Road Tips

Don Jose Mexican Restaurant - Decorah, IA

We spent a Sunday evening in Decorah, IA a few weeks ago on a trip to NE Iowa to check out the fall foliage.  We'd had lunch at Mabe's Pizza earlier in the day (click here to see the Road Tips entry on Mabe's), and we had planned on eating at Rubaiyat that evening.  (Click here to see the Road Tips entry on Rubaiyat.)  Well, we found out that Rubaiyat - as wall as the bulk of restaurants in the Decorah area - were closed on Sunday nights.  Options were slim for dinner, but we had noticed a Mexican restaurant on previous visits to Decorah and this time the place had set up patio seating in their parking lot for outdoor dining.  Figuring that we needed to cut our losses since really nothing else was open, we ended up going to Don Jose Mexican Restaurant in downtown Decorah.

Martin Pena opened Don Jose a little over 10 years ago and along with his family has built the business into the "go-to" place for Mexican food in Decorah.  Don Jose features a full slate of traditional Mexican food specialties and a full bar offering margaritas, imported Mexican beers, wine and non-alcoholic drinks.  

It was an unseasonably beautiful evening that night in Decorah.  We parked catty-cornered from Don Jose located at the corner of E. Water and State streets in the downtown area.  (see map)  Since they were only offering outdoor seating at the restaurant, there was a bit of a wait.  We were greeted by a young man who turned out to be Martin Pena, Jr. who told us there would be about a 10 to 15 minute wait for a table.  

I did go inside to use the restroom while we were waiting for a table.  It appeared that the restaurant was nice and cozy, well-lit and somewhat colorful.  High-backed padded booths were through the dining area, all of which were taped-off due to pandemic restrictions the restaurant had in place.  Mexican artwork told some of the sterility out of the atmosphere in the place.  

True to his word, Martin Pena, Jr. sat us at a meshed-metal table with matching chairs less than 15 minutes after we checked in.  He dropped off a couple of menus for us and it wasn't long before his father, owner Martin Pena, came over to greet us and drop off some chips and salsa at the table.  He was a short, stout man with a friendly demeanor.  He asked us what we would like to drink and I got one of their Cadillac margaritas - Jose Cuervo and Grand Marnier in a house mix.  My wife - sort of surprisingly to me - ordered a tequila sunrise.  It was made with a house tequila, blackberry liquor, orange juice and grenadine.  It was surprising to me because I can't remember the last time - if ever - that she ordered a tequila sunrise.  She said she wanted a change-up and she was happy she got it.  

Don Jose Mexican Restaurant features a little bit of everything in terms of Mexican food.  You'll find the typical Mexican appetizers and staples of Mexican foods on the menu - enchiladas, burritos, tacos and chimichangas.  Beef, chicken, pork and seafood items were available in many of the specialties they offered.  Some of the more interesting items on the menu included a shrimp dish with a parmesan cream sauce, crab-stuffed enchiladas, chicken molé enchiladas, and Tacos Adobo - chopped pork marinated in an adobo sauce served in soft corn tortillas and topped with a red sauce.  There were a lot of good things to choose from on the menu.  

We had ordered our food and passed the time eating some of their very good chips with the house-made salsa.  It had grown colder after the sun went down and they had to turn on the outdoor heating lamps they had in the patio area.  We'd gone through a basket of chips and it seemed to take a little longer than we figured for our food to show up after we had ordered.  We had finished our drinks and I tracked down Martin to order a Sol beer to have with my dinner.  He came back with the beer and apologized for the delay in the food.  "We have a lot of to-go orders," he explained.  There certainly were a steady stream of people coming to pick up food to-go.  After about 20 minutes, our food showed up at the table.    

My wife ended up going with the Pollo Don Jose - sautéed chicken breast strips mixed with rice and topped with a white queso sauce.  She wasn't all that hungry, but the portion was huge.  She said there was going to be no way she could even eat half of what she had on her plate.   

I thought long and hard about getting the steak fajitas as someone at a table near us had that brought to them for their dinner.  But I ended up getting the chile pork verde - chunks of pork in a green tomatillo sauce and served with refried beans and Mexican rice.  Flour tacos came on the side.  And for good measure - and I don't know why looking back - I ended up getting a beef taco just to try.  

My chile pork verde was interesting in taste.  It tasted like one of the main spices was all-spice, something that I found somewhat enjoyable.  The pork was tender and easy to cut with a fork.  I made a couple tacos out of the chile pork verde and added rice and beans.  It was good - not great - but good.  

I had a couple bites of the beef taco and it was pretty undistinguished.  It was bland and basic - a typical Americanized taco, if you will.

My wife thought her chicken and rice dish was also just "OK".  She made a taco out of it and added some salsa to it.  She sort of shrugged her shoulders and said, "Ah, it's all right."  That's one of the problems we've found when we've had Mexican food in smaller towns in our journeys.  We're so used to some of the good to very good Mexican restaurants we have in the Quad Cities and it's tough to find ones that are on par with those places in small towns like Decorah, IA.

Nonetheless, the food was good enough for what we wanted that evening at Don Jose Mexican Restaurant.  It certainly wasn't finer dining that we had hoped for at Rubiyat, but it was better than just getting sandwiches or greasy appetizers at T. Bock's down the street.  Martin's service was very good - after all, he is the owner.  And it was sort of nice to be able to eat outside one last time for the year.  (A cold front with rain came through overnight and it was probably the last night Don Jose would be offering outdoor seating.)   Our options were pretty limited with Sunday night dining in Decorah and Don Jose Mexican Restaurant turned out to be an OK - not a great, but OK - choice for us.  

Brewpubs of Steamboat Springs

 When my wife and I went out to Colorado a couple  years ago we ended up starting out in Fort Collins      and trying some of the brew pubs there.  However,  after a couple three days of that, we decided to head  over the mountains to Steamboat Springs, a lovely  mountain town in northwest Colorado.  We  immediately fell in love with the town and the area  and made plans to go back out there again at some  point.  That time was this past September when the  weather began to change from summer to winter then to fall in that order.  As we are wont to do when we go on vacations, we have to check out the local craft breweries.  We'd done that on our first trip a couple years ago, but since we were going to linger in Steamboat a little longer this time, we were able to truly enjoy the different brew pubs in the area.  

There are four brew pubs in Steamboat Springs - Storm Peak Brewing Company, Mahogany Ridge, Mountain Tap Brewery, and Butcherknife Brewing Company.  There's also a distillery - the Steamboat Whiskey Company - and all five are stops on the Steamboat Brew Trail tour that is promoted by the Steamboat Springs Chamber of Commerce.  On our first trip to Steamboat two years ago, we hit them all, with the exception of the distillery.  This time we knew we wanted to hit three of the four again.  

During our first trip, it turned out that our favorite brewery in Steamboat was a funky little place called Butcherknife Brewing Company on the far northwest end of town on the road out to the airport.  (see map)  Mike Fitzgerald and Nate Johansing started the brewery after Johansing - a Steamboat Springs native - had spent a year studying at the World Brewing Academy in Munich, Germany.  Fitzgerald had spent time in Czechoslovakia a few years prior to moving to Steamboat Springs about 15 years ago and he came up with the idea for a microbrewery in 2009.  Plans were in place for two years before Johansing returned from Europe and they debuted their first beer at an Oktoberfest event in Steamboat Springs in 2011.  They moved to their present day location in early 2014.  

In 2017, Johansing bought Fitzgerald out of the partnership and became the sole proprietor of Butcherknife Brewing.  To take over the brewing process at Butcherknife, he was able to convince Grant McFarren to come to Steamboat from Asheville, NC where McFarren worked at the popular Wicked Weed Brewery there.  (Click here to read about Wicked Weed and a few other impressive small breweries in Asheville.)  McFarren has been with Butcherknife since late 2017.  

We liked Butcherknife for a number of reasons.  It was a fun and hip little place that had board games for patrons to play while they enjoyed a beer.  Artwork from local artists was on display and offered for sale.  And they had some very good beers.  Their Sunshine Express pale ale made with Australian hops won a gold medal later that year at the Great American Beer Festival, and I especially liked their Amputator American IPA.  It was bold and hoppy, yet very smooth.  

But probably most of all we liked their Director of Sales and Marketing, Erin Orr.  Orr grew up in Cascade, IA, went to Iowa State and graduated with a degree in apparel merchandising.  She went out to Oregon for a few years before going to Steamboat Springs for a change of scenery - a place she had visited with her ski club when she was going to college.  She found out that a new microbrewery was opening and she applied for a job there.  She landed a part-time gig pouring beers and working on events for the brewery.  She eventually got the top sales job at Butcherknife and spends a lot of time out around the state of Colorado selling their beers to retail establishments, bars and restaurants.  

When we went to Butcherknife the first time, Erin happened to be there and saw our Iowa license plates.  She about freaked out.  "Are you guys from Iowa?  Where?  Davenport?  I'm from Cascade!"  (Cascade is about an hour and 15 minute drive north and west of the Quad Cities.)  We sat with her, she told us her life story, we told her our story, we drank beer and had a great time with a fellow Iowan.  

Butcherknife was our first stop for brewpubs when we got to Steamboat on this trip.  Unfortunately, we found the place was closed up due to COVID-19 restrictions.  Their taproom was just too small to host people.  And they suspended their brewing operations so you couldn't find any Butcherknife beers around Steamboat.  That was probably the most thoroughly disappointing part of our trip to Steamboat Springs.  We hope they're able to reopen after all this madness has subsided.  

Conversely, we never really cared much for Mahogany Ridge all that much.  This upscale bar and grill in downtown Steamboat was formerly called the Steamboat Brewery and Tavern, the first brewpub in Steamboat Springs.  (see map)  The brewmaster at Steamboat Brewery, Charlie Noble, bought the place in 2003 and transformed it into Mahogany Ridge. The beers they had at the time we were there two years ago were sort of "meh!" to us.  They had a pale ale that was a little too fruity on the backend for me, and they had a lighter pale ale that didn't trip my trigger all that much.  Coupled with an atmosphere that was more like a wine bar and a food menu that was geared more to tourists with copious amounts of money, we decided to pass on Mahogany Ridge on our most recent visit to Steamboat.

With Butcherknife closed down and Mahogany Ridge off our list, it gave us time to focus more on the two other brewpubs in town.  We liked both, but we liked one a little more than the other.

Mountain Tap Brewery is located on Yampa Street in the heart of downtown Steamboat.  (see map)  It's sort of near and dear to my heart as co-founder Rich Tucciarone was once the head brewer at Kona Brewing Company, the maker of my favorite beer, Big Wave Golden Ale.  In 1990, Tucciarone was bumming around Steamboat Springs and he happened to meet a fellow ski bum by the name of Richard Squire.  Squire had just opened the 3rd microbrewery in Colorado - Breckenridge Brewery.  Tucciarone had tried Squire's craft beer and immediately fell in love with the beer and the concept of small batch beers.  When Breckenridge opened a bottle facility in Denver in 1992, Squire hired Tucciarone to work in the brewery there.  

Tucciarone worked for Breckenridge for nearly 6 years before taking time off for a travel sabbatical with his wife, Wendy.  They toured breweries in Europe, most notably Germany and Italy.  After his travels were over, he was recruited to become the director of operations and head brewer for the Kona Brewing Company in Kona, HI in 1999.  

Tucciarone stayed with Kona for a dozen years before finally getting island fever - or as some people in Steamboat Springs call the "Yampa Valley Curse" which supposedly pulls people who have spent appreciable time in Steamboat back to the area after years of being away.  He and his wife moved back to Steamboat where Tucciarone became a salesman for a company that supplied ingredients to small breweries around the state of Colorado.  

But Tucciarone wanted to eventually get back into the brewing game and a new mixed-use building was going up along Yampa Street in the fall of 2015.  The Tucciarone's took a large space on the end of the building and made a small brewery out of the space.  Mountain Tap Brewery opened for business in July of 2016.  

Mountain Tap Brewery has a large outdoor patio in the front of the place with large garage doors that will open on nicer days.  Inside, they have a bar area and a number of community tables for people to use.  Mountain Tap has food in terms of sharable plates and wood-fired pizzas.  

My wife and I trekked up the steps to a second level that had some tables back in sort of a small area near the restrooms.  The ordering procedure was a bit confusing to me and I didn't remember doing this during our first trip to Mountain Tap a couple of years ago.   They had an order sheet with their beers and glass sizes listed on the table.  I ordered up a pint of the Picking Hops IPA from Chad who collected our beer order sheet.  Chad was a good guy and took good care of us while we were there on this visit.  My wife got the Current IPA in a 10 ounce glass.  

The Picking Hops was a little too fruity on the back end for me.  My wife let me try some of her Current IPA - a forward tasting hoppy beer that's perfectly mixed with malt to mellow out the hoppiness of the flavor.  I liked it tremendously better than the Current IPA.  So did my wife.  Chad came back to check on us and I said that I wanted to switch to the Current IPA.  I still had a little bit of the Picking Hops left - about a 1/3 of a glass.  We got to talking about the difference between the two and he said that he, too, liked the Current more than the Picking Hops.  He picked up the rest of what I had and I sort of protested that I would still drink it.  He said, "Let's get you what you want."  

I had two of the Current IPA's that day in addition to what I had with the Picking Hops. It was a very fine beer.  When it came time to pay our bill, Chad didn't charge me for the Picking Hops.  He got a good tip.  

And that brings us to Storm Peak Brewing Company.  Storm Peak was high on our list when we were in Steamboat two years ago and once we found out that Butcherknife was closed, we went down the road back toward the city and went to Storm Peak instead.  (see map)  For a consolation prize for not being able to go to Butcherknife, Storm Peak is definitely no slouch.  

If you're a longtime reader of Road Tips, you'll find a recurring theme in the history of many of the brewpubs that we've visited - they start out in someone's garage.  And that's what happened with Storm Peak as Tyler and Wyatt Patterson started to experiment with brewing beers when they were growing up in the suburbs of Denver.  After graduating with an MBA from the University of Denver in 2013, Wyatt Patterson knew that he wanted to open his own brewery.  He checked around Denver to see if there was any space available, but he soon realized that the area was too crowded with other microbreweries.  The Patterson family used to go to Steamboat Springs for vacations in the past and Wyatt Patterson decided to look at the area for a possible small brewery.  

Along with brother Tyler, Wyatt found a space in downtown Steamboat Springs along Lincoln Ave. - the main road through town - that would be perfect for their brewery.  With investment help from their father and a local bank, the brothers started the build-out of their brewery in late 2013.  With the help of a third Patterson brother, Zach, the family was able to get everything in place for their grand opening in June of 2014.  

In their first year of business, the Patterson brothers produced 300 barrels of beer in their seven barrel system.  The following year, they more than doubled their output and by 2016 they were nearing 1000 produced barrels of beer.  It was in 2016 that they realized that they needed to move to a new location.

In September of 2016, they found out that a body shop located on the far north and west side of Steamboat would be moving to a larger building across the parking lot and their old building would be available in early 2017.  The Patterson's jumped on the new location that nearly doubled their square footage of their original location.  They were able to put in a 20 barrel system to help with increased production and they completed their move in early May of 2017.    

In September of 2018, Dave Eliason - who has been involved in a handful of restaurants in Steamboat Springs over the years including Back Door Grill (click here to see the Road Tips entry on Back Door Grill) and O'Neill's Tavern and Grill - opened a pizza place in a space attached to Storm Peak, How Ya' Doin' Pizza and Eats.  This place wasn't open when my wife and I first came out to Steamboat in 2018, so it was definitely new to us when we pulled up in front of Storm Peak on our most recent visit.  

There is a nice patio in front of Storm Peak - which is named after one of the mountains in the Steamboat Springs area - with a fire pit and outdoor patio heaters for when it gets a little cold, like it was the days we stopped in for a couple beers at the brewery.  Inside the front door is the front counter where you order your beers.  They have 18 beers including sours, fruit beers, and hard seltzer on tap at Storm Peak.  

With most microbrewery operations, the brewing systems are usually hidden, or they're behind glass windows separating the operation from the tap room.  At Storm Peak, it's like you're sitting in the brewery.  It's cluttered and sort of smelly from the brewing process, but there's something sort of charming about that.  I equated it to being able to eat in a chef's kitchen.  The atmosphere was definitely laid-back and very informal.  The employees at Storm Peak were friendly and accommodating.  

They have a number of very good to excellent beers at Storm Peak on their beer menu.  The Penny's Pale Ale is an American pale ale made with Pacific Northwest hops, their Money Tree IPA is a forward hoppy beer with a fruity backside, the Copper Ridge Cali Common is similar to an Anchor Steam beer down to its amber color, and their Mad Creek Kolsch is a very good tasting lighter beer that has a hint of a hoppy flavor.

But my favorite beer at Storm Peak is the Chowder New England IPA.  It's a full-bodied hazy IPA that they make with oats and wheat, then they add in three different types of hops including a Citra hop for a floral backend.  Now, I'm not big on wheat beers, but this is some seriously good beer.  When my wife and I go on extended trips and we're flying, we usually ship our dirty clothes, some purchases and other things that we pick up on the trip back home via UPS.  I stuck a six pack of the Storm Peak Chowder in the box with all the other things.  Two days after we got back home, the box showed up on our doorstep.  I immediately chilled the beer and enjoyed one for dinner that evening.  It's a very tasty beer.  

That's it for the brew pubs and microbreweries out in Steamboat, but if you're heading out there from Denver, you'll be going by the small mountain community of Georgetown.  Situated at just over 8500 feet above sea level and a few miles east of the Continental Divide off I-70, Georgetown is a historic, yet touristy town that reminded me a lot of Galena, IL.  My wife and I stopped in Georgetown to look around and we found a brew pub near the downtown area called Guanella Pass Brewery.  The brew pub takes its name from the high mountain pass of the same name located about 10 miles south of Georgetown on a scenic road that is open from Memorial Day to the end of November.  

Steve Skalski got his start in the business world working for EchoStar, the Denver-based company that operated Dish Network.  Skalski was in charge of EchoStar's interests in China for a number of years before moving back to the U.S. in 2011.  He eventually became the head of a company that designed and installed interactive entertainment and business systems in Hyatt hotels across the country before going to work for another communications company in California.  

One thing that Skalski loved was craft beer.  He started to brew his own beer at home and became friends with his neighbor Jon Strother who also brewed his own beers.  The two would brew beers together before Skalski decided that he wanted to get serious about it.  With the blessing of his wife, Skalski quit the corporate world, grew his hair long and grew a beard.  He then enrolled at the Siebel Institute in Chicago and their prestigious brewmaster course.  In the meantime, Strother got some advanced brew-training at Regis University in Denver.   

Skalski and his wife, Stacey, began to look for a building that would house their microbrewery.  But they found real estate around Denver to be cost prohibitive.  However, one day, Steve found a building for sale in Georgetown - it was built in 1943 as a gas station, but had been an antique shop for a number of years.  The building was in a sad state of disrepair and the price was right.  The Skalski's bought the building, rehabbed it into a brewery and brought in Jon Strother to help with the operation.  They opened Guanella Pass Brewery in the late summer of 2017.  

As we were driving back to Denver from Steamboat Springs, we stopped in Georgetown to use the restroom.  My wife wanted me to drive toward the downtown area to check the place out.  We found the main street through the heart of downtown was closed off.  We were guessing they did that for the loads of people who come out from Denver - 45 miles to the east - on the weekends.  We walked around to a few shops, but I became quickly bored seeing knick-knacks, trinkets, and figurines.  My wife dangled the carrot of finding a brewpub after she was finished going through some of the stores.   

Getting back to the car, we did a quick search for breweries in the area.  The first one that came up was Guanella Pass.  We pulled into a parking lot across from the brewery and went in.  (see map)  

Guanella Pass Brewery is not a big place.  It sort of reminded me somewhat of Storm Peak back in Steamboat.  It was like you were right in the middle of the brewery enjoying a beer.  There was a small bar area where you placed your order for their beers.  They had 12 beers on tap and we decided to taste 4 of them to start out.  


There is a patio off to the side of the building, but it was pretty brisk in the mountains that day so we ended up at a bench near the window.  We're glad we came in when we did because they got pretty busy.  The place seated - maybe - 18 people inside.  

We tried four beers - the Clear Creek hazy New England IPA that was delicious, a wheat and rye IPA that was all right, an Oktoberfest Märzen that I liked, and the Liquid Gold double IPA that was also very good.  I decided on getting a pint of the hazy IPA.  My wife took a half pint of the same beer.  

They also had pizza by the slice at Guanella Pass.  They opened a second location with a pizza kitchen in the town of Empire about 7 miles away from Georgetown in April of this year and they would ship their Detroit-style pizza over to warm up in a pizza oven.  My wife thought she should have something to tide her over until dinner in Denver that evening and we both got a slice of their pepperoni pizza.  It was thicker than Detroit-style that I've had in the past - more like the crust-less deep dish pizza that we both love from Pequod's in Chicago.  But it was very good.  The pepperoni was salty and spicy, which went well with the beer.  And the sauce was sweet and tangy.  I would have been happy having a couple more pieces along with a couple more beers and not eating dinner that evening.  But we needed to move on.   

My wife and I love finding great little breweries and brewpubs on our trips, and the ones that we liked in Steamboat Springs are definitely some of the more memorable ones we've come across in our travels.  We hope that Butcherknife is open the next time we're in Steamboat.  But if it's not, we can always go to Storm Peak or Mountain Tap.  And we'll definitely stop by the Guanella Pass Brewery in Steamboat (or in Empire) on our way out to Steamboat when we make it back out there.  We just wish we had these breweries closer to our home.  

La Crosse Distilling Company - La Crosse, WI

Earlier this summer, my wife and I were driving through La Crosse, WI and stopped off for lunch at a downtown restaurant we first went to a number of years ago, Piggy's.  While the meals I've had at Piggy's in the past have been good, the lunch we had that day was pretty underwhelming.  As we left Piggy's and started down 2nd Street to the north, we came upon a restaurant that I had never seen before - La Crosse Distilling Company.  It looked like a bustling place with outdoor seating and a good lunch crowd.  We sort of wished we would have found that place first instead of going to Piggy's.  Jump ahead a couple months and my wife and I took a weekend drive up the Mississippi River to check out the fall foliage.  We decided to head up to La Crosse - which has been a favorite destination of ours for years - and spend the night there.  But my ulterior motive was to have dinner at La Crosse Distilling Company.  

Nick Weber is a native of La Crosse and the majority owner in La Crosse Distilling Co.  If you're from the La Crosse area, the Weber family name is well-known.  Nick's father, Don Weber, is a long-time entrepreneur and real estate developer in La Crosse.  Over 30 years ago, the elder Weber started National Health Screenings, a company that focused on employee health assessments and screenings for corporations.  He sold that company and started Health Screening of North America, a company that soon became the premier drug and health testing company that many large corporations and the United States government used - and still use to this day - to screen potential employees.  Weber sold that company and in 1999 he started Logistics Health Incorporated (LHI), a company that focused on the readiness of medical and dental care for members of the military.  

Weber, himself, was a decorated Viet Nam war veteran who joined the Marines after graduating from high school - something he had a hard time achieving before joining the military.  After his stint was over, Weber worked a number of menial and odd jobs that didn't pay much money.  He often found himself sleeping in the streets because he didn't have money for a place to live.  An entrepreneur at heart, Weber dabbled in start-up ventures that, at first, didn't pan out.  At one point, the Weber's lost their home because of a failed business venture.  But he kept at it, learned more from his mistakes and failures, and started National Health Screenings in 1987.  

Years later as LHI continued to grow, Weber focused on developing a plot of land in downtown La Crosse.  The LHI headquarters were built on riverfront property in the downtown area.  Weber's property management company - The Weber Group - has developed restaurants, hotels, commercial buildings, and mixed-use residential and retail locations.  The Charmant Hotel, a boutique hotel that Weber opened in 2015, is housed in a former candy company.  Belle Square, which was built on a former parking lot across from the La Crosse County courthouse, is a mixed-use building for commercial and up-scale residential space.  And the hotel my wife and I stayed in that evening, Home 2 Suites, is a Weber Group hotel that opened in July of 2016.  

Nick Weber oversees The Weber Group and one of the properties the company sought to develop was at the corner of 2nd and Vine in downtown La Crosse.  Weber wanted to bring a distillery to La Crosse, but not just any distillery, but one that relied on a more fundamental approach in terms of sourcing ingredients for their distilled liquors and foods, and an organic and sustainable method of using geothermal energy for much of the heating and cooling the distillery would need.  

About six years ago, Weber made friends with two men who had disparate vocations - one was a musician/manager/record producer, and the other worked as a brewer at one of the leading craft breweries in America.  The three talked about Weber's distillery dream and they all agreed to bring the dream to fruition.  Planning took about three years before things began to take shape.  A fourth partner - this one a chef - was brought in from another well-known Midwestern craft brewery to run the kitchen and devise an eclectic menu using locally-sourced food when available.     

Chad Staehly was a native of Green Bay, WI who went to college at Colorado State in Fort Collins, CO.  Staehly was a musician who dabbled with rhythm guitar, but was more of a keyboard player, and worked in bands and did production work while in college.  After graduating with a liberal arts degree in 2001, Staehly continued to play in his band - Great American Taxi - while also managing other bands and working as a record producer and working for record labels such as LoHi Records and Melvin Records.   In 2013, Steahly joined the American Roots /Alt. Rock group Hard Working Americans that included singer/songwriter Todd Snider, Neil Casal - who played with Ryan Adams, Blackfoot and other musicians, as well as being a solo artist - and two members of Widespread Panic, bassist Dave Schools and drummer Duane Trucks.  Their eponymous album of alternative rock cover tunes that was released 2014 received high praise from critics.  The group released four albums before the untimely death of Casal in 2019 due to suicide.  

Staehly's wife went to the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse and he had a younger brother - also a musician - who lived in the greater La Crosse area.  Staehly loved the music scene in La Crosse and when his friend Nick Weber told him about the distillery, he became more intrigued.  With Staehly's background in management and promotion, Weber eventually talked him into moving to La Crosse to be a part-owner as well as the brand manager and head of marketing for the distillery.  Staehly, his wife and their two daughters moved to La Crosse in the fall of 2017.  

Mitchell Parr was a native of Vinton, IA and graduated with a degree in chemistry from the University of Northern Iowa in 2005.  Instead of teaching or going to work for a corporation, Parr decided that he wanted to follow his passion - and that was brewing beer. He moved to La Crosse after college and worked at a microbrewery in the area.  He met Nick Weber not long before he ended up moving to Chicago to work for Lagunitas Brewing Company as a brewer at their facility there.  Parr stayed in touch with Weber and finally moved back to La Crosse in the fall of 2017 to partner with Staehly and Weber in the La Crosse Distilling Co.  

Pictured at right - from left Chad Steahly, Nick Weber and Mitchell Parr.  Photo courtesy La Crosse Tribune.

While distilling liquor was going to be the priority, the three knew that food would be a good draw.  They wanted to find someone who could bring an immediate identity and some culinary cache to their distillery.  Finding someone like that is like finding a needle in a haystack.  But fate dealt them a winning hand when renown Twin Cities chef Jorge Guzman became available.   

Guzman was born in Mexico, but grew up in the St. Louis area.  He went to college at Drake University in Des Moines and played middle linebacker on the Bulldogs football team. Guzman graduated with a degree in advertising, but he found that food was his passion.  He spent two years at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY garnering an associates degree in culinary arts.  From there, Guzman went to Chicago to work at a couple of restaurants before ending up as the chef at what was one of my favorite restaurants at the time, the now-shuttered Tejas in Edina, MN.  After a short stint as the Executive Chef for the University of Minnesota and later at the Corner Table restaurant, he became the Executive Chef for Solera, a Spanish restaurant in downtown Minneapolis.  After three and a half years at Solera, Guzman became the executive chef for the Surly Brewing Company's new beer hall and their upscale Brewer's Table restaurant in 2014.  

While at Surly, Guzman was named 2015 "Chef of the Year" by both the Minneapolis Star-Tribune and by Foodservice News.  He was featured on The Food Network's "Iron Chef Showdown", as well as in Time magazine and Travel + Leisure.  In 2016, Guzman's Brewer's Table was recognized by Food & Wine magazine as one of the top restaurants in the nation.  The same year, Guzman was a semi-finalist for the James Beard Foundation Best Chef Midwest, and he was a finalist for the award in 2017.  

However, it was announced in the summer of 2017 that Surly Brewing was closing the Brewer's Table and that Guzman would be leaving after the closing.  It wasn't long after that when Weber made him an offer to come to La Crosse to oversee the kitchen at La Crosse Distilling, as well as develop other restaurant concept with The Weber Group.  Guzman jumped at the chance and was named a limited partner in the business.  

One of the biggest undertakings of the La Crosse Distilling Company project was digging a geothermal well near the building to provide energy for the building's heating and cooling system, as well as providing some of the energy needed for the distilling process.  Weber sought to have a highly sustainable signature in the design of the distillery.  

With everything - and everybody - in place by the summer of 2018, La Crosse Distilling Company opened for business in early September of 2018.  The place was an immediate hit with the locals.  Guzman and Parr work with local farmers for the grain and potatoes needed for the distillery, as well as locally-sourced, sustainable and organic foods for the food menu.  A local company provides the white oak barrels that the distillery uses to store some of their liquors.   And in addition to making liquor on-site, Parr also makes at least one seasonal beer that they have on tap - a nod to his brewing background.  

It was less than a 10 minute walk from our hotel to the La Crosse Distilling Co.  (see map)  It was a beautiful fall day with brilliant sunshine, light winds and late afternoon temperatures hovering around 70.  There were a lot of people eating on the patio and they had extended seating out into the parking area in front of La Crosse Distilling along Vine St.  We had noticed that same idea when we were on vacation up in Northern Minnesota earlier this summer and we weren't big fans of it.  But, I figured that with dining restrictions inside many restaurants, they're trying to maximize the number of patrons they can serve inside and out.  

We got into La Crosse Distilling around 5:30 and were greeted by a young lady at the hostess stand.  She told us that it would probably be 15 to 20 minutes for a seat and asked what our preference was.  I deferred to my wife on that one and she chose outside.  We went over to the bar to get a drink while we waited.  

The main dining/bar area at La Crosse Distilling - they call it the "Tasting Room" - features a number of high-top tables near the windows with a long community table in the middle.  The large windows on the east and south side of the building allow an abundance of natural light to filter into the Tasting Room.  The decor in the dining/bar area could be classified as modern industrial.  In addition to the Tasting Room, La Crosse Distilling Company has an upstairs room for private gatherings.  

We ordered up a couple drinks made with La Crosse Distilling's signature Fieldnotes brand of liquors.  The rye, wheat and corn grain La Crosse Distilling uses are organically grown on a local farm by the McHugh family.   Another local organic farmer produces potatoes for the distillery's vodka, as well as organically-raised foods for La Crosse Distilling's food they serve.  I ordered up a vodka and lemonade, while my wife got a cosmopolitan.  We thought they were fine drinks.  

It was sort of a relaxing atmosphere inside La Crosse Distilling Company.  For a big open space with a lot of windows, metal beams and a concrete floor it wasn't all that loud.  They played an eclectic mix of music from the likes of Lukas Nelson (Willie Nelson's son), Alabama Shakes, Father John Misty and the Canadian musician known as Bahamas.  I would have been happy had we eaten inside even though the weather outside was spectacular.   We were finishing up our drinks when the hostess came over to grab us for dining.

She shepherded us outside and to a table in the parallel parking spot in front of the restaurant.  My wife and I were sort of hesitant.  Cars were driving by less than 10 feet from our table, the table was at an angle toward the curb, and it just seemed like a forced and somewhat awkward dining experience.  My wife was like, "Are you OK with this?"  I told her that I guess we were going to have to be OK with it.  Either that, or wait a few more moments back at the bar waiting for a table to open inside.  And the line to get a table was backing up rather quickly.  We decided to hang where we were at.  

We had our menus in hand and were looking them over when our server for the evening, a fun and outgoing guy by the name of Ted came over to greet us.  He wanted to know what we would like to start out for drinks and my wife ordered one of their margaritas (I don't think they made tequila at La Crosse Distilling, but I could be wrong), and I ordered an IPA that they had on tap from one of the local La Crosse microbreweries, Turtle Stack Brewery.   

The food menu at La Crosse Distilling isn't extensive, but it's certainly interesting.  Appetizers such as charred beets and papas machas - fried organically-grown potatoes topped with a slightly spicy and nutty salsa, whipped ricotta cheese, and sugar-cured jalapeños - really jumped out to us.  They had a burger with locally grown organic beef on the menu, as well as a handful of Mexican-inspired dishes from Jorge Guzman - mahi mahi tacos, smoked pork enchiladas, birria beef tacos and vegan-chorizo enchiladas.  

Before we ordered our food, my wife was wanting to get one of the other appetizers - the smoked Great Lakes whitefish stuffed avocado dip.  It came with sliced cherry tomatoes, chopped bacon sourced from St. Joe's Country Market - an upscale butcher shop in La Crosse - sliced red onions, herbs and fried capers.  It all came with small slices of toasted pumpernickel bread. 

This was a remarkable appetizer.  We made little hors d'oeuvres out of the ingredients and the taste was just fabulous.  I had never ever thought about having fried capers before, but the heating of the capers really brought out an explosion of taste.  This was a great start to the meal.  In fact, I told my wife that I could have just had that for dinner and I would have been happy.  

Since there wasn't a whole heck-of-a-lot to choose from on the menu, I was torn between the smoked pork enchiladas and the mahi-mahi tacos.  My wife suggested that she get the tacos and I get the enchiladas and we could share to see what we liked better.  She's a genius and I definitely married up.  

The smoked pork enchiladas came out in sort of a surprising fashion - they were in a bowl with a corn tortilla on top.  The pork was organically-grown locally and smoked with hickory wood.  The carnitas-style pork was mixed with black beans in a green chile sauce.  It was baked with chihuahua cheese and finished with pickled shredded radishes.  It wasn't all that big, but it looked pretty interesting.  

My wife's grilled mahi-mahi taco also came on white corn tortillas and was topped with salsa verde, a lime crema, cilantro and pickled radish.  It, too, wasn't a lot, but it would be enough for her and me to try.  

The smoked pork enchilada was rather interesting.  The pork had a hint of a smoky flavor to it, but the salsa verde was a little spicy and really went well with the pork and the black beans.  I decided that I liked it in comparison to more traditional enchiladas that come wrapped and covered in a sauce.  

My wife liked her grilled mahi-mahi tacos, as well.  She gave me one to try while I handed her my bowl of smoked pork and black beans.  I found the mahi-mahi to be a little fishy in taste and sort of overcooked.  But my wife thought what she had was fine in taste and quality.  We both agreed that what we had ordered for ourselves were best for us.  

I went in to use the restroom and afterward I decided to take a picture of the distillery operation through the window of the bar area.  There was a man seated where my wife and I had been seated at the bar and he said, "Hey, you can go back there and get a picture, if you like."  I was sort of incredulous, but he said, "No, no!  Come on back.  I'll take you in there."  

This was a shorter man with short gray hair.  He looked like just a guy seated at the bar having a drink, but he ushered me back into the distillery room and walked in with me.  One of the workers was back there and the man announced that I wanted to take a couple pictures of the operation.  "My son runs this place," the man said.  "I don't know how any of this stuff works."  

I thanked the guy for letting me in the back room for pictures and I went back out to our table out front.  My wife was talking with someone who appeared to be a manager from some of the earlier observations of him interacting with the staff.  She said, "This is John!  He's from Iowa, too!"  Turned out that John was from Glenwood, IA in the southwestern part of the state.  

I used to know someone from Glenwood years ago, but John didn't recognize the name.  "I've been out of there for awhile," he told me.  

As John was standing there talking with me, the man who took me back into the distillery came out on the deck to talk with someone.  I said, "Hey, John.  Who is that man?  He took me back into the distillery to get a couple pictures of the tanks and barrels."  

He proceeded to tell me that it was none other than Don Weber, the multi-millionaire entrepreneur.  I didn't know Weber's story at that point - or even who he was - but John told us sort of a "cliff notes" version of Weber and his life.  John had nothing but praise for Weber as he evidently helped John out when he was down and out.  "He had a tough upbringing," John explained.  "He lived on the streets for awhile and he's always looking out for those in need.  

"A lot of people don't like his politics," John went on.  (It turns out that Weber is a huge Donald Trump supporter and has helped raise millions of dollars for his campaigns in the past.)  "But just the other day, he came in here and ordered 25 of the smoked pork enchilada bowls and he took them to the park and distributed them to homeless people.  He's a great guy and he does a lot for a lot of people around here."  

John had left us and Ted came out for one last check.  Ted's service was friendly and he was a funny guy.  He tried to entice us with some dessert, but the sun had set and the dry air was cooling down rather quickly.  We decided to call it an early evening.  

While the menu was short on food choices, what they had at La Crosse Distilling Company was pretty interesting and pretty good.  My smoked pork enchilada was not traditional in the sense of what you would think an enchilada would be, but it was very good.  My wife was happy with her grilled mahi-mahi tacos.  And we were both very happy with the smoked whitefish stuffed avocado dip.  I'm sure that they want to emphasize their in-house liquors more than the food, but it's nice that you can go and experience both.  La Crosse Distilling Company was pretty much everything we figured it would be - good food, good service, good atmosphere.  It was a wonderfully nice and light meal at the end of a wonderful day.  

Carl's Tavern - Steamboat Springs, CO

During our vacation out in Steamboat Springs, my wife had noticed a place that first intrigued her when we were out there a couple years prior.  It was a modern looking corner restaurant with a front patio along the Yampa Street restaurant row by the name of Carl's Tavern.  It looked much nicer than what I would classify as a tavern, and a quick look on-line to learn more about it showed that it was an upscale whiskey bar and restaurant.  We decided to give it a try and have dinner one evening at Carl's Tavern.  

The "Carl" behind the restaurant's name is Carl Howelsen, the man who brought ski jumping to America.   Known as Karl Hovelsen when he immigrated from Norway in 1905, he Americanized his name and soon was performing with the Ringling Brothers Circus dazzling people with his jumps off wooden ramps.  After about five years, Howelsen wanted to get back to his roots as a world champion cross country snow skier and jumper.  He took off for Colorado and found the mountains around Steamboat Springs to be similar to the ones he used to traverse in Scandinavia and he eventually built the first ski jump in the U.S. dazzling the locals with 60 to 70 foot jumps.  

Pictured at right - Karl Hovelsen, a.k.a. Carl Howelsen

In 1915, Carl built a second ski jump on a hill on the south side of Steamboat Springs.  The hill was eventually named for Howelsen - Howelsen Hill - and the ski area just southwest of downtown Steamboat Springs is the oldest continuous ski area in the United States.  Howelsen was also instrumental in the very first winter celebration held in Steamboat Springs - the Steamboat Springs Winter Carnival - that has been held every year since 1915.  

After winning the national championship in ski jumping in 1921, Howelsen returned to Norway to visit family in Oslo.  He fully intended to come back to Steamboat Springs, but he fell in love and got married, then settled back in Norway to live out his life.  Carl continued to ski jump up through his 71st birthday and he eventually lived until the age of 78 when he passed away.  Carl Howelsen's imprint on Steamboat Springs lasts through today.  

And it was something that Collin Kelley first learned about the area when he was seeking out possible spots for his restaurant.  Kelley grew up in a small town in southeastern Kansas and became interested in cooking at an early age.  His specialty was spaghetti and meatballs, but he learned a number of other recipes from the farm wives in the area whose comfort food dishes kept their families satiated as Kelley was growing up

Pictured left - Collin Kelley.  Photo courtesy Steamboat Pilot.

Kelley started at working in restaurants as a bus boy and dishwasher, but his love for the business took him to Denver where he enrolled in the culinary program at Johnson & Wales University.   Kelley's first job out of culinary school was at the Ruth's Chris steakhouse in Denver.  That gig eventually landed him the job of executive chef at the Del Frisco's Double Eagle Steakhouse in the Denver area - a place I've eaten at before (click here to see that entry), but it was after Kelley was the chef there.

Kelley had left Del Frisco in February of 2008 and had moved to Mexico to be the executive chef at a resort in Playa del Carmen.  But a skiing accident while vacationing in Breckinridge, CO in 2009 literally changed his life.  

Kelley was just 26 years old when he spent 9 months recuperating from his injury.  While recovering, Kelley and his wife Noella drove around to some of the ski range communities scouting for a site for a restaurant concept he was wanting to try.  He wanted to incorporate some of the things that he learned in culinary school, some things he learned while working in upscale steakhouses, and some things that he picked up from the farm ladies back in Kansas and turn those recipes into made-from-scratch, locally-sourced wholesome upscale tavern meals.  

Kelley especially loved the small town, laid-back vibe of Steamboat Springs and he focused on finding a spot in the area.  A new development in downtown Steamboat Springs - Howelsen Place - had begun to lease commercial and residential space.  On the corner of 7th and Yampa Street, Kelley found a space the he would transform into a restaurant.   He wanted it to be functional and friendly - sort of an upscale sports bar complete with its own room for darts and shuffleboard, but having a wide selection of gastro-bistro-style food and a large number of bourbon whiskies to choose from.  In April of 2011, Collin and Noella Kelley opened Carl's Tavern.  

Kelley's food concepts, coupled with having a selection of over 350 different types of bourbon and scotch whiskies, became an immediate hit with locals and tourists in Steamboat.  The restaurant won many local awards over the years and was one of the top food destinations in the area.  

Unfortunately, Collin and Noella Kelley eventually split up, a not too uncommon story in restaurants owned by a young couple.  Noella moved back to Denver and Collin decided that he wanted to be closer to his two kids who were living with their mother.  He sought to sell the restaurant in the spring of 2017 and didn't have to look far for new ownership.  

In 2010, David Jones - who developed nearly 20 Buffalo Wild Wings restaurants in the St. Louis area - opened the Truffle Pig, an American-style bistro located in One Steamboat Place, a commercial and residential development near the base of the Steamboat Ski Area.  In 2013, Jones brought on Scott Engleman - an Iowa native who once lived in the northern suburbs of Chicago opening hotels for the Hyatt brand for a number of years - as the managing partner.  The concept of the Truffle Pig was somewhat similar to Carl's Tavern - locally-sourced, made-from-scratch dishes that combined traditional cooking with a modern approach.  

Pictured left - Scott Engelman.  Photo courtesy Next Hospitality.  

The deal was made in June of 2017 - two months after Collin Kelley abruptly closed the doors to Carl's Tavern to move back to Denver.  Engelman - who is the incoming Chairman of the Board of the Colorado Restaurant Association - didn't change much from what Kelley had forged with the restaurant, but did add some twists here and there while maintaining the upscale sports bar/tavern vibe to Carl's Tavern.  

We thought we had better make reservations because many of the restaurants in Steamboat Springs were only allowing about 50% occupancy due to COVID-19 restrictions that were in place while we were there.  We were able to park on Yampa Street just down the way from Carl's Tavern and it was a short walk to the restaurant.  (see map) It turned out that we probably didn't need a reservation - the weather had turned for the worse a couple days prior and not a lot of people were venturing out on a week night in Steamboat.  The front patio - where we had noticed people sitting in previous days - was shut down and they had covered their flower baskets to ward off the impending frosty temperatures that were to occur that evening.  

Once inside we found a pretty nice space with contemporary decor, medium-soft lighting, hardwood floors and a cozy vibe.  The oval shaped bar was the center piece of the restaurant with an open kitchen directly behind it. A number of flatscreen televisions hung behind the bar and in strategic spaces around the dining area.

We were there a little earlier than our 7 p.m. reservation, but the hostess said that wouldn't be a problem.  She escorted us to a table along a low wall that separated some tables and booths from the bar area.  I asked if we could sit in one of the booths across the aisle from where she was going to put us and she said, "No, sorry.  We've shut down these booths due to the pandemic restrictions."  All the staff were wearing masks and Colorado restrictions decreed that patrons had to wear masks in restaurants until they were seated.  

The hostess had dropped off a couple menus and it wasn't long before our server Amanda showed up to greet us.  Amanda said that the special that night was a 12 ounce prime rib.  My wife's eyes lit up because she had sort of been pining for beef over the past couple of evenings.  

Because they have well over 300 bottles of bourbon and scotch to choose from at Carl's Tavern, they had a number of specialty drinks and whiskey flights.  Flights waged in price from about $25 for 3 ounce shots, to $399 for some high dollar shots.  My wife went with a cosmopolitan martini while I got a pint of the Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing IPA they had on tap.  

One of the first things that I saw on the menu was the pork green chili.  I can't pass up trying the pork green chili at any place where they have it when I'm in Colorado.  The green pork chili at Carl's Tavern was very good.  It was thick and meaty with a number of chunks of pork with nearly every bite.  It had a bit of a spicy bite and the cheese and chopped scallions on top of the chili helped give it a bit more of a punch in overall taste.  This was just a cup that they served me - I would have hated to have ordered the bowl because that would have really cut into my appetite for dinner.  

Burgers and sandwiches dominated the menu at Carl's Tavern.  The burgers weren't cheap, but they were all made with 1/2 pound locally-sourced Kobe beef patties.  The Zirkel garnered my attention as it had applewood smoked bacon and pimento cheese on it.  They had a burger that was topped with aged white cheddar cheese, shaved black truffle, sautéed mushrooms, and a bacon jam.  That sounded wonderful, but at $25 bucks for the burger, it gave me pause.  

They had some entrees at Carl's that interested me.  The chicken pot pie would have been a good hearty meal for a cold late summer evening.  The 12 ounce New York strip steak with a side of Brussels sprouts hash was intriguing.  Even one of their starters - a mac & cheese with pulled pork - caught my eye.  But at $19 bucks, I sort of shuddered.  But, then again, we didn't find a cheap meal the whole time we were in Steamboat Springs.  Even sandwich places were somewhat excessive in price.  But that's Steamboat.  

My wife really wanted to go with the prime rib special that night, but the pan-seared salmon topped with a lemon thyme sauce won out.  It came on a bed of cous cous with a tomato and corn relish on the side.  She also got a glass of the house pinot grigio to go along with the food.  It was a hefty cut of salmon for my wife  and she was very happy she got it.  The salmon was flaky and rich, cooked perfectly for her.  The lemon thyme sauce was a great addition to the overall taste of the salmon.  Along with the cous cous and tomato/corn relish, it turned out to be a great meal for her.   

I ended up getting the Alpine Buffalo meatloaf - fresh bison meatloaf on a bed of smashed potatoes with a port wine demi glace ladled over the top.  Like most bison meat, it was a bit dry, but the demi glace helped give it some moisture and added to the already wonderful flavor of the beef.  It was a perfect meal for an unseasonably cool night.  I was full, but not unpleasantly full.    

As we were finishing up our meal, a man stopped by our table.  He was hobbling around with a crutch under one arm.  It turned out that it was Scott Engelman, the co-owner.  He sort of looked at me and said, "Have we met before?"  We started to try and connect dots and the only thing we could come up with is that he grew up in Iowa.  "My mother still lives north of Fairfield," he told us.  "I get back there to see her every so often."  But other than that, we couldn't figure out how he thought he had met me before.  Engelman said that he used to live in the the north shore suburbs of Chicago, but had been out to Colorado for quite sometime.  "I love it here," he said enthusiastically.  We couldn't agree with him more.  Steamboat Springs is a great place and I'm somewhat jealous that people actually get to live here year-round.

Our meal and overall experience at Carl's Tavern was top-notch.  The new ownership has carried on the legacy of founder Collin Kelley's idea for what Carl's Tavern would be - locally-sourced and made-from-scratch foods, an upscale sports and whisky bar, and a comfortable setting.  I couldn't rave enough about the bison meatloaf I had and the cup of the pork green chili was some of the best I've tasted.  My wife was more than happy with her pan-seared salmon with the cous cous and the tomato/corn relish.  And the service we had was friendly and efficient.  Carl's Tavern was a great little find and we were happy we gave it a try.  

North Shore Grille - Bemidji, MN

During our vacation to the Bemidji area earlier this summer, my wife and I were exploring the environs surrounding the north shore of Lake Bemidji.  We happened upon the Bemidji Town & Country Club, a member-driven golf course that is open to the public.  We found that they had a restaurant in the place called the North Shore Grille.  It was lunch time and my wife was a little peckish, so we decided to stop in and have a bite to eat. 

The North Shore Grille is a seasonal restaurant that inhabits the upper floor of the clubhouse at the Bemidji Town & Country Club.  The golf course itself is a 4-star rated course by Golf Digest and was founded in 1916.  The course went through a major renovation including a new clubhouse and restaurant facility in 1990 and has hosted a number of amateur state tournaments over the years including The Birchmont, a six-day men's and women's qualifying tournament that just celebrated its 96th year.  It is also the home course for the Bemidji State men's and women's gold teams.  

We had just driven through the nearby Lake Bemidji State Park before heading back to the golf course to get some lunch.  (see map)  The lot was nearly full as it was a beautiful day and there were a lot of golfers on the course and a handful of people were enjoying lunch on the outside deck.  

Inside the North Shore Grille was a bar area and a larger dining area off to the side.  A large stone-faced fireplace was the focal point of the dining room which had a number of windows that looked out onto Lake Bemidji.  A couple smaller rooms were off to the side of the dining room that could be used for private dining or meeting rooms.  

Since it was a beautiful day, we opted to take a seat out on the deck.  There was a nice view of the lake just across the road with the city of Bemidji visible across the water in the distance.  

The golf course looked lush, as did most of Northern Minnesota when we were there.  They had gotten an appreciable amount of precipitation through the summer keeping everything green.  Compared to the drought we were going through in Iowa that made lawns and pastures look distressed at that time, the landscape around Bemidji was a deep and vibrant green.

Since it's primarily a seasonal restaurant with varied hours during the non-golf season, North Shore Grille hires a number of high school and college workers for the summer months.  Our server that day was a young lady by the name of Tarin who brought us out a couple menus.  My wife ordered her usual Tito's and cranberry juice while I got a glass of the pale ale they had on tap.  

The lunch menu featured the normal fare - sandwiches, soups, salads, and burgers.  They had a smoked turkey and ham panini-style club sandwich, as well as a sandwich wrap with smoked salmon, smoked turkey and bacon.  My wife took notice of the shrimp and basil sandwich that was served open faced on top of onion naan bread.  

She started out with the shrimp and asparagus soup - chopped asparagus mixed with plump chopped shrimp in a hearty tomato/beef broth.  My wife thought it was very good and made short work of the cup of soup.    

For the salad, she went with the Grains, Seeds and Nuts salad - rice, toasted walnuts and sunflower seeds, roasted edamame with mixed greens all topped with a vinaigrette dressing.  She got the petite size salad and she thought it was huge.  "I'm glad I didn't get the full salad," she said as she was looking it over before she dug in.  It was nice and light for her, and she was happy she got it since we'd been eating some heavy dinners during our trip.  

I thought about getting a burger, but decided that I wasn't all that hungry, either.  I went with the prime rib sandwich - shaved prime rib (they serve prime rib on the weekends at the North Shore Grille) with bacon, cheddar cheese, sliced tomatoes, and a basil mayo sauce on grilled Texas Toast.  Crinkle cut fries came on the side with a bowl of au jus.  It was a good sandwich.  It wasn't all that filling, but it was more than enough to tide me over until we had dinner that evening.  The prime rib was tender and the au jus wasn't all that salty like au jus can be at times.  The fries were basically throw-aways, but the sandwich was very good.  

 

It was a nice lunch at the North Shore Grille.  The service was adequate, prices were reasonable, the view from the deck was very nice, and it was a good place to have a light lunch on the north shore of Lake Bemidji.   It pretty much met our expectations as it wasn't anything fancy or pretentious, but it wasn't tired or rundown either.  It seemed to be a popular place to dine and we weren't disappointed with our visit in the least.  

Mabe's Pizza - Decorah, IA

My wife and I took a recent drive up to Northeast Iowa to see the fall foliage, which was actually pretty nice along the Mississippi River.  We decided that we were going to spend the night in Decorah and made our way there from La Crosse one cool fall morning.  Initially, we were going to meet my wife's son for lunch in Decorah as he was on a short fishing/camping expedition not far from there.  But on our way over to Decorah, he said that he'd had a hard night and was going to head back to him home east of Cedar Rapids.  Well, we had planned on meeting and eating at Mabe's Pizza, the esteemed destination in Decorah known for their thin-crust, tavern-style pizzas.  But just because he wasn't going to join us didn't mean that we couldn't go to Mabe's for lunch.     

Probably 25 years ago, I was part of a list-serve group that chatted on-line about Iowa Hawkeyes sports.  Invariably, the threads would go 90 degrees from the Iowa football team to who has good food.  (Those left-turn threads were one of the sparks for the idea of Road Tips when I started this blog 10 years later.)   Some of the Iowa fans in the group did undergraduate work at Luther College in Decorah and they raved about Mabe's Pizza.  I tried it for the first time over 20 year ago and I was pretty impressed.  Over the years, Mabe's branched out with franchises in places such as Cresco, IA, Postville, IA, and Prairie du Chien, WI.  My wife and I ate at the one in Prairie du Chien a number of years ago, but we were convinced it wasn't as good as the original in Decorah.  And I think other people felt the same way as those locations are long closed.  

The "Mabe" behind Mabe's Pizza was Mabel White, an unassuming and kindly lady who opened a small 30-seat cafe - Mabel's Lunchroom - in 1953 at the age of 49.  It was a small place at the corner of College Dr. and Leif Erickson Dr. where Mabel would make sandwiches for students at nearby Luther College.  Many of the students were male and living off-campus due to a housing shortage at the rapidly growing small college.  Sometimes, Mabel would allow the students to make their own sandwiches and self-pay for them at the register.  The students at Luther loved "Mabe", the affectionate nickname they eventually gave her.

Pictured right - a portrait of Mabel "Mabe" White that hangs on the wall of the present day Mabe's Pizza

One day, a student came in and asked Mabel if he could he could make a pizza.  Mabel knew nothing about pizzas - it was in the early 60's when pizzas were relatively unheard of in rural parts of Iowa.  The student made his version of pizza - I'm guessing he was from the Chicago area as the pizza he made had a thin-crust and he cut it into tavern-style party squares -  and Mabel was intrigued enough to do some research of her own.  Thanks to the growing number of students from the Chicago area, she began to regularly make pizzas. And in 1968 she renamed her little lunch counter Mabe's Pizza.  

Mabe's had outgrown their original small location and moved to a larger building in Decorah.  It wasn't long before they had to move again, and not long after that, another move.  Mabe's Pizza had three or four different locations before settling into a spot near downtown Decorah in the early 70's.  Unfortunately, on New Years Eve in 1976, Mabe's was destroyed by fire.  

Undeterred, Mabel White - then 72 years old - decided that she wanted to rebuild.  She eventually found a spot on E. Water Street in the heart of downtown Decorah where she built a 200-seat restaurant.  Ground was broke in May of 1977 and the new and improved Mabe's Pizza opened in the spring of 1978.  

Over the years, Mabel's youngest son Don White had been helping out in the business.  When Mabel retired in 1981 at the age of 77, Don White and his wife Maime had been running the day-to-day operations for a number of years.  Mable didn't go far - she lived in an apartment above Mabe's - and would still pop in to the restaurant from time to time over the next few years before passing away in 2002, just weeks before her 98th birthday.

Maime White tragically passed on New Years Day in 1993 and Don White kept going with the restaurant.  He eventually turned the reins over to his son Steve White and Steve's wife Connie in 1999.  Don White would also pop in from time to time during his retirement before he passed away in 2014 at the age of 77.  A fourth generation of the White family - Collin White - is the general manager for his parents' business today and will undoubtedly take over sole ownership of Mabe's at some point in the future.  

We got into Decorah around 11 a.m. - the time that Mabe's opens up seven days a week.  It was Sunday and I was pretty certain that it wouldn't be all that busy if we went there at our original planned time of noon.  We drove around Decorah a bit and took a walk along the Upper Iowa River and Trout Run Creek on the east side of town on what turned out to be a beautiful fall day.  By the time we got that out of the way and pulled up in front of Mabe's at 110 E. Water St. (see map) it was 11:55 a.m.  I figured that we wouldn't have any trouble getting into the restaurant - after all, it was a Sunday and I just didn't think any restaurant would be busy on a Sunday at noon.  Especially a pizza place in Decorah, IA.

Oh, boy.  How wrong I was with that...

When we walked into Mabe's we found a long line of people waiting to pick up "to-go" orders.  It had been homecoming weekend for Luther - even though there weren't any festivities or a football game due to the pandemic - and a lot of people were there to pick up half-baked pizzas or regular orders to take home locally.  People were coming in the front door and in from the rear door where there's a smaller dining area.  We saw people carrying multiple boxes of pizza out the door during our time at Mabe's.   

We were lucky as we got the last booth available, back in the very far corner of the dining room that was socially distanced with tables taken out of the middle.  On the far end wall of the dining room partitioned off from the front dining area by glass windows are portraits of founder Mable White, and her son Don with his wife Maime.   

We got our menus when we were seated, but we pretty much had our heart set on getting a pizza.  In addition to their pizzas, Mabe's also features burgers, sandwiches, broasted chicken, pasta entrees, appetizers and salads.  Nope - we were there for the pizza.

Our server that day was a young lady whose attitude was so sour and dour that it was very evident that she didn't want to be there, let alone even wait on us.  When I asked what they had for craft beers, she let out a heavy sigh and said, "I'll check to see."  I told her to just hang on and ordered up a domestic bottle to cut my losses.  She brought it back to our table moments later sliding it across the table with nary a word.   She was like that the whole time we were there.

My wife thought she better get a small salad with Italian dressing.  When she asked our surly waitress if she had like a vinegar and oil dressing, she sort of shrugged her shoulders and said, "It's Italian."  My wife, too, thought she better just go along with the flow of our unhappy waitress and take what she brings her.  It was a nice light Italian dressing and my wife was happy with that.

We noticed the lines getting longer and more people coming in right and left either waiting on to-go orders or for a booth or table to open up.  One couple who looked to be in their late 60's, early 70's took the table near us and said that they had already ordered their pizza in advance.  Five minutes later - and being waited on another girl than the one we had - they were munching on their pre-ordered pizza.  My wife remarked, "Wow!  Given how busy it is, they got lucky to get a table!"  I jokingly said that they could have been forced to stand and eat their pizza had nothing been open to sit.  

We put our order in for a small (12") sausage, pepperoni and mushroom pizza at 12:10.  We knew they were busy and I figured that it may take a little time.  But I wasn't expecting our pizza to show up 35 minutes after we ordered it.  It usually doesn't take that long for a thin-crust pizza, but Mabe's was rockin' with all the in-house and to-go orders.  Their pizza oven is a multi-level "merry-go-round" style oven and there's only so much space that you have to bake pizzas.  

It had been a long, long time since I had had a Mabe's pizza - maybe 15 years.  The thin hand-tossed dough was misshapen a bit, but it featured ample toppings of ground Italian sausage, spicy pepperoni and fresh mushrooms with an abundance of mozzarella cheese that had been caramelized in the oven.  The pizza was cut into the traditional Mabe's tavern-style squares.  

The only thing wrong with the pizza - I think they could have left it in for a couple three more minutes.  I remember Mabe's in the past for having sort of a more crunchy crust.  On this one, however, it tasted sort of doughy like it needed to bake for a bit longer.  Everything else associated with the pizza was fine - I love the tangy and somewhat spicy sauce they have on a Mabe's pizza. But we just felt that it was a bit undercooked, no matter how cooked it looked on top.  

Service didn't improve much during our visit.  The young lady who waited on us was visibly pissed off about something - we figured that maybe she was called in to work when she had the day off.  But that shouldn't have spilled over in her outward demeanor toward the people she was serving.  I usually will give a server the benefit of the doubt when I go to tip them and I usually go 20%.   Our server got just barely a 10% tip in cash. Yes, I know times are tough for restaurants and wait staffs.  But this young lady was not the best in her field.

Other than the outward surliness displayed by our waitress throughout the visit to Mabe's Pizza, we were happy to get back to try their pizza.  Later on, we figured out that not much was open for dining options in Decorah on a Sunday evening and we sort of lamented that we should have waited to go to Mabe's that evening rather than for lunch.   The pizza was fine - a little undercooked, but still fine.  And everything could have been caused by how busy they were and were trying to get pizzas cooked as quickly as possible.  We've eaten at some very good pizza places over time and I know why Luther graduates come back in droves to have a Mabe's pizza year after year.  But let's just say this was not their best effort either in service or with the pizza.  

Vaqueros Mexican Restaurant and Taqueria - Steamboat Springs, CO

Our first night back out in Steamboat Springs, we were walking up and down Lincoln Ave. on a very nice evening.  Sunny skies earlier in the day had given way to clouds and a few sprinkles were starting to drop.  We happened upon a Mexican restaurant that seemed to be hopping.  And Mexican food didn't sound all that bad that evening.  This was our experience at Vaqueros Mexican Restaurant and Taqueria in Steamboat Springs.  

Vaqueros (which means "cowboys" in Spanish) has been around for a little over 7 years.  But the family line of restaurants behind this restaurant dates back to over 25 years ago starting out in Guadalajara, Mexico by way of Spokane, WA.  

For a number of years, the Diaz and Rodriguez families ran restaurants in Guadalajara before Jose Rodriguez moved to the Pacific Northwest and opened the first of what turned out to be five Rancho Viejo restaurants in the Spokane area.   One of the guys who followed him to Spokane, Carlos Diaz, had gone to Colorado to scout out places for restaurants in some of the smaller towns west of Denver.  In early 2001, Diaz - in a partnership with Jose Rodriguez - opened the first Fiesta Jalisco in the town of Silverthorne, about an hours drive west of Denver.  

From there, Diaz and Rodriguez opened more Fiesta Jalisco locations around Colorado.  (Jalisco is the state in Mexico where Guadalajara is the capital.)  The Silverthorne location was quickly followed by a Fiesta Jalisco in nearby Breckinridge, with more opening over the next four years in Avon, Frisco, Evergreen, Steamboat Springs, Winter Park, Eagle, Golden and Colorado Springs.  At one point, there were 12 Fiesta Jalisco locations in Colorado, and the Diaz and Rodriguez family fully-owned or were part-owners of 24 restaurants in Washington state and Colorado.  That has now been pared down to the 3 Spokane Rancho Viejo locations, and 6 of the Fiesta Jalisco locations in Colorado.  Well, and now Vaqueros.

In 2013, Vaqueros opened at 730 Lincoln Ave. in Steamboat Springs.  (see map)  Jose Rodriguez's son Mario was made the general partner in the venture.  The food at Vaqueros was basically the same as the Fiesta Jalisco restaurants, made fresh from scratch daily with recipes handed down through generations of the Diaz and Rodriguez families.  

It was about 7:30 when we walked into and up the stairs at Vaqueros.  We noticed that they had a roof top patio that appeared to be very popular - it was, as we were told it would be a 45 minutes wait.  With sprinkles coming down and the fact that we could be seated sooner if we sat inside, we opted to stay in.  We were told that it may be 15 to 20 minutes, but it was less than five minutes before our name was called.  It wasn't enough time for us to sidle over to the bar to order a couple of drinks while we were waiting.

We were taken down what amounted to a hall way with booths on both sides.  Brick arches segmented the seating area.  On one side were a number of booths that could seat 4 to 6 people, depending upon their size.  On the other side were a handful of booths that could barely seat two people.  The tables weren't all that large, but we were comfortable enough with what we had to deal with.

There was a lot of interesting Mexican artwork and photographs hanging on the wall.  From every lamp on the wall had a longhorn steer horn curling down from the bottom.  And each lamp was attached to the wall with a galvanized star base.  There was one picture on the wall that had me sort of mesmerized - it was a movie still or a promotional photo of an actress with machine gun.  I tried a couple apps that I had hoped would tell me who the actress was (I thought it may have been Loretta Young, but I wasn't certain), but they were no help.

One thing we noticed is that there were a number of Hispanic people eating in Vaqueros.  To us, that's always a good sign that a Mexican restaurant has good food if there are Hispanics dining in the the place.  So, we were hopeful that observation would bode well for us.  

We were given menus to look over and our server for the evening, and not long after, a middle-aged guy by the name of Victor came over to take our drink order.  They have nearly 100 different types of tequila to choose from at Vaqueros and they have about 20 different specialty margaritas.  My wife and I both got the Cadillac margarita - they usually use Hornitos tequila in it - which is fine - but we had Victor switch it out for the Herradura reposado.  He said it would be a couple bucks upcharge and we said that was no problem.  The Cadillac had cranberry and orange juice added to it and then it was topped with a shot of Grand Marnier.  I got a large - which was probably a mistake because with the upcharge it came to just under $20 bucks!  Ouch!  My wife went with the small which was a more manageable $10.50, but still a lot of money for what she got.  I made pretty short work of my margarita, though.

Fresh chips and salsa were served to us as we looked through the menu.  I asked Victor if they had any of the salsa verde.  He brought out a warm bowl of the green tomatillo/chile salsa.  The salsa verde was very good and had a bit of a spicy kick to it.  

My wife was more hungry than me - my lunch had been sitting in my gut like a bowling ball for the previous six hours plus.  But I knew that I could eat something.  They had a lot of interesting items on the menu - the pork with salsa verde caught my eye, as did the pork carnitas burrito.  They had a number of fajitas including beef (strip steak),  chicken, pork, shrimp, and a traditional skirt steak on the menu.  My wife was interested in some of the chicken entrees they had.  But, she too, was still somewhat full from lunch, so she was thinking along the lines of something light.  

Victor came back and we ordered our meals.  And we waited.  And waited.  And waited.  Victor had completely abandoned us.  We were well past down with our margaritas and I was wanting to get a bottle of Sol for my next drink.  The young guy with the chips kept bringing us more chips and salsa, but we were getting a little anxious for our food to show up.

My wife finally tracked someone down to get Victor to come to our table.  He rounded the corner, saw my wife give him a quick wave, then he immediately back-tracked into the kitchen.  He rushed out with our plates of food.  I ordered a Sol from him at that time.  

My wife got the beef enchilada and chile relleno combination.  It was a small beef enchilada with sauce on top sided with a cheese-filled chile relleno.  A massive amount of rice and refried beans came on the side.  

I got the fish tacos - grilled tilapia with a half of avocado and some pico de gallo.  A like immense amount of rice and refried beans came on the plate with the fish tacos that were in soft flour tortillas.  And for some stupid and insane reason, I got a bowl of Vaqueros' green pork chili.  Soft flour tortillas came with the soup.  

The first thing I noticed was the the fish was rather crispy, as in overcooked.  The top layer of the rice and refried beans were also crispy.  My wife encountered the same thing with her food.  We reckoned from past experience that our plates had been sitting under a heat lamp for probably 15 minutes, at least.  Victor just completely forgot about our meals, got busy doing something else, or decided he was going to go on break before he served us our food.  

The food wasn't all that bad, but it wasn't good.  It was way overcooked.  My wife didn't care for her chile relleno all the much, and she thought the beef enchilada was just "OK".  My grilled tilapia was dry and dull.  The pico de gallo and avocado helped spruce up the taste, but it was a major disappointment all the way around.  The green pork chile was fine, but definitely not the best I'd ever had in all the years I've been coming to Colorado.  

Nonetheless, we were stuffed after we threw in the towel.  We had bulked up on the chips and salsa waiting for our food to come out and figured that was the reason why we couldn't finish what we had.  

When Victor brought me the bill, I about shit my pants sideways - it was just under $90 bucks before tax and tip.  We didn't have much - a chile relleno and enchilada was $15.99, and my fish tacos were $17.99.  The bowl of pork green chili was $8.95.  Granted, I had a $20 dollar margarita, but that wasn't worth $20 bucks.  I just sort of shook my head and my wife asked how much it was.  When I told her, she said, "Definitely not worth it.  We have Mexican restaurants back home that were better than this place at less than half the price." And Victor's service - or lack of good service - only garnered him a $10 tip.  And I was reluctant to give him that.  

But that was our precursor to visiting other restaurants in the Steamboat Springs area.  It turned out they were ALL expensive.  But we had gotten such a great deal on flights, a rental car and hotel room (free - with Hilton Honors points) that we could splurge on meals while in Steamboat.  But we were on vacation and sort of a captive audience.  

I'd have to say that we were highly disappointed in Vaqueros.   Had the food been served directly after the line cooks had placed them on the warming table, I think things would have been fine.  But our waiter forgot about us, never came back to check on us for drinks, and only when my wife flagged him down did he remember that we hadn't gotten our food yet.  The experience could have been so much better than it was.  The salsa verde was actually very good, but it wasn't good enough to save the overall meal that we had.  And that's too bad.  Vaqueros showed a lot of promise, but overall it was completely disappointing.  

Miss Phay Cafe - Davenport, IA

A year ago this past summer, we had heard that a new restaurant was going to open in the space of a former Mexican restaurant in a space just north of the downtown area of Davenport on Brady Street hill.  We would drive past the place for the next few months and we saw little to no work going on in the space.  Suddenly, earlier this spring we noticed that work was starting on the space.  Things started to take shape and we could see that they were putting some nice touches on the place.  It turned out that it was going to be a new Asian restaurant called Miss Phay Cafe.  One recent night when I didn't feel like cooking, my wife and I made the trek down to Miss Phay Cafe to check the place out.  

Mun Luangruang grew up in Thailand and knew her way around a kitchen at a very early age.  She would help her grandmother cook food for customers of her fathers rice mill who came far and wide to have their rice processed.  Luangruang eventually immigrated to the United States 1996 to join her family in Los Angeles.  Her father had opened a Thai restaurant in Los Angeles and Mun and other family members helped out.  She knew very little English when she came to the U.S., but working in the restaurant helped her learn the language. 

While in Los Angeles, Luangruang met a man whom she eventually married.  Her husband got a job at John Deere in the Quad Cities and the two moved to the area in 2000.  In 2001, a new Japanese steakhouse was opening in Davenport and Mun got a job working there.  It was at the restaurant where she met she met Kevin Zhang, a fellow Thai immigrant who was culinary-trained in China and Switzerland before moving to the U.S.  At the time, there was only one Thai restaurant in the Quad Cities and the two felt there was a need for another good Thai restaurant in the area.  In 2002 they opened Exotic Thai on E. 53rd St. in Davenport.  

Zhang soon left the endeavor and opened Crazy Wok - later renamed Tantra Asian Bistro - a competing Thai restaurant in Davenport.  Luangruang then partnered with her father and brother to open a second Exotic Thai in Moline in 2004, then they opened the LemonGrass Cafe, a combination Thai/Vietnamese restaurant in downtown Moline.  

Initially, they announced that they would open a second LemonGrass Cafe in Davenport last year.  But they decided to rename it Miss Phay Cafe instead.  Miss Phay is an imaginary character who grew up in Bangkok and has cultural backgrounds from Thailand, China and Vietnam.  The fictional Miss Phay immigrated to the United States and is said to tell stories of her homeland through her foods and traditions.  By enthusiastically presenting her cuisine, culture and beliefs, Miss Phay brings part of her life to people in the Quad Cities.  

Or something like that...

We were able to find parking just in front of Miss Phay on Brady Street, the main northbound street out of downtown Davenport.  (see map)  The building that houses Miss Phay has seen a number of businesses and restaurants come and go out of the location over the years.  Most recently, it was the home to a Mexican restaurant that closed up about two years ago.  

Stepping inside Miss Phay, you go directly into the bar area.  It's rather nice in there with hard wood floors, a small bar, some booths, and a subdued lighting scheme.  Miss Phay also has coffee and Asian-style breakfast items that are served in the bar area from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily.  

We were greeted by a young lady and taken into the main dining area through an opening from the bar side.   The room had a large floral print on the wall with a two level dining area.  There was a small alcove on one side that had banquette seating on either side of a fireplace.  Asian art and bamboo basket light shades were very noticeable throughout the room.  

The young lady gave us a couple menus and we took a quick look at their drink menu.  They have a handful of specialty cocktails at Miss Phay Cafe including a signature drink called Passion Project - Malibu rum, guava liqueur, passion fruit juice, lemon and lime juice, and finished with fresh basil and mint leaves.  Wine and beer were also available from the bar.  My wife got a glass of the Forest Glen merlot and I got a pint of the Easy Eddy hazy pale from Big Grove Brewery, one of the rotating tap beer they have at Miss Phay.

The menu tilted more toward Vietnamese cuisine, but there was definitely an emphasis on Southeast Asian specialties.  There was a lemongrass pork chop on the menu, Asian barbecued pork, a bok choy stir fry with a choice of chicken, shrimp or pork belly, and a Cambodian-style rice/noodle soup, ground pork, Vietnamese ham, pork belly, shrimp and a fish ball.   It was all pretty interesting.  

I wanted to try one of their spring rolls, so I ordered up a couple of the shrimp spring rolls for my wife and me.  A small tub of peanut hoisin sauce came on the side.  It was actually pretty good.  I thought that I probably could've had a couple orders just for myself for dinner and I would have been happy.      

But I ended up going with a bowl of pho - chunks of steak and brisket with meat balls and the regular pho ingredients including bean sprouts, chopped basil, green onions and ginger.  Fresh basil leaves and a spicy hoisin sauce came on the side.  The base of the pho is a hearty beef broth that's rich in taste as it's simmered for 8 hours.  Rice noodles are added to the pho just before serving.  It was very good.  I did my best to finish what I could, but it was a lot of food. 

My wife likes the chicken dishes over at LemonGrass Cafe, so on this visit to Miss Phay she went with the vermicelli with a grilled lemongrass and turmeric chicken breast.   It came with chopped lettuce, sprouts, cucumbers, and fresh herbs.  Chopped peanuts and crispy shallots were sprinkled on the top of the chicken breast.  A bowl of Nuoc Cham, a sort of sweet and sour dipping sauce, came on the side.  My wife thought her meal was absolutely delicious.  However, like me, she found the portion to be a little too much.  When our waitress came back to check on us toward the end of our meal, she asked my wife if she wanted a to-go box. But my wife declined saying that it could never be as good re-heated as it was in the restaurant.  

Our dinner was made even more interesting as a man dining alone was obviously hitting on our waitress.  He was seated at a table near us, but still spaced enough for social distancing.  He asked her out twice and she rebuffed him both times.  But she was still friendly to him and it was obvious this guy was smitten with her.  We try not to listen to conversations at other tables, but this guy was pretty easy to hear.  

We found Miss Phay Cafe to be a nice little place to get an Asian-inspired meal.  We immediately decided that we would add Miss Phay to our rotation of Southeast Asian food restaurants that we'll go to in the Quad Cities.  It had everything that we like in a restaurant - a nice atmosphere with a friendly and accommodating staff.  They had very good food and having beer, wine and specialty drinks is a plus.  As I said, I could go back just to have a drink and some spring rolls.  We really enjoyed our visit.  

Road Tips 15 Year Anniversary

On October 28, 2005, I published my first Road Tips blog post on the now-defunct Town Pump in Clear Lake, IA.  It was a small, three paragraph entry long before I had a concrete idea or format that I wanted to go with in my blog.  In fact, I just re-read the entry and I'm pretty embarrassed.  It looked like it was written by a 9th grader who waited until the 11th hour to do a report.  (The only reason I think that is because I was once a 9th grader who waited until the 11th hour to write a LOT of reports.)   The first couple of years were really choppy and it was difficult to find my voice.  It took some time, but I eventually found my way to the scheme of things that eventually became the signature of Road Tips.  

Five years ago today, I wrote an entry on the 10 year anniversary of the blog.  It included the history of Road Tips, my inspirations, and other sorts of things that shaped the blog into what it was then. (Click here to read that post.)  Quite actually, the format hasn't changed much - if any - since that 10 year anniversary entry.  

As we all know, it's been a difficult year.  With travel all but shut down for me back in March, you've allowed me to go back into the archives and dust off some of the more memorable visits to restaurants and places I've been to over the years.  It's been sort of fun to read some of those entries and reminisce about some very remarkable and unforgettable places I've been to.  We took a couple of vacations this year and ate at some pretty good to very good places along the way, so you'll continue to read about those for the next few weeks.  Hopefully - and I'm being very hopeful here - I can get back out on the road in early 2021 when life, as we knew it before the COVID-19 pandemic, gets somewhat back to normal.  

As I've said numerous times over the years, many blogs don't last very long and that was even more telling to me when I recently went through my browser bookmarks on my computer of all the blogs that I followed for a number of years.  Many of them were food and restaurant blogs, much like Road Tips.  There were others that I had picked up along the way and read from time to time.  I had 81 blogs bookmarked and I started to go through to see which ones were active and pare down the ones that weren't.  It turned out that I trimmed 53 blogs out of my bookmarks.  Some were abandoned URL's, but many were just inactive with the last entries being anywhere from 3 to 6 years ago.  (I found one that I had bookmarked - actually, it was a friend of mine from Michigan - whose last entry was 11 years ago!)  

One thing that has happened recently in regard to Road Tips - I've run out of the allotted number of categories that I can use for the blog.  I tried to add a couple categories when we went to Northern Minnesota earlier this summer and Typepad won't allow me to add categories any longer.  Heck, I don't even know what the limit is or how many categories I even have.  I'm too lazy to count them or even find out.  I may have to consolidate some of the categories or take some of the ones where there's just one or two entries under a given category (or city) away.  

Yes, the pressure is on to maybe go back and edit out some of my previous entries.  And that may be hard as I have a bit over 2400 entries over the past 15 years.  That's a lot of writing about a lot of restaurants, travel, events, and observations.    

But today, I'm not going to go back into the history of the blog, nor am I going to wax nostalgic on the run Road Tips has had.  But 15 years is quite a long time in the blogosphere.  I've often said that this turned out to be a hobby that has taken on a life of its own.  Readership hits go up and down, but I'm happy that there are still people who continue to indulge me to write about my travel experiences.

I'm not certain there will be a 20th anniversary of Road Tips, times change and so do people and trends.  There's a lot of places to find reviews of restaurants and travel destinations on the Internet.  I'm just happy that I still have enough of an audience after all these years that keeps me going.

Once again, thanks for looking in!   

Bemidji Brewing Company - Bemidji, MN

When we go on trips, my wife and I like to search out brewpubs or microbreweries in the areas we end up.  We figured that choices would be pretty limited in Northern Minnesota, but it turned out that there was a small microbrewery in Bemidji called - appropriately enough - Bemidji Brewing Company.  The only problem was that it was closed the first couple of days we were there.  Finally, when it opened on Wednesday, we stopped in to try some of their beers.  

Hibbing, MN native Tom Hill was a student at Bemidji State University in 2003 when he and his roommate discovered there was more than just domestic beers available to drink.  The only problem was that the selection in Bemidji at the time was less than desirable.  But it turned out that another friend had started to brew his own beer at home.  Homebrewing was something that Hill never thought about, but after talking with his friend he found that the process was similar to making wine at home - something his father had been doing for years.

His friend had been making brown ales and stouts and he ended up giving Hill a book on home brewing.  After reading through the book, Hill became obsessed with the art of home brewing and tried to learn as much as he could about it.

After graduating from Bemidji State with a degree in design technology, Hill took an internship in Austin, TX.  It was there that he was exposed to Austin's burgeoning craft brew community.  He enjoyed his time in Texas, but he really wanted to get back to northern Minnesota.  After six months working in Austin, Hill went back to Bemidji State to enroll in a grad program and to teach a class on machining.  

It was back in Bemidji that Hill met another craft brew enthusiast by the name of Justin "Bud" Kaney.  Kaney had taken the machining course Hill taught and the two bonded over some of the beers Hill was making.  Hill became so obsessed with becoming a brewer that he quit school and moved down to Minneapolis to work in a microbrewery there.  But this was 2008 going into 2009 and times were tough with the Great Recession going on.  Finding a brewery that would take him on as an apprentice brewer was pretty much out of the question.  

Hill eventually found work as a machinist, but in his spare time he studied more of the art of brewing beer.  He helped out at Northern Brewer, a home-brew supply store in St. Paul, he became a certified cicerone learning about all aspects of selecting and serving beers to people, and he enrolled in the World Brewing Academy's Concise Course through the Siebel Institute of Technology in Chicago.  

In the meantime, Bud Kaney had moved out to Rhode Island to work for Hasbro Toys.  But he just knew that he didn't want to be sitting in a cubicle designing parts for toys on a daily basis.  He ended up calling Hill to discuss the possibility of doing their own microbrewery.  

Through all of this, it turned out that Hill's and Kaney's girlfriends - now their wives - were into the home/craft brewing thing, as well.  The four got together back in Bemidji to try different beers, and Tom and Bud would discuss about running their own microbrewery with Hill as the head brewer.  That dream came true when the two couples formally incorporated their new nano-brewery, Bemidji Brewing Company which was named after a brewery by the same name that was in Bemidji nearly 100 years before which shut down due to Prohibition.  

Pictured at left - Justin "Bud" Kaney, Tina Hanke-Kaney, Tom Hill and Megan Betters-Hill.  Photo courtesy The Growler magazine.  

The group had some obstacles to overcome - primarily financial.  But they instituted a Kickstarter program on-line that raised over $17,000 to buy equipment and cover other start-up costs associated with brewing beer.  Secondly, they had get the proper state and federal permits to brew beer.  And third, they had to convince others to try their beer.  

The group set up shop in the community kitchen at the Harmony Food Co-op in Bemidji.  They brewed beers in a 25-gallon brewing apparatus and used a barrel-aged mixed-fermentation process since their first day of brewing.   Kaney and Hill took their beers around to some of the bars in downtown Bemidji and one - Brigid's Cross Irish Pub - started to sell their beers.  Bemidji Brewing Company was finally starting to gain momentum.

Over time as Bemidji Brewing's output gradually grew and more aging barrels had been acquired, Hill and Kaney knew that they couldn't continue to work out of the kitchen at the Harmony Food Co-op.  In 2013, the group found a building that was less than a block from the food co-op that was perfect for not only their brewing tanks, but as a tap room, as well.  The group worked with the Bemidji city council to pass an ordinance to allow on-site sale of their brewed beers and for growlers to-go.  Once the new brewing apparatus and tanks were in place - and setting up a tap room with a small outdoor patio off to the side - Bemidji Brewing Company opened in their present location in July of 2013.  

We had seen Bemidji Brewing Company beers at a handful of places we had visited when we first got to Bemidji on our northern Minnesota vacation in August of this year.  Some places, that's all they had for craft beers on tap.  But I wanted to go to the brewery first before we had one of their beers out in one of the bars or restaurants.  We tried to go there on Monday, but it was closed that day and on Tuesdays.  

It was just after 1 p.m. when we pulled up to Bemidji Brewing.  (see map)   It was a nice day, but we decided to head inside to try some of their beers.  We found a nice little space with knotty pine accents, heavy duty tables with metal chairs, and a walk-up bar with a corrugated tin facing.  It wasn't big, but tables were properly spaced for COVID-19 restrictions.   

The brewing operation was behind large glass windows on the backside of the tap room.  It was a pretty impressive operation with kegs and canning equipment.  There was also a small kitchen off behind the bar area and they had a short menu of items to munch on consisting of things such as a traditional bratwurst on a bun, a couple flatbread pizzas, a pretzel with cheese sauce, meat sticks, stringed cheese, and a smoked lake trout dip that sounded pretty good.  

They had a very nice, but small outdoor patio area off to the south side of the building.  We spent some time out there one evening on a subsequent visit to Bemidji Brewing.  It was a nice place to chill out.  

Their available beers were listed on the wall behind the bar.  I stood there for a moment looking at what they had when one of the young guys working that day came out with a beer card for me to look over.  "You don't need to stand there when you can be sitting down looking at this," he said when he handed me the card.  

My wife wanted to try a flight of beers.  She got a 5 ounce glass of the summer lager, a glass of the Oktoberfest (it had evidently just come out), a glass of their traditional IPA, and a German blonde ale.  I tried samples of two beers - the espresso porter (it was too forward in taste) and one other one that I really liked. 

That one was a hazy double IPA which was absolutely delicious.  That and the IPA were my beers of choice at Bemidji Brewing.  But I especially liked the hazy double IPA.  In fact, I bought two sixers of both the double IPA and the regular IPA before we left Bemidji to go home.  I wish I would have bought more as they didn't last very long after we got home.  

My wife didn't care for the summer lager - I tried it and I have to say that I agreed with her.   I saw it on tap at a couple three places around Bemidji and I'm glad I didn't try it before I sampled it at the tap room.  She also liked the IPA, but wasn't too enamored with the Oktoberfest (I wasn't either - it was all right), and she didn't care for the German blonde ale, but I thought it was not bad.  

After spending some time at Bemidji Brewing Company sampling beers and hanging out, then having more of their beers at other establishments around town, I have to say that there were some things that I really liked and others that I didn't.  But everyone is a little different in their tastes and likes, so you shouldn't think that some of their beers are clunkers.  They've done a fine job marketing their beers across northern Minnesota and the tap room at Bemidji Brewing seems like a fun place to hang.  We really enjoyed going there.