Road Tips

Adieu Berghoff - Chicago

In a matter of hours, the venerable Berghoff restaurant in downtown Chicago will close its doors after being in business for 107 years.  It's a sad day for a number of Chicagoans and Midwesterners who had many a meal at the Berghoff over the years. 

The Chicago Tribune has a wonderful two-minute tribute to the Berghoff on their web site today.  You'll need to have Macromedia's Flash player and a broadband connection to see it.  But if you've been to the Berghoff, it's worth the time to see it.  It brought back a lot of memories for me. 

This coming Saturday, March 4, there will be an auction of Berghoff fixtures, pictures and other items.  You can see a number of items here.  There will be a auction pre-viewing on Friday, March 3, with the auction beginning at 12 noon on Saturday at the Berghoff.   

By the way - on Monday, the Berghoff and their 51 union employees came to an agreement over a severance package that will be extended to all 92 employees who will be laid off with the closing of the restaurant.  Employees will get two months of paid health insurance and a financial package that was not disclosed by either side. 

Beginning next week, the dining area of the Berghoff will be renovated for upcoming banquets put on by Carlyn Berghoff's Artistic Events catering company. 

I'm going to miss the Berghoff.  But as long as they keep the bar open next door, I'll be happy just to go in for a couple of beers from time to time.  I mean, where else can you go to see Chicago Liquor License number one?

So long, Berghoff.  And thanks...

My Fajitas Recipe

My Fajitas Recipe

I get a lot of compliments on this recipe when I make it for people.  Enough people have asked me for the recipe that I had to write down what I used when I made fajitas one time because I was always making them with some of this, a dash of that, more of this, even more of that. 

Meat and Tortillas

2 lbs. flank steak or 2 lbs. of chicken strips (or boneless, skinless breast meat cut into strips).
12 soft flour tortilla shells.   

Marinade

1/2 cup Soy Sauce
1/2 cup lime juice
1/2 cup Worchestershire Sauce
1/4 cup Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons - Cumin (Cumin's the secret - actually, the more the better)
2 Tablespoons - Garlic Powder
1 Tablespoon - Onion Powder
1 Tablespoon - Mesquite Seasoning
1 Tablespoon - Cracked Black Pepper (Two tablespoons if it's coarse ground pepper)
1 Teaspoon - Cayenne Powder
1 Teaspoon - Chili Powder
1 Teaspoon - Ground Ginger Powder
1 Teaspoon - Salt (optional)

I also throw in about 10 dashes of Tabasco sauce, but I like things hot.

Mix everything up, adding about a quarter to half a can of beer in the marinade container dish if you wish.  Add a couple pounds of flank steak or chicken strips in the mix and let it sit for at least three hours.

Vegetables

1 Large Tomato - Sliced into eighths
1 Large Onion - Sliced into half rings
1 Red Bell Pepper - Cut into 1/2" wide, long strips
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 Lime (cut in half for juice)

Put the olive oil in a deep skillet, get the skillet hot and then throw in the sliced red peppers and sliced onions in with a little bit of the marinade and the juice of one lime (green and red bell peppers optional).  When those veggies are halfway cooked, I throw in the tomatoes and the meat.  Cook the meat for about 2 minutes on each side, or until the meat is just a little pink in the middle.  Cut the meat into strips. Serve on soft shell tacos.  Add Pico de Gallo and Guacamole.

(NOTE - When cooking chicken, the strips will need to take longer - put them in first with the onions and peppers, adding the tomatoes about five minutes into cooking.)

Pico De Gallo:

1/2 Chopped Onion
1 Chopped and Diced Tomato
1/4 cup of chopped cilantro
1 teaspoon Garlic Powder

Mix all together in a bowl.

Guacamole:

Two avacados, cut in half and seeded

1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup onion, minced

1 Teaspoon Garlic Powder
5 dashes Tabasco Sauce

Scoop out avacado meat from shell and mash with varying amounts of ingredients.  Keep tasting the mixture to add more ingredients to taste. 

Also optional - sour cream, lettuce and grated cheese.

Pagliai's - Iowa City

A special "shout out" to my sister-in-law, Anita, who bitched to my wife, "How can he have a web log about pizza places and not have Pagliai's on there!"

Well, that's because it's taken a lot of time to research the Pagliai family of pizza restaurants.

Pronounced "PAUL-ee-aye's", Pagliai's Pizza is a longtime tradition in the Midwest.  There are several Pagliai's in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Kentucky, Ohio and Missouri. 

The Pagliai pizza joints all trace their roots back to the first Pagliai's pizza that was baked in Ames, IA in 1953.  John and Catherine Pagliai left Italy in the early 1900's and came to Iowa and settled in a small coal mining town called Zook Spur, which was about two miles south of present day Madrid, IA.  They raised three sons, Sam, Aldo and Armond.

Sam had a small neighborhood bar in Ames and he used a recipe his mother had in her family for years for baked dough pie with tomato sauce and cheese on top .  One day in 1953, he served one to the leery patrons of the bar.  It took some coaxing, but the people began to like it and even began to request that Sam make them one when they'd come in.  It's been documented as the first pizza that was served in Central Iowa.

This led to the very first Pagliai's Pizza restaurant in 1957 in Ames' Campus Town area.  A second Pagliai's Pizza opened in, I believe, nearby Boone, soon thereafter.  There was also a Pagliai's in, I believe, Indianola, IA soon after that.  All three are no longer in existence.

(Or the ones in Boone and Indianola may never have been in existence - I'm going off of personal recollections that were told to me and the stories I've gotten are a little fuzzy). 

Aldo, opened a Pagliai's in Charleston, IL in 1964.  Aldo's son, Paul, now owns that one in Charleston.   

Armond opened up a Pagliai's Pizza in Iowa City in the 60's.  He and his son, Armond, eventually co-owned the one there, hence it was officially known as "A & A Pagliai's Pizza".  Armond's younger son, Brian, eventually opened his own Pagliai's in Des Moines, Johnston, IA and Grinnell, IA. 

All told, there are 16 Pagliai's Pizza restaurants.  Some were franchised out, but the bulk of them are owned and operated by members of the Pagliai family. 

While all the Pagliai's I've eaten in are very good, the best one continues to be the Iowa City location (see map).  Unlike the other Pagliai's, all they do is pizza.  No sandwiches, no pasta, just pizza.  It's hard to screw things up when you're only doing one thing. 

Pagliai's was a staple of my diet when I was going to the University of Iowa back in the early 80's.  Many nights walking home from the bars in downtown Iowa City with my old roommates meant scrounging our last available coins and dollar bills together to be able to get a small cheese pizza to eat while we walked the rest of the way home. 

Pagliai's Pizza (at all their locations) is a thin crust pizza with fresh and plentiful toppings.  If I'm not mistaken, each Pagliai's grinds their own sausage.  The sausage at the one in Iowa City is, in my opinion, the best of the all the Pagliai's I've eaten at.  It is wonderful pizza with a cold beer, too.  I like the sausage, pepperoni and mushroom pizza (what a surprise!), and Cindy likes their sauerkraut and pineapple (yuck!). 

The Pagliai's in Iowa City, well, I don't think Armond and Armond have touched the decor of the place since it opened in the 60's.  It is seriously like walking into a time warp.  There's a number of booths and tables throughout the place.  The decor is not tired, per se.  But it's definitely not 21st century.

Friday and Saturday nights, there's lines of people waiting to get seated.  There's no bar, no waiting area (other than outside and in front of the counter in the front dining area).  You just have to stand there and wait.  Thankfully, you can get a beer while you're standing there waiting. 

And the ovens have got to be the same ones they've used since the place opened up over 40 years ago.  The pizza chefs are out in the open for everyone to see and the kitchen area is hustling and bustling all the time.  It's by far the best pizza in Iowa City and one of the best in the whole Midwest.

Geez, after writing all this, my stomach is growling for a Pagliai's Pizza.  Why can't they put one here in Davenport and show people around here what real pizza is?

Tejas - Minneapolis

Tejas is one of the better - if not the best - Southwestern/TexMex restaurants in the Midwest.  Located in the Minneapolis suburb of Edina, Tejas is a part of the upscale shopping and restaurant area around 50th and France (see map). 

Tejas started in 1987 in downtown Minneapolis and moved to their current location in 1994.  Tejas is part of the Cuisine Concepts group of restaurants, owned by Tejas founder Mark Haugen, John Dayton and Wayne Kostroski. 

Tejas has a nice Southwestern decor and it sort of looks like a modern adobe inside.  There is Southwestern artwork and pottery throughout the restaurant.  And because the floors are laid brick and the tables are heavy and wooden, it can get sort of loud and echo-y in there. 

They have about 25 to 30 different tequilas to choose from and they make about a dozen signature margaritas.  I especially like the Tejas margarita - middle shelf tequila with a shot of grand marnier and fresh lime juice.  Oh man! 

Their beer selection is a little to be desired.  I think they only have something like four Mexican beers to choose from among the 20 or so they have either on tap or in the bottle.  It's sort of a "yuppie" Southwestern cuisine restaurant. 

I was in Minneapolis recently and stopped in for dinner at Tejas.  I started out with their tortilla soup - blended with chunks of chicken, tomato and avacado with jack cheese melted in.  It's topped with a slice of lime and just squeeze it in and it's heaven.  The tortilla soup is a must at Tejas.

I like to get the grilled flank steak, served fajita style, but this time I opted for the wood grilled tenderloin on a bed of horseradish whipped potatoes and topped with cajun spiced onion rings.  Oh, baby!  It was killer, just killer.

Tejas is a little pricey, but I think it's worth it.  I think you'd like it if you gave it a shot. 

(Update - I stopped by Tejas' location in the summer of 2010 and found that they were closed.  The owners shut the doors on December 30, 2009 due to a significant rent increase by their landlord.  Reports are that they are looking to re-open again at a different location, but so far I've not heard if that's going to happen or not.  Too bad - Tejas had some great food.)

The Stinking Rose - San Francisco

One of the more interesting restaurants we've eaten at over the years is The Stinking Rose in San Francisco. 

Located in the North Beach area near Chinatown (see map), The Stinking Rose gets its name from a historical term for garlic.  And, as you can probably guess, most of the dishes - well, actually, ALL of the dishes - are made out of some form of garlic. 

It was our 5th wedding anniversary when we were in San Francisco and we wanted to go to someplace unique.  And there's not too many places more unique than The Stinking Rose.  The decor is sort of garish, but in a very fun way.  There's a long garlic braid that winds all the way around the inside, there's murals and funky lights and there are garlic bulbs sitting every where. 

And, of course, the smell of garlic permeates the place.  I'm tellin' you - it's better to smell garlic on your clothes than cigarette smoke. 

They put Cindy and I in a nice little secluded booth where we could draw the curtains if we wanted.  We didn't.  Our waitress was friendly and helpful.  She suggested getting their signature appetizer - Bagna Calda - which is roasted garlic in olive oil.  Spread that on some homemade bread and it was unbelievable! 

As it seems from every place we go to a restaurant we've never been to, Cindy always gets the better dish.  I had some indescribable pasta dish that was good, but Cindy had the lemon garlic salmon.  Oh, God!  Was it great!  The taste sensation was unbelievable. 

We got to talking to our waitress and we told her we were from Iowa.  She said that she was traveling across Iowa on Interstate 80 one time years ago and her car broke down outside of Omaha.  She said that she had to spend three days in Minden, IA - that just happens to be the hometown of my brother-in-law, Vic.  So, that was a small world thing we shared. 

We bought The Stinking Rose cookbook for some friends (and we were stupid, we didn't buy one for ourselves) as well as some other funny knick-knacks they had for sale at the front counter area.  It was a great meal and a great place.

After dinner, we walked over across the street and onto Grant Street and found a neat little Italian restaurant for espresso and tiramisu, Ristorante Ideale (see map).  It was like walking into Italy - the guys out front were talking Italian to one another.  We asked if we could go in for just coffee and dessert and the man at the door - in a heavy Italian accent - said, "Yes!  Sure!  Sure!" 

We got a menu with both the evenings entrees and the dessert on it and as much as we liked our meal at The Stinking Rose, we thought Ristorante Ideale would have been a better choice.  Everything from their pasta to their desserts are all homemade.  We both had tiramisu and a cup of espresso.  It was sort of pricey - it was $22 with tip - but it was some of the best tiramisu we've ever had.  And it was somewhat romantic in the place.  We were really happy we did it that way.

I was in Los Angeles last year for business and I was driving down La Cienega in Beverly Hills and I looked over and there was a Stinking Rose restaurant there (see map). On the outside, it looked a little more upscale than the original in San Francisco, but the inside was even more frighteningly garish than the one in North Beach. 

The Stinking Rose is definitely not the best restaurant in San Francisco, but it may be the most fun.  And if you love garlic like we do, it's a must visit.

Denny's

I haven't been in a Denny's in about 10 years and I'm not planning on going back any time soon. 

It really doesn't have much to do with the food, which is edible, at best.  It has more to do with a promise I made myself when I finally started to make some money. 

Years ago, I worked for a rep firm for a little less than two years where the boss was, well, he was pretty cheap.  When we were out in Las Vegas for CES, we'd regularly eat at Denny's.  With all these great new restaurants popping up all over Las Vegas, we were still going out to dinner a Denny's.  We wouldn't even go to the cheap hotel buffets, we had to go to Denny's! 

It was kind of embarrassing.  When a group of reps and/or dealers would be standing around talking about the great meal they had the night before, I'd lie and tell them that I didn't eat.  There's no way I could tell them I ate at a Denny's in Las Vegas.

I went to work for a growing rep firm after that and early in my career with them we'd eat at Denny's every once in a while just to save some money.  My boss there said one night, "We're going to grow this business so we'll never have to eat in a Denny's again."

And you know what?  We did grow the business.  And we didn't eat at Denny's again. 

Last year, my present boss, Daniel, was traveling with me.  We were outside of St. Louis and he said was getting kind of hungry to we pulled off to eat.  We passed a Denny's and he said, "What's wrong with Denny's?"

I told him that I made a pact to myself that I would never eat at a Denny's again.  I told him the stories and he sort of smiled.  He said, "That's a great goal to have.  I'd admire your principles." 

I see that Denny's is trying to spruce themselves up by doing a wholesale revamping of their exterior on a number of their restaurants that I pass.  They can't suck me in, however.  Sorry, but I'm not going to Denny's.   

Johnny V's Classic Cafe - West Allis, WI

My wife is one of these creatures on Earth who has to have three meals a day.  And when she needs food, she needs food.  Me, as much as I like to eat, I can go hours without food.   

When we would go to Milwaukee and stay with my cousin, John, for Summerfest, Cindy would always have to get breakfast before we'd go down to the Summerfest grounds for the day.  On the advice of John one day, he steered us to Johnny V's Classic Cafe in West Allis just south of the Wisconsin State Fair Park (see map).

Johnny V's is truly a classic cafe, set up like a 50's style diner with a ton of Coca-Cola memorabilia throughout the restaurant. 

Owned by Johnny Vassallo, Sr., the Classic Cafe opened in 1992.  His son, Johnny, Jr., a bar owner and restauranteur in the Milwaukee area, became involved in 1993.  Johnny, Sr. and his son, Jamie, bought Johnny, Jr. out in 1996.   

Johnny V's is open 24 hours, 365 days a year, and they get a big after hours bar crowd.  And the food is very good for a diner.  Breakfast is served at any time and they have a number of good sandwiches and blue plate specials. 

My favorite breakfast at Johnny V's is the eggs with gyro meat.  Two eggs, hash browns, toast and a pile of gyro meat.  It's scrumptious.  They also make a great hot beef sandwich, too. 

Johnny's is comfort food at its highest form.  My cousin moved away a couple years ago, but I hit Johnny's every so often when I'm in Milwaukee for business.  The decor is secondary to the food, and the decor is something else.   

Isabel Bloom Stays Put

In a stunning reversal of a decision that was deemed as "irreversible" when the original announcement was made nearly a couple of weeks ago, the owners of the Isabel Bloom sculptures that are made in the Village of East Davenport announced yesterday that they made a monumental mistake and will not be closing their Davenport production facilities and moving operations to China.   

As I posted in a blog from last week, the public outcry from the announcement was enormous.  The decision by the three owners of Isabel Bloom, LLC was nearly unanimously panned throughout the Quad Cities.  People who were longtime Isabel Bloom collectors and buyers said they'd no longer buy the concrete cast sculptures if they were made in China. 

I just sort of sat back and chuckled through all of this.  First of all, about the only unique feature that Isabel Bloom sculptures have is that they're made in Davenport.  Secondly, they aren't really sculptures - they're poured concrete into cast molds.  The tough thing is making the molds. 

I thought, "Why couldn't they continue to make the molds in Davenport, them ship them over to China and use Chinese concrete?"  Actually, I think that's what they were going to do.  But, no, it takes special artisans to pour concrete into the molds and to extract the "sculptures" out of the casings, then sand them down by hand. 

Now, a sculpture - to me - is something that you make out of your own hands.  Isabel Bloom's figurines are poured concrete into a cast mold, plain and simple. 

I don't understand the allure of the sculptures.  Obviously, a lot of other people must feel the same way.  The owners have said that sales are down 30% over the past six years and profitability has shrunk by nearly 75% during the same time.

I still maintain that it's the designs that are causing the slump in sales.  I don't see much of anything Isabel Bloom makes that I would want to sit on our mantle at home.  I think they need to look within themselves and come up with some fresh ideas. 

So, the good news is that 50 people who were going to lose their jobs by June are now staying on board now that production won't be moving to China. 

Or will it? 

In an article in today's Quad City Times, Isabel Bloom's owners say that any regional expansion will still require the manufacturing of new figurines overseas.  They wouldn't say which region of the U.S. the Chinese-made sculptures would be first sold in, but they said they anticipate those figurines to be on store shelves by this fall.   

They said the overseas-made figurines would be "differentiated" in some way from the ones that would still be made in Davenport.  Those Iowa-made sculptures would be offered in Isabel Bloom-owned stores in Davenport, Moline, West Des Moines and Naperville, as well as in other Midwestern retail outlets that have been carrying Isabel Bloom products for a number of years.  But they didn't elaborate what those differences would be. 

The power of the people got the owners of Isabel Bloom to reconsider their closing of the production facility in Davenport.  But I have to wonder how long it will be before they begin to let the staffing numbers fall in Davenport. 

Either that, or have Donna Young, the chief designer for Isabel Bloom, come up with some better - and more desirable - designs. 

Mr. Pizza - Rochester, MN

I spent the night in Rochester, MN recently and I was in the mood for pizza.  On the advice of the front desk guy at the Hampton Inn, he told me to go next door to Mr. Pizza (see map).

Mr. Pizza has been around since 1963 and the place looks like it hasn't been updated since then.  They did add on to the back section of the building a few years ago because it was always packed and they needed more seating.  The main dining room has about 12 booths and 8 tables, everything is pretty tired.  But these are usually the places that have the best food.

The waitress came over to me and I said, "The guy next door says you have the best pizza in Rochester."

She sort of recoiled and said, "Well, a lot of people think that.  I think it's pretty good.  We've gotten voted the best pizza by Rochester magazine for a number of years."

Mr. Pizza has four different types of pizza dough - thin, whole wheat, double tossed and deep pan.  They have a number of signature pizzas and I asked the waitress what their most popular one was.  Without hesitating she said, "The Mr. Pizza Special."  It had Italian sausage, ground beef, pepperoni, mushrooms and onions.  I like onions on pizza, but they don't like me.  She said, "Well, we can take leave them off, it's not problem."

I said, "What the hell?  If it's your main signature pizza, let's give it a shot." I ordered a small thin crust (10").  They also have 12", 14" and 16" sizes.

They had four different types of beer on tap and she served me a cold Budweiser in a frosted glass while I waited.  The place wasn't very busy - it was about 8:30 on a cold weekday evening when I was in there.  Still, it was comfortable in the restaurant.

My waitress brought out my pizza and my eyes almost popped out of my head - it was the "perfect pizza". 

A perfect pizza, in my book, is a thin crust that had cheese and toppings piled at least an inch above the crust.  Seriously, there were parts where the Mr. Pizza Special was reaching TWO inches above the crust.  It was unbelievable.  It was cut into nine pieces with the holy grail square middle piece staring at me, loaded with toppings. 

But the perfect pizza also has to taste good.  I tried the first piece and sort of savored it for a minute.  The sauce was tangy, not sweet.  Kind of a smoky flavor, really. 

I had trouble distinguishing the ground beef and the Italian sausage as I thought the sausage could have had a little more pizazz to it.  And they were using canned mushrooms - not quite the perfect pizza topping to me. 

But the bottom line was that it was very good - not great - but very good.  The toppings were, literally, over the top. 

The waitress came out and asked me when I had about 4 pieces left if I wanted a box.  I told her I was still working on it, but I wish I would have taken her up on her offer.  It was too much, even for a small.  I tried to finish the whole thing, but couldn't. 

She brought my bill and asked, "So, what did you think?"

I said, "Well, it was good.  A nice surprise.  I love the way you guys load the toppings on it.  But I shouldn't have gotten the onions on it.  They're already talking back to me." 

When I paid my bill ($21 with two 16 oz beers and tip), I got to talking to the waitress.  She said they grind their own sausage and beef.  I told her that I had trouble distinguishing the sausage and the beef and she said they season their beef with some the same ingredients they season their sausage with.  I actually thought both were sort of bland, until I put some hot red peppers on the pizza. 

She told me they were in the process of building a new Mr. Pizza on the north side of Rochester.  I asked her if the oven at this location was the original oven from 1963 and she said, "As far as I know, everything in the kitchen with the exception of a couple of the coolers is original."

I said, "Your new location won't be as good as this one for 40 years."  I swear - it's the oven that makes pizza places like this. 

I told her I should have opted for my old stand-by - sausage, pepperoni and mushroom.  She said, "You can have that when you come back next time." 

And I will be back to try that.  Not quite the perfect pizza, but it's pretty close.

Zia's Pasta Tuttomare

Zia's on The Hill in St. Louis makes a dish called Pasta Tuttomare that is one of my all time favorite things to eat.  If you like seafood pasta in a white cream sauce, this is just great.  This recipe serves 4.

16 to 24 oz. Linguine noodles cooked al dente (that means nearly cooked all the way, but still with some chewy-ness to them)

8 oz. Shrimp

8 oz. Clams

16 oz. Crabmeat (may substitute with sea legs)

1 cup sliced mushrooms

8 tbls.butter

2 tbsp. Minced fresh garlic

1 tsp. Cracked red pepper flakes

1 tsp. Fresh ground pepper

1/2 tsp. Salt

16 oz. Heavy whipping cream.

Process:

In a 6 quart pan, melt butter. Add garlic, spices, seafood and mushrooms. Saute over medium high heat until seafood is fully cooked.(aprox.2-3 minutes). Add cream and bring to full boil. Add linguine noodles and return to full boil for approximately 2 minutes.  Remove from heat and allow to rest.  Place in warm pasta bowls and top with freshly grated parmesan cheese and lemon wedge.

Via Delosantos - Phoenix

I was in Phoenix for business three years ago and I met up one evening with my sister, Cindy White, who is the owner of Estelle, a small manufacturer of high quality, hand woven ribbon sweaters for women based in Phoenix.

Cindy White

She asked me what I wanted for dinner and I didn't hesitate.  "Mexican.  Authentic Mexican."  She said she was going to take me to a place that wasn't too far from her shop in central Phoenix, Via Delosantos.

Via Delosantos is a funky little restaurant on North Central Ave. (see map) in a not so nice section of Phoenix.  It was safe enough directly around the restaurant, but you wouldn't want to venture too far in any direction away from the place. 

Via Delosantos may be funky looking on the outside, but it's a Mexican fiesta on the inside.  There are colored hanging lights all around the dining rooms and bar area.  There's Mexican baskets, sombreros and pinatas hanging around the joint, too. 

One of the first things that caught my eye was the amount of tequila they had to offer.  I found out that they over 200 different types of tequila to choose from!  They also had over 20 different types of Mexican beers, too.

Cindy and I both got a margarita with our chips and salsa.  Man, I was torn as what to get.  Everything looked so good on the menu.  And the smell in the place was just heavenly.

I opted for the shredded beef enchilada and just because I'm a sucker for pork tacos, I got one of those on the side.  I ordered a Sol beer and I was in heaven!

Cindy told me that Via Delosantos continually wins the Phoenix area "Best of" categories for their food and tequila.  I've eaten in a number of good little Mexican restaurants during my many visits to Phoenix, but none of them made as big of impression on me as Via Delosantos.  I'd go back in a heartbeat!

Blueberry Hill - St. Louis

Blueberry Hill in the uptown University City Loop area of St. Louis is a destination that can't be passed by when you're there.   Blueberry Hill is located on Delmar Avenue, which is also the home to the St. Louis Walk of Fame, a series of in the sidewalk monuments to famous people from the St. Louis area.  

Actually, the owner of Blueberry Hill, Joe Edwards (pictured here) was instrumental in getting the St. Louis Walk of Fame in place.  About 10 years ago Edwards bought and restored the Tivoli Theater just down the street from Blueberry Hill.  The Tivoli shows a lot of independent and foreign language films and was one of the finest theaters in the Midwest during the hey-day of vaudeville and the golden age of motion pictures.

Edwards also owns The Pageant - a wonderful small venue for live music that hosts a number of national and regional musical artists.  Edwards built The Pageant from the ground up in 1999-2000 and hosted the first show there in the fall of 2000.  I saw Little Feat there one time, I think it was 2001.  The place is a great place to see live music. 

But, as always, I digress from the subject matter at hand...

Blueberry Hill is also famous as the home performing place for Chuck Berry who plays there on a regular basis.  Blueberry Hill also has Chuck's famous Gibson ES-350T guitar on display, the same one that he used when he wrote many of his memorable hits back in the 50's.

In addition to Berry's guitar, Blueberry Hill also sports a collection of St. Louis sports memorabilia, a number of kitschy items from The Simpsons and a number of other cartoon shows from the past.  They also have a number of music related items in the Elvis Room and in the Duck Room.  And going back toward the bathrooms, there are a number of pictures hanging on the wall of Blueberry Hill owner Joe Edwards and a plethora of celebs from the world of sports, music, film and television. 

But the burgers at Blueberry Hill are just as good as the surroundings.  I like ordering the 7 oz burger with pepper cheese and grilled mushrooms.  Umm, boy! 

Blueberry Hill also has a very good selection of beers, they also serve breakfast and are a great late night spot to eat (the grille is open until midnight).  They take all credit cards and there is ample parking nearby at one of the many public lots along or near the University City Loop area.  If you're into music, if you're into kitsch, if you're into good burgers - you'll love Blueberry Hill.

The Pacific Coast Highway - Day Four

My computer took a dump a couple of weeks ago and it took me a while to get old files and folders extracted from the computer.  This is the final installment of our trip along the Pacific Coast Highway from Los Angeles to San Francisco.  You can go back to Day One, Day Two and Day Three by clicking the hot links on each day. 

Day Four - Monterey to San Francisco

We woke on Monday morning to a dull gray sky with some fog and the same cool winds whipping in from the ocean.  We went and found a little coffee shop so Cindy could get a coffee fix and I had a fresh squeezed orange juice and a danish.  While we were getting gasoline in the car, it was like the sun miraculously came out and the day became beautiful.

But we found that was so typical of California.

We went down to the beach on the north side of Monterey and looked for sea shells for Cindy's kids. Then we went back into Monterey and went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Research Institute.

It had to be one of the neatest places I've ever been to in my life.  I'm entranced by the sea and seeing a lot of sea life up close is even more fascinating.  And the Monterey Aquarium didn't disappoint.  We spent about three hours looking at sea life, including about a 30 minute watching of the little sea otters that played in a pool just outside the main aquarium building.

We left Monterey about noon and took the road up and around to Santa Cruz.  Santa Cruz is a nice little seaside city with a very nice downtown area and a pier with shops and restaurants.  We had lunch on the pier, then ventured over to the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum which is housed in an old lighthouse on a bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. 

First of all, I'm mesmerized by surfers.  It's one thing that I really wish I could have done in life.  The surfing museum was very interesting as they showed the history of surfing in Santa Cruz since the 1930's.  They had old boards on display, as well as pictures of some of the local legends who have surfed at the beaches of Santa Cruz over the years.  And there's also a memorial to those surfers who lost their lives in the Pacific Ocean off Santa Cruz. 

It didn't really cost anything to go in, but they did ask for a one dollar donation per person.  We thought it was so neat, we threw another five bucks into the can when we left.

We walked over to the edge of the point and stood and watched about 15 to 20 surfers riding 2 to 4 foot waves for about an hour.  Like I say, it's mesmerizing to me to see the surfers paddle out, get up on the boards and ride the waves. 

We took off about 3:00 trying to make the final push into San Francisco.  Just up the road from Santa Cruz is Davenport, CA.  Since we're from Davenport, IA, we had to take a quick look around this little town.  It was nice, but I wanted to show Cindy a place that I'd been before just up the road about 35 miles.

Half Moon Bay is a wonderful little (but growing) community just over the mountains from the south side of San Francisco.  I first went to Half Moon Bay four years prior to Cindy and I driving the Pacific Coast Highway.  I thought it was a great little town, full of shops, restaurants, inns, and other trendy little businesses.  But it was getting late in the day and I wanted to get to San Francisco before the sun set.

We came up the Great Highway into San Francisco around 5:30.  We got up to Land's End, a point just west of the Golden Gate Bridge and I wanted Cindy to get her first look at the Golden Gate from this point.  It should have looked something like this, but the fog was so thick, you couldn't see much more than 100 feet out into the opening of the bay. 

By the time we got around the hill and got over the Golden Gate Bridge to the north side, the fog had lifted and there was a cool tinge in the air.  Cindy snapped this shot of me at the little turn-in just off the bridge.

Here's a shot of Alcatraz Island that we took from near the same spot.

We ended up staying the night in San Rafael up in Marin County.  We ate some outrageous sushi at a little place in downtown San Rafael that evening.  It was the first time we sampled different grades of tuna for sushi. 

Our trip up the Pacific Coast Highway ended there, but we spent a day in San Francisco before going up into the wine country in the Napa and Sonoma Valleys. 

Cindy's not one on taking the same trip twice, but even though I've done the Pacific Coast Highway from L.A. to San Francisco twice I could easily do it again. 

The Cardinal - Newton, IA

I grew up between Kellogg and Newton, Iowa (see map of where our house was located).  When I was younger, I would play in Kellogg.  When I got older, I would play in Newton. 

There was an old grocery store on W. 4th St. S. in Newton called Stockton's.  The building that Stockton's was in is now the Newton Fire Department.  On the southside of Stockton's was a little diner called The Cardinal.  The Cardinal consisted of two horseshoe shaped counters (and I want to say there were 4 booths on the west wall).  They cooked breakfast, lunch, and supper and were open late at night. 

But the one thing the Cardinal was known for were their burgers.  They had this old flat griddle grille they'd cook the meat on.  And the buns, they'd take them and slather an egg-based batter on them, put them on the grille and toast 'em.  Oh, man!  They were killer!   When The Cardinal closed in the mid-70's, I had to go in for one last burger.

The burger recipe went to Bigelow's, a restaurant that was on the NE corner of the square in downtown Newton.  They just weren't as good (I'm tellin' ya - there's something about these old grilles that makes the burger!).  Bigelow's is long out of business, but I've heard that the recipe is now housed at the Midtown Cafe just across the street from where Bigelow's once stood.  I just haven't gone in to check to see if the burgers are as good as what I remember from The Cardinal years ago.  But I guess I'll have to do it sometime.

Lazlo's Brewery and Grill - Lincoln, NE

Lazlo's Brewery and Grill in Lincoln, NE has been a pleasant surprise twice for me.  I first went to Lazlo's downtown Lincoln location in the historic Haymarket area (see map) about six years ago upon the recommendation of a buddy who had eaten there a couple times before.  The food was good as their meat entrees were cooked over wood fires, and the beer was actually pretty good, as well.  The beer is brewed by the Empyrean Brewing Company which is located just behind Lazlo's. 

The second surprise was when one of my more favorite restaurants in Lincoln - Stackwoods - turned into Lazlo's second location on Lincoln's south side (see map).   Stackwoods also cooked their food in a wood fired oven and grills their meats over a wood fired pit, only Lazlo's used hickory wood and Stackwoods used apple wood. 

Stackwoods filed for bankruptcy protection about three years ago and Lazlo's came in and bought the property.   It's right next to the Hampton Inn Heritage Park in Lincoln, a very easy walk from the room to the restaurant.

I was in Lincoln recently and met a client for dinner at the Lazlo's on the south side.   Lazlo's has kind of a "northwoods" motif to the place, heavy on the wood throughout the building. 

I started out with the Luna Sea pale ale, a good hoppy beer that has a good bite and smooth aftertaste.  It's my favorite of the beers they serve. 

We ordered food - I had the slow wood smoked prime rib, my client had the wood grilled rib-eye.  We both opted for the mashed potatoes and salad.  They make all their salad dressings in house and their blue cheese dressing is very good. 

I grabbed one of their Burning Skye Scotch Ales with my dinner, but I wasn't all that impressed with it.  It almost tasted flat.  Our waiter suggested I try the Third Stone brown ale.  It was smooth, but once again it didn't have the full body that I was looking for.  It did complement my prime rib, however.  I went back to the Luna Sea for my last beer of the night.

I've yet to have a bad meal at Lazlo's.  Heck, I didn't have a bad meal when it was Stackwoods.  And this meal was no exception.  My prime rib wasn't as rare as I'd like it to be, but the taste of prime rib cooked slow over hickory is tough to beat.

Overall, the food is pretty good, the beer is just as good.  I can't say that Lazlo's is the best I've had, but their food and beer are consistent.  Consistently good. 

ESPN Zone

The ESPN Zone is ESPN's answer to the ever increasing number of sports bars and restaurants that are popping up every where across the nation. 

The first ESPN Zone sports bar opened in Baltimore in 1999 and I visited it in May of 2000.  At the time, it was pretty neat, by far the best sports bar I'd ever been in.  There were televisions every where, there was information every where.  For a sports fan, it was pretty amazing.

ESPN Zone Baltimore

And it's for kids of all ages, too.  There's a monster game room upstairs in the ESPN Zone that has all the current cool games from video to table games, from shooting baskets to throwing footballs at targets.  However, kids under 18 must be accompanied a parent or guardian. 

They have a special V.I.P. area with a lounge and special recliner seats.  And, of course, just to pry more money out of you, they have a gift shop area, as well. 

The food is OK and overpriced.  The beer selection is OK, as well.  But what brings you in and sucks you in is the modern industrial decor with tons of games on for you to watch.

The one in Baltimore is down in the Inner Harbor section near Oriole Park at Camden Yards stadium (see map), which is, by the way, the best baseball stadium I've ever been in.

The other two ESPN Zone's I've been to are in Las Vegas and Chicago.  There's eight ESPN Zone's altogether.  The ones in Las Vegas and Chicago are about the same as the one in Baltimore.  Except the one in Las Vegas is in the New York New York hotel and casino, and is literally just next to their sports book area.

ESPN Zone in downtown Chicago on E. Ohio

As I said, the ESPN Zone can get a little pricey.  My friend Scott Schroeder and I sat in the one in Chicago a couple three weeks ago watching the Iowa/Michigan State basketball game while Cindy and Scott's wife, Marcia, were out shopping.  We were there for about two hours and our beer tab - just our beer tab, we had no food - came to over $50 bucks.  We did drink some beer, but certainly not enough for us to be getting close to being gassed.

The ESPN Zone's are neat places, but there are a number of other sports bars that are a much better value.

(Update - The ESPN Zone in downtown Chicago is now closed.  It closed in 2010 and was replaced by a Brazillian steakhouse.)

Peter Gabriel - Still Growing Up - Live and Unwrapped

Peter Gabriel has been a noted world class musician for over 30 years.  His avant-garde visual effects, haunting lyrics and over-the-top world music has followed him since he co-founded Genesis in the early 70's, all the way through to the successful solo career he still enjoys today.

Peter Gabriel's first DVD - "Secret World Live" - from 1994 showcases a wonderful performance with good sound reproduction.  However, the picture is very grainy and is not the best concert footage I've seen. 

Gabriel's 2003 DVD "Growing Up Live" was a critically acclaimed documentary of his live show filmed in Milan, Italy.  While not quite the performance of his earlier DVD, the sound was even better and the picture quality was IMMENSELY better.  Performing with Gabriel on this DVD are The Blind Boys of Alabama who offer some great harmonizing on one track. 

Gabriel's new DVD - "Still Growing Up - Live and Unwrapped" takes us to his summer tour of 2004 when he played in the streets, town centers and amphitheaters across central Europe.  Backed by his longtime band of capable and solid musicians including Tony Levin, David Rhodes, Rachel Z, and Richard Evans, Gabriel continues to prove that he's among the elite of the musical visionaries on the scene today.

The DVD was released in late November of last year and I've seen some audio/video stores using it as a demonstration for two channel, as well as multi-channel sound.  The visuals are very good, the sound is impeccable, and the performance is stellar.  I'm not a big Peter Gabriel fan, but his last two live DVD's - I think - are better than his studio performances. 

"Still Growing Up - Live and Unwrapped" is a two disc set with the second disc basically the same as the first disc, only with some interspersed monologues from Gabriel, some funky image projections on Gabriel's head, and a disappointing lack of information or dialogue from his band. 

Still, the concert DVD is solid, but the visuals are a little choppy.  The shots of the band playing each song change from one venue to the next, which is rather tough to do, editing-wise (within the same song, you'll see Rachel Z's hair go from braids to a pony tail to a fall).  I'm also guessing there's some audio overdubbing that went on, especially with the song "Sledgehammer."

Overall, it's fun, it sounds good, it looks good.  Even if you're not a big Gabriel fan, it's a well produced DVD of a very good performance.  I like it a lot.  So much so that I'm using it as my live music DVD demo these days. 

Fat Matt's - Atlanta

I was in Atlanta for a trade show about eight years ago and I hooked up with my buddy, Eric Van Fossen, for an evening.   He said, "Where do you want to eat?"

I said, "Barbecue."  I don't remember the name of the place, but it was good.  He told me that the next time I came, he wanted to take me to one of the more famous places for barbecue in Atlanta - Fat Matt's Ribshack.

I was back in Atlanta about two years later on business and I had a Sunday to kill.  Eric came and picked me up at the hotel, we went and caught an Atlanta Braves game at Turner Field, he drove me around and showed me some sights (including the King Center and the burial site of Dr. Martin Luther King), then in the early evening we ended up at Fat Matt's for ribs.

Owned by Matt Harper, who used to work at Georgia-Pacific (and who isn't fat), Fat Matt's makes some of the best barbecue you'll find any where in the south.  It's located on Piedmont Ave. NE, near Emory University (see map).

Fat Matt's building isn't all that big - it was a Chinese food joint before it became a barbecue, and before that it was a Dunkin' Donuts.  But it's big enough to have blues bands and performers play nearly every night and sometimes during the day at lunch.

And it's been that way since the place opened in September of 1990.  Harper, with the help of his brother, Clay, who had been in the restaurant business, wanted to have a unique southern barbecue experience.  The blues performers usually play for tips, beer, food, whatever any one can muster, just because they want to play at Matt's. 

Eric and I got there a little early for the music that evening (it starts around 8 p.m. seven nights a week).  He knew that I was a blues aficionado, but that didn't bother me.  I was there for the ribs that night. 

We each got a 1/2 rack of ribs, a side of their Rum baked beans (which were very good) and a couple cold beers.  As the sign says under the menu (at right) "Cash Only", and you better believe it.  We got our food and sat at one of the tables outside in front of the building and ate ribs in the evening sunshine. 

I picked up my first rib and I noticed the meat sort of fell off the bone.  I thought, "Uh oh..."  It's a sure sign of "parboiling" - where they boil the ribs for a while before they put them on the grill or in a smoker (something my dad liked to do) - which, to me, is cheating. 

While parboiling does make the meat more tender, it also takes away a lot of the meat flavor when you boil them in water.  Backyard barbecuers and restaurants who parboil their ribs usually use a sweet and smokey concoction for their sauce to help "stir up" the taste that was left behind in the water.

But the ribs were still good.  I did like the sauce, but I knew the full flavor - the smokey flavor close to the bone - wasn't there. 

I'm glad we went when we did because the place started filling up fast and furious.  There was a good sized line when we left and some people were happy we gave up our table.

Would I go back?  Yeah, I would probably go back, but I know there's a number of great barbecue places other than Matt's in Atlanta that I'd like to try first.  And I'm sure Eric knows where they are.  Getting back to Atlanta will be the chore...   

Isabel Bloom

We don't celebrate Valentine's Day in our household.  We've taken the approach of "Why do you need to show your love toward your spouse (significant other, partner - take your pick) just one day a year?"  It's all contrived and insignificant in my book. 

I prefer to send Cindy flowers on July 17 or September 23, just because it's July 17 or September 23 and not because we all have to kow-tow to the decision makers at Hallmark and FTD Florists and put a few more bucks in their pocket by buying vastly price-inflated cards, over-priced flowers that will be dead in three days, and insanely expensive pieces of crap they have available only for Valentine's Day. 

OK, so some of you are saying that I'm cheap.  I like to look at myself as one who is sensible and pragmatic.  But I prefer to show my love to my wife 365 days a year and not just on the one day that someone tells me to because it's a marketing driven "holiday" to drive retail sales between Christmas and Easter. 

With that said, when I got back into Davenport last week after being out for four days, the big news was the announcement that Isabel Bloom would be moving their manufacturing operations from the Quad Cities to China. 

For those of you not from the Quad City area of Iowa and Illinois - and who are not into buying little collectable sculptures and figurines - you're understandably asking, "Who the hell is Isabel Bloom?"

Actually, there are two Isabel Bloom's - the artist and the company who uses her name. 

Isabel Bloom, the artist, died in 2001 at the age of 93.  She was born in Texas but moved to Iowa when she was a little girl.  She studied at the Stone City Art Colony under the eye of the renown artist Grant Wood.  There, she met her future husband, John Bloom.  The Bloom's moved to Davenport, where Isabel grew up, and in her basement she began to make figurines and small sculptures cast from concrete. 

These figurines - which were of hearts, flowers, small animals, people hugging, etc. - became high in demand in the Midwest for people to give as gifts for birthdays, weddings and VALENTINE'S DAY.  Bloom's popularity flourished and her business grew tremendously. 

The name Isabel Bloom became a corporation as her business grew.  She eventually moved into a studio in the Village of East Davenport and employed a number of artisans and assistants to help make the sculptures.  These were then sold in her shop in the Village of East Davenport, and in other small independent shops around the Midwest.  Her sculptures and figurines were very big in Chicago. 

After John Bloom died a number of years ago, Isabel Bloom carried on with her work.  In 1995, well into her 80's, she sold Isabel Bloom, LLC to three area businessmen who were determined to take the Isabel Bloom sculptures and figurines nationwide and, eventually, worldwide.  They opened up shops in Moline, IL, Naperville, IL, and West Des Moines, IA.  Isabel was still involved with some of the sculpture decisions, but most of her work was passed on to her protege Donna Young.

Before she passed away, Isabel was worried of the "over-commercialization" of her artwork.  However, she also said she knew it was inevitable that it would happen that way when she sold the company in 1995. 

The company had a sales spike in 2000, the year before Isabel Bloom died.  However, after her death, sales began to slump and the owners ended up laying off about 30 production artisans and assistants.  Sales continued to slump and just last week, the owners of Isabel Bloom, LLC said they would be laying off the last 50 of the production artists and assistants in the Davenport studio and production facility, and moving the manufacturing of the sculptures and figurines to China. 

The public outcry against the move has been voluminous and vitriolic (that means there's a lot of pissed off people around here).  Some of the of the more passionate ones are calling for a complete boycott of all Isabel Bloom sculptures and figurines. 

Even though production will continue in Davenport until June, people were lined up at the Isabel Bloom shops in Moline and Davenport last Friday, the day after the announcement, to get "true" Isabel Bloom pieces.  Local news stations were on hand to get comments and reactions to the closing of the manufacturing in Davenport.  It was a zoo, to say the least. 

Personally, I never really understood the fascination for the Isabel Bloom products.  I thought they were overpriced pieces of cement.  Here's an example - the figurine to the right is called "Tiny Treasures".  It's actually the smaller of two similar sculptures and it retails for around $95 bucks.  The larger of the two similar sculptures retails for about $115 dollars. Holy shit!  OK, it takes some time to design and to make the mold, but in the end it's concrete going into a mold that they'll use time and time again to make more of these overpriced pieces of formed rock. 

That's why I've never figured out the allure to the Isabel Bloom pieces. 

A couple years ago, my nephew got married and we wanted to get him an Isabel Bloom wedding sculpture.  They didn't have the one we wanted to get them any longer and the ones they had were, well, quite frankly, they looked like crap.  The designs didn't seem to be as innovative as they were before.

And to top things off here's another little story (don't you like how I can ramble on about nothing?). 

There's a young local artist by the name of Jillian Christy who Cindy discovered a few years ago when Jillian was still in high school and selling her figurines at art fairs around the Quad Cities.  Cindy has purchased a number of Jillian's sculptures - not only for herself, but for her sisters and others.  One of the figurines is what I call "The Three Sisters", pictured at right (Cindy is the oldest of three sisters).  All of Jillian's figurines are similar - the people in her sculptures are happy and smiling.

About two months ago on a local news show here in the Quad's, Donna Young from Isabel Bloom had a number of their new designs on and was showing them off. One that she showed (picture on right) made me jump out of my chair and go get Cindy's "Three Sister's" figurine because it looked like a blatant rip-off of Jillian Christy's work. 

One of the owners of Isabel Bloom, LLC said in an interview that sales had dropped nearly 30% from what they were in 2000.  He said that in order to be more efficient and to be able to take the Isabel Bloom name "nationwide" (the products has been available nationwide, via the Isabel Bloom web site) they have to move production to China. 

Basically, he's saying what I've been thinking all along - these are over-priced pieces of concrete.  Any sane person isn't going to fork over $115 bucks for something that looks like a lawn ornament that you can get at a local garden store.  We need to make 'em cheaper. 

But last weekend, one of the owners also said something that I thought was rather interesting.  He said they didn't anticipate the royal screaming and verbal protests they've received for their decision to move the production to China. 

Well, duh!  Isabel Bloom is a Quad City icon!  They may has well just go over and pee on her grave while they're at it.

But actually, I think there's more to this slump in sales and I'm quite surprised no one is bringing it up.

What they should be looking at as to the drop in sales is the person who is doing the designing.  If sales are down, could it be said that quite possibly the designs are not what people are looking for?  Sales and Marketing 101 taught me that years ago. 

The argument could also be made that since Isabel Bloom is no longer alive and doing the design work, the figurines and sculptures are not as popular or in demand as they once were.  That's quite possible, as well.

A lot of people around here are worried that we'll begin to see figurines with the Isabel Bloom name on them - made in China stamped on the bottom - in places like Wal-Mart or Target.  I'll tell you, they'll have to change some of the designs if they want to make a go of it in those places.

So what new designs can they come up with when they switch production to China?  Well, how about figurines of NASCAR race cars?  Or what about sculptures of some of today's cult of personality names?  People like Oprah, Tom Cruise, Madonna, J-Lo, etc., etc.

Personally, the first one that I'd go out and get if they'd make it is the longtime favorite and never out of date "Little Boy Peeing in the Creek"...

Analog Broadcasts to End in 2009

We'll have three more years of analog broadcasts in the United States before television stations will be forced to switch to all digital broadcasts as part of a budget bill designating Feb. 17, 2009 as the cutoff date was signed into law last Wednesday.  For some of you who will still have analog televisions after the cutoff date, you may be eligible to receive coupons to help defray the cost of digital to analog converter boxes that will be needed to down-convert digital terrestrial signals to analog for viewing. 

      
Bush Signs Analog Cutoff Bill


By Greg Tarr -- TWICE

Washington — President George W. Bush signed a budget package on Wednesday that included establishment of a Feb. 17, 2009, hard date to transition the nation’s television broadcasts to 100 percent digital transmissions.

The date will require U.S broadcasters to end transmissions of analog television signals.

Gary Shapiro, CEA president/CEO, praised the action, saying: “CEA has long supported a hard cutoff date for analog broadcasts. This deadline will provide certainty to manufacturers, retailers, consumers and all others with a stake in the transition.”

He continued: “CEA forecasts that U.S. consumers will purchase more than 18 million DTV sets and displays this year, marking a 50 percent increase over 2005 sales … With the combination of the hard cutoff date, continuing strong sales of DTV products, and increasing array of quality high-definition programming and the coming advent of new prerecorded HD content, we are well on our way toward making the U.S. a DTV nation.”

The bill, which narrowly passed a 216-214 vote in the House of Representatives Feb. 1, was approved by the Senate prior to the holidays.

A number of items pertaining to the digital television transition were included in the total budget bill, which contained a host of tax and budget cuts and revenue increases.

Most House Republicans backed the budget package because it was designed to save $38.8 billion over the next five fiscal years.

Many House Democrats fought the measure on various grounds, including its alleged failure to adequately reduce the federal deficit while cutting taxes and reducing funds for some popular federal programs, such as health care and student loans.

The digital transition portion of the measure will raise an expected $10 billion by auctioning off a portion of the returned analog broadcast TV spectrum to wireless service providers. It also reserves a portion of the spectrum for first-responders in emergency services.

A consumer education program was included to alert consumers about the approaching switch over to digital TV broadcasting and instruct them on how to acquire digital-to-analog converter boxes to continue receiving free over-the-air broadcasts on their current analog television sets.

The package included spending between $990 million to $1.5 billion to subsidize the cost of digital-to-analog converter boxes required by mostly lower-income citizens who don’t subscribe to cable of satellite TV services.

Consumers who continue to receive TV signals over-the-air will be eligible for up to two $40 coupons for the purchase of a set-top converter box. The subsidy program will be administered by the Commerce Department’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration agency.

Pat's Bar and Grill - St. Louis

Pat's Bar and Grill is located in the "Dogtown" area of St. Louis, directly across Highway 40/Interstate 64 (known to the locals as "40 Highway") from Forest Park and just down the street from Forest Park Hospital (see map).  It's located right across the street from Turtle Park, home of huge sculpted turtles.

I can't tell you how many times I've driven by Pat's (it's clearly visible from 40 Highway), but I never knew it was there.  Until this last week. 

Pat's has been in business since 1942 when Pat Connolly moved from Ireland to settle in St. Louis.  Pat died in the 60's and his longtime bartender, Tom McDermott, bought the place and renamed it "McDermott's".  It became a hugely popular Irish bar in St. Louis. 

The daughter and son-in-law of Pat Connolly, Teresa and Paul Jovonovich bought McDermott's and changed the name back to Pat's Bar and Grill.  After the death of her husband, and wanting to get back into teaching full-time, Teresa Connolly Jovonovich sold the bar to long time bartender Joe Finn. 

Pat's is a wonderful little neighborhood place that not only is a good beer bar, but they have a pretty extensive food menu.  They're famous for their fried chicken, and their "chicken fried chicken" - a variation of a chicken fried steak dinner.  They have sandwiches, burgers, grilled pork chops and tons of appetizers.  Unfortunately, a lot of it is deep fried, but they stress they only deep fry with canola oil. 

I was in St. Louis recently and it turned out that Wicked Liz and the Bellyswirls were going to be playing there on a Thursday night.  So I went to see them.  I asked Bob Kelly how they got the gig in St. Louis and he said that one of the bartenders, Erin, is a friend of theirs who grew up in Davenport. 

He introduced me to Erin and we became friends immediately, being that we had the Davenport connection.  Erin took good care of me all night long - in fact, she probably over-served me. 

Pat's isn't all that big, and the band was a little cramped.  There wasn't that large of a crowd in there, but they gave the band some good love all night.  The floor plan of the bar isn't quite conducive for a four piece band to be playing there, but they made it work.

Pat's also has an upstairs bar area - the "Roost" that handles overflow from the downstairs area.  Erin told me the place gets extremely packed during St. Patrick's Day and during St. Louis Mardi Gras even though they're a ways from the Soulard area. 

They have a number of the usual beers on tap, the bottles were cold. The people in the bar were laid back, the atmosphere was warm and cozy, and I had a good time in the place.  I think I would have had a good time in the place even if Wicked Liz wasn't playing there that evening.

A large "thumbs up" for Pat's Bar and Grill - a nice little place to get a cold beer while you're in St. Louis.   

Hampton Inn at the Arch - St. Louis

Even though it's not centrally located to any of my dealers or stops in the St. Louis area, one of my favorite places to stay there is the Hampton Inn at the Arch. 

Located downtown at the corner of 4th and Washington (see map), The Hampton Inn at the Arch is close to Laclede's Landing - the restaurant/nightspot area in St. Louis - and the Edward Jones Dome.  The hotel is walking distance to both the Gateway Arch and to the new Busch Stadium.  There's also a MetroLink stop close by that can get you to the Savvis Center, Union Station, The Pageant and out to the airport. 

The thing I like about The Hampton Inn at the Arch is that for a downtown hotel, it's relatively cheap.  I don't think I've spent more than $100 bucks a night in the place.  Parking is free in the garage attached to the hotel.  You'll need your room card to get in and out of the facility, however. 

Opt for one of the upper floor rooms, especially with a southern view so you can see the Gateway Arch stand majestically along the riverfront.  I got a "King Study" room the last time I was there and those rooms are only available on the 5th floor, so I had a wonderful view of the wall of the parking garage.

The rooms are not huge, but they're comfortable.  The beds are firm and the decor is nice.  It sort of has an "old hotel" feel to the place, but it's definitely not tired. 

They have a nice sized lobby, a big breakfast area in the lower level of the building, and a very nice business center that has all the amenities of a home office.  If you want to just "veg out" in your room, the hotel has full cable in each of their rooms including HBO.  This is something that a lot of Hampton's are getting away from, unfortunately.

If there is one bitch I have about the hotel, it's their elevators.  They're too slow.  They have three banks and I waited almost three minutes for one to show up the last time I was there.  And they were all operational, at that. 

There are a number of good restaurants close to the hotel, not only around Laclede's Landing, but throughout the downtown area, as well. 

I highly recommend the Hampton Inn at the Arch when you go to St. Louis.

Breitbach's Country Dining - Balltown, IA

Breitbach's Country Dining in Balltown is the oldest continuous restaurant/bar in the state of Iowa.  It began in 1852 - just six years after Iowa was admitted to the Union - as a stagecoach stop.  In the early 1860's the first generation of the Breitbach family bought the place, turning it into a saloon/restaurant. 

"Breitbach's" - a painting by Guttenburg, Iowa artist Nasar Shahrivar. It's available for sale at Breitbach's.

Six generations of Breitbach's have owned the place with the current owner being Mike Breitbach.  Mike, his wife and their seven kids all work in the restaurant, so there's a good chance a seventh generation Breitbach will own the place someday. 

Breitbach's is situated on a tall bluff overlooking the Mississippi River valley in NE Iowa looking over into SW Wisconsin.  It is one of the most beautiful areas of Iowa, especially in the fall.  Balltown is not that big, so it's tough to miss Breitbach's.

Cindy and I ate there a few years ago when we were out on one of our many little drives up and down the Great River Road along the Mississippi.  We got there early on a Sunday evening and there was a brisk business, but we were able to get in right away.

Cindy had eaten there in the past, but this was my first visit.  Breitbach's decor is very rustic and there are a number of antiques throughout the place.  (Breitbach's also sells antiques, so some of the fixtures are for sale.) 

The bar area is pretty neat with a big mural on the wall.  Our waitress told the story of how years ago, a man was traveling through the area and didn't have money to drink.  So he offered to paint a picture on the wall.  Years later, someone covered up the mural.  Years after that, someone found the mural when they were remodeling and they left it as is. 

Breitbach's serves typical Iowa country food - beef, pork, chicken, fish and seafood.  You can get comfort food like roast beef and mashed potatoes, or you can go for a steak.  They also serve breakfast and lunch to go with the full dinner menu. 

Cindy had the grilled shrimp and I had a steak.  My steak was pretty good, but I noticed that Cindy made a face when she bit into one of her shrimp.  She pulled what looked like a fluorescent metal flake off of her tongue.  She got to looking at the rest of her shrimp and found some of those same flakes on the outside.

We called the waitress over and in a very nice way, Cindy said, "I really think you've got a problem back in the kitchen.  There's metal flakes all over my shrimp."  The waitress recoiled in horror when she saw the metal flakes Cindy had picked off the shrimp and she quickly took the plate away and hurried to the kitchen. 

About three minutes later, here comes Mike Breitbach and he said, "Folks, I want to deeply apologize for this."  He explained that during the cleaning of their grill, the metal brush they use sometimes flakes off on the grill bars.  The cooks are instructed to use a wet towel to wipe off the grill after the metal brush is used.  "Obviously, that didn't happen this time." 

He asked if we'd been there before.  Cindy said that she had, but I hadn't.  Mike said, "Well, listen folks.  We're bringing more shrimp out in a second, hopefully without the metal this time.  And because I want you to come back sometime in the future, your dinner and drinks are on us tonight." 

Well, we told him that we would certainly be back again.  But the hell of it is - we haven't gone back.  And it's not because of that incident.  My food was good.  Cindy's shrimp - sans metal flakes - was excellent.  We just haven't gone back up that way together to eat there. 

I have a feeling we're going to do it this spring...

Update - Fire destroyed Breitbach's restaurant on Dec. 24, 2007.  You can read the article here.  An explosion in the kitchen triggered the fire and it completely burned to the ground.  Mike Breitbach said at the time that he would rebuild and they are in the process of doing so.  You can read an article about the rebuilding effort here.

Fleming's Steak House - St. Louis

In keeping up with the people at the Lone Star Steak House chain, Outback Steak House has their own "upscale" steak house chain called Fleming's Steak House.  It's similar to Lone Star's Sullivan's and Del Frisco's Steak Houses.

As you know, I'm usually death on chains, but I'm finding that places like Fleming's, Sullivan's and Del Frisco usually serve up a pretty good steak, they have great wine lists and the atmosphere is warm and inviting. 

I found that even though Fleming's Steak House is a chain, each of the restaurants have a managing partner on the premises.  It's similar to the Francesca chain of Italian restaurants in the Chicago area where you have a big backer - in this case Outback's Bill Allen and Paul Fleming (who founded P.F. Chang's) - who are the major funding agents.  Then you have regional partners who oversee individual restaurants, then a managing partner and a managing chef who have a financial stake in their own restaurants. 

I recently ate at one that's next to the Plaza Frontenac shopping center in the Frontenac area of St. Louis.  I took the sales crew from The Screening Room, one of my good dealers in St. Louis, to Fleming's after a training and sales meeting. 

Fleming's instantly reminded me of Sullivan's - heavy on the dark wood paneling, an open dining room with a clear view into the kitchen.  The thing that I liked about it was that Fleming's - unlike Sullivan's - was a non-smoking restaurant, including the bar area.

Fleming's offers about 100 wines by the glass (or you can buy the whole bottle), in addition to having a reserve list of over 100 bottles of wine.  Wine Spectator has lauded Fleming's with a number of awards over the past couple of years.   

We opted for a 2001 Franciscan Magnificat, a cabernet/merlot blend that is light, yet full flavored.  It turned out to be excellent with our steaks. 

I started with a wedge salad with their homemade bleu cheese dressing (not unlike Sullivan's wedge/bleu cheese salad, except Fleming's uses Danish bleu cheese and not Maytag blue cheese). 

I got the ribeye without the bone in, the others got filet's.  They were all cooked to perfection at a high temperature (similar to the Ruth's Chris method of cooking steaks) and were served on plates that the server told us would be at 350 degrees (F) when they came to our table. 

The sides are served family style and we got an order of the Fleming's potatoes - basically au gratin potatoes with cream, cheese and finely chopped jalapenos (yummy!).  We got a mixed vegetable side and some sauteed mushrooms that were wonderful, as well. 

For dessert, we all shared their creme brulee, which was good, but I've had much better.  And a huge piece of Key Lime pie, which was very rich and very good. 

Our waitress was a young gal who had worked at the St. Louis Fleming's location since they opened in December of 2004.  She was attentive, answered a lot of our questions (since none of us had been to Fleming's before), and had a good sense of humor. 

Fleming's opened their first steak house in 1999 and is growing rather quickly.  They recently added 6 new locations to bring their total number of restaurants to over 40 nationwide.  In the Midwest, there are Fleming's in Des Moines, Indianapolis, and Lincolnshire (northern Chicago suburb), as well as the one in St. Louis.

Fleming's isn't cheap - with a bottle of wine it set me back about $85 a person with tip. But if you're looking for a good dining experience and you want to go all out, I'd recommend Fleming's.  It's not the best steak house I've eaten at, but it's very good.

The Spam Museum - Austin, MN

Even though it wasn't fully open when we were there, one of the more interesting places that we've been to over the past few years has been the Spam Museum in Austin, MN.

No really!  It's pretty friggin' cool!

The Spam Museum is next to an annex of offices for the Hormel Foods Company (see map) - one of the largest food manufacturers and marketers in the world - which is headquartered in Austin. The present museum replaced a much smaller museum and has been open for a little over 4 years. 

You wouldn't think that Spam would be interesting, but from what we saw of the museum, we knew that we were going to have to come back sometime to go through the whole thing. 

We were there on Labor Day morning.  We were disappointed the museum wasn't open, but the gift shop was.  There were two ladies working at the gift shop and we were their first and only customers of the day, so far. 

Since we were the only ones there, one of the ladies let us go back into the museum to look around.  There were still some finishing touches to be done.  But for the most part, it was about a week or so from opening.  She said, "There's no one here today since it's Labor Day.  I don't think I'd get in trouble if I just let you guys poke your heads in." 

(As an aside - the museum was to open on Sept. 15, but with the events of Sept. 11, 2001, the Hormel people decided to delay the grand opening.  They did have a "soft opening" of the museum in September of that year, but their official Grand Opening wasn't until the following June during their annual "Spam Jam" jazz concert.)

She pointed out a "hands on" area where people would be able to wear the hard hats and smocks like they do in the Hormel plant that makes Spam.  There was going to be an interactive area and a number of little vignettes, small theaters, historical pictures and letters from prominent people.

The one area that really fascinated me was the area that showed Spam's importance to the American troops and their allies during World War II.  There were some facts on a wall that gave many instances of Spam's contributions to the war.  One fact was the amount of Spam the allies air dropped to the Russians during the Siege of Leningrad and the Battle of Moscow during the Nazi siege in WWII.  It was something like 16,000 tons of Spam that was dropped.  That's a LOT of Spam. 

Actually, the coolest thing about the museum was the gift shop.  Boy, they sold EVERYTHING there.  They had hats, basketballs, pencils, key chains, shirts, boxer shorts, sandals - about anything you could think of to put the Spam logo on.  You can look at what they have to offer in their gift shop here.

We blew over $100 bucks that day just picking up nifty little things at the shop.  We could have easily spent TRIPLE that amount had we not been conscious of the fact that we were buying a lot.   

We're going to go back sometime, we just haven't been up that way for a while.  But I think it would be worth your while to stop in if you're ever in the Austin area.  It really is something to see. 

The Stoneleigh - Dallas

We found The Stoneleigh in Dallas quite by accident one year when we were in a pinch trying to find a hotel for the CEDIA exposition when it was held there. 

When I first began to work for my previous company out of St. Louis, it always seemed we were searching and scrounging for hotel rooms at the last moment when we'd go to trade shows.  That year in Dallas was no exception. 

One of my colleagues found this place, don't ask me how, but it turned out to be one of the more interesting hotels I've stayed at.

The Stoneleigh dates back to 1923 when it opened as the tallest building west of the Mississippi.  The architect, Frank Woerner, had a flair for the mysterious and there are hidden passageways, trap doors and secret rooms in the Stoneleigh building. 

The Stoneleigh's rooms are a mix of European and Art Deco.  They're spacious, ornate and comfortable.  There were some signs of the hotel getting "tired" in the hallways and around the elevators.  The bathrooms were also a little archaic, but functional.  But overall, it was a nice place.

When we stayed there, the Stoneleigh had a very good sushi restaurant - Sushi at The Stoneleigh (I understand it's no longer there).  It had a nice little outdoor seating area with a fountain and goldfish pond.  They didn't appreciate it the night we got drunk, ate sushi, then tried to float the decorative gondola in which they served the sushi on the little pond.  Fun haters...

The Stoneleigh is located in the upscale Uptown/Turtle Creek area of Dallas (see map) close to the wonderful shops, restaurants and museums in the area, and a short drive to the downtown area of Dallas. 

In its day, The Stoneleigh was something else.  I haven't stayed there for about 8 years, but I'm guessing that given the fact that it's a historic hotel, they're probably doing a good job in keeping the place nice. 

My Nuclear Burger Recipe

Here's one of my favorite burger recipes that gives you a little bit of a bite back each time you bite into one:

My Nuclear Burgers

2 lbs. Ground Chuck - 90% lean
1 cup chopped onions
1 cup chopped sweet red peppers
1 cup water
1/2 cup Worchestershire sauce
1 teaspoon Tone's Liquid Hickory Smoke                                                   

1 tablespoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 tablespoons cracked black pepper
1 teaspoon Tabasco sauce
2 tablespoons of Atomic Brand Horseradish (or equivalent)
1/2 cup dried basil
1/2 cup dill weed

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and let set for 1 to 2 hours in the refrigerator. 

6 slices pepper jack cheese
6 Onion hamburger buns

Make 6 equal size patties.  Cook directly above medium flame on grille.  Because they're marinated, they cook rather quickly - about 5 to 7 minutes per side.  Place pepper jack cheese slices on top of burgers about 2 to 3 minutes before you take them off. 

Serve them with toasted Onion hamburger buns. 

The Pacific Coast Highway - Day Four

Due to technical difficulties, the details of the fourth day of our trip up the Pacific Coast Highway will have to wait for a few days.  I'm having computer problems and all the pictures from the trip are on that hard drive. 

For those of you on the edge of your seats ready to fall off waiting for the next (and last) installment, here's the spoiler -

We made it to San Francisco...

The Drover - Omaha

There are a lot of very good to great steak houses in Omaha.  One of the best kept secrets in town is The Drover.

Located just west of 72nd street near the old Ak-Sar-Benrace track, (see map), The Drover is an old guard steak house that serves excellent steaks in a rustic, yet, homey atmosphere.

I first found out about The Drover from the owner of Custom Electronicsin Omaha, Larry Covalciuc, back in the mid-80's.  Larry also turned me on to the legendary Omaha steak house, Johnny's Cafe, so I figured that The Drover must be pretty good. 

The Drover's decor is decidely 70's-ish, lots of dark wood paneling throughout the restaurant.  There's a bar area that seats about 25 people when you walk in to the right.  They'll allow you to eat at the bar, and that's what I normally do when I'm there. 

First off, you'll have to go through the salad bar.  The main feature is ice cold Iceberg lettuce with a series of homemade dressings.  They have homemade croutons and cracked black pepper you can put on with spoon. 

The signature steak at The Drover is their Whiskey Steak.  It's primarily a rib-eye that is marinated in Jack Daniels whiskey before it's cooked.  The Drover will also marinate filets, strips and t-bones in whiskey if asked in advance, but the rib-eyes are the main feature there.

Get yourself a big baked-potato with all the fixins' and you're set. 

The Drover used to be THE restaurant for gamblers and horsemen who hung at the old Ak-Sar-Ben track until the track's closure in 1995.  The big winners would always head to The Drover to celebrate their good fortune for the day. 

It's not quite the same today with more of a local crowd coming into The Drover.  The Drover's decor is a little tired compared to its hey-day.  But the old guard - and I suppose I'm included in that group - still regard it as a stellar place to get a great steak.  It's easily one of the top three steak houses in Omaha.

The Pacific Coast Highway - Day Three

Day 3 - Cambria to Monterey

We got up early again, packed up, went and got some breakfast, and then looked around Cambria (pronounced CAME-bree-ah).  What a cool little town Cambria is!  There were shops, galleries, restaurants and neat little homes throughout the town.  It had a very "homey" feel to it.  Cambria is one of those places where you could go, look around for an hour and say, "Oh, yeah.  I could live here." 

We went out to the beach to watch the surfers for a while, then went back in town to a little grocery store/deli to get some stuff for a picnic lunch we figured we'd have later in the day. 

Cindy wanted to go into a little shop and so we did.  While we were in there an older lady engaged us in some conversation.  She wanted to know if we were going to stop at the Hearst Castle at San Simeon.  I said, "You know, I went one time about four years ago and it may have been something for people who grew up in that day and age to see, but I found it to be somewhat overblown and garish."

Geez, you would have thought I'd just taken a healthy dump on the shop's floor.  The lady began to chastise me, saying that if it wasn't for San Simeon the town of Cambria wouldn't be there.  "A lot of workers lived in this town when it was being built and lived here for years after.  My father worked on the castle." 

I told her the only thing I really liked was the pool and gardens and that would probably be the only thing my wife would like, too.  I said, "If we could go up there and walk around on our own instead of having to sacrifice three hours of our lives to sit through the tour program, I'd do it.  But I guess they don't let you do that." 

She said, no, it was very structured.  But she did tell us the night time tours in the spring thru fall are very nice.  But it was also something like $25 per person ($30 dollars today). 

We left Cambria thinking that we just didn't spend enough time there (but long enough to piss off one of the locals).  Just outside of Cambria, we encounted this sign.  That was nice to see on the start our trip that day. 

We did stop at the visitors center for the Hearst Castle, about 10 miles north of Cambria.  It's now run by the State of California as a state park.  They had some re-creations of a couple of the rooms from the castle, and a few of William Randolph Hearst's personal art collection and artifacts on hand.  That was enough for me.

Hearst Castle from the Visitor's Center

Cindy and I discussed going up.  I told her that we had to take a bus up, we had to sit and watch a movie, then we'd go on a guided tour.  I said, "It starts at 11 a.m. and we won't be back down here until after 2 p.m.  Like I told that lady earlier, the only neat thing that I think you'd like are the gardens and the pool." 

Cindy thought about it for about 10 seconds and said, "Naw, we don't have to go up there.  Let's go."

So we took off up the coast again.  We stopped a few miles up the road to look at the sea lions laying on the beach sunning themselves.  It was kind of neat to see.

We drove about 30 miles up the road, not going overly fast because there was a lot of traffic (it was a Sunday).  We found a little turn off that took us down to a rocky beach area right next to the ocean.  We decided we'd have lunch there. 

It was great out, the wind was no where near the speed it was 24 hours earlier.  The sun was warm and it heated the rocks we sat on to have our picnic lunch.  Cindy made friends with a seagull who sat literally a foot or two away from her just eye-balling her lunch.

After lunch, we made our way up the coast a little more before we came upon Julia Pfieffer Burns State Park.  It was literally like an oasis.  Great views, waterfalls, beautiful flowers - it had it all.   

We got out and walked around the park.  Man, it was just beautiful.  Probably the nicest spot was this view of a cove of aqua blue water with a waterfall feeding into it.  There were flourescent colored flowers all around the place.  We stayed there for about an hour. 

We decided we'd better get back on the road and headed up north.  We got to Big Sur - home of the BIG trees and got out and looked around for a while.  Here's Cindy hanging out in the woods. 

From there, we went north a few miles and found Nepenthe, a restaurant with a great view of the Big Sur Pacific coast line.  Originally the site of a vacation home for Orson Welles, Nepenthe was bought by the granddaughter of one of the founders of Carmel, CA in the early 60's.  She was just going to make it a roadside sandwich stand, but an associate of Frank Lloyd Wright designed a nice building that had some modern techniques as well as some rustic backwoods charm.  The little sandwich shop turned into a world class destination restaurant. 

We decided to have a snack on the deck and the bill for an appetizer, a couple beers and a pop came to about $30 bucks.  Wow!  Someone has to pay for that wonderful view, I'm tellin' ya. 

Up the road a few miles is the famous Bixby Creek Bridge - one of the architectural marvels of the early 20th century.  It was kind of funny to see the amount of people stopped on both sides of the bridge to take pictures of the structure.

A few mile up the road we got to Carmel.  One of the neatest - and highest priced - cities in America, Carmel is very elegant, yet kind of homey in a "Pleasantville" kind of way.  There are galleries and exclusive shops all through the town.  And there are a lot of great gourmet and exquisite restaurants, as well. 

After driving around Carmel for a bit, we found our way to one of the entrances of the 17 Mile Drive around Pebble Beach and Pacific Grove.  You pass world class golf courses such as Pebble Beach, Spyglass Hill, and Spanish Bay.  Of course, we had to stop and get a shot of the familiar Lone Cypress - the trademark of Pebble Beach. 

We continued around the drive and looked at the homes and golf courses, and the weather started to get cool and cloudy.  You could see the clouds coming in off the ocean.  I remarked to Cindy that I was glad I wasn't on the golf course as it got cold very quickly. 

From there, we went into Monterey and found a hotel on the north side of town.  Monterey is a nice city, but a lot of it is a tourist trap. 

We had dinner that night at Rappa's Seafood on the end of the Old Fisherman's Wharf.  Originally a snack shop, the Rappa family expanded the restaurant before finally tearing down the mishmash of additions and putting up the existing restaurant in the early 80's.  The food was good, the service was fine and we were happy. 

By this time, it had started to spit rain and the wind coming off the ocean was cold.  It was a dreary and very quiet Sunday night in Monterey.  We walked around a bit, then drove around some more to stay out of the weather.  After a while, we decided we'd had enough for the day and we went back to the hotel.  Tomorrow is the drive up to San Francisco.

Next - Day Four - Monterey to San Francisco

The Pacific Coast Highway - Day Two

Day Two - Santa Barbara to Cambria

We got up pretty early on Saturday morning to go explore Santa Barbara.  It's a pretty town on the ocean, but there are some pretty downtrodden areas in town, as well.  Still, the views of the oceans from some of the parks up and around the city were pretty neat.  It would be tough to wake up to those views every day.

We ended up downtown, had breakfast at a nice little place, then ventured over to the Santa Barbara Farmer's Market.  It was one of the nicer farmer's markets we'd ever been to.  There was produce, flowers,  knick-knacks, and a little bit of everything there.  We could have spent a lot of time there, but we needed to hit the road.  Cindy bought a bouquet of flowers and we took off up the road. 

We ventured off of Highway 1 and stayed on U.S. Highway 101 to go up to Santa Maria to visit a friend of mine, Brad Paulsen. Along the way we passed the town of Solvang, which we found out later is a beautiful little town that dubs itself as the "Danish Capital of the US".  It's also the gateway to one of the most beautiful wine growing areas in the world, the Santa Ynez Valley.  Oh well, next time. 

Brad was  the national sales manager for B&K Components at that time.  I was representing B&K in the Midwest and Brad and I had traveled a few times together.  He's a Wisconsin boy and he used to love to come back to the Midwest for dealer visits.  When he heard that we were going to travel the Pacific Coast Highway, he asked us to stop in for lunch.

Brad lived not too far off of Highway 101 and we got there a little before noon.  He had the grill going and he said he was going to make for us a local delicacy called the Santa Maria Tri-Tip.  Brad had this big hunk of beef on a plate covered with some seasonings and he threw it onto the grill. 

He cooked it at right about an hour and when he pulled it off the grill, it was this huge charred mess.  He said, "Mr. Veber, I'm going to allow you to do the honors of carving the meat.  Cut it crossways making the slices no larger than about a quarter of an inch."

I'm looking at this thing laying there, literally smoking on the plate.  I thought, "Jesus, Paulsen.  You cooked the life out of it."

So, I cut into it and it was the most perfect medium rare to medium that you'd want to find on any steak.  The meat was succulent and juicy.  And the burnt crust with the herbs and spices on the outside of it was rather tasty. 

During lunch, Brad told us the history of the tri-tip, which is the tough underside of a sirloin steak when it's cut. 

Years ago, the Santa Maria area was a huge ranching area.  The ranch hands were usually Mexicans, known as "vaqueros", who were given the less desirable pieces of meat by the ranchers to eat.  The ranch hands found that if you seasoned the tri-tip with garlic, salt, pepper and parsley, then cooked the living shit out of it over an open fire, it became moist and tender.

Santa Maria bills itself as the "Barbecue Capital of the World".  Brad said the smell of oak wood (the "only" way to barbecue in Santa Maria) permeates the air many nights. 

Before we left, Brad told us we had to go west a few miles past Guadalupe to a place called Guadalupe Dunes along the coast.  A portion of Cecil B. DeMille's epic "The Ten Commandments" was filmed there.  It was the setting for "The City of Pharoah" set.  When DeMille finished filming at Guadalupe Dunes, he had the set dismantled.  But instead of hauling it away, he let Mother Nature - in the form of the howling winds off the ocean that pushed the sand around at the dunes - take over. 

We went out there and came to the entrance (left).  The wind was coming off the ocean at over 30 mph, kind of weird for such a nice day.  We gingerly made our way along the black top road as it snaked its way through the dunes toward the ocean.  Many times the road just disappeared under the sand.  It was kind of unnerving. 

We made it to the ocean and the combination of wind, sand and water spray made it so we couldn't get out of the car.  In fact, the sand was hitting the windshield so hard it made thousands of little pock marks in the glass. 

The ocean was unlike anything I'd seen before.  I can't really say there were waves coming in.  It was like the water was coming up from the bottom.  It was very surreal and sort of scary to see the ocean literally boiling in front of you.  And the sound it was making - even with us sitting in the car - was ungodly loud.   

We got out of there without seeing the ruins of the movie set.  It turned out that we couldn't have seen it any way.  Years and years of shifting sands buried the set.  Only recently there have been film historians working at the site to try and excavate some of the set. 

We made our way back to Guadalupe, gassed up and then took off back on Highway 1 to Pismo Beach.  But before we got there, Cindy saw a road side stand selling strawberries next to a strawberry field.  She made me stop so she could get some.  I like the smell and taste of strawberries, but I'm allergic to 'em.  Cindy said they were some of the best strawberries she'd ever had. 

We went out to Pismo Beach and, once again, the wind was just blowing.  There were a few people camped on the beach and they had "lean-to's" they'd erected to shield themselves from the wind.  We drove down the beach a ways and got out to look at and hear the ocean.  It was unbelievable.

Here's Cindy at Pismo Beach nearly getting blown away.

We got back on the highway for the short drive up to San Luis Obispo.  Just outside of San Luis Obispo is the somewhat famous Madonna Inn.  Someone told Cindy that we needed to stop just to check the place out.

The Madonna Inn is a boutique hotel that offers a number of "theme" rooms.  The rooms were a little pricey for us or we probably would have stayed there, just to stay there. 

But the highlight of the visit was the trip to the men's bathroom. The urinal is a waterfall.  It's the perfect urinal because you can pee onto the rocks and into the water stream without having to worry about splashing on the floor or walls or yourself.  Whoever thought of that was a goddamn genius.  It's too bad the staff at the Madonna Inn get pissy when women try to go in to have a look. 

We had dinner that evening at Benvenuti (now Colago) on Marsh St. in San Luis Obispo.  Housed in a quaint Victorian home on a one way street near San Luis Obispo's downtown area, Benvenuti was recommended to us by a friend, Richard Colburn, who had eaten there many times before.  Italian food was their specialty and we weren't disappointed in the least.  It was romantic, cozy, the service was great and the food was equally superb.  I'm glad we stopped. 

We drove around the downtown area of San Luis Obispo after dinner and then worked our way back onto the highway heading north and west. We made it up to Morro Bay just as the sun was setting and got some pictures of Morro Rock and a nice sunset into the Pacific.

We drove the remaining 15 miles or so up to Cambria, a quaint little art community on the central coast.  We stayed at a little mom and pop hotel that night - the Cambria Palms Motel.  The manager, it turned out, grew up just east of the Quad Cities.  It had been a long day and we knew we had another long day on Sunday. 

Next - Day Three - Cambria to Monterey

Bootlegger - Las Vegas

When I first started to go to Vegas for CES, one of our favorite places to go eat was at a place called the Bootlegger in the Village East Plaza at the corner of Tropicana and Eastern in Las Vegas.  My old boss, Mike Cannady, and my colleague, Kevin Leja, and I would eat some pretty good Italian food, drink cheap Chianti wine and generally have a great time.

The Bootlegger was owned and run by Maria and Al Perry.  Maria is the cook, Al the manager.  They had owned a couple of pizza places around the town since the mid-50's.  In 1972, they opened the Bootlegger Ristorante with the help of their daughter Lorraine, who was somewhat of a famous nightclub entertainer in Las Vegas.  In fact, today, Lorraine - Lorraine Hunt - is the Lt. Governor of Nevada. 

Lorraine Hunt.  She's running for Governor of Nevada this year.  Check out the "Hunt for Governor" web site.

Because of Lorraine, Bootlegger was kind of a hideaway for some of the old guard Las Vegas entertainers.  The food was good, the place was cozy and Al always held court at the bar. 

Well, Mike, Kevin and I had all gone on to other jobs by the early 90's.  We all stayed in touch and finally decided that we had to get together for dinner in Vegas when we went out for CES. Prior to the 1999 CES, we made a date for dinner at Bootlegger.   

We met up and drove out to the place where we remembered Bootlegger to be (it had been about 10 years since we'd all last been there).  We got out and went into the place.  Except it's this ratty friggin' bar.  No Bootlegger.  Turned out they closed the place down, but we were told they were thinking about opening another restaurant somewhere else.  We were kind of bummed.

Four years ago, I believe it was Kevin who found out that Bootlegger had opened in a new location on the far south side of the Las Vegas strip.  Now called "Bootlegger Bistro", we knew we had to try it out. 

We met up again in 2003 and went out to Bootlegger.  The place was nice.  Much more room and much more ornate than the old Bootlegger (which was in a strip mall).  The old time comfy booths were still in use.  The bar area was nice and large.  We had about a 25 minute wait for a table because it was a Friday night.

I had the Veal Piccata - I'm a sucker for Veal Piccata.  It was cooked perfectly and the lemon cream sauce was wonderful.  I can't remember what Mike and Kevin got, but I do know that we drank a lot of wine and had a lot of laughs. 

Along about 10 p.m., the "entertainment" started.  The performer was a guy by the name of Sonny King.  I found out later that he was Jimmy Durante's partner for nearly 30 years.  He opened Durante's shows for him.  Actually, I didn't know Jimmy Durante had a partner.  Before that, King was the manager and a singer at the famed Copacabana in New York starting in the mid-40's.   

Sonny King with Dayle D'Ann and Laurie Brady - the Astrologers to the Stars!  Seriously!

The show was a loose 60's style Las Vegas review where Sonny sat on the stage, kibitzed with the crowd, sang a couple songs, told some really stale jokes (so stale that we were laughing our asses off wondering how in the hell he could get away with telling such bad jokes), and just sort of hung out.  We sat there and listened to this schlocky entertainer for a half hour or so and suddenly a lady gets up to sing with Sonny.  Turns out it's the Lt. Governor of Nevada - Lorraine Hunt, herself! 

She sang a couple of old standards with Sonny and she did have a nice voice.  But this was definitely for the over 60 crowd and we began to see that we were probably the youngest people in the place.

Other than the tired entertainment, the Bootlegger was worth the trip. 

The Pacific Coast Highway - Day One

In 1999, Cindy and I decided to go to California and drive the Pacific Coast Highway, California State Route 1.  Actually, about four years prior, I'd taken the Pacific Coast Highway from just north and west of Los Angeles to San Francisco - IN A DAY - one time with two other guys I was working with at the time.  There was just too much to see in one day - and we even stopped at the famous Hearst Castle along the way.  It was tiring to say the least.

Cindy and I thought that if we took it easy and took our time going up the coast it would be much more fun to do it that way.  And it turned out that it was.

Day One - L.A. to Santa Barbara

We flew to L.A. on a Friday in mid-May of 1999 getting into LAX about 11:30 a.m.  After some minor hassles and haggling at the car rental place, we first set off down the coast to Rancho Palos Verde, a nice community south of L.A. 

We went to the lighthouse (we're suckers for lighthouses) and gazed out over the blue Pacific.  The cool thing about air travel is that you can wake up in Iowa and be looking at the Pacific at 1:30 in the afternoon.

Our next stop was the Redondo Beach pier for a quick lunch of fish tacos, then we made our way up to Santa Monica to go to the pier up there. 

Most of these piers are tourist traps, but the Santa Monica Pier is probably the most famous pier in the U.S.  We had to go out and take some pictures and soak in some sun before traveling up the coast to Malibu.

We had to stop at the Malibu Bluffs and take in the views of the Malibu coast in the late afternoon. 

After some stops in Oxnard and Ventura looking for Atomic Horseradish, we made our way up the coast as the sun was setting to Santa Barbara.  We got to the hotel and checked in and went to have dinner at La Super Rica.  There wasn't much to see in Santa Barbara at night, plus we were so zapped from the travel of the day.  We decided to get to bed and get up the next morning to look around town for a while before we ventured on north.

Next - Day Two - Santa Barbara to Cambria

The Dubliner Pub - Omaha

Here's a fun place to grab a cold beer - The Dubliner Pub in downtown Omaha's Old Market area.  Just as the name suggests, The Dubliner is a classic Irish-American bar in the basement of a building that was built in the 1890's (see map).  The basement was the coal storage area for the businesses upstairs. 

The Dubliner opened in 1980 and was initially known as Horbach's.  The name was changed in the mid-80's to The Dubliner and it became somewhat famous back in the "old country" as a home away from home for Irish ex-pats and people of Irish ancestry.   

The Dubliner Pub is not too big, but it's not too small where you feel cramped.  They have bands and musicians in the back of the place from time to time, so it can't be too small. 

The Dubliner has over 100 different beers from all over the world to choose from.  There are around 20 different beers on tap.  But I'm kind of disappointed there isn't the kind of eclectic beers either on tap or available in bottles that I've seen in similar beer bars elsewhere.

The Dubliner has two clubs that you can join - both involve drinking the beer.  "The World Mug Club" is where you gain your own drinking mug that is hung in the bar with your name on it if you drink every beer from around the world. (Not in one sitting, of course.)  They give you a little score card and they check off each beer you drink on your visits.  They've been doing this for years and I have a sneaking suspicion that Old Chicago and other bars ripped off this idea for their world beer tour promotions. 

Or, if you would like to garner one of their shirts like the one above and to the right, you can take their "Fear No Beer Tour".  By drinking each of the 20 tap beers in the place (once again, not in one sitting), you get yourself the neat Dubliner Pub long sleeve t-shirt.

The Dubliner has basic pub fare - wings, nachos, burgers, chicken sandwiches, brought down by the people at The Brass Grille upstairs.  They even offer The Brass Grille's oysters on the half shell, but I thought they were too small and marginal, at best, the last time I had 'em.

I like The Dubliner - the staff is friendly, the place has a good feel to it, and the beer tastes great after a hard day.  When you go to the Old Market, you have to stop in for at least one at The Dubliner. 

The Stein Lounge - Green Bay

One of my favorite places to get a reuben is The Stein Lounge in downtown Green Bay, WI (see map).  The Stein is big with the locals in Green Bay and I understand it serves up some good steaks and German food, too.  But I've only gone in for the reubens.

Cindy and I first went to The Stein when we took an extended weekend in Wisconsin about 11 1/2 years ago.  We were in downtown Green Bay one afternoon and looking for a place to have lunch.  We drove by The Stein and, of course, the sign with the beer stein caught my eye.  What the hell - let's go in.

The Stein has a good sized bar up front and a couple of dining rooms in the back. (I like sitting up at the bar - a three-sided bar with the coolers and a couple TV's on the back wall.)  The decor is decidedly German in flavor with a lot of dark paneling and Bavarian inspired decor. 

When we first went there, we weren't certain what to have.  Actually, everything on the menu looked pretty appealing.  Finally, we asked our waiter, who was also the day manager, what he suggested.  He said, "Do you like reubens?"

We said we did.  He said, "I'll pay for your lunch if you don't think our reuben is the best you've ever had."

Once again, I thought, "What the hell?"  So we went for the reuben. 

The Stein's reuben starts out with their homemade black German rye bread, then piled high with their homemade sauerkraut and very tender corned beef.  Add some good Wisconsin Swiss cheese and their homemade Thousand Island dressing and you've got yourself a pretty damn fine reuben.

After we finished, he came over and said, "Well?"

I said, "Honestly, I don't know if it's best I've ever had, but it's got to be damn close." 

He offered to pay for our lunch and I said, "Oh, no.  We'll pay because it was very good." 

I've been back three or four times since to have the reuben.  Each time the sandwich has been excellent.  The beer at The Stein is cold, they have a good selection of both imports and domestics, and the place is cozy and comfortable. 

One of these days I'll try something else on the menu, but as long as they make the reubens the way they do, it's going to be awfully hard to not order that when I go in. 

(Update - Unfortunately, The Stein closed in late 2008.  I had gone back a couple times before it closed and the reuben was still one of the best I've ever had.  It's sad when places like this go away.  The Stein was truly a wonderful place to go.)

Senate Approves DTV Date

Recently, the US Senate voted on a compromise budget package that includes the establishment of Feb. 17, 2009 as the drop-dead date for the end of all analog broadcasts in the United States. 

Reversing an earlier vote on a $3 billion dollar subsidy for end-users who will need converter boxes to receive digital broadcasts on analog televisions, the Senate voted 50-50 (with Vice-President Dick Cheney exercising his Constitutional role in voting to break the tie) to cut the subsidy in half.  The House of Representatives earlier passed similar legislation, but the bill voted on by the Senate will have to go back to the House for final approval. 

When it's approved in the House, President Bush will sign the bill into law. 

Under the compromise bill, consumers will be able to ask for up to two $40 vouchers to help defray the cost of buying a digital converter box for their analog sets. 

Due to the Byrd Act which prevents tacking on items that aren't directly related to the budget items on the bill, Senators also eliminated language in the bill that would have allowed cable companies to down-convert digital signals to analog signals through their systems.

That item and some other related issues will be discussed for future legislation.

River Rockin' Ribfest - Davenport

Each year at the end of August, the local chamber of commerce, Davenport One, puts on one of the highlights of the summer, the annual River Rockin' Ribfest.  They have the festival in picturesque LeClaire Park "right next to and sometimes in the Mississippi River" in downtown Davenport.  I've worked the event since 1999 as the stage manager and announcer for the event. 

And it's a large time - Bands, Beer and Barbecue, though not necessarily in that order. 

This last year, the Rhythm City Casino was the main sponsor for the festival and we went to a Thursday night, Friday, Saturday and Sunday afternoon format for the first time.  Thursday night got rained out, but the rest of the weekend's weather was just beautiful. 

The Ribfest in Davenport features six national rib vendors and three local guys.  The national "ribateurs" run a circuit across the country for about seven or eight months a year.  The ribfest in Davenport is a week before the "Superbowl" of rib festivals - "The Best of the West Nugget Rib Cook-off" in Sparks, NV.  The ribfest in Davenport is a nice warm-up for that. 

The national guys in Davenport this last August were Checkered Pig from Virginia; Johnson's Barbecue, also from Virginia; Texas Outlaws from Kentucky; Desperado's Barbecue from Ohio; Porky 'N Beans from Florida; and Cowboy's Barbecue from Texas.  The local rib guys were Jim's Rib Haven from Rock Island and D.J.'s Ribs from Moline.  And even though they are technically a national rib vendor, Famous Dave's, which has a Davenport restaurant, rounded out the local vendors.   

Some of the other rib guys who have been here in the past include Aussom Aussie from Pennsylvania; Bone Daddy's from Michigan; and Rasta Joe's Barbecue from Indiana.  I miss Aussom Aussie coming here, they make some damn fine barbecue. 

One of the great things about working these events is that you get to know some of the guys from the touring rib vendors.  The guys from Desperado's have been coming here since the first year in 1999 and they always add some extra bones to my plate when I got to get some ribs from them.  In fact, a lot of them do that for me.  Once again, it's not what you know, it's who you know. 

Donna and Lee Rice of Desperado's (right)

Each of the rib vendors vie for 1st place in both the "Best Barbecue" and "Best Sauce" categories.  There is a panel of judges who vote on the categories at a Saturday afternoon tasting.  Some of the judges are from the local media, a couple are from the local pork council, and one of the guys is a nationally certified judge for rib festivals.  Now, how does one go about getting nationally certified to be a rib judge?  Someone's got a lot of time on their hands, I'm sorry. 

There's also a "People's Choice" award where the general public gets to vote for their favorite national and local rib vendor.   

Actually, these rib festivals are a big deal to the national touring guys.  I've seen some guys get really pissed off if they didn't get first place in the contest.  It's not necessarily the extra money they get, but the prestige of being able to add another ribfest to their list of awards.

In addition to working the stage area, I've also helped judge the amateur rib contest for the last four years.  Look for an upcoming post regarding some of my past experiences as a judge for that.  That's not only fun, but it's very tasty!

This year, the ribfest will be August 24 thru 27.  I'm sure the Rhythm City Casino will be the main sponsor again.  We had good crowds when the weather cooperated last year and we hope for a bigger crowd this year.   

Exchequer Pub - Chicago

When Cindy and I were in Chicago recently, we tried to get into The Berghoff for a mid-afternoon lunch.  The line, however, to get into the building stretched out the door and about 30 feet down the block (and this was BEFORE they announced they were closing at the end of February). 

Long ago, I learned that when Cindy's hungry, she needs food.  I don't even fight it any longer.  Cindy needed food and she wasn't willing to wait in line - even for The Berghoff. 

We began to walk down the street and we're standing at a street corner contemplating our options.  Cindy said, "OK, 'Mr. Chicago restaurants'.  Where are we going to eat?"

There was a couple standing in front of us and they overheard us.  The lady turned around and said, "You guys looking for a good place to eat lunch?  We just ate at a place down the block and around the corner called Exchequer.  It was very good.  We highly recommend it.  It was recommended to us by a doorman at our hotel." 

We thanked her and went back down Adams St. looking for it.  We took a right on S. Wabash and about half the block down was the Exchequer Pub (see map). 

Named after the National Treasury of England, Exchequer (pronounced EX-checker) is in the heart of the Loop and the financial district in downtown Chicago.  The Mannos brothers have run the restaurant since 1982, but the building has housed restaurants since the mid-20's.  Rumor has it that it also housed a "speakeasy" during the height of Prohibition, and was frequented by Al Capone who lived not too far away.  

The place is spacious - it has a bar up front, and dining in the back and in a side room.  It was full around 2:45 the Tuesday afternoon we were there.  We had to wait about 10 minutes for a table.  That's OK, because the bar was nice and they had cold Beck's on tap.  I didn't mind the wait, but Cindy was getting hungrier. 

The Exchequer Pub is famous for their deep dish pizza and their ribs - neither of which we got.  Although their thin crust pizza looked and smelled great.  I almost pulled the trigger on getting one of those.  But then I remembered that we'd be eating dinner later in the evening and if I got a pizza at 3 p.m., I wouldn't be eating dinner. 

Cindy opted for the hamburger, medium-well.  I got the "Chicago Dip" a variation of a French Dip sandwich, except the waitress told me to order it with some mozzarella and hot giardineira on top.  I said, "So, it's like a Italian beef sandwich, right?" 

She said, "Well, sort of, but we don't cook our roast beef in spices and herbs like a real Italian beef sandwich." 

But it was very good, nonetheless.  There was a lot of beef on the sandwich - usually restaurants that charge $8.00 for a beef sandwich skimp on the meat.  Not the Exchequer, there was a lot of meat on the sandwich.

Cindy said her burger was good, too.  She said even though it was cooked through, the meat patty was very flavorful.  I'll have to try it sometime.

After we left the restaurant, we're walking up Wabash and coming right at us was the couple that suggested we try the Exchequer.  The guy lit up when he saw us.  "Did you try the Exchequer," he asked.

I said, "I was just telling my wife that I wished I would have gotten your name and address so we could send you a 'thank you'.  It was very good." 

And it was very good.  Just like the couple that turned us on to the place, I highly recommend it, too.  In fact, the next time I go in I want to try the thin crust pizza.  It looked great.