Road Tips

Flannigan's - Coralville, IA

I have some old friends from my time at the University of Iowa that I get together with to grab a burger or sandwich, drink some beer, talk sports and man-gossip, as well as trying to solve all the world's problems over a two hour period three or four times a year.  We've been doing this for years and we had been meeting at a number of different places in the greater Iowa City/Coralville area.  But about three or four years ago, we settled in for our quad-annual gatherings at Flannigan's in Coralville, IA.  One of my friends said, "You know, you should write this place up on your blog."  And he was right.  Flannigan's did deserve a write-up in Road Tips.  

Flannigan's is the bar area for the venerable Iowa River Power Company located next to the Iowa River at the corner of First Avenue and 5th Street in Coralville.  (see map)  Housed in a building that dates back to the turn of the 20th century, the Iowa River Power Company was exactly that for a number of years.  The original dam and building were built in the mid-1840's as a grist mill.  For over 50 years, the mill churned out flour until a fateful day in 1899 when an explosion killed three workers and demolished the building.  The dam was still intact and local officials looked at using the site as a new hydroelectric power plant.  The building was quickly rebuilt and it began to power parts of Iowa City by 1902.   

The power plant was closed in 1968, but the dam remained - and does so to this day.   The building stood empty for about eight years before three local businessmen - Allan Johnson, David Koenig, and Gary Huysman bought the building and surrounding land in 1976.  They renovated the building into a restaurant concept with a great view of the Iowa River and opened the doors in October of 1977.  It quickly became the top restaurant in the Iowa City/Coralville area.  (Although some people may argue that The Lark in nearby Tiffin was the best in the area when it was still in business.)  

In 1988, Huysman and another partner, John Fisher, bought out the financial interests in the restaurant from Johnson and Koenig.  They did a renovation to the restaurant and added on to the main dining room.  By 1996, Fisher had left and Huysman had become the sole owner running the restaurant until declining health forced him to sell the place in 2002.  A young couple by the name of David and Danise Petsel who were running a restaurant in the Quad Cities bought the restaurant and implemented a few changes - including eventually turning the old lounge area into Flannigan's, an Irish-themed bar that, to me, doesn't really seem much like an Irish bar, but more like an upscale sports bar.

The lounge at the Iowa River Power Company was well-known as a haunt for many of the more high profile people in the Iowa City area during my years at the University of Iowa in the early-to-mid 80's.  I'll admit that poured back a few beers in the lounge a few times when I was going to Iowa when I didn't feel like "slumming" in some of my preferred drinking holes such as the Deadwood, Mumm's or The Vine.  It was probably the most classy bar in Iowa City in its hey-day.   

These days, it's sort of more homey than classy in Flannigan's.  After entering the main entrance to the building, you go down a hallway lined with a curious mix of portraits of famous people - like Abraham Lincoln, Clark Gable and Gene Kelly - hung on barn board walls to the inside entrance of Flannigan's.

The restaurant, itself, is big and open with a nice bar area, a step-up level along the walls with booths, and a step-up level in the back with low-top tables.  A D.J. booth is set up in the corner of the back area, but I'm not certain they have any dance music playing there any longer.  As I said, there isn't much of an indication that it's an Irish bar other than the name as there are a number of televisions throughout the place tuned to sporting events.  

Service is always prompt, but very laid back at Flannigan's.  After we got our menus, we ordered up a round of beers.  They have the usual domestic beers on tap as well as a smattering of imports and craft beers available.  The servers that we've had over the years - both young men or women - have always been easy-going in their demeanor and are more than amenable to changing something or adding something to the food orders.  

Most of the food on the menu consists of your standard bar fare - a long list of appetizers including fried pickle spears, chicken wings, jalapeño poppers, and a spinach-artichoke dip with chips are the first things you'll find on the menu.  Sandwiches, burgers, wraps and salads are also a main part of the menu items.  Entrees such as pasta dishes, a top sirloin steak, and a grilled tuna fillet with balsamic vinegar are also on the menu.  But for a more upscale menu, you'll need to go next door to the Power Company.  

The first time that I ate at Flannigan's, I had their Flanburger - a half-pound open flame grilled burger that starts at $8.95 for a basic burger.  From there, you can add cheese, bacon, sautéed mushrooms, fried onions, or a fried egg for an upcharge.  Fries, chips or a baked potato come at no charge as a side, but I always get the onion rings, also for an upcharge.     

Quite honestly, the only thing I've ever ordered at Flannigan's over the past few visits over the last four or five years has been the Flanburger.   It also comes with lettuce, a tomato slice, dill pickles and sliced red onions that are all very fresh.  The bun is light and airy, but stays together very well with everything going on the burger.  It's definitely a multi-napkin burger.  

We all pretty much get the same thing on our visits - the Flanburger.   Oh, maybe once in a while someone in our group has ordered a reuben or a pork tenderloin sandwich, but I honestly can't pinpoint when that would have been. The Flanburger at Flannigan's is thick and flavorful with the Swiss cheese I usually get oozing off the top of the patty with each bite.  The beef is so good with that chargrilled flavor that all the toppings and condiments don't overpower the beef flavor.  

And I like their onion rings at Flannigan's, too.  They have a rich and thick coating over wide-cut onion rings that just seem to melt in your mouth.  They're some of the better onion rings I've come across in my travels.  

There's a lot of good burger joints in the Iowa City/Coralville area, but I'll have to say that - by far - the most underrated of them all is Flannigan's.  I'd put their Flanburger up against all comers in town, I think it's just that good.  But there's other things about Flannigan's that keep us coming back - the good, but laid-back service; the cozy and homey feeling of the place; the good beer selection; and a pretty varied menu that I've never strayed from my choice of their burger on each of my visits.  I always look forward to our group getting together 3 or 4 times a year at Flannigan's, not only for the camaraderie, but for the great Flanburger and onion rings they have.

Sports Page Bar and Grill - Bloomington, MN

I have a buddy who travels to Minneapolis a few times a year and he was telling me of a sports bar in Bloomington that he liked to go to when he was there.  He said it was a good mix of locals and travelers, and he always felt welcome at the place.  I was in Bloomington earlier this year and I wanted to watch some of the NCAA men's basketball tournament one night and I took his advice and went to the Sports Page Bar and Grill.  

Located in a strip mall on S. Lyndale Ave. at W. 90th St. in Bloomington, The Sports Page has been around for over 35 years.  (see map)  It's one of those neighborhood places where families and friends have been heading to for burgers, sandwiches, pizza and appetizers. It's a place that's hosted parties - both celebration, work and sports watch parties - and has weekly trivia contests and karaoke every Thursday night.  (Note to self - stay out of the place after 9 p.m. on Thursdays.)  

But it was a Thursday evening when I was there.  I had just gotten back from St. Cloud and wanted to go to the Sports Page to watch some basketball.  When I got there just before 6 p.m., the place was packed.  But it turned out that there are two parts to The Sports Page.  I had walked into a small bar area.  It was a nice little room with a full bar and a number of high top tables.  It was packed and there was no place to sit in there.

I just happened to look toward the back of the bar area and saw a couple of glass doors that appeared to go into another room.  This area was much larger with some booths and low-top tables.  There was a small bar in the back and this room was also packed.  There were a lot of people who appeared to be socializing, while there were some tables that were filled with families with younger kids.  It turns out that it was opening day for the Minnesota Twins that day and a few of the people were in there after going the game.

I was lucky enough to snag a booth along the wall from a couple guys who were getting up to leave.  I sat there for a few moments waiting for one of the servers to at least acknowledge me.  It was well past 6 p.m. by now and the first of two NCAA basketball games had started, but most of the TV's were still on the local Fox Sports North channel from the earlier Twins game that was showing some fishing show instead of NCAA basketball.  

Finally, a lady server whizzed by me and said, "I'll be right with you, hon!"  The beer list was on the table and I was studying it when she finally came back.  She said her name was Chantelle as she dropped off a food menu and asked me what I wanted to drink.  They had the Surly Furious IPA on tap and I signed up for one of those.

It's mainly bar food at The Sports Page with appetizers, sandwiches, burgers, and wraps on the menu.  As I said earlier, they also had 10" pizzas on the menu and it appeared that they were probably pre-made as they only offered cheese, pepperoni, sausage, or a sausage and pepperoni combo.  They also had soups and salads available for lighter fare.  

Most of the sandwiches on the menu were pretty uninspiring - about the most exotic sandwich on the menu was a club sandwich - so, I focused on the burgers.  And it's not to say that the burgers were any works of art, either.  It was basically a choice between a single patty or double patty, and from there you could get cheese on the burger (American, Swiss, or Pepperjack).  They had bacon, mushrooms and jalapeños available on the burgers as well.

I figured out what I was going to get, but Chantelle was busy.  She was hurrying back and forth from the kitchen to tables and back again.  By this time, they still hadn't turned on any basketball and I was getting a little annoyed that a sports bar wouldn't have the focus to figure out that they're missing out on a huge viewing opportunity for their patrons.  But then I noticed later on when they finally did get the first game on some of the TV's that I was probably the only one that was interested in watching the games.  As I said, most of the people were socializing.  I thought to myself, "This is most un-sports sports bar I've ever been to."  And it took forever, it seemed, for them to realize that a second NCAA basketball game was underway at the same time before they finally changed the channel on another group of televisions.  

Chantelle finally did show up and I ordered up a double Swiss cheese, mushroom and bacon burger.  It came with a side of crispy fries and was served open faced with a light spongy bun.  The burger patties were flat grilled and it was hot and juicy when she brought it out to me.  

They didn't skimp on the toppings on the burger.  The Swiss cheese was thick and gooey on top of the burger patties.  The mushrooms appeared to be canned, but they were lightly sautéed in butter, and two thick pieces of bacon criss-crossed across the top of the burger.  The bun, as I said, was light and airy, but it held together rather well considering how messy this burger was.  It was a multi-napkin burger.   It wasn't anything fancy, but it was still a pretty fine burger.  

The fries were classic bar-food fries - skinny, crisp and flaky on the inside.  The double Swiss cheese burger with the sautéed mushrooms and bacon was more than a meal in itself.  But I did have a couple handfuls of fries and they were good.  

For what it was, I thought The Sports Page Bar & Grill was OK.  It's nothing fancy, it's more of a neighborhood hangout joint that just happens to have a lot of televisions on the walls, but they don't seem to emphasize the watching of sporting events probably other than the local teams.  My server was hurried and seemed to be overworked as the place was packed, but I wasn't in much of a hurry to leave as I stayed around to watch both basketball games that were on.  And as time went on, the place had pretty much emptied out by 7:30 p.m.  I don't know if The Sports Page would be my first choice to go watch a game that I wanted to see, but the burger was pretty good and that might bring me back in at some point.   

Big's BBQ Brew Pub - Mount Vernon, IA

My wife and I were visiting her father who was having an extended stay in a Cedar Rapids area hospital one Sunday.  After being with him for awhile, we decided to take off and head east toward the small town of Lowden where her son lives to visit him.  We took Mount Vernon Road out of Cedar Rapids - basically the old Highway 30 that was in use as the main east-west road through the city until the bypass around the southern part of Cedar Rapids opened nearly 40 years ago - over toward Mount Vernon.  We were getting sort of hungry when we got to Mount Vernon and I seemed to remember a place that was a barbecue joint there, but it didn't show up on my GPS.  We did a quick search on my wife's phone and it came up - Big's BBQ & Brew Pub.  Oh!  A brewpub, as well?  I said, "Jackpot!"  We found Big's BBQ & Brew Pub and went in to check it out.

Phil Smith grew up in the heart of Texas barbecue country.  After eating barbecue for years, he ended up in culinary school to learn every nuance of cooking, including making good barbecue.  Eventually moving to Iowa, Smith worked at a number of restaurants in Eastern Iowa.  He became friendly with a local brewer by the name of Aaron Gerbo and the two connected on a common culinary/craft brewing level.  Smith always wanted to have his own barbecue place and Gerbo was a seasoned craft brewer.  The two decided to join forces for a combination barbecue/brewpub.  

Searching for places in and around Cedar Rapids, the two found an old house in Mount Vernon just north of the downtown main drag to and from Cornell College.  They found a house that was originally built in 1890 and was used as a dental practice by the man who built it.  Years later, the main floor of the house was the home of a deli.  Two brothers whose father ran the deli now owned the house and they were approached by Smith and Gerbo about an opportunity to put a restaurant back on the main floor.  The brothers liked the idea of a brewpub/barbecue joint as it reminded them of their father's deli.  They gave Smith and Gerbo the go-ahead and the two set about turning the main floor into a restaurant.  By May of 2017, Smith was offering barbecue to go as the building was in the midst of renovations.  Within three months, the brewery was up and going, and they were offering sit-down barbecue to patrons.  

It was just after 1 p.m. when we pulled up to the front of Big's BBQ & Brew Pub at the corner of 2nd Ave. NW and 2nd St. NW.  (see map)  The stately old residence was pretty hard to miss, especially with a large "Big's" banner out front.  Upon entering the building, we found a small dining area that sat - maybe - 20 people.  The room was bright with the outdoor natural light shining in the windows.  A small kitchen area was in the back of the main floor of the house.  

The cozy little dining area had a small television hung on the wall, and a mantle over a closed-up fireplace displayed a number of decorative beer steins.  My wife and I took a seat at a table next to the window and a young lady brought us out a couple of menus for us to look over.  

In the front room that looks out to the street was a small bar area.  The three-sided wooden bar sat nine people and the room had some motorcycle memorabilia on the walls.  The bar area was also bright from the natural light coming in the three large windows.  

The beer menus for Big's were on chalkboards just as you walk into the dining room and on the wall in the bar area.  The nanobrewery operation was housed in the basement of the old house.  (Curiously, I looked around the outside of the house as we left and I didn't see a smoker.)  They had an Irish Stout on tap, as well a Russian double imperial stout.  They had two barrel-aged beers - a bock and another stout - and they had a Mexican Vienna lager on tap that sort of interested me.  Big's also has their own cider on tap, as well as a house-made root beer.

They had a kolsch on special that day - the Katfish Kolsch - with pints costing just $2.00.  After I took my first drink, I sort of figured out why it was on special.  It was pretty flat.  I ended up drinking it, but for my second beer I switched to the Double Barrel IPA that my wife had originally ordered.  It was a much better beer than their kolsch.  

It was standard barbecue fare at Big's BBQ & Brew Pub - baby-back ribs, pulled pork, smoked chicken, pork sausage, and a brisket platter that they have on the menu over most weekends.  With the majority of barbecue places that I'm trying for the first time, I wanted to have a combo plate.  I ended up getting the pulled pork and the burnt ends.  

The pulled pork was moist, juicy, very tender and very flavorful.  The burnt ends were also moist and tender with a nice bark on some of the pieces.  I thought the barbecue offerings I had were both very good.  

I can't say that about the sides, however.  I got the baked beans and the cole slaw.  Both were pedestrian, at best.  The cole slaw was pretty bland in taste, while the baked beans really lacked any pizzazz in their flavor.  But the smoked meats were outstanding and the portions were generous so I didn't feel cheated by having such bland sides.  

My wife ended up getting a combo of her own - the baby-back ribs with burnt ends.   The ribs were thick and meaty with a bit of a peppery rub that gave them a little zip in flavor.  They meat pulled away from the bone effortlessly and it was very tender and not overcooked.  My wife liked the ribs immensely.  She also liked the burnt ends very much, too.  My wife commented that she wasn't certain that she could eat all the barbecue on her platter and that's how I ended up getting one of the baby-back ribs to try.  

She got the cole slaw and the collard greens for her sides.  She, too, wasn't too enamored with the cole slaw, but she said she liked the collard greens.  She offered me a bite of the greens and I thought they were a little too sour in taste for me.  I remarked that some vinegar added to the greens might have helped them for me.  

They had a couple barbecue sauces available - the sauce they originally served in a small container reminded me of Cookies BBQ sauce with maybe some vinegar and mustard added.  It was good, but it wasn't as good as the raspberry sriracha sauce I asked for from our young waitress.  That barbecue sauce was simply outstanding.  It had a biting spicy taste at first, but the raspberry helped smooth out the spiciness on the back side.  I could have had a pint of that just to drink, I thought it was so good.  

For the most part, we really enjoyed our visit to Big's BBQ & Brew Pub.  We both thought the smoked meats we had were delicious and very generous in their portion size.  The sides were bland, but my wife did think the collared greens were good enough.  The kolsch beer that I first ordered was flat (I surmised that's why it was on special that day for $2.00 a pint), but the Double Barrel IPA that I got after that was a very tasty beer.  Our service was fine, the place was cozy, but the overall bill (a little over $50 before tip) was a bit of a shocker.  Still, Big's BBQ & Brew Pub was a great little find and a nice place to take a road trip to.

Cellar Peanut Pub - Newton, IA

My wife and I were heading back to the Quad Cities from a night in Des Moines last March and I wanted to stop somewhere to watch the Iowa/Tennessee men's NCAA tournament basketball game.  My niece who lives in Newton was telling us about a place that is owned by friends of hers that was part of the old Maytag Plant One complex in downtown Newton.  The place sounded so interesting and I'd heard other good things about the place from friends back in Newton that I wanted to stop in to watch the game.  This post is about our visit to the Cellar Peanut Pub.  

Marty Duffy grew up in New Jersey and ended up moving to Iowa at the age of 15.  His father owned a bar and Duffy helped his father out in his business.  Going to school at William Penn University in Oskaloosa, Duffy hung out with his football playing buddies at a place called the Cellar Peanut Pub.  He was studying to be a physical education teacher and a coach, but when the opportunity for Duffy to take over the bar came about in 2002, he chucked college and bought the bar.  His bar-owning father thought he was absolutely nuts.  But Duffy loved the bar business so much that he jumped in with both feet and never looked back.  

It was at the Cellar Peanut Pub where he met his future wife, Betsy, who was going to school at William Penn.  The two eventually married in 2007 and continued to run the Cellar Peanut Pub that they eventually moved to the old Rock Island Depot in Oskaloosa.  Duffy was a craft beer enthusiast and he turned the little bar into a craft beer destination featuring an ever growing list of beers from Iowa microbreweries.  But Duffy also became famous for his Bloody Mary's that garnered him a number of regional and national recognitions.    

The Duffy's opened a second location in Pella, IA in March of 2016.  Now, this sort of shocked me as growing up around the Newton/Pella area, Pella was known as a "tea-totaling" town, even with Central College the most prominent feature of the area.  I understand that there was still some push-back from local officials that the Duffy's had to deal with to open the Pella location.  But they were able to grow their business and their efforts were rewarded as the Thrillist web site named the Pella Cellar Peanut Pub as the best small town bar in Iowa in 2018.  

In late 2017, the Duffy's lost their lease on the old depot in Oskaloosa and were forced to close down.  The couple then set their sights on Newton and the spaces that were being developed in the former Maytag administration building.  

The Maytag company was sold to Whirlpool in 2006 and the administration building and manufacturing facilities in Newton were soon closed leaving many who didn't transfer to other Whirlpool facilities out of work.  It was a tough time for Newton for awhile as population dropped, businesses closed up, and school enrollment dwindled.  However, the Des Moines Area Community College was looking to expand their campus in Newton and they took over a large amount of the former Plant 1 building in downtown Newton.  In 2016, the owners of the former administration building donated the property to DMACC and the college set about with plans to develop the area that was soon renamed Legacy Plaza.  

Officials with the city of Newton worked to find businesses that would be interested in taking up space in Legacy Plaza and they came upon the Duffy's who were getting a fantastic following of craft beer lovers around Central Iowa.  A large space on the west end of the building was open and the Duffy's decided to turn that into their new location.  In October of last year, the Duffy's opened the Newton location of the Cellar Peanut Pub.  

Quite actually, I wasn't exactly certain where the place was.  All the years I lived in Newton, I really didn't go to Maytag all that much.  I sort of navigated around the parking lot north of the old administration building where my uncle parked when he was the office manager at Maytag years ago and into a smaller parking lot next to the Cellar Peanut Pub. (see map)  We were the only car in the parking lot at 11 a.m. on a Sunday and we weren't even certain if they were open. We walked up to the door, gave it a tug and it opened.  It was empty inside, save for a single young lady behind the bar.  I asked, "Are you guys open?"  She replied with a cheery, "We sure are!  Come on in!"  

The decor in the Peanut Pub is could be described as early 20th century industrial.  The exposed brick walls were a prominent feature of the main bar area with large windows letting in natural light.  There was a small beer garden outside behind the bar area, but it was too cold to be sitting outside that day.  Heavy duty wooden tables with metal industrial-style chairs were all around the bar area.  Incandescent Edison lights were strung from the rafters throughout the place.  Baskets of unshelled whole peanuts were prevalent on nearly every table and on the bar top.   

We ended up sitting at the bar on the not-so-comfortable metal stools.  We talked with Mindy - the young lady who greeted us as we walked in - who said that she was a teacher during the week, but helped out at the bar on the weekends.  Each beertender - as they're called at the Cellar Peanut Pub - must undergo a thorough training through the Cicerone Certification Program before they can become a certified beer server.  The certification program features a 60 question test that focuses on proper pouring techniques, fundamental cleanliness of the bar area, and being able to talk with the customer about different beer styles and tastes.  

I asked Mindy if they had food as they had a couple menus on the bar from a couple of restaurants in the Newton area.  She said, "No, but we've worked out a delivery deal with Giovanni's for pizza and with Moo's Barbecue." (Giovanni's is the pizza I grew up with and I haven't been in there in years, while Moo's Barbecue had a downtown Newton location until about 3 years ago before moving to a larger building out by Interstate 80).  "But people bring in their own food all the time," Mindy said.  "Sometimes people will bring in crockpots and set them up on the table and have kind of a party buffet going."  

Most of the beers, ciders and sours on tap were from small breweries around the state of Iowa.  Local breweries such as Exile in Des Moines, Firetrucker in Ankeny, Big Grove in Solon, Peace Tree in Knoxville, and Backpocket Brewing Co. in Coralville were represented.  They also had beers on tap from the New Holland brewery up in Holland, MI, the Church Street brewery in Itasca, IL, and they had the Victory at Sea imperial porter from one of my all-time favorite breweries, Ballast Point in San Diego.  And as a nod to the Maytag family, they also had Anchor Steam on tap.  The great-grandson of Maytag founder Fred Maytag - Fritz Maytag - resurrected the Anchor Brewing Company in the 1960's and is widely regarded as the first craft brewer in the United States. 

As I said earlier, I knew that Cellar Peanut Pub was also somewhat famous for their Bloody Mary's.  They've twice been named as having the Best Bloody Mary in Iowa and have garnered awards at the New York Wine & Food Festival.  I asked Mindy if she could make me one and she said that would be no problem.  We also ordered a couple beers to go along with it.  She asked, "Are you guys wearing sweat pants?"  Well, no, we weren't, but we inquired as to why she would ask.  "Sweat pants Sunday," she replied.  "People who come in here wearing sweat pants on Sunday get a discount.  But you guys are first-timers, so I'll go ahead and give you the discount."  

As Mindy made my Bloody Mary, I took a look in the back part of the building.  I was amazed at how big the space was at the Cellar Peanut Pub - about 7000 square feet.  The back room featured games including pinball and bags boards, and had a somewhat homey, yet unfinished look to the room.  

By the time I got back to the bar area, my Bloody Mary was up next to my beer.  I had ordered a Drugstore Cowboy pale ale from the Franklin Street Brewing Company in Manchester, IA (the birth place of my wife).  It was a hoppy New England pale ale that had just enough of a citrus back taste to cut into the hoppy-ness without having an over-powering fruity flavor.  My wife got the Tank Puncher IPA from the ReUnion Brewery in Coralville - a place I've been meaning to try at some point.    

I was remarking to my wife about how big this place was.  Mindy told us that they have bands play in the back room from time to time.  "Duke Tumatoe was here just last night," she told us.  I was amazed that Duke Tumatoe would play in Newton and was sort of upset that I didn't get a chance to see him at the Peanut Pub.  That would have been a fun show to see.   

The Bloody Mary lived up to its billing.  They use a homemade tomato juice mix for their base, then load it with vodka, veggies and fruits.  It was a very rich Bloody Mary mix and it was somewhat filling.  I thought about getting a second one, but I didn't think I could finish it.  And my wife is usually only good for one or two sips from a Bloody Mary.  

As we were enjoying our beers and watching the basketball game on TV, Marty Duffy and another guy came in and went behind the bar.  Marty came over to talk with us and I introduced myself and told him that he and his wife knew my niece.  Well, it turns out that my niece is very good friends with the Duffy's.  After all the pleasantries were exchanged, I complemented him on his place.  "We've had a good run, so far," he said. He said that there were some locals who love Budweiser and Miller Lite who will never come in.  "And that's fine," Duffy said to us.  "There's plenty of other bars around town that can cater to that.  I'm just trying to expose people to the better beers out there."  (I've since been told by one of my local friends that they now have Schlitz on tap.)

The other guy behind the bar with Duffy turned out to be Grant Heuer, the head brewer at the Gezellig Brewing Company (pronounced "hezellig") that Duffy's wife Betsy was opening up just down the plaza from the Peanut Pub.  "We've been down there working to get it going," Duffy told us.  "We hope to be open by this spring."  (They officially opened for business on June 7.)

We had a couple more beers as more people came into the place on a lazy Sunday afternoon.  My niece even made an appearance and she hung out with us for a few moments before taking us down to the Gezellig Brewing Company across the plaza from the Peanut Pub to look into the window to see the work going on at the nanobrewery.    

I have to say that my wife and I both loved every aspect of the Cellar Peanut Pub.  What they've done with the repurposing of the Maytag facilities that have been closed for years is a pretty amazing thing.  Great beer selection, great Bloody Mary, great space - the Cellar Peanut Pub just gave me another reason to go back to my hometown more than I have over the past few years.  

Porkopolis - Indianapolis

On a recent trip out to Indianapolis, I was looking for restaurants not too far from my hotel on the north side of the city for a late lunch/early dinner since I have still been on my OMAD (One Meal a Day) diet to help me continue to lose weight.  (I'm down 60 pounds since I started my diet nearly a year ago.)  I was sort of hungry for barbecue, but the two places near my hotel I had already been to before.  I was looking for someplace new and I found a barbecue place that popped up as a suggestion on my GPS that was about a 10 minute drive away.  It was a place called Porkopolis and I wasn't familiar with it.  I thought I'd go and check the place out.  

Brady Bogen and Matt Hamilton are lifelong friends who grew up together in Columbus, OH.  Bogen went into radio broadcasting while Hamilton got his degree from Indiana University and got into the hospitality business.  Hamilton worked for a number of restaurant ventures around the United States before settling in Phoenix a number of years ago.  Bogen was already living in Phoenix and working as a morning rush disc jockey at a popular hard rock/heavy metal station.  Bogen had started to market a line of barbecue sauces that he categorized as "Midwestern sweetness with Southwestern flavors".  Brady's Sauce was already a favorite around the Phoenix area by the time Hamilton and Bogen reconnected.  

Bogen's direct family lineage dates back to the early 1800's as he is the direct decedent of George Bogen, one of the first meat packers to open in Cincinnati.  Hamilton and Bogen thought that maybe they needed to think beyond just sauces and open a barbecue joint in the Valley of the Sun.  They enlisted the help of Roger McConnell, a local butcher who moved from Iowa to the Mesa area in the early 90's to open a meat shop featuring corn-fed Midwestern beef and pork.  With McConnell supplying the top notch pork and beef for the new venture, the trio opened the first Porkopolis in the Phoenix suburb of Chandler in 2012.  The got the name from a nickname Bogen's great-great grandfather called Cincinnati in the mid-1800's.  In 2016, the group opened a second location in Scottsdale.  

Gavin Hart had gone to college with Matt Hamilton at Indiana and had gotten into the restaurant business, himself.  He and his wife had been franchisees of a number of restaurants including Dunkin Donuts, Dairy Queen and BurgerFi.  The Harts owned a Dairy Queen on N. Michigan just north of 465 near Zionsville, but they were sort of getting tired with that format and wanted to do something else.  

Hamilton and Hart stayed in touch over the years and Hart voiced his desire to do something else with his Dairy Queen location, possibly a barbecue place.  Hamilton suggested that Hart come down to Phoenix to take a look at their Porkopolis operation.  Once he was there, Hart immediately liked the concept, down to the sauces they served at the restaurant.  Hart immediately signed on board as a part-owner of Porkopolis.

In early 2018, the Hart's closed the Dairy Queen location and started to renovate it into a Porkopolis location.  About six months later, the transformation was complete and they opened the Indianapolis Porkopolis in the fall of 2018.   

I came across W. 86th Street as the late afternoon traffic on I-465 was bumper to bumper.  I turned north on N. Michigan and headed under the interstate and further up the road to the north.  On my left, I saw the Porkopolis location, but there was no way for me to take a left hand turn into the place.  I went up to the light on 106th Street, did a U-turn and headed back down Michigan toward Porkopolis.  (see map)

From the outside, I could still kind of see that the building was one of those pre-fab franchise-type restaurants that, I guessed, was possibly a Kentucky Fried Chicken at one point.  Only after I found out that it used to be a Dairy Queen did I realize that I was sort of track with my thinking.  The restaurant shared its parking lot with a convenience store/gas station next door. 

Walking into Porkopolis, I found a well-appointed and cozy space with a full bar on one end, an open kitchen off to the side and a smattering of tables and booths down the long narrow dining area.  An outdoor patio was in front of the building facing N. Michigan Ave.  Since it was late in the afternoon, I was the only one in there.  In fact, the whole time I was there, I was the only one in there.  

I was seated at a booth by Kareem, a soft-spoken young man who would also be my server.  Kareem seemed distracted during my visit constantly looking out the window looking at - or for - god knows what.  He gave me a menu and I asked what kind of craft beer they had.  He really didn't know what they had, so I made my way up to the bar to check out the selection on tap.  I spied a Bell's Two Hearted Ale and ordered up a pint of that.  

The menu had your normal barbecue specialties - baby back ribs, brisket, pulled pork, smoked chicken and smoked turkey.  They also had a number of barbecued meat sandwiches, as well as a burger, a rib-eye steak and southern fried chicken for people not looking for barbecue.  A number of interesting items such as jambalaya with smoked pork and chicken, pulled pork tacos, and an appetizer called fried gumbo - deep fried chunks of shrimp, catfish and okra mixed together and seasoned with a rub concocted by Brady Bogen.  

I really wanted to try some barbecue - I normally like to get the combo platter when I do barbecue - but something else grabbed my attention.  I ended up getting the smoked meatloaf.  It consisted of a mixture of pork and beef cooked in the smoker, then sliced and placed on the grill to finish it off.  It was served on a bed of mashed potatoes with green beans as a side.  A liberal amount of Brady's sweet and smoky sauce was placed on top of the meat loaf.  

The meat loaf was actually pretty good.  It had a nice smoked flavor and the char from the grill helped give it a nice finish on the taste buds.  The pork and beef mixture - how I like to make my meat loaf at home - was very flavorful.  And the sauce was a great complement to all the taste sensations.  I'm always dubious of meat loaf on the road, but Porkopolis' meat loaf more than satiated my appetite.

But I still wanted to try some of their barbecue, so along with the meat loaf I ordered the burnt ends appetizer.  It was a small bowl filled with tender brisket ends topped with the same sweet and smoky sauce that was on the meat loaf. It was sort of expensive for what I was served, but it was still very good.

They had four different types of sauces on the table - there was a regular sauce in a Porkopolis bottle, the sweet and smoky Brady's sauce, a hot and sweet Brady's sauce, and a very interesting Sriacha chile verde sauce.  I tried some of that on the mashed potatoes and I liked it immensely.  It was a little too salty for my liking, but the sauce really livened up the somewhat dull mashed potatoes.  In hindsight, I should have picked up a bottle of Sriacha green sauce when I was there.  

For my first visit to Porkopolis, I come away pretty impressed.  I was a little concerned about three things - I was the only one that was in there the whole time I was there (I left around 5:30 p.m.), the server was a little distracted (but he did an OK job of taking care of any request I had), and it is sort of a pain to get to if you're traveling north on N. Michigan.  But the smoked meat loaf was very good, as was the burnt end appetizer.  It was a nice and comfortable setting and there wasn't much of a hint that the place used to be a Dairy Queen up to a little over a year before.  I liked Porkopolis and if you're in the area you probably should give it a try. 

The Onion Roll - Oak Park, IL

Earlier this year, the Chicago Tribune ran a story where they named the top corned beef sandwiches in the Chicagoland region.  Many of the places they listed I had been to, but there was one place that I had passed a few times in the past out in Oak Park that they had listed - The Onion Roll.  It turned out that not long after the article came out, I was in the Oak Park area and had a chance to stop in for a late lunch to The Onion Roll.  

The Onion Roll is a Jewish deli that has been around for nearly 60 years, but five years ago the original owners were looking to retire.  Two chiropractors whose original practice was just down the block from The Onion Roll - Dr. Igor Russo and Dr. Ryan Rosenthal - didn't want the place to close up.  They ended up buying the deli in 2014 and set about freshening up the restaurant.  

Like any place that is owned by someone for over 50 years - home, building, business - there's always some things that get worn or neglected as time goes on.  The two chiropractors renovated the deli and kitchen area, as well as the dining room, giving everything a fresh new look without making it look "too new".  They reopened the revamped deli about four months after they took over. 

The Onion Roll is located on North Ave. in Oak Park, just east of Harlem Ave.  (see map) I pulled up to the brick facade building with a green awning in front around 1:30 that day.  Going inside the deli, there is a long deli counter just as you walk in.  Different types of meats, cheeses, salads and sides were on display in the refrigerated glass counter.  Not knowing the drill, I asked one of the guys behind the counter if I ordered at the counter or sat down to order.  He asked if I was getting it to go - I wasn't.  "To go orders up here," he explained.  "If you're eating here, grab a seat and we'll get you taken care of."  

The main dining room was a long and narrow space with a counter that sat 7 or 8 patrons with a number of tables along the wall and up front.  I took a table next to the wall and picked up a menu that was on the table.  I was kind of surprised to see that they had a full breakfast menu available featuring omelets, pancakes, breakfast sandwiches, and - of course - fresh smoked lox on a bagel.  The lunch portion of the menu featured a number of deli sandwiches, as well as burgers and a chicken sandwich.  Jewish specialties such as Nova Latkes, chopped liver and a smoked lox sandwich were also available.  The signature item on the menu appeared to be a variety of corned beef or pastrami sandwiches that are served on fresh onion rolls - naturally.  They came in two sizes - Earthling and Spaceman.  

I know they were cited for having one of the top corned beef sandwiches in the city, but I ended up getting The Onion Roll's hot pastrami with Swiss cheese on rye.  The pastrami was piled high with the Swiss cheese sort of balancing on top.  A large kosher dill pickle came on the side with a small tub of ground horseradish that I eagerly put on the sandwich along with some yellow mustard.  The waitress also brought out a small sample of their cole slaw for me to try after she tried to get me to order it as a side.  

The pastrami was cut thin and was very lean.  It had that wonderful pastrami taste and the horseradish gave it a zippy taste quality. The rye bread was dry, but still very edible.  This was a quality sandwich.

And I have to say that I messed up on not getting the cole slaw.  The sample that I tried had that wonderful sweet, sour and spicy taste sensation that I love in good cole slaw.  I was sorry when the couple three bites of the sample she brought out were gone.  But that was fine - the sandwich was more than enough for me for lunch that day.

I always love finding good little Jewish delicatessens and The Onion Roll more than lived up to my expectations once I read about the place in the Chicago Tribune.  The hot pastrami with Swiss on rye was a classic deli sandwich.  Having fresh horseradish to put on top of the pastrami helped give it a little zip in taste.  And the cole slaw sample I had made me wish I had ordered it in the first place.  Jewish delis are a dying breed, I'm sorry to say.  But with new owners, The Onion Roll will be serving up great sandwiches, breakfasts and Jewish specialties for years to come.  

The Continental - Des Moines

My sister's boyfriend had invited my wife and I to join them along with my two nieces and their husbands in Des Moines for the NCAA men's basketball tournament regional games earlier this March.  We wanted to meet up for lunch beforehand and someone had suggested that we go to Zombie Burger in Des Moines' East Village.  (Click here to see Road Tips visit to Zombie Burger.)  My wife and I were the first to arrive at Zombie Burger and we found that there would be a two-hour wait for a table for 8.  We had to spring into Plan B pretty quickly and we did some checking on restaurant apps on our phones for available restaurants in the area.  About a block and a half away from Zombie Burger there was a restaurant that sounded promising.  We walked down a block and turned left on E. Locust and walked up to the front of The Continental.  It was less than half full and they said they could push together a couple three high-top tables up front.  We sat down and it wasn't much more than five minutes when the rest of our group showed up.  My sister took a look around the place and said, "I've always wanted to try this place.  Sure!  This will do!"    

Kevin Dubay was a Des Moines native who was teaching art at the University of Missouri/Kansas City.  He and his wife, Jennifer, had longed to open their own restaurant and began to look for places to start one. In 2005, Kevin Dubay quit his teaching job in Kansas City and moved back to Des Moines to search for a site for his restaurant dream.  The East Village in Des Moines was beginning to become a shopping and entertainment destination with bars, restaurants, shops, and music venues popping up.  The DuBay's focused on a space on E. Locust Street and they recruited Dubay's brother Brian - a chef during the day and a local musician at night - to help get their restaurant going.  The Dubay's opened The Continental Lounge in the summer of 2006 offering craft beers, eclectic cocktails and an interesting food menu consisting primarily of small plate and tapas offerings.  The name was eventually shortened to just "The Continental" at some point.

The bar area at The Continental was up front and featured a long "L"-shaped bar with a back bar going the length of the front bar.  They had a couple three bartenders working - one appeared to be a mixologist doing nothing but mixing drinks from the somewhat extensive craft cocktail list that they had.  My wife immediately ordered up a drink that had gin, tequila and citrus juice in it.  She was sort of taken aback by the taste at first, but she quickly learned to like it.  

The restaurant featured a number of booths upfront with a number of paintings hanging on the exposed brick wall.  Many of the prints were by local artists and were for sale.  It got increasingly more dark as you went back into the restaurant.

The far back area of the long and narrow restaurant featured more artwork on the walls above tables.  Initially, after they offered to push the high-top tables together up front, we found this little area and thought it would be better to have a couple square tables pushed together back here.  But, it was sort of dark in the back area and my wife made the executive decision to sit up front in the natural light.  

Before the rest of our group had joined us, I'd ordered up a Bloody Mary with a Bell's Two Hearted Ale that they had on tap.  One of the bartenders - a very laid-back guy whose easy demeanor seemed to be stuck on idle the whole time he worked with us - told me that it takes some time for the Bloody Mary to be made.  He got me my beer while I waited, and then after everyone showed up he brought me the Bloody Mary.  Once they saw the Bloody Mary he brought me, other people in our group immediately signed up for one.  It was worth the wait.  

The food menu at The Continental features a number of shareable plates, a few salads and a handful of sandwiches.  (They also have large plate entree specials after 5 p.m.)  The sharable plates or tapas included truffled button mushrooms, pastrami egg rolls, spicy minced pork & beef meat balls, and chicken & chorizo brochettes.  There were so many interesting things on the menu that we just decided to start ordering stuff up and share it all around.  

When our laid-back server came back out from behind the bar to take our food order, I noticed that he wasn't carrying a pad to write things down.  Now, it absolutely drives my youngest niece crazy when servers don't write stuff down - it sort of unnerves me, as well, especially when it's a large group.  Like ours that day.  I've found that more often than not nothing good ever comes out of that.  But we decided to see if the guy could pull it off.  

And we were pleasantly surprised - he was very good.  When he brought the food out, he had everything correct with the exception of an order of cheese and olive-stuffed empanadillas that he didn't bring out from the kitchen.  I had to say that I was impressed.  But my niece wouldn't give him a pass on the empanadillas.  I told her that I've had servers who wrote stuff down who forgot food or gave me the wrong thing.  This guy almost nailed it.  

Here are some of the items that we had that day -

We ordered up two or three plates of The Continental's poutine.  It was classic Quebec-style poutine with crispy fries, cheese curds and a brown gravy poured over the top.  For a poutine - and I've had some good poutine in my visits to Montreal - this was very good.  

The braised beef sandwich was also a popular choice at the table.  It featured brisket slow roasted in a cranberry/tomato sauce and served on a kaiser roll.  My sister gave me a bite of hers and the combination of the tender beef with the tangy tomato sauce with just enough of a sweet fruity taste from the cranberries was an exceptional taste.  

Some of us ordered tacos.  They had pork tacos where the meat was marinated and roasted in a combination of citrus juice, achiote paste and Patron tequila.  They also had the braised beef tacos, similar to the braised beef sandwich some had.  The braised beef tacos came on deep-fried flour taco shells topped with chopped lettuce and tomatoes, and a chipotle cream sauce came on the side.  The braised beef tacos were yummy!  I almost ordered up some of the grilled tilapia tacos to go along with the pork and braised beef tacos, but we had more than enough food on the table.  

My wife wanted to try the crab/shrimp cakes and she definitely didn't get cheated on the portion.  The crab/shrimp cakes were encrusted in a panko bread crumb and parmesan mixture and served on a slick of remoulade sauce.  Big, thick, and rich in taste, my wife said she could have just had a couple of those and she would have been good for lunch.   She also helped share some of the chipotle hummus they had at The Continental.  The hummus was served small pita points and my wife liked the spicy flavor it had.  

While The Continental wasn't our first choice for lunch that day, I'm guessing we had a much better meal than if we had decided to wait it out at Zombie Burger.  I was more than impressed with the food, drink selection, craft beer list, and the service we received that day.  The decor was tasteful and the atmosphere was relaxed and folksy. It was a great re-purposing of a space in a building that probably had been built well over 100 years before.  The Continental was a great place to share food in a group and they were more than eager to take care of every little thing that we asked for.  

Big Lug Canteen - Indianapolis

Out in Indianapolis earlier this spring, I was looking for a place where I could get a burger and a craft beer.  I happened to encounter a place that was tucked back in a strip mall near the hotel I was staying at, a place called Big Lug Canteen.  The name sounded interesting enough that I had to check it out.  

Ed Sahm is well-known around Indianapolis for many of his eponymous named restaurants in the area.  He opened his first restaurant in north suburban Fishers in 1986 (click here to read the Road Tips entry on Sahm's Restaurant in Fishers) and branched out to other locations around the city from then on.  In 2009, he was joined in the business by his son, Eddie, who focused on developing new ventures for the family's business.  (Today, the Sahm's operate 15 various themed restaurants in the greater Indianapolis area.)   

The Snooty Fox was a longtime English-style pub on the north side of Indianapolis.  It had fallen on hard times and in 2010 the owners agreed to be part of a makeover by the reality television program Restaurant Impossible.  The menu and decor were changed to be more like an English pub, but it became apparent after the makeover that the restaurant wasn't going to make it.  The owners closed the Snooty Fox in October of 2011 after 29 years of business.  The Sahm's took over the building about three years later and announced they would be putting in a brew pub/pizza place in the space that Snooty Fox vacated.  The second location of Sahm's pizza venture - Rockstone Pizza - and the new brewpub Big Lug Canteen opened side-by-side in October of 2017.  

The brewpub became a popular destination, but things weren't working out too well for the pizza place.  People who came in were looking for more than just pizza out of that location.  In the summer of 2017, the Sahm's revamped the Rockstone Pizza side of the business into Sahm's Ale House, a somewhat upscale craft brewpub with a more eclectic menu of food to choose from.  It seems to be working as when I was heading into Big Lug Canteen, I took a peek inside the alehouse to see the place nearly full that particular evening.  

Big Lug Canteen is located along E. 86th Street on the north side of Indianapolis, just west of Westfield Boulevard.  (see map)  It is located right next to the popular Monon Trail bike and recreation path that runs just over 18 miles from downtown Indianapolis to the far northern suburb of Sheridan.  Behind both Big Lug Canteen and Sahm's Ale House, there is a large outdoor patio that caters to the riders and walkers who use the path in the warmer months

The outside of Big Lug Canteen was a little confusing to me - it's a building with a metal facade and bright red accents around the front door entry way.  It didn't really look like a functioning business, let alone a brewpub.  But upon entering the place, I found a small, but lively spot with two levels.  Most of the patrons that evening where one the main level, but there were a few people hanging out at the upstairs bar area when I roamed around the place after I finished my meal.  The upstairs had many more televisions hanging from the walls than the downstairs space.  

The upstairs bar was much larger than the one on the main level, but I was able to find room at the downstairs bar.  One of the bartenders that evening came over with a food menu for me and I also took a look at the beer list to see what they had to offer.  It was a short list with just three full-time "house" beers on tap with another 7 or 8 rotating brews they offered.  They also had some guest brews on tap and I got a Wooden Tooth IPA that they had that evening.  

The food offerings at Big Lug Canteen were pretty basic for a brewpub.  They had an assorted selection of hoagie-style sandwiches, a half-dozen poutine dishes, small dishes including tacos or wings, a large selection of salad plates, and handful of burgers and sandwiches - available either in full size or slider-sized options.  For the health conscious and vegans in the crowd, Big Lug Canteen also had Impossible Burgers available for a $4 up-charge.  

I really didn't know what I wanted to get.  I almost pulled the trigger on the pork poutine - traditional Quebec-style poutine with fries, cheese curds, gravy and some pork belly mixed in - but I just wasn't feeling it that evening.  Really, none of the hoagies appealed to me, nor was I wanting a salad with a choice of chicken (grilled or Nashville hot), salmon or tuna and egg salad.  I was really in a food funk that evening.

I ended up getting one of the burgers they had on the menu, the Kevin Kline.  (The venerable actor Kline, who is one of my all-time favorite film performers, went to school at Indiana University in Bloomington before going on to study at Julliard in New York.)  The burger consisted of a Fischer Farms ground beef patty (no Impossible Burger for me) topped with lettuce, tomato, onion, and American cheese finished with an herb mayo spread.  Sides were extra with the burger and I was sort of torn between two things - tater tots and a cup of their chili.  The bartender told me that their chili was outstanding, but the tater tots kept calling my name, as well.  In the end, I ended up getting both.  What the hell, huh?

The burger turned out to be pretty good.  The Fischer Farms beef was flavorful and really stood out amid all the toppings on the burger.  The lightly-toasted bun was soft, but not overly chewy, and held together very well.  It was a well-above average burger.  

The tater tots were fine - crispy on the outside and flaky inside.  The Cholula hot sauce that I poured on nearly every single tot helped kick up the taste.  And the bartender certainly didn't lie about the chili - it was excellent.  I got it loaded with corn chips, onions and sour cream, and I was somewhat sorry I didn't get TWO cups of the chili as I laid waste to the serving I had in a short amount of time.  

For the most part, I was happy with my visit to Big Lug Canteen.  Much of the food menu didn't appeal to me, and they seemed to have a somewhat short list of beers to choose from that evening, but that didn't really faze me all that much.  The burger I had was very good, the tater tots were also good, but the chili - I thought - was outstanding.  Big Lug Canteen is a nice little place, but if you're looking for a wider selection of both food and craft beers, you may want to try their sister restaurant - Sahm's Ale House - next door. 

Short Fuse Brewing Company - Schiller Park, IL

I was sort of in the mood for a brewpub one evening when I was in the near western suburbs of Chicago earlier this year and I did a quick search of ones that were in the area around O'Hare International Airport.  I found one that I wasn't familiar with that was down the road a bit from my hotel - Short Fuse Brewing Company.  I headed down the road to go try the place that night.

Nick Teague decided that he wanted to dip his toe into the already somewhat saturated brewpub scene in the greater Chicagoland area.  Along with his wife, Hillary, the two knew that they needed to do something that was a little different and be in an area where there wasn't another brewpub or nano-brewery around.  The two found a building that housed a former fork lift repair facility in Schiller Park, very near O'Hare International Airport.  The next thing was to find a brewmaster they could partner with to make their dream come true.  

The Teagues got in touch with Mark Duchow, an award winning brewmaster who had good runs at a number of places in the Midwest including The Grumpy Troll in Mt. Horeb, WI (click here to see the Road Tips entry on The Grumpy Troll), and at Sweet Mullets (now known as Brewfinity Brewing Company) in Oconomowoc, WI.  The Teagues made Duchow a partner in the venture and they immediately began to accumulate tanks and fermenters for the brewery.  Duchow knew someone in Wisconsin who was able to procure an old dairy tank for the brewery, and they also added a couple of foeders - giant oak vats that are usually used to age wine, but in this case they were going to be used for some wild berry and sour beers that Duchow was wanting to play around with.  With the buildout of the 20,000 square foot building - with a 7500 sq. ft. tap room - Short Fuse Brewing Company opened in June of 2017.  

Short Fuse Brewing Company is located on River Road in Schiller Park, just south of the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center and the row of large hotels and restaurants in Rosemont.  (see map)  It was a cool weeknight when I went there, but the parking lot was full of cars.  I was able to snag a spot on the south side of the building when someone was leaving and I headed inside to check the place out.  

The tap room at Short Fuse is long and somewhat narrow, but it's billed as the largest in the greater Chicago area.  Garage doors open to a patio next to a parking lot in warmer weather.  There was an area toward the back of tap room that was hosting a corporate party explaining the difficulty to find parking when I first got there.  

The bar went about 2/3rd's the length of the tap room.  Tall windows behind the bar allowed patrons to look into the brewery operations.  The tap room had a definite modern industrial look to the place.  

Up front toward the entrance is a lounge area that can be turned into a small stage area for live bands playing on the weekend.  The overstuffed couches and comfy chairs provided an alternative for those just wanting to unwind.  That evening, a young lady was setting up a P.A. system for trivia later that evening.  

I ended up seated at the bar and was met by Ryan who gave me a food menu along with a list of specials they had at the time.  The beer list was on a chalk board in front of me at one end of the bar.  They have 14 beers on tap year-round with a handful of seasonal beers at various times.  A couple of them caught my eye, but I was sort of intrigued with the Bear-ie White - a wheat pale ale that is made with gummy bears.  That's right - gummy bears.  I asked Ryan about the beer and he said it was had a very fruity taste to it.  I don't care for wheat beers and I don't like fruity beers.  I ended up ordering the Kolsch, but I was told they were out of that for the evening.  I ended up getting the IPA Bomb American-style Indian Pale Ale.  

The food menu featured a number of unique appetizers including ale-marinated chicken wings, Korean beer-bbq shrimp, and French fries topped with a beer cheese sauce, bacon bits, chives, sour cream and a house-made beer glaze.  They also had something called "Beerchos" which were blue corn tortilla chips topped with shredded cheddar, the beer cheese sauce, refried beans, chopped tomatoes, pickled jalapeños, sour cream and finished with fresh cilantro.  

Main entrees included Short Fuse's interpretation of chicken and waffles, a coffee-encrusted skirt steak, and a poutine mac & cheese that was a mix of crushed tater tots, pasta noodles, white cheddar cheese curds, a mini burger patty all topped with the beer cheese sauce, scallions, and a brown demi-glaze gravy.  My stomach was doing jumping jacks on that.  

Burgers and sandwiches were on the menu including a monster 1/2 pound burger topped with beer-braised pulled pork, cheddar cheese, smoked bacon and crispy pork rinds.  The BBBB and Some L&T was a classic BLT with copious amounts of applewood smoked bacon, lettuce, tomato, smoked gouda cheese and finished with a spicy mayo.  (I almost ordered that.)  They also featured wood-fired gourmet pizzas and a handful of salads on the menu.

A couple of the specials they had that evening sounded pretty interesting to me.  The Beef Wellington bites caught my eye - mini stuffed beef Wellington pillows with chopped vegetables and topped with a beer stout demi-glaze gravy.  The corned beef sandwich sounded interesting - the corned beef was cooked in a beer broth - but I'd had a corned beef sandwich a day or two before.  But in the end, I ordered something else off the specials menu that evening.

I got the poutine burger - an open faced burger patty topped with the brown demi-glaze placed on a bed of fries that was topped with their beer cheese sauce with some greens on the side.   The burger was a tad overcooked and, quite frankly, it was all sort of bland in taste.  The fries had that great crispy outer shell with a flaky inner core.  It wasn't that I didn't like what I got, it was just all right in my book.  But I was sort of disappointed I didn't go with something else.  

The bar was very busy that evening and there were only a couple guys behind the bar running up and down taking care of the patrons at the bar while pouring beers for waitresses who were coming up with their orders.  Ryan forgot about me a couple of times, but that was fine.  I wasn't in a big hurry and I gave him a mulligan as they were pretty busy.  

My first impression of Short Fuse Brewing Company was more favorable than not.  The American IPA was a good beer, the space was open and allowed people to spread out a bit - but it wasn't loud in there for as many people that were in there - but the food I had was average, at best.  The bartenders were busy and they forgot about me a couple of times, but that was fine.  Short Fuse is very near where I like to stay when I'm in Chicago and I'm sure that I'll venture back a time or two in the future to try something else from their beer and food menus.  

1909 Taverne Moderne - Montreal

Of course, hockey is big in Montreal with the Canadiens (known as the "Habs" to the locals and hardcore fans around North America) recently finishing their 110th season.  Working for a Montreal-based company for over 16 years, my co-workers in the main office live and die with each game the Canadiens play.  And it was an agonizing season for Habs fans - the team finished just outside the top 8 Eastern Conference teams for the Stanley Cup Playoffs.  It was the 3rd time in the last 4 seasons the Canadiens have failed to reach the postseason.  The team plays their games in the Centre Bell (the Bell Center), a modern new arena that took the place of the historic Montreal Forum toward the end of the 1995-96 season.  About three-and-a-half years ago, local officials announced the arena (originally called the Molson Centre when it opened) and the surrounding area would undergo a significant renovation.  And one of the renovations called for a huge upscale sports bar that they would call 1909 Taverne Moderne that was slated to be built in the 50-story Tour des Canadiens building next to the Bell Center.  One night while we were in Montreal earlier this year, my company took us out to 1909 Taverne Moderne to watch a hockey game that was being played in Centre Bell and to have dinner.  

In order for 1909 Taverne Moderne to become a reality, the Montreal Canadiens paired up with Cara Operations to come up with the concept for the sports bar named for the first year the Canadiens played hockey.  Cara Operations - now known as Recipe Unlimited - is the oldest full service restaurant corporation in Canada starting in the early 1880's as a company that sold confectionaries, newspapers and magazines at train stations.  They oversee the operations of 18 different restaurants or restaurant chains across Canada including Bier Markt, where we went to for lunch one day we were in Montreal.  (Click here to see the entry on Bier Markt.)  At the same time that they opened the one next to the Bell Center in downtown Montreal, they opened a similar 1909 Taverne Moderne at Place Bell, a smaller arena in the northern Montreal suburb of Laval.  The 1909 Taverne Moderne at the Bell Center opened at the start of the Canadiens 2017-18 season.  

Even though it was just three blocks from our hotel, it was a somewhat treacherous wintry walk to 1909 Taverne Moderne.  (see map)   The place is just huge - multiple bar areas, televisions everywhere, and a total floor area on 3 levels of over 27,000 square feet.  The bar area at the main entrance - the Plaza level - seemed to be somewhat subdued and I followed our group down a couple sets of escalators to a two-story subterranean level called the Concourse and the Mezzanine.  Turning the corner from the second down escalator I came onto the vast Concourse level  that was quite the sight to behold.

The hallmark of both 1909 Taverne Moderne restaurants are the huge large screen televisions - the one in Laval features a 33' wide projection screen, while the one we were at in Montreal features a 46' wide screen, easily the largest one in Canada.  It was sort of mesmerizing to a longtime audio/video guy like me.  My colleagues and I were sort of geeking out at the high definition projection units that were mounted in large housings on the Mezzanine level.  

The main level in front of the large projection television was a vast area of tables with two large bars.  There were a couple televisions that were turned to the Toronto Raptors basketball game that was going on at the same time, but nearly every television was tuned to the Canadiens game going on next door.  

Our group took a seat along the wall at a series of high top tables that sat 10 people each.  I immediately ordered up a Yakima IPA - a very good beer from the Le Castor microbrewery from the small Quebec community of Rigaud located about 40 miles west of Montreal.  I had discovered the Yakima IPA earlier on this visit as none of the places had the Boreale Blonde beer that has become my favorite beer on trips to the Montreal area over the years.  

The menu on the Concourse and Mezzanine levels at 1909 Taverne Moderne features a blend of traditional bar foods as well as more upscale offerings.  Appetizers ranged from nachos and chicken wings to smoked meat poutine, fresh oysters on the half-shell, and beef tartare.  Steaks, pork chops, rotisserie chicken and a seared salmon entree were on the menu, along with a variety of burgers and sandwiches.  The Montreal smoked meat grilled cheese sandwich especially caught my eye.  

One of the appetizers was a gravlax-style smoked salmon and I had to get that.  When our server brought it out for me, the guys seated around me at my table started to laugh.  It was a very small chunk of smoked salmon surrounded with fish roe, bread crumbs, candied shallots, and a dill cream sauce.  Quite actually, it was very good.  I only wish that it was a bigger piece of salmon.  

For dinner that night, I got the strip steak with a side of broccolini and frites.  I was able to get a side of the peppercorn sauce to go with the steak and I asked our waitress if she could give me some mayonnaise for the fries.  She sort of looked at the table and said, "I wonder why they didn't put any (mayo) on this tray with the fries?"  She went back to the kitchen and brought back a number of metal containers full of mayo.  Woo hoo!  I love mayo on French fries.   

And the steak was...  all right.  I mean it wasn't bad, but it wasn't a juicy, Iowa-style, corn-fed steak that I'm used to.  But it had a good enough flavor to it and the peppercorn sauce certainly helped zip up the taste a bit.  The fries - with the mayo - were very good, and the broccolini was warm, yet crisp.  Not overcooked in the least.  

One of my colleagues seated next to me got the tagliatelle pasta with polpeete - a variation on a true Italian meatball.  It came in an olive oil/tomato sauce and was topped with arugula.  My colleague leans a little bit more to the vegetarian side of the street, but he seemed to enjoy the pasta and small meatballs.  

We had some guys over from one of our factories in France and one of them got the salmon tartare - hand-cut salmon that was served Korean-style with pickled daikon and a sesame/soy vinaigrette.  It came with toasted crostini and a side of fries.  Now, this was actually an appetizer, but it was more than enough food for one person's dinner.  He said that he really enjoyed the dish.  

For dessert that evening, I got the bread pudding.  I had about half of it down before I realized that I forgot to take a picture of the dessert.  I remember it being pretty rich and that I probably shouldn't have had it.  I was definitely full and somewhat miserable by the time I wandered back to the hotel.  I always gain weight when I go to Montreal.  And I had to go on a major diet when I got back home to get my weight back down to where it was before I left to go there.   

1909 Taverne Moderne was a sort of pleasant surprise all the way around.  The food was definitely upscale for a sports-centric bar/restaurant.  I have to say the service was admirable as our servers did a good job of keeping up with requests from our large group.  And I definitely got my geek on with the huge projection screen on the Concourse level of the place.  I'm a casual hockey fan - more so during the Stanley Cup Playoffs - but it was sort of impressive seeing a match played on a screen that is larger than many movie theaters these days.  I'm a sports fan, I like good food, and I'm a craft beer enthusiast.  1909 Taverne Moderne checked off all the boxes for me that evening.