Road Tips

Hereford House - Kansas City

I've been meaning to write about the world famous Hereford House steakhouses in the Kansas City area for quite some time.  I was in Kansas City recently, calling on one of my large dealers out in Overland Park.  A scheduling snafu on the dealer's part ended up with me eating alone that evening.  Hey, that's OK.  I've got time on my hands.  And the Hereford House is right down the road.

The Hereford House began in 1957 when Jack Webb (not the actor) opened the doors of his steakhouse (right) located in downtown Kansas City at the corner of Main and 20th near the famous stockyards (see map).  30 years later, a group of investors headed by Rod Anderson bought the Hereford House and began a renovation and expansion of the original property. 

In 1997, the Anderson Restaurant Group opened a second Hereford House in Leawood, KS (see map); followed by a third location in Independence, MO in 2002 (see map); and they opened their fourth Hereford House location at the new Zona Rosa shopping area in north Kansas City, MO (see map). 

The Anderson Restaurant Group also runs Pierpont's at the historic Union Station, as well as the Hollywood Room - a place used for private parties and corporate functions. 

The Hereford House restaurants serves Sterling Silver meats, a high end meat producer owned by Cargill.  Sterling Silver steaks are consistently rated as the highest quality by a number of top chefs across America.  The "marbling" of Sterling Silver steaks is a direct result of selecting special cuts that are only available on about 10% of the beef population of North America.

The Hereford House in Leawood was characteristically busy that evening.  I asked if I can eat at the bar and the hostess said, "Oh, please do!"

(As an aside - Each time I've eaten at the bar of a fine steak house since my visit to Smoky's Club in Madison, I'm reminded of what that bitchy hostess said to me when I asked if I could eat at the bar - "We do not serve dinner at the bar.  We're not that kind of place."  Well, a lot more classy and BETTER places serve dinner at the bar and ARE that kind of place.  Another reason I'll probably never go back to Smoky's.)

I got a seat at the bar, right under a light so I could read the paper.  They had a basketball game on the TV.  They had cold Boulevard Pale Ale on tap - I was set. 

Looking through the menu, I was tempted to get the prime rib.  But I really wanted a grilled steak.  And there's so many to choose from - ribeye, KC strip, filet.  But I ordered up the blackened ribeye topped with garlic butter sauce.  And I got a side of mashed sweet potatoes and a Caesar salad. 

I wanted some wine, and I ordered a glass of the Franciscan Oakville Estates merlot.  My bartender said that he didn't have that particular variety that evening.  I didn't see anything else on their "by the glass" list that tripped my trigger.  My bartender said that they had half-bottles of some selected wines, so he gave me the wine list.  I immediately found a 2003 Duckhorn merlot in a 375 ml bottle for $22 bucks and I ordered that.

My steak was brought out and it was cooked a very perfect medium rare.  The meat was tender and juicy, and had a great taste to it.  Coupled with the mashed sweet potatoes and the wine, it was a killer meal.  I was in heaven. 

With tip, the bill came to just about $70 bucks.  The Hereford House isn't a cheap place, but it's worth every penny.  Believe me. 

In a city famous for steaks, there's no place finer than the Hereford House.  It's a must stop if you're looking for a great steak in Kansas City. 

O'Connell's Pub - Redux

I drove thru St. Louis on my way home from Springfield, MO recently and decided to have a late lunch at O'Connell's Pub again.  Since it's just off of I-44 at Kingshighway, it was easy to get to (see map).  Plus, I wanted to stop at some of the food shops on the Hill to get some items, so it all worked out.

On my previous visit when I took a couple guys there for lunch, I had the burger which was good.  But one of the guys got the roast beef sandwich with lean, rare beef piled high on a hoagie bun, served with au jus over the top.  It looked killer.  Then again, so did the roast pork sandwich, with the pork piled high on a similar hoagie bun smothered in gravy that the other guy got.  And they told me they were both wonderful tasting. 

However, I was in on a Friday and the special at "Oc's" on Friday's is fish and chips, so the chance of getting the roast pork sandwich went out the window.  I went for the roast beef sandwich and ordered it the way my guest ordered it the time before, "Roast beef sandwich, rare, juice."   And an ice-cold Budweiser. 

When the sandwich came, it was piled high with thick cut rare roast beef.  The beef was a little chewy and not as tender as it looked on my last visit.  In fact, I sort of got heartburn from the sandwich - it was a lot of beef, that's for sure. 

The beef sandwich was *OK*.  I'm glad I tried it, but I probably won't order it again when I go back to Oc's.  It will more than likely be back to a good ol' O'Connell's cheese burger. 

Gene and Jude's Red Hot Stand - River Grove, IL

One of the more storied hot dog stands in Chicago is Gene and Jude's Red Hot Stand in suburban River Grove (see map).

Gene and Jude's began in 1952 when partners Gene Mormino and Julius "Jude" DeSantis opened the doors.  Jude DeSantis' son, Fred, took over the place in the 70's and his son, Matt, took over for him when Fred died in 2002. 

Where a lot of hot dog stands in the Chicago area will also sell burgers and Italian beef sandwiches, it's basically just hot dogs.  Well, that and, for some reason, tamales.  Oh, and hand cut french fries.  In fact, the fries are the good, greasy kind that complement the hot dogs tremendously.

I went in one afternoon when they weren't too busy.  You order at the far left end of the counter and move to the right to pay and then pick up the food. 

The inside of Gene and Jude's is very basic.  No tables, no chairs.  There is a ledge along the front window where you can stand and eat your dogs and fries.  But that's it.  No outdoor seating, nothing. 

I got a double dog - two grilled hot dogs in a bun topped with onions, mustard, pickle relish and hot peppers.  And an order of fries with a Coke.  And don't ask for ketchup - even for the fries.  They don't have it.

And it was good.  I liked the grilled taste to the hot dogs.  They were crisp and juicy.  And the fries were great.  It was a killer crappy food experience.   

One of the great things about Gene and Jude's is that they're open late - until 1 p.m. or later on some nights, depending upon how busy they are.  In doing some research on Gene and Jude's, I found some forums where people said that they've gone in there after 3 a.m. to get hot dogs.

Gene and Jude's is no frills, a short menu and good food.  Concentrate on one thing and do it right.  And they do it right.  It's a trippy little place.  Visit it if you can.   

Christopher Elbow Chocolates - Kansas City

One night, Cindy and I were talking with our backyard neighbor, Barb Fensterbusch, and she was telling us about a relative of hers by the name of Christopher Elbow who makes exotic, high-end chocolates in Kansas City.  Since we'd just been in Kansas City earlier in the summer, Cindy remarked that she would have loved to have gone there to check his place out. 

Christopher Elbow (left) graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1996 with a degree is Restaurant and Business Administration.  He went home to Kansas City and ran Shiraz restaurant for three years.  In 1999, he went to Las Vegas to work for Emeril Lagasse in the new Delmonico Steakhouse in the Venetian.  Not long after that, he ended up helping acclaimed chef Jean Joho open the posh Eiffel Tower restaurant in the Paris Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

Elbow eventually moved back to Kansas City and found himself at the American Restaurant, a world class restaurant in the Crown Center shopping plaza.  Elbow was the pastry chef and he soon found that he had a flair for making "artisanal chocolates", small chocolate treats filled with fruits or liqueurs.  In fact, he got so good at it, he struck out on his own and opened Christopher Elbow Artisanal Chocolates a couple years ago.

When I was in Kansas City recently, I had just finished meeting with a dealer account of mine in the downtown area.  Remembering that Elbow Chocolates were not far from my dealer, I decided to go down and get a box to take back to Barb. 

Except, I had trouble finding the place.  The address showed that it was on Southwest Blvd. (see map), but where the business should have been was a Mitchell Gold contemporary furniture store.  Finally, I saw a small sign for Christopher Elbow Chocolates above one of the doors of the furniture store. 

I went into the store and looked around.  It didn't look like a place that would sell chocolates, but then looking toward the back of the store, there was a confectionery case and what appeared to be a kitchen directly behind that.  Sure enough, I'd found Christopher Elbow Chocolates.

A young girl came out and asked if she could help me.  They had an assortment of pre-packed chocolates in the case - the smallest was a nine piece assortment in a nice box with a bow on it.  I knew that if I brought a box home for Barb, Cindy would be complaining that I didn't bring any home for her. 

I told the girl that I wanted two boxes and she said, "OK, those are $18.00 each."  I about jumped, but thought better of it.  They also had a number of single chocolates in the case and I asked, "How much are they individually?"

She said, "$2.75 each."  I told her I'd just take the two boxes of nine. 

As she was ringing me up, I asked her if one of the three workers I could see working in the back was Christopher Elbow.  She said, "No, I'm sorry but Christopher's out of town for a couple days."  Oh well.  No biggie. 

Now, I'm not big on chocolate and I'm not very big on filled chocolates, but the boxes I brought home were rather intriguing.  The flavors ranged from a Strawberry Balsamic, to a Pear Cinnamon caramel, to a Venezuelan Spice, to a Passion Fruit.  I told Cindy that I wanted to pick three and she could have the rest. 

She looked at the box of chocolates (which come with a little "road map" to tell what they are) and she said, "Geez, they're almost too pretty to eat!" 

The first one that I took was the Grand Marnier filled chocolate.  I'm a sucker for Grand Marnier in chocolate.  It was very flavorful - probably the best one of that type I'd ever had.

The second one I picked was the Rosemary Caramel.  I fully expected it to be chewy, but my teeth went right through it to the filling and only after I got past the taste of the chocolate and the hint of rosemary did I get to the chewiness of the caramel. 

And the last one I picked was the Vietnamese Cinnamon.  Vietnam supposedly has some of the most strong and pungent cinnamon in the world and this was no exception.  The cinnamon taste didn't overpower the chocolate, it complemented the chocolate.  And the taste lingered for minutes in my mouth.  Wow!   

I took a box up to Barb and she was overly appreciative.  It was the least I could do since she lets us swim in her pool each summer. 

She said that Christopher Elbow's mother was just there to see her a couple weeks prior and she said that his business is growing so fast that he's moving to a bigger facility in Kansas City.  She said, "His mother told me that he's on track to make 50,000 pieces of chocolate this year and he's outgrown that place he's in now." 

Christopher Elbow chocolates are available on his web site, and they're all available at Hall's department store in Kansas City, as well as a growing list of high-end confectionery stores across the nation.  They may be expensive, but they're worth it.   

Tony Impellizzeri's Pizza - Louisville

I'm traveling to Indiana and Kentucky for my work now.  One of the places that I get to go to is Louisville.  My friend from near Cincinnati, Tony Jobe, once told me that there was a great pizza place in Louisville called Impellizzeri's.  The only problem is that the guy who had the place, Benny Impellizzeri, closed the doors of the establishment.  However, I found out that Benny's younger brother, Tony, had his own pizza place on the east side of Louisville - Tony Impellizzeri's Italian Restaurant  (see map).

I was told the Impellizzeri style of pizza was a cross between New York thin-crust style and Chicago deep-dish.  I love pizza where the crust is thin and the toppings are heavy.  I had to find this place and have one of their pizzas.

Tony Impellizeri's is in a non-descript strip mall off of Shelbyville Road.  It was a slow Wednesday evening when I was in there.  There was a family of four having pizza and me.  I was greeted by the waitress (who I found out later she was Tony's wife, girlfriend or significant other), and sat at a table near the counter.  I ordered a beer and got a menu from her. 

In addition to their pizza, Tony Impellizzeri's also serves sandwiches and pasta.  I was only interested in the pizza, so I got my standard sausage, pepperoni and mushroom.  It said on the menu that a small (12") would serve 2 to 3 people.  This was a problem as I was traveling and I didn't have access to a refrigerator.   I knew I'd be wasting some pizza.

I saw Tony Impellizzeri back in the kitchen area making pizzas.  He was a small, skinny guy with long black hair and glasses.  I understand there was some sort of a family dust-up with Tony and Benny and Tony went out on his own a few years ago.  But it was still supposed to be the Impellizzeri family recipe for pizza and homemade sauce, something that had been passed down from Tony's great-great grandmother.

It took about 20 minutes for my pizza to show up and it was worth the wait.  Oh, man!  It was just unbelievable!  The toppings were three times the depth of the crust.  I LOVE pizzas like this!  The cheese was thick, the sausage, pepperoni and mushrooms were more than plentiful, and the sauce was tangy, sort of sweet, but a nice complement to the toppings.  There were a lot of Italian seasonings on the pizza, as well.  The crust was light and tender, not too chewy and not too crisp. 

It was cut into 8 traditional pieces and I was able to finish to finish exactly half of it.  The waitress asked me if I wanted a box to take the rest home.  I told her that I was traveling and I didn't have access to a refrigerator at the hotel.  She said, "Where are you staying?"

I said, "At a Hampton Inn on the northeast side."

She said, "Well, they should have a refrigerator that they use for breakfast items.  They'll probably put that into the refrigerator for you."

I said, "They might, but it also may not be there in the morning." 

She let out a knowing laugh when I said that.

The pizza and three beers weren't cheap - it was $35 bucks with the tip.  When I got up to leave I wandered back toward the open kitchen area behind the counter and I said to Tony, "Hey, great pizza!"

He never looked up from one of the pizzas he was making from a call in order.  His waitress said, "When he gets to working, you can't get his attention." 

I was very impressed with my Impellizzeri's pizza.  I wish I'd brought a cooler or something to be able to put the rest of the pizza into to keep for a day or two.  Oh, well.  I'm sure I'll be back sometime in the near future. 

(Update - I recently went to Louisville and went by Tony Impellizzeri's to have a pizza one evening.  The only problem is that it was closed.  And evidently for good.)

(Update March 2012 - I found that Tony Impellizzeri's has reopened in New Albany, IN, just across the river from Louisville.  Click on the Urbanspoon link below for the map and more information.)

Westside Liquor - Waite Park, MN

On my recent trip thru Minnesota, my dealer in St. Cloud was telling me about a wine place in called Westside Liquor.  Knowing my love for wine, good beer and great Scotch, he told me I had to check the place out. 

Bob Feuling gave up the life of being a dairy farmer and selling dairy equipment in the late 70's. With his wife, Linda, they bought a small bar called the West Side Bar in Little Falls, MN that included an inventory of off-sale liquor products.  Bob noticed that people didn't like to come into the bar to buy liquor, so he opened an adjacent liquor store in the early 80's and he called it Westside Liquor. 

Bob moved to a larger location in Little Falls in the mid 80's and then bought a spot in the St. Cloud suburb of Waite Park in 1991 and opened a second store there.  Today, that location is the headquarters for the now 8 Westside Liquor locations across north central Minnesota. 

I went to the one in Waite Park on the advice of my dealer (see map).  It's the largest of the Westside Liquor stores (20,000 sq. ft.) and promised to have a large selection of wines and beers to choose from. 

By the way, each Westside Liquor store features special lighting and cool temperatures to help keep the wine and liquors lasting longer on the shelves.  Some of the workers were walking around in light-weight jackets in the store. 

And the selection at Westside Liquors was impressive.  There was a large area of wines from all over the world.  And the prices were very good, as well.  I picked up a bottle of the Ferrari-Carano 2003 Cabernet for just over $30 bucks.  It's around $36 to $39 dollars back in the Quad Cities. 

The beer area had a number of the typical domestics, but also had a large number beers from upper Midwest small breweries such as Summit, Capital, Schell and Lake Superior.  Actually, I have a lot of beer in my garage that I have to drink up, so I didn't see anything that I absolutely needed. 

But, true to what my dealer told me, Westside has a large selection of premium Scotch whiskys (he's a BIG Scotch aficionado with over 25 bottles of premium Scotch in his bar at home).  Once again, I found myself drooling over some of the 18 and 25 year varieties, but couldn't bring myself to buying anything more at this time. 

The prices were good, the selection was impressive, the presentation was excellent.  Westside Liquors was one of the best overall wine and liquor stores I've ever been in in the Midwest.  And seeing that my dealer in St. Cloud continues to grow his business, I'm sure to be back there.  But only when the weather's warm.    

Playmakers - Fargo, ND

Named one of the 25 Best Sports Bars by Sports Illustrated magazine, Playmakers in Fargo, ND is one of the best sports bars/entertainment complexes I've ever been in. 

Situated on the west side of Fargo (see map), Playmakers is a sports bar, casino, night club, and show venue all rolled into one.  It is truly amazing and is something to see.

Playmakers is owned by Lee Swanson, Jr., a Fargo area man who has built his fortune with Swanson Health Products, a large vitamin mail-order company founded by his father in the 60's.  Swanson also owns a number of gentleman's clubs around the Fargo area, as well.

My dealer in Fargo installed a whole house audio/video system into Lee Swanson, Jr's luxury loft apartment in downtown Fargo, so he has inside privilege to getting behind the scenes at Playmakers.  After he took me on a tour of Lee's loft, he took me over to Playmakers.   

Swanson opened Playmakers in the 80's, primarily as a sports bar.  In 1991, Swanson opened "The Pavilion", which was nothing more than a large pole barn attached to Playmakers primarily used for live musical acts and boxing events.  A couple years ago, Swanson sunk millions of dollars into The Pavilion to update it.  And how.  The Pavilion gave way to "The Venue" 

The Venue is pretty nifty - it's a large area that will seat 500 people, or accommodate up to 2000 people for standing room only for small concerts.  It has it's own permanent stage with high tech lighting and a state-of-the-art P.A. system.  It has a main bar area in the back side of the main floor, and a more formal bar area upstairs in the balcony area.

The Venue has a number of private "sky-boxes" in the balcony that are either owned or can be rented out for events and concerts.  There's a mezzanine of tables and chairs on the front side of the balcony that are terraced for optimum viewing. (My dealer said he saw a recent Bruce Hornsby show from those seats.)

There's also a nice little lounge area in the back part of the balcony, called "The Sky Box Lounge" that includes a pool table and comfortable seating, along with large screen televisions.  For Fargo, it's pretty classy.  Actually, if it were in Chicago, it would still be pretty classy.   

There are two 16 foot projection screens on either side of the stage, along with a number of plasma screens along the wall to allow people to see the performance.  My dealer said that he bid on the plasmas, but the bid went to the people who put in the P.A. system.  He said, "Lee told me that he just felt it would be more prudent to keep the number of sub-contractors to a minimum.  To be quite honest with you, I'm glad I didn't get the job."

The main sports bar/casino at Playmakers is one of the nicest I've ever been in.  With 4 large screens, a number of plasma panels and individual 13" LCD monitors in each booth, there's no way a person could miss any of the action on TV.  The casual, yet classy atmosphere of the sports bar area makes Playmakers one of the most unique sports bars I've ever seen.

Off to the other side of the sports bar area, there's "The House of Rock", an upscale nightclub/dance club area.  The club features diverse music selections - everything from rock to country to hip-hop to 50's and 60's.  The decor is funky and art-decoish, and it looked like it would be a fun place.

We were there in the middle part of the morning before the bar/restaurant opened up, but I checked out the menu and it looked like it was a little more than just your standard sports bar food.  My dealer said, "Oh, yeah.  They have steaks and seafood here.  The food is wonderful.  My wife and I come here quite a bit to eat."

Fargo is one of those cities that is surprisingly nice.  In my visits to the area, I've gone away with a more positive image of the town each time I've left.  And Playmakers is one of those places that helps make Fargo truly surprising.  It may be the nicest sports bar complex I've ever been in.   

I Hate U.S. Cellular

I hate banks, the cable company and phone companies with equal passion.  Their inane rules and regulations drive me up the friggin' wall. 

Last month, I was paying bills and I looked at our Mediacom cable bill and thought, "This is just outrageous." (It's $141 a month - with high speed internet coupled in there that my company pays for.  Still, just the cable services we have for movies and everything is about $100 a month.)

We have the full movie package - all the HBO channels, all the Showtime channels, Starz, Cinemax, Sundance, etc., etc., etc.  The only problem is that all the programming and movies on Showtime and their affiliated channels SUCK!!!  There wasn't a good movie on any of the Showtime channels all summer long.  We're talking 15 to 17 channels total.  And there hasn't been any more than a couple three that I'd consider watching this fall.

So as I was paying the bill, I called up Mediacom customer service to see how much my bill would be reduced if I dropped all the Showtime channels.   

The gal looked up our account on the computer and she said, "Well, you have the Four Star pack with all the movie channels.  If you dropped the Showtime movie tier, your bill would actually go up $10 a month." 

I said, "You're KIDDING me!"

"No sir, without the full movie package that you have right now, your bill would go up $10 dollars a month."

I was incredulous.  So incredulous that she talked me into the new sports package tier for an additional $3.95 a month!  That's how shocked I was!

I'm telling you - banks, the cable company and the phone companies have you by the short hairs.

Here's another case in point -

I was told recently by my boss that I WILL get a Blackberry - the handy-dandy phone/internet/e-mail device that is the rage with working professionals across North America.  I've been holding out because my local cellular provider, U.S. Cellular, didn't have the latest and greatest 8700 series of Blackberry's.  But they told me they were coming and coming soon.

(As an aside - I've said for years that having U.S. Cellular as a cellular carrier is a step above using two soup cans and string.  Their coverage is pitiful, I get drop outs even in Chicago, and their phones are always a year or so behind the neat phones that other cellular carriers have.  But living in the Quad Cities, our options for cellular carriers are very limited.) 

Last night, I went to pay my bill at U.S. Cellular and I just happened to ask the store manager if the new 8700 series of Blackberry's had made it to them yet.  He said, "No, not yet, but they should be here any day."

After explaining to him that I was ordered to get one, he began to ask me about how I would use it.  More phone than e-mail, I said.  But, then again, the way that some people depend on their Blackberry's - to the order of having them called "Crackberry's" - I may find that I end up using it more for e-mail than phone.  He went through a couple of plans - one for $79.00 a month for 2000 minutes and an additional $39.95 for unlimited usage of the Blackberry for internet or e-mail.  I thought it sounded OK to me.

He said the price of the new Blackberry 8700 series phone they were getting in would be $499.00.  He said that if I signed up for a 24 month plan, it would knock it down to 379.00.  And a special in-store rebate for the nationwide plan I'm on would knock it down another $50 bucks to $329.00.   Oh!  And they had a $50 dollar rebate that would make the final cost $279.00.  Hell, I didn't care - my company was going to pay for it. 

So, I said that I'd be more than happy to re-up for another 24 months - I'd been with U.S. Cellular for over 10 years.  So he asked for my phone number and looked up my current plan.  He said, "Uh, oh."

I felt my anus begin to pucker because I knew he was getting ready to stick it to me.

He said, "I'm afraid that you aren't eligible for the plan.  You still have seven months left on your current contract."

I said, "That's all right.  I'll just go ahead and re-up for another 24 months."

He said, "Well, we can't do that.  You have to break your current contract and then re-sign a new contract for 24 months."

"What??"

He said, "Yeah, I know, it's weird.  But we can't just tack on the 24 months to your existing contract.  We don't do that any more.  You have to break your contract and there's a fee to break your contract."

I stood there with this incredulous look on my face.  I said, "You're shitting me!"

He was good natured about it and he said, "No, I wish I was.  But that's our policy.  I know it's kind of stupid, but that's how it is." 

I asked, "OK, just for shits and giggles, how much would it cost me to break my contract."

He said, "Well, right now with seven months left on your contract, it would be $150 dollars.  But since you're a long time customer and spend a lot of money with us each month (we spend about $200 a month between our two phones), you can probably call customer service and they can - maybe - knock the cancellation fee down to $75 bucks."

I just stood there and looked at him.  I started to laugh and I said, "No really.  You've got to be shitting me!" 

He shrugged his shoulders, looked down, shook his head and said, "No sir.  I wish I was." 

He told me that I could buy the Blackberry outright for $499 and keep the same plan.  I said, "Why would I want to miss out on over $200 bucks worth of savings if I can get it?  That isn't very smart, is it?"

He then started to tell me that I could get on a family plan for $109 a month (plus the $39.95 for the Blackberry plan).  That would allow me to have my regular cell phone and the Blackberry, but have TWO phone numbers that I would use for the next seven months to be able to get the savings plans. 

I said, "Wait a minute.  You're asking me to spend $109 a month for seven months for not one, but TWO phone lines.  That's 7 months times $40 bucks more a month that I don't have to pay if I canceled my current contract right now for $150 bucks."

He stood there for a second and said, "Well, yes, in this case it would be advantageous for you to do just that - cancel your current contract, pay the $150 dollars and get the Blackberry." 

I just started laughing.  And I don't mean just a chuckle.  I was literally standing in the U.S. Cellular store laughing my ass off.  I said, "You know, in seven months when my contract is up, there ARE other options in cellular companies.  I don't necessarily have to work with a local cellular company.  I can easily go elsewhere and do something with AT&T or Verizon.  And if I have to shell out $150 bucks to break a contract with U.S. Cellular just to STAY with U.S. Cellular, that may just be the impetus for me to look elsewhere."

Once again, he sort of gave me that "Sorry" look and shrugged his shoulders.  "You have all those options, sir.  That's correct." 

I just turned and walked away, laughing all the way out the door.  And I'm not snickering, I'm outright laughing.  I didn't mean to be a dickhead, but it was just too outrageous. 

I actually felt bad for the guy because I knew his hands were tied.  He knew it was a stupid rule and the company wasn't looking out for the best interests of their longtime customers. 

I'm going to call the U.S. Cellular customer service line and see what they say.  I've said a couple times before that I was going to switch cell providers, and it may depend on what the person at the other end of the line says when I call in.   

Bastards...

Meritage Cafe and Wine Bar - Chicago

As I've mentioned before, I recently put on a dealer in the Wicker Park/Bucktown area of Chicago on North Ave.  One of the reasons I like these guys so much is that they share the passion for great food and wine just as I do.  And they've turned me on to a number of great places to eat in the short time we've been associated.  One of those places is the Meritage Cafe and Wine Bar on North Damon in Chicago (see map).

Meritage Cafe opened in 1997 as a contemporary American restaurant with a Pacific Northwest flair.  Their menu consists primarily of eclectic seafood, but they also offer bison steaks, pork loins and duck on their menu. 

The Meritage Cafe has had a string of great chefs over the years.  Jonathan Harootunian (right) was the first executive chef of Meritage.  Harootunian's signature French country with Asian fusion dishes were the hallmark and success of     Meritage.   Harootunian left in 2001 to become the executive chef at Courtright's, a 4-star restaurant in suburban Willow Springs (see map).

Dirk Flanigan (left), who cut his teeth at a number of restaurants in the Chicago area including La Tour, Madame B and Meritage's sister restaurant, Echo - all of which are now closed - slid over from Echo and took over Meritage.  He kept the touch of French country cuisine with Asian fusion on the menu to go along with the seafood dishes that made Meritage famous.

In 2004, Flanigan left to open the ill-fated Blue Water Cafe in downtown Chicago.  The restaurant was in business for less than a year before it closed.  Troy Graves, the former Meritage sous chef under Flanigan, is now the executive chef and is more than ably continuing the fine tradition of culinary classics at Meritage. 

The evening I took one of the guys from my dealer to Meritage, the place was half full.  It was rather late, about 9 p.m.  But as I've found with a number of eclectic restaurants in the immediate area of the Meritage Cafe, 9 p.m. is early for many people.  It's not a big place and the solarium area on the north side of the building was closed off making the restaurant more intimate and cozy.    

Everything looked interesting on the menu.  I wanted seafood that evening so I went with the pan seared scallops with lobster risotto and asparagus.  My guest took the chef's special that evening - salmon and escargot, with mushrooms and baby beets in a watercress puree. 

We each got a salad - mine was pretty basic with greens and a house vinaigrette; while my guest went for the organic spinach greens topped with Maytag Blue Cheese and beef carpaccio with a spicy blueberry vinaigrette.  He offered me a bite and I almost grabbed our waitress to take mine back and bring me one of those salads. 

The wine list was nice - not large, but it certainly had a lot of choices.  My guest told me that red wines upset his stomach.  That's OK, since we were both going with seafood I picked out a 2004 Duckhorn Sauvignon Blanc.

The meal, of course, was outstanding.  Both meals were light, but filling enough.  The wine was a perfect complement.  With some light jazz playing in the corner, the atmosphere added to the enjoyment of the meal. 

After the meal, we looked at the dessert menu and I saw they had a lemon-vanilla creme brulee.  I said, "Man, I really want that, but I don't think I could eat the whole thing." 

My guest said, "Well, I'll split it with you."  So we ordered it up with two spoons. 

A couple minutes later, the waitress - who did a great job all night - came back and said, "I'm sorry, but the chef just informed me we're all out of the creme brulee for the evening.  Can I interest you in something else?" 

We were so crestfallen going from the prospect of having great creme brulee to getting completely shut out that we ended up passing on dessert.  Oh well...

Our bill with tip was about $110 bucks - I didn't think that was too bad considering the bottle of wine was $47 dollars.  The Meritage Cafe and Wine Bar is a neat little place with great food.  It's highly recommended. 

(Update - Meritage Cafe closed sometime in 2009.  Too bad.  It was a neat little place.)

Alpine Inn - La Crosse, WI

One of my favorite places to have a beer in La Crosse, WI is the Alpine Inn high atop Grandad Bluff, the highest bluff in the area, towering 590 feet above the city.  First opened in the early 60's, the Alpine Inn specializes in cold beer, good sandwiches and a fun time.   

When I was in La Crosse recently, I went up the bluff to take some pictures of a beautiful early fall day.   Here's a shot of the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse campus.  The Mississippi River is barely visible in the distance and beyond that, the apple tree bluffs of Minnesota. 

This is a picture of downtown La Crosse.  The bridge over the Mississippi is easily identifiable in the distance.  The leaves were just getting ready to change when I was there.  I was just a little too early. 

I thought while I was up there, I'd stop in and have a cold beer at the Alpine Inn (see map).  Cindy and I have been up there before - we had a burger up there one time and it was pretty good.  There was one other guy in the place when I was in there and he was playing some video game.  I got a beer and talked with the bartender. 

He said the original building was built in the 1940's, but he wasn't certain what was originally there.  He said, "I'm 37 and it's been a bar all my life." 

He told me that sometime in the 60's, the original owners of the Alpine Inn added a section on to the west side of the building, practically quadrupling the space.  They also added an outdoor deck that allowed for a nice view into the valley. 

The people who own the Alpine Inn now added tiers to the back deck a few years ago, allowing for a top deck, middle deck and a ground deck area, along with a sand volleyball pit.  Here's a picture of the back deck area from the upper deck outside the building.

The bartender was telling me about the city's Oktoberfest celebration and how they just had thousands of people at the Alpine Inn the weekend before.  I said, "Thousands?!  Where do you put everybody?  And better yet - where in the hell does everyone park?"

He said they have a shuttle service from the Oktoberfest grounds in downtown La Crosse, and the back area and along the east side hold all the people.  He said, "It's wall to wall.  You can't move, people are stumbling drunk, it's a madhouse, but it's the most fun you can have.  It is easily our biggest day of the year."   

I just can't fathom thousands of people at the Alpine Inn, even outdoors.  But if you want to experience a quaint Wisconsin tavern, and get a nice view up the road a bit, it's tough to beat the Alpine Inn.

Lafayette Brewing Company - Lafayette, IN

I was "bird-dogging" recently one evening in Lafayette, IN looking for prospective dealers when I decided to have dinner and a couple beers at the Lafayette Brewing Company in downtown Lafayette (see map). 

Actually, downtown Lafayette is a sleepy place through the week.  With Purdue University across the Wabash River from the Lafayette downtown area, you'd think there'd be a lot of hustle and bustle.  Nope.  It was about as dead as dead can be in terms of people out and about. 

However, the Lafayette Brewing Company was hopping that evening.  It's been in business since 1993 and brew master Greg Emig has won numerous awards for LBC's beers over the years.  They recently expanded their restaurant to the second floor of their building to include a kitchen that specializes in pizzas, a stage area that showcases musical and comedy acts, and a fully restored bar area.

I've eaten at the Lafayette Brewing Company a couple times before and I do like their beers.  Their Prophet's Rock Pale Ale is one of the more hoppy and likable pale ales that I've had.   But I do really like their Piper's Pride - a Scotch ale-style of beer that has a great smoky taste to it. 

They have a dining room that is spacious, including a room that overlooks the brewing vats.  The bar area also features a number of tables including three or four that are next to the large window that looks out onto Main Street.   

I was able to get a seat at the bar that looked right into the brewing room and I ordered up a Prophet's Rock and got a menu.  LBC serves a wide variety of brew pub-style food - sandwiches, appetizers, burgers and salads.  They also serve some interesting entrees including a bison steak that I considered, but knew they couldn't do a bison steak as good as Ted's Montana Grill.

I really didn't know what to get and the waitress said, "It's our 'Smokeshak night'."  She explained that on some nights they feature a smoked entree from a smoker in their back parking lot.  That night they featured a smoked pork loin, sliced and grilled, with new potatoes cooked in olive oil.  I went with that. 

They brought my food out soon thereafter and it was good.  Not great - I thought the grilling they did after they pulled it off the smoker and sliced them into small pieces dried them out too much.  Still, with the Piper's Pride smoked Scotch ale, it was a good meal. 

And cheap, too!  All that sliced pork loin, potatoes on the side and a dinner salad before the dinner, it was $7.95.  A great deal, in my book. 

Another thing I like about Lafayette Brewing Company - they're part of a growing number of restaurants who don't allow smoking.  Actually, they do allow smoking in the place after the kitchen has shut down for the evening.  But they allow no smoking in the upstairs bar area at any time - including during the shows. 

Good beer, good food - the Lafayette Brewing Company is worth a try.

Famous Liquors - Lombard, IL

The wine drinking season is upon us - although some people may say that year-round is the wine drinking season.  But I like to drink a lot of full-bodied red wines during the winter months and keep to my beer during the warm time of the year.  I've been checking out a lot of wine/liquor stores recently and one that I found in the Chicago area was Famous Liquors in suburban Lombard (see map). 

Famous Liquors is a pretty good sized place - their floor space is about 8,000 sq. feet.  They have a large area for their wine selections - many of the labels I wasn't familiar with.  In fact, I had a lot of trouble finding ANY wines that I was even familiar with.   

I talked with Jeff Sukowski, the wine department manager, and he explained to me that Famous Liquors doesn't use the normal distributors that Sam's Wines and Binny's use, mainly because they don't want to have to compete with them.  "Those guys buy so much wine that they can undercut us on price," Jeff explained. 

One of the wines that he showed me was an Ironstone 2002 Reserve Cab Franc that they were featuring that month.  He said, "This is a great wine that no one knows about."  He said the Ironstone vineyards provide a number of wineries around the U.S. with their grapes. 

The price on the Reserve Cab Franc from Ironstone seemed reasonable - $16.99 a bottle - so I grabbed one to try. 

Jeff also showed me a Cambria Katherine's Vineyard Chardonnay 2004 that they had on special.  I'd heard of the Cambria wines before, but hadn't drank any.  He said, "You'll like this.  It's fruity, but not sweet.  Wholesome, but not overpowering." 

Cindy's been drinking a lot of white wine lately, so I grabbed a bottle of the Cambria at $12.99.  I thought I'd give it a shot. 

Actually, the beer department at Famous Liquors was pretty impressive.  I thought the prices were a little high, but the selection - both domestics and imports - was broad and varied.  And they actually had a bottle of the 2005 Samuel Adams Utopia beer there - the first time I'd actually seen the ultra high-end 24 proof beer (that sells for around $400 a bottle).   

And they also had a good liquor department at Famous Liquors.  Their vodka selection was one of the biggest I'd ever seen.  It included the Luksusowa potato vodka that a friend had turned me onto.  And they had it in three sizes - 375 ml, 750 ml, and 1.75 ml.  Plus, they had a pretty good selection of Scotch and bourbons on hand, as well. 

And they also had a very good party area that included a number of glasses, shirts, premium goods and other items from a number of breweries.  They had some pretty nifty novelty items on sale in the little area. 

I didn't think the prices at Famous Liquor were all that great, but their selection rivaled many of the wine and liquor stores in the Chicago area.  I'll keep checking back with them when I have the time. 

Cafe Matou - Chicago

One of my dealers in Chicago recently opened a new location on North Ave. in the Bucktown/Wicker Park area - an upper middle class to upper class area full of middle-aged people in Chicago.  There are a number of great little restaurants that the guys at my dealer have turned me on to.  One of the restaurants that we went to recently was Cafe Matou, a quaint little French restaurant on Milwakee Avenue (see map).

Chef and owner Charlie Socher studied French classical and country cuisine as an apprentice in France at the highly rated Au Quai des Ormes and Jacques Cogna restaurants.  A Chicago native, Socher came back to the Windy City to be the head chef at The Chardonnay, a highly acclaimed restaurant that closed years ago.  In 1997, Socher opened Cafe Matou and based his menu on contemporary French country cuisine.   

In 2004, Socher and his wife, Susan, opened Charlie's on Leavitt in the Lincoln Park area of Chicago.  The restaurant featured contemporary American cuisine in a casual setting.  But that combination didn't work well in the yuppified Lincoln Park area and the restaurant closed earlier this year.

Cafe Matou offers a menu that changes daily, seeking to integrate the freshest available food products each day.  You'll find a number of game meats available including venison and duck on any given day. 

The wine list was almost exclusively French.  I don't have the knowledge of French wines as I do with wines from California or South America.  I asked our waitress what she suggested.  We told her our preferences - a rich, hearty red.  She immediately suggested a Gigondas wine from a small winery in the Cotes du Rhone region of France.  Since I had many Cotes du Rhone wines on my trip to France last fall, I said that was fine.

Cafe Matou also has a nightly prix fixe (or fixed price) menu that averages around $20 to $25 per person - considerably less than comparable restaurants that offer French cuisine at fixed prices.  Going that route leaves you at the mercy of the chef as to what he is serving that night, but sometimes that's kind of fun. 

We thought about trying the prix fixe menu that evening, but it was a seafood entree and only one of us wanted seafood.  We started out with a choice of salad appetizers.  I got the gorgonzola stuffed grilled breaded red pepper in a tomato sauce.  One of my guests got the house salad with bleu cheese topping.  And my other guest went with a seafood cake blend.   

For my main entree, I got the broiled flank steak on risotto with button mushrooms in a light sauce.  It was just outstanding. One of my guests went with the lamb ribs, five small meaty and marbled ribs in a wine sauce.  My other guest ordered the herbed salmon on bed of wild rice.  Their's was equally outstanding, as well.

After dinner, we looked at the dessert menu, but opted to pass.  I, instead, went with a good top shelf Scotch and my guests followed suit.   

Cafe Matou is a small, quaint and unique restaurant.  Like many of the restaurants in Europe, it doesn't get busy until after 8:30 p.m. The service was outstanding and even though the bill was a little pricey ($250 plus tip) it was a great culinary experience.  It was a very memorable dinner, to say the least. 

(Update - I was informed in November of 2010 that Cafe Matou has closed.  Charlie Soucher is approaching 60 years of age and he wanted to slow down.  The Soucher's are planning on moving to Mineral Point, WI and possibly will open a restaurant there.)

Urzi's Italian Market - St. Louis

The third of the triumvirate of places I stop at while I'm on the Hill in St. Louis is Urzi's Italian Market (see map).  Urzi's is a small market on the south edge of the Hill across the street from Cunetto House of Pasta.  They offer everything from pastas, meats, cheeses, spices, wine, sauces, and breads all geared toward Italian food. 

Urzi's started over 50 years ago just down the street from their present day location.  It was called Urzi's Blue Ridge Italian Market and some of the locals still call it "The Blue Ridge" when they refer to Urzi's.  The son of the original owner, Joe Urzi, took over from his father in the 80's and he's been running the place ever since with his wife, Diane. 

I stumbled onto Urzi's a few years ago when I was looking for a little Italian market for spices and sauces.  I'll tell you - Urzi's has a wide variety of fresh spices (below left).  They have the best granulated garlic that I've ever found.  And they have a special Italian seasoning mix that I use in all different types of foods that I make from red sauces to sprinkling on steamed broccoli to adding it to the flour when I'm making chicken fingers.  I usually buy a big container of it as I find myself going through it all the time.  Diane Urzi told me that she has an Italian restaurant in the Chicago area that she ships pounds of the seasoning to.   

And they have a wide variety of Italian specialty foods to choose from, as well.  One whole aisle along the wall is dedicated to olive oils, balsamic vinegars and rich marinara sauces (above right).  I just love going into that place and getting ideas for what to make at home.  

My last trip into Urzi's was tinged with some sadness as I was informed by Mimi over at The Missouri Baking Company that Joe Urzi had died unexpectedly in early September.  He had been fighting a cold, and typical of a hard-working guy he didn't go into the doctor until it was too late.  He was taken to the hospital the night of August 30 and died on August 31. 

I last saw Joe about a couple days before he died.  And that kind of spooked me out a little.  He was only 53 years old.  You could always see Joe behind the meat counter, his apron on and working feverishly on something.  But he always had time to stop and answer questions or give suggestions.  He loved the fact that I was from Iowa and would always stop in to pick something up.   

I picked up a few things and Diane checked me out at the register.  I told her that I was so sorry to hear about Joe's passing and she said that it was quite a shock to her and her kids.  She said, "I still think he's in the back from time to time."

She said that she had been trying to get Joe to go to the doctor, but he kept saying he was too busy.  She said, "It was a viral infection and we just got him in too late."   

Diane said that she is going to carry on running the place with the help of family and friends.  Well, she knows that she has a repeat customer in me.  With all the great Italian foodstuffs they have to offer, Urzi's Italian Market is a must-stop every time I go to St. Louis.  

Strategic Air and Space Museum - Ashland, NE

I like to go to Omaha on days when the sky is clear and the air is crisp.  Mainly because I like to see the various military planes that populate the sky. That's because just south of Omaha is Offutt Air Force base, which was the home of the Strategic Air Command when it was in existence.

Halfway between Omaha and Lincoln just off of Interstate 80 at the Ashland/South Bend exit (Exit 426, Nebraska State Highway 66 - see map) is the Strategic Air and Space Museum, a wonderful place to visit if you're in to planes, aerospace and military history.  I've been to the place about 7 or 8 times. 

As you pull up to this enormous facility, you'll see an Atlas Intercontinental Ballistic Missile rocket out front, along with a Blue Scout rocket NASA uses for small payloads, and a Jupiter rocket, similar to the one used to send Explorer 1 into space to help discover the Van Allen Radiation belts. 

As you walk in the door, in the main lobby atrium they have an SR-71 Blackbird, a high-speed, high altitude surveillance plane used by the U.S. in the Cold War, suspended from the ceiling.  It's quite a stunning visual as you first come in.

There are three main areas of the museum.  On the main level, you can look into the Dunham Restoration hanger.  They happened to be working on a Boeing B-29 "Superfortress" when I was in there last.  It was pretty amazing to see.

Go down the escalators and hang a left at the bottom and you go into a huge hanger where you could easily have a football field inside.   This houses a number of planes including the largest military bomber ever made, the B-36.  It literally dwarfs the B-52 that sits next to it. 

That's right - the B-36 and the B-52 are sitting side by side.  That's how big this place is. 

There's also a B-47, the predecessor to the B-52; and a Convair/General Dynamics B-58 bomber in there, as well.  That's a pretty funky looking airplane.  It was the first supersonic bomber to be built in the U.S. 

One of the more cool things in this hanger is a Russian MIG-21 from the North Vietnamese Air Force that was flown to the south by a pilot who wanted to defect.  It still has the North Vietnam star on the side of the plane.

There's also a B-25, an F-111, and an F-101 in the hanger along with many other planes.  That's right.  All in one hanger.  I'm tellin' ya - it's a big joint!

There's a center area under the main lobby between the two main hangers that has changing exhibits.  What they had in there for my last visit was "The Lost Spacecraft" - an exhibit and showing of Liberty Bell 7, the Mercury program space capsule that was lost in the Atlantic on July 21, 1961 after Virgil (Gus) Grissom's 15 minute flight sub-orbital flight, and was raised 38 years later by a team of salvage workers funded and backed by the Discovery Channel. 

Virgil I. (Gus) Grissom

Being somewhat of a "space geek" growing up, I really wanted to see this exhibit.  To get to the capsule I had to go down and through a series of displays.  There was a lot of memorabilia throughout the entrance area leading up to the Liberty Bell 7 display.

Finally, the entrance opened up into a room that showed the space capsule (which was restored as best as it could be by a team of historians and engineers at the Kansas Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, KS).  There were a number of items salvaged from the capsule including survival gear, knick-knacks and mementos Grissom took on the flight; and, surprisingly, hypodermic needles for medical injections in case something went wrong during the flight.  I've seen smaller injectors for putting marinade into beef or pork.

I lingered a little longer and looked around the capsule a couple times.  Wow.  Considering how small the capsule was, it's amazing to think how a man could fit inside that thing.   

Past the Freedom 7 exhibit and into the second large hanger (although smaller than the first one), they have a B-1A bomber on display - only one of 4 that were produced before they went with the B-1B bomber. 

Around the B1-A bomber was a display called "Power by Design", which displayed a number of sports cars to show the correlation of power and speed in design.  I'm guessing the sports cars belonged to Chip Davis, the creative force behind Mannheim Steamroller.  Davis has lent some of his sports cars to the museum in the past, and the 15 or so cars on display were similar to the ones that I'd seen in there in the past.  Since the display started at the end of October and would go through to the end of March, I figured that Davis probably found some place to garage his cars for the winter. 

There's also a British Hawker Vulcan on display in this room, as well as a C-119 "Flying Boxcar".  There's also a couple of transports helicopters suspended from the ceiling.  Plus they had replicas of a couple of the Apollo command modules on display.   

Some days there are former pilots from Offutt Air Force Base at the museum who will answer questions about various planes and procedures.  I talked to a guy one time about three years ago who used to be a pilot for the "Looking Glass" aircraft - a Boeing C-135 that was used as the flying command post for communications and forward control in the case of a nuclear attack. 

I remember seeing a C-135 with only an American flag on its tail doing a "touch and go" at the Des Moines airport a number of years ago.  I had always wondered if that was the "Looking Glass" and I asked him if it were possible that I did see one do a touch and go.

He told me, "Yeah, we used to do 'touch and go's' all the time to break up the boredom."  He said there were "Looking Glass" planes at three separate air bases - including Offutt AFB - and when one would finish an 8 hour shift, before it would land another "Looking Glass" plane would be taking off to take its place in the sky.  The missions ended in 1990.  

At the museum, there's also a gift shop that's kind of cool, a snack bar and some other periodic displays on hand.  I hardly ever get out of there in less than 90 minutes, and like I say, I've been there 7 or 8 times.  It never bores me. 

Even if you're not into planes, the Strategic Air and Space Museum is quite a place to visit.  The size of the place, alone, is worth the price of admission ($12.00 for adults).  But the historical value of the place is priceless.  It's definitely worth the visit.

Brewskys - Omaha/Lincoln, NE

Brewsky's is a small chain of pretty nice sports bars in Lincoln, NE.  I happened to meet a buddy at the Omaha location (of which I didn't know existed) for a few beers and some appetizers one evening. 

Brewsky's started in 1990 in Lincoln when two brothers, Jim and Jon Mumgaard, and a buddy, Brian Kitten, opened the first location in the downtown area near the University of Nebraska campus.  The concept of Brewsky's as a sports bar with good food caught on right away. 

In 1992, the owners hired a chef, Ed Janousek, to upgrade their already good food offerings.  Janousek, who was named a Nationally Certified Executive chef in 1997, oversees a wide and varied menu that includes both standard sports bar food as well as aged steaks, pork chops, gourment burgers and my favorite, an albacore tuna salad sandwich with melted cheese. 

In 1994, Brewsky's opened a second location on the north side of Lincoln.  They expanded to SE Lincoln in 1999, Omaha in 2001, and opened a fifth location in the Haymarket Square area of Lincoln in 2005.   

I've now been to three of the Brewsky's locations and each offer pretty much the same thing - a lot of televisions, good food, a great selection of beers and a very nice selection of single malt Scotch whisky.  Each Brewsky's has advanced satellite packages and offer nearly every sports channel available.  I understand the Brewsky's locations are packed for NFL games on Sunday. 

On a recent visit to the Brewsky's in Southeast Lincoln (see map), I had lunch there.  I didn't really know what I wanted that particular day.  I was sort of burned out on burgers, a reuben didn't sound all that good to me.  I was having a lot of problems trying to figure out what to have when the waitress came over and asked me if I was ready to order.  I sort of hemmed and hawed for a moment and I finally asked her, "What do you like?"

She said, "You like tuna?"  I said I did.  "Our tuna melt is pretty tough to beat."  I ordered the tuna melt with fries.

And she wasn't kidding.  The tuna melt was full of very good tuna salad.  It had an ample amount of American cheese melted on top.  And the slices of the whole wheat bread were thick and had a nice grilled taste.  It was simply one of the better tuna melts I've ever had.  And it's usually tough to find an outstanding tuna melt sandwich anywhere.

There's something about the sports bars in Omaha and Lincoln - they're all very good.  There's a lot of competition in the market and they all have to keep up with one another.  I think the food at Brewsky's is probably the best compared to the other sports bars in the area.  If you're a sports junkie and need some good food to go along with your sports, Brewsky's is the place. 

Elmer's Texas BBQ - Battle Lake, MN

This is more of a tale of woe than a review of a barbecue place.

I struck up a quick friendship with Tim Nanson from Elmer's Authentic Texas BBQ from Battle Lake, MN at the annual River Rockin' Ribfest in Davenport this past August.  I felt that Tim's ribs were the best of the lot of traveling rib vendors that weekend.  His sauce could have stood a little bit of re-vamping, but overall I thought he had the best ribs.

I told Tim that I travel up to Fargo from time to time to see a dealer up there and that I'd be sure to stop in the next time I went up.  The next time happened to be about a month ago when I was traveling between St. Cloud, MN and Fargo.  I thought, "Well, I'll just stop in and see Tim and get some of his ribs!" 

Battle Lake is off of Interstate 94 a few miles.  Actually, it's off I-94 by about 35 miles if you approach Battle Lake from the south.  Elmer's is actually out in the middle of nowhere, about five or six miles north and east of Battle Lake, surrounded by dozens of lakes and bayous that populate that area of west central Minnesota (see map).

Elmer's history is sort of unique.  A Texan by the name of Elmer Neumann retired in the lakes region of western Minnesota (it's usually the other way around) in the late 80's and early 90's.  He missed having a good Texas pit barbecue joint.  So he went back to Texas, bought a two ton barbecue pit and hauled it back to Minnesota.  He and his wife opened Elmer's Authentic Texas BBQ in 1993. 

In 2002, Tim and his wife, Ursula, bought the restaurant from Elmer and Tim promised to keep up the great tradition of Texas-style barbecue that Elmer had worked hard to recreate in Minnesota.   

My stomach was doing jumping jacks just thinking about trying some of Tim's ribs in his restaurant while I was driving up to his place.  I got thru Battle Lake and headed north on Hwy 78 toward Elmer's.  My mouth was watering, I was fully ready for a pig out of monstrous proportions.

I came around a curve and saw a lonely building off to the east side of the road.  It was Elmer's!!!  However, there were no cars in the parking lot, there were no lights on inside and the sign out front wasn't lit.  THEY WERE CLOSED!!! 

I about crapped on the spot.  I drove all that way and pulled in to see that it was closed.  Then it hit me - a lot of restaurants and businesses in the lakes areas of Minnesota and Wisconsin are seasonal businesses.  There haven't been tourists or vacationers around here for a month!  CRAP!!

Well, it just so happened as I was walking around the place, I ran into Tim and his wife as they were leaving the side door of the restaurant.  He was on his cell phone and when he saw me, he immediately recognized me.  He hung up the phone and I said, "You're Tim, right?"

He said, "Yeah, and I'm sorry I can't remember your name but you're from Davenport!" 

I said that I was on my way up to Fargo and thought I'd drop in for dinner.  He said, "Oh, man!  We're closed tonight!"  Tim explained to me that this time of year they're open only from Thursday thru Sunday nights. 

I said, "Oh, of course.  I sort of figured that out when I pulled in and there were no lights on." 

He said that from mid-May thru about mid-September, they're open 7 days a week.  He said that they'll close for three nights through the fall, and then when December 1st comes, he's only open Friday and Saturday nights.  He said he may not even open from mid-January to early March, then it's back to four nights until mid-May again. 

He felt bad for me.  He said, "Man, you should have called before you came up.  I would have had something for you to eat.  I don't even have a beer in the place because my beer guy is coming tomorrow." 

I told him that I wanted to come up and enjoy the ribs just as any customer coming off the road would.  I said that his ribs were so good in Davenport that I wanted to see how good they were in the restaurant.  He said, "Well, I think you'll like 'em even more in here." 

I told him that I had experimented with his sauce.  I told him that I thought it could have used a little zip, so I took a cup of his sauce, mixed in a quarter teaspoon of cayenne pepper and a teaspoon of garlic powder and let it set for about 3 hours.  I tried it later on and it helped it out tremendously.  He said, "I don't have a hot or spicy barbecue sauce.  I'll have to give that a try."

Before I left to go find another restaurant, Tim said, "Hey, man.  I'm really sorry that we weren't open.  But, seriously, next time call me.  Even if we aren't supposed to be open that night, I'll come in and make something for you.  I really do appreciate that you came all this way to give us a try."

I told him that I only travel to Fargo between May 1 and October 15, so it will be next spring before I can get back up that way again.  He said, "Well, call me.  We'll do it up right for you." 

I was so bummed when I drove out of the parking lot, thinking that I'll more than likely have to eat fast food that night because it was 8:30 and I was an hour and a half from Fargo.  Yeah, it was my fault for not calling in advance; or even remembering that restaurants like Elmer's close up right and left when the summer is over. 

Oh well.  Now that I know exactly where it is, I'll be back.  His ribs were that good in Davenport... 

(Update - I did make it back to try the ribs at Elmer's, but found out that Tim Nanson had sold the business.  Click here to see the entry of my visit.)

Missouri Baking Company - St. Louis

One of my largest guilty pleasures in life is the Missouri Baking Company located on The Hill in St. Louis (see map).  Since 1923, the Missouri Baking Company has been making some of the finest Italian baked goods this side of Italy.

Missouri Baking Company was founded by three brothers, the Gambaro's - Stephano, Luigi and Giuseppe.  Stephano's sons, Pasquale (Lino) and Ben, and a daughter, JoAnn, worked at the bakery while they were young and eventually took over the business. 

Initially, the family only intended to sell to restaurants in the area.  However, they found that the general public was interested in their delectible baked goods and they opened up a retail location at the corner of Edwards and Wilson on The Hill.  

Today, Lino (pictured left) and Ben - ages 91 and 87 - still stick around the business and help. Ben's children, Chris and Mimi, run the day-to-day operations.  Ben's wife, who is 85, works at the front counter with her daughter while Chris is the head baker.  

(Update - Lino passed away on August 15, 2007.  He had been working at the bakery during the morning, then left to go home and rest.  When he never made it home, his nephew went looking for him.  He was found dead in his car near the bakery.  And I believe Ben is fully retired from the place.)  

The Missouri Baking Company is like any little bakery that you'd find in any Midwestern city.  The only exception is that you won't find a donut or any thing deep oil fried any where in the place. They have that great smell when you walk in.  Situated in their display cases are cookies, rolls, desserts and pastries that look just scrumptious. 

It's always busy at Missouri Baking Company so I took my number and looked over the offerings in the case.  To my horror, they had no tiramisu.  That was the main reason I was in there.  Well, that and to get a loaf of their great Italian bread.  

When the lady called my number, I went up to the counter and said, "Please don't tell me that you don't have any tiramisu."

She got this pained look on her face and said, "I just sold the last two pieces a little while ago."

I know I immediately got a pained look on MY face and I said, "Oh boy...  And I wanted to take some back to Iowa."

She said, "Hang on a second.  Let me go check in the back." 

She left for a moment and then came back.  She said, "I had to ask very nicely, but he just got some tiramisu out and he said that he'd cut you some pieces."  

I thanked her profusely for doing that and she said, "Aw, I just know how to talk to him."  It turned out that I was talking to Mimi Lordo, one of the co-owners; and she was cajoling her brother, Chris Gambaro, the other co-owner. 

I told her that I stop at Missouri Baking Company nearly every time that I come to St. Louis for their outstanding tiramisu.  She said, "How do you transport the tiramisu?" 

I told her that I usually drive and I keep a cooler with ice in the trunk to make sure the tiramisu doesn't melt on the way home.  She was mightily impressed.  I said, "Your tiramisu is the best I've ever had.  That includes other bakeries and great Italian restaurants that I've eaten in over the years.  That's why I bring a cooler with me when I come to St. Louis."

Mimi gave me a quick little family history of the Missouri Baking Company.  She pointed out her father and uncle standing in the back - wearing their pointed little baker hats and white aprons.  She then introduced me to her mother who was working the front counter.  Remember these people are all in their mid-80's to early 90's. 

I've always loved the Missouri Baking Company, not only because their desserts, pastries and cookies are so sinfully good; but because the place is so old world in it's feel.  And now meeting some of the family who run the place makes me feel like I'm a neighborhood guy from The Hill.   

When I brought the tiramisu home that evening, I got cussed by my wife who is trying to lose the weight.  But she still ate it.

 

 

Doesn't it look great?  It's probably the best tiramisu that I've ever had... 

Mandarin Kitchen - Bloomington, MN

I've been promising myself to eat more Chinese when I'm on the road.  The problem is that I don't react well to monosodium glutamate.  But most of the better Chinese restaurants don't use MSG in their food.  Finding them is a chore, but they're out there.  One place that I found that doesn't used MSG in their food is the Mandarin Kitchen in Bloomington, MN (see map).

It was a cool and rainy night when I sought out the Mandarin Kitchen.  Actually, I drove by it a couple of times because a number of the lights in the letters outside the restaurant were out.  I kept seeing this place called "Man chen", but didn't put two and two together until I pulled into the little strip mall where the restaurant is located. 

Typical of most Chinese restaurants, the Mandarin Kitchen has the oriental-themed decor.  It was well-lit - almost too bright - and had a series of tables and booths throughout the spacious restaurant.  I noticed a lot of Asian people were eating dinner in the place, so I figured that it must be as close to authentic that you could get in the Twin Cities.

Now, this was an AUTHENTIC Chinese restaurant.  The help were all Chinese and spoke very fractured English.  My waiter was especially difficult to understand. 

I ordered the old stand-by - beef with broccoli.  Only my waiter asked me if I wanted Chinese broccoli.  I asked him, "What's that?"

He said, "Chinese broccoli."

I said, "Yeah, what's Chinese broccoli."

He looked at me and said again, "Chinese broccoli."

I said, "Yeah, OK, Chinese broccoli."  I'd never had Chinese broccoli before, didn't know what it was, but I was to find out soon enough.

Chinese broccoli is not like real broccoli, but more of the stock of the broccoli.  The leaves tasted somewhat like spinach, but it was cooked with ample amounts of garlic and ginger and it was interestingly good. 

And paired with the beef, my dinner was pretty average for Chinese food.  I can't say it was the best I've ever had, but it was edible.  And, as always, they always bring too much food.  I did finish all my beef slices and made a dent in the Chinese broccoli, but I had a lot of rice and broccoli left on my plate when I was finished.

Really, the only problem I had was that they sat me at a table right next to a party of seven who were sort of loud.  No, not sort of loud - they WERE loud.  Especially one woman who had a grating voice and whose conversation level was just below that of an evangelist.   

Their conversations centered around what was on network television and Oprah.  (I thought, "Man, what a sorry life these people are leading.)  One couldn't help but hear what they were talking about.  But I lived through it - even if they sat there and continued to talk about the current television shows long after they'd finished their meals.

I wasn't particularly overwhelmed by the Mandarin Kitchen.  The food was average, but it worked that night.  It might have been better had I not been so close to those people, but that's just another hazard of eating alone on the road. 

Chateau Thomas Winery - Plainfield, IN

My friend, Steve Somermeyer, is a retired chemical engineer from the Eli Lilly Company in Indianapolis.  His passion in life is fine wine.  He now works as a winemaker at the in Plainfield, IN and long ago extended to me a standing invite to come out and see the operation when I go to Indianapolis.  I was in Indy recently and took Steve up on his offer. 

Surprisingly, Indiana has over 30 wineries across the state.  Wineries began to flourish in the early 70's when William Oliver, a law professor at Indiana University, wrote a law that allowed small Indiana wineries to produce up to 100,000 gallons of wine annually.  That law was passed by the Indiana state legislature and has been amended to allow for even more production of wine (thanks to a 1 percent tax on all wine sold in the state of Indiana). 

Oliver, who was making wine in his home, opened the Oliver Winery in 1972.  The winery, located outside of Bloomington, IL (see map), is the largest in Indiana and now makes upwards of 500,000 gallons, or 210,000 cases, of wine annually. 

Conversely, the Chateau Thomas winery makes about 40,000 cases of wine a year.  But, it's the 4th largest winery in Indiana. 

The winery was started in 1984 by Dr. Charles Thomas, an Indianapolis Obstetrician/Gynocologist.  Dr. Thomas was making wine in his home and then moved his operation to a small building not far from his hospital.  Steve joked (or maybe it wasn't a joke) that Dr. Thomas used to go to the winery to work on his wines in between delivering babies. 

Dr. Thomas retired from medical service about 10 or 11 years ago and put all his time and effort into the winery.  The winery moved to its present location in Plainfield (see map) in 1997.  According to Steve, they've run out of room to expand the winery.  After a quick look through the operation, I can see why. 

Like many other Indiana wineries, Chateau Thomas doesn't actually have a vineyard where they grow their own grapes.  Due to Indiana's harsh winters, the grapes don't grow as well as the varietals found in California, Oregon or Washington.  And that's where Chateau Thomas - and other wineries in Indiana - get their grapes. 

I've been to wineries before, but I was never afforded the in-depth look into the wine making process.  Steve took me back into the wine making area and introduced me to Michael, his winemaking partner, and Adam, their assistant.  The area was a cramped area of barrels, fermenting tanks, grape tanks and inventories of bottled wine.  To say that they were bursting at the seams would be an understatement. 

Steve gave me a great little tour and talked about the operation.  Here's a picture of Steve stamping down the wine in a container (right) .  He also offered some samples of wine directly out of the barrels.  That was a first for me. 

Now, I'm used to these Midwestern wineries that make the sweet, syrupy wine that I just can't stand.  The wine that Steve and Michael make for Chateau Thomas is far from that. 

Well, it is and it isn't. 

They do make the sweet wine - in fact, their top seven best selling wines are the sweet wine variety.  After trying about six or seven wines, Steve said, "You haven't even tried our best selling wines."  I just shuddered when Steve told me that and he sort of shuddered back. 

Steve is into what I'm into - stout, dry reds; and full, fruity whites.  And that's what he let me try - both directly out of the barrel and in their wine tasting area.   But he said that the sweet wines pay the bills and allows them to play around with some of the full-bodied blends they have to offer. 

In fact, he showed me a large file that was full of tasting notes from different varietal mixings they've played with over the past few years.  He said that it's really fun after the day of work is over to sit back and play around with some of the wines.  Steve said, "Even if we're having a tough day, there's always wine at the end." 

Steve knows that I'm a big meat eater and one of the first wines that he had me try was a 2003 Malbec, a hearty red with a smooth finish.  I liked it immediately.  He also had me try one of the 2003 Petit Verdot, a lighter wine with a hint of cherrys and blackberrys.  Another one I tried was the 2001 Cabernet.  It was very good.  I inquired about the 1991 Cabernet they had on the shelf and Steve steered me away from that.  "Those have run their course." 

Actually, I must have tried about 15 different wines both in the tasting area and out of the barrels.  It was a great experience.  And I got a nice little buzz out of the thing, too.   

I bought four bottles of wine - I took one of the 2001 Cabernet, one the 2003 Petite Verdot, and I thought I was grabbing two bottles of the 2003 Malbec, but I accidentially grabbed one of the Merlots instead of getting a second Malbec.  That's OK - it's not like I won't be back there. 

I've been to wineries before, but never had the upclose experience that Steve gave me that afternoon.  It was fun and I felt like I was given the V.I.P. treatment by Steve.  The Chateau Thomas winery does conduct tours, but I don't think you'll get the same tour - and tastings - that I had.

Minerva's - Sioux Falls, SD

I was in Sioux Falls courting a prospective new dealer recently.  I had planned on taking him out to dinner that evening, but it turned out that he had some family obligations to take care of.  I asked him, "If you wanted me to take you to any restaurant in town, where would it be?"

He didn't even flinch.  "Minerva's, downtown."

So, since I thought I was going to take him out for dinner, I decided to treat myself to a good dinner at Minerva's (see map).

Minerva's has been in business since 1977 when Paul Van Bockern and a partner opened the doors.  The chef at Minerva's, Don Anderson, bought out Van Bockern's partner in 1986.  Minerva's is under the WR Restaurants umbrella, which is owned by Van Bockern and Anderson, and they operate a number of restaurants in six states. 

But their flagship restaurant continues to be the Minerva's in downtown Sioux Falls.  It's a very nice restaurant - I'm guessing the nicest in the area.  It has a big dining room with a party room in the back.  The bar was spacious and had some dining areas in there, as well. 

I asked if it were OK to eat at the bar and the hostess said, "Absolutely!  Enjoy yourself!"

I sat at the bar in front of a TV with a college football game on, I had my newspaper and I saw a refrigerator full of beer behind the bar.  I was set. 

The bartender, Tom, was a likable guy who was very helpful and friendly.  The menu was loaded with great choices of steak, pork chops, seafood and chicken.  I was leaning toward getting a steak and I had my eyes on two different ones - the Steak Michael - a New York strip that was encrusted in peppercorns, blue cheese, horseradish and parmesan cheese; and the Black Peppercorn Filet - a tenderloin filet encrusted in peppercorns, served with a bearnaise and mushroom sauce over a bed of fettucine alfredo.  I was having a tough time trying to figure out what to get.

Tom, the bartender, came over and asked what I was going to have.  I said, "I'm having trouble..." 

I told him my two choices and he said, "Obviously you want a steak.  Here's my suggestion.  Deep six both of those and get the Hunter's New York strip."  It's a center cut New York strip steak seasoned with Montreal seasoning (salt, crushed red peppers, black pepper and a game spice). 

I took his advice and a side of the garlic mashed potatoes with the steak.  He said, "You know, it's almost like we're twins or something.  That's what I always get when I order the Hunter's." 

With the meal, you get to participate in Minerva's massive salad bar.  It was pretty impressive, to say the least.  They had a lot of things to choose from, but I had to make sure that I didn't load up so I'd be too full to eat my main entree. 

Tom brought out my steak and it looked good.  It smelled good.  I cut into it - it was a little overcooked for a medium-rare - but it was still pretty good.  And the garlic mashed potatoes were good, too. 

I wanted some wine with dinner, and Minerva's sells wine by the glass.  I was interested in the St. Francis red blend they had listed and Tom gave me a generous tasting of the wine.  It was OK, but not what I was looking for.  I ordered up a glass of the J. Lohr Seven Oaks cabernet and it was pretty good.  Better than the St. Francis. 

As I continued to cut into the steak, I was disappointed that it was overcooked.  It was a little tough to chew at times, but it was still edible.  Tom asked me how the steak was and I told him that it was a little overdone for my taste.  He offered to take back a steak of which I'd eaten a third of already and send me out a new one.  I said that wasn't necessary.  But he was apologetic the rest of the night.

Tom and I got to talking about wine and he was telling me that his favorite of the wines they had to sell by the glass was the Black Opal cabernet-merlot blend from Australia.  He poured me a glass on the house after I finished my Seven Oaks.  It was pretty good, but I liked the robust nature of the Seven Oaks cab.  After I finished the Black Opal, he gave me a nearly full glass of the Seven Oaks - on the house.

Bitching about an over-cooked steak can bring benefits down the line. 

All in all, Minerva's was a great dining experience.  Even with a steak that was overdone, the service was good, the atmosphere was excellent and the food selection was top notch.  I'm hoping I get this dealer to come on board so I can get back to Minerva's sometime down the line.

O'Connell's Pub - St. Louis

It had been a long, long time since I'd been to O'Connell's Pub in St. Louis for a great cheeseburger.  When we were in St. Louis this summer, while Scott Schroeder and I went to the ballgame, Cindy and Marcia Schroeder went to the Missouri Botanical Garden and then had lunch at O'Connell's.  I was jealous and vowed to get back to O'Connell's sometime soon. 

O'Connell's has a rich history, but the building they're housed in has an even more storied past. 

O'Connell's began in the early 60's in the Gaslight Square District of St. Louis.  The Gaslight District was the home for many theaters that featured some of the top performers of the day.  When the theaters closed and the area turned into urban blight, O'Connell's moved to their present day location at the corner of Shaw Ave. and South Kingshighway near on the outskirts of The Hill (see map).

The building that O'Connell's is in was built in 1905 by the Anheuser-Busch brewing company as a bar that served their beers.  In the late 90's, commercials featuring A-B chairman August Busch III talking about the heritage and history of the brewery were filmed at the bar of O'Connell's.  O'Connell's has been in their present location since 1972. 

O'Connell's is famous for their burgers - a ground sirloin, hand-pattied burger that is juicy and thick.  It's been a long time since I'd had a burger at O'Connell's, so when I had a chance to meet a couple guys there for lunch recently I wholeheartedly agreed to go there. 

We met up early - about a quarter to 12 - mainly because the lunch time crowd gets the place filled up rather quickly.  It's not a huge place - it probably seats around 100 people.  Just after noon, the line to get into the dining room was about 15 to 20 people deep.

I love the old bar at O'Connell's.  The two guys bartending looked like they were aging hippies, but were having a lot of fun.  Our waitress was young, but efficient and pleasant.  She was just trying to get people in and out as soon as possible to turn the tables.

I've been wanting to try the burger again since I was out in Denver.  One of my dealers from St. Louis was the one who turned me on to Duffy's Cherry Cricket for their great burgers.  When I asked him and his colleagues if Duffy's burgers were better than O'Connell's (or "Oc's", as the locals call the place), they said that, hands down, Duffy's was better.  I had to try an "Oc's" burger to make sure.

My two dining partners went a different direction.  One of the guys, obviously a regular, went with the "Roast beef, rare, juice."  The other guy went with the lunch special - a roast pork sandwich.  Both sounded great, but I was set on the burger. 

When our lunch came, even though I knew the burger would be good, I knew I'd made the wrong choice.  The guy with the roast beef sandwich had this huge pile of lean rare roast beef served on a hoagie, topped with a generous amount of au jus sauce.  It looked fabulous and he said it tasted great.

The other guy's pork sandwich looked almost as equally as good - a bunch of sliced pork on a hoagie with a ton of gravy over the top.  You had to eat it with a knife and fork. 

My burger was very good.  It was thick and juicy with a great taste quality.  The bun was also soft and chewy and helped give the burger a great taste.  I still can't say good as the burger's at Duffy's Cherry Cricket in Denver, that's for sure.  But it was still one of the best in St. Louis (O'Connell's regularly wins the Best Burger category in local voting). 

But I have to tell you - I got the short end of the stick.  The burger may have been very good, but the roast beef sandwich is going to be the next thing I order at "Oc's".  And if they have the pork sandwich as a lunch special the next time after that, I'll have that.  Both just looked killer and the reaction of my dining partners seconded my observation. 

O'Connell's has limited parking, especially during the noon hour, but the wait is well worth it if the dining room is full. 

(Update - I did go back to O'Connell's not long after this particular visit to get a roast beef sandwich.  Click here to read that entry.)