy to get down - and onto the spaghetti.  When Lexi came over to check on us, I asked if I could get some extra marinara sauce.  "Um, well, we don't really have a marinara sauce," she said completely confusing me.  "It's more like a tomato sauce."  I was confused at this point - and maybe she was, too.  I thought to myself, "Isn't marinara sauce really tomato sauce?"   She told me that they had a meat sauce and I told her that I'd take that.  But she was busy behind the bar and with other tables - no doubt due to a staffing shortage - and it was quite sometime before I got the meat sauce.  And I was also charged $3.00 for it.  And it wasn't worth 3 bucks.  

I should have known better when we walked into Uccello's and saw that it was nothing more than a glorified sports bar that happened to serve Italian food.  My wife was completely underwhelmed with her penne pasta in a tomato cream sauce - which was more of a glaze on the pasta than a sauce.  And I have to say that the chicken parmigiana that I had may have been the worst I've ever experienced.  I make chicken parm at home and it's not all that hard to make.  The service was friendly, yet spotty - but, we're giving a lot of places the benefit of the doubt because of staffing shortages.  All the promise that Uccello's had - the nice looking building frontage, the nice patio out front, even the name yelled "Old World Italian".  But I'm sorry to say Uccello's Ristorante was one of the biggest disappointments that we have encountered in our travels.  

Bad Habit Brewing Company - St. Joseph, MN

Up in St. Cloud, MN this past summer, I ventured out to the nearby town of St. Joseph to check out a microbrewery that one of the guys from my local account was telling me about.  He said the place had been open for awhile and had moved to a larger building a couple years ago, but he told me that it never occurred to him to let me know about it.  "It's a great place," he said enthusiastically.  "And their beers are pretty good."  It was a short 10 minute drive from my account to Bad Habit Brewing Company in St. Joseph.  

Aaron Rieland got his first home brewing kit not long after he turned 21 years old.  Rieland and some friends decided to brew some beer and they went around and gathered up bottles to put the beer in.  After topping off and capping the bottles, Rieland put them in a basement closet to ferment.  However, the gas build-up during the fermenting process literally blew up each one of the bottles making quite the mess in his home.  Learning his lesson on fermenting on the first batch, he tried a second batch.  The beers didn't quite turn out to taste as good as Rieland thought they should have.  He ended up pouring out that batch.  Discouraged, Rieland put away his home-brewing kit and basically forgot about it.

11 years later while Aaron was cleaning out his garage, he stumbled upon the beer-making kit and it rekindled his interest in home-brewing.  Now in his early 30's, he was better educated in the beer-making process and some of his early beers turned out to be pretty darn good.  Along with his buddy, Eric Geier, they started to brew beers together in Rieland's garage.  They did it so much that Rieland's family called his renewed hobby his "bad habit".  

Of course like many home-brewers who eventually mastered the art, Rieland thought he had something good in his recipes.  He began to kick around the idea of opening his own brewery.  He started to look into costs and operating expenses, then Rieland began to look for a building in St. Cloud.  It looked like something favorable for his brewery was available, but the deal eventually fell through.  

Pictured right - Aaron Rieland with his wife Karen.  Contributed photo courtesy The Newsleaders.com

Somewhat crestfallen, Rieland started to look around at spaces in St. Joseph, just a 10 minute drive from his home in Avon, MN.  A small space was found in a building along E. Minnesota St. in downtown St. Joseph.  The lease was signed in May of 2015 and with the help of friends and family, Rieland transformed the building into a microbrewery in less than six months.  By the summer of 2015, Rieland and Geier started to brew their first beers.  And on Halloween Day in 2015, Bad Habit Brewing Company opened to a standing room only crowd.  Lines formed out the door waiting to get into the first brewery in St. Joseph in over 100 years.

Bad Habit Brewing became a destination brewery for many beer enthusiasts.  But the space was too small and there were times people just walked away from Bad Habit Brewing because there wasn't any room to sit or stand. Rieland came to the realization that he would have to find a bigger building if he was going to keep up with the demands of his customers.  Just around the corner on College Ave., Rieland found his new space.

The St. Joseph City Hall had been housed in what originally was a bank for a number of years.  With a growing community, the city had outgrown the space they had been in since 2000 and they eventually built a new and larger facility which they moved into in 2017.   In the summer of 2018, Rieland made a deal to take over the building.  The space would allow him to more than double his capacity inside the brewery to 140 patrons.  And the large beer garden at the new location would accommodate 200 people - a ten-fold increase over the size of the beer patio at the original Bad Habit location.  

Not long after he took over the building, they completely gutted the inside and started from scratch.  Bad Habit had seven 5-barrel systems at their original location and the new location had the space to add an additional 5-barrel system and two 10-barrel systems increasing their capacity from about 700 barrels annually to over 1000 barrels a year.  The original bank vault was still in the building, so they fashioned it into a large walk-in cooler.  They put modern metal fabrication on the outside of the building to give it a more modern look.  

Bad Habit closed their original location in late April of 2019 to move equipment from the old location to the new location.  The new and larger Bad Habit Brewing Company opened in early May of that year and the beer garden opened soon thereafter.

One of the great things about Bad Habit Brewing is that they also inherited a parking lot.  And I used that parking lot when I found the place at 25 College Ave. N in St. Joseph.  (see map)  Bad Habit is a taproom only and the evening I visited a food truck was set up in what was the old drive-up window lane for the bank - ODB's Meat and Greet, a barbecue food truck run by a former lady professional wrestler.  (Had I not discovered a New Orleans-inspired restaurant across the street from Bad Habit Brewing, I probably would have given it a shot.)  

The interior of Bad Habit was sort of a modern industrial design.  Exposed trusses and ventilation were above the high-top tables in the bar area.  Natural lighting from skylights, large windows and a garage door that opened onto the patio helped give the tap room a vibrant feeling.  

The outdoor patio/beer garden featured a concrete patio with patio tables with bright red umbrellas.  In fact, I sort of picked up that the main color scheme with Bad Habit Brewing was red with the red picnic tables in the beer garden, the red Adirondack chairs circling a fire pit on the patio, the red corn hole boards in the grass of the beer garden, and the red accents in the tap room.  Strings of Edison lights criss-crossed the patio and a number of gas lamp heaters were situated off to the side to be used when the weather turns cooler.  

I went up to the bar and took a look at some of the beers they had to offer.  The beers were listed on planks attached to the wall in the tap room.  They had a dozen beers on tap that day including a chocolate stout, a light ale, a cherry ale, a lemon radler, and an apricot wheat beer.  Two beers that intrigued me were the Samba Mamba, a seasonal hazy IPA with an A.B.V. of 7.4%; and one of their regular beers, the Habitual American pale ale with an A.B.V. of 5.7%.  The bartender let me try a sample of both beers and while I've been partial to hazy IPA's as of late, I have to say that the Habitual APA literally stomped on the flavor of the Samba Mamba.  It was a great beer, nice and smooth on the front end with nice hoppy finish on the back end.  I ended up having a couple of beers there before heading over across the street for dinner at Krewe.  (Look for an upcoming Road Tips entry on Krewe in the coming weeks.)  

I was very impressed with Bad Habit Brewing Company.  The taproom and beer garden/patio was top-notch, as was the wonderful Habitual American pale ale that I enjoyed while I was there.  There have been a number of brewery/tap rooms that I've encountered over the years, but Bad Habit Brewing Company was one of the more memorable.  Places like Bad Habit make me jealous for the people of St. Cloud/St. Joseph who don't have far to go to enjoy a good beer in a great atmosphere.  

Amsterdam Tavern/The Dam - St. Louis

I was in St. Louis recently and was in the mood for a burger.  I had a place on my "Restaurants to Visit" list for quite some time - The Dam - but digging more into more info on the place, I found that it was carry-out only.  However, I found out that The Dam was part of a trio of establishments that featured a Mexican restaurant and a sports bar that allowed food from both the Mexican restaurant and The Dam to be brought in.  I ended up heading over to the Amsterdam Tavern for a couple beers and a burger from The Dam.  

Jeff Lyell wasn't much into soccer when he partnered with brothers Matt and Rob Stelzer to open the Amsterdam Tavern in 2008 to cater to soccer fans in the city.  Lyell quickly found out that soccer fans of teams from around the world - and primarily the Premier League in the U.K. - would come to the little tavern to watch matches of their favorite teams.  St. Louis may be known as a baseball town, but it has a deep base of soccer fans as there are a number of youth to adult programs in and around the area and have been for years.  

As the Amsterdam Tavern's reputation grew, it built a back beer garden with flat screen televisions.  On some of the bigger matches - especially during the World Cup - the Amsterdam Tavern will sometimes get permission to close down the street in front of the establishment and show the contest on a large projection screen.  

But the Amsterdam Tavern didn't have a kitchen and fans who would come to watch the soccer matches would sometimes want food.  Matt Stelzer had a friend and former high school classmate - Michele Coen - who knew her way around a kitchen.  In addition to a catering company she was just getting off the ground, she had worked at a handful of restaurants over the years.  A space next to the Amsterdam Tavern had opened up and Stelzer and Lyell teamed up with Coen to open a little counter-only/take-out burger joint.  The Dam opened in August of 2013.  

Michele Coen had most recently worked at a popular burger joint in the Delmar Loop - Big V's Burger Joint - before it closed down in 2008.  One of the people who worked there with her was a young guy by the name of Matt Galati.  Galati and Coen had also worked at Onesto and the Mad Tomato Italian Kitchen, and Galati was doing some chef work with Coen's catering company.  Coen brought Galati with her to The Dam and the two worked on the food offerings that they would serve at the restaurant.  

(Earlier this year, Lyell and Stelzer - along with Locoz Tacos food truck owner Tyler Garcia - opened Tres Equis (Three X's), a full service Mexican restaurant next door to The Dam.  The Amsterdam Tavern and Tres Equis share the same outdoor beer garden for al fresco dining.)

The Amsterdam Tavern is located on Morgan Ford Road just south of Tower Grove Park.  (see map)  I was able to find parking just a block south of the tavern and walked back up the street and went in.  The Amsterdam Tavern is not a big place with a bar on one side and a handful of high-top tables on the opposite wall.  When I walked in, their sound system was playing a cut by The Cult.  I immediately liked the place.  In fact, their music selection during the time I was there was stellar with songs from the likes of Steely Dan, Smashing Pumpkins, K-Smoove and Cream.  

The Amsterdam Tavern is decidedly a soccer bar with colorful flags, pennants, and banners tacked to the walls of the place.  Jerseys encased in glass frames were prominent on the wall.  The St. Louis Cardinals were playing baseball that evening on the flat screens around the bar, and with the time in Europe well past midnight, no soccer games were being telecast.  I understand that if there's a soccer match on at the same time a Cardinals game is on, the soccer game will take precedent.  

Co-owner Matt Stelzer was working the bar that evening and I took a long hard look at the selection of beer they had on tap.  The Amsterdam Tavern featured the usual suspects of European imports as well as a number of American and locally brewed craft beers.  I found that they had 16 ounce cans of Citywide American pale ale from the 4 Hands Brewing Company located in St. Louis.  I ordered one of those from Matt.  

I ventured out to the beer garden to take a look around.  It was a much larger space with a bar, covered patio, and a number of flat screen televisions throughout the patio.  A few people were hanging out at the picnic tables enjoying a very nice evening.  

I made sure it was OK to leave my beer at the bar to go order food next door.  Matt told me that he'd watch it for me.  I went next door to The Dam and found a brightly colored small space with a small counter and a kitchen in the back.  The kitchen at The Dam also serves as the main kitchen for Michele Coen's catering business.  

The menu was on the wall and I took a few moments to check it out before ordering.  Burgers were the main focus at The Dam.  All of the beef used for their burgers is locally-sourced, anti-biotic, and hormone-free.   They featured a number of specialty burgers including The Animal - a triple hand-pattied burger with American cheese, grilled onions, jalapeños, bacon and a barbecue sauce.  The Animal migrated from Big V's Burger Joint with Coen and Galati as it was a extremely popular burger when both worked there.   Other specialty burgers included a single patty burger with pepper jack cheese, chili, jalapeños and a fried egg, and a Belgian burger with smoked Gouda, bacon, cole slaw and a house-made Belgian sauce.  They had "build-your-own" burgers at The Dam with toppings such as seven different types of cheese, sautéed mushrooms, avocado slices, and lettuce and tomato.  

The Dam also featured their version of fish and chips for the English soccer enthusiasts next door, as well as a BTLA - a bacon, tomato, lettuce and avocado sandwich. (I make something similar at home only I add fresh basil to the sandwich.)  They also had a grilled chicken sandwich on sourdough bread.  And The Dam also had a handful of hot dogs including a Chicago-style hot dog, a chili-cheese dog, and a bacon-wrapped hot dog that is deep-fried and topped with shredded cheese, grilled onions, tomatoes and jalapeños.  

I went with one of the specialty burgers - the Magic Mushroom.  It featured two beef patties on sourdough bread topped with a combination of Swiss and Gouda cheese, then finished with a mushroom mix with garlic mayo.  I also got a side of their hand-cut Belgian-style fries.  The fries were thick cut, crispy and came with a choice of dipping sauce.  They had about a dozen different sauces to choose from including a curry and onion sauce, a sweet-chili mayo sauce, a caper-relish mayo sauce, and a cheese-ale sauce.  I ended up getting the garlic mayo sauce, just like I had on the burger.  

Taking it back to the Amsterdam Tavern and settling in at the bar, I pulled the burger and the fries out of the bag and set it up on the bar top.  The burger was very good - the sourdough bread was grilled to a light golden hue, the burger patties were moist and juicy, and had a great flavor.  The combination of the Swiss and Gouda cheese, along with the mushroom mixture with the garlic mayo dressing made it a pretty messy burger.  I'm glad I grabbed about a half-dozen napkins at The Dam as I pretty much used them all.  

The fries were crispy with the skin still on the outside, but nice and moist - and greasy - inside.  The garlic mayo sauce was fine - I thought it could have been a little big more forward with the garlic, but it was OK for what it was.  This was a huge burger with a lot of fries and I found that I couldn't eat the whole thing.  I left a couple bites of the burger and a handful of fries in the bag for Matt to toss out when I was finished.  

I had wanted to try The Dam for their burgers for some time, but didn't want to do the carry-out.  But when I found out that I could take the food to the Amsterdam Tavern next door and eat there, I was happy that I finally took the time to head over there for a burger.  The Magic Mushroom burger on sourdough bread was very good, and the Belgian-style fries were good, as well.  The Amsterdam Tavern had a fine selection of beers and had some pretty interesting soccer memorabilia on display.  Both were fun and funky little joints, and while I'm not much of a soccer enthusiast, I can see why people will drive upwards of 80 miles one way to hang out and watch soccer matches at the Amsterdam Tavern while being able to get a good burger next door at The Dam.  

Villa Macri Ristorante - Granger, IN

My company has decided to consolidate parts of my territory and Indiana was going to be taken out of my mix of states that I cover.   I was a little upset about it, but it didn't result in a reduction of pay or benefits - just a more focused area that I will begin to travel to later in the year.  I wanted to make one last trip over to see some of my accounts in Indiana that I had gotten to know for nearly 20 years.  I ended up in the South Bend area one night and was in the mood for some Italian food.  I took a quick look for restaurants near my hotel and it turned out that there was one that was literally walking distance from my hotel - Villa Macri Ristorante.  I made the short walk over to Villa Macri for dinner that night.     

Just after World War II ended, George Macri met and young lady, Iole Toscano in Reggio-Calabria, Italy.  Three years later, the couple married and they immigrated to the United States in 1954 ending up in the South Bend area.  From this union two sons - Jerry and George, Jr. - and a daughter - Yvonne - became part of the Macri's young family.  George Macri, Sr. started a jewelry store in South Bend in 1956, but his wife, Iole, was known as a great baker, making breads, cakes and pastries for friends and family.  She wanted to have her own bakery, but was told many times that it would be impractical for her to have a bakery.  However, she persisted over the years and with the help of her husband and three children, Iole Macri opened Macri's Italian Bakery in 1978 directly next door to the family's jewelry store.  

In 1980, Jerry and George, Jr. purchased a building that had been a bar on Niles Ave. in downtown South Bend and gutted the place.  They refurbished the space and turned it into a small 36-seat delicatessen - Macri's Deli.  The delicatessen sold both sandwiches, meats, cheese and other special Italian items.  

Jerry ended up taking over the delicatessen and moved it to a strip mall he had developed on Grape Road in nearby Mishawaka.  George, Jr. transformed the former deli space into Carmela's Bakery named after his wife who learned to cook and bake from both her own mother and Iole Macri.  Eventually, the bakery became Macri's Bakery after Iole passed away in 2007 and Carmela's became a full-fledged Italian restaurant.  

Pictured right - Jerry Macri.  Photo courtesy South Bend Tribune.  

In 2007, Jerry decided to sell the strip mall he developed and he bought a plot of land in Granger and developed a small "Italian Village" complete with a gift shop, wine shop, a sports bar, and two restaurants in one - Macri's Deli and Villa Macri.  In 2008, Jerry Macri opened his spacious complex located just north of Indiana State Highway 23 and N. Main Street in Granger.  (see map)

I walked into the Villa Macri around 7:15 p.m. and found that they actually closed at 8 p.m.  (I'm guessing it had to do with staffing issues more than anything.)   I was greeted by two young women at the hostess station just inside the door.  The wine store appeared to be just down the way from the hostess stand, as well as a couple other shops.  

At first I asked if there was seating in the bar.  One of the girls said that there was and I asked if I could see the dining room and the bar before I figured out where I wanted to sit.  She pointed down a hallway and said, "They're down there."  I started to walk down the hallway and then I turned back figuring that I would get a menu and park myself somewhere if neither one of them was going to show me where it was.  

I asked for a menu and said, "I'll find a place myself.  No use walking all the way there and then having to come back."   The other young lady told me that she'd take me to the dining area.  

I was ushered down the long hallway toward the dining area.  There were Macri family pictures lining the hallway along with decorative Tuscan-style wall lighting.  At the end of the hall was a gelato/dessert bar.  Opposite the gelato/dessert bar was an enclosed banquet room for meetings and private functions.  Just outside the banquet room was an outdoor patio where Villa Macri hosts live music from time to time.   

About halfway down the hallway on the opposite side of the large meeting room was Villa Macri's sports bar.  It was empty and all the televisions were turned off.  It seemed so out of place in an Italian restaurant like Villa Macri.  Considering that they closed early through the week, closing at 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday - plus the fact that they weren't open on Sunday at all - it just seemed strange to have a sports bar in an Italian restaurant. 

The hallway emptied out into the bar area.  It featured a long curved marble-topped bar with a walnut back bar.  Old world Italian architecture with arches and a high ceiling were the highlights in the bar.  It was a slow night at Villa Macri and there were only two other guys sitting at the bar.   

The dining room on the other side of the bar featured faux Italian statues, faux vines and brick accents throughout the room.  Sturdy wooden tables covered with linen tablecloths were spaced around the room.  There was no one in the dining room.  I was starting to think that maybe I needed to go to someplace else given that hardly anyone was in the place and that could be a tell-tale sign.  But by this time it was 7:20 p.m. - 8:20 body-time - and I was hungry.  I told the young hostess that I was going to sit at the bar.  She handed me a menu and I took a seat at the bar.  

Ashley was the bartender that evening and she was doing chores behind the bar.  I could kind of tell that she didn't want to be waiting on anyone as she was sort of short and curt with her greeting as she was flying around behind the bar doing whatever.  She asked me what I wanted to drink and I got a pint of the Bell's Two-Hearted IPA that they had on tap.  

The menu featured typical Italian items - pasta dishes such as manicotti, tortellini, and lasagna, as well as steaks, chicken dishes, a pork osso bucco, and lamb chops were prominent on the menu.  Seafood entrees such as grilled salmon and scallops with risotto were also on the bill.  A number of appetizers including calamari, bruschetta, spinach artichoke dip and antipasto for two were available.  Curiously, appetizers such as chicken wings, nachos, and ahi tuna sashimi were available, as were a full slate of deli sandwiches from Macri's Deli.  I'm guessing that those were more for the crowd who would be coming in to the sports bar part of Villa Macri.  

They also had a number salads on the menu and I ended up starting out with a small Italian salad consisting of chopped romaine lettuce, sliced cherry tomatoes and shaved parmesan cheese.  Their house dressing is a pomegranate/balsamic vinegar that was served on the side.  Along with the salad came a basket of warm Italian rye bread and a plate of olive oil with red pepper flakes.  It was a good salad and the bread was fabulous.  I think I've had red pepper flakes in dipping oil once or twice before and I forgot how it jazzed up the flavor of the olive oil.    

I love ravioli and I find myself getting it quite a bit when I'm out at Italian restaurants these days.  Villa Macri had a whole section of specialty ravioli on their menu - you could get ravioli stuffed with veal, butternut squash, Italian cheese medley, beef, lobster and porcini mushroom in a garlic sauce were available.  I ended up getting the beef ravioli topped with Villa Macri's housemade marinara sauce.  The bowl had about a dozen large ravioli pillows stuffed with Italian-seasoned ground beef with a layer of marinara ladled on top.  

Everything about the dish was wonderful - the taste and consistency of the ravioli was excellent and the marinara had a sweet and tangy taste.  All the flavors mixed together made for a great Italian meal.  I had no problem finishing my plate and even used some of the Italian rye bread to sop up the remaining marinara sauce.  It was that good.  

I was sort of leery about Villa Macri when it was about 7:30 at night and there were only two other people in the place.  I almost left figuring that few people in such a big place didn't bode well for the food in the place.  But I'm glad I stayed.  Even the bartender warmed up and became more attentive as time went on.  My beef ravioli with marinara sauce was outstanding, and the Italian salad with the warm Italian rye bread was a great start to the meal.  I don't think I'll be back out in the South Bend area anytime soon, but if you're looking for a good Italian meal in Granger, Villa Macri is a great place to go.  

Harmony Brewing Company - Grand Rapids, MI

On our trip to Grand Rapids, MI, I was keen to try some of the nearly 5 dozen breweries/brewpubs in the area.  I had looked up some in advance and found that a good portion of the breweries served food.  Well, on our first night in Grand Rapids, my wife wasn't too whippy about going to a brewpub for dinner.  She saw a Cuban restaurant south and east of downtown Grand Rapids that she really wanted to try.  I decided to go along with her wishes and we found the restaurant.  We parked in the back, went around to the front door and pulled on it.  Locked.  Closed.  According to the sign on their front window, they were supposed to open at 5 p.m. and close at 9.  It was well past 5 p.m. when we were there.  My wife was crestfallen and wondered if I had a Plan B.  I did and it wasn't all that far away.  We ended up going over to the Harmony Brewing Company.  

Like most brewpubs, the genesis of the business usually starts in someone's home or basement.  And that's exactly what happened with brothers Jackson and Barry Van Dyke who started to brew their own beers at home around the start of the millennium.  The brothers eventually got into property management and helped develop some old buildings in Grand Rapids in the city's Uptown neighborhood.  However, their dream to open their own brewpub was always in the back of their minds.  

The brothers found an old building in the Eastown neighborhood of Grand Rapids that had been a liquor store for years before the place went out of the business and the building fell into neglect.  The building originally was built in 1928 and when Prohibition ended in 1933, it became a distribution center for Miller beer.  When the brothers bought the building in late 2009, they found product on the shelves, as well as bottles of soda pop still in long shut down coolers.  The Van Dyke brothers spent the first month of ownership of the building taking garbage and old inventory out of the main floor and the basement.  

Over the next two years, the Van Dyke brothers spent $300,000 on the transformation of the old building.  They used salvaged doors and floors throughout the place and their first beer vessels were re-purposed dairy tanks they bought on line from a dairy farm in Wisconsin.  Renovations took a little longer than they anticipated, mainly because the brothers were doing most of the build-outs themselves.  But in February of 2012, the Van Dyke brothers - along with their sister Heather - opened the doors to Harmony Brewing Company.  

Business turned out to be brisk and at times demand was so high for both beer and food at the original location that the Van Dyke's knew they needed to expand.  Since they were sort of locked in at Harmony Brewing, they found a 100-year-old-plus building on the west side of Grand Rapids that had originally been a sausage factory, but more recently had been a Mexican restaurant.  After renovations, the Van Dyke's opened Harmony Hall in 2015.  

We found Harmony Brewing Company at the corner of Wealthy St. SE and Lake Drive SE - a sort of convoluted intersection that puts Harmony Brewing inside a triangle.  (see map)  There's a small parking lot that we were able to get the last parking space when we drove in.  Other than that, parking is available on the street near the brewery.  

(A quick aside - we were sort of amused and somewhat curious about Wealthy Street and the origin of the name. It's a prominent street on the east side of Grand Rapids and we found ourselves on Wealthy Street a handful of times during our visit as there were a number of restaurants, shops and breweries along the way.  It almost sounded like a street on the board game Monopoly, or was named for one of the more well-to-do areas of the city.   It turns out that the street was named for the wife of one of Grand Rapids' first merchants and community leaders, Jefferson Morrison, who was also instrumental in platting out the city in the mid-19th century.  After losing his first wife to illness, Morrison married Wealthy Davis in 1850 and named one of the streets after his new wife.  That's it - the street was named as a loving gesture to Morrison's new wife.)

After getting inside, we entered the bar area and there was a hostess at the stand just inside the door.  The small bar featured a few stools and there were a small handful of booths in the bar area.  The hostess took us to a booth in the bar and dropped off a couple menus for us.  

There was a back dining area in Harmony Brewing that featured booths and tables with garage doors that would open for patio dining.  It had been raining and had cooled off after the front came through, so there was no outdoor dining that evening.  A small stage was in the corner that has been used for live music in the past, but there was a four-seater table on the stage during our visit.  

Our server that day was a young guy by the name of Keely who was a personable and helpful staffer throughout our visit.  We sampled a couple of their beers - the Fiddlestix American pale ale and the Pleasant Peninsula India pale ale - to start out.  We both liked the flavors of the Fiddlestix over the IPA and ended up getting that.  I was sort of surprised that my wife didn't get her usual vodka and cranberry juice as they had a full bar at Harmony Brewing.  

The menu is pretty basic at Harmony Brewing.  The main emphasis is on their wood-fired pizzas called by some as the best pizza in Grand Rapids.  But they also had appetizers such as house-made breadsticks that could be topped with either a pesto or with a balsamic vinegar, sea salt and oregano.  They also had pretzel rods with a beer-cheese sauce for appetizers, as well as a roasted red pepper dip served with kettle chips.  

My wife felt she needed some greens to start out with, so she ended up ordering a Caesar salad from their salads part of the menu for both of us to share.  For a dollar up-charge, she also got anchovies on the salad.  The romaine lettuce was cool and crisp with a nice house-made Caesar dressing along with fresh grated parmesan cheese and croutons.  Fresh-cracked black pepper was mixed in with the greens and dressing.  The salad was big enough for one person to have as a meal.

We ordered our usual sausage, pepperoni and mushroom pizza.  It was a Neapolitan-style pizza with a thin hand-tossed crust.  It was a good pizza - not the best we'd ever had - but it was still good.  I think my wife was not too enamored with the pizza because I think she had her heart set on having Cuban food.  But we ended up eating all of the 12" pizza.  

I knew we were going to go to Harmony Brewing and get one of their pizzas at some point during our visit to Grand Rapids.  Because the Cuban restaurant that my wife wanted to go to was closed for the evening, we ended up going there on our first night in town.  We enjoyed their Fiddlestix American pale ale, and my wife really liked the Caesar salad that she had ordered to start off with.  And the Neapolitan pizza we both shared was a good pizza.  Harmony Brewing's original location was a cozy and funky little joint, and the service we had was fun and friendly.  For our first visit to a brewery in Grand Rapids - a city that is known for their numerous breweries - Harmony Brewing was a good choice.