Road Tips

Loews - Denver

I've stayed in just about every chain of hotels in the U.S., but I hadn't stayed at a Loews hotel before.  But I happened to stay in the Loews Denver hotel when I was there for the CEDIA Expo a couple weeks ago. 

Loews is headquartered out of New York City and they operate 20 high end business class hotels throughout America and Canada.  In 2005, Business Travel News magazine named the Loews hotels as the best hotel chain in the "upper up-scale" category of hotels.

The Loews Denver is located toward the south side of town near the Cherry Creek area (see map).  There's a large office building next to it, but the surrounding area is littered with strip malls, apartment complexes and mediocre restaurants.  It looks completely out of place compared to its surroundings. 

The decor style of the Denver Loews is a Tuscany theme.  In fact, their on-site restaurant is called Tuscany.  More about the restaurant later on.  The entry way and lobby was very nice and ornate.  It made a very good first impression on me when I entered the property.

It went downhill from there...

I roomed with one of my colleagues from Montreal and when we entered the room, the unmistakable smell of smoke was in the non-smoking room.  I immediately called the front desk and I asked if we could change rooms.  They said that wasn't possible as the hotel was fully booked.  I said that the room was unacceptable and we weren't going to stay in the room.  She said she would call me back.

The manager called me back and said that she was sorry, no other rooms were available.  But she would send up someone from maintenance with a deodorizing machine.  This guy, who spoke no English, came in about 15 minutes later with a little machine that was an ionized air-purifier.  He turned it on and left.  It seemed to help, but after awhile we sort of forgot about the smell.    

Other than the nice view of the front range of the Rockies, and the nice beds, I was kind of disappointed in the room.  The decor was really tired. 

Actually, the whole hotel was kind of tired.  The carpeting in front of the elevators looked like it was put down in the 80's and hadn't been replaced.  I've stayed in hotels that were a third of the price of the room we were staying in at Loews that were nicer than the room we had. 

Another bitch - no free internet.  It cost us $9.95 a day for internet service.  Come on - a first class business hotel charging for internet?  There was a Hampton Inn and Suites just down the street that I know wasn't charging for internet at half the price of the room we were in. 

The first night we were there, we were all tired from traveling so we just decided to go try the Tuscany restaurant in the hotel.  Of course, it was an Northern Italian themed restaurant that, at first glance, was somewhat overpriced on the menu.  What the hell.  We went for it. 

I had the shrimp and scallops and was talked into getting a side dish of these horseradish potato slices.  The shrimp and scallops were OK, but for six shrimp and three scallops they were overpriced at $28.95.  And the horseradish potato slices were, well, they were embarrassingly overpriced.  For six bucks I got three stacks of half-dollar sized slices - I believe six slices in a stack - with a little dollop of whipped horseradish sauce on top.  It was so bad, we were laughing at the damn things. 

We had breakfast each morning at the restaurant and our group size would go from 8 to 14 throughout the time we were there.  Each time - and it didn't matter how big our group was - it would take exactly a half hour for our food to get to us after we'd ordered.  And it wasn't all that great. But it was expensive.  Two eggs, hash browns, a side of ham, bacon or sausage and toast was $11.95.

And getting bath soap was an ordeal.  Usually, most hotels replenish the soap every day.  Not at the Loews Denver.  In fact, I had to ask the front desk to have more bath soap brought to our room after the fourth day we were there.  The front desk girl said she'd have housekeeping take care of it while we went out to dinner.

We came back and sitting on our vanity counter in the bathroom were four towels.  No soap.  I called the front desk and said, "Hi.  I asked for soap and they brought towels.   No soap.  We didn't need the towels.  We need bath soap."  She apologized and said she'd have housekeeping take care of it right away.

About 10 minutes later, there was a knock at the door.  My colleague, Simon, opened the door and there was a maid with SIX towels in her arms.  She said, in choppy English, "I no understand.  I give you four towels before." 

Simon said, "No, SOAP!  You know, soap?"  And he started to pantomime washing his chest and under his arms.  She got this startled look on her face and said, "Oh, SOAP!!  Si, soap."  She brought some soap back while I was down at the bar.

Speaking of the bar, it was nothing special.  Pretty small, actually.  You could get standard bar food in there - burgers, sandwiches, salads.  A cheeseburger with fries was $11.95.  I don't even want to know what a double shot of Macallan scotch went for (I just signed everything to the room and it was direct billed to our main offices).   

Still, it must be a pretty nice place - the Dave Matthews Band was staying there for a couple nights while we were there.  Dave Matthews and his band were playing at the Pepsi Center in downtown Denver.  I didn't see any of the band (a couple of my colleagues said they saw a couple of the guys one morning), but I did have a nice conversation with a couple of their road crew one afternoon.   

And one other thing - the hotel was a ways out from virtually anything.  It was about five minutes from the Cherry Creek area, but it was a good 20 to 25 minutes to get downtown.  Worse with the traffic in the morning.  And Denver with traffic is a real bitch.

Oh!  And one final thing.  Loews has no airport shuttle.  They do have a shuttle for areas up to six miles from their hotel (Downtown, Cherry Creek, Denver Tech Center), but that's it. 

I had to take a cab to the airport because I had an 8 a.m. flight back home.  It's 24 miles from the hotel to the airport and the tab came to $56 bucks.  I had $62 bucks in my pocket and I just handed the cab driver everything I had.  So, beware - it costs a LOT of money to get a cab in Denver.   

One other aside - I sent my dirty clothes back home via FedEx Ground along with a number of manuals and literature I picked up from the CEDIA show.  When they showed up three days later, it smelled like they were in a bar for a week.  The air purifier didn't work. 

I hope the other Loews hotel are worthy of being called the best "upper upscale" business hotels.  The one in Denver was not.  It was tired, vastly overpriced and vastly overrated.   

Growlers Pub - St. Louis

One of my more favorite places to have a beer in the St. Louis area is Growlers Pub.  Styled after English pubs, Growlers offers a quaint atmosphere for food and good beer. 

Started in 1996 in Creve Coeur (see map), Growlers prides itself on a place where people can go to for good food (consisting of standard pub fare), a great beer selection (over 30 different beers on tap and nearly 100 more in bottles), and a place for good conversation.  There's no blaring music and little live entertainment that can distract from having a good ol' conversation with friends.

Growler's Pub has two locations in the greater St. Louis area, the second one in Sunset Hills.  They used to have three, but the one out in St. Charles County closed in early 2005.  The one in Sunset Hills is a little bigger than the original one in Creve Coeur and offers a nice beer garden that seats up to 200 people. 

Like I said, the food is good - primarily appetizers, burgers and sandwiches.  However, they also do steaks, seafood and some pasta.  They have a very extensive sandwich menu.  Their reuben is very good and I have tried their muffaletta, which is OK, at best.  But their burgers are good - I've had the swiss, mushroom and bacon burger a couple of times.  And while it might not be in my all-time Top 10 favorite burger places, it's still very good.   

Growlers is a good place to go for beer and a sandwich.  But take along a friend as it's a great place for conversation, as well. 

Wahoo's Fish Taco - Denver

When I say, "Fish tacos", I get two reactions.  One, the snickering when someone is thinking I'm referring to a part of the female anatomy; and the second is a look of genuine disgust.  "Fish tacos?  Are you nuts?  Fish on taco shells?"

Well, yeah.  Fish on taco shells.  In fact, we make them from time to time and I posted the recipe earlier this year. 

I first had a fish taco in St. Louis at a place called Flaco's Tacos.  It was one of my more favorite places to eat when I would go down there.  The fish tacos were made of a flaky, warm white fish with lettuce and pico de gallo.  They were great.

(An aside - there are some places that advertise "Baja-style" fish tacos.  They're basically fish bits that are breaded in a beer batter, deep fried and placed on taco shells.  But beware of the restaurants in the Midwest that have fish tacos on their menu.  Do NOT get taken in by these poor excuses for fish tacos.  Most of these fish tacos are nothing more than deep fried, breaded fish - fish sticks, if you will - put on taco shells.  They're horrible.)

Actually, my brother and sister-in-law turned us on to fish tacos.  They lived in the San Diego area for a number of years and they longed for the little stands down by the shore that sold fish tacos.  They took us to Flaco's during a long weekend trip to St. Louis and I was hooked.  Flaco's, I was told by them, was about as close to getting authentic fish tacos in the Midwest that you could find. 

Unfortunately, Flaco's went out of business about four or five years ago.  There are people in St. Louis that still talk about that place.

Fast forward to this year and my recent trip to Denver.  Just walking distance from my hotel was a Wahoo's Fish Taco restaurant.  I had to try one. 

I'd actually heard about Wahoo's Fish Taco for a number of years.  Wahoo's is a chain of semi-fast food places that originated out of Southern California.  Three brothers, Wing Lam, Mingo Lee and Ed Lee grew up working in their parent's restaurant in Brazil.  They moved to the United States when the boys were teenagers and their parents opened up a Chinese restaurant in Orange County. 

During their time off, the boys would go to Mexico to surf.  They fell in love with the local cuisine - fresh white fish served with cabbage and pico de gallo on a soft corn taco shell.  As they began to get busier in their family's restaurant, their trips to Mexico became few and far between.  They missed the taste of the fish tacos that they enjoyed during their surfing outings. 

They decided to open a fish taco stand.  The first Wahoo's Fish Taco opened in Costa Mesa, CA in 1988.  Their taco recipe stayed true to form to the original Mexican recipe  - grilled or steamed white fish on a soft corn tacos with cabbage and pico de gallo.  It was an immediate hit and they quickly opened up two more restaurants.  Today, there are over 30 Wahoo's Fish Taco stands - mainly in California.  But they do have locations in Colorado and Texas.

Wahoo's has expanded their menu to include beef, chicken and veggie tacos.  They also have basic Mexican food including enchiladas, burritos and quesadillas. 

It was late in the afternoon after the last day of the CEDIA Expo and I was out running around doing some errands.  I was heading out of the hotel and I saw the sign for Wahoo's and I thought, "I've got to get one."  I didn't think it would spoil my dinner because we weren't going to eat until much later that evening.  And I was only going to have one. 

I walked in and the decor was kind of funky chic, sort of surfer themed made up to look like you'd just walked off the beach into the place.  Wahoo's is counter order only and I ordered a fish taco, regular (you can also get them blackened) and a bottle of Sol.  It's tough to find a restaurant that sells Sol beer. 

I went to sit in a somewhat spacious seating area where a smattering of 20-somethings were hanging out watching the Denver Broncos football game on a couple of 42" plasma televisions.  Within two minutes, a guy brought out my fish taco.  I dug in.

It reminded me a lot of the fish tacos from Flaco's.  Except I was pleasantly surprised by the cabbage on the taco.  It gave it a nice little flavor and it didn't wilt like lettuce does when you match it with something warm.

For a semi-fast food place, it was good.  Damn good.  I highly recommend at least TRYING a Wahoo's Fish Taco if you see one.  I don't know how well they'd go over here in the Midwest (if they didn't fly in St. Louis, you'd have a tough time getting one to work in Iowa).  So in the meantime, I'll just have to keep making my own at home.

Eureka Springs, AR

We took a day trip to Eureka Springs, AR (see map)when we were in the NW Arkansas Ozarks area in August.  Eureka Springs is the only town in the United States where the entire downtown area is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

And it's a bit of a tourist trap at the same time.  There's a number of shops and restaurants, and there are a number of hotels in the town that play upon the historical significance of Eureka Springs' past, primarily known for the supposed healing springs that permeated the area. 

Our first stop in Eureka Springs was the lavish hilltop retreat, the Crescent Hotel.  Built in the 1880's, the hotel was visited by thousands during the first few years of its existence who came from as far as Europe to bathe in the area's many springs. 

After the turn of the century, scientific proof began to show that there was no medicinal value in Eureka Springs' spring water and the Crescent Hotel became just a vacation destination for many people across American.  The Great Depression jolted the Eureka Springs area more than others as they relied upon tourism to keep the town afloat.   After the second World War, the Crescent rebounded, but began to founder in the 70's. 

In 1996, Marty and Elise Roenigk, who owned the Basin Park Hotel in downtown Eureka Springs, bought the Crescent Hotel and started a widespread restoration of the hotel.  Today, it is one of the finer hotels in the Ozarks. 

Here's a picture of the fountain in the side yard garden of the Crescent Hotel (right).  The hotel features a large back porch that has a view of the dense trees on the hillsides of NW Arkansas.

Another view from the porch of the Crescent Hotel is the Christ of the Ozarks statue.  The statue is 7 stories tall and was made by Emmet Sullivan, one of the sculptors who worked on Mount Rushmore. 

The statue to be the cornerstone of a religious amusement park that Rev. Gerald L.K. Smith proposed in the mid-60's.  The park was never built, but there is a religious retreat on the property.  Each night in the summertime, hundreds of people recreate the Passion Play depicting the crucifixion of Jesus Christ at an amphitheater. 

And no, we didn't go over to check the place out.

After checking out a couple of the many antique stores in the area, we started looking for some of the historic springs that are throughout the area.  Since it was early in August when we were there - and a steady rain for most of the morning notwithstanding - the springs were pretty well dried up.  But that didn't stop us from looking at them closer.

This is probably the most famous of the many springs in the area - The Grotto Spring.  There are stairs that allow a person to go down and enter the cave spring area.  As I said, there wasn't much water flowing, so there really wasn't much to see other than a bunch of rocks and some graffiti. 

Down the hill a bit from the Grotto Spring, we came across a number of other springs, including this one on the left - Healing Spring.  In fact, a lot of the springs had statues and some very nice floral landscaping around them.  They were all very pretty to look at. 

Down the street from a number of the springs was the Palace Hotel and Bath House.  Built in 1901, the hotel has been completely restored and is a high end boutique hotel that also offers a spa.  The architecture of the place was pretty impressive.

The downtown area has a number of little shops and restaurants, but the largest structure is the previously mentioned Basin Park Hotel.  Built in 1905 by a man in poor health who believed in the healing power of the springs in the area, the Basin Park Hotel building was one of the first structures in Arkansas to have both an elevator and full electricity. 

One of the more peculiar historical places in Eureka Springs is "Hatchet Hall", the home of temperance movement leader Carry Nation.  Nation led a large group of pre-Prohibition religious zealots who were against the sale and consumption of alcohol in the late 19th century into the early 1900's.  She would attack beer halls and taverns with her signature hatchet, breaking glasses, bottles and chopping into kegs of beer.  Hatchet Hall was her residence up to her death in 1911. 

All in all, Eureka Springs was a nice place to visit.  A little touristy for me, but I'm glad that we went during the middle part of the week.  I understand that traffic gets tremendously bad during the weekend (parking lots are few and far between in the center of town, and there are a number of parking lots on the outskirts that are served by a shuttle bus service). 

And there has been some problems with motorcyclists in the area.  There are a number of businesses who put up signs in their windows that say, "Motorcycle Friendly" or "Welcome Motorcyclists".  I'm guessing that a lot of people on motorcycles go to Eureka Springs on nice days, traversing the winding roads that are throughout the area.  I'm sure that they clog the roads and make a lot of noise in the town when they drive through. 

By the way, here's a shot of the White River from just west of Eureka Springs.  This gives you an idea of some of the great vistas in NW Arkansas.

Eureka Springs is a nice place to visit, I'm glad we went.  But if you're not into history, little specialty shops or antiques, its probably not going to be all that special. 

Duffy's Cherry Cricket - Denver

Rarely do I go apeshit over a burger.  But when I find one that is truly outstanding, it's like finding the Holy Grail.  And I think I found one at Duffy's Cherry Cricket in Denver (see map).

Warren White from The Screening Room, one of my dealers from St. Louis, told me they were staying in the Cherry Creek area just around the corner from this little bar called The Cherry Cricket.  He said, "You would not believe how good their burgers are.  They are the best I've ever had." 

I asked if they were better than O'Connell's Pub in St. Louis, a longtime well-known place for burgers in St. Louis.  He said, "Oh, they're ten times better." 

I took this as a personal challenge.  It's been quite some time since I've had a burger at O'Connell's (or as the locals in St. Louis affectionately call it, "Oc's"), but I remember them having a damn fine burger.  So I had to try it out for myself.

One night after the show was over and we were through with a hospitality room that we were sponsoring, I took a group of colleagues back to the hotel and decided to go to The Cherry Cricket and get a burger.  One of my colleagues from Canada, Ian, had overheard the conversations I was having earlier with other members of The Screnning Room staff and he asked if I was going to go get a burger by myself.  I told him that I was.  He said, "Well, I can't let you go to that place by yourself." 

So, Ian went with me. 

The place was kind of cramped, lots of 20-something kids inside (it was about 9:30 on a Friday night).  You could tell it had been there for a while.  And it had.

The Cherry Cricket was opened in 1950 at it's present site (it had been in business since 1945, first known as Mary Zimmerman's bar).  Mary owned the bar until her death in the early 60's.  It went through a number of owners until Bernard Duffy, who owned a downtown Denver bar called  Duffy's Shamrock Bar, bought it in 1965.  No one is sure if the people before Duffy renamed it The Cherry Cricket, or if Duffy did.  One thing for sure, Duffy put up the large neon sign that is outside the Cherry Cricket.

Bernard Duffy retired in 1972 and the bar went through a number of other owners before Eli McGuire (a woman - Eli is pronounce Elly) bought it in 1990.  The bar had been illkept and a severe update was needed.  Eli has now grown the business to what it is today - a nice little neighborhood bar that makes great burgers.

Ian and I both ordered a cheeseburger with smoked cheddar cheese and a side of chopped fresh jalapenos.  Ian got some bacon on the top of his burger.  We didn't wait very long before they showed up - maybe 7 minutes tops.  Served in baskets, we took a bite.

From the first bite it was an epiphany.  The second bite was orgasmic.  The third bite almost made me faint.  Their burgers were everything the guys from The Screening Room said they were and more.

The next day, Ian and I couldn't quit raving about how good the burgers were at this place.  It was so convincing that after we left our hospitality room on Saturday night, we took four colleagues with us to The Cherry Cricket.  Each of us had a burger.  It was unanimous - it may have been the best burger we'd ever had. 

The Cherry Cricket uses 85% lean ground round for their burgers (I use 90% for mine - I may have to change).  They're charbroiled and you can order them from rare to well done (I got mine medium - it was pink in the middle and juicy as all get out). 

Once again, the bun makes the burger.  It was lightly toasted and flaky.  It soaked up all the juices from the burger and didn't fall apart.  It was absolutely fabulous. 

The Cherry Cricket burger may have been the best burger I've ever had.  Krazy Jim's Blimpy Burger in Ann Arbor, MI may have nudged it out as the best ever.  Hands down, it's one of the top 3 burgers I've ever eaten.

(Update - Over the years I've eaten at a lot of burger places.  But Cherry Creek has absolutely the best burger I've ever had.  Period.  It continues to be the top-ranked burger on my annual Best Burger list.)  

2006 CEDIA Expo

I just returned from the 2006 CEDIA Expo held last week in Denver.  The CEDIA Expo is the audio/video industry's showcase of whole-house entertainment and control technology.  And it's my company's biggest show of the year. 

Nearly 30,000 people attended the show this year, a surprising number of them from the Midwest.  It was the busiest show I've ever been involved in during the 20+ years I've been a sales manager. 

And one aside - Denver is a very nice city.  It's been years since I've been to Denver for any appreciable amount of time.  However, they need more downtown hotel rooms, they need better downtown parking, and their traffic is atrocious.   Even with a nice light rail service in the city, it's still a bitch to drive in that town - even on the weekends. 

But the majority of the show attendees agreed that Denver was a welcome change from Indianapolis, which has hosted the CEDIA Expo five of the last six years prior to this year.  There are more restaurants to choose from - more BETTER restaurants.  There's more of a nightlife in Denver.  And it has the feel of a big city.  I like Indianapolis, but I think I like Denver better. 

But the big news at CEDIA this year was the introduction of more 1080p televisions and projectors, the continuing war between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray technology, and the continuing lowering of prices of flat panel plasma and LCD televisions. 

A number of manufacturers showed 1080 progressive scan projectors and rear-screen televisions at this year's show.  Sony, Mitsubishi, Fujitsu and a number of others showed true 1080p projectors and televisions at CEDIA.

And prices of front screen projectors continue to drop.  Sony's new 1080p "Pearl" projector will come out later this year at $5000, InFocus will have a 720p projector around $4500, and Samsung, in conjunction with industry video guru, Joe Kane, will offer a 720p projector at a low price of $4000.

The gap in the HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray race is starting to widen - in favor of HD-DVD (Sony's taken the wrong video format route again).  I've seen a couple of Blu-Ray demonstrations (whose players are twice the price of some HD-DVD models) and I wasn't overly blown away.  In fact, talking to a lot of people at CEDIA, I didn't find a person who felt they actually had seen a good Blu-Ray demonstration yet.

I was sent on a goose chase thru Denver with a colleague to find an HD-DVD player for one of our displays at the show.  We finally found one at a Best Buy store in far NW Denver.  When we got back to the Colorado Convention Center, we were confronted by four or five guys who wondered where in the hell we found an HD-DVD player, they're that much in demand.

(Of course, the Toshiba model that we bought, was defective.  Best Buy basically lied to us saying it was a factory fresh unit, but we opened it up and it was a repack.  And the the HD output didn't work.  Bastards.  So I didn't get a real good up close look at HD-DVD like I'd hoped.)

And flat panel plasma and LCD prices continue to drop.  Even before CEDIA, a number of companies dropped prices by about 7 to 10 percent.  Our company showed three new DreamVision LCD panels and when they come out later this fall (if they come out at all) they're going to be priced 15% higher than most of the other units on the market.  It's that volatile of a market in video these days.

Whole house control for audio and video continued to be the main push at CEDIA.  Crestron, AMX, Netstreams, Control4 and a number of other companies showed new products that help streamline control and make the convenience of having music and video in any room a reality.  But they're not cheap. 

In audio, Paradigm showed a new line of speakers that use a beryllium tweeter, copying the use of beryllium tweeters in our Focal loudspeakers.  However, we found that the tweeter material in the Paradigm speakers are twice as thick and heavier than our tweeters, meaning that they don't have the high end extension our speakers do. 

But our booth was hopping, as well.  We publicly unveiled our new Focal 800V and 700V loudspeakers, the speakers we initially saw on our trip to the Focal factory in France earlier this spring.  They made quite a splash.  In fact, we had a number of factory personnel stop by on Sunday from Paradigm, Dynaudio, Thiel and a number of other competing companies to take a closer look at the speakers.   

Here's our new Chorus 836V loudspeaker (left).  Not only is a beautiful speaker, it really rocks!

All in all, the 2006 CEDIA show was a big success.  We're going to be in Denver the next couple of years, going to Atlanta in 2009 for one year, then back to Indianapolis for 2010 and beyond.  However, after the experience in Denver, I think a lot of people will be bitching when we have to go back to Indy.

Air Travel

I hate to fly.  Oh, I don't mind the actual flying aspect of it.  I mean, after going through a plane crash, I'm not scared of flying.  It's the hoops you have to jump through before the plane pushes away from the gate. 

I recently had to fly to Denver for the annual CEDIA Exposition.  I swear, I almost drove the 12 hours - one way - just thinking about how much of a pain in the ass it has become to just get on a plane these days.

From the check in of the bags, to the security check point, to the loading of the plane, I see so many things that are so wrong with air travel today that it just makes me never want to fly at all. 

Now that the Transportation Security Agency had decreed that no lotions, liquids or aerosols can be in carry-on luggage, there's more people checking baggage.  On one hand, there's less carry-on luggage.  And that will allow for my laptop briefcase to fit in the overhead compartments whereas before I had to find space where ever I could around the huge bags people would bring on board. 

But the lines to check baggage are much longer and the wait to check in can be excruciating.  Even with electronic ticketing in Denver, I still had to wait 20 minutes before my name was called to give the counter attendant my bag and go on my merry way to the security check in. 

In Denver - and other large airports - they herd people through a maze of roped off aisles, zig-zagging as many as seven times before you reach a TSA security agent who must look at your photo ID and your ticket, just to make sure you are who you say you are.  (Which is OK with me - that only makes sense.)

Then you have to literally disrobe to get through the metal detector.  Take off your shoes, your belt, and take everything out of your pockets.  Take off your watch and any large rings.  Women have to take off necklaces and bracelets.  Take your computer out of your bag and put it in a tub. 

But whatever you do, don't put your shoes in a tub.  I've done that a couple of times and I've had the security agents go ape shit.  (I did it again on purpose in Denver just to see what they'd do.  They just took them out of the tub and ran 'em through without putting up a stink.) 

I will say, however, that since I flew to Europe this spring, the TSA agents have undergone some sort of a personality transformation.  Before, the TSA agents were cold, callous and humorless.  They'd make you feel like you were a hardened criminal going to prison.  On this trip, both at the Quad City International and Denver International Airport, the TSA agents were talkative, smiling, helpful, even cracking little jokes.  They even said, "Thank you."  I was amazed.   

However, getting on the plane is another story.  I'm simply horrified at the way airlines waste time getting people on planes.  It's usually first class and business class, then passengers board either front to back, or back to front.  It's all about "turn around times", or how quickly they can turn around an aircraft for another flight.  Planes that sit on the ground are money losers.  The longer they sit on the ground, the more they lose money.

Southwest Airlines, which uses a "first-come, first-seated" rule (which I hate, by the way), has the quickest turn around times in the airline business today.  Northwest Airlines has begun to experiment with a similar policy on some of their flights.  I don't think I'll be flying Northwest any time soon. 

However, I like the idea the Boeing Corporation has come up with.  In a recently conducted study, computer simulations of passengers boarding various planes showed that a plane could be filled much more quickly if they would board the window seats first, the middle seats second and the aisle seats last.  United Airlines and their "budget" carrier, Ted, use this concept to load planes. 

Also recently, United announced that they were experimenting with a Dual Boarding Bridge (right), a walkway that allows airplanes to be loaded and unloaded out of both the front and the rear door of the cabin.  The "DBB" is y-shaped and fits over the left wing of the plane allowing passengers in the rear of the plane to exit the plane the same time the first class passengers are getting off. 

United is using the DBB at their hub in Denver.  They've purchased a total of five from a Canadian company, Dewbridge Airport Systems, who plans to have the other four installed at DIA sometime next year. 

United is making a big deal about this, but Southwest Airlines first used the concept of dual boarding at the Albany International Airport.  It was used for a couple years before Southwest abandoned the concept because it didn't significantly decrease the turn around time for their already proven concept of first-come, first-seated.

(For a closer look at the study of seating passengers on planes, and the way different airlines seat passengers, click here.)

One other thing that gripes me about air travel - the way airlines blatantly lie to their passengers regarding delays.  I was sitting on a plane at O'Hare for a half-hour waiting to fly back to the Quad Cities the other day.  The pilot came on the intercom and said that they were waiting for paperwork to come through before they could take off.  About 10 minutes later, 4 passengers got on the plane.  Suddenly, the door closed and we were underway. 

Why can't they just say, "Hey, folks, we've got four people that are scheduled for this flight who have just got off a plane at a gate that is a long way from here and they're on their way.  As soon as they get here, we'll get going."  I'd understand that.  I have no problem with that.  But when they lie about it, I've got a problem.

Years ago, the old Trans World Airlines used to pull a trick of canceling flights due to "equipment problems" and would move passengers to later flights.  It turned out that the two flights would only be half full and in order to fill the second plane and not have to run two half full planes, they canceled the first one.  That happened to me numerous times. 

On September 11 when I was walking thru O'Hare to go to my gate for my flight to Denver, I noticed a number of flights were canceled on a number of airlines.  I heard later from my colleagues who were flying in to Denver from all over that a number of flights were canceled nationwide, mainly due to the number of people who DIDN'T want to fly on September 11.  Planes were half full and they were canceling early flights.  Thankfully, they didn't cancel my 8:05 a.m. flight out of Chicago, probably because so many people were going to Denver that week. 

But I'm wondering if those canceled flights were due to "equipment problems".  Just tell me the truth and I can live with it.  No use getting worked up over something that is completely out of my hands. 

Flying - a necessary evil in my life...      

O'Dowd's Little Dublin - Kansas City

During our recent trip to Kansas City, the weather was almost unbearably hot.  Walking around the Plaza area one very hot afternoon, we came across a little Irish pub called O'Dowd's Little Dublin.  Cindy suggested that we go in and get a beer.  Well, anytime that she suggests to go get a beer, I can't say no. 

O'Dowd's is at the corner of Pennsylvania and Nichols Road in the Plaza (see map).  Even though the exterior remains true to the Spanish architecture found in the Plaza area, the dark walnut panels on the outside of O'Dowd's immediately gives it a warm, inviting appeal.

O'Dowd's has been in business since 1996.  The interior woodwork, cabinets and many of the signs on their walls came from Ireland.  It really has an "old country" feel to the place.

Cindy and I both grabbed a beer and headed for one of the window seats looking out into the Plaza.  O'Dowd's has a rooftop beer garden that is one of the more popular places to be most of the time.  But with temperatures hovering around 100 degrees, there was no way we were going to go upstairs and outside the air conditioning to have a beer that would turn warm inside 3 minutes. 

We checked out their menu (it was around 4:30 and we weren't going to eat there) and it's typical Irish bar food.  But it looked damn good.  They have a long list of appetizers and sandwiches, and they also have a number of good Irish entrees including Shepherd's Pie, Irish Stew and corned beef and cabbage. 

Their beer selection was wide and varied, but typical of most Irish bars in America.  But they did have a large number of Irish Whiskey and Scotch Whisky to choose from.  I thought it would be a great place to come back to for a nightcap. 

Our visit was a little tense, however, as a couple seated near us was having a family argument, and it ended with the guy storming out of the bar.  As we watched him stomp across the street, the guy had his cell phone to his ear. I remarked to Cindy, "I think he's getting a hold of his divorce lawyer."  We felt bad for the lady.  She just sat there looking out of the window with tears in her eyes.  I almost thought about buying her a drink.  But, it was probably best to not get involved.

All in all - other than the marital blow-up we witnessed - O'Dowd's is a neat little place to get a beer and a nice meal.  They've opened a second location in far north Kansas City at the new Zona Rosa mall, but I'm sure it doesn't have the warm, comfortable feeling as the original O'Dowd's in the Plaza.         

The Wine Snob

A special thanx to Steve Somermeyer (who's becoming somewhat of a regular contributor to my wine category) for sending along this little ditty from Canadian author and wine columnist Natalie MacLean. 

Years ago, one of my former employers taught me a lot about wine.  He also taught me that it's OK to drink red wine with fish, white wine with steak and that many low priced wines are pretty damn good.  And he also told me that many "high-brow" wine enthusiasts are usually phonies. 

Keeping his words in mind for nearly 20 years, this piece hit home for me...

The wine snob is a rare bird. His natural habitat is marked with mature Bordeaux and Burgundy. He is best approached from a distance, lest you disturb his decanting ritual. Note the way he holds his glass at the base while swirling the wine to the top rim. See how he displays his verbal plumage in the presence of cult cabernet.

Not all wine snobs are alike; there are several subspecies. Consider borus nonshutuputus. After listening to the dinner conversation for a few minutes, he will establish territory by contradicting the next-most-knowledgeable person present. When nosing the wine, he will scent not only the region and winery, but also what the vintner and his wife were arguing about on the day the grapes were harvested.

Borus technotalkatus is a related species, but note the difference in vocabulary. Just as mating calls distinguish many bird species, technotalkatus emits at regular intervals sounds such as "malolactic fermentation," "carbonic masceration" and "light carbonation."

Collectorosa completeca owns every great bottle from every great vintage. His most frequently heard call is, "I own that wine too." Any reference to France will cause him to pounce on the opportunity of telling his château story, including the nickname of the winemaker. Do not get excited if you're invited to his home: his wines are purely for display, and will not be consumed in his lifetime.

Finally there's healthus maniacutus, who doesn't necessarily like wine but takes it as medicine. Instead of a vintage chart, he keeps a list of various wines' resveratrol levels in his breast pocket. He's recalculated his expected lifespan based on his reduced risk of heart disease from drinking 1.5 glasses of wine daily. His favourite book is The French Paradox.

If you suddenly encounter any of these wine snobs at close range, retreat slowly to the beer cooler—they will not follow you there. Regroup and go in again with a few all-purpose adjectives such as "backward," "meaty" and "barnyard"; and some bon mots that hint at your world citizenship, such as "formidable" and "pas mal." (Be sure to say them with the right amount of nonchalance.) Let your listeners know that it causes you great personal pain to drink white zinfandel, the equivalent of an industrial pre-mix solution.

Much status can be gained from referring to your palate as though it were a protected archeological site—distinguishing between the forward, middle and back grids. This seriousness should be carried over to the restaurant wine list, which you can analyze like a Talmudic scholar poring over the sacred texts.

But be kind. Wine snobs are not only rare birds, they are also an endangered species. They are aesthetically assaulted by bladder boxes; systematically shocked by provincials who know nothing about terroir. Increasingly, they stay in their lair rather than venturing out into the open fields of social groupings, where they have become an easy target.

(To read the full article that this piece came from, visit Natalie MacLean's web site here.)

Hampton Inn and Suites at Forest Park - St. Louis, MO

I found a new place to stay when I'm in St. Louis.  I recently stayed at the new Hampton Inn and Suites - Forest Park across the freeway from Forest Park and near the St. Louis Zoo.  It's about 5 to 10 minutes from downtown and it's one of the closest hotels to the famous Hill area of St. Louis and is right down the street from Forest Park Hospital.

The hotel is located in the "Dogtown" section of St. Louis (there are many theories why the area is named Dogtown - one of them centers on the Igorot tribe of people who were  at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair and who supposedly would hunt dogs in the area to eat them while they were in St. Louis).  It was built on the old Forest Park Highlands amusement park grounds - one of the biggest amusement parks in the Midwest from the 1880's to 1963.  And it's situated right next to where the old St. Louis Arena stood until 1999.

Throughout the hotel and in rooms there are a pictures and memorabilia from the old Forest Park Highlands amusement park.  Here's a picture of the old Comet rollercoaster at the park (right).  Millions of people went through the gates of Forest Park Highlands over the years. 

The hotel's decor is very art-deco - something that I've noticed with a lot of the newer or redecorated Hampton Inns.  Rooms are spacious and the beds are comfortable.  The one thing I like about this Hampton Inn is that they have a full complement of cable television channels on the television.  Many Hampton Inns use satellite systems that limit the amount of channels to watch. 

As I said, it is one of the closest hotels to the Hill area of restaurants.  A new Krieger's Pub is attached to the hotel property.  There's an Imo's Pizza just down the street.  It's about a five minute walk to Pat's Bar and Grill (see my blog on Pat's here), and one of the newer St. Louis barbecue joints, Smokin' Al's, is just around the corner on Hampton Ave. 

Room rates run around $109 to $159 a night. (I'm a Hilton Honors Diamond member and they have a special AAA rate so I was able to get a room for $98 a night - but also take into consideration that the room they gave me had a window view of a brick wall.  I'm not kidding.) 

They don't seem to have any special weekend rates, but they do offer a slew of family specials including a "Build-a-Bear" family package (Build-a-Bear is based not far from the Hampton Inn and Suites). 

For me, it's centrally located and has easy access to highways.  It's something this area has needed for a long time.  And it will be the place I stay while I'm in St. Louis on business. 

Las Fajitas Mexican Grill- Springdale, AR

On our recent vacation to the NW Arkansas Ozarks area, we were driving around the Bentonville/Rogers/Springdale area after we checked into our hotel.  There's really not a lot to see - there are signs for "Historic Downtown Rogers" and "Historic Downtown Springdale".  And, of course, downtown Bentonville is the home of the first Wal-Mart store. But after visiting the supposed historic downtown areas, I didn't think of them to be historic any more than most middle American small town downtowns.

One of the things that caught our attention was the amount of Hispanic laborers in the area.  Now, I'm not too concerned about the amount of illegal immigrants in the U.S., there seems to be enough jobs for those who want to work.  But, it seemed to us there was an inordinate amount of Mexican laborers in the area. 

What that also told us was that there were a large number of Mexican restaurants in the area, as well.  We saw a few - some looked like tourist trap places, while others looked like authentic Mexican food joints. 

We had a number of options for dinner that evening and Cindy suggested that we try to find a good Mexican food place in the area.  We went down to the front desk and I asked the two guys there what they thought was the best Mexican restaurant in the area.  They both looked at one another and almost simultaneously they both said, "Las Fajitas." 

The one desk clerk explained to me that there were two Las Fajitas in the area, one in Bentonville (closer to our hotel), and one in Springdale (about a 20 minute drive).  He said, "If you're up for a little drive, the one in Springdale is excellent." 

He gave us directions and away we went.  We pulled up in front of the place on N. Thompson in Springdale (see map) about 20 minutes later and Cindy said, "Oh, I remember seeing this place earlier today and thinking that it was interesting."

The building was sort of a non-descript flat-roofed building that looked like it could have been any type of family restaurant years ago.  We went in and the decor was typical of a Mexican restaurant - bright colors, Mexican paintings, sombreros, etc.  We sat in the middle room of the restaurant (there was a small eating area up front, then a larger middle room, then the bar area was in the back of the restaurant). 

And the menu was nothing special - same things you can find at most other Mexican restaurants.  But the food did look good, so we thought we'd give a few things a try.

I went with a plate that consisted of a taco, an enchilada and a tostada.  Cindy got one with a burrito, enchilada and rice and beans.  For good measure, she also ordered a chicken tamale.  It wasn't long before the food showed up.

And the food was good - very good, in fact.  Cindy thought that the chicken tamale may have been the best one she'd ever had - and we had authentic homemade tamales when we were in Mexico a few years ago.  My food was outstanding, the meat was flavorful, there wasn't that rubbery microwave taste that you get at most Mexican restaurants.  It was as close to eating in Mexico as you could get in Arkansas.

When we got back to the hotel, I purposely went to the front desk and thanked the guy for steering us to Las Fajitas.  It was one of the better Mexican meals I'd had in my life.   Two thumbs up from both Cindy and I on Las Fajitas.

Bayern Stube Gasthof - Gibson City, IL

A shout out to my good pal, Al Kern, who is a loyal reader of Roadtips, who turned me on to the Bayern Stube Gasthof restaurant in Gibson City, IL. 

Gibson City is one of those Norman Rockwell kind of Midwestern towns - wide streets, nice old homes, sleepy, yet a lot of store fronts.  The Bayern Stube is located in the downtown area of Gibson City in a non-descript building next to the railroad tracks (see map). 

The restaurant was opened in 1991 by Peter and Erika Schnabel, both of whom were born in Germany and came to America in the early 80's to work in hotel management.  They had a dream to open a restaurant in the area that was styled after the Bavarian roadside inns they loved to go to as children. 

A restaurant in Gibson City went out of business in late 1990 and Peter and Erika decided to snatch up the property, even though it was about 30 miles from Champaign.  They decorated the restaurant with a decidedly Bavarian theme that included bier steins, colorful German plates and a bunch of mounted animal heads. 

Today, the restaurant is run by Peter and Erika's daughter, Jeanne, and her husband, Guenter.  But Peter and Erika still help out from time to time. 

The name "Bayern Stube"  loosely translates into "Bavarian Den" or "Bavarian Living Room".  And when you walk in, you kind of get that homey feel to the place right off the bat.  There's a small bar area as you come in and the hostess stand is right next to the main bar. 

I went in around 6 p.m. on a weeknight and got right in.  My waitress was dressed in a typical colonial German dress.  She asked for my drink order and there were signs for Spaten beer all over the place, even on the menus.  So I ordered a Spaten Lager - the menu said they had it on tap.  She said, "I'm sorry, sir.  We don't have Spaten Lager or the Spaten Munich beers any longer." 

I thought it was sort of odd that a place that was adorned with Spaten signs throughout wouldn't sell Spaten.  So I ordered a Warsteiner instead. 

Actually, I got into a minor conversation with the waitress about their beer selection.  She was very well versed on the beers they served - it was kind of wild the way she knew the differences between the beers.  And she spoke with authority regarding the different beers.  I thought, "This is a gal who has spent some time at the bar after the place closed down."

I ordered the Rahmschnitzel for dinner - two medium sized pork chops topped with a white wine and mushroom sauce.  For my two sides, I went with the sauerkraut and the red cabbage.  I thought, "Hey, I'm sleeping by myself tonight.  If I gas the place up, the only one I'm going to gross out is me."   

She brought out a basket of very stale and lifeless light and dark rye bread.  You only get one basket with about 4 pieces - an extra basket of bread cost $3.50.  I wasn't going to be getting a second basket that night.  It definitely was the worst bread I've ever tasted at any German restaurant I've been to. 

My meal showed up soon thereafter and I have to say the food was OK.  Actually, OK, at best.  It was rather neutral tasting.  It didn't have the taste sensation that I normally associate with good Bavarian restaurants.  The pork chops were cooked very well, but the wine and mushroom sauce was nothing special.  The sauerkraut was sort of lifeless and the red cabbage tasted a little overcooked. 

All in all, it was an OK meal.  Not as good as I've had at other German restaurants, but for out in the middle of nowhere in east central Illinois, it wasn't all that bad, either.  If I had to rate it on a five star rating scale, I'd have to give the Bayern Stube 2 to 2.5 stars.  It's worth a try, but I won't be going out of my way again to eat there. 

Sorry, Al...

2006 River Rockin' Ribfest Results

First of all - let me say that it will be LONG TIME before I eat another rib...

At the recent Rhythm City Casino Rockin' Ribfest held here in Davenport, there were 9 different rib vendors vying for top honors for best ribs, best barbecue and "People's Choice" awards.  Six of the rib vendors travel the country each summer going to a number of similar events like the one in Davenport.  Two of the rib vendors - Jim's Rib Haven and Lil' Lou's - were from the Quad City area.  And one vendor - Elmer's Texas Barbecue - had only participated in the 2005 Fargo Rib Fest prior to this. 

(As an aside - I was told that Elmer's didn't participate in the 2006 Fargo Rib Fest because Famous Dave's Barbecue is a primary sponsor of the Fargodome - the home of the Fargo Rib Fest - and didn't want any other barbecue joint from Minnesota or North Dakota in the competition.  Actually, Elmer's probably gave Famous Dave's a run for their money in 2005 and that's why they weren't invited back.) 

The six touring rib vendors - Desperado's BBQ out of Ohio; Porky 'n Beans out of Florida; Cowboys BBQ from Texas; Pigfoot BBQ from Ohio; Rib-bins BBQ from Pennsylvania; and Chicago BBQ Company from the Chicago suburbs - all were vying for the $1000 first prize of best ribs and best barbecue with the other three rib vendors.  And the coveted "People's Choice Award" allows bragging rights for both the national and the local rib vendors. 

The judges for the event are a group of local celebrities, members of the Scott County Pork Producers, and one guy who is a certified rib judge by the Kansas City Barbecue Society (no shit!).  The judging is done at noon on Saturday and the rib vendors usually work a good portion of the night before to make the best ribs possible. 

(That's another little secret about the Rib Fest - or rib fests in general.  The best time to get ribs is usually at the same time the judging is going on or that afternoon.  They don't cook just one slab - they cook MANY slabs and pick the best one out of a dozen or so.  All of them have been cooked equally so they're all pretty damn good.)

First of all, I tried 'em all.  I had ribs on Thursday and Friday - mainly the three rib samplers they would dish up.  Actually, being the stage manager and getting to know some of these guys over the years they've been coming also helps to get a couple more bones in the container. 

Winning both the best ribs and best barbecue categories was new-comer Rib-bins BBQ.  Second place in best ribs went to Desperado's and third place went to Cowboy's.  For best barbecue (a combination of best sauce and best tasting ribs), Porky n' Beans got second place and Desperado's got third place.

Desperado's (right) got the People's Choice award for the national vendors, while Jim's Rib Haven won the local People's Choice crown for the eighth straight year.  Elmer's placed second in the People's Choice award about 50 votes behind Desperado's. 

(Another aside - Famous Dave's was here the last couple of years and didn't participate this year.  I'm sure it was because Jim's Rib Haven beat them in the People's Choice awards both years by large margins.)

Now, I like to think that I know a little about ribs and barbecue and I have to respectfully disagree with the judges.  Rib-bins was good, but I thought the best ribs - hands down - were Elmer's Texas BBQ. 

Owners Tim and Ursula Nanson bought Elmer's about 4 years ago from the original owner, Elmer Neumann, who was a native of Texas and who had an authentic 2 ton smoker pit brought up from Texas for the restaurant.  Tim's secret for the Rib Fest - he would smoke the ribs at a low temperature for 6 to 7 hours, about 225 degrees (F).  Then he'd take them out of the smoker and wrap the slabs up in aluminum foil and put them in a low heat warmer, about 110 degrees (F), for another 4 hours or so.  The meat would just fall away from the bone, it was that tender.

The only thing I didn't care for was that when Tim would serve the ribs, he'd sprinkle on some of the rub that he used to cook the ribs with.  I thought that is was too salty and detracted from the taste of the ribs.  I got to talking to him Saturday night and told him just that and he cut off a rib bone from a slab and gave it to me to eat plain.  It was very good.

And their sauce was sort of plain.  I did buy some and brought it home to play with it.  I took about a cup of it and added a half of tablespoon of garlic powder and a 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne.  It zipped it up tremendously. 

He told me to come back on Sunday as he was smoking a bunch of ribs on Saturday night and then put them in the warmer overnight.  He said they should be unbelievably great the next day.

And he wasn't kidding.  The meat was a perfect dark pink throughout and it fell off the bone when you touched it.  They were, by far, the best ribs I had during the whole weekend. 

Elmer's doesn't have a big booth like the others so they weren't as busy as the national touring vendors throughout the weekend.  But Tim was pleased with the business he got and hoped he'd get to come back next year.  I told him that I'd lobby for him. 

And I told him that I get up to Fargo from time to time, and being that he's in the area (Battle Lake, MN is just off of I-94 east of Fergus Falls, about 60 miles from Fargo) I said that I'd stop in.  He said, "Come up and spend the night.  We'll show you a real good time." 

I may just do that. 

For the others at the fest - Porky n' Beans had, I believe, the best sauce.  They had a hot sauce that wasn't too hot, but had enough zip behind it to make you notice.  I was disappointed, however, to find that they weren't selling any of their sauces at the Rib Fest. 

Right behind Porky n' Beans for best sauce was Pigfoot BBQ.  They had four different sauces to choose from - a sweet, a mild, a hot and one they called "Killer".  Actually, I mixed the sweet and the "Killer" sauce together (about 10 parts sweet and 1 part killer) and it was a very good combination.  And I thought their ribs were very good, as well. 

I was somewhat disappointed in the Chicago BBQ company.  Tom Ferguson is sort of a legend in the Chicago area for his ribs and 20 years ago he began to travel to rib festivals and took a lot of top prizes along the way. 

This year because the Super Bowl of Rib festivals - the Best in the West Nugget Rib Cook Off - was going to start a day earlier this year the following Wednesday out in Reno, NV, a number of the rib vendors who have been in Davenport in the past passed on coming this year.  Chicago BBQ Company was going to Reno, too, but Tom Ferguson sent a secondary crew to Davenport for the Rockin' Ribfest.  Their ribs were OK, but not to the level I was expecting.  I was actually more disappointed in not being able to meet Tom Ferguson, who was back in Chicago preparing for Reno.

(By the way, in a somewhat stunning upset, Famous Dave's won the top prize of best ribs at the Best of the West fest in Reno this year.  And validating my opinion of best sauce in Davenport, Porky n' Beans won for best sauce in Reno.)

And I was also somewhat disappointed in Cowboys BBQ.  I've had their ribs before and I remember them to be much better.  Also, they didn't allow you to put your own sauce on it.  They had two sauces - mild and hot - and they ladled them on the ribs before they served them.  And their hot sauce wasn't all that hot.

Other than the most obvious winner in my book - Elmer's - it was difficult to say who was the best.  It's like trying to say what's better - chocolate, vanilla, chocolate chip or strawberry ice cream.  They're all pretty damn good.   But Elmer's, I thought, had the best ribs.  Not the best sauce, but the best ribs.  And I know a lot of people that I talked to thought the same thing.

But like I said, it will be a long LONG time before I eat another rib...

Guinea Grinders

Every time I go to the Iowa State Fair I have to get a "Guinea Grinder". Guinea Grinders are basically 1/2 ground Italian sausage and 1/2 ground beef, cooked with a tomato sauce with spices, loaded into a small loaf of Italian bread, topped with mozzarella and baked in an oven or broiler until the cheese is melted.  They're damned good. 

In this politically correct age, it's no longer called a Guinea Grinder.  There are two stands that sit side by side to one another at the State Fair - Carl's Gizmo and the former Original Guinea Grinder, now called "Jennie Grinder" after the inventor of the sandwich. 

A little history on the Guinea Grinder.  It was reportedly invented in Des Moines over 60 years ago by Jennie DePhillips, who owned the Original Guinea Grinder restaurant in Urbandale.  Jennie died a few years ago, but her stand is still doing business at the fair each year.

In 1946 after he got out of the war, Carl Cardamon opened up his first eatery at the Iowa State Fair that featured Guinea Grinders.  But Jennie DePhillips had the copyright to the name "Guinea Grinder" so he had to call his sandwich something else.  He called it a "gizmo".  Carl died in 2001 and his daughter, Carla Wood, her husband and son run the Carl's Gizmo stand at the State Fair.

Since this was the 60th anniversary of Carl's Gizmo at the State Fair, the Des Moines Register recently ran an article that takes a more in-depth look at the history of Carl's.  You can read the article here.

I like the Gizmo's at Carl's better than the Jennie Grinder at Jennie's.  The sauce is more flavorful, the buns are better.   Also, Carl's offer up jalapeno pepper slices to put on the sandwich that gives it an extra kick.

Actually, Guinea Grinders are very easy to make.  The mother of an old girlfriend in Des Moines taught me how to make them years ago.  You take a pound of ground beef and a pound of Italian sausage, cook both on a stove top in a pan.  Drain the excess grease/water, and add 16 oz. of your favorite spaghetti sauce and a small can of tomato paste.  Add spices including chopped garlic, Italian seasonings and whole fennel seeds.  Let cook for an hour or so.  Place on a small sliced loaf of Italian bread or a Kaiser roll, put mozzarella on the top, and toast for about 3 to 5 minutes in a broiler oven and serve.  It's that easy. 

And as I said, you can zip them up a bit by adding jalapenos or hot pepperoncinis to the sandwich before it's toasted.  That's my favorite way to eat them.

Some people like to sautee up some onions and green peppers and add them to the meat sauce.  That's fine, too. 

Even though I haven't made any for a while, they are great to freeze and reheat in the microwave for lunch or a late night snack. 

But I'm torn in being politically correct and calling them Italian Sausage sandwiches (which they really aren't) or Guinea Grinders.  It's easy just to call them a "Grinder".

Abigail's - Rocheport, MO

Rocheport is one of those quaint little destination villages in central Missouri along both the Missouri River and the Katy Trail bike path (see map).  Full of shops and little restaurants, Rocheport is one of our favorite places to go to when we're in the Columbia area. 

During our recent vacation, we stopped in to see our longtime friends, Dave and Teri Haack, who live outside of Columbia.  Dave is an avid cook/chef and it's always fun to see what he cooks up for us when we visit. 

Before we left to go back home, I offered to take them out to lunch at a place of their choice.  Teri didn't even flinch when I asked and she immediately said, "Oh, Dave, we should take them to Abigail's."

Abigail's is located in the downtown area of Rocheport not too far from the river.  The interior is rustic and funky, with a lot of older pictures and antiques throughout the place.  The plastered walls have large sections that are unpainted and there are a lot of fish figurines all over. 

The kitchen is in the open, so you can see them preparing the foods as you sit on the funky seats and benches they use at the tables.  Nothing really matches at Abigail's, including the plates, silverware, salt and pepper shakers, etc.  And that adds more charm to the place. 

Abigail's is owned by Todd and Susan Schapira (right) who met while both were working as servers at the same restaurant in Columbia (about 20 miles from Rocheport).  Todd didn't have any culinary training, but learned some things while working around some chefs at the restaurant.  Susan basically learned from Todd.  The restaurant is named after the couple's daughter.

We got there just after they opened for lunch on a Sunday and Susan brought over a chalk board easel that had the day's lunch menu on it.  There were six or seven entrees to choose from, as well as some appetizers. 

I started off with a bowl of the roasted pepper tomato soup - highly recommended by Dave and Teri.  It was served hot, but I think it would have been better served cold, especially on a hot summers day.  Still, it was very good. 

For our main entrees, Cindy went with a chicken and cous cous dish, Dave got the chicken and chili quesadilla, and Teri and I both got the bow tie pasta with a lemon cream sauce.   

I don't know about everyone else, but I thought my dish was outstanding.  Well, actually, everyone else said the same thing.  Dave's quesadilla had a nice little spicy bite to it, Cindy thought her chicken was prepared perfectly, and Teri and I both thought the pasta was very good.   

Each of us shared a couple of desserts - homemade tiramisu that was good, but not the best I've had, and a chocolate-based dessert that I didn't try. 

Abigail's does take credit cards and it does skew to being moderate in price (although there were more expensive items on the menu board).  I think our bill with tip was around $85 bucks.  But it was worth it. 

Rocheport is definitely a destination, and places like Abigail's make it worth going.   

Wine Discount Center - Chicago

Earlier this year, one of my dealers in downtown Chicago was telling me about this place that sold wine even cheaper than Sam's Wine (see my earlier blog post on Sam's here).  He said that this place - Wine Discount Center -  wasn't as big as Sam's, nor did it have the selection, but it did have some great prices on wine.  He told me that I really did have to go there some time. 

I recently went to visit a dealer who moved to a new location just northwest of downtown.  As I was driving away from the store, I looked over and saw Wine Discount Center on N. Elston.  I had to go in.

Founded in 1984, there are four locations of the Wine Discount Center in the Chicagoland area.   At first, the size of the store is particularly underwhelming.  Definitely not as big as Sam's, nor does it have the selection.  But what they had for variety was very good.  They had a bottle of the 2003 Duckhorn Merlot for $44.99 - its $49.99 at Sam's.  Their featured wine under $10 this month was the Columbia Crest 2003 Cabernet that normally sells for $8.99 or $9.99 in some places in Iowa, but Wine Discount Center had it for $6.99.

Their selections of foreign wines were impressive not only in terms of what they had to offer, but their prices were very reasonable, as well.   I'm trying to learn more about French wines since my visit to France this past spring and they had a good number of wines from the Rhone Valley at a very good price. 

The wines from Australia, Chile and Spain were also represented well at Wine Discount Center - many of them I wasn't familiar with, but they had a helpful staff on hand to answer any questions.  I didn't have the time to look too deep into what they had or to ask many questions.  And I only had room in my car for a couple three bottles that I picked out and took home with me.

Wine Discount Center is a great alternative to the Sam's Wines and Binny's Beverage Depots (which are usually very high priced compared to both Sam's and Wine Discount Center) in the Chicago area.  They're sort of out of the way, but worth seeking out if you would like to get a good deal on some good wines.

2006 Indy International Wine Competition - Part 3

Part three of Steve Somermeyer's overview of the results of the 2006 Indy International Wine Competition held recently in Indianapolis.  Here he looks at the top performing wineries in terms of medals won, and offers some "best buys" of the wines submitted at the competition.   

For background information on the competition, see my earlier blog entry.

Top Performing Wineries: 

  I'll highlight wineries that did very well in the competition - lots of gold and silver medals won compared to the number of wines they entered.  I'll also lean toward "value wines"  - medal winners that are relatively inexpensive. 

- Kendall-Jackson: Out of 11 wines, they won 2 CG, 2 golds, 6 silvers and 1 bronze covering all of the major varietals. 

- Michael-David:  Last year's top red wine winner, this Lodi winery with the fun names such as 7 Deadly Zins, Seven Heavenly Chards (a CG winner), Earthquate, and Incognito, won 1 CG, 2 golds, 3 silvers and 3 bronzes.

- V. Sattui:  This Napa winery which sells all of their wine directly from the winery won the competition's award for winning the most medals - 27.  They won a CG and 3 golds with their Cabernet Sauvignons, 2 golds with zins, and golds with their Sauvignon Blanc and Gamay Rouge. 

- Huber Winery:  The repeat winner of the Governor's Cup, this southern Indiana Winery (and great visitor destination) does a great job with both fruits and grapes.  They won CG with their raspberry and their '02 Heritage a blend of Chambourcin, Cab. Franc and Cab. Sauv.  They also won 5 golds, 6 silvers and 3 bronzes.

- Barefoot Cellars: This 'value' line won 2 golds, 6 silvers, and 4 bronzes.

- Gallo: They entered most of their labels - Dancing Bull, Ecco Domani, Gallo of Sonoma, Gallo Family Vineyard Twin Valley, Livingston Cellars, McWilliams Wines, Napa Valley Vineyards, Red Bicyclette, Turning Leaf, Forest Glen, Valdivieso, Montpellier, Bridlewood, Mirassou, Black Swan, Bella Sera and Rancho Zabaco - and they all won numerous medals.

- St. Supery:  Consistent medal winner with 1 CG, 1 gold, 5 silvers and 2 bronzes.

- Oliver Winery:  Indiana's largest winery won a medal with almost every wine they produce with 1 CG (Vignoles Late Harvest), 4 golds, 10 silvers, and 8 bronzes.

- Kenwood:  This Sonoma winery won 2 CG's with Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon along with 3 silvers and 3 bronze.

- Stone HIll Winery:  Missouri's historic winery consistently wins a bunch of medals here.  This year they won 4 golds, 7 silvers, and 2 bronzes.

- Galena Cellars:  Illinois' leading winery won 2 CG, 3 golds, 7 silvers, and 11 bronzes.  About a month ago I judged the Illinois competition - for Illinois wineries only - and they won over half of the gold medals awarded there.

- Geyser Peak:  They've done very well over the years - think they've won 6 best-of-show awards - and this year they won 2 CG (XYZin & '03 Cab. Sauv. Kuimelis Vineyard), 2 golds, 6 silvers, and 4 bronzes.  Their exec. wine maker, Daryl Groom, judges here almost every year.

- Cline Cellars:  They entered 4 wines and received 3 golds and a silver.

- St. Julian Winery:  The well-known Michigan winery won 30 medals including 1 CG, 6 golds, 14 silvers, and 9 bronzes.

- Chateau Thomas Winery:  The Indiana winery where I help make the wine won 3 golds, 7 silvers, and 18 bronzes.

  Best Buys:  (I've indicated price if known)

  Concordance Gold winners:  '05 Blue Fish Riesling (<$10), '03 Dancing Bull Merlot ($8), '05 Due Sauvignon Blanc ($10), '03 EOS Zinfandel ($10),'04 Four Emus, '04 Rex Goliath Pinot Gris ($6), '04 Smoking Loon Syrah ($7), '05 Three Thieves Chardonnay ($8), and '05 Yellow Tail Pinot Noir (<$10). 

  Gold medal values include Woodbridge Pinot Gris, Fetzer Valley Oaks Merlot and Zinfandel, Barefoot Chardonnay and Pinot Gris, Bella Sera Merlot, Gallo Twin Family Merlot, Red Bicyclette Rose, Turning Leaf Merlot, Forest Glen Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, & Merlot, Twin Fin Chardonnay, Campus Oaks Zinfandel, Montes Sauvignon Blanc, and Harlow Ridge Zinfandel.

  Whew!!!!  As the competition grows so does my summary. Hope this helps you the next time you're shopping for wine.

Thanks again, Steve, for allowing me to post this.  It's always very informative, I always learn a lot and it helps tremendously with my selections of wine.

Wells Blue Bunny Visitor's Center - Le Mars, IA

After I ate at Bob's Drive-Inn in Le Mars, IA recently, I went across the street to the Wells Blue Bunny Visitor's Center to get an ice cream cone. 

Wells' Dairy opened in 1913 when Fred Wells purchased a small dairy equipped with a delivery wagon, some cans and jars, and a horse to pull the wagon.  12 years later, Wells and his sons began to make ice cream at their dairy.  They branched out and began to distribute ice cream throughout northwestern Iowa eventually selling the rights to distribute Wells Dairy Ice Cream to another ice cream company.

Years later, Wells and his brother decided to make ice cream again.  However, they couldn't use the Wells Dairy name, so they marketed the ice cream under the Blue Bunny label.  (The name was picked from a number of entrees sent in to the Sioux City Journal for a "Name that Ice Cream" contest.)  In the 50's, Fred Wells' sons and a nephew formed a family partnership that ultimately became the world's largest family owned dairy operation.

Today, the Wells Blue Bunny ice cream factory is the largest ice cream manufacturing facility in the world.  The company manufactures over 2000 different varieties of ice cream, milk, frozen novelties and yogurt. 

Their ice cream is OK, nothing special.  It certainly isn't as good as Whitey's ice cream here in the Quad Cities.  It's about what you'd expect for a high volume manufactured product.

The Wells Blue Bunny Visitors Center is pretty nice.  It consists of a museum shaped like a barn that takes visitors through the years of developing Wells Blue Bunny ice cream into what it is today.  I didn't go through the museum, but the lady did allow me to take a quick look when I told her that I was just there for the ice cream.

Next to the museum is the Wells Blue Bunny old time ice cream shoppe.  It has the old style striped awnings and the picnic tables out in front. 

Inside, it's fashioned after an old time soda fountain complete with a soda bar, a wooden ceiling with antique light fixtures, wooden tables and chairs, and big wooden booths.  It's actually pretty neat.  There's a gift shop and a couple rooms in the place that can be used for private parties. 

One other neat thing they have out in front of the visitor's center is a vintage Divco milk delivery truck.  Made in Ohio beginning in 1926, the Divco milk trucks were the ones that many dairies used to deliver milk in the 30's, 40's and 50's. 

I wouldn't say that the Wells Blue Bunny Visitor's Center is worth a long side trip, but if you're ever in Le Mars having dinner at Archie's Waeside or lunch at Bob's Drive Inn, stop in and have an ice cream cone for dessert. 

Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue - Martin City, MO

During our trip to Kansas City, I promised to take Cindy to at least three great places to eat.  Our first night in Kansas City, the choice of the restaurant was a no-brainer.  We drove out to Martin City on the far south side of Kansas City and went to Fiorella's Jack Stack Barbecue. 

Now, I've talked about the Jack Stack barbecue places before (see my earlier blog post here), but I just had to tell you all about this one particular meal. 

We ate there on a hot Monday night, not unlike the first time I ate there 20 years ago this summer when it was called the Smoke Stack before Jack Fiorella renamed it the Jack Stack.  We got right in and sat at a booth in the dining room that allowed Cindy to look into the prep area for the kitchen. 

Jack Stack has an extensive menu and Cindy took her time going through it.  That was fine with me, but I knew what I wanted. 

Cindy and I both got the two meat combos.  I got the spare ribs and brisket, Cindy went with the spare ribs and the burnt ends.  Burnt ends are the end of the beef brisket cut off into chunks.  I don't care for them myself, but Cindy wanted to give them a try.

We also went with a side of their baked beans, a small order of their huge and delicious onion rings, and Cindy got some cole slaw to go with her meal.

Like I said, for some particular reason this was the best meal I'd ever had at Jack Stack.  The ribs were outstanding - tender and juicy.  The brisket was wonderful.  Cindy didn't care for her burnt ends.  (I didn't figure she would, but she had to try 'em.  Some people go nuts over the burnt ends.  I don't see - or taste - what's so good about 'em.) But she did love the ribs.  She stopped at one point when she was knawing on a rib and said, "These are the best ribs I've ever had in my life!"

About the only thing disappointing with Jack Stack are their sauces.  Not that they're bad - far from it.  They just don't have a lot of "pizzaz".  They only have two different sauces - regular and spicy.  The regular is vinegar based and not too sweet (which actually helps bring out the flavor of the meat it's used on), while the hot isn't all that hot.  I like to add both the regular and hot together and put them in with their baked beans.  It makes the beans even better than they are. 

We got to talking with our waitress and Fiorella's Jack Stack now offers  mail order ribs - ribs and meats that are cooked, then frozen and vacuum packed, and then shipped anywhere in the US.  She said that the ribs she's tried that were mail order actually seemed to be more juicy and tender than the ribs they had at the restaurant. 

She told us that Fiorella's had a facility in Kansas City for cooking and processing mail orders, but they quickly outgrew that.  They now have a second facility in Denison, IA - of all places - that makes the food and ships it around the country. 

As it always seems, I could hardly move when I got up to leave, I was so stuffed.  The food has always been outstanding at Jack Stack - in my opinion the best barbecue in Kansas City.  But for some reason, it was just exceptional this one particular evening.  It was probably the best meal I'd ever had there and probably the best barbecue meal I'd ever had in my life.