Road Tips

Bix Beiderbecke Weekend - Davenport

The Quad Cities has a number of festivals all through the summer.  From late May into September, there's always some festival or event going on in one of the cities each weekend.  But none of the events are bigger than the annual Bix Beiderbecke weekend, which, so happens, comes up this very weekend.

The Bix weekend consists of three major events - the 35th annual Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Jazz Festival at Le Claire Park in downtown Davenport; the 32nd annual Bix 7 road race on the streets of Davenport on Saturday morning; and the 35th annual Wells Fargo Street Fest on the streets of downtown Davenport on Friday and Saturday. 

Now, some of you are going to ask - who the hell is Bix Beiderbecke? 

Leon "Bix" Beiderbecke was a legendary jazz musician who was born in Davenport just after the turn of the 20th century.  Known as a bad student and kind of a "ne'er-do-well" while he lived in Davenport, Bix was the Jimi Hendrix of his day - an avant garde cornet player who set the music scene on its ear in the 20's.  Even though he composed only five tunes, his stylings influenced a generation of jazz greats who came years after Bix died.

A longtime alcoholic, Bix died in squalor in a seedy apartment in New York City in 1931.  He is buried not too far from our house here in Davenport. 

Given that Bix wasn't much of anything but a gifted musician who died too young from alcoholism, a group of people in the Quad Cities decided in the early 70's to glorify this native son and they started the Bix Beiderbecke Memorial Society.  And they chose to honor him with an annual jazz festival that began in 1972.  And it wasn't a jazz festival with modern jazz, but that old traditional "Dixieland" style of jazz - the popular music of the 20's.  The stuff your grandparents or great-grandparents were listening to when they lost their virginity.

Also in 1972, the city of Davenport hosted their first street festival.  They closed off some of the streets downtown, had some live music on a stage (non-jazz), some people set up craft booths and food booths, and they made it a big deal.  About 6 or 7 years ago, Wells Fargo Bank threw corporate money behind the festival and got the naming rights.  It's easily the single largest festival each year in Davenport.

Well, unless you're a runner - the annual Bix 7 road race started in 1975 with 6 runners winding 7 miles through the streets of Davenport.  The race has grown to become one of the foremost running events in America with nearly 20,000 runners and/or walkers taking on the hills of Davenport each year on Saturday morning.

I've worked the stage area of the Street Fest as the stage manager, host and master of ceremonies for the musical acts since 1999.  It's a lot of work, but I like working with a lot of the local bands (well, most of them), and I've made a lot of good friends from working the event over the years.   

As the Bix 7 road race and the Street Fest have grown over the years, the attendance of the Bix Jazz Festival has dwindled.  They - may - get about 1000 people total at the jazz fest during the weekend.  And that may be a liberal figure.

A story about the jazz festival -

I moved to Davenport 15 years ago to be the General Manager of the old Audio Odyssey audio/video store.  A couple months after I moved here, the Bix weekend came up.  The guys at the store told me that I had to go downtown to partake in the festivities.  They described it as a lot of fun and it sounded like it really was a very large time. 

Well, I'd heard about the Bix jazz fest, and I remember seeing bits and pieces on Iowa Public Television when they would show taped segments of the musical acts who would play at the Le Claire Park bandshell.  I thought, "Well, I don't really care for that kind of music.  But if I'm going to live here, I'd better become familiar with the local traditions." 

I didn't go down to the fest on Friday, nor did I go down after work on Saturday.  On Sunday, I decided to go down that afternoon and check out the festival.  I went to the park and there were, maybe, 50 people there.  And Le Claire Park is not a small place.  And I was, by far, the youngest person in attendance.  I'm not kidding you, I think I was there for an hour and I swear I heard "Won't You Come Home, Bill Bailey?" three times.

I went into work on Monday morning and I told the guys, "You know, I went to the jazz fest yesterday and it was lame.  A bunch of old people, a bunch of bad jazz.  It wasn't what I thought it was going to be."

I was then informed that the jazz festival WAS lame.  The Street Fest was what everyone was referring to when the "festival" term was brought up.

This weekend, the weather is supposed to be scorching hot - 92 on Friday and 94 on Saturday.  I work from 9 a.m. in the morning to about 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.  Each year before the fest, I think that I may be getting too old to do this stuff. But I usually have a lot of fun seeing people and working with the bands that I tell myself that I'm ready to do it again the next year. 

I'll post information on the bands who are playing for the Street Fest sometime next week.  I'm not happy with the line-up (that's another story), but for the most part, some of the best bands in the Quad Cities will be playing this weekend. 

Trout Fishing in America

I lived in Houston, TX for a short time in the mid-80's.  I wasn't making a lot of money then and Houston was in the midst of an economic downturn at the time.   It wasn't as fun as I thought it would be when I first moved there. 

However, my roommate, Kurt Nyffeler, and I would go out from time to time to catch some of the music around the Houston area.  One of the more eclectic bands we saw play was a band called Trout Fishing in America, named after Richard Brautigan's abstract novel of free thoughts, anecdotes and humorous stories. 

The band consisted of this tall, goofy looking guitar player with long blond hair who played a Roland G707 synthesizer-guitar; a very short bass player who appeared to come up to just about the guitar player's arm pits; and a drummer that I don't really remember much about.  Their music was pretty broad and wide-ranging, to say the least. 

Cut to 2006 - The Redstone Room at the River Music Experience announced that Trout Fishing in America would be playing there.  I thought, "Wait a minute - this can't be the same Trout Fishing in America I used to see in Houston all those years ago?" 

I did some checking of facts and found that, indeed, Trout Fishing in America (which now consisted of two people - the bass player and the guitar player, who has since got rid of the Edgar Winter look) seemed to be one and the same band.  Except they traded in the synthesizer guitars for acoustic guitars. 

So, Cindy and went down to the Redstone Room and caught Trout Fishing in America.  We got there a little late and only got to see them play four songs, but they were good.  Very good.  A lot different than the spacey rock music they used to play years ago.  The songs were upbeat and had a nice little whimsical nature to them along with a good sense of humor about them. 

The two guys in Trout Fishing in America, Ezra Idlet (the guitarist), and Keith Grimwood (the bass player), did a good job of keeping things light and moving forward for the small, yet enthusiastic crowd at The Redstone Room.  I was only a little upset that we didn't get to hear more of them. 

After the show, the place cleared out rather quickly and Cindy and I were finishing our drinks.  Keith Grimwood stopped by our table to thank us for showing up and I said, "Hey, I just wanna make sure about something.  Are you the same Trout Fishing in America that used to play in Houston back in the mid-80's?"

He sort of looked at me and said, "Yes!  That was us!  We're both from Houston.  We moved to northwest Arkansas in the late 80's and started doing acoustic music." 

I told him that I used to see them play at a couple of places in the Houston area, but I couldn't remember the name of the places.  I said, "One was a place where you guys would play outdoors..."

He said, "Why, that was called Stan's Boat and the other place we used to play quite a bit was a place called Lovejoy's."

I said, "Oh my God!  That's right!  Stan's Boat, and how could I forget Lovejoy's?" 

He told me that was during their "spacey" time of playing music, when Ezra would make weird noises on his synthesizer guitar.  He said, "We had a drummer then, but decided to move to Arkansas and play some upbeat acoustical stuff." 

I said, "Well, you guys have a great name, and it was a great book, too."

Keith said, "Oh, great!  You got the literary reference!  Ezra and I do a lot of reading and Brautigan was one of those 'out there' kind of guys - kind of like us.  Years ago, we had a lot more people who knew about the novel, but today don't have the faintest idea of what "Trout Fishing in America" is or who Richard Brautigan was." 

He said that years ago he could joke to the crowd that "Trout Fishing in America" was a better name than "An Abortion" (another one of Brautigan's books).  But he said today's political climate doesn't allow for that joke to go over so well.  Plus, it was written over 30 years ago and it's been out of print for quite some time, so the younger audiences don't get the joke. 

He gave me their business card and said they really hoped to be back him in Davenport again. (Evidently, they were here in 2003, but I don't remember seeing anything about it in the papers then.) 

When we were leaving, I heard Keith say to Ezra, "Hey, that guy used to see us in Houston during our spaced-out days in the 80's!"   

I hope they do make it back so we can see a little more of their show.  They put on a great show for the handful of people that came to see them. 

Bob's Drive-Inn - Le Mars, IA

Le Mars, IA is one of those great little Midwestern towns that are all over northwest Iowa.  You can take any of them - Spencer, Carroll, Estherville, Emmetsburg, Spirit Lake - and they're all just wonderful towns to drive through.  The streets are wide and clean, the houses are grand and spacious, there's still that "small town" feel to most of these towns. 

And most of those towns have a drive-in restaurant that is a signature of the town.  Le Mars' signature drive-in is Bob's Drive-Inn.  Bob's was started in 1949 by Bob Kass, and is run today by his son, Myles.  Myles hopes that one day his kids take over the business.

Having dinner in Le Mars the night before, I found myself driving back through town after calling on a small account in Sioux Center (another nice little NW Iowa town).  It was lunch time, I wanted to stop at Bob's, so I did. 

Bob's signature sandwich is what we would call a Maid-Rite in Central and Eastern Iowa, but is known as a "tavern" in NW Iowa.  Others call them "loose meats'.  They're all basically the same thing - a loose meat beef sandwich that's either steamed or pressure cooked with spices.  (Picture courtesy of Michael Stern)

Bob's "tavern" is moist and has a good flavor.  It's not like the Maid-Rites which tend to be more dry and crumbly.  The meat on Bob's "tavern" kept it all together in the bun and a spoon wasn't needed to clean up the meat that usually drops out (which takes a lot of the fun out of the meal). 

Since Bob's "taverns" weren't all that big, I had what they called a "tavern dog", an all-beef Wimmer's hot dog with a load of "tavern" meat on top of the dog.  I had them add mustard and onions.  The hot dog was great and the loose meat on top gave it a unique flavor - nothing like I'd ever had before.  (Picture courtesy of Michael Stern)

For years, the buns that Bob's used for their "taverns" and hot dogs came from the legendary Vander Meer Bakery in Le Mars.  One of the truly famous bakeries in NW Iowa, Vander Meer's sadly closed their doors at the end of last year.  I don't know who is supplying the buns at Bob's these days, but they were still pretty good. 

As the sign says, Bob's is open daily. (But I'm sure, knowing small town Iowa, they're closed on the major holidays in the winter).  It's worth the stop if you ever make it through Le Mars.  Or even if you have to make a side trip, it's still worth going out of the way.   

George's No. 1 Hot Dog Shoppe - Sioux City

Every time I go to Sioux City, I have to stop into George's No. 1 Hot Dog Shoppe (see map).  George's is a chili dog experience extraordinaire.  I've been going there since back in the mid-80's when it was known as Milwaukee Wiener House #2. 

George's is owned by George Demetroulis, a very friendly little Greek guy with a thick accent. George and his brother, Gus, (who co-owned Milwaukee Wiener House #1 in downtown Sioux City) were in business together at one point and time.  In the 90's, Gus retired and the partner's sons took over the downtown hot dog shoppe.  George then went out on his own. 

In 1999, I hadn't been to Sioux City for about 8 years and I had to go get a chili dog.  I then saw that it was now called George's No. 1 Hot Dog Shoppe.  George probably wanted it to be No. 1 in hopes of having a No. 2 some time down the road.  To my knowledge, he just has one location.

George's hot dogs are all beef and he grilles them on a flat griddle grill, about 50 at time.  They aren't all that big, so you can easily eat a couple of 'em at a sitting. 

His chili is a bean-less chili that reminds me of Cincinnati-style chili - heavy on the all-spice, and not very spicy hot.  Since Cincinnati-style chili comes from Greek immigrants, I'm certain that George's chili is nearly the same. 

When you order the chili dogs from George's, everything means chili, mustard and onions.  The perfect chili dog. 

George's has booths throughout the place.  I like to sit at the booth just under a sketch of George, circa 1990.  Other than that, the ambiance lends itself to a place to get in and get out, although a number of Greek's in the Sioux City area tend to gravitate to the place in the afternoon after the lunch rush for coffee and baklava.

George's No. 1 Hot Dog Shoppe is only open until 5 p.m. and it's a "must stop" each time I go to Sioux City.   But I do need to go to the Milwaukee Wiener House in the downtown area to check them out again.  I haven't been there since George split from them.  But I'm guessing that George's and Milwaukee Wiener House are interchangeable.    

Archie's Waeside - LeMars, IA

Archie's Waeside in Le Mars, Iowa (the self-proclaimed Ice Cream Capital of the World because it's the home of Blue Bunny Ice Cream) is one of those old time steakhouses that you can find in any number of small Midwestern towns.  The only difference is that Archie's steaks and wine list would put some big city steakhouses to shame.

I'd heard about Archie's Waeside from a number of people.  My friend, George Miller, absolutely raved about the place, including the extensive wine list that Archie's possesses.  So while I was in Sioux City recently, I took one of my old-time dealers out for dinner to Archie's, trying to butter him up to have him buy some of my products. 

The exterior of Archie's is nothing to look at.  It's a long building next to the Plymouth County Fairgrounds, and if you didn't know it was there, you may just drive right by it (see map).  But the smell of cooking steaks gave the location away a couple blocks from the restaurant. 

The interior of Archie's is decidedly 60's-ish, with a bunch of Department 56 village buildings on shelves throughout the restaurant.  There's a bar area (that doesn't serve food) and a couple of larger "party" rooms - one of which was in use for a birthday party when were there. 

(Interior shot courtesy of Michael Stern) 

The menu is typical of a Midwestern steakhouse - beef, pork chops and a little seafood.  My guest suggested the tenderloin filet, but I went with the special, the thick cut New York Strip with Maytag Blue Cheese crumbles on top. 

All of Archie's steaks are dry aged in a special room on the premises.  There's not many steakhouses in the middle of nowhere in the Midwest that can claim that.  (Photo of Archie's drying room courtesy of Michael Stern)

The wine list was not very large, but very eclectic, especially for Le Mars, IA.  I was amazed at the selections they had.  The owner, Bob Rand, is a wine enthusiast who travels to California once a year to go through the vineyards of Central and Northern California looking for obscure, but great, wines.  He also sells a number of his wines to the public by the case to take home. 

The only problem is that he runs out of them pretty quickly (I'm guessing).  I ordered a bottle of the Pezzi King cabernet that was very nicely priced at $45 a bottle.  The waitress came back and said, "I'm sorry, sir, we're out of that wine."  She handed me the wine list again and I let my guest go through the list and he picked out a bottle from a winery that I wasn't familiar with (and can't remember the name off the top of my head), but one he said was very good.

Three minutes later, the waitress came back and said, "Gentlemen, this is so embarrassing.  We're out of that selection, too."  We sort of shook our heads and chuckled.  I joked, "Tell you what - why don't you tell me what you DON'T have in stock and that will make our decision easier."  Only she didn't take it as a joke. 

I said, "OK, I'm sorry.  Let me take a look again."  I picked out a 2003 Deerfield Ranch cabernet.  I've never had it, wasn't familiar with it, but I thought I'd give it a shot. 

While all this was going on, our salads and relish try had shown up and we were done with the salads before the bottle of wine made it to our table. 

By the way, one interesting aspect of the salad presentation is that they serve the salad with a slice of dry cured corned beef.  I asked the waitress what the significance was of the serving the corned beef with the salad and relish tray and she said, "I don't know, really.  We've been doing it for years.  Some people like to put it on their salads, sort of like how some people like anchovies on their Caesar's salad." 

Our steaks came and mine was absolutely cooked to perfection.  My guest's filet looked exactly like this picture Michael Stern took of his filet at Archie's (right). 

I've had steaks with Maytag Blue Cheese on the top where the cheese just overpowered the taste of the meat.  But the seasonings and the grilling procedure that Archie's uses helped bring out more of the flavor of the meat over the cheese. 

The Deerfield Ranch cabernet was a little flat when it was first poured, but I'd hoped that it would open up in time.  It really didn't.  I was disappointed.

The waitress wanted to know if we wanted dessert, and we declined.  But I saw that Archie's had a reserve wine list and I asked her if I could just look through that for fun.  She brought it out to me and explained that Bob had a room in the back that housed his wine, but it was also big enough to have a small gathering in there for dinner.  I asked if I could see it and she said that Bob was actually hosting a group in there and it was in use.  Oh well, next time. 

The reserve list was almost as lengthy as the regular wine list and the prices were very reasonable.  The least expensive wine on the reserve list was $60 (which was price of the most expensive wine on the regular list), with most of the wines between $85 to $110 a bottle.  The most expensive was a Beaulieu Vineyards Georges de Latour reserve that sold for $250.  It's the same bottle I've seen priced at other restaurants at well over $300 a bottle. 

With the bottle of wine and tip, our meal came to $92 dollars.  Ninety-two bucks!  I was amazed!  That included the salad (which was nothing special), the relish tray (also nothing big), and a side (I had hash browns with cheese and onions on top).  That same meal in Chicago would have been close to $130 or more.  What a bargain! 

I will go back to Archie's when I get back up to the Sioux City area.  But I'll try the filet next time.  My New York Strip was very good, but I think my guest got the better of the two steaks that night. 

Busch Stadium - St. Louis

This is the inaugural season for the new Busch Stadium in St. Louis and we went down last weekend to catch a couple games with the Cardinals hosting the Los Angeles Dodgers.  We went with our good friends Scott and Marcia Schroeder (Scott is a die-hard Cardinals fan). 

The new stadium has a lot of an old world traditional ball park look to it, with a lot of up-to-date amenities and fan-friendly areas. 

The sight lines are very good all through the ball park, the seats seem a little scrunched in compared to the old stadium.  The park was finally finished in late May and it still looks like there's some work to do in some areas. 

It reminded me a lot of Atlanta's Turner Field - it looks good when you see it on TV.  But when you go through the concourses, you can see a lot of little things that just didn't seem to be right - steel girders sticking up out of nowhere, signage missing letters, concrete work that looks sort of hap-hazard.  It's a nice stadium, but nowhere close to the nicest Major League Baseball stadium I've been in. 

The food is nothing special.  I tried the hot dogs - both the steamed and the grilled.  Stay away from the steamed hot dogs and look for the grilled ones.  They've got a barbecue place along the outfield concourse and a couple "El Birdo" Mexican food booths.  I think I even saw an Italian food booth.  No, I don't think I'll try any of that at a ball game, I'm sorry.

Beer was unbelievably expensive.  A 24 oz can of Anheuser-Busch products was $8.25.  I had to try me one of those and it wasn't much different than the $7.75 24 oz. draft beers; or the $7.00 16 oz. bottles.  But it was hot - very hot - and the beer did go down pretty well.

Busch Stadium is literally sold out this season.  But thanks to my good friend, Mike Naughton, the V.P. of Ticket Operations for the St. Louis Rams, he did the legwork to get us tickets for a couple games.  Scott and I did the standing room only thing on Saturday ($18.00 plus $5.00 handling fee per ticket).  That worked out pretty well. 

All in all, it was a great weekend.  We saw the Cardinals win three games against the Dodgers (they actually swept all four games of the series), we ate on the Hill a couple nights, and we got to see the new Busch Stadium.

To check out my pictures of the new Busch Stadium, go to the Photo Album section of my blog.

John O'Donnell Stadium, Davenport

One of the nicest settings for a ball park, whether it's a minor league or major league park is John O'Donnell Stadium next to (and sometimes in) the Mississippi River in downtown Davenport.  Built in 1931, and formerly known as Municipal Stadium, the stadium was renamed John O'Donnell Stadium in 1971 after the death of a longtime sports editor for the Davenport Times-Democrat (now known as the Quad City Times). 

The stadium went through a major overhaul before the 2004 season and is now a pretty nice facility.  We hadn't gone to a game down there in a long time, but Cindy's financial planner, Steve DeBacker, invited a number of his clients to a night of food, drink and baseball at the stadium.

When they rebuilt the stadium after the 2003 season, they added a number of corporate "luxury" suites.  They have about 75% of them sold and they use the rest of them for single game rentals.  Steve rented one of the suites for the evening.  A number of his clients (including our friends, Scott and Marcia Schroeder) showed up for the evening. 

One of the other things they did with the rebuild is construct an earthen berm around the outfield area.  As I said, the stadium is next to, and subsequently in, the Mississippi River when it floods, effectively wiping out dozens of games during a given season.  The new flood wall is designed to keep the river out of the stadium, but since the flood berm has been built, the river hasn't come close to coming out of its banks. 

Here's a famous picture of John O'Donnell Stadium during the Great Flood of 1993.

John O'Donnell Stadium houses the Swing of the Quad Cities, a single A minor league team in the St. Louis Cardinals organization.  This particular night, they were playing the Beloit Snappers, who are part of the Minnesota Twins minor league organization. 

The owner of the Swing (which has the stupidest name and have the worst uniforms in organized baseball) is Kevin Krause, who is the son of Bill Krause, who is the majority owner of the Kum and Go convenience stores located all through the Midwest.  The director of marketing for the Swing is Mike Weindruch, an old friend from my days in Iowa City.  It was good to see Mike and to talk with him at length the night we were there.

Mike took me around to show me some of the other luxury boxes.  Most of them were in use, but he took me to a couple that weren't.  Actually, for a Class A minor league franchise, the luxury suites were pretty nice.

Before the game, Steve threw out the opening pitch.  I missed getting a picture of the actual pitch, but here's a picture of our host just after the pitch.

All in all, the experience was very nice.  I've added a number of pictures of the stadium in the Photo Album section, so be sure to click on the link to see some of those pictures.

Michelle Wie

The annual John Deere Classic golf tournament begins today at the TPC at Deere Run course in Silvis, IL (see map).  The tournament has always been a second-tiered event on the PGA tour and is always just before the British Open so they don't get a lot of the high ranking golfers to come here to play.  In fact, the highest ranked player on the PGA circuit to play here this year is Chris DiMarco, ranked 22th in the world. 

In order to get some press and build up some excitement, John Deere Classic tournament officials have extended Michelle Wie, the Hawaiian-born, 16 year old golfing phenom, a sponsor's exemption to come play the tournament again this year. 

Last year, she played for the first time, but didn't make the cut, shooting a one under par 141 and missing the cut by two strokes.  (The TPC at Deere Run is a pretty easy course by TPC standards.  Sean O'Hair, last year's winner, shot a 16 under 268 to win by a stroke.)

Now, from all indications, Michelle Wie is as grounded of an individual as one can be.  She seems humble, she's not outlandish in behavior, she doesn't say the wrong things or is boastful in her interviews.  And she can't be - she hasn't won anything on the LPGA tour.  Oh, she came close in the recent Women's United States Open.  She contended for the lead through the final round, but faltered at the end and settled for a three-way tie for 3rd.

Which brings me to my point - why in the hell is she playing a men's event when she hasn't won anything on her own tour?  She hasn't earned or accomplished anything other than being a 16 year old girl who can hit it 280 yards out of the box. 

Annika Soremstam was given a sponsor's exemption to play The Colonial tournament in 2003, the first woman to play a PGA event since Babe Didrikson-Zaharias played the 1945 Los Angeles (now Nissan) Open.  At least she'd won 35 to 40 LPGA tournaments up to that time.  Michelle Wie's best finish in a tournament is 2nd in the 2005 LPGA championship (when she was still an amateur).  And she's only accomplished that high of a finish one time.

Now, Wie cannot become a member of the LPGA until she turns 18 (which will happen in October of 2007), so she has to apply for and get exemptions in many of the events she plays in.  She can only play in six fully sanctioned LPGA events a year.  Still, she's nothing more than a circus act, taking away a lot of press from more deserving players who are trying to hammer out a living on the PGA circuit.

And the local papers are playing Wie up.  Yesterday's Quad Cities Times splashed a headline banner that read, "Youngsters Rally Around Wie".  (I have a problem with a lot of the QC Times headlines.)  The accompanying story focused on Wie being somewhat of a "pied-piper" for the kids who came out to see her play in an exhibition Tuesday.

The Quad City Times is always big on promoting things for kids to do, which keeping them off the streets and out of trouble I'm all for, as well.  They're taking the Wie appearance and running with it - right into the ground.  I think there are more appealing and energizing stories to look into.  However, it's all Michelle Wie and all the time. 

But Wie said something that struck me as interesting - and probably horrified the officials at the John Deere Classic (and the editors at the Times). 

She said that kids shouldn't take golf too seriously.  And even though she downplays the notion that she's a role model (something the Times tried to play up), she did say that she was happy that more girls were taking up the game of golf.  But in the next breath she cautioned the young players about being "obsessed" with the game. 

Her hidden message?  "Not everyone has my talent and size (she's 6'1" - an Amazon of a girl) and don't take it too seriously or it will torment you the rest of your life." 

I like Michelle Wie and I hope that she eventually becomes one of the all-time leading winners on the LPGA circuit.  But until she does, she has no business playing in a men's tournament - not even a two-bit event like the John Deere Open. 

Portabella's Italian Bistro - Moline, IL

We have a rule in our household - if a restaurant is less than three months old, we can't try it. The reason? It usually takes three months for a restaurant to get all the kinks out, find their groove and then you can usually get a meal that's representative of the place.

But, you know, if everyone subscribed to that philosophy, then new restaurants would be going out of business right and left. So it's good that some people are stupid and naive enough to try a place that's new. And that was us the other night with Portabella's Italian Bistro in downtown Moline (see map).

Portabella's has been open since the end of April, so we were about three weeks away from actually hitting our goal of staying away for the first three months. Still, everything about the place looked and smelled good.

We actually first found out about the place when we went to the Bier Stube in Moline in May to listen to a band play in their beer garden. We kept smelling the succulent garlic smell wafting through the breezes. Cindy figured out that it was Portabella's. We knew from the smell we had to try it.

So, last Saturday night we went across the river to downtown Moline, parked just across the street in a small lot and went into Portabella's. The building that houses Portabella's was the home for the fanciest restaurant in the Quad Cities when I first moved here - Charles Michele - named after the husband and wife team that owned the restaurant.

(An aside - Chef Charles - or as I like to call him "Chef CHAWLS" - he doesn't like to go with his last name, which I believe is Moskowitz - and Michele got a divorce years ago and the place went out of business. He's now the owner/chef at Duck City Bistro, a restaurant in Davenport that I haven't been to and can't really say that I'll be going to any time soon. Anyone who insists being referred to as "Chef CHAWLS" is too friggin' pretentious for me, which means his place must be the same.)

After Charles Michele went out of business, it became the India Gate or India House restaurant - I can't remember which one. Anyway, I don't like Indian food, so our trip to Portabella's was the first time I'd been in the place.

We were casually dressed, but many of the people were dressed in "upscale summer" attire. Cindy felt her chino jeans and knit top were a little underdressed (I was in shorts and a Hawaiian shirt), but as I told her, "Our money spends just as good as the guy over there in the Ralph Lauren shirt and slacks."

(Another aside - I have another story for the "Why I Won't Go in There" category concerning a stuffy place who bitched about my attire one night. I'll have to tell that story sometime soon.)

Still, I caught a little bit of an attitude from the girl who sat us. She sort of snottily asked us if we had a reservation (we did not), and told us that the five empty booths in the place were reserved (it was nearly 9 p.m. when we walked in - this town doesn't eat all that late). So, we said we'd take a table in the middle of the restaurant. No problem with me on that one. At least I didn't want to make it seem like a problem.

Our waitress, April, came to us and introduced herself. She was very nice and somewhat self-effacing, talking about her lack of waitressing skills from time to time. Actually, she did a very good job all night long.

The head chef (and, I presume, the owner) is Eran Salzmann, who was the head chef at Biaggi's in Davenport. (Biaggi's is a chain of Midwestern Italian restaurants that aren't bad - actually, they're pretty good.) His menu is rather unique in offering diners an "ala-carte" approach to ordering their pasta dishes.

Their "Pasta Creations" part of the dinner menu sounds a little like something you'd find in the frozen food section of your store, but I thought it was a neat concept to mix and match different types of pasta, sauces and toppings. Getting a basic fettuccine alfredo with no toppings is $8 for a small portion and $10 for a large portion.

(That's another thing that I really like - pasta that can't be eaten shouldn't be taken home, it just doesn't taste the same as when it's first prepared. Too many times, restaurants give you large portions and there is no way you can finish it. It's a waste of good food, actually.)

I looked at creating something, but the Chicken Parmesan caught my eye. A grilled chicken breast topped with mozzarella and tomato sauce, sprinkled with Parmesan cheese and served on a bed of penne alfredo. I thought the combination of the red tomato sauce and the cream alfredo sauce would be interesting to try.

Cindy went with angel hair pasta with the alfredo sauce with salmon. That sounded good, too. For an appetizer, I went with the caprese salad and Cindy went with the Italian Wedding soup. My caprese salad was OK - the tomatoes were warm (I like my caprese salad a little cooler). Cindy's soup was very good with nice chunks of ground beef throughout.

Our dinners came and I guess I was sort of surprised to see a chunk of salmon on top of Cindy's angel hair alfredo pasta. I thought they'd have the salmon chopped into bite sized pieces and interspersed in the pasta. She chunked some up and did it herself and she liked it, although she said she should have got some pasta other than the angel hair.

My dish was - well, the Penne pasta alfredo was good, but the chicken was way overdone. In fact, it was inedible, it was so dry. So I ate the pasta - which, with a little tomato sauce mixed in, was very tasty.

When April came back to take our plates, she asked if I wanted the chicken boxed up. I said, "Oh, no. No, not at all. I'm sorry to say it wasn't that good. In fact, it sucked."

She was apologetic and asked what the problem was and I said, "The chicken was way overcooked. It was dry and flavorless." She apologized again and took the dish away.

Cindy offered me some of her salmon, but honestly, since I got sick in France on the salmon I'm still having a tough time with some fish. I tried it, but I still didn't care for the taste. Which continues to worry me, since I really do like salmon.

April came out and said that she talked to her boss and they offered to give us dessert for free. I told her it wasn't necessary, but Cindy jumped right back and said, "What do you have?"

When she mentioned creme brulee, Cindy said, "We'll go with that."

We split a creme brulee and it was pretty good. Actually, very good. It was a nice gesture on their part.

With the tip (a nice one for April), our bill came to about $63 for the entrees, soup and salad, and a couple beers and a couple glasses of wine. We told her that we'd be back, a place like that you just have to give them another chance. But we may wait another three months to allow them to get some more of the kinks worked out.

(Update - We never did make it back to Portabella's as it closed about a year after we visited. Chef Eran Salzmann - who was the head chef and not the owner at Portabella's - is now the owner/chef at Zbest Cafe in Sheffield, IL.)

2006 Mississippi Valley Blues Festival

The 22nd annual Mississippi Valley Blues Festival was held recently at LeClaire Park (right next to and sometimes in the Mississippi River) in downtown Davenport.  As I said in an earlier post, I wasn't too hopped up with this year's headlining acts - Mavis Staples (of the famous Staples Singers); The Dirty Dozen Brass Band; and Delbert McClinton. 

In fact, a lot of the acts leading up to the headliners (and those in the tent stage area) were much better than the headliners.

I know, I know - Delbert McClinton has won a number of Grammy Awards, he's universally known as being one of the top blues harmonica players in the world, and he's an icon for blues music.  But I've seen him about three times previously and while he puts on a good show, it seems like he's just mailing in the performance. 

I was at the Fest all three evenings catching a number of good bands - some I'd seen before and others I hadn't.  Here's the rundown of who I saw:

Popa Chubby was playing when I got there on Friday night.  This was the third time I'd seen Popa Chubby.  His real name is Ted Horowitz and he hails from New York City.  It's not the place that you'd think a bluesman would hail from, but that's the case with Popa Chubby. 

Each time I've seen him, he just puts on a blistering show.  Ably backed up by a very good bass player (a new guy was playing with him this time around - he had a black guy playing for him before who was very good in his own right); and a very capable drummer, Popa Chubby put on a high spirited show.  His music more of a high powered variation of the blues - some of those in the crowd didn't care for his style of the blues - but I thought he smoked.   

And just after Popa Chubby played, Ronnie Baker Brooks came on.  The son of legendary bluesman Lonnie Brooks, Ronnie Baker Brooks grew up on the southside of Chicago and learned the blues from some of the world's best.  And he's a good showman, as well.  Brooks put on a fine show, backed by longtime bandmates, keyboard player Darryl Coutts, drummer Moe Taylor and a very intense Carlton Armstrong on bass guitar.  This was the second time I've seen Ronnie Baker Brooks and I'm hoping it won't be the last.

Mavis Staples was 35 minutes late for her headlining performance on Friday night.  Although she is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for her work with her family, The Staple Singers; and she recently earned a National Heritage Fellowship Lifetime Honor from the the National Endowment for the Arts, she was somewhat mismatched for the Blues Fest.  I didn't stay long for her set which seemed to be more tinged with gospel music than blues.  Plus she talked too much in between songs.  There were droves of people leaving the park during her late set. 

I did stop off at the tent (as did a number of people) to see a couple three songs by The Mannish Boys, an eclectic group of all-star blues musicians led by the great Kid Ramos on guitar.  I talked to a couple people I knew who were standing in the hot tent who agreed with me that they should have been on the bandshell stage instead of Mavis Staples. 

Saturday, Cindy went down with me as the Blues Fest gave tribute to the musicians of the Gulf Coast with an all-Louisiana day at both the bandshell and in the tent.  But the only person I wanted to see was Sonny Landreth, the great slide guitar player who has also played with John Hiatt.  I've seen Landreth by himself and with Hiatt at Summerfest in Milwaukee.  Both were great shows.  And this show was no exception.  Backed by a bass player and a drummer, Landreth played the blues, slow blues, zydeco and rockabilly each with equal enthusiasm. 

The Dirty Dozen Brass Band was the headliner for the bandshell on Saturday night.  And, once again, this choice was a little perplexing.  This longtime New Orleans band is more of a funk/jazz band than blues.  We didn't stick around for long.  Once again, people were leaving the bandshell area in droves.

At the tent on Saturday was Chris Thomas King - probably more well known as the young blues guitarist, Tommy Johnson, in the great movie "O Brother, Where Art Thou?".  We missed his performance, but we did listen to a couple songs from Kenny Neal, a great Louisiana blues guitarist who I first saw at the 1991 Mississippi Valley Blues Fest just after I moved to the Quad Cities.  His performance was worthy enough to be playing on the bandshell stage. 

And as we were leaving that night, we stopped to catch some of C.J. Chenier, whom I've seen four or five times in different locations.  Chenier's brand of blues zydeco is catchy and fun.  Once again, he probably would have been better suited to play the main bandshell stage than have him in the hot tent. 

Sunday was a warm day and I wouldn't have gone to the Blues Fest had I not got a late free pass from Kristy Adams (thanx again, Kristy).  There really wasn't anyone that I wanted to see.  As I said earlier, I'd seen Delbert McClinton three times in the past.  And even though he is a revered blues musician, he doesn't get my heart pounding to see him. 

But I'm sorry I missed Eric Steckel - a 17 year old blues guitar prodigy; and Kelley Hunt, a Kansas City based boogie-woogie style blues pianist in the mold of Marcia Ball.  I understand their bandshell performances earlier in the day were very good.

I did get there in time to see Guitar Shorty, a delta-born, L.A.-based blues guitarist who has been around the music scene since the 1950's.  I've seen him once before, years ago in Ames, IA, and he did a pretty good job at the Blues Fest. 

Delbert McClinton took the bandshell stage around 10 p.m. and it was evident from the start that he wasn't his usual self.  His voice was raspy, he was coughing, his nose was running.  My buddy, Tom Laake, thought that Delbert was coked up, but I think it was nothing more than a pretty bad cold.  He normally plays his harmonica on every song, but I think I only heard him play the mouth harp a couple times during the 40 or so minutes I stood to listen to him.  I was highly disappointed in his performance. 

I stopped off at the tent stage to see the legendary bluesman James Cotton, a man who is well past his prime.  He was seated on stage, next to a guy who was playing the harmonica instead of Cotton (Cotton is known as "Superharp").  He looked every bit of his 71 years of age.  I understand he only plays a few dates a year these days.  But even though I thought it was a disjointed performance, he did finally play his harp.  I was still glad I got to say I saw him play. 

I wasn't too whipped up with the acts for the Blues Fest when they announced the line-ups back in March.  But I wasn't too whipped up on the acts they had at Summerfest this year, so I just decided to take in some of the Blues Fest instead.  And it is a good event for the area.  Even though I may question some of the acts they bring in from time to time, I'll still support the festival. 

The World Cup

I'm sorry - I don't get the hullabaloo about World Cup soccer.  Actually, I don't understand the allure of soccer at all. 

In the World Cup final in Berlin on Sunday, France and Italy played to a 1-1 draw after 90 (plus) minutes of regulation. (I also don't understand the extra time added on at the end of regulation - it seems like it's some arbitrary amount of time pulled out of mid-air by the referee.)  Then they played two 15 minute (plus) overtime periods before they went to penalty kicks.  Italy won 5 goals to 3. 

Actually, the most exciting thing about soccer is the penalty kicks.  A player gets to try and kick the ball in the goal from about 15 yards away.  It's mano-a-mano, (not to be confused with mano-y-mano, which is what I saw on a billboard for a gay porno theater in Miami Beach one time years ago) with the goal keeper anticipating which way the "shooter" will kick the ball.  Actually, France lost the penalty kick phase when one of their players hit the top of the goal bar with his kick. 

And another thing - why do they call them penalty kicks when there really is no penalty?  Why don't they call it a shoot-out - like they do in the National Hockey League?  (Another professional sport that I have no interest in watching.)

With the way the games of the World Cup tournament are played, it's a wonder anyone wants to watch them.  They're completely boring. 

There were 40 games (out of 66 in the World Cup tournament) where at least one team was shutout.  7 of those 40 games ended up "nill-nill", with neither team scoring in regulation.  13 of those 40 games ended up 1-0.  5 of the 66 games ended 1-1. 

The biggest blow-out in the World Cup was Argentina's 6-0 shellacking of Serbia-Montenegro.  That game tied with Germany's 4-2 win over Costa Rica for the most goals in a match during the World Cup.  Spain, the Ukraine and the pre-Cup heavily favored Brazil were the only other teams to score 4 goals in a game.

In the semi-final match between Germany and Italy, neither team scored during regulation, plus about 3 minutes of extra time.  The first 15 minute overtime continued to be a scoreless affair, but Italy finally scored a goal in the 119 minute of the match - basically, the final minute of the game.  There is no "sudden death" in World Cup play in overtime, as there is in the NFL, so the match continued.  So for good measure, Italy scored AGAIN less than a minute later. 

I didn't see the two scores (although I had peeked in for a moment, earlier), but my friend, Scott Schroeder, who understands the game of soccer much better than I (given that his son, Greg, used to play for Davenport Central high school), told me that Spain suddenly opened up the field and played the way international soccer is supposed to be played. 

Now, I don't claim to be an expert on soccer.  Although, I have to admit, I was a good soccer player when I was much younger - and in good shape.  But quite, frankly, I hated to play the game.  Too much running and not enough scoring. 

And that's what it is with me and world class soccer these days.  They run up and down the friggin' field for 90 plus minutes, no one scores, and then they don't score in overtime, and it gets down to the penalty kicks. 

Why don't they just cut to the chase and go for the penalty kicks at the start of the match? 

I think of the penalty kicks to decide a game similar to two basketball teams playing to a draw after regulation and two overtimes, then settling the game by shooting free throws.  Actually, hitting free throws would be tougher than the free kicks they take for penalty kicks. 

Still, I understand the television ratings for the World Cup - even with the United States' early exit - are up significantly from the 2002 World Cup figures.   A lot of that has to do with the expansion of games shown on ESPN and on the Spanish-speaking Univision networks. 

However, they're not huge numbers in the United States.  ABC averaged a 2.5 rating and about 2.8 million homes through the first 8 games they broadcast (including the U.S./Italy game that had 4.4 million viewers).  Ratings for the final game will be made available in a couple of days. 

Considering the recent NBA Finals between Dallas and Miami garnered an average of rating of 8.5, which isn't all that great for a major professional sport, soccer still has a ways to go to connect to the mainstream of American viewership. 

Opening up the game and allowing more scoring would be the first fix I'd put in place.  However, given the television ratings and the interest around the world for the World Cup, I don't think FIFA, the international body that governs soccer, is going to be changing things any time soon.

So my interest level in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa will be similar to my interest level this year.  Passing - at best...

Stashu and Sons Pizza and Deli - Moline, IL

As I said in an earlier post on Quad City area pizza places, the really good ones around here are few and far between.  And when you find one that's really good, it's a real treat.  And we recently found one at Stashu and Son's Deli off of John Deere Road in Moline (see map).

Stanley "Stash" Krol and his sons, John and Ken opened up Stashu and Sons Sausage Shoppe in Moline in 1978 (see map).  They struggled at first, but kept their head above water and over the years have expanded their business to include a delicatessen at their location. 

In the 90's, they opened up a second location in a strip mall on the south side of Moline.  They began to make pizzas and had a full deli at that location, as well.  I'd heard their pizzas were good, but didn't really know much about them until Cindy and I went to the Taste of the Quad Cities a couple of weeks ago.

There, we met John Krol who gave us a run-down on his business and I tried one of their Italian sausages on a bun.  He was impressed that I didn't immediately put any condiment on the sausage.  "That's the way a sausage is supposed to be eaten," he said.  And I agree. 

He told us that Stashu and Sons Pizza and Deli was famous for their calzones.  So one evening about a week or so ago, Cindy and I went over to Stashu and Sons and had dinner.  It's located in a small strip mall just south of John Deere Road on 44th Street. 

It's not much on ambiance - you walk into the deli area, then take a quick left to go into the pizza place dining room.  It's counter service, so you order before you sit down. 

I think I mentioned in my post about the Taste of the Quad Cities that John Krol told me they didn't serve beer, but said that the wouldn't have a problem bringing some in.  We didn't that night - I didn't want to push my luck the first night in case he wasn't there.  And John wasn't there - his brother, Ken, was working that night. 

Cindy and I both ordered calzones.  Cindy ordered The Original - ricotta and mozzarella cheese with their homemade Italian sausage (finely ground) and slices of ham.  I went with their spicy Italian sausage - basically, it's a sliced up Italian sausage dog - with pepperoni and mushroom.  Cindy got a mini size, I got the regular.

Cindy also ordered some of their garlic pillows - they're puffed pieces of dough rolled in garlic butter and oregano, cooked in an oven then topped with parmesan cheese.  We had a sample at The Taste of the Quad Cities and I thought they were better there, actually.   

In short, both calzones were very good.  Cindy was glad she got a mini because hers filled her up (well, that and the garlic pillows).  I couldn't finish all of mine and ended up just picking the innards out of the calzone shell at the end.  The sauce was tangy and sweet, the spicy sausage was good, although I like the ground sausage chunks for pizza or calzones.  It was a thumbs up winner.

A couple nights ago, Cindy and I didn't want to cook, so I went over and picked up one of Stashu and Sons pizzas - their ground Italian sausage, pepperoni and jalapeno.  The crust was thin in the middle, but thicker and more bubbly toward the outside.  They cut their pizza Quad City style - long thin pieces cut down the middle.  But for the Quad City it was very good.  Not the best I've ever had, but worth the drive to get it. 

Stashu and Sons also has gluten-free pizza for people who can't have wheat products in their diet.  They also serve sandwiches including their house Italian sandwich that sounded pretty damn good, sausage sandwiches, deli sub sandwiches and other hot sandwiches.

Stashu and Sons has a freezer area where you can buy their sausages and their half-baked pizzas to take home.

It may not be the best pizza in the Quad Cities, but it's definitely in our top three at this point.

Olive Garden Commercial Parody on MadTV

In my post from a few days ago, I noted that the commercial which showed Italians really getting into their "authentic" Italian meal at an Olive Garden was categorized as being offensive to Italians, in general.  I mean, come on.  Would someone of Italian heritage really take relatives from Italy to an Olive Garden for dinner? 

Only if they didn't like 'em and wanted them to go back to Italy sooner than expected.

I love MadTV on the Fox Network.  It's one of the more funny and edgy comedy programs on television today.  And I'm really starting to love YouTube, a great web site where you can post virtually any type of video.  MadTV had a great skit taking off on the commercial of an Italian family going to an Olive Garden.  Some one posted the skit on YouTube and here's the link to view it. 

The different "authentic" Italian foods they depict the Olive Garden as serving are just hilarious.  It really zings the Olive Garden and their misperception that Italians really do like their food.