Road Tips

La Banquise - Montreal

On my first trip back to Montreal in over 4 years, I alerted a former colleague that I would be coming in on a certain date.  "Dinner, perhaps," he inquired as we were talking on the phone.  I told him, sure, dinner would be great.  Someplace local, someplace fun, someplace that had good food and good beer.  He immediately thought of a rather popular place in Montreal known for their poutine - La Banquise.  Here's the story of loading up on incredible poutine along with some great beer on my first night back in Montreal earlier this spring.

In the 1960's, Pierre Barsalou was a fireman for the city of Montreal based at Caserne (Fire Station) 16 in the Plateau-Mont-Royal neighborhood in the city.   He had longed to open an ice cream shop to while away his spare time when he wasn't at the fire station.  A fire at 994 Rue Rachel East - literally catty-corner from the fire station - had damaged the building and it effectively shut down the business that was in the space.  After cleaning up and renovating the space, the landlord was looking for a new business to come in.  Barsalou noticed the renovations while at work at the fire station and happened to tell the landlord of his dream to open an ice cream shop at some point.  The building owner offered Barsalou the space and in May of 1968 - right at 55 years ago - La Banquise (ban-KEESS) opened to the public. (My Montreal friend said that "Banquise" roughly translates into "a sheet of packed ice" in English.) 

At first, La Banquise sold just ice cream and milkshakes, but by the fall of 1968 Barsalou knew that he couldn't just sell ice cream into the cold winter months.  He then turned La Banquise into a 24-hour snack bar that sold burgers, hot dogs and some of the best French fries in all of Montreal.  (The "24h" with a crescent moon and a shining sun in La Banquise's logo signifies the place is open 24 hours, 7 days a week.)   On his days off from the fire station, you could find Pierre Barsalou behind the counter grilling and serving up food.  

The stories of the origin of poutine varies depending upon who you talk to.  Most people point to a restaurant in Warwick in the Arthabaska region of Quebec east and a little north of Montreal where in 1957 a patron asked the restaurant owner for a plate of cheese curds, fries and topped with gravy.  Other stories have different rural regions of Quebec coming up with poutine in the 1960's.  La Banquise has a link on their web site that goes through the different stories of the origin of poutine. 

And because it was relatively a rural dish found only in the backwoods of Quebec, it wasn't until the early 80's that Pierre Barsalou was introduced to poutine.  The story goes that an employee of Barsalou's had gone back to see family in a small town in rural Quebec and came back to tell his boss of the scrumptious - and heart-attack inducing - combo plate of fries, cheese curds and gravy that he had on his visit back home.  Intrigued, Barsalou decided to try to come up with his own rendition of poutine.  And to his surprise, he found it was pretty damned good!

Introducing poutine to the menu at La Banquise, at first Barsalou had classic poutine and an Italian-style poutine that added Italian sausage and substituted tomato sauce in place of gravy found in the classic poutine.  It was an immediate hit with the blue-collar workers, firemen, policemen and other residents in the Plateau neighborhood east of downtown Montreal.  

Over time, Barsalou added smoked meat - the Montreal version of corned beef - to poutine.  Customers suggested other additives to his poutine including bacon, ground beef, pepperoni, veggies and even fried chicken!  

It was Barsalou's youngest daughter Annie who came to the realization that the different types of poutine were the major draw for the restaurant.  After 25 years of running the restaurant, the elder Barsalou had been slowing down and he realized that a younger hand at the wheel was needed to continue on with the restaurant.  Annie Barsalou was working on her degree in hospitality management and stepped in to help her father with everything from bookkeeping to procurements to front-of-house help.  At the age of 19, she told her father that she wanted to take over the family business.  Her father, however, was skeptical that the young lady had it in her to run the restaurant full time.  

Pierre Barsalou suggested that Annie manage the restaurant for a year and see if she still wanted to take over.  A year passed and she was even more on board with taking over for her father.  Along with her partner - now her husband - Marc Latendresse - the couple purchased La Banquise from her father in 1994.  

Pictured right - Annie Barsalou and Marc Latendresse.  

When Annie Barsalou took over in the mid-90's, she employed 5 people.  She realized that the secret to the success of the place was going to be the poutine and the combinations of toppings that she wanted to regulate rather than having customers asking for certain toppings - sometimes outlandish requests - to put on plates of classic poutine.  She came up with a number of combinations that eventually drove more people into the restaurant. 

By 2006, the restaurant was deemed too small for the hundreds of people who were traipsing into the restaurant at all hours of the day.  Annie and Marc expanded the restaurant into its present size and updated the "kitschy" nature of the place which included more artwork and color schemes compliments of her graphic-artist sister Marie-Josée who helped her sister spruce up the place after she took over about 10 years prior.  

Today, La Banquise employs 80 people to keep the place humming 24/7.  In all, the restaurant goes through about 1800 pounds of cheese curds and anywhere from 14,000 to 20,000 pounds of red potatoes each week.  Each WEEK!

My buddy picked me up in front of the Hotel Bonaventure in downtown Montreal around 6:00 p.m.  His wife was working that evening and his 11-year-old (soon to be 12) son was with him.  I had met my friend's son along with my friend's wife when I came in for a meeting a number of years ago and we all went out to Bombay Mahal, an outstanding Indian restaurant in Montreal.  (Click here to read about our visit to Bombay Mahal.)   

It was about a 10 minute drive from the hotel to the front of La Banquise, just a half block away from the popular Parc La Fontaine on Rue Rachel E in the Plateau section north and east of downtown Montreal.  (see map)  Parking is at a premium along the streets in that section of the city, so my friend dropped us off in front of the building which has a dark blue facade with orange awings as he went to find a spot to park.  

Going into the restaurant, we were greeted by a young lady at the hostess stand.  We told her that there were 3 and could be 4 as another former colleague found out that I was going to be in town and asked if he could tag along.   The hostess said that she thought our 4th was already there.  She led us past the open kitchen that was a flurry of activity getting plates of poutine ready for hungry customers in the restaurant.  A few tables and booths were on the side where the kitchen was located.

Turning the corner into a larger - but very cramped - dining space, I immediately saw my other former colleague (who we figured we hadn't seen each other in over five years) seated at a table for four.  A quick, but prolonged hug preceded me jumping into the seat next to him.  And I was ready for a cold beer.  Our server for the evening was Melanie, a young lady with pink hair and big glasses.  She embodied the funky and fun vibe of La Banquise.  She pointed out the beer menu to me to look over.  

Thankfully, they had one of my favorite beers - the Boréale Blonde.  My former colleague immediately flipped me some good-natured crap over my choice as he favors the St-Ambroise stout from the McAuslan Brewery in Montreal.  "That beer is the closest thing to water," he said derisively to me.  I told him that I liked to "drink" beer, not "sip" it.  The first Boréale Blonde went down extremely fast.  By the time, my buddy showed up after parking the car I was ready to order another.  

Poutine plates rule the menu at La Banquise, but they also had a number of burgers, hot dogs, sandwiches and salads on the menu.  Breakfast is a big part of the menu at La Banquise (including breakfast poutines), and they had a kids menu that my buddy's son was probably going to order from.  "He's not going to get poutine," I asked somewhat jokingly.

My buddy said, "A plate of poutine here is bigger than my kid."  (My buddy's son got a burger.)  

And, boy, did they have poutine options!  Regular poutine with cheese curds, fries and gravy.  Poutine with ground beef and onions added.  Poutine with pulled pork, apples and bacon.  Poutine with smoked meat, spicy sausage, pepperoni and bacon.  There were 29 different styles of poutine on the menu and another 5 more breakfast-style poutines made with fried potatoes.  

They had two different sizes of poutine per plate - a regular size and a shit-pot-full size plate.  I had my eye set on one type of poutine, and one type only.  And I was scared to get the shit-pot-full size, so I got the regular sized L'Obelix - poutine with smoked meat.  (L'Obelix is a French cartoon character known for his strength and obesity.)  My buddy who brought me got the same thing.

Only I had our server add some Swiss cheese to mine.  My former colleague who had joined us was dumbfounded.  "I have never even thought about adding Swiss cheese to a plate of smoked meat poutine," he said to me.  My former colleague who brought me had the same thing, sans the Swiss cheese.  

My former colleague who met up with us went the full monty in getting the La Miam - basically "The Yum!" in French.   It was poutine topped with ground beef, merguez (North African lamb) sausage, onions, tomatoes and Swiss cheese.  And he got the large.  And he's a smaller guy than me.  And it was a pile of food.

I'm a huge Montreal "smoked meat" fan.  It's just basically kosher beef brisket that is salted and cured with a combination of spices for a week before it's slow smoked, then steamed to finish it off.  It's a different way to make smoked beef brisket, but the taste is fabulous.  Poutine - fries, cheese curds and gravy - is outstanding on its on.  But you throw some Montreal-style smoked meat with thin slices of Swiss cheese crossed over the top of the poutine and it goes from outstanding to orgasmic.  And that's exactly how the "L'Obelix" poutine was.   

I was having trouble finishing the plate of poutine and smoked meat that I had, but my former colleague literally plowed through his large plate of the "La Miam" poutine.  "I knew I was going to eat poutine tonight, so I didn't have anything for lunch," he said.  There would have been no way I would have been able to fully finish the "regular" plate of smoked meat poutine that I had.  

La Banquise has been lauded by high-brow culinary critics, respected travel magazines, and by a number of food enthusiasts who found their combinations of poutine to be both innovative and delicious.  I absolutely loved everything about La Banquise - the coziness, the fun and funky vibe, the food - it was all outstanding.  I'll be going back to Montreal a couple three times a year and I'm going back to La Banquise.  No matter how unhealthy it is for me.  

Hey, I'm not eating it once a week!  

Motley School Tavern - Des Moines, IA

Last summer, my wife and I went back to Des Moines to hang out with a friend of ours and to take in the Iowa State Fair.  We went out to dinner with our friend a couple three times including brunch on a Sunday morning at a fun little restaurant she recommended in the Beaverdale neighborhood of Des Moines - the Motley School Tavern.   

When Jason Simon opened the upscale-American restaurant Alba in the East Village of Des Moines in 2008, he had a young guy by the name of Nic Gonwa working with him at his side.  It wasn't long until Alba grew in notoriety as one of the top places to eat in Des Moines.  Six years later, Simon took over a former video store location on Ingersoll Ave. in Des Moines and turned it into a low-frills Mediterranean restaurant by the name of Eatery A.  He installed Gonwa as the head chef at the restaurant.  Eatery A was also a hit right off the bat with diners in and around the Des Moines area.  In 2015, Nic Gonwa was nominated as a James Beard Award recipient as a Rising Star Chef.   

Simon and Gonwa talked often about different restaurant concepts and one of the things they like to do is reminisce about some of the characters that they crossed paths with over the years of working in restaurants.  They would joke about educating a "motley" bunch of people over the years in their restaurants as they hashed out different types of restaurant concepts.  Simon and Gonwa thought it would be fun to run a restaurant that had sort of had an "after school"-vibe where people could chill out, watch a game on TV, and enjoy some good comfort food and good beverages.  They kept that idea in the back of their mind as they kept on working at their respective restaurants. 

In late 2018, Simon approached Steve Little, the owner of the Chef's Kitchen restaurant in Beaverdale, to inquire as to whether Little was thinking of ever selling his restaurant.  Little and his wife Kristi had run Chef's Kitchen for 14 years and hadn't really entertained any ideas of selling.  But the offer Simon gave him was too good to pass up.  The Chef's Kitchen served their last meal on Dec. 31, 2018.  

With Gonwa now on board, the two conjured up a casual eatery and bar that featured breakfast, lunch and dinner with a low-key and laid-back atmosphere.  Gonwa left Eatery A to run the new restaurant and a bit over six months after taking over the building, Motley School Tavern opened their doors to the public.  

Like most restaurants, Motley School Tavern was hit hard by the pandemic in the spring of 2020.  But they were able to pull through once social distancing measures were put in place and then subsequently thrive once most pandemic restrictions were lifted.  MST - as the locals refer to it as - is especially a popular breakfast destination on the weekends.  

And it was a Sunday morning when we went to Motley School Tavern located along Beaver Ave. where Franklin Ave., Forest and 41st Street all come together with Beaver in northwest Des Moines.  (see map)  We were able to park in front of the brick facade restaurant, but by the time we left people were parking on side streets as the small lot in front of the building filled up quickly.  

We were one of the first group of patrons to walk into the place just after 9 a.m. on that Sunday morning.  They were finishing up filming some interior shots of the restaurant for an upcoming local commercial that was going to air later in the fall.  We pretty much had our choice of seating in the place and we ended up taking a booth on the far side of restaurant against the east wall.

The bar area featured some classic audio electronics - which piqued my interest right away.  It was a double-sided bar with two flat-screen televisions on each side.  My interest was on one of the games that was on the television - the Davenport Southeast team was playing in the Little League World Series and the game was being shown on ESPN.  Between conversations, I was able to catch bits and pieces of the Quad Cities team (who ended up winning 10-2).  

Jasmine was our server that morning.  She had a cheery demeanor and was friendly and helpful throughout our visit.  She asked what we would like to drink.  My wife and our friend got coffee and orange juice.  I went with the holy trinity of Sunday morning selections - a Kona Big Wave with a bloody mary and four shots of espresso.  Usually when I order that, the server will recoil in amazement.  Jasmine didn't bat an eye when I placed my order.  "Sounds good," she said as she took off to get our drinks while we looked over the menu.  

The brunch offerings featured shrimp and grits, a flat-top grilled ham steak, chicken fried steak, biscuits and gravy, and chilaqualies rojo - a charbroiled chicken breast topped with a charred avocado, eggs (your choice) and sour cream.  Omelets, pancakes, sandwiches and salads were also available on the menu.  

I had my eye on a couple things - the sausage and wild mushroom omelet with goat cheese, or the pastrami hash with a mixture of peppers, onions and tomatoes mixed with the grilled potatoes.  A side of Southern-style cole slaw - chow-chow - came on the side.  Jasmine made the call for me.  "The pastrami hash is outrageous," she gushed.  Usually when a server tries to talk you into something, it's usually the more expensive item.  And the pastrami hash was more expensive than the omelet - but by just $2 bucks.

Now, I usually take pretty good pictures with my camera on my phone, but the pictures I took of the pastrami hash turned out to be dog crap.  I'm not even going to post the best of the crappy pictures I took of the plate because it still wouldn't do the meal justice.  The pastrami hash was just outstanding.  It was definitely the correct choice for me and I let Jasmine know.  "I knew you'd like it," she said confidently.  "It's one of our more popular brunch dishes." 

My wife and our friend were sort of torn between getting just the MST breakfast - eggs (1, 2 or 3) with toast, potatoes, and a choice of bacon or sausage - or getting some pancakes.  They had five different varieties of pancakes including a lemon curd and almond pancake, a buttermilk/blueberry pancake, and a caramel apple pancake.  When Jasmine pointed out that they could both get the MST breakfast AND a specialty pancake for $1 extra, they both bit.  

They both got the MST breakfast with two eggs over easy, bacon, potatoes and toast.  It was a basic breakfast that seemed to be fine to both of them.    

The pancakes, however, were winners.  They were thick pancakes, but crispy on the outside.  My wife doesn't care for fluffy pancakes - unless they're crispy - and these were to her liking.  The blueberry pancakes were doused in juicy blueberries with a dollop of whipped cream on the top.  But the lemon curd pancake was a sight to behold.  I large spoonful of lemon curd sat on top of the oblong pancake with a dollop of whipped cream topped with almond slices on top.  I had to have a bite of both and while I liked the blueberry pancake, the lemon curd pancake was sensational in flavor.  Had they combined the blueberries with the lemon curd, it would have been the perfect combination.  

The restaurant had filled up rapidly while we were there and we sat for awhile after finishing breakfast just talking before we had to head back to the Quad Cities.  By the time we got up to leave around 10:15, the place was packed and people were waiting to be seated.  

It turned out that our friend was spot on with the recommendation as Motley School Tavern was a great place for Sunday brunch.  Everything we had was delicious.  Jasmine's service was excellent and I'm glad she talked me into getting the pastrami hash.  My wife and our friend were happy with their basic eggs, bacon, potatoes and toast breakfast.  But the extra pancakes that they got on the side were the highlight of the breakfast. We'd like to go back at some point, and when we get there I'm going to see if they could do a combination of the lemon curd and blueberry pancakes.  That taste combination could be killer.  

 

Cesar's Old Mexico - Springfield, MO

Getting back to Springfield, MO for the first time in over a year, I was telling one of my accounts in Kansas City prior to the trip that I would be coming up from Springfield before I saw him.  "Springfield, Missouri," he asked excitedly.  "Have you ever eaten at Cesar's Old Mexico?"  I told him that I had not.  "Man, you gotta go," he told me in an excited manner.  "That's some of the best Mexican food I've ever had."  Getting into Springfield after a long day of driving, I made it over to Cesar's Old Mexico around 8 p.m. that particular evening.  

I've been traveling to Springfield for work for a long, long time.  It has been one of my all-time favorite destinations - not only because I've liked working with the various accounts I've had over the years, but because it's an interesting culinary community.  Surprisingly, Springfield has a handful of outstanding sushi restaurants.  (Go figure, huh?  Especially in a land-locked community that is so far from the ocean.)  They also have a burgeoning barbecue scene, and - for some reason - they have a number of Chinese restaurants.  Springfield is known as the birthplace of Cashew Chicken, a dish that was developed by a Cantonese immigrant in a Springfield restaurant in the early 60's.  (Full disclosure - I've tried Cashew Chicken - albeit over 20 years ago.  I didn't really care for it.  Detractors called it "Americanized" Chinese food.)  

But the one thing that sticks out for me is the number of outstanding Mexican restaurants in the Springfield area.  I've eaten at 7 or 8 Mexican restaurants in the area over the years that I have come to the area and I have to say that I don't think I've ever had a disappointing meal at any of places I've visited.  One of those places is Cielito Lindo, a small Mexican place just down the street from one of my accounts in Springfield.  And it was at Cielito Lindo where the owner of Cesar's Old Mexico got his start.

Cesar Ortiz was born in the western Mexican state of Jalisco and immigrated to Springfield in the mid-90's to work for his brother at Cielito Lindo.  While working at Cielito Lindo, he met a young lady who was a frequent customer of the place.  The young lady - Sandra Gonzales - mentioned to Cesar that maybe they should go out on a date at some point.  That date eventually happened and the rest - as they say - is history.  Ortiz and Gonzales eventually married and raised a blended family of four children.  

Ortiz worked for his brother for 18 years before he and his wife decided they wanted to do their own restaurant.  Sandra had grown up in El Salvador and had a number of recipes that she wanted to feature at a new restaurant.  And Cesar Ortiz wanted to feature foods not only handed down from his mother, but from different regions of Mexico rather than the tried and true Mexican favorites that most of the other restaurants around the city had on their menus.  

In mid-2015, Cesar and Sandra began looking for buildings to put their restaurant in and they found a spot on the northeast side of Springfield.  Cesar thought the building was too small, but it was basically all they could afford starting out.  Many of their friends thought that the Ortiz/Gonzales family was crazy for wanting to go into such a small place.  They couldn't open a larger place just starting out, so they had to make do with what they had.  Ortiz and Gonzales opened Cesar's Old Mexico at the end of 2015.  With Cesar Ortiz running the kitchen and Sandra Gonzales looking after everything else in the restaurant, it wasn't long before their small restaurant was filled starting at noon every day.

By 2019, it was apparent that Cesar's Old Mexico was too small for the amount of business they were doing.  A larger place was needed and quick.  A restaurant had closed down on E. Sunshine Street in northeast Springfield and the floor plan was perfect for more dining space along with a bar area and a larger kitchen.  Cesar's Old Mexico moved into their new space at the start of 2020, just before the pandemic hit.  (see map)  

I pulled into Cesar's Little Mexico just before 8 p.m. on a Wednesday evening after driving in from St. Louis via Columbia.  The parking lot was packed and there appeared to be a wait with people hanging out just outside the door on the side of the building.  It turned out they were waiting for tables for four.  Since it was just me, I thought I'd have a better chance at getting seated right  away.  A young lady at the host station asked if I wanted to sit at the bar.  But the bar was sort of busy and cluttered.  I noticed that there was a small table for two sitting unclaimed and asked if I could sit there.  She sort of reluctantly led me over to the table and gave me a menu to look over.

The dining area at Cesar's Old Mexico was pretty small, but it was lively and cozy.  It appeared that it was possibly an old Wendy's restaurant at some point with the signature atrium on the front of the restaurant.  A mural covered the front of the restaurant on the atrium.  The colorful dining area featured a number of Mexican skeltons - known as calacas - to celebrate the notion that no dead soul likes to be remembered sadly.  

My server for the evening was a young lady by the name of Alondra.  She was friendly and effervescent, and had a good sense of humor.  I started out with a jumbo gold margarita.  It was very tasty and went down pretty quickly after a long day of driving and meetings.   

A side of chips and salsa came with the meal and I got a side of fresh-made guacamole to go along with the chips.  The chips were crisp, warm and definitely made in-house.  The salsa had a bit of a smoky flavor and the guacamole was creamy and very tasty.  

I had been looking through the menu trying to figure out what to get for dinner.  They had the typical Mexican food fare - burritos, enchiladas, tacos, etc.  They also had Salvadoran favorites like pupusas - puffy corn meal flatbread that is stuffed with any combination of beans, cheese and pork.  And Cesar's featured a number of steak, pork, chicken and seafood dishes.  I came really close to getting the grilled tilapia tacos, but I was looking for something a bit more substantial that night.

My dealer in the Kansas City area had told me to get the "Big Tijuana" - it was a platter consisting of steak, chorizo, chicken, shrimp and pork carnitas topped with a queso sauce along with rice, refried beans and a guacamole salad.  That sounded like a LOT of food.  And I came pretty close to getting the Rancho Grande enchiladas - three enchiladas with a choice of beef or chicken and topped with either a green tomatillo sauce or a red ranchero sauce.  (Steak, pork or grilled chicken could be substituted for an uncharge.)  But something else caught my eye further down the menu. 

I ended up getting the pork chile verde - tender pork tips topped with a green tomatillo sauce that came with beans, rice, and a guacamole salad.  Three soft flour tortillas came with the meal.  It was a large portion of food on the plate.  I could almost imagine how much food the Big Tijuana would have had on the plate.  I knew this was going to be too much food.  (And it turned out that I was right about that.)

I wanted to get a beer to go along with the meal and I asked Alondra if I could get a Sol.  She left and came back moments later to tell me that they were out of Sol.  Hmmm..., OK.  I saw that they had Dos Equis Ambar on tap and I signed up with one of those - a 22 ounce draw.  

Even though it was a lot of food, I made a serious dent in what I had on my plate.  The pork tips were very tender and literally fell apart in my mouth.  The tomatillo sauce was excellent and I made a couple tacos out of the combination on the plate.  The freshness of the food was very evident with each bite.  I normally don't like refried beans all that much, but these were really good - especially as a base on the tacos.  

I was stuffed when Alondra came around and asked if I wanted a box to go.  I had to pass since I was traveling.  She said, "It was a lot of food, wasn't it?"  It was a lot of food - and damned good, too!

It was tough to beat everything I experienced at Cesar's Old Mexico.  The food was very good, I really liked the gold margarita, the chips, salsa and guacamole were all top-notch, and the service I had from Alondra was probably the best of all.   She was efficient and fun as a server.  With all the good to great Mexican restaurants in Springfield, I have to think that Cesar's Old Mexico is one of the best in the area.  It was one of the best I've had in recent times.  

Lincoln Winebar - Mount Vernon, IA

My wife and I were a little handcuffed when it came to our anniversary in 2022, mainly because I had been unemployed for a few months, but was getting ready to start a new job in the coming weeks.  We really couldn't go anywhere - even though my wife had taken the week off as she has done many times over the years during the week of our anniversary.  We both had been keen on a place that we'd heard about in the small town of Mount Vernon, IA that specialized in wood-fired pizzas made with locally sourced food items, as well as having an interesting wine list.  We took a little road trip on the day of our anniversary and took the backroads around Eastern Iowa ending up in Mount Vernon late in the afternoon to have dinner at the Lincoln Winebar.  

Actually, we had always wanted to go to the Lincoln Café, a destination restaurant that was started by Matt Steigerwald in 2000.  Steigerwald - a native of Cincinnati who grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina - had an extensive background in culinary services working for a handful of restaurants as well as with James Beard Award-winning chef Ben Barker at the lauded (but now closed) Magnolia Grill in Durham, NC.  While in the Raleigh-Durham area, Steigerwald's wife Michelle Mouton completed her doctorate in English and Critical Theory at the University of North Carolina.  Dr. Mouton's first job with her doctorate degree was to come to Mount Vernon and teach at Cornell College.  

Steigerwald realized that Mount Vernon had a dearth of destination restaurants that served sustainable foods - as in zero.  Working with local farmers and food co-ops, Steigerwald came up with an idea for a restaurant where the menu would change seasonally upon availability of locally-raised food products.  Steigerwald opened the Lincoln Cafè in 2000 and it was an immediate hit with food connoisseurs who drove miles to dine at the restaurant.  Steigerwald was a three-time James Beard Award nominee for his work at the Lincoln Café.  

Three doors down from the Lincoln Café was a small wine cafe by the name of Divine Wines.  It opened about the same time that Steigerwald opened his restaurant in 2000.  In 2006, the owners of Divine Wines were looking to sell their spot, and like many chefs Steigerwald was looking to do something a little different.  When the opportunity to buy Divine Wines came up, he jumped on it renaming the place the Lincoln Winebar.  

In 2013, Steigerwald closed the Lincoln Café to concentrate on a revamp of the Lincoln Winebar.  (Ironically, one of the people who Steigerwald bought Divine Wines from - Rachel Sauter - reopened a restaurant in the old Lincoln Café spot and called it the Palisades Cafe after the nearby cliffs along the Cedar River in what is known as Palisades-Kepler State Park.  Sauter sold the restaurant in 2016.)  

About six years after Steigerwald purchased the Lincoln Winebar, it became home to a huge (6500 lb.) specially-made wood-fired brick pizza oven that was manufactured in Italy by renowned artisan Stephano Ferrara, a 3rd-generation Napoli craftsman who is now helped in the family business by his son Simone.  The oven - which features Santa Maria bricks from Campania, Italy, and mortar from Mount Vesuvius - cost about $25,000 to build and it took 3 months for the oven to make it to Mount Vernon from Naples.  The roof of Lincoln Winebar had to be removed for the oven to be lowered into the establishment via crane.  Inlaid in the ceramic tiles above the opening of the oven is the Italian phrase Il Cibo E Importante - "Food is Important".  The brick oven can reach temperatures of 900 to 950 degrees (F) and can cook pizzas in 60 to 90 seconds.  

In September of 2014, Steigerwald sold the Lincoln Winebar to long-time employee Jesse Sauerbrei.  Sauerbrei had a background in wine and beer distribution before joining Steigerwald at the Lincoln Café.  Steigerwald went to head up the New Pioneer Food Co-op's kitchen in Cedar Rapids.  (Steigerwald is now involved with Wilson's Orchard and Farm outside of Iowa City heading up the kitchen at the Rapid Creek Cidery.)  

Under Sauerbrei, Lincoln Winebar started doing lunches featuring sandwiches, salads and soups.  (They no longer do lunches at Lincoln Winebar.)  In the late summer of 2018, Lincoln Winebar procured a mobile brick oven that they take to events, private parties, farmers markets and other venues around Eastern Iowa.  And just a few weeks ago, Sauerbrei partnered with James Beard Award regional semi-finalist Aaron Hall from The Local Crumb in Mount Vernon to open a new pizza/bakery concept in Cedar Rapids by the name of Fancy's New York.  

It was just before 5 p.m. when we pulled up in front of Lincoln Winebar at the corner of 1st St. West and 2nd Ave. NW in downtown Mount Vernon.  (see map)  We had tried to go to the restaurant before, only to learn that they are closed on Sundays.  (They're closed Mondays, as well.)  

We walked up a set of stairs and into the restaurant.  The large pizza oven in the corner behind the counter was tough to miss.  There was a small bar area off to the side opposite the pizza oven.  Lincoln Winebar featured wooden floors and a Tuscan-style wallpaper scheme.  My wife immediately noticed the sound dampening panels on the ceiling to help keep the restaurant from being an ear-splitting echo chamber when filled with people.  

The place was void of people when we walked in and an outgoing woman by the name of Rachel greeted us as we came in.  She told us that we could sit anywhere and we took a table near the front window.   Parched from the road trip, I immediately ordered a Big Grove Easy Eddie Hazy IPA.  My wife ordered a glass of the house cabernet.  

The menu was on the wall near the pizza oven.   It was basic with just a few appetizers and a handful of pizzas with featured toppings.  They also had a few specials that day including Morel mushrooms with chives in a panna cream sauce (it was $24 bucks and there was a limit to just one per table); locally grown asparagus with 'nduja salami from River Bear Meats out of Denver, CO; and a nettles salad with cream, red onion, sweet peppers and Mahón Spanish cheese.  (I had to look up to see what nettles were and it's a spring herb that is high in oxidants and Vitamin C, and is usually served in tea.)

Some of the other items on the appetizer part of the menu were breadsticks made in the brick oven, house-made meatballs with arugula in a tomato sauce with parmesan cheese, and a basic house salad made with locally sourced greens.  

What we ended up getting to start out was the burrata cheese with 'nduja appetizer.  It featured a dollop of excellent burrata mozzarella cheese (hard on the outside, gooey on the inside) with sort of a paté of the 'nduja salami in a chile oil along with sweet pepper rings, arugula and gremolata (parsley, garlic and lemon juice).  It came with crackers and the taste sensations from all fronts were off the charts.  We sort of laughed and said that we could have had a couple more plates like that and that would have been fine for dinner.  

Since pizza was the only main item on the menu board, we decided to get a sausage and pepperoni pizza.  More people had come into the place, but our was going to be the first pizza of the day.  It didn't take long and Rachel was setting the pizza down in front of us.  It looked delicious with some charring on the fringes with ample amounts of ground Italian sausage and pepperoni slices mixed with a tangy pizza sauce with fresh mozzarella.

The only problem was that it really didn't taste all that great.  It was very burnt on the bottom of the pizza.  I like a little bit of burnt caramelization of the cheese on pizza, but the crust had that very burnt taste.  We both had a piece and thought, "Wow, this is really burned."  

Rachel came over to check on us and she said, "How's the pizza?"  I turned a slice over on the pan I asked if it was supposed to be this burned on the bottom.  "Oh my gosh," she gushed.  "Oh, no!  That's really burnt!"  

It wasn't long until Jesse Sauerbrei walked over to the table and looked at the pizza.  "Oh, man.  I'm so sorry, folks," he said.  "We're going to get you guys another pizza."  

As they were making up another pizza, Jesse Sauerbrei came back over to the table to explain what had happened. "I've got a new guy working the pizza oven," he said. "He was working our mobile pizza oven over the weekend and the floor of that oven doesn't get as hot as the floor on this oven.  He was still thinking that the pizzas needed to stay in a little longer."  Jesse also comped us on another beer and a glass of wine for our troubles.  We insisted that it wasn't that big of deal, but he made sure that we got a new set of drinks on the house.    

Moments later Rachel brought over a new pizza for us.  This time, there was much less char on the bottom of the dough.  And it was a much better pizza, too.  The flavors were all very fresh and melded well together.  The crust was crispy, but had a nice doughy texture to the bite.  I remarked to my wife that a side of marinara sauce would have been perfect to dip the pizza crust into.  (We found out later on from Rachel that the breadsticks they have come with a marinara dipping sauce.  We'll be sure to get some marinara on the side for the pizza crust next time we make it back.)

For dessert, they have tiramisu on the menu.  Only - that day - they didn't.  Rachel apologized to us for the lack of tiramisu and we were sort of crestfallen with that revelation.  But that didn't stop us - we went back to the Quad Cities and stopped at Biaggi's for a couple pieces of tiramisu to finish off our anniversary evening.  

The first very burnt pizza would have had us probably not coming back had we not said something to our server when she came back to check on us.  But they were very apologetic and accommodating in getting us a pizza that wasn't burned - and one that was very good.  It was an excellent pizza where all the ingredients tasted fresh and flavorful.  The service from Rachel was top-notch, and the atmosphere was cozy and welcoming.  Mount Vernon is kind of a haul from the Quad Cities, so it's difficult for us to get back to the Lincoln Winebar as much as we'd like to.  But for others willing to make the drive to Mount Vernon from Iowa City, Cedar Rapids or other points in Eastern Iowa, the pizza is worth it.

Back to Montreal

When I think about those nights in Montreal...

That's the opening line of Montreal native Gino Vannelli's hit song "I Just Wanna Stop", a sort of schmaltzy love song that hit No. 1 on the Canadian Billboard charts and No. 4 in the American Billboard charts in 1978.  (Although this version of the song performed by Vannelli is rather soulful and jazzy.)  I had to go to Montreal for meetings and a trade show recently and the whole time I was there I couldn't get the opening line of Vannelli's song out of my head.  

It's probably because I like Montreal so much.  

I first came to Montreal in 2002 for a job interview and I was hired on site.  I loved working for the company with people who became a second family to me.  That all sort of came to an end when the owner retired and sold the company to a French company that was the owner of our two biggest lines that we distributed.  I hung on with the new company for another 2.5 years before getting unceremoniously terminated in September of 2021.  That started me on a circuitous route of starts and stops and starts with jobs for the next year.  

Now working for a German company as their North American sales manager, it turns out that our warehouse is just outside Montreal - run by former colleagues of my old company!  Our product manager for the North American operation was a colleague with my old company.  Former colleagues have also given me advice in various areas.  It's almost like it was getting the old team back together!

So, I was certainly excited to get back to Montreal - a place I hadn't been to in four years or just months before the pandemic hit in March of 2020 when the world shut down - to see many of my former colleagues who have pretty much all moved on to other endeavors in life.  Plus - with my new job - I was able to get out and around to see accounts, all of whom were beyond excited to meet me.  (Montreal people are all so wholesomely friendly, almost embarrassing me at times with their gratitude with me stopping in to introduce myself to them.)  

To get around Montreal, I had a Tesla Model 3 that I rented from Hertz.  Actually, I had requested a mid-size sedan and was expecting a Volkswagen sedan.  However, when I went to the Hertz counter at Montreal-Trudeau International Airport, the lady said that they had a Tesla Model 3 available and wanted to know if I wanted that.  I asked if there was an upcharge and she said, no, but if it was less than 70% on the charge when I brought it back, it would be a $35 fee.  (About $25 bucks USD.)  I thought, "What the hell?"  Sure!  I'll give it a spin around Montreal.  

From the start, I was completely lost as to how Tesla's work.  First of all, it took me about 20 minutes of futzing around to figure out how to even OPEN THE DOORS!  Then once I got inside the car, it took me another 15 minutes to figure out how to even START THE CAR!  With a little help from Google, I was able to get going a half hour later than I would have had I got the Volkswagen sedan.  

I've always heard Tesla's had some torque and once I got on the freeway headed toward downtown Montreal I gave the accelerator pedal a little nudge.  It went from 50 kmh to 120 kmh (30 mph to 75 mph) as quick as a hiccup.  Once I realized that the speed limit was 100 kmh (62 mph), I took my foot off the accelerator.  The car instantly backed down.  I was like, "Wow!  This thing is so responsive!"  

It was a fun car to tool around in, but the biggest problem was that I couldn't lock the doors.  Google answers and YouTube videos were available for an idiot like me, but everything I did to try and lock the doors were fruitless.  I had to take everything out of the car when I had it in the parking garage leaving the doors unlocked and hoping that some vagrant wouldn't be found sleeping in the back seat when I went out to get the car in the morning.  

(When I took it back to Hertz before I flew back home, one of the guys asked me if I had any problems.  "Yeah," I said.  "I couldn't lock the doors."  

One of the receiving guys asked if the key card was in the car.  It was.  He pulled the card out, ran it down the pillar between the driver's side window and the driver's side back window and the car immediately locked.  I told him that I had tried that - and I had, numerous times.  He had that Quebecois shit-eating-grin on his face that I've seen many times before that basically screamed, "Stupid American!")

I picked up my German colleague at the airport the next afternoon and he was sort of stunned to see me driving a Tesla 3.  "Wow, I hope that was a free upgrade," knowing that I would be presenting him the bill sometime in the near future.  I told him that it was supposedly the same price as a Volkswagen sedan.  He said, "This is better than a Volkswagen.  I'm from Germany - I can ride in a Volkswagen sedan anytime I want."

The other thing about the Tesla Model 3 - since most of the controls and information is on the large touch pad on the middle of the dash, I literally had to go back to the trunk to get into my backpack to get my reading glasses because I couldn't read the control panel.  It's the first time I've ever had to use reading glasses while driving a car.

Late March weather in Montreal can be a mixed bag and we certainly had it during my visit.  Cool temps, steady rain, warm sun, heavy snow, freezing rain - it was all over the place in regard to weather conditions.  I could tell that many of the denizens of Montreal were over the winter and waiting for the day they could open up the numerous private swimming pools that blanket the city.  

Once again, I stayed at the Hotel Bonaventure, a hotel on the top two floors for the 12-story Place Bonaventure in downtown Montreal.  The architecture of Place Bonaventure is categorized as "brutalism", a style that began in Great Britain and its then-colony nations in the 1950's and extended into the early 1970's where architects used a lot of rough concrete aesthetics in their design.  The baffles along the walls of Place Bonaventure are starting to show their age by crumbling, but the rooms are still nice and up-to-date.

For a number of years, Hotel Bonaventure was a Hilton property - which would have suited me fine and dandy since I'm a Lifetime Hilton Honors member.  But it's now just an independent property and I haven't been able to cash in on Hilton Honors points during my five or six stays I've had at the hotel.  As I learned long ago, it's all about the points (or miles) when you travel for a living.  

Still, the hotel is pretty cool.  It features a roof-top indoor/outdoor swimming pool that allows swimmers to swim through a small tunnel under the lobby of the hotel.  The steam rising from the water, especially when there's a snowstorm going on, looks inviting.  A hot tub is also next to the pool and there was a sauna, but I don't know if it was working on this visit.

Hotel Bonaventure also has a handful of outdoor areas that feature babbling brooks, trees, bushes and little ponds.  Each time I have stayed at Hotel Bonaventure, my room usually looked out into these little courtyards.  However, this time I got a room with a view of the city looking out toward the St. Lawrence River and the new Champlain Bridge which is lit up at night. 

Every time I come to Montreal, I'm reminded of how much of a booming, yet somewhat gritty city it is.  There is always some sort of construction going on wherever you go - road construction, building construction, additions, demolitions - it's a progressive city that has a European charm to it, but isn't as charming as Paris or London.  Still the people are so nice and are accommodating to a non-Quebecois dolt such as I.  

My German colleague was keen on visiting the Montreal Underground City - basically a labyrinth of connected passageways under the central part of the city.  We spent an hour walking through the hallways that are filled with shops and restaurants.  We had a map, but it was tough to decipher because it also showed the ground-level streets on the map and it was sometimes difficult to tell what was a street and what was a passageway.  Even some of the signage in the Montreal Underground was confusing - and not because it was in French.  We doubled back after running into a dead end probably three or four times.  After awhile, we decided to head back up to street level, and when we walked outside I discovered that we were basically a block and a half from the hotel.  We thought we were going to have to take an Uber back to the hotel.  

One of the reasons we were in Montreal was to attend the Salon Audio de Montreal - the Montreal Audiofest.  A friend of mine - and a former colleague at my old company - and his wife are directors of the annual audio show that has been going on for 34 years.  COVID protocols either shut down or limited participation in the show over the past 3 years.  This was my first visit to the show and people actually seemed to feel like they were past worrying about getting hit with the coronavirus.  (Although my German colleague came down with COVID a couple days after he got home.  Me?  I was fine.) 

A number of companies were on hand to show equipment and I was told the crowds were some of the best they've ever had.  I ran into a number of friends and former colleagues who were at the show.  It really felt good to be able to get out and hang with people in my industry once again.

One of the more popular places was the studio exhibition where attendees were treated to live music that was mixed and recorded, then played back to the crowd.  My colleague, Stephan - our current product manager for North America - was in charge of the room as he is both a musician and a studio engineer.  Below left is Stef's band playing with a harpist.  And his wife is the keyboard player/singer in the group.  This session was recorded by a friend and former colleague who still works for my old company.  

My colleague also put on a Dolby Atmos immersive-sound demonstration with the 50th anniversary edition of Pink Floyd's classic album "Dark Side of the Moon" that was remastered in 9 channel surround, 1 bass channel, and 4 over-head channels.  Three or four times a day, he'd put on the remastered version and allow attendees to immerse themselves in the panoramic sounds of the music and effects.  I sat through the album at least two times and part of the time two other times.  It was a fun experience.  

One of the treats for the show was the gala banquet that was held on Saturday night.  The theme was a traditional Quebecois "Sugar Shack", a springtime ritual that is usually conducted in the maple tree forests of Quebec when the maple sap water begins to flow and it's boiled down - 90% by volume - into real maple syrup.  I'm going to have a separate entry on that because it was pretty interesting - and so much food!

And one other reason we went to Montreal was to visit our warehouse - which, as I said, just happens to be owned and run by a couple of my former colleagues from my old company.  And the warehouse is literally two blocks from the headquarters and warehouse of my old company.  It was rather surreal to drive out to Repentigny, north and east of Montreal, to go visit the warehouse.  It had been a number of years - I think it was probably over six years - since I was last out there.  A lot of good memories came back when we drove out.  

And the highlight of the trip was to see my old friend Moby.  Moby is the dog of my former colleague who runs the warehouse for us.  Moby was a rescue dog and was a fixture around my old company's office  That is, until my old boss sold the firm to a French company and they brought in a lot of fun-haters to run the operation and Moby was eventually banished from the premises.  A lot of my former colleagues who no longer work for my old company point to the day Moby was banished from the office as the day the world changed.  There wasn't the family feel or cameraderie amongst the staff after that.  Moby has grown old - he's 14 now - and I'm sure he didn't remember who I was.  But he would always be happy to see me when I would be in the office all those years ago as I would talk to him in doggie French - "Le woof!  Le bow wow!  Le ruff!"  Moby and I shared a moment of rekindling an old friendship before I had to get into meetings and touring the warehouse.  

It was great to get back to Montreal.  Even as coarse and unpolished the city may be for various reasons, there's a certain charm to the city that always makes me feel good.  It was a wonderful visit sharing some good meals with old friends and catching up with many who I haven't seen in years.  Look for some more entires on my return trip to Montreal in the coming weeks. 

On the Road Again!

"On the road again
Goin' places that I've never been
Seein' things that I may never see again
And I can't wait to get on the road again"

Willie Nelson - "On the Road Again"  Released 1980.  

Or, probably more apt in my case, this opening line of Canned Heat's 1968 hit "On the Road Again":

"Well, I'm so tired of crying
But I'm out on the road again
I'm on the road again"

After months of uncertainty with some ups and downs, as well as some starts and stops, I've finally landed on my feet again and I am starting to travel once more.  It's been August since I haven't slept in my bed at home and it will be interesting to see how I handle sleeping in a hotel once again without my wife at my side.  

Since my last entry in Road Tips at the end of March last year a lot sort of happened.  The day that entry was published, I was certain that I was going to take a job with a local company doing an 8 to 5 job.  But I got a phone call from a friend who worked for a large consumer electronics loudspeaker company.  He was getting "kicked upstairs", so to speak, to become the company's Eastern Regional sales manager and he needed someone who knew his territory to take over his accounts.  Since his territory was basically the same footprint I had been traveling for nearly 20 years, it was a natural fit.  

After some starts and stops - mainly because this company was part of a larger corporation whose motto was "Hurry up and Wait" -  as well as some lengthy negotiations, I accepted the position in late May, almost two months after I was first contacted.  It was - by far - the longest time period from the initial contact to the final acceptance that I had ever been involved in.

In hindsight, I probably should have seen what was coming.  

My first trip for the new company was their annual national sales meeting - talk about going into the fire with both feet - that was held in Louisville.  Their dinner banquet was actually held at Churchill Downs, a place my wife and I had visited years ago when my sister and her husband were still living in the area.  Although we didn't get a chance to go through the museum, it was still sort of neat to have access to the suites that looked out over the track.

A thunderstorm had moved through the area as we were being bussed from our hotel downtown to the racetrack.  But the track is so carefully groomed and drains so well that there was absolutely no water standing anywhere after the heavy rain.  I've seen the track at Churchill Downs many times on television over the years that it was sort of surreal to see it devoid of people and horses.  

The company required me to have an "on-boarding" session in July at their headquarters in Indianapolis.  I went over there just after the 4th of July and after I went to Indy, I drove up to Chicago to call on accounts with my friend whose territory I took over, and who just happened to be my regional boss.  Things looked good for me and I was happy with where I was at.  

There was a subsequent trip to St. Louis, Springfield, MO, and Kansas City, as well as a return trip to Chicago, then up to Milwaukee.  By August, however, I started to sense some concern from the main corporate office.  First of all, they decreed that there would be no travel until further notice.  Weekly sales team meetings via Zoom took on a tone of pressure and desperation.  A number of independent reps were let go in early September and it appeared that they were going to put more work on the back of the factory reps like myself.  

A somewhat ominous letter was sent out to all employees by the Executive V.P. on a Friday in mid-September.  It was basically a "we've had to make some decisions and some cuts will continue to be made."  I called up my buddy and asked him what he knew about all this.  "Hell if I know," he said.  "I just saw this for the first time, too!"  

The following Wednesday, I was working in my office and my buddy called me up.  He said, "Hey, man, I have (so-and-so) from Human Resources on the other line."  

I knew exactly what was going on.  I was getting let go - last one hired/first one fired.  I said, "You have got to be SHITTING me!"  He wasn't.  And neither was the lady - the same one who helped me through the set-up process when I was hired less than 3 months prior.  It was almost surreal.  I was unceremoniously kicked to the curb by this multi-million dollar company.  

It turns out that I was part of the first group of 12 or 15 people who were cut by the company - some who had been with the company for over 15 years.  And it wasn't that I was underperforming - I wasn't.  In fact, my two whole months that I was with the company, I was 47% and 71% over budget (goal) - the only territory that was performing that well.   

I found out after the fact that the parent corporation of the company I was working for lost $14 million dollars in the 1st quarter of their fiscal 2023.  It didn't help that my company had sales that were $11 million below goal during that period.  While I was doing well, the rest of the company wasn't.  The "big box store" sales were especially hard hit when Walmart/Sam's Club and Costco cancelled monthly rolling orders due to overstock issues with Best Buy cutting back significantly on their orders in the summer.  

Then, to add insult to injury, I found out that since I had worked for the company for less than 90 days (84, to be exact) that I would not be eligible for severance pay or for any continuance of benefits.  Now, THAT was a real kick in the ass.  

For a couple weeks after, I can remember going out to our sun room, looking out the window into the yard and just laughing out loud at how surreal and strange this turn in life had taken.  But at no point was I worried about my next job.  I don't quite understand why that was, but I actually slept well during that period - much better than I did when my old company who I had been with for nearly 20 years cut me loose in 2021.  

Finally, I put a message on LinkedIn letting my business contacts know that I had been caught up in the wholesale lay-offs at my company.  Almost immediately, I had a number of people reach out to me.  I had a number of potential employers who said, "You got screwed on that deal."  And I also found out that not a lot of people in the industry cared either for the company I had briefly worked for or for the Executive V.P. who made the decision to let me go.  

(As an aside, neither did my friend.  He ended up leaving the company less than a month after he was forced to fire me over the phone.  He was pissed because after they made him fire me, they took away his regional manager position and put him back into the territory he had before.  He's a sharp guy and he didn't see a future with the company.  After he left, he called me up and said, "They may be calling you to see if you're interested in coming back."  By that time, I had something else on the hook - actually a couple things - and I would have loved to have laughed at them and say, "No f---ing way!"  But that phone call never came.  And I was fine with that.)

I had four or five things in the offing and a couple of them were really serious.  Then in early October I got an e-mail from the owner of a German electronics company my old company distributed products for.  He and I had always gotten along and he was reaching out with an offer to think about.  

My old company who I'd been with for nearly 20 years had gone through a change of ownership in 2019.  They jettisoned a number of companies that we distributed and kept a handful of others.  One of those they kept was this company who reached out to me.  They are very well known in the professional sound industry (recording and mastering studios, primarily) and are an up-and-coming in the home audio field with their amplifiers, preamplifiers, headphone amps, DAC's and phono stages.  

They felt they weren't getting the "love" from my old company and they wanted to go direct in North America.  They had a product manager, a logistics warehouse and account receivables in place for the North American  operation.  The only thing they were missing was a sales manager.  

Long story short, they asked me to run their North American operation in late October of last year.  We negotiated and came up with a number that was amenable to both sides.  I came on board in early November and we took over North American distribution on January 1, 2023.    

The start up of a new operation always has hiccups and glitches, but the guys over in Europe seem to think that it's pretty much gone as smooth as they expected.  I didn't know what to expect, I guess.  A lot of the work has been administrative - getting dealer information and applications, reaching out to dealers to establish new relationships, inventory control, taking orders, and looking for potential new dealers.  

Once I felt comfortable enough to leave the office for a couple three days, I made plans to go to Chicago to see accounts there.  That was a drive, but there's going to be a lot of airport time in the future as I'll be heading to places such as Montreal, Miami, Nashville, Detroit, New York City, Toronto, and Portland, OR as well as Southern California and New England.  Nashville could be a drive - I can stop in St. Louis and/or Indianapolis along the way.  But for the most part it's back to the skies.

I hope to be able to start to share some of my adventures, depending upon my time which seems to be at a premium as I try to take on a new job with responsibilities in two countries.  Be sure to follow my Twitter feed as I'll be sending along pictures and updates as time allows.  In the meantime, please enjoy this great looking pizza from my recent trip to Dino's Pizza, one of my favorite places for pizza in Chicago!

Unpacking the Suitcase One Last Time...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

That's exactly what happened. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

I didn't take the job.  

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

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

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

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

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

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

But that's pretty much over now.  

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Until then, thanks for looking in to Road Tips!   

Iron Spike Brewing Company - Galesburg, IL

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

First Watch - Lee's Summit, MO

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Darkbird Taphouse - Peosta, IA

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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