Road Tips

Solbird Kitchen & Tap - Fort Wayne, IN

I was out in Fort Wayne recently for meetings with our largest account.  I got into the hotel on Fort Wayne's far north side around 6 p.m., and after getting settled in, I looked up some restaurants in the area.  There was a Mexican taqueria that also specialized in serving locally-brewed craft beers that caught my attention.  It was about 3 miles north of where I was staying, so I took off to go find Solbird Kitchen & Tap.   

Jerry Perez grew up in Laredo, TX where as a young boy he acquired an affinity for street tacos.  As an adult, he moved to Fort Wayne and fell in love with some of the cuisine in town.  One evening, he was in downtown Fort Wayne and came across the Bravas food cart that sold tacos and hot dogs.  (Bravas eventually became a brick and mortar restaurant specializing in burgers.  Click here to see the Road Tips entry on Bravas.)  Perez was inspired by the Bravas food cart to come up with his own food cart concept that would sell street tacos like the ones he loved as a youth.  In 2012, Perez started his Sol Kitchen food cart and sold street tacos at a local farmers market.  He liked The Doors and fashioned his business' name after their song "Soul Kitchen" that was on their eponymous first album.  Only he gave the name of his food cart a bit of a Latin flair.  

The food cart turned out to be a hit and within a couple years Perez acquired a food truck and went around to different events and venues in his Sol Kitchen food truck.  It was during this time that he was introduced to a young man who had his own brewpub in Fort Wayne.  Ben Thompson was the owner of Birdboy Brewing, a small craft brewery that had opened in 2015.  Thompson was brewing beers in a facility on the north side of Fort Wayne and distributing the beers around the area.  He wanted to have his own taproom/brewpub, but needed to collaborate with someone on the food.  

Perez and Thompson hit it off and decided in 2017 to do a joint venture together.  Thompson was already working on a brewery/tap room with food from the great Joseph Decuis restaurant in Roanoke (click here to see the Road Tips entry on Joseph Decuis), and he and Perez announced they would open a brick-and-mortar restaurant with Thompson's beers and Perez's street tacos.  They announced their plans for their Fort Wayne venture in the fall of 2017, but the Roanoke project came about more quickly than anticipated.  That pushed back the Fort Wayne opening date by a few months.  

By the end of the food truck season in October of 2018, Perez - along with his wife Laurie - and Thompson were ready to open their collaborative venture - Solbird Kitchen & Tap.  The connection between Perez and Thompson continued for three years before Thompson sold his shares of Birdboy and the brewery was eventually closed.  That allowed Perez to focus on serving beers from other local craft breweries such as Fortlandia, Hop River and Mad Anthony.  

Solbird Kitchen & Tap is located in a strip mall near the corner of Lima Rd. and W. DuPont Rd.  (see map)  It's sort of tough to find - you have to go west on DuPont and turn into a roadway next to a Marathon gas station.  Solbird is on the end of a building with plenty of parking available.  

Walking into Solbird, the small place was packed with diners.  It was obviously a popular place as nearly every table was filled and there were just two or three open spots at the L-shaped bar.  The long narrow dining area was well-lit with strings of Edison lights below exposed HVAC ductwork.  Banquette seats lined the wall opposite the bar with a row of two-seater high-top tables were in between.  A really crappy sound system consisting of a shitty sounding sound bar on a shelf behind the bar was playing 70's and 80's classic rock way too loud as the place was already loud with all the conversations going on.  True to Jerry Perez's love for The Doors, a large photo of Jim Morrison hung on the wall by the open kitchen.  

I took a seat at the bar and was greeted by a young lady by the name of Isabel.  She gave me a menu to look over and asked me what I wanted to drink.  There was a QR code on the menu that allowed me to download the beer list.  At the top of the list were the lagers and they had a dark Mexican lager from the Fortlandia Brewing Company - Dark Side of Pedro.  That sounded interesting to me, so I ordered that.  Isabel soon brought me pint and pushed it across the deep bar to me.  I took a sip of the beer and found that it was more of a coffee-style stout than a dark lager Mexican beer.  It was OK, but I went with the Hop Rivers Lasers in the Jungle IPA that they had on the list.  

To say the menu at Solbird Kitchen & Tap was interesting is putting it mildly.  They had the regular appetizers such as guacamole, salsa with chips, and chips with queso; but they also had shrimp ceviche and a shiitake mushroom/Mexican truffle quesadilla that sounded really interesting.  On Sundays, they served a number of brunch items such as breakfast tacos, a steak burrito, and a Mexican-style poutine with chorizo sausage gravy topping ancho-seasoned fries and cheddar cheese with a fried egg.  

While Solbird Kitchen is primarily a taqueria, they also had burritos, quesadillas, rice bowls (with or without protein), and las papas fritas - basically fried potatoes topped with different items including a Korean-inspired dish with fried potatoes topped with bulgogi beef and kimchi.  But I was there for the tacos.

And some of the taco selections were also very interesting.  They had a taco that was also a Korean-style taco with bulgogi beef and kimchi, as well as a shrimp taco marinated in Korean sauces and grilled.  They had an Indian/Mexican Chicken Tinga fusion taco with chipotle-braised chicken breast meat; there was an ancho-marinated grilled shrimp taco with a pineapple-mango sauce; and then there was "The Jazzy" - basically the same thing as the shrimp taco only with house-made chorizo sausage added.  

They did have pork carnitas tacos topped with the pineapple/mango sauce with green onions and cilantro, but I went with something they called "The Texican" - basically a beef blend of ground chuck, brisket and short rib that Solbird Kitchen sourced from a local farm, then topped with pico de gallo, a lettuce/cabbage blend, finished off with Tapatio hot sauce, cheddar cheese, and a single pickled jalapeño all in a crispy fried corn tortilla shell.  The presentation was pretty basic, but I really didn't care much about that.  

And the tacos had a lot of flavors going on - savory, spicy and, of course, beefy.  The beef blend really stood out even with the spiciness of the add-ons.  The corn flour shells were pretty brittle and much of the beef and toppings spilled onto the plate with nearly each bite.  But the tacos were very good and the Hop Rivers Lasers in the Jungle IPA went very well with the tacos.  

Really, other than the way-too-loud music being played on a crappy soundbar system (as a long time audio industry veteran who knows good sound, I was embarrassed for them), Solbird Kitchen & Tap was a great find.  The tacos I had were very good, and the rest of the menu seemed to be pretty intriguing.  Isabel did fine job of taking care of me and I felt bad because she was a short young lady who had a hard time placing things in front of me on the nearly 4 foot-deep bar.  Solbird Kitchen & Tap was definitely a unique experience.  

Textile Brewing Company - Dyersville, IA

It was a nice Sunday in late January when my wife suggested that we get out of the house and get in the car to go somewhere.  I hadn't been traveling at all during January (and into February) and I thought that might be a good remedy for the cabin fever I was starting to experience.  I had been reading about a brew pub in the small town of Dyersville, IA - famous for the site of the movie "Field of Dreams" and the now-annual Major League Baseball game that takes place near original movie site.  Not exactly knowing where it was other than in Dyersville, and not exactly knowing if they had food or what kind of beers they served, we drove an hour and a half to check out the Textile Brewing Company.  

Tom Olberding was a native of Dyersville who left town after high school graduation to study horticulture at Iowa State.  But after getting through college, Olberding decided upon a different career path and entered the pharmacy program at Drake University.  After graduating from Drake, Olberding moved to Chicago and took a job with CVS Pharmacy.  Over a 25 year career with CVS, Olberding worked his way up the ladder and at one point he was managing nearly 20 different locations in the Chicagoland area. 

In 2015, Olberding's life took a turn when his father passed away.  Olberding and his wife Carol decided that small town living was something they needed to do and they moved back to Dyersville in 2016.  But in 2017, another change in Olberding's life came about - he started to make his own homemade beers.  

Starting out with a 5 gallon home-brew kit, Olberding didn't have the faintest idea what he was doing initially.  He bought John Palmer's "How To Brew".  And if Olberding didn't understand something in the book, he'd "Google" it.  And being a novice at home brewing, Olberding would sometimes go down rabbit holes looking for answers to questions that were generated three or four times prior to the answer he was looking for.  

Olberding got to be pretty good with his home-brewing prowess and he experimented with different styles of beers.  Friends and family members were telling Olberding that he needed to start his own brewery and there was a building in downtown Dyersville that was available that many thought would be perfect for a brewpub.  

For 100 years, a textile factory was in business in downtown Dyersville.  Originally built in 1906 as a factory that made gasoline engines, the building was taken over by the H.B. Glover Textile Company out of nearby Dubuque.  Since 1850, H.B. Glover had been making work clothes - primarily men's overalls - and wintertime outer wear.  In the late 19th century, the company began to make a line of pajamas for men and women.  The new venture proved so successful that the company needed to expand and they bought the gas engine building in Dyersville in 1910.  

Known locally as "The Pajama Factory", H.B. Glover was in business until the early 1950's and the textile factory continued to make sleepwear - primarily ladies nightgowns - until it finally closed in 2010.  The building - with all the sewing machines still intact - stood dormant until 2017.  That's when Tom and Carol Olberding got inside to take a look at the property thinking that it would make a good home for their budding craft brewery project.

The couple immediately fell in love with the space and went to the building's owner - the Dyersville Economic Development Corporation - and worked out a purchase contact on the property.  The Olberding's then got a $100,000 grant from the state of Iowa with help from the city of Dyersville and the Dyersville Economic Alliance to help with the renovations of the building.  When workers asked if they wanted to get rid of the contents of the old sewing factory, the Olberdings said, "Absolutely not!"  They wanted to repurpose everything they could in their brewery from old radiators to the iron bases for sewing machines down to the old thread cones that were left lying around.  

It took many months to transform the building into a brewery.  Doing much of the work on their own or with the help of friends and family, there were obstacles to overcome to make their dream work out.  When all the brewing equipment was delivered and unboxed in the basement of the building, there were no instructions as how to put it all together.  But with the help of two friends who were mechanically inclined, the brewing apparatus came together and by the summer of 2019, they were ready to open to the public.  Textile Brewing Company opened their doors on July 26, 2019.   

With over 20 different styles of beers and ciders made in house - along with wine from local vintners and guest beers from Iowa breweries - Textile Brewing Company became an instant hit with the local population and tourists coming to see the original "Field of Dreams" movie site north and east of Dyersville.  And with that success, in 2021 the Olberdings set up a second brewery - The Corner Taproom - in Cascade, IA 19 miles to the south of Dyersville.  (The Olberdings sold The Corner Taproom to their general manager about two months ago.)  

Textile Brewing Company's expansion continued with the May 2022 opening of the Textile TapHaus in the small town of Atkins, Iowa, located just west of Cedar Rapids.  And in November of 2022, they also bought one of the more popular brewpubs in Eastern Iowa - River Ridge Brewing - in Bellevue, IA.  (Click here to see the Road Tips entry on River Ridge Brewing.)  

We really didn't know where Textile Brewing Company was when we first got to Dyersville.  I had driven through or past Dyersville numerous times over the years, but I had never taken the turn into the downtown area before.  And it was the quintessential small town center with stores, restaurants and other businesses in the shadow of the majestic twin spires of the St. Francis Xavier Basilica.  As we made our way through the downtown area on 1st Avenue, I took a turn onto 2nd St. NE and on the left a couple blocks north of 1st Avenue we found Textile Brewing Company.  (see map)  We parked on the street just across from the brewpub.  

Entering Textile Brewing Compay, the space features an open seating area with a number of tables in the middle and high-top tables off to the side.  Support beams from the front to the back of the building partitioned the floor into thirds.  The original wooden floor had been refinished and helped with the retro decor of the brewpub.  A large party of about 15 adults and children were occupying a large community table in the center of the place. 

The square bar was toward the back of the brewpub.  That's where my wife and I camped out when we first got there.  The young lady behind the bar gave me a beer menu to look over.  They had a number of lagers, sours, stouts, red or dark beers, and India pale ales to choose from.  They also had ciders available from Wilson's Orchard in Iowa City and Crimson Sunset down the road in Cascade.  I asked to try two of the hazy IPA's they on tap - the Stream Weaver and the Seam Ripper.  I liked the Seam Ripper a little bit better and I got a pint of that.  My wife wasn't really up for getting a beer before noon, but they didn't have liquor for mixed drinks.  She ended up ordering a pinot noir from the Park Farm Winery located near the small town of Bankston about halfway between Dyersville and Dubuque.  

The kitchen area is back in the corner near the bar.  We took a look at the food menu to see what they had and it was mostly flatbread/pizzas and large Bavarian-style pretzels with toppings such as Swiss cheese, ham and sauerkraut, or pepperoni and mozzarella, and they even had a cinnamon-sugar pretzel that sounded somewhat intriguing to me.  They had no sandwiches or appetizers, so we didn't get anything to eat while we were there.  Well, that is, with the exception of some of the free popcorn they had in a popper next to the kitchen.

The brewery is located in the basement and there's a large opening behind the bar area that allows you to look down into the facility.  I've been noticing a lot more that many of the brewpubs I've visited have an open brewing facility.  And they don't smell like your typical microbreweries with the stale smell of beer and the warm hops.  The brewery at Textile Brewing was exceptionally clean, too.   


Out back of the brewery was a fenced beer garden that looked out over the north fork of the Maquoketa River and across to the stately spires of the basilica.  They had all-weather picnic tables and Adirondack chairs on the concrete-tiled deck.  It looked like it would be a great place to hang out in the warmer months.   

I had finished my first beer and ordered a second one when we decided to walk around the perimeter of the brewpub looking at the timeline display they had on the walls.  From the merchandise area in the corner near the bar around the walls of the brewpub were framed prints and reprints of old pictures and articles telling the history of the sewing factory.  

With the exception of the chairs and the bar top, everything in Textile Brewing Company was repurposed from items that were found in the building when the Olberdings took over.  The couple teamed with a local artist/shop owner to help design the lighting scones that are at each table along the wall, as well as designing the high-top tables that use the old radiators that heated the building as a base.  Some of the community tables used the iron legs that held old sewing machines in the past.  Even the tops of the tappers had old parts that were part of the machinery in the factory.  

The cabinets and wallboards were also made from repurposed wood.  On the front of the shelves in the merchandising area, they even used old yardsticks that were used to measure fabric in the old factory.  They had a number of wearables on sale at Textile Brewing along with glassware, hats and growlers to go.  

On display toward the front of the brewpub were a small selection of some of the old nightwear that was made at the factory.  Actually, the H.B. Glover company was the genesis of an idea for a novel that eventually turned into the Broadway musical "The Pajama Game".  The musical - which later became a movie - is based upon the book "7 ½ Cents" which was co-written by Dubuque native Richard Bissell.  In the early 1890's, a group of women went on strike against the company for a seven-and-a-half cent raise.  Bissell's father was the young president of the company at the time of the strike and had told his son of the story of the strike.  Thinking it was a great story, the younger Bissell co-wrote the novel that was eventually adapted into the Pajama Game musical and later the movie of the same name.  

I just had a couple beers and my wife finished up her glass of wine during our visit to Textile Brewing Company.  We had pizza a couple nights earlier and we decided to head toward Dubuque to get some lunch.  But I have to say that our visit to the Textile Brewing Company was one of the more memorable places we've encountered in going to microbreweries over the years.  The Olberdings did a phenomenal job in redoing the old factory and their work in repurposing nearly everything in the place was exceptional. If you're a looking for a good day trip to NE Iowa, I can heartily recommend a stop at the Textile Brewing Company in Dyersville.  

Dallas BBQ - New York City

I had just gotten into my hotel in the Times Square area of New York City when I took a look out my 36th floor window to get my bearings of what I could see in the immediate area.  One Times Square (the building from which the annual New Years ball drop occurs) was visible out my window as well as the corner of Broadway and 42nd Street.  But a big sign that said, "BBQ" was also visible just past One Times Square.  A quick look on my computer showed that it was the flagship location for Dallas BBQ, a local barbecue chain in New York.  I decided to make the walk down 42nd Street for some barbecue that evening.  

To get the full background of how Dallas BBQ came to be, you have to go all the way back to the mid-1930's when Carl and Grace Wetanson opened a little hot dog joint on 42nd Street near Times Square - Grace's Luncheonette.  A year after opening Grace's Luncheonette, Grace gave birth to their first son Herbert.  Three years later, the Wetansons welcomed another son - Errol.  Herb and Errol Wetanson literally grew up in the restaurant business helping their parents out with the day-to-day operations.  

In the late 50s, Herb Wetanson was stationed in the military out in California.  One day, he visited the original McDonald's hamburger stand in San Bernardino, still run by the McDonald brothers.  He saw this new "fast food" concept as the future of dining out and when he got out of the service in 1959, he and his brother started to scout for areas around metro New York City to put in his idea of a west coast burger joint.  The planned community of Levittown on Long Island reminded Herb Wetanson of San Bernardino and they found a small coffee shop in the town that had just gone out of business.  In late 1959, the brothers opened the first Wetson's - basically a knock-off of McDonald's that featured 15 cent burgers, 10 cent fries, and slogans such as "Look for the Orange Circles" - the color and shape theme for Wetson's that mimicked McDonald's "golden arches".  

In the mid-60's, Grace's Luncheonette was turned into a Wetson's location.  Wetson's continued to expand across the New York/New Jersey and Connecticut tri-state area eventually growing to 75 locations.  But competition from McDonald's, Burger King and other fast growing chains was starting to take its toll on Wetson's business.  In 1975, Wetson's merged with the Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs chain and 29 Wetson's locations were immediately closed.  By the early 80's, only a handful of Wetson's were in business with most closed down by the mid-80's.  

Soon after selling out to Nathan's Famous, the Wetanson's were already looking at another restaurant concept - barbecue.  Barbecue wasn't big in New York City, but Herb Wetanson envisioned a Texas-style barbecue place that offered large portions for a low cost.  The first Dallas BBQ opened on Manhattan's upper west side in 1978.  A second Dallas BBQ opened in the East Village in the early 80's, and Dallas BBQ took over one of the remaining Wetson's locations in Times Square soon after that.  Errol Wetanson was eventually bought out of his shares of Dallas BBQ by Herb's son Greg, and Herb's daughter Liza was also a co-owner for a time before becoming a realtor on Long Island.  

Today, there are 11 Dallas BBQ locations around the greater New York City area, mainly known as just "BBQ" to the local patrons.  Herb Wetanson continues to be an owner, but Greg Wetanson runs the day-to-day operations of Dallas BBQ along with his son Stuart.  In addition to owning Dallas BBQ, the Wetanson family also owns and operates Tony's Di Napoli, a family-style old school Italian restaurant with locations in the Times Square area and on the upper east side.  

It was about a five minute walk down 42nd Street between 7th Ave. and 8th Ave. to Dallas BBQ.  (see map)  Under the large BBQ sign on the front of the business, a set of revolving doors opened into a large lobby area on the ground floor.  There was a hostess station at the base of a long escalator leading to the second floor.  She asked me how many I had in my party and I said, "Just me."  She turned and said, "One on the way up" into a two-way communication device.

When I got to the top of the escalator there were three young ladies waiting.  The escalator opened into large room with an opening in the center of the room down to the main floor lobby.  The overall space of this Dallas BBQ location seats over 700 people and I would say it was well over half-full when I was there just before 6 p.m.  

One of the girls grabbed a menu and asked me to follow her.  I inquired about a bar area and she looked back at me and said, "We don't have a bar, sir."  I was shown to a table in a dining section away from the main dining area.  I was squeezed in at a two-seater table near the kitchen.  I was on the edge of the dining room, but there was another table about a foot away from me with a couple having dinner.  And almost as soon as I sat down, a contingent of waiters congregated at a six-seater table just a couple three spots over from me and began to serenade someone with a Dallas BBQ traditional birthday song.  I almost got up and left at that point.  But I stuck around and decided to see what they had to offer.  If I didn't see anything I liked, then I'd get up and go.

Some of the walls in the dining areas featured intricate wooden carvings of horses and buffalos in western settings.  Later in during my time there, I walked around the perimeter of the dining rooms to take a closer look at the detailed carvings that were hanging on the walls.  It was pretty interesting and rather remarkable.  

As I was looking through the menu, a server by the name of Asif came over to say hello.  Another server was with Asif and I thought at first that Asif was in training and was getting supervised.  But then I realized that Asif was the seasoned server and the new guy was shadowing him while going through training.  I asked Asif if they had a beer list and he started to go through the list of beers they had to offer.  I asked if they had any IPA's and he said they had a Founders All Day IPA.  I told him that I'd take one of those.  His "shadow" brought me out a plastic schooner of the Founders All Day.  (Turns out they had a QR code on the menu that gave the list of their beers - which turned out to be a pretty short list.)  

The menu turned out to be a pretty wide-ranging with appetizers such as wings, crab cakes, an onion loaf, chicken tenders and a choice of deep-fried or spicy shrimp.  Baby back ribs, barbecued chicken, and beef ribs were the primary items on the menu, along with fish tacos, burgers, and sandwiches with beef brisket, pulled pork or a fried chicken breast.  There was also steaks, seafood, and salads for those not wanting to load up on meat.  

I was looking for a combo dinner of barbecue items, but I didn't see it at first.  Finally, I found something on the bottom of "Combo" section of the menu that as mainly steak and seafood dishes.  They had a pulled pork, 1/4 rack baby back ribs, and beef brisket combo called the "Smokehouse Special".  I ordered that for my meal that evening.  And I got another Founders IPA to go along with the dinner.

When someone from the kitchen brought out the plate, I was sort of taken back by the amount of food on the plate.    There were about 4 or 5 very meaty pork rib bones, about a quarter pound of pulled pork with the sauce mixed in, and a pile of brisket on the plate.  The sliced brisket and pulled pork were both on a poppy-seeded bottom bun.  A piece of corn bread came with the smoked meats and I got a side of fries to go along with the meal.  And the price of all this was $24.99!  I could get 3 meat combos in the Midwest that would be $10 to $13 bucks more expensive!  

The ribs had a sweet and sticky sauce already on them.  As I said, the bones had ample pork meat on them and the meat pulled away from the bones rather easily.  The pulled pork was mixed with a mustard vinegar sauce that I really didn't care for.  They had some of their sweet house barbecue sauce at the table and I mixed some in with the pulled pork to help counter the taste of the mustard sauce.  Other than the mustard sauce, the pulled pork was tender and moist.

But the winner on the plate was the brisket.  Onion straws came on top of the brisket and the meat was very flavorful.  I used my fork to cut the brisket as it was that tender.  I added some of the barbecue sauce on the table to some of the bites of brisket, but in all honesty it wasn't needed.  It rivaled some of the brisket I've had in other barbecue hot spots I've visited over the years.  

And it was a lot of food!  I was having trouble finishing all the meat on my plate.  I made sure that the brisket and the ribs were all gone before concentrating on the pulled pork.  I did have a few fries, but they were not noteworthy.  And even though I don't care much for cornbread, I did pull a couple corners off the square piece just to try.  And I thought it was all right.  

After dinner, Asif brought the check along with this little frosted donut hole.  I thought it was a nice touch for an after dinner sweet.  It was actually pretty good!

When I looked at the bill, I figured out how they can keep the prices of their barbecue so low - they make it up on their beer and alcoholic drinks!  The schooners of beer were $14 each!  Ouch!!!  My bar tab with just two beers was more than my food tab!!   I also found out that they really push their frozen alcohol drinks - and those aren't cheap.  

Now, I had a co-worker of mine who we used to joke about our bar tabs being more than our food tabs sometimes when we were on the road.  But that was usually from having a burger and four or five beers at a bar.  This was a large plate of barbecue and two 20-ounce beers.  I just sort of shook my head in amazement and threw my American Express card into the check presenter with my bill.  

Maybe for New York Dallas BBQ was good, but other than the brisket I can't say that it matched up to the barbecue I've in places like Kansas City, Memphis, St. Louis, Dallas or Charlotte.  You can't beat the prices at Dallas BBQ - that was a lot of food for $25 bucks.  Even in New York City where prices are elevated everywhere!  But they got it back from me on the expensive beers they had.  Asif did a good job taking care of me and while I did feel a bit uncomfortable sitting at a table in the middle of a bustling dining area by myself, it was all right.  Dallas BBQ features good - not great - barbecue at a righteous price.  But remember - it costs a lot to drink in that establishment.  

The Palace Tavern - East Moline, IL

When I first moved to the Quad Cities over 30 years ago, I met a guy who lived over in Silvis who took me around to a number of eateries that he loved.  Some were really good, others were not.  One of the places that he took me to for Mexican food was a place called the Old Palace Tavern in East Moline.  I was sort of "meh!" on the place - it was sort of rundown and the food was just all right.  Of course, he loved the place, but that was the first and only time I went there.  Well, until recently, that is.  The original restaurant shut down in 2020, was bought by a local businessman who gutted the building and spruced the place up and reopened it as the Palace Tavern.  My wife had been intrigued by the place after reading about it, and she wanted to go over to check it out.  

The building in which the Palace Tavern is housed dates back to 1915.  The building has housed a pharmacy and a laundromat during the course of its history, but since the 1950's it has been a neighborhood tavern.  Different owners have been in charge of the bar over the years and in 2010 Stephanie Brandt became the owner of the Old Palace Tavern.  She ran it for 10 years before she was forced to shut her doors due to the lack of business during the pandemic.    

After the Old Palace Tavern closed, East Moline native and businessman Larry Anderson came into the picture.  Anderson's primary business is East Moline Glass, a business that was started by his grandfather over 60 years ago.  In addition to being the President at East Moline Glass, Anderson is also a developer who bought the land that the former Case/International Harvester factory sat upon in East Moline and turned that into a multi-use area called The Bend which features River Bend Park (formerly Murphy Park) - a wonderful outdoor event venue and green space - an events center, an apartment complex, and the Hyatt Place hotel.  

Just down the road from the old Case/IH plant was the former Moline-Knight Automobile building that was situated right next to East Moline Glass.  Anderson bought that building and was contemplating tearing it down to expand his company.  But he developed the old structure into a multi-use building with restaurants, office space, a brewpub, and a live music/event space called The Rust Belt.   In the summer of 2020, Anderson took over the Old Palace Tavern and renovated the tired old spot.  It took about a year-and-a-half for the renovations to be completed and in late November of 2022, the spot reopened as the Palace Tavern.

It was a Friday night when we decided to head over to the Palace Tavern to get some drinks and food.  It's located on 15th Avenue in downtown East Moline, not far from The Rust Belt and East Moline Glass.  (see map) My wife had been to the Old Palace Tavern a number of years ago when she was taking art classes at a studio just across the street.  She was sort of keen to find out how the place had changed.  As I said, I had been in the place once, but that was over 30 years ago and I don't remember much about it.

Going in the front door of the Palace Tavern, we were met by a young lady who said that we could sit anywhere.   We checked out the long narrow bar area with dark wood paneling along the wall opposite the bar.  A number of high top tables were in front of the wall with antique-style lamp fixtures hanging from a tin-paneled ceiling.  The bar area had a nice tiled floor and a classy looking bar and back bar.  Other than it was brighter than hell in the bar, and it was loud from all the people talking, I wouldn't have minded to have hung out in the bar.

The dining room off to the side of the bar was much more subdued in its noise level.  It featured a handful of booths along one wall with individual wall lights at each table.  Smaller 4-seater tables were along the other wall.  On the walls were a number of old pictures of East Moline over the years, and on the walk to the restrooms on the far end of the dining room was a case of memorabilia from the local high school United Township.  We ended up taking one of the comfy booths in the dining room.  

There's a large outdoor patio off the dining room.  Formerly a parking lot for the Old Palace Tavern, the patio features a number all-weather tables with chairs, as well as a stage area for live music in warmer months.  Strands of programmable colored lights hung across the patio - they were red for the upcoming Valentine's Day when we were there that evening.  But the centerpiece of the patio is a large mural on the side of a building that is also owned by Larry Anderson.  Local artist Atlanta Dawn was commissioned by Anderson to come up with a mural that depicts life around the Quad Cities.  She designed and painted "Midwest Mississippi Waltz", a 115-foot long, 11.5-foot high mural that shows the different cultures of music found in the Quad Cities toward one end, while the other end blends into scenic life on the Mississippi River.  (To see a video of the full mural, click here.)  With the help of other artists in the Quad City area, it took Dawn a little over two months to complete the mural.  

Our server that evening was a young lady by the name of Terrionna.  She gave us menus to look over and my wife ordered her normal Tito's and cranberry (with a lime).  They had a list of beers that were available in cans and bottles and I ended up getting a Lagunitas IPA.  (When we were leaving, we walked through the bar and I saw that Kona Big Wave on tap.  I would have gotten that had I known they had it.)  

It was a pretty full menu at the Palace Tavern including appetizers, soups & salads, burgers, sandwiches, pizza and calzones.  A kids menu was also available at the tavern.  I had just come off the road and had a pizza a couple nights before, so I was looking for something along the lines of a burger or a sandwich.  

My wife also wanted to eat light, so she went with the Palace Tavern Plantation salad.  The Plantation was an old steakhouse in Moline that closed 45 years ago, but is still fondly remembered by longtime Quad Cities residents.  They had a garlic dressing for their salads that a number of restaurants in the area have tried to replicate, but most people swear that no place has completely been able to match the flavor of the original Plantation salad dressing.  Since we never lived here when the Plantation was in business, we really don't know.  My wife asked Terrionna if she could add some protein to the salad and Terrionna said that they could add some grilled chicken to the salad.  That's what my wife ordered.  

Now, we've had Plantation dressing at other places around the Quad Cities and this seemed to be more like a Thousand Island/garlic dressing, which really wasn't bad.  My wife was happy with the Plantation/grilled chicken salad that she ordered.  Nice, light, and the chicken was properly grilled.

The sandwich side of the menu wasn't all that extensive.  They had a Nashville-hot chicken sandwich which was more of a Buffalo-style sandwich.  They had a grilled or breaded pork tenderloin sandwich that I considered for a moment.  And they had a Chicago-style Italian beef sandwich on the menu.  I decided to just go the burger route and ordered the bacon burger.  I had a choice of cheese to put on it, and I went with the Swiss cheese.  For sides, I had choices including fries, fried potato salad (I seriously thought about trying that), onion rings, and cole slaw.  But they had tots and I had to get those.  

The burger was good - nice and flavorful served on a lightly toasted bun with a bacon/tomato jam.  Red onion slices, tomatoes and bib lettuce came on the side.  I asked Terrionna if they had Cholula for the tots, but all they had was Tabasco.  That was fine.  I concentrated more on finishing the burger than worrying about the tots - which were also good.  My wife even snuck a few tots over to her side of the table to munch on. 

The guy in the booth next to us had ordered a pizza and when the waitress brought it out to him, it went right by our table.  My wife and I both glanced at it as it went by and it looked interesting.  After the guy had finished what he could eat, he got a to-go box for the rest.  When he got up to leave, as he was passing our table, my wife said, "Hey, how is the pizza here?"  He said it was very good.  

"I come over here from Davenport," he said to my wife.  "I think it's the best pizza in the Quad Cities."  That was enough of an endorsement for us.  

So, we went back about a month later and ordered a pizza. We ordered our standard sausage, pepperoni and mushroom.  The crust was spongy on the edges, but more thin in the middle.  It was cut into strips, Quad City-style, and had crumbled sausage, salty pepperoni, and fresh mushrooms.  We noticed that they went light on the cheese, which my wife appreciated.  

And it was a good pizza.  Not the type we like with large chunks of sausage and a thin crust all around, but fine for what it was.  It reminded us a lot of our favorite Quad City-style pizza at Sports Fans in Bettendorf.  We ate about half the pizza and took the rest home.  Warmed up, it was also pretty good as a leftover.  

For our two initial visits to the Palace Tavern in East Moline, we didn't really have anything to complain about.  The service was prompt and the staff was friendly, the food was good - but not transforming, and the ambiance was warm and welcoming.   The renovations they've done has turned a tired, dingy place into a nice little tavern that is comfortable and pleasant to visit.  We are definitely going back to the Palace Tavern at some point to enjoy the patio when the weather gets warmer.  

No. 1 Kazoku - San Gabriel, CA

San Gabriel, CA may have the largest per capita concentration of Chinese population/restaurants/businesses outside of cities such as Beijing and Shanghai.  I stayed in San Gabriel when I was out in California toward the end of 2024 as it was close to the home of my colleague who was driving me around during my visit.  We had originally planned on getting dinner together that evening, but my colleague called me around 7 p.m. and said that he was still full from a large lunch we had earlier in the day.  He begged off dinner that night and I told him that was fine with me.  I'm a big boy who has a credit card and I had noticed earlier that there was a sushi place just across the street from my hotel.  My colleague had been there before with his wife and he said that the sushi place - an oasis of Japanese cuisine in the midst of all those Chinese restaurants - was very good.  I ended up going to No. 1 Kazoku for dinner that night.  

 In Japanese, kazoku (家族) means "family".  And No. 1 Kazoku is truly a family operation.  Originally opened in late 2012 as R2 Kazoku, it was the second Kazoku restaurant owned by Freddy and Jeannie Yang.  Not long after they opened the San Gabriel location, they closed their original No. 1 Kazoku restaurant and transferred the name over to their newer place.  No. 1 Kazoku - known to the locals as simply No.1 - is also known for their Japanese charcoal grilled kushiyaki and yakitori - basically beef, chicken and/or seafood skewers - and their innovative specialty rolls served up by Chef Yamasan and his team of sushi chefs.  Tempura dishes - along with teriyaki favorites - also are available at No. 1 Kazoku.  

No. 1 Kazoku is located on Valley Blvd., just across the street from the Hilton Los Angeles/San Gabriel where I was staying.  (see map)  I had to walk over to the crosswalk to cross Valley Blvd. and back toward No. 1 Kazoku - about a two minute walk, tops, from the front door of the hotel.  Or I could have tried to cross Valley Blvd. and it would have been less than a 30-second walk.  But Valley Blvd. is too busy for a pedestrian to try and cross against the light.  

Just inside the front door to No. 1 Kazoku is a small entry way with a large hira daiko ceremonial drum.  I wondered how many times that thing had been banged on by people waiting for a table at the restaurant.  The restaurant was shrouded by a Kirin Ichiban curtain that was topped with a holiday season garland.  I thought it was odd to have a curtain at the entrance to the restaurant, but it's a guess that it played some significance other than being an ad for a Japanese beer company.

Brushing past the curtain into No. 1 Kazoku, I found a long narrow space with a long sushi bar on the right and a number of comfortable booths on the opposite side.  I also found out that the front door on Valley Blvd. wasn't the preferred entry point to the restaurant, but the back door was the most popular entrance because of the large parking lot behind the building.  Even though no one was at the sushi bar - my preferred place to sit - I was shown to a booth along the back wall of the restaurant.  An eclectic mix of music from artists such as Elvis Presley, Hall & Oates and Michael Bublé was playing in the background.

My server that evening was a tall young guy by the name of Nick.  Nick asked if I wanted the full menu or just the sushi menu.  I took the sushi menu from him and asked if he had Asahi beer.  "Asahi," he asked back.  "Sure, we have Asahi on tap!"  Wow!  Asahi on tap!  I'm not certain I've ever been in a place where they had Asahi on tap.  I got a pint to start off.  

Nick brought over the sushi and rolls menu.  They had about two dozen different types of sushi rolls and a number of different varieties of nigiri sushi.  What I liked about the menu was that they listed where the fish originated from.  The bluefin tuna selections they had on the sushi menu that evening came from Spain, their salmon came from Scotland, the yellow tail was flown in from Japan, and the amber jack came from Hawaii.  Plus they had the most succulent parts of the fish - the belly or toro pieces.  

I started out getting a spicy salmon roll.  The roll was sliced into eight pieces and the spicy salmon flavor, well, it wasn't all that spicy.  But, dipping the roll pieces into the wasabi with soy sauce was sinus clearing and the sliced ginger was very fresh.  I made quick work of the salmon roll and was ready to order some sushi.   

For sushi that evening, I got 2 orders of the Scottish salmon belly.  Tender and just bursting with flavor, the Scottish salmon belly was some of the best sushi I'd ever had.  It was simply outstanding.  I also got an order of the toro (tuna) belly.  Those pieces were also some of the best sushi I've eaten.  Between the salmon and the tuna belly, I couldn't tell you which one I liked more.  The fish was fresh like it was caught earlier in the day.  On top of the salmon and toro belly, I also got some of the yellow tail belly sushi.  While it was still good, the yellow tail belly was not as fresh in flavor as the salmon or tuna belly.  

After finishing off the plate of sushi, I was still thinking of getting a couple more pieces of the toro belly and another Asahi.  But they had gotten busy and I don't want to say that Nick forgot about me, but, well, Nick forgot about me.  A number of people had entered through the back door and Nick was running in a lot of different directions.  When I decided that I would just head back to the hotel bar to get a nightcap beer there, Nick dropped off my check.  

After my colleague picked me up the next morning, he asked me how No. 1 Kazoku was.  I told him that it was some of the finest sushi that I had ever had.  In fact, I was hoping to order two or four more pieces, but the waiter had sort of forgotten about me.  "Yeah, service can be a bit choppy at times," he said.  "But it's one of our favorite sushi places.  I feel bad that we didn't come out and have sushi with you last night."  I joked that it was just more for me to enjoy.  And enjoy I did!  I'm hoping there's a chance that I'll stay in San Gabriel again at some point and that would be an automatic revisit to No. 1 Kazoku.  

District Tap House - New York City

When I was in New York for a trade show recently, I had made an appointment to go see one of our larger accounts in midtown Manhattan.  Staying near Times Square, I determined that I could walk to the account - it was about 9 blocks away.  On the way back from the appointment, I took a walk along W. 38th St. and decided that A) I was in need of warming up (it was 29 degrees that day); and B) I wouldn't mind grabbing a sandwich for lunch.  I saw a place off in the distance that was a deli, but almost as soon as I saw that, I looked to my immediate right and saw a little pub that looked inviting.   They had their menu out in front of the place and with the extensive craft beer menu they had listed, I decided to step into District Tap House to have some lunch.  

Sean Marr was a native of Glasgow, Scotland and decided to get into the hospitality business in his late teens.  After graduation with a degree in Hospitality Management from Napier University in Edinburgh, Scotland, Marr moved to the U.S. just before the turn of the century and worked in a number of restaurants in various capacities learning the ropes and creating a network of contacts in the restaurant industry in New York City.  

In the early 2010's, Marr began to line up investors in a pub that he was looking to open in Midtown West in Manhattan.  Along with four other investors, Marr opened District Tap House in 2014.  He put Mike Geddes in charge as the managing partner of the restaurant while Marr and the investors opened two other pubs - Bedford Falls on E. 67th on the upper east side of Manhattan, and the now-closed District Social that was located a block south of District Tap House.  

It was around 1:30 when I walked into District Tap House situated almost halfway between 8th Ave. and 7th Ave. on W. 38th Street in Manhattan's Midtown West/Garment District.  (see map)  I had to maneuver around the seemingly endless lanes of scaffolds that dot the sidewalks of the city in front of many buildings.  I thought to myself that I'd love to run a scaffolding company in New York City because it seems like the city is incessantly working on their buildings.  

 
Just inside District Tap House, the dark mahogany bar ran for about 40 feet along one wall.  Globe light fixtures hung over the bar and flat screen televisions were spaced between shelves holding liquor on the back bar.  Hightop tables were along a dark wood paneled wall opposite the bar.  The place had a warm, comfy feeling - classy without any pretentiousness.    

Toward the back of the long narrow pub past the bar were some community tables and booths.  Just past the small dining area in the back was a partitioned area that looked like it could be used for private dining or gatherings.  It was well past the lunch rush, so all the patrons in the place were seated at the bar.  And that's where I plopped down to get some lunch.  

The bartender/server was a sassy lady by the name of Rayleen.  I remarked that I knew of only one other person in my life who had the name of Rayleen.  "It's not a common one, that's for sure," she said in a thick Scottish brogue.  "I only knew of one other Rayleen, a singer from Nova Scotia (the late Raylene Rankin).  Except she spelled it different from how I spell it."  I told Rayleen that the person I knew with the same name spelled it the same as hers.   

Rayleen had dropped off a food menu and asked me what I wanted to drink.  I asked if she had a drink menu and she sort of shook her head in disgust at herself.  "This might help," she said as she placed a drink menu in front of me.  They had over two dozen beers and ciders on tap and a like number of beers to choose from in bottles and cans.  I saw that they had a Mighty Squirrel Cloud Candy hazy IPA that I had up in New England when I was up there last year.  But they also had a local hazy IPA on tap - the Five Boroughs Gridlock - that I wanted to try.  And it was an excellent hazy IPA.  

The food menu at District Tap House wasn't all that extensive, but what they had was interesting.  They had appetizers such as tuna tartar, goat cheese croquettes, wings, ground lamb sliders, and corn tortilla nachos with braised pork.  Actually, they had a charred octopus appetizer with jalapeno chimichurri that I damned near ordered as my lunch.  

Also on the menu at District Tap House was pizza with artisanal toppings; chicken, carne asada or fish tacos; soups; salads and sandwiches including a Cubano sandwich and a hanger steak sandwich with a horse radish cream and chimichurri.  

It came down to three or four things - the charred octopus, the B.A.L.T. sandwich consisting of bacon, avocado, lettuce and tomato (very similar to how I make BLT's with avocado and basil at home), the District Burger, and the braised short rib sandwich.  Actually, I pared it down to the charred octopus and the braised short rib sandwich.  In the end, I went with the sandwich.  

The sandwich featured slow-braised beef short rib that was pulled apart and placed on toasted ciabatta bread, then topped with Swiss cheese, a chipotle mayo and - interestingly enough - fried shaved carrots.    

And the sandwich was excellent.  The braised beef was tender and very flavorful on its own.  The chipotle mayo and the Swiss cheese were great compliments to the taste of the beef.  And the carrots added a bit of a crispy sweetness to the sandwich.  The ciabatta bread had a crunchy outer shell and a chewy core.  It didn't look big, but it was a hearty sandwich.  Fries came on the side and they, too, were very good.  Similar to the bread, a crunchy outer layer and a soft, potato-y core.  

I really wanted to linger for a good part of the rest of the afternoon at District Tap House, but I needed to get back to the hotel to do some office stuff on my computer.  Rayleen was a fun and accommodating server during my time at District Tap House.  The ambiance of the place was warm, cozy and comfortable, the kind of place where one would want to linger after dinner or lunch for another drink or two.  I've hit a few pubs during my trips to New York, but I have to think that District Tap House is No. 1 on my list, so far.

Thousand Oaks Meat Locker BBQ - Thousand Oaks, CA

My Los Angeles colleague and I had a meeting out in the Conejo Valley northwest of L.A. back in December.  We had some time to kill before we had our meeting and my friend said that maybe we needed to find a place to eat.  We were out in Thousand Oaks and he called up a buddy of his who lived in the area, but worked in L.A.  My colleague asked his buddy where the best place to have lunch in Thousands Oaks and he didn't hesitate.  "The Meat Locker," he told my colleague.  "Best barbecue for miles around."  Oh, yeah - I could be up for barbecue.  He punched in the address to the Thousand Oaks Meat Locker into his Google Maps and we took off for the place.  

Bruce Oxford was typical of the men of "The Greatest Generation".  He served in the armed forces during World War II and it during his time in the service that not only did he learn how to cook, but he also learned how to butcher meats that he ended up cooking for the troops in his battalion.  After the war ended, Oxford worked at various jobs before becoming a ranch hand on a property owned by then-actor Ronald Reagan in the hills above Agoura Hills and just north of Malibu.  (The ranch is now Malibu Creek State Park.)  Oxford bailed hay, rode the fence line and chased cattle that had gotten through some of the fencing on the hilly terrain.  

In the mid-50s Oxford left the ranch and began to work as a butcher at a local grocery store in what was then the sleepy ranch town of Thousand Oaks.  While working at the store, Reagan would come in and get his cuts of meat from Oxford where the two would discuss Reagan's herd of foriegn-bred, organically-fed cattle on his ranch. 

Pictured right - Bruce Oxford.  Photo courtesy The Alan Thicke Show.  

In 1957, Bruce Oxford opened his own butcher shop - Thousand Oaks Meat Market - and Reagan followed Oxford to his new shop.  Part of the building was a frozen meat locker where Oxford would store meat for Reagan - and others - and maintained a relationship with Reagan for years to come.  The locals came in for some of the finest cuts of meats available in the area and for Bruce Oxford's famous beef jerky.  

When Reagan was elected as governor of California in 1966, Oxford went into work the next day.  Looking out at the gate that he had in back, he noticed a car by the gate.  He immediately recognized that it was the Reagan family station wagon and Reagan was in the car.  When Oxford went out to open the gate, he looked in at Reagan and asked, "Sir, what are you doing?"  

Reagan got out of the car and told Oxford that he was getting away from the press who had camped out in front of his house.  "I knew you'd have good coffee here," Reagan told Oxford.  "And I just needed to get away to clear my head for a bit."

While hanging out in the back room of Oxford's butcher shop that morning, Oxford - whose politics never aligned with Reagan's throughout his political career - confessed to the governor-elect that he didn't vote for him.  Reagan laughed and said, "That's OK, Bruce!  I wouldn't vote for you, either!"  

Reagan continued to store his beef at Thousand Oaks Meat Locker into his presidency.  Reagan also tried to hide out at Oxford's butcher shop on Election Night of 1980, but the press had wised up to his movements and staked out the butcher shop.  Undeterred, Reagan spent part of the evening in the back of the shop with Bruce Oxford to get away from the bright lights.  As president, Reagan did stop in to pick up some of his meat on a couple occasions, but most of the time the Secret Service would stop by to pick up the meat for Reagan.  

In the early 60's Oxford set up a barbecue cooker in front of the butcher shop and began to smoke meats - tri-tip, ribs, sausage links, chicken.  It became a weekend only thing for the first few years until Oxford turned it into an every day barbecue restaurant in the early 70's.  

Bruce Oxford's son Wendell - known at Cobby - literally grew up in the restaurant.  Cobby Oxford would get a quarter a day to sweep the sawdust off the floor in the butcher shop.  Later on, he learned how to cut meat from his father and expanded the offerings of barbecue when he joined the butcher shop/meat locker/barbecue joint in the mid-70's.  

Cobby Oxford's wife Robin joined the family business in 1986 when she was pregnant with their first child.  After Bruce Oxford passed away, Cobby and Robin have continued to carry on the family business with help from their children and some longtime employees.  

In 2023, a fire in the barbecue smoker in front of the store caused the business to shut down.  It was determined the venting system above the grill was clogged with residue from years and years of barbecue smoke and grease from the cooking process.  Damage to the building was confined to the front and was minimal.  A few days after the fire, the Ventura County health department allowed the Oxford's to reopen the business with a new barbecue grill in the back alley behind the building.  

We pulled up to Thousand Oaks Meat Locker along Thousand Oaks Blvd. just after 1 p.m. on a beautiful Southern California afternoon.  (see map)  There was limited parking near the place and there was a gas station next door, so my colleague took a left at the gas station and we parked near a park about a block away from the barbecue joint.  As we were walking toward the front door, we passed an alleyway where they had their smoker trailer set up in back.  The smell of smoked meats just jumped into our noses.  "This ought to be good," my friend said as we walked toward Thousand Oaks Meat Locker.  

We passed the old smoker grill in the front that looked sort of ramshackle now with some lattice fencing that had fallen down from the front.  Just inside the front door was a small area with a refrigerated counter with warming bins along a shelf behind the counter.  It was counter service at Thousands Oaks Meat Locker and the line was moving pretty quickly.  

Along the wall opposite the counter were a number of pictures of celebrities who have graced the doors of Thousand Oaks Meat Locker.  There were signed photos and testimonials of stars such as Tom Cruise, Clint Black, Gary Sinese, Jonathon Winters, Jim Belushi (Jim Belushi? 🤔) and - of course - Ronald Reagan whose picture was a black-and-white still from a 1950's Western movie he was in.  A number of Western-themed movies were filmed in the Conejo Valley in the 50's and 60's.  

The menu was on the wall behind the counter at Thousand Oaks Meat Locker.  The menu featured beef and pork ribs, pulled chicken, smoked sausage, pulled pork, sandwiches and meat ordered by the pound.  There was no brisket or burnt ends, but the California staple of tri-tip was the answer to brisket.  Sandwiches along with sides such as baked beans, macaroni salad, cole slaw and potato salad were also available.   

I had to use the restroom while I was there and it was located down an open hallway to the back alley.  After using the facilities, I wandered down the hall to check out their smoker.  They were preparing a large catering order for sandwiches and the pit masters were also smoking pork ribs and tri-tip.  The smell of the smoked meat was almost intoxicating.

They have two seating areas at Thousand Oaks Meat Locker.  There's an outdoor patio that featured flimsy plastic fold-up picnic tables.  I saw a guy of medium build sit on the bench at one of the tables and the table wobbled considerably.  That was too bad because it was such a nice day and the patio had a bit of a shade thanks to trees on the property. 

I made an executive decision to sit in an enclosed room with a low-slung ceiling that I called "the Cowboy Room".  It had pictures of Western movie heroes such as Tom Mix and John Wayne along with other Western paraphernalia on the walls.  The tables and chairs were proper tables and chairs, solid and sturdy.     

My buddy and I got the same thing - the Manly Tri-Tip sandwich.  It featured over a half pound of sliced tri-tip served on a grill-toasted hoagie bun.  A couple small tubs of  a barbecue sauce came on the side.  With the sandwich we were able to get a couple sides.  My colleague went with a side salad and pesto pasta salad.  I went with the same pesto pasta salad and cole slaw.  I thought about getting some of the baked beans, but I was sort of worried that the aftermath of eating the beans would kick in during our meeting in about an hour and a half.  

The one strike against Thousand Oaks Meat Locker is that they had no beer to enjoy along with the barbecue.  We both ended up getting water instead of beer.  While it wasn't a deal-breaker for me, I would have loved to had a beer with my lunch.  

The sandwich was outstanding.  The tri-tip was tender, it had a wonderful rub that enhanced the overall flavor of the meat, and it had a nice, but not overpowering smokey punch.  I noticed that they sold their tri-tip rub at Thousand Oaks Meat Locker and I went back to buy some to take back home with me.  However, the line to order was now out the door (at 1:45 in the afternoon!) and decided to bag it.  I figured that after we opened our new account just down the road from the place that I could come back sometime in the future to grab some of the season.  

For the sides, the cole slaw was sort of "meh!", void of really any enhanced flavor.  But the pesto pasta salad was very good.  The large tubes of pasta had a generous coating of pesto that offered a zesty flavor to each bite.  

Our visit to Thousand Oaks Meat Locker was truly an enlightening experience.  It's an old Southern California institution that has obviously garnered a loyal following that started nearly 70 years ago.  It's great that the Oxford family has been able to keep Bruce Oxford's legacy alive.  I thoroughly enjoyed my tri-tip sandwich along with the pesto pasta salad that came with it as a side.  The cole slaw - not so much.  The charm of the old place overshadowed the fact that they didn't serve beer at the place.  But that didn't matter as the tri-tip was outstanding.  

Crawford Kitchen/Crawford Brew Works - Bettendorf, IA

One of our favorite places to hang on some Sunday afternoons or on evenings in the warmer momths is to go to Crawford Brew Works in Bettendorf to get a burger from the Floyd's Burgers food truck that is parked in front of the microbrewery.  (For the Road Tips entry on Floyd's Burgers click here.)  Floyd's, arguably, has the best burger in the Quad Cities.  But last year, Crawford Brew Works took out a common seating area in the corner of their brewpub and put in a kitchen.  They had a small area near the bar in the past where someone would come in and make pizzas, but this kitchen was going to feature appetizers, street tacos, flatbreads, burgers and sandwiches.  We had gone to Iowa City earlier in the day on a Sunday in December of last year, and when we got back home it was too late to start making something for dinner.  We decided to head over to Crawford Brew Works and have something to eat at Crawford Kitchen.  

The Crawford Company is a commercial HVAC, Plumbing and Electrical contractor that has been in business for over 70 years.  Based in Rock Island, the company employs about 350 people and has expanded their operations into metal fabrication, laser cutting and custom architectural products.  But for over 10 years, they've also been known as one of the top brewing equipment manufacturers in the U.S.  

In the early 2000's, there was an explosion in the craft beer industry.  Most start-up microbreweries had been buying brewing apparatus from overseas because of the lower costs.  But many brewers would find that there were modifications that had to be made that were driving up the costs of the brewing equipment.  Some local and regional breweries turned to the Crawford Company to modify and fabricate parts that would make the brewing equipment work better.  

Steve Zuidema helped establish the first brewpub in Iowa - Front Street Brewery - in Davenport in 1992.  Looking to expand his brewing capabilities with a new system that was going into the Freight House.  Knowing that Crawford Company had their own metal fabrication and laser cutting division, Zuidema approached engineers at the company with drawings and designs that were primarily on napkins and notebook paper for the type of brewing system that he wanted.

Once the Crawford Company finished the project and installed the new system in the Freight House building in downtown Davenport, Zuidema would host a number of people who were either established craft brewers or were looking to start up their own brewery.  Impressed with the quality of the tanks and brewing equipment built by Crawford Company, those brewers approached the company to see if they could build brewing equipment for them.  

With the sudden interest in building brewing equipment, Crawford Company heads Bob Frink and Jim Crawford, Jr., along with Frink's son, Ian, saw the potential to have a division that solely focused on manufacturing brewing equipment.  They established Crawford Brewing Equipment and opened their own division in Rock Island in 2013.   Some of the breweries around the country that Crawford has made brewing equipment for are Municipal Brew Works in Hamilton, OH; The Lucky Monk in S. Barrington, IL; Hot Plate Brewing Company in Pittsfield, MA; Springfield Beer Company in Springfield, IL; and Noon Whistle Brewing in Lombard, IL.  

Zuidema was a great ambassador and erstwhile sales rep for the Crawford Company's brewing equipment and the execs came up with an idea of having a working showroom to show off their equipment.  They came up with a plan to build a microbrewery with access to demonstrate their brewing apparatus up close.  Crawford Company co-owner Bob Frink, his son Ian - who succeeded his father as Crawford Company president in 2017; Keith Gerks - who ran the Crawford Brewing Equipment division; Adam Issacson - who was Crawford Company's plumbing and piping manager; and Bruce Grell - who owns and runs the Healthy Habits bicycle shop that shares the building with the new brewpub - are the owners of Crawford Brew Works which initially opened in April of 2018.  The group installed Scot Schaar as the head brewer - he had previously been the distiller at Mississippi River Distilling Company.  

Relying upon food trucks to supply food for their patrons for the first few years of existence, the group had been planning to put in a kitchen at some point in time.  As I said earlier, they had put in a small area near the bar where pizzas were made available at different times.  But when we were in there on a Sunday afternoon last spring right after Floyd's Burgers opened for the season and we noticed that they were working on the area in the front corner of the brewpub.  We were told that it was going to be a kitchen and they were going to serve food Tuesday through Saturday.  I said, "Gonna keep Sunday's open for Floyd's, I see."  

"Oh, we aren't going to fool with Floyd's," the young lady said. "They bring in too much business for us."  

Before the kitchen opened in July - under the consultancy of longtime Quad City area chef Juan Hernandez (formerly at Blue Iguana, Steventon's, Twin Span Brewing Company) - it was announced they would be open five days a week.  But almost as soon as they opened, Crawford Brew Works decided to open Crawford Kitchen on Sunday, as well.  This created a situation where Floyd's Burgers was no longer going to be at Crawford on Sunday afternoon and evening.  

Pictured right - Juan Hernandez and Crawford Brew Works manager Tari Fisk.  Photo courtesy Crawford Brew Works web site.

Not having Floyd's at Crawford upset many of their ardent followers, so much so that a proposed boycott of Crawford Brew Works and Crawford Kitchen materialized on social media.  But the owners of Floyd's got on some of those sites and told people that they were OK with the decision.  They already had a new spot for Sundays worked out.  (Plus, we found out a couple months ago that Floyd's was working on a collaboration with Radicle Effects Brewerks on a brick and mortar restaurant in Rock Island that will eventually be called the Bruised Goose.)

We had been out to Crawford Brew Works a few times since Crawford Kitchen opened, mainly on Friday nights when we like to go out there and relax after a long week.  But it was on a Sunday evening just before Christmas when we decided that we really didn't want to make anything at home when I suggested we go out and try the food at Crawford.  

The brewpub is a spacious two-level facility with a nice patio off to the side.  There's a short wall between the bar area and some booths on the other side.  With the high ceilings and concrete floors, it can get a bit loud in there if there's a good-sized crowd.  Upstairs is a party/private event space that always seems to be full whenever we're in there.  We've seen everything from birthday parties to gender reveals to work events take place up on the second level when we've been there.    

The brewing facility is fully on display in the back of the brewpub.  There's no smell of roasting hops or stale beer in Crawford Brew Works which is remarkable.  It's a great showcase for the Crawford Company to show off their products to prospective buyers.  I have to say that while I like some of the beers at Crawford Brew Works, they're not my favorite beers of all the brewpubs in the Quad Cities.  Good beers, but not the first ones I would order if others were available.  

Crawford Kitchen is situated in the back corner to the right of where you come into the front door.  It's an open kitchen with a serving ledge in the front.  There used to be a den area in that corner with couches, a television and table games.  

We got into Crawford around 5:30 that evening.  We took a seat in one of the booths along the short wall by the bar.  My wife likes Crawford in that they have mixed drinks there.  She can get her usual vodka/cranberry while I can get a craft beer.  

There's usually a waitstaff at Crawford Brew Works, but this evening it was just an older guy working both the bar area and the dining room.  There weren't a lot of people in the dining room, but the bar was nearly full.  We sat in the booth for five minutes or so before I went up and stood at the bar to get us some drinks.  Once I got his attention, I got a vodka/cranberry (with a lime) for my wife, and I got the "I've Got a KRUSH on You" IPA.  They also have a "Get Off My Lawn" IPA that I'll get from time to time, but lately I've been getting the KRUSH.  

After he brought our drinks to me at the end of the bar, I asked the guy if we could order food and he said, "Sure!  I'll be over in a minute to get your order!"  It gave us time to look through the food menu that they had on the table.   

While it's not a big menu, it's good enough for a brewpub that is serving food as an afterthought.  Appetizers and shareables include homemade guacamole with chips; a warm pretzel with a beer cheese sauce, Boetje's mustard, and a chipotle cinnamon butter; wings; nachos; and jalapeño mac & cheese bites.  They also have salads and flatbreads; tacos; burgers and sandwiches.  

True to his word, the bartender came over.  He immediately apologized for the lack of service.  "They're having a staff meeting tonight and they put me in charge," he said in a kind of joking manner.  "I'm probably the last guy they should have entrusted in running the place tonight."  He was a good guy and we sympathized with his plight.

After we placed our orders, it was about fifteen minutes later when we saw a couple things come up on the pick-up counter in the kitchen.  The guy behind the bar was slammed with beer and drink orders there and the food just sat up on the counter.  Finally, I got up and went over to the pick-up counter and determined that the two items were our items.  I picked them up and brought them back to the table.

My wife got the Backyard Brisket Sandwich - slow-smoked beef brisket with some crispy pork belly in a barbecue sauce.  It's topped with some of Crawford Kitchen's crispy mac & cheese bites.  The sandwich comes with a toasted bun, but she got it without.  It was served on wax paper on a small cooking sheet.  My wife remarked, "I'm glad I didn't get it on the bun.  There's no way that I'd be able to pick it up without it exploding in my hand!"  A side of fries came with her smoked brisket/crispy pork belly conglomeration.  

I got the Mushroom/Smoked Gouda burger - two flat-grilled smash burgers topped with smoked gouda cheese, seared garlic, oyster mushrooms and a truffle aioli.  I also asked them to put bacon on the burger.   Fries also came on the side with my burger.  

My wife seemed to enjoy her sandwich sans bun.  The brisket was tender and the pork belly was juicy and easy to bite into. She said the mac & cheese bites were sort of rich, but had a good flavor.

The mushroom/smoked Gouda burger with bacon was very good.  I don't know - or I can't say that the burger was better than the burger Floyd's would make, but it was still very good.  Everything that went on the burger patties - the cheese, the bacon, the sautéed mushrooms, the garlic and the truffle aioli just all worked together very well.  This immediately moved into my top 5 favorite burgers in the Quad Cities.  Not as good as Floyd's, but it was in the ballpark.  

When the bartender came over to check on us, he said, "I see you went and picked up your own food.  Thanks for doing that.  I think we're a lot more busy on a Sunday night than they expected."  He said that he would give us a discount on the food for having to "serve ourselves."  It was nice gesture and given how expensive our meal was, we gladly accepted.  

While I'm sorry that Floyd's won't be making their weekly trip to Crawford Brew Works any longer, with the new Crawford Kitchen being able to come up with a similar burger that they can serve 7 days a week is a nice trade-off.  We thought our food was very good - a bit expensive, but still very good.  Crawford Brew Works has been one of our favorite hang spots since they opened nearly 7 years ago, and now with Crawford Kitchen it will probably be even more popular as a place to have some drinks and food on a given night.              

Reza's Restaurant - Evanston, IL

When my wife and I were in Chicago for her birthday just before Christmas, we stayed in downtown Evanston.  My wife was hellbent on getting Mediterranean food while we were in the area for a long weekend and I had heard of a place called Reza's Restaurant in downtown Evanston that had been in business for quite some time.  We decided to head over to Reza's for dinner one evening.  

Reza Toulabi and his brother John were both in Chicago in 1979 when the Iranian revolution broke out.  Told by family members to stay put in the city, the brothers found that there wasn't a lot of Persian or Mediterranean restaurants to eat in.  They decided to open their own restaurant using family recipes and hiring people who had fled the revolution to the U.S.  In 1983, Reza's Restaurant opened their doors in the Andersonville neighborhood on N. Clark Street in Chicago.  

At one time, Reza's was known as the premier Mediterranean/Persian restaurant in the greater Chicago area.  They opened up a second location in River North, and a third one in Lincoln Park.  A Reza's opened in suburban Oak Brook in 2004. 

Turmoil between the brothers caused the closing of the River North and Lincoln Park locations, but in 2021 Reza Toulabi opened another location in downtown Evanston in what was the former Pete Miller's Steakhouse that had closed in August of 2019.  Since the opening of the Evanston location, financial problems have forced Reza's to downsize their original restaurant on N. Clark.  

We took an Uber over to Reza's from our hotel.  We could have walked to their location on Sherman Ave., but it was a blustery evening and my wife didn't want to walk.  (see map)  Before we left, we called to see if we needed reservations and a man in a thick accent said that no reservations were needed if we came right away.  It turned out that we wouldn't have had to worry about reservations at any time that evening.  With Northwestern on holiday break and downtown Evanston was not very busy at all.  

It was tough to miss Reza's when we turned onto Sherman Ave.  The bright red wood-slat facade just jumped out compared to other buildings on the block.  I have to say that Reza's was a bit tired and a bit shabby.  It was like they had taken over the old Pete Miller's, moved a few things around, took some things away, and added some trim artwork to the place.  The bar wasn't really even a bar any longer as there were no chairs around the bar.  

The dining room was set up with tables in the front windows and some booths along the wall.  There was a large open area in the middle of the room, and there were two other dining areas - a step-up area in the back, and a small room on the opposite side in the back of the restaurant.  

Wassey was the one who greeted us when we came in and he showed us to a table by the front windows that looked out on Sherman Ave.  It was a bit cold by the windows, but - quite frankly - that was the only place they were seating people that evening.  By this time, I was starting to question our choice in restaurants.  

After he handed us our menus, Wassey asked what we wanted to drink.  My wife tried to order a Tito's and cranberry and Wassey said they had no hard liquor.  OK - that was interesting.  She ended up ordering a glass of William Hill cabernet that they had.  I asked what kind of beer they had and Wassey said, "Modelo."  That was it - no other beer other than Modelo!  By this time, I was really wanting to get out of the place.   But we decided to stick it out as my wife was really jonesin' for Mediterranean food.  

The food at Reza's is more Persian than fully Mediterranean.  There was little to choose from on the menu in terms of seafood.  There were a lot of beef, chicken and lamb dishes.  Appetizers included stuffed grape leaves, sautéed veggies, falafel, and roasted feta cheese.  For larger groups, Reza's featured family-style dinners that included appetizers, entrees and rice.  

My wife wanted some hummus and Wassey brought out a huge, but very thin piece of pita bread.  It was actually more like a tortilla than bread.  But we could tear it off and scoop the hummus onto it.  The hummus -which I've been getting into more and more lately - was very good.  A small relish plate with feta cheese, cilantro and chopped radishes came with the hummus.

And somewhat surprisingly, my wife also ordered the grilled mushrooms.  She usually doesn't like mushrooms, but she saw something in the description on the menu that intrigued her.  They were basically whole mushrooms that were topped with herbs and served a garlic butter sauce.  I have to say these were pretty damned good.  

After we ordered our entrees for the evening, we both had a choice of soup to start out.  I got the chicken barley soup - chunks of chicken in a heavy broth along with barley, leeks, dill and Persian spices.  It was also very good.  My wife went with the tomato lentil soup - it featured vegan cracked-bulgur wheat with lentils in a tomato herb broth.  

My wife looked at a number of options for food.  She thought about the lamb kabobs, and the salmon and shrimp entree sort of got her thinking.  But in the end she ordered the Filet Mignon Chengeh - beef tenderloin filet cubes that were marinated, then grilled.  It came with Persian rice (dill and fava beans mixed in), and roasted bell peppers.  The portion was HUGE!  First of all, there had to be over a pound of beef cubes on the plate.  And the rice portion was also HUGE!  There was no way my wife was going to finish even half of what she had in front of her.  

What she could eat, she liked.  The beef tenderloin cubes were tender and cooked to a medium temperature.  She concentrated more on the beef than she did on the rice.  But the few bites she had of the rice, she seemed to like.  

I really didn't know what I wanted, but there was something on the menu that intrigued me - the Kabob Makhsous.  It the same beef tenderloin filet that my wife had, that was stuffed in a roll of seasoned ground beef, then broiled.   And when it was brought to the table, I didn't really know what to think.  Now, I'm not a seasoned Persian food enthusiast, but I was expecting the meat to be on skewers.  This was like a big friggin' beef log that had the ground beef wrapped around the chunks of beef tenderloin.  I also got some of the Persian rice.  

The flavor and texture were interesting.  The beef had a seasoning that I couldn't quite place my taste buds on, but it tasted fine.  The ground beef flaked apart with each cut with my fork.  The chunks of beef tenderloin were caked with the ground beef.  It wasn't exactly what I was thinking I was getting from the description on the menu.  It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great.  

We couldn't finish up the meal we had in front of us.  Had we shared one of the two plates we got, we STILL couldn't have finished all the food.  And when Wassey asked us if we needed boxes, we declined.  Even if we weren't traveling and staying in a hotel, I'm not certain it would have tasted as good at home.  

And when Wassey came with our bill, I pulled out my credit card.  He then asked me if I could pay with cash, or a combination of cash and credit card.  Well, I could have, but I didn't.  That was a major red flag with a business who asks for cash or a combination.  I guess it's a sign that they needed cash.  

We were sort of disappointed in our choice of restaurant in Reza's.  A few days later, I was talking with a friend of mine who lives on the north side of Chicago and told him that we had gone to Reza's for dinner when we were in town a couple weeks earlier.  "Reza's has lost its charm," he told us.  "Used to be a big fan, but they've gone through some changes."  While the food was fine - and the portions were huge - the place was gloomy and drab.  And with no liquor and a minimum variety of wine and just one beer to be offered, it appeared to me they were doing just enough to keep the place open.  If they didn't serve such huge portions, maybe they'd make more of a profit.  😉

Hawkers Asian Street Food - Nashville

On our last night in Nashville just after Thanksgiving last year, my colleague from Montreal, my colleague from Los Angeles, and myself invited two guys who we have worked with in promoting our studio products over time out to dinner.  To make it an even bigger party, we invited our former colleague who lived in Nashville to join us.  Not exactly knowing where to take a group of six people for a fun night of food and drinks in the city, our former colleague suggested a place that he called one of his favorite places in Nashville - and Asian-fusion restaurant by the name of Hawkers Asian Street Food.  After making reservations earlier in the day, we all met up at Hawkers in East Nashville around 7:30 that night.  

Allen Lo was born in Malaysia, but grew up in Cincinnati, OH working at his parent's Chinese restaurant.  During business hours the family would serve American-ized Chinese food, but when they would make meals at home they would make foods that were from their Malaysian homeland.  Lo asked his mother one time why they didn't make Malaysian food at the restaurant and she told him that Americans would never eat the food they made at home.  

After graduating from the University of Cincinnati, Lo moved to Orlando, FL to pursue his masters in finance at the University of Central Florida.  After graduating from UCF, Lo opened his own lending firm in the greater Orlando area.  

Kaleb Harrell grew up in Central Florida and went to UCF to study finance.  But food was his passion and during his time in college he met Wayne Yung who was studying business management.  The two hit it off, especially with Yung's family's culinary background in authentic Chinese and Vietnamese "street" foods - quick bits that were generally hand-held in nature.  

Harrell and Yung formed a branding agency after they graduated from UCF and they accumulated an impressive list of clients ranging from the likes of Disney to Chevrolet to UPS.  Harrell and Yung had become friends with Allen Lo and during non-business hours the trio loved to try different types of recipes that were handed down from Yung's and Lo's families.  

Harrell, Yung and Lo had a 4th musketeer that became part of their group with Hong Kong-native Kin Ho. Ho had a lengthy resume in the hospitality and restaurant industry.  Once he got involved with Harrell, Yung and Lo, he introduced them to recipes he's picked up from places like Singapore, Japan and Thailand.  The group decided to open a restaurant that showed the different styles of Asian foods - foods that were very authentic and could be found in SE Asia, China and the Pacific Rim.  

Pictured right - Kin Ho, Allen Lo, Wayne Yung, and Kaleb Harrell.

The term "hawkers" is what street vendors in the far east are called - "hawking" their foods from carts in markets.  The group designed their restaurant to be a culinary adventure to different parts of Asia in one sitting.  In March of 2011, the group opened their first Hawkers Asian Street Food in Orlando.  

The concept of Asian street food caught on quickly and Hawkers began to expand across Central and Northern Florida into the Atlanta market, up to the Washington D.C. area, and into North Carolina.  In the fall of 2020, they opened their 10th location in Nashville.  Today, they have 15 Hawkers Asian Street Food locations in 7 states.  

Now, I have to say that I was pretty apprehensive after hearing what kind of food Hawkers had.  But my younger colleagues were more than up for going there.  Quite honestly, I didn't really care where we ended up that evening and I thought it would be fun trying something new.  

Hawkers is located on Main Street in East Nashville.  (see map)  There's a parking lot next to the building, but a larger one just west of the restaurant.  However, that parking lot is for Bolton's Famous Spicy Chicken & Fish up to 8 p.m. and there is a guy who is out there patrolling the lot making sure that people are going into Bolton's and not into Hawkers.  

I was driving and I went around the block to an alleyway behind Hawkers.  Just as we pulled into the curving driveway into their parking lot, there was a car that was getting ready to leave.  We ended up taking that spot and going into Hawkers.  

There's a covered patio area just before you walk into Hawkers.  But, of course, since it was early December - and it was 30 degrees outside - there was no one out there even with the overhead heaters.  

Just inside the front door was a large rectangular bar with a yellow face and matching yellow chairs.  They had a full bar at Hawkers and they had a number of specialty cocktails on their beverage menu.   They also had a number of domestic, imported and craft beers, along with wine, sake and non-alcoholic cocktails at Hawkers.  

Along the wall in the bar area were a number of booths with wooden-slat seating.  Posters and colorful neon lights were on the wall.  It was a relaxed atmosphere in the bar area and I wouldn't have minded sitting in there.  

But since there were six of us, we wouldn't have all fit in one of those booths.  A hostess showed us toward the back dining area at Hawkers where there were a number of tables, as well as tables along low-slung walls with banquette seating that could be configured for larger parties.  Like the front bar, there was exposed HVAC and piping with heavy cloth draped to help cut down on the reverberating sound in the area.  A corrugated tin wall along one side had another colorful neon sign with three soup bowls with the words, "Slurp Slurp Slurp" above the bowls.  

In the far back of the restaurant was the open kitchen.  It was controlled chaos around the kitchen with servers and kitchen staff talking loudly back and forth with one another.  The clanking of dishes added to the cacophony of sounds around the restaurant.  

They had moved three tables together along the banquette seating opposite the corrugated tin wall back near the open kitchen area.  My L.A. colleague had peeled off earlier with our former colleague and they were the first to show up.   One other person we were going to have dinner with that night was already at the table when my colleague from Montreal and I showed up.  Our final guest showed up a bit later on saying that he had to park a couple blocks away.  "It's always a bitch to park around here," he said as he sat down next to me.  

"That's because it's so good," our former colleague from Nashville said.  And the place was packed with a younger crowd.  Music from artists such as Canadian singer Lennon Stella; Jean Philip-Grobler's St. Lucia persona, Jet; and Portugal. The Man played from the sound system in the restaurant.  Later on in the evening, I went into the restroom and the music that was playing in there sounded like Chinese show tunes.  I did a quick Shazam search on my phone, and just as I thought the music was, indeed, Chinese show tunes from Yao Lee and Zhang Lu.

Our server that evening was a young lady by the name of Savannah.  The guys who were already there had gotten Sapporo beers and that's what I ended up getting, as well.  Even though Savannah had given us food menus, we were too busy talking to order food right of the bat.  But the beer was good and it was flowing, so Savannah did a good job of keeping up with our refill requests.  

Now, I'm not big on the food that they had on the menu.  It's not that it was bad, but this isn't the type of restaurant that I would seek out when I look for a place to eat on the road.  Noodle dishes were some of the main items on the menu, along with rice and curry dishes.  For my vegetarian buddy who I work with, they had a number of vegetarian dishes (proteins could be added), as well as meat dishes such as spicy lamb skewers, crispy pork belly, and bulgogi steak.  Dim sum appetizers such as spring rolls, crispy wontons, baos, and chicken dumplings were on the menu.  After Savannah checked with us for the 4th time, we thought we'd better order up some food.  

I really wasn't certain what I wanted.  None of the rice and curry, or the noodle dishes appealed to me all that much.  I didn't want to get any of the chicken wing dishes they had on the menu, and while I considered some of the dim sum appetizers, I really didn't know what I wanted to get.  

In the end, I went with the Hong Kong sticky ribs.  It was a half-rack of ribs that was coated in Hawkers' house-made char siu glaze. It was served with spicy dill pickle chips and fried bao buns.  The ribs were actually pretty good.  The char siu glaze was sort of sweet and had a bit of a spicy bite.  The six or seven ribs that were served to me were all meaty and very filling.  

Three of the guys at our table went noodle dishes.  One of our guests got the yaki udon - udon noodles with sautéed chicken, eggs, and veggies in a spicy savory sauce.  (Above right)  "This is so good," he said between bites.  "But, man!  My mouth is on fire!"   One of the other guys got the Singapore mei fun - thin rice noodles dusted with yellow curry that were wok-fired with chicken, shrimp, eggs, and veggies.  And the third noodle dish at the table was the curry duck noodles - shredded duck with five spices, mixed with egg noodles, fresh veggies, garlic, and Hawkers' signature curry sauce that came from a recipe handed down by Allen Lo's grandmother.

While my vegetarian colleague got the veggie pad thai with spring rolls, our other guest went sort of the route I was thinking by getting dim sum in the form of hot chicken bao.  It featured two bao buns filled with Hawkers' rendition of Nashville hot chicken with sliced cucumbers on top.  

He also got an order of the golden won tons - chicken, shrimp and mushroom filled won tons that were deep fried and served with a generous serving of a sweet Thai chili dipping sauce.  Now, that guest was - by far - the smallest of the six of us at the table and he made short work of his two hot chicken baos and the golden won tons.  

And the guy who got duck curry decided he was full with just over half of his meal eaten.  He was seated next to our guest who got the dim sum appetizers and he gave the rest of his noodle dish to that guy!  And he finished it off!  "Man, I was hungry," he said to me as I had an incredulous look on my face after he finished the duck curry noodle dish.  I joked with him that he could be a competitive eater!  

While Hawkers may be popular with Millennials, I sort of felt out of place with the style of food they had.  I was never a ramen noodle kind of person, and I never had this style of food other than run-of-the-mill Asian restaurants that I've gone to in the past.  My sticky ribs were fine for what they were, but everyone else seemed to rave about the food they had.  I do have to say that Savannah was a great server for us that evening.  She stayed on top of every request we had during our visit.  If I encounter a Hawkers in my travels at some point I may go back and maybe try some dim sum offerings.  But I'd probably end up going somewhere else.