Road Tips

The Leap Day

Happy Birthday today to my former colleague Randy Gacke who lives just outside of Omaha.  He's turning 15 today.  Now, of course, since it's February 29th - Leap Day - he's really turning 60.  But in reality, he's closer to 15 in his mental frame of mind.  He's a great guy. 

I wondered if there was any famous people who shared Leap Day birthdays with my friend.  I found this site on the Internet of "Famous Leapies" who were born on February 29.  As I looked through the list, there wasn't really one major notable person that jumped out who was born today. 

But in looking further, I found there is an Internet magazine site (which is part of the above link) that is dedicated to people who were born on Leap Day.  Being born on Leap Day makes these people rather unique, but this is a little over the top. 

It's actually part of a web site called the Honor Society of Leap Year Day Babies.  Actually, this is an interesting site as there is a lot of trivia on Leap Day (the chance of being a Leap Day baby is 1 in 1461).  There's also stories on triplets and quadruplets born on Leap Day. 

The one that got me, however, is the story of the Norwegian family (right) where the mother gave birth to three of her children in successive Leap Years.  There had to be some careful planning on the parents part to pull that feat off.

So, if you're a Leap Day Baby like my buddy Randy, have a very large time today!  It only comes around once every four years.

The Flamingo is Back! - Cedar Rapids, IA

One of my all-time favorite pizza places in the world is back in business.  The Flamingo in Cedar Rapids (see map) reopened a year and a half ago.  Cindy and I were in Cedar Rapids recently for a benefit that she wanted to go to and I said I'd go with her if we could eat at the new Flamingo.  She readily agreed.

I lamented the 2004 demise of the Flamingo in a post here.  I was seriously bummed because they had one of the best brick-oven pizzas this side of New York City.  We had noticed, however, the quality of the food sort of going down hill before they closed the doors and we weren't all that surprised when Cindy's sister, Anita, told us it had closed. 

The history behind the Flamingo is long and pretty interesting.  After World War II, lots were made available along Ellis Blvd. in Cedar Rapids on land that was once a grade school in the neighborhood.  The American Legion post bought the land in the area and began to parcel it out for homes.  The three lots the Flamingo now stands on were perfect for commercial property - primarily a hot dog/root beer stand for people going to nearby parks.

Two gentleman kept bidding higher and higher for the property until neither could go any longer.  The American Legion decided that a coin flip would determine the winner of the bid on the property.  The winner, Dick Berzinski, opened the Park Lane Drive-Inn in May of 1947.  A dining room was added in 1948 and the original building became the kitchen area.

In 1951, a second room was added to the building (the room is now the Flamingo's bar area) and Berzinski added space to the kitchen and increased the storage area.  He also changed the theme from a drive-in to a full service restaurant selling fish and other seafood.  The Hot Fish Shoppe was the first of it's kind in Eastern Iowa.

In 1955, Berzinski moved the Hot Fish Shoppe to a new location in NW Cedar Rapids and renamed the original place the Shorewood.  The Shorewood would be in business for the next seven years at this location before moving in 1962 to the northern part of Cedar Rapids.  It was eventually bought by the Pillsbury Corporation for their chain of growing restaurants and became the Boar's Head - a popular chain of upscale restaurants in the Midwest in the 60's and 70's.   

A gentleman by the name of George Davis bought the Shorewood building in 1962 and renamed it the Flamingo.  Davis owned the Flamingo until the mid-70's.  It was during this time that Davis put in the famous brick oven for pizza making - the original one that is still there today, even after surviving a devastating kitchen fire in 1987.

In 1976, Ron Godwin purchased the Flamingo and carried on the tradition of great pizzas, lunch and dinner entrees, salads and sandwiches.  Godwin also remodeled the restaurant in 1980 and again in 1987 after the kitchen fire.  Some of the locals gave it the nickname, "The Flaming-O" after the fire.

Now, this is where history gets a little fuzzy.  I believe that Godwin sold the restaurant to some people in the late 90's and they ran it, well, they basically ran it into the ground.  The restaurant closed in 2004 with a whimper.  As I said before, it was not all that surprising as we had inconsistent food when we'd gone there in the couple of years coming up to the closing.  One time, the pizza would be outstanding.  The next, it would be lifeless and over-cooked. 

In 2006, Kacy and Beth Smith bought the Flamingo building and reopened the restaurant hoping to recapture some of the magic the place had when Dick Godwin owned the place years before.  They kept a lot of the favorites, changed the menu a bit, and the place seems to be going strong today. 

After the benefit that Cindy wanted to go to, we drove to the Flamingo along with her sister, Anita.  It was a very windy and frigid Saturday night when we got there.  There was one car in the parking lot (it was 9:30 at night) and we wondered if they were open or not.  We walked in and the bartender greeted us.  I asked, "Are you still open?"

She said, "Oh, yes.  We're open to 11, but the kitchen closes at 10."

I said, "So, we can get a pizza then, right?"

She said, "Absolutely!"

There was just one other person in the bar, sitting playing a video game.  That was it.  Anita said, "I don't know if this is a good sign or not.  There's no one in here."

Cindy said, "Well, it is colder than hell outside.  Probably not a lot of people were out."

And I said, "And if they were out, they were out earlier."

We sat in a booth in the bar area and ordered up a large pizza - sausage, pepperoni and mushroom on one half, and just sausage and pepperoni on the other (Cindy doesn't care for mushrooms).  We also ordered a basket of the Flamingo's beer-battered onion rings.  Anita had not been to the place since it had opened, either, so she was hoping that it would be as good as it was.

The bartender, who was also our waitress, brought us out the onion rings.  They were exactly the same as before.  Wonderful, flaky, tasty, greasy onion rings.  Oh, they were just outstanding. 

About 10 minutes later, the bartender brought out the pizza.  At first glance, I was disappointed.  The toppings were sparse.  I mean, there was - maybe - 12 chunks of sausage on the pizza, and there wasn't a lot of pepperoni either.  But the first bite into the pizza made me momentarily forget about that.  The sauce was still the delicious pizza sauce they had from before.  The cheese was the same wonderful taste as before.  And the crust was the same thin-crust New York style where you could fold up a piece and eat it that way.  I was just disappointed in the lack of toppings.

The bartender came over to check on us and she asked how everything was.  I said, "Well, the taste of the pizza is excellent, just like it used to be.  But I'm a little disappointed in the lack of toppings.  I mean look at this."

I pointed out a piece of pizza that had NO sausage chunks on it and only two slices of pepperoni.  I said, "I don't remember ever getting pizzas here that were this sparse on toppings." 

She said, "Oh, well, the guy we have in the kitchen, the owners were on him because they felt he was putting too much of the toppings on the pizza.  So they had him cut back.  It looks like he cut back too much." 

We asked her if business had been slow, given that we were the only people in the place eating.  She said, "It was fairly busy earlier.  But it really started to die out around 8:30.  I'm sure the weather has something to do with it.  Even a lot of our regulars who come to the bar didn't come in tonight."

She ended up giving us a reduced price on our pizza for the lack of toppings.  Cindy said, "Now, you be sure to give her a good tip!"

So, a large pizza, onion rings, three beers and a couple of drinks came to a little over $38 bucks with tip.  Basically, what she took off the price of the pizza I gave it back to her in the tip. 

Other than the scarcity of toppings, the pizza was outstanding.  I'm guessing we got an anomaly and not the usual thing at the Flamingo.  I really want to go back sometime and give another one a try.  When it's done right, it is truly one of the best pizzas I've ever had.  

Louie M's Burger Lust - Revisited - Omaha

The shortest entry on a restaurant or bar I may have on my blog is the one regarding Louie M's Burger Lust that I wrote over two years ago.  Granted, that was written when I first started my blog and I didn't know how I wanted my blog to be.  

I decided that I just couldn't sit and write about a place that I hadn't been into for a long time because I couldn't quite capture the spirit of the place just on memories.  So, I began to only write about places that I had been in recently.  And I'd been wanting to do a full entry on Louie M's for quite some time.  Well, coming back from Lincoln, NE recently, I stopped into Louie M's for a burger.

Louie M's is located along Vinton Street south of the Omaha downtown area (see map).  There are a number of restaurants and shops in the area, most of them kind of funky and hip in nature. 

Louie M's is named after the owner Lou Marcuzzo who has been running the place for over 25 years.  Lou started out as a caterer, but then opened up his burger place along Vinton St. a couple years later.  In my opinion, they are simply the best burgers in the Omaha area.  

Louie M's offers over 20 specialty burgers on their menu including what is called the "Trish Burger" - a burger named after Lou's wife with roasted peppers, grilled onions and topped with mozzarella and parmesan cheese.  It's very similar to a burger I used to get at Bob Gibson's back in the 80's when it was open in Omaha.   

You can get the guacamole bacon burger topped with cheddar cheese.  Or the chili burger that is the messiest burger I've ever had.  And if you just want a plain ol' burger, they've got that, too.  But my favorite is Louie M's jalapeno cheddar burger - hot jalapeno slices on top of their half-pound burger covered with cheddar cheese.  But all of their burgers are the type where you need multiple napkins to help keep yourself clean - the sign of a great burger.  (Photo courtesy Urbanspoon)

Being that it was around the noon hour, I sat at the bar as all the booths and many of the smaller tables were taken.  Louie M's does a brisk take-out business, as well.  There were people coming and going with take-out orders the whole time I was in there.

I ordered up my favorite with fries.  And I got a beer to wash it all back.  I hadn't been into Louie M's for quite some time and I forgot at how funky the place really is - both in decor and the people who work there.  They have younger guys working the counter and older women working the tables and booths.  A couple people who worked there I recognized from my first visits to Louie M's a number of years ago. 

I got my jalapeno cheddar burger and took a bite into.  Now I know why they call the place "Burger Lust".  It was just as good as I remember it from before.  The cheddar wasn't overpowering as it can be with some cheddar cheese burgers.  The jalapenos were hot and flavorful.  God, I love jalapenos on a good burger. 

But the burger, itself, is the star.  I've always said that a good bun is the key to a good burger and Louie M's burger buns are excellent.  The meat was cooked perfectly and it was moist and juicy with each bite.  Man, my stomach is growling as I write about the burger at Louie M's. 

With a couple beers and a tip, my tab came to just around 16 bucks.  Not bad for a good burger, a basket of above average fries and a couple beers.  But just going in to see the hustle and bustle of the place and to observe the characters both working in Louie M's and coming into the place is worth it.

Breakfast at Louie M's is available from the time they open at 6 a.m. (7 a.m. on Sundays) until they close at 3 p.m.  (Photo courtesy of Omaha Driver.com)

I put Louie M's burger as Number 8 on my all-time favorite list of burgers a few months ago.  After this last visit, Louie M's Burger Lust may have risen into the top five.  If you ever have the chance to stop in when you're in Omaha, just do it.   

Francesco's - Las Vegas

The number of fine restaurants in Las Vegas has risen dramatically in the 20+ years that I've been coming to the city.  I remember most of the "better" restaurants were the old style steakhouse, supper clubs that were sprinkled throughout the city.  In fact, I think there were only two "five star" restaurants in the city when I first went there in the mid-80's.  Today, not only is Las Vegas one of the world's foremost places for gambling and entertainment, it's quickly turning into one of the centers for outstanding food.

And for a number of years, you would find a handful of hotels/casinos that had fine dining in them.  Most of the restaurants consisted of coffee shops and buffets.  But in recent years, a number of hotels have established a number of fine dining restaurants - usually off-shoots of upscale restaurants from Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and Chicago. 

With that said, we have a number of great places to choose from when we eat in Las Vegas.  We made a pact last year that we'd try different places to eat.  And I was made the "scout" to try and find these places.

I was told by a couple people that they had wonderful meals at Francesco's in the Treasure Island hotel/casino.  Francesco's is an elegant, old-world style upscale Northern Italian restaurant just inside the main entrance of the Treasure Island.  I understood that the wine list was pretty extensive and the dining experience was very good.  When I proposed that to the group for dinner that evening, they were all in the affirmative.

Six of us sat at our table just after 7 p.m.  The restaurant was half full, which made one of my colleagues remark, "I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.  These places are usually packed during CES." 

Our waiter brought us our menus and took our drink orders.  My colleague, Ian, is very well versed in Italian wines so he picked out a 2003 Rosso di Montalcino - La Cudata, a very flavorful red wine.  We also ordered up some drinks to tie us over for the time being.

We started out with a series of appetizers - calamari, garlic and chili shrimp, and seared ahi tuna with a green olive sauce.  All of them were completely remarkable.  Excellent taste sensations all around.  We were buzzing with anticipation for our meals.

I ordered the Lobster/Fettuccine special they had that evening.  One of my colleagues ordered the Osso Bucco with an asparagus/risotto on the side.  One of my colleagues got a bowl of the Cioppino - the fisherman's soup; another got the bone in chicken breast broiled with herbs and spices.  Another one got the flat iron steak with with rosemary herb potatoes and my other colleague got the Cavatelli with broccoli and chicken. 

We all ordered salads - our choice of the house Caesar salad, or the Caprese salad, like I ordered.  The Caprese salad was very good.  The tomatoes were fresh and flavorful, as was the basil and buffalo mozzarella.  The wine was great, the homemade bread they had on the table was great, the service was great.  This was shaping up to be an exquisite dining experience.

Then the bottom fell out when they brought our food.  My lobster was overcooked and tough.  The pasta was darn near inedible it was so overcooked.  The Osso Bucco was OK, but the risotto was also overcooked.  The chicken was dried out and the life was cooked out of it.  The flat iron steak was tough.  The Cavatelli was OK, but the broccoli was limp and the chicken was overcooked. 

Only Todd, with the Cioppino, was happy with his meal.  In fact, when I announced that I couldn't eat the lobster, he asked if he could have it to put into his soup.  I gave him some chunks and he dropped them in and moved them around.  When he took a bite of one, he got this look on his face and pulled the chunk out of his mouth.  He said, "My God, that's HORRIBLE!!"

Our waiter came around to ask how everything was and Ian said, "You know, everything we had up to now was fabulous.  The bread is fabulous, the wine is fabulous, the appetizers and salads were fabulous.  But this?  This is shit!" 

The waiter was sort of taken aback by Ian's forward statement, but he asked everyone at the table if they were happy with their meals.  Everyone, except for Todd who was slamming his Cioppino back, gave answers of "so-so" to "disappointing". 

So, in a gesture of apology, the waiter soon brought out a small plate of six different desserts.  Now, these were very, very small portions.  We thought at first that it was the sample plate that they normally bring out to show customers to order from.  But then it became very apparent that wasn't the case.  We just laughed and thought it was the most bizarre showing of "trying to make things right" we'd ever seen. 

It was an expensive dinner for us - over $800 bucks with the wine, food, drinks and tip.  I have to say I was deeply disappointed and somewhat embarrassed that I picked this place based on recommendations I'd received from people I trusted.  I knew that I'd have to bounce back with a good choice of the next place we were going to eat at the following night.  If not, I wouldn't be able to pick restaurants in Vegas again. 

Hoover Dam

I had some time to kill for a full day while out in Las Vegas recently, so I wanted to drive down to Hoover Dam and see the progress on the new by-pass route they're putting in to speed traffic between Vegas and Phoenix.  U.S. Highway 93 is the prime route between the two cities - the largest cities in the U.S. with no direct interstate link between them, I was told.  Because of security concerns and safety issues, trucks must go through Laughlin, NV/Bullhead City, AZ to cross over the Colorado River to get between the two cities.  Even with a car, it takes a long time to get over the Hoover Dam hiking the drive time between Las Vegas and Phoenix. 

It was a beautiful early January day when I drove down through Boulder City (see map) and down to the dam site.  It had been 17 years since I was last at Hoover Dam, and that was when I was driving between Las Vegas and Phoenix to see my sister after CES.  But I'd been hearing and reading about this new by-pass, including a bridge that's being built just south of the dam that will tower about 850 feet above the gorge below with a main span just short of 1100 feet.  I had to go see this. 

Now, I've never done the tour at Hoover Dam, and I know Cindy is dying to go there sometime and do just that.  I told Cindy that sometime we'd go out to Vegas for a few days and go and do and see, rather than hang in town all the time.  Death Valley would be a good place to go for a day.  The Grand Canyon would be a healthy drive, but we could be there and back in the day.  And we could go up to Mount Charleston for a taste of winter in the Nevada mountains. 

Along the way to Hoover Dam, there's a number of great little turnouts and vistas to admire.  I didn't take my camera along, but there's some pretty sights to see just outside of Boulder City along Lake Mead north of the dam.

And since I didn't have my camera, I couldn't take any pictures of the work in progress on the bridge when I got to the dam.  I found some public domain pictures on the internet, however, including some at the Hoover Dam By-pass web site. 

Here is a photo from the dam looking south and west to the Nevada side of the river.  Initially, plans were to have the bridge built by 2008, but construction suffered a set back a year and a half ago when high winds toppled four cranes that were used to support a cabled crane system.

Here's a picture of the collapsed towers on the Arizona side of the river.  Winds up to 65 miles an hour hit the site and blew down the towers.  This set the project back by at least two years.  They're now targeting the bridge to open sometime in 2010. 

And here's a shot of the work looking north toward the dam.  By the time the bridge is completed, it's expected to have 15,000 to 20,000 vehicles cross it each day.  That's an increase of about five times the vehicles that cross the Hoover Dam on a daily basis. 

This is an artist's rendering of what the Mike O'Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge will look like when it's completed.  The bridge is named after former Nevada governor and decorated war hero O'Callaghan, and former Arizona State and Arizona Cardinals football player Tillman who gave up a multi-million dollar career in the NFL to go serve his country in Afghanistan.  Tillman was killed in action in 2004. 

Some people have said the by-pass bridge will detract from the natural beauty of Hoover Dam and it's surroundings.  But I think the shear nature of the engineering feat and the classic look of the bridge will help accent the view around the dam area.  It will be neat to see when it is completed.          

P.F. Chang's - Chicago

I've eaten at a P.F. Chang's about two or three times before and each time I thought it wasn't all that it was cracked up to be.  Oh, there are people who think P.F. Chang's is the greatest in Chinese cuisine, but there's a little "mom and pop" Chinese restaurant in Davenport that I think is better.

You'll normally find a P.F. Chang's in the more upscale areas of larger cities in America.  And that's the clientele P.F. Chang's is looking for - the affluent or upscale shopper or theater-goer looking for a good meal.  The menu is a mix of traditional and contemporary Asian cuisine that includes a number of appetizers that include their famous lettuce-wrapped chicken (right), seared Ahi tuna strips and their dumpling pot-stickers that people rave about.  I think they're OK, but nothing that makes me crave them.

Now, finding an open restaurant on Christmas Eve in downtown Chicago - as we found out last year - can be somewhat of an adventure.  We always go out to a movie on Christmas Eve and we either eat dinner before or after the movie.  (This year's movie, by the way, was "Walk Hard", the "Walk the Line" parody starring John C. Reilly and Jenna Fischer.  It was actually very funny.)  We tried to get reservations into Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak and Stone Crab just down the street from our hotel.  However, they were completely sold out for the evening. 

We ended up going to the early movie and started walking around trying to find someplace that may be open.  We tried Su Casa, a Mexican place that I've eaten at before, but they had just closed for the evening.  We didn't want to eat at the Weber Grill, attached to our hotel.  So we decided to walk to P.F. Chang's next to the hotel (see map).  Eric had been eyeing the place each time he walked by and he was "jonesing" for Chinese.  I said, "Oh, well.  Yeah, we can go in.  Our choices are obviously limited."  (Photo courtesy Planet 99)

P.F. Chang's began with a collaboration between former oil man, turned restaurateur Paul Fleming and Philip Chiang.  Fleming owned the Ruth's Chris Steakhouse franchise in Beverly Hills, while Chiang owned the immensely popular (but now closed) Mandarin restaurant down the street.  The concept for P.F. Chang's was on the board for three years before Fleming approached Chiang for help on the project.  It took Fleming a couple more years to convince Chiang to lend his expertise, even naming the restaurant after Chiang.

The first P.F. Chang's opened in Scottsdale, AZ in 1993, and others soon opened across Southern California.  There are now over 160 P.F. Chang's in 35 states all owned by P.F. Chang's China Bistro, Inc.  The company also owns over 130 Pei Wei restaurants in 22 states.  Pei Wei features traditional Chinese foods and isn't as upscale as P.F. Chang's. 

We were seated right away and were greeted by Kyle, our over-exuberant waiter.  Immediately, he began to push the appetizers on us.  After our big lunch at Rosebud on Rush, we weren't overly hungry.   But since P.F. Chang's makes a lot of money on their appetizers, he was trying to push some on us. 

I ordered a Tsingtao beer, Eric got a pop and Cindy got hot tea.  While he went to get those, we looked over the menu.  As I said, P.F. Chang's has a mixture of traditional and modern Asian cuisine and I was having a hard time trying to figure out what I wanted.  I wasn't ALL that hungry, but I needed something.  What, I didn't know. 

Kyle came back with our drinks and took our order.  Cindy got a bowl of the hot and sour soup with chicken and ordered one of the seared Ahi tuna rolls.  Kyle then asked, "And what for your main entree?" 

Cindy looked at him and said, "Oh, that's it.  That's all I'm having."

Kyle sort of recoiled in surprise.  "Oh, OK!"

Eric ordered the sweet and sour pork.  After much thought, I got the Mongolian beef.  What the hell. 

Kyle got our order and left.  That was the last time we saw him for about 30 minutes.  Another guy from the kitchen brought out our food.  During that time, I'd run out of beer, Eric had run out of pop, Cindy's water for her tea was getting cold.  Our waiter had just plain forgot about us.  It was a good thing we had water at our table.

Cindy liked her soup and the seared Ahi tuna roll.  She offered me a bite of one slice and it was very good.  Eric said he liked his sweet and sour pork, and my Mongolian beef was spicy. But other than that, it was sort of bland. 

Kyle finally showed up as we were finishing up our meal and asked how everything was.  I said, "Well, I've wanted another beer for the last 20 minutes.  My son has been out of pop longer than that and my wife's water for her hot tea has turned lukewarm."

He said, "Oh, well, let me get those things taken care of for you."

I said, "You know what?  Don't bother.  We're done with our meal.  We wanna get out of here."  Although Cindy did want her water warmed up so she could have a little more tea. 

Our bill came to just over $55.00 with tax.  I left a $4.00 tip with a note, "Kyle, don't forget your customers!" 

Like I say, I've gotten better Chinese food in much smaller restaurants in the Quad Cities.  I think P.F. Chang's is over-priced, over-hyped and certainly not worth the puffery they present.  While the food is good, it's not much more than what I would categorize as a "Red Lobster for Chinese cuisine". 

But that's just my opinion...   

The End of HD-DVD?

Following the uphill climb and major setbacks that I talked about here, here and here, industry insiders say that Toshiba may be ready to pull the plug on the HD-DVD format in the coming weeks, according to an article published yesterday on the Hollywood Reporter web site.  While Toshiba insists it's not going to dump the format, they say that recent market developments have caused them to rethink their strategy concerning HD-DVD.

Late yesterday, Wal-Mart, the largest retailer in the U.S., announced they would only stock Blu-Ray high-definition DVD's and hardware beginning this June.  This is on the heels of an announcement earlier this week from both NetFlix and Best Buy that they would not be supporting the HD-DVD format any longer.  Now that Wal-Mart has made their decision, industry analysts are predicting a quick end to the format wars between Toshiba's HD-DVD and Blu-Ray, backed by Sony.

Blu-Ray's top selling movie for the past week, "Across the Universe", sold three times more than the best selling HD-DVD release, "Elizabeth - The Golden Age".  Industry watchdogs report that as of right now, Blu-Ray holds 81% of the high definition DVD market place. 

On top of that, due to drastic price reductions in HD-DVD players over the past month, Toshiba is reportedly losing - possibly - several hundred dollars on each machine that is sold.  I'm sure given the outlook on the dwindling support both from movie studios and retail outlets for HD-DVD, Toshiba may be looking to pull the plug and stop the bleeding.

As I said in my post earlier this week, it could be a win-lose situation for consumers.  Now that there will only be one high definition format for DVD's, it will finally allow consumers who were on the fence in regard to buying into one format or the other to have a clear choice.  However, at the same time, it could mean that prices on Blu-Ray units and movies, already high to begin with, probably won't go down in price, and possibly go up.  The drawback with Blu-Ray was that manufacturing costs of a single DVD - due to the greater amount of content that can be placed on the disc - is much higher than the costs to make an HD-DVD disc.

There's no word as to the future of HD-DVD from two of the top six movie studios - Paramount and Universal - who continue to support the HD-DVD format.  However, more independent movie studios and National Geographic have recently announced they'll go to Blu-Ray exclusively with future productions.   I'm sure both Paramount and Universal are looking at the alternative option.

And Amazon.com has been sort of silent in all of this.  The largest on-line retailer for DVD's does have a number of HD-DVD titles on sale at 50% off, but they've not made the decision to carry only Blu-Ray DVD's.

For those who bought HD-DVD players - like my company did for demonstration purposes at trade shows - it's probably money down the drain.  Once Paramount and Universal announce they'll go to Blu-Ray, the war will be over.  But not unless Toshiba announces they're surrendering first.  And the Wal-Mart announcement may just be the final straw for HD-DVD.

(2-18-08 Post Script - Japan's government run NHK Network announced over the weekend that Toshiba has made the decision to halt all production of HD-DVD units.  A formal announcement will be made later this week.  According to the news release, Toshiba stands to lose hundreds of millions of dollars to scrap players and recorders as they exit the business.  But financial analysts in Japan say the long term effects on Toshiba will be negligible, noting that the company was hemorrhaging money to keep HD-DVD afloat.  Toshiba shares jumped 6% on the Nikkei Index on Monday.)       

Templeton Rye

About eight months ago, my buddy Craig Evert from Northwest Iowa e-mailed me and asked me if I'd ever heard of this stuff called Templeton Rye.  He said it was a single malt rye whiskey made in Templeton, IA (see map).  He said, "Every time I try to buy some at the local liquor store up here, it's always sold out.  I hear it's great stuff and I'd like to try it!"

I was in Chicago last fall and I was listening to the Steve Dahl program on the radio.  He was talking about Templeton Rye and how it was the new "hip" drink with the young crowd in Chicago.  I thought, "All right.  Now I have to find out what this is all about."

But just like my buddy, Craig, I was having problems finding the stuff.

When my uncle Jack died and we had his funeral back in Newton, I was out at my sister's and brother-in-law's house that evening with my sisters and cousins.  I looked into the liquor cabinet and there was a bottle of Templeton Rye.  I said, "Oh, man!  I've got to try this!" 

Along with my cousins Dave and Mac Gilreath, we poured two fingers deep into some glasses and gave it a try.  Right away, I could tell it was smooth with a great finish.  It wasn't as strong tasting as some of the Scotch single malts I've had.  It was very good.

Now, before I went to work for my present company, I was never a big Scotch drinker.  But in addition to their love of wine, good food and exquisite coffee, my co-workers have an affinity for Scotch.  So I've had to acquire a taste for Scotch.  Even though I have a couple three bottles of the stuff around the house, I don't find myself having a couple "highballs" all that much at home. 

But the Templeton Rye really got me hooked.  It was wonderful stuff. 

It turned out that my niece's boyfriend grew up in Western Iowa near Templeton.  He told me that the whiskey was an old recipe from back in the days of Prohibition.  He said, "Yeah, the Templeton Rye you just had is good.  But it's one of those things where my dad knows someone, who knows someone, who knows someone, who knows someone who makes the REALLY good stuff out there." 

I immediately told him to find me a bottle of that stuff.  If it was better than the Templeton Rye that I just had, then I really wanted some of that.

Fast forward a few weeks later to our trip into Chicago for Christmas.  We went to the new Sam's Wine just south of The Loop in downtown Chicago to get a bottle of wine, some cheese and some other snacks.  While Cindy and Eric were picking out food, I was picking out some wine to take home and then perusing the Scotch selection they had. 

One of the clerks asked if I needed any help in looking for anything.  I said, "Oh, I'm just seeing if there's something here that I would like to have but absolutely don't need."

He said, "I'm not much of a Scotch drinker, but I've sampled many of them here.  Actually, I'm more of a Templeton Rye kind of guy."

I perked up and said, "Templeton Rye?  You have some here?"

He walked me around to the other side of the shelf and pulled out a bottle of Templeton Rye.  Another clerk was standing there and he said, "Oh, man!  T-Rye!  I was never a big whiskey drinker until I got a bottle of that stuff!" 

So I bought a bottle of it and took it home.  My neighbor, George, and I made a major dent in it on Christmas night after we got home.  (His wife, Hannah, wasn't too happy with him.)  And we killed it a couple weeks ago on his birthday. 

I got another bottle of the stuff and took it over to a dinner party that one of Cindy's co-worker had for us a couple weeks ago.  Three of us drank half a bottle.  It's that good. 

OK, so I told you that story to tell you this one - the story behind Templeton Rye.

During the time leading up to and during Prohibition, a number of farmers in Western Iowa shared a recipe for making their own rye whiskey.  The town of Templeton was sort of the epicenter of this cottage industry.  People would store it in barns, in sheds, where ever they could hide it.  To get first hand accounts of what Templeton area residents remembered about the original Templeton Rye, click here and then scroll down to the individual screens for the interviews.  It's pretty interesting stuff.

Local lore has it that Templeton Rye was the whiskey of choice for Al Capone and hundreds of barrels of the stuff was made available to Capone's gang for distribution in Chicago and around the Midwest during Prohibition.  After Prohibition ended, Templeton Rye was still distilled in the Templeton area, but not legally. 

That was until about six years ago when a young entrepreneur Scott Bush (right) sought to make Templeton Rye legal.  Spurred on by stories his grandfather told him of making the rye whiskey years before, Bush went around to a number of people trying to get the recipe.  He encountered resistance from a lot of the "old-timers" who thought he was a "revenuer" out to seize their stash of the stuff. 

Through family contacts, Bush was able to get the recipe from the family of Alphonse Kerkhoff and eventually was introduced to the distillery where the bulk of the illegal Templeton Rye was made.  Kerkhoff's grandson, Kirk, who actually distilled the stuff, became part of the Templeton Rye team, as well. 

Bush and Kerkhoff updated the facility - replacing the small copper vat they used to make the whiskey with 300 gallon stainless steel vat with regulated heat.  The original Templeton Rye was heated during the distillery process by huge logs that had to be continually added to the fire by the Kerkhoff's. 

Bush and Kerkhoff introduced the first legal Templeton Rye in November of 2006.  Since then it's become very popular with younger people because of it's smooth nature and the "outlaw" story behind the brand.  It's still made in small batches to insure it's quality, but it's becoming one of the fastest growing whiskey brands in the Midwest.

I was in Iowa City recently and stopped into John's Grocery to check out the wine and beer selection.  In the middle of their liquor aisle they had a number of cases of Templeton Rye on the floor.  They had a special price of $32.99 a bottle.  I bought a bottle.  The next night, we killed half of it at the dinner party.  I bought another one the next day at Regal Liquors in Davenport (the liquor store for Hy-Vee) for $35.99 a bottle.  It's beginning to become more widely available.

Though more plentiful on store shelves today, Templeton Rye is only available in Iowa and Illinois, but the company is seeking national distribution.  If you live outside of the states of Iowa and Illinois, you can click here to order Templeton Rye directly from Binny's Beverage Depot in the Chicago area.

I've already converted three people to the Templeton Rye and looking to convert more.  I'm thinking of getting some bottles of the stuff for some of my Scotch drinking colleagues to see what they think.  But I do want to try some of the "real stuff" that's supposedly still available through back channels in Western Iowa.   I'll let you know if my niece's boyfriend comes through.            

Japonais - Las Vegas

After our Cirque du Soleil experience at The Mirage, we decided we'd better get something to eat.  Given that it was around 9 p.m., we didn't figure we'd have that big of a problem getting seated at any one of the fine restaurants in The Mirage.  Well, actually, the only problem was that there were nine of us, and that turned out to be a problem. 

We found a little contemporary Japanese restaurant called Japonais.  They tried to seat us in the bar, but we would have had to take three tables.  So we decided to go to Plan B.  What Plan B was, we didn't quite know.  But as we were standing there going over our options, the hostess from Japonais came up and said, "We can seat you in the dining room if you're still interested." 

It was late and we were hungry.  The guys from the East Coast and Montreal were working on east coast time which meant it was midnight body-time for them.  We turned around and went in.

Now, it turns out that Japonais in Las Vegas is an off-shoot of the original Japonais in Chicago.  The original Japonais was started in 2002 by the world-renowned sushi chef Jun Ichikawa, and Gene Kato, an up-and-coming contemporary Japanese cuisine chef.  In 2006, Kato and Ichikawa opened a New York location in Union Square, and three months later they opened the Las Vegas location.  The food can be described as traditional Japanese with a bent toward contemporary Pan-Asian and European cuisine.  It's pretty classy stuff. 

We were seated and our waiter - who was of Japanese heritage - came over to greet us.  He was a little tough to understand, given his accent and the loudness in the restaurant.  The decor is very contemporary and chic with a lot of teak wood throughout.  From what I got from what he was trying to say is that they offered a menu similar to Spanish tapas where they bring out little bits of everything from sushi, to beef, to veggies, to whatever.  He said it worked good with big groups because everyone got to try a little bit of everything.  We all sort of agreed to that and away he went.

The first thing he brought out was a bunch of sushi that we munched on.  It was very good.  The fresh sushi was some of the finest I've ever tasted.  Given that all of us in the company are sushi whores, the plate didn't last long.    

They then brought plates of Kobe beef carpaccio, thin rare slices of Kobe beef; spicy tuna and salmon rolls; something called Hawaiian Hamachi, thin slices of yellow tail; and something they called the Japonais cocktail - a dozen oysters and a half dozen shrimp in a horseradish mango sauce.  Now that was great!

Then they started to bring out the good stuff.  They had a marinated Kobe beef chunk on a skewer.  Now, I've never had Kobe beef before - other than the carpaccio slices I had earlier.  I always wanted to try it.  And I have to tell you, it was absolutely fabulous.  It was unbelievably fabulous.  It was so tender and moist.  And, OH!  So flavorful.  Daniel and Simon were seated across the table from me and were getting a kick out of the expressions on my face when I'd bite into one of the Kobe beef chunks.

They also had skewers of marinated chicken that were pretty good.  They also brought out skewers of ground Kobe beef - basically Kobe beef burgers on a skewer.  They were OK, but they didn't have the same taste and texture of the beef skewers.  But we quickly ordered another round of the Kobe beef skewers.  And a couple guys opted for more sushi.

Next, they set two square "rocks" on the table.  These rocks were heated to 500 degrees (F) and we were told to be very careful around them.  Then they brought out plates of thinly sliced and marinated raw New York strip steak chunks.  The waiter showed us that you place the raw beef on the hot rock and it sizzles and cooks.  20 to 30 seconds later, you turn it over to cook the other side and - voila!  You've got your own "grill it yourself" steak chunks!  And - OH!  Were they great. 

Those didn't last long at the table and by the time the second round of Kobe beef skewers showed up, we were all getting stuffed.  But the Kobe beef skewers were quickly gobbled up.  It was a dining experience to say the least.

Daniel was presented with the bill and Simon looked over to see what it was.  He yelled, "Geez!!"

One of my other colleagues said, "What's the matter?  Bill a little too high?"

Simon said, "I think we just bought a whole side of Kobe beef!"

The bill - with tip included - came to just shy of $2000 bucks.  Daniel was laughing about it the next day.  He said, "I couldn't understand the guy.  Between his accent and the loudness of the restaurant, I just kept nodding my head when he would say something."

I said, "So, you basically nodded your head into a $2000 bill."

He laughed and said, "I guess so!"

So, yes, Japonais isn't cheap.  But, man, was it good.  Definitely a top ten dining experience for me.      

Two More Nails in the Coffin for HD-DVD

The battle between the Toshiba-backed HD-DVD and the Sony-backed Blu-Ray high definition formats is beginning to wind down as two big announcements drove two more nails in the HD-DVD camp's coffin on Monday.

First, on Monday morning, Netflix, the on-line video rental service that delivers DVD's direct to customer's homes via mail, announced it would be stocking only Blu-Ray formatted discs by the end of this year.  Although Netflix boasts over 6 million customers, the number of people who order high definition DVD's is a fraction of the total number of customers.  It is significant, however, since Blockbuster announced late last year that it would stock only Blu-Ray discs in their stores.  Industry analysts have been waiting for Netflix to pick one or the other format since that time. 

But in a more significant announcement on Monday afternoon, retail giant Best Buy, based out of Minneapolis, announced they would recommend Blu-Ray discs and video players to their customers starting March 1.  Best Buy will continue to have the more popular HD-DVD titles in stores and available on line, but will have more of a marketing emphasis on Blu-Ray products. 

Although a Blu-Ray disc can hold up to three times the amount of information than HD-DVD, some experts have found the clarity of an HD-DVD is a bit better than Blu-Ray, mainly because of a wider information track on their discs over the Blu-Ray.   HD-DVD also is a less expensive format in terms of prices for both the players and discs.  But the success of Sony's Playstation 3, which uses the larger content format of Blu-Ray for their games, drove Blu-Ray sales and convinced movie studios, video rental stores and now retailers into carrying or promoting only the Blu-Ray products. 

Also, there's been some "behind-the-scenes" stories that Sony actually paid Warner Brothers $400 million to go exclusively Blu-Ray.  Reportedly, Warner Brothers was looking to go exclusively to the HD-DVD format (after supporting both formats initially) and was pushing Toshiba to line up another studio to do so, as well.  Toshiba reportedly had Fox lined up, but they backed out at the last moment.  Toshiba supposedly offered Warner $100 million to go exclusively to HD-DVD, but Sony countered with an offer that was 4 times that of their competitor.

There is some good news and bad news throughout this deal.  The good news is that many consumers who have been holding off making a purchase of a high definition format player can now determine that one of the two formats has a considerable edge over the other one.

However, the bad news is that there is some worry within the industry that if Blu-Ray does become the only format, the consumer will be the loser in the long run.  Prices for both the players and the discs probably won't come down all that much, if at all. 

There are still going to be HD-DVD discs and players available for the time being, but it's beginning to look like Sony - and Blu-Ray - is going to be the eventual winner.  Now they'll be able to recoup all that money they lost when they came out as the losers with the Beta format versus the VHS format for VCR's.

You remember VCR's, don't you?   

Bohemian Cafe - Revisited

It's interesting to go back to some of my earlier posts when I was just trying to find a direction and voice for my blog.  One of the first posts I had during the infancy period of Road Tips a couple years ago was on the Bohemian Cafe in Omaha.  Click here to see it.

This was really before I decided that I couldn't just go on the recollection of being at a specific place as much as I wanted to share the experience of going there and writing about it soon thereafter.  So when I was in Omaha recently, I stopped in for dinner at the Bohemian Cafe. 

The Bohemian Cafe has been around since 1924 when Louie Marcala began serving up Czech food to the citizens of Omaha.  Being that there was a large Czech population in Omaha, the restaurant was an immediate hit - not only with the native Czechoslovakians, but with non-Czechs, as well. 

Marcala ran the restaurant until 1947 when he sold it to Josef and Ann Libor (right).  Marcala stayed on as the head chef for a few years after.  Ann Libor was a member of the Kapoun family and her brothers, children and other relatives worked in the restaurant along with her.  Today, the third generation of Kapoun family, headed by Bob Kapoun, runs the Bohemian Cafe. 

It was a Wednesday evening when I got into the Bohemian Cafe.  I think I've been going there for nearly 20 years when one of my dealers - who just happens to be of Czech descent - turned me on to the place.  I was hooked from the first day I went there.

The large dining areas are pretty much about the same as it was when they moved to their present day location in 1959.  They also have a nice bar area that is non-smoking if you want to stop in for a beer. 

I was seated in a booth and got the menu from the waitress.  I ordered up a large mug of Pilsner Urquell and looked over the menu.  Each evening, the Bohemian Cafe has about four or five dinner specials they feature.  Each evening through the week they feature Boiled Beef with a Czech dill gravy.  Now, to me, boiled beef has lost a lot of flavor.  But with the Bohemian Cafe's boiled beef, they simmer it in a combination of spices that make it tender and delectable.  Since there wasn't really anything else that I wanted on the special menu that evening, I went with the boiled beef.

You also get your choice of sides, so I took the dumplings and sauerkraut.  And for openers, you get choice of salad or liver dumpling soup.  I always get the liver dumpling soup.  It's a light beef broth soup with a liver dumpling meat ball in the cup.  I'm not much on liver, but this is very good.

And with the soup, they bring out a basket of their homemade breads.  Oh, man!  The caraway rye bread is unbelievably great.  I used to pig out on the bread and by the time the main entree would show up I'd be so stuffed that I couldn't eat. 

It wasn't all that busy that evening (it was around 8 p.m.) and about 10 minutes after the waitress brought out the liver dumpling soup and the bread, she brought out my boiled beef.  It was just as good as ever.  The dill gravy is a light colored sauce and it goes tremendously well with the beef and dumplings.      

And, as always, the meal was a "spot hitter".  It was a little cool outside and it was perfect for a fall evening.  The beef was tender and flavorful, the dumplings and sauerkraut (which are homemade) were wonderful.  And the Pilsner Urquell beer was a nice complement to the meal.

With tip, the bill came to around $21 bucks.  It's well worth the trip to the Bohemian Cafe - something hundreds of thousands of people have been doing for over 80 years.  I've never had a bad meal in all my trips to the Bohemian Cafe.  If you're looking for great comfort "stick to your ribs" food in Omaha, the Bohemian Cafe is the one to go to. 

(Update - The Bohemian Cafe closed for good on September 24, 2016.  Click here to read about one last Road Tips visit before they closed.)

Do Pretty Girls Fart?

Watching the very enjoyable MythBusters on the Discovery Channel recently reminded me of something that was sent my way by a friend last summer via YouTube.  It's an unaired version of MythBusters in which the age old question is asked as to whether or not pretty girls actually pass gas. 

MythBusters, if you're not familiar with the program, is hosted by Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman (right), two longtime special-effects engineers in the movie and television field who tackle a number of urban myths to see if they could possibly happen. 

Some of these myths include whether or not there are huge slingshots that can propel Mexicans 200 feet over the border and have them land on mattresses strategically placed on the American side; spontaneous trouser combustion, primarily with farmers; and whether or not yawning is contagious.  These guys really have a lot of fun when it comes to their little experiments.

"Pretty Girls Don't Fart" is a five-minute video that was shot in an auditorium and distributed on YouTube.  In the video, the guys enlist their pretty assistant Kari Byron (left) to debunk the myth that pretty girls don't break wind.  The extremes they went through to see if the myth is true is pretty funny.  And, for obvious reasons, this segment never made it to television.  And as far as I can find, this is the only video that exists on the segment.

But it's funny.  If you haven't seen it before, click on the arrow and enjoy!

Digging Out

We didn't get the 16 to 20 inches they told us we could get here in the Quad Cities, but we got 12.3 inches here in Davenport.  It started out as a wet, heavy snow on Tuesday, then turned to freezing rain before it went back to all snow on Wednesday morning.

Cindy went into work about 6 a.m. and her boss decided to close down the company at 8 a.m.  She made it back home and she went out and used the snowblower yesterday morning.  The snowblower SHE picked out about three years ago after she was tired of shoveling the sidewalks and our long driveway when I was in Las Vegas.  She said she wanted to pick it out because she was afraid that if I made the purchase, I'd come home with one of those big 20 horsepower, 40" wide models with the windscreen.  And she's probably right. 

But, hey, she was having fun.

We ended up doing the sidewalks and driveways of some of our neighbors.  The snowblower just plowed right through that heavy snow.  I went down late yesterday to blow the snow off the sidewalk of our neighbor who lives down on the corner.  Her little snowblower couldn't cut through the deep snow.  After I finished, she came out and gave me a beer.  She said, "You deserve this, darlin'."

With cold weather coming this weekend - again - it's not going to melt anytime soon.  And as much as I hate snow, I even have to admit it's rather pretty outside.   

Rosebud on Rush - Chicago

During our recent Christmas trip into Chicago, we spent some time on Christmas Eve doing some window shopping along the Magnificent Mile on Michigan Ave.  For the day before Christmas, it was still pretty busy with a lot of people getting last minute gifts.  I was certainly glad we didn't have to be running around looking for gifts. 

We decided to go get some lunch at the Rosebud on Rush - a well-known Italian restaurant in Chicago (see map).  Actually, there's a number of Rosebud restaurants in the Chicago area - nine of them, all told.   Plus there's two others under the Rosebud umbrella - Carmine's and Ballo.  Each of the Rosebud restaurants are unique unto themselves, which makes them very different from a typical chain restaurant.  (Picture courtesy Planet99.com)

The original Rosebud was opened in 1977 by Alex Dana in the Little Italy section of Chicago on Taylor Street (see map).  The original name of Rosebud was "Bocciola della Rosa", which means "Bud of the Rose" in Italian.  But Dana's customers couldn't pronounce the name so a year later he just changed it to the more simple "Rosebud".  (Picture courtesy Planet99.com) 

Over the years, celebrities and dignitaries - including a number of notables from the Chicago underworld - flocked to Rosebud.  Frank Sinatra said it was his favorite restaurant in Chicago and would always go there when he'd come to town. 

In 1992, Dana opened his second location - Rosebud on Rush.  It kept a lot of the old world charm his original restaurant had on Taylor Street.  And it became a favorite of people who were in the downtown Chicago area for business or shopping.

There are now a number of Rosebud's in the Chicago suburbs, each of them serving the great food Dana made famous from years before. 

We've eaten at the original Rosebud on Taylor Street a few years ago for Cindy's birthday.  It was quite the culinary experience.  We made a pact to go back again sometime, but with all the eating options in Chicago, we've never made it back.

Now, I'd read in the Chicago Tribune that one of the best burgers in the Chicago area is the one they serve at lunch from the Rosebud on Rush.  Since we were right near the restaurant around 1 p.m. we decided to head in for lunch. 

The Rosebud on Rush location is actually a little more elegant than the original Rosebud on Taylor.  Being that it is in the downtown area and kitty-cornered from the very chic, 5-star Peninsula Hotel, I'm sure they get a higher end clientele in the place.

We went up the stairs and were seated at a table in the about 1/3 full restaurant.  There were families in the restaurant, no doubt taking a break from shopping or sight-seeing on the day before Christmas. 

We were handed our menus and I immediately began to look for the burger.  I couldn't find it.  It was the regular dinner menu.  I really wanted the lunch menu, so I motioned for our waiter.  I said, "I understand you guys have an outstanding hamburger on your menu, but I can't seem to find it.  Did you give us the wrong menu?"

He explained that on weekends and holidays they only serve the dinner menu all day.  "And we consider Christmas Eve to be a holiday," he said. 

Well, I was hungry, but not THAT hungry.  We were planning on going out to eat for dinner before our annual Christmas Eve movie and that would be in about five hours.  So, it was back to perusing the menu looking for something light.

One of the specials they offered that day was a Chilean sea bass.  Cindy thought that would be light enough, so she got that.  Eric got the fettuccine Alfredo with grilled chicken chunks.  I agonized over a couple three different things on the menu and opted for the veal piccata.  It came with a side of pasta, but I figured that it wouldn't be too filling. 

Cindy took a gander at the wine list which has a good selection of American whites and reds, and a good list of Italian reds.  With her sea bass, she got a glass of the St. Supery Sauvignon Blanc. 

More people began to filter in while we were eating lunch.  I don't know how crowded it gets during the regular working day, but I would have to say it was about half-full by the time we got our lunch served. 

Of course, the portions were too large for lunch.  Eric's big bowl of fettuccine Alfredo was too much food.  I had four good sized pieces of veal on my plate.  And Cindy's sea bass filet was a huge cut. 

My veal was - well - OK.  I haven't had a lot of luck with veal lately.  It seems I seem to get a lot of tough and overcooked pieces when I order it.  Two of the pieces of veal were wonderful - flavorful and tender.  The other two, however, were tough and lifeless.  It was a 50 percent proposition, at best.  I'm just going to have to get something else other than veal for the next few meals at an Italian restaurant. 

Eric liked his fettuccine, but it was too much.  He ate all the grilled chicken out of it and left over half of the fettuccine noodles in the bowl.

Cindy's bass, however, was unbelievably great.  She gave me a bite of it and I immediately knew that she got the best meal at the table - again.  The fish was light, tender and flaky.  It was seasoned with a nice blend of spices that enhanced the taste.  It was very, very good.

Because they were serving from the dinner menu, our lunch wasn't all that cheap - it came to over $100 with tip and tax.  Cindy's sea bass was $34.95!  Earlier, Eric asked what the term "market" meant on the menu next to the lobster.  I said, "It means that if you have to ask the market price, you probably can't afford it."  Well,it was the same with the specials menu.  The waiter didn't give us the price and Cindy got sucked right in.  But I'll have to say once again, it was very, very good.

The Rosebud on Rush - as the other Rosebud restaurants - are very good places to eat.  We'll go back again someday.  And I won't have the veal.

Looking Down the Barrel of a Big Storm

The above graphic is the estimated snowfall amounts the National Weather Service is projecting for a huge storm that is forming to the south and west of the Quad Cities that promises to dump a shitload of snow on the region overnight and into tomorrow.

If you click on the graphic, you'll see that we're slated to get 13.8 inches of snow in the area.  This is up from the projected 8.3 inches the NWS had on their web site earlier today.

Some areas could see local amounts up to 16 to 20 inches of snow.  Check out the Milwaukee area up in the upper right hand corner.  They're projecting 15.8 inches of snow up there from this storm.  They're promising thunder snow with this storm which could dump 1 to 2 inches per hour on given areas. 

As much as I hate snow and as much as I hate winter, this is going to be a major blow to my mental state in the coming days.  I'm ready for spring.   

Albert Cummings

When Albert Cummings played at the Mississippi Valley Blues Festival last summer, I felt his performance was possibly the best of every musician who was there that weekend.  Cummings played with such passion it electrified the crowd.  When I found out he was making a return trip to the Quad Cities, I jumped at the chance to get a couple of tickets.

Cummings recently played at the Caribbean Cove, which has been converted from Penguins Comedy Club at the Isle of Capri casino/hotel complex in Bettendorf (see map).  Even though it was a Wednesday night, he was able to draw about 250 blues fans from the area to come see him play again. 

Cummings, who hails from Massachusetts, is first and foremost an award winning building contractor.  He's a fourth generation builder who has been constructing high-end homes and re-models in Western Massachusetts for nearly 13 years.  For a short story on Cummings as a builder, click here.

Cummings, who is just short of 40 years old, played the banjo while growing up.  However, he put the banjo away when he saw Stevie Ray Vaughan in person in 1987.  Vaughan's performance sparked a new found passion for playing the guitar for Cummings. 

Cummings finished college getting his degree in building trades to carry on the family legacy.  But he began to play weekend gigs on the side about 13 years ago.  It wasn't long before he had a strong following and a solid reputation as both a contractor and a guitar player in New England.

Cummings' style of playing the guitar is very reminiscent of Stevie Ray Vaughan.  Cummings has actually played with Double Trouble - Tommy Shannon and Chris Layton - who backed up Stevie Ray Vaughan before his tragic death in 1989.  Both Shannon and Layton played on and produced Cummings' first album, "From the Heart (Under the Radar)" in 2003.  Reese Wynans, who was Vaughan's longtime keyboard player, also played on that album. 

For those of you not familiar with Albert Cummings' music, click here to listen to "Lonely Bed", a track from his 2004 album "True to Yourself."  The guy just cooks on guitar and he's a pretty good singer, too.

The Caribbean Cove was about half full when we arrived 45 minutes before showtime.  We took a large table off to the side and grabbed a few beers waiting for the show.   

Cummings, wearing his trademark two-tone wingtip shoes, took the stage promptly at 7:30.  Accompanied by Dan Broad on bass and Aaron Scapin on drums, they cut right into the title track of Cummings' 2006 album "Working Man".  The Caribbean Cove immediately came alive.  The Stevie Ray Vaughan influence was evident from the opening notes.  Not that there's anything bad about that, but Cummings' is about as close to capturing the essence of what Stevie Ray's sound was all about. 

Cummings ripped through a number of songs before slowing it down for his song "Together as One" from his "From the Heart" album that he recorded with Stevie Ray Vaughan's back up band.  Then he was back up and rolling again before he took a break at 8:45.  A break?  I figured he'd be done at 8:45. 

After about a 45 minute break - including Albert Cummings personally delivering beers (bought by a buddy) to our table - they got back up to play some more.  It was getting late and Cindy had to get up early in the morning so we stuck around for about 20 more minutes before leaving.  I understand that he ended up playing until about a quarter to 11.  It was a great show. 

Albert and the boys were having a great time and were amazed at the turn-out on a cold Wednesday night.  I'm sure that if he hadn't played the blues fest last summer there might not of have been that many people there.  But he drew a great crowd.  The Isle of Capri said the bar was never as busy has it was that night.  And they ran out of a lot of beer - early.  They definitely weren't prepared. 

So, if you're into rollicking blues with a hint of Stevie Ray Vaughan mixed in, don't miss Albert Cummings if he comes through and plays near you.  Better yet, get a couple of his albums, then go watch him.  You'll love the music, but he's better live and in person.       

Hamburger Mary's Coming to Iowa!

Thanks to my friend Al Kern from Iowa Public Radio who alerted me to an article in yesterday's Cedar Rapids Gazette that said Hamburger Mary's, the chain of "gay-friendly" burger joints is coming to Cedar Rapids later this year.  Cindy and I ate at the Hamburger Mary's in downtown Cincinnati (now closed) a few years ago and I wrote about it earlier in my blog.  Click here to read the entry. 

Hamburger Mary's, which began in San Francisco in 1972, espouses the gay-alternative lifestyle where "gay, lesbian, transsexual and trans-gendered people can enjoy good food and entertainment in a fun, open atmosphere without going to a bar."  Their motto is "Eat, Drink and be...  Mary".  The Cedar Rapids location will be in NE Cedar Rapids in a building that has been a number of bars/restaurants over the years (see map).

Even though I thought the burgers at the Hamburger Mary's in Cincinnati were very good, I don't think I'll be heading to the HM in Cedar Rapids by myself after it opens.  Actually, I could go with Cindy and her sister, Anita.  I know Anita would probably get a kick out of Hamburger Mary's.  We could probably get a good burger and a good show at the same time.  But it will be interesting to see how it goes over in East Central Iowa.   

Ditka's - Chicago

During our trip into Chicago, we walked up to go have dinner at Ditka's, the restaurant owned by former Chicago Bears player and coach Mike Ditka (see map).  Even though he hasn't coached the Bears in nearly 20 years, Ditka is still a larger than life personality in Chicago.  Da Coach!

It was a cold Sunday evening when we walked up to Ditka's from our hotel.  Cindy said, "We're taking a cab back, that's all there is to it!"  It was cold, compared to the balmy temperatures we encountered the night before when we got to Chicago.  (Temps dropped nearly 35 degrees in a four hour period overnight.  It was around 10 degrees all day long.)

Ditka's is attached to the toney and upscale Tremont Hotel, one of the many boutique hotels around downtown Chicago.  I've never stayed at the Tremont, but I've been in the hotel a few times for meetings.  It's a very nice place.

We got into Ditka's around 7:00 p.m. and the dining area downstairs was packed, mainly because of the Bears game earlier in the day.  It would be about an hour and a half wait.  The hostess asked if we would like to eat up in the bar area upstairs.  I looked at Cindy and she said, "That's fine."

Well, the table they sat us at was a high table with no chair backs.  I knew it wasn't going to work for Cindy, so we went back to the hostess to see if we could get seated at a regular table or a booth.  She didn't have anything available right away, but then a table for four opened up away from the bar.  She said, "Oh, will that work?"

The only problem is that in Ditka's bar area they allow for smoking of cigars.  There were two or three guys sitting there smoking cigars, much to the consternation of Cindy.  I said, "OK, look.  We can go elsewhere or we can wait for a table to open up downstairs.  Either way, we're not going to be eating for over an hour." 

She said, "Oh, no.  This is fine.  I don't know why they have to smoke cigars in a bar."

Well, if it were a little over a week later, it wouldn't have happened as Illinois' new public smoking ban would have gone into law on January 1.  But it was December 23rd.  We had to live with it. 

We got our menus and ordered some drinks.  I got an Old Style, Eric got a Coke, and Cindy got a glass of the Beaulieu Vineyards Cabernet.  Actually, Ditka's boasts quite possibly the largest wine by the glass list I've ever seen.  They had to have over 30 different wines by the glass to choose from.

Ditka's is famous for steak, steak and more steak.  It's truly a Midwestern steak house.  Cindy had been hankering for a T-Bone steak and they had a 24 oz. T-Bone on the menu.  She didn't even hesitate when she ordered it.  Eric got the 16 oz. blackened prime rib and I got the 20 oz. bone-in prime rib.  We also got a side of red skin smashed potatoes, large enough for each of us to have a small amount.  And we also got a wedge salad cut into thirds for us, like we did at Brick's the night before. 

The bar area was loud and somewhat smoky.  Ditka's bar area has four large air exchange units that were working to help keep the area free of smoke.  But more people were coming in after the football game and smoking at the bar, so it was tough.  Cindy wasn't too happy. 

After finishing our wedge salad (which was very good, buy the way), our main entrees showed up.  Man, the steak and prime rib all looked bigger than advertised.  Eric's prime rib looked to be well more than 16 oz.  And Cindy's T-Bone was HUGE!!  She just licked her chops and dug in. 

My bone-in prime rib was good.  Not as good as I've had in the past, but good enough.  It was cooked a perfect medium rare.  But it was a lot of meat.  I could barely finish the thing.  Eric had problems finishing his, so we had it boxed up to take back to the room. 

And Cindy - well, she never ceases to amaze me.  She'll probably kill me for saying this, but she finished the whole thing!   I don't cook T-Bone's on the grill at home all that much, but that seems to be her favorite cut of meat.  She just devoured the whole thing.  She said it was very good.

Ditka's wasn't cheap - it was $140 bucks before taxes and tip.  The waitress that took care of us was very good.  They were always filling water glasses or Eric's glass of pop.  Other than the smoky, bar-like atmosphere that Cindy didn't care for, it was very good.  Except she wants to come back some time to eat in the peace and quiet - and no smoke - of the dining room downstairs.

Before we left, we took a look around the hallways going back toward the bathrooms at the pictures and memorabilia on the walls.  A lot of it had to do with Ditka, but a lot of it was old time pro football items, too.  It was pretty cool to see. 

Because it is attached to the Tremont Hotel, Ditka's also serves breakfast and lunch.  But if you're into sports, especially football, Ditka's is a neat place to go to.  Even if you're not, I highly recommend the place.  The food is great, if not a little expensive.  But the service was good and they were as accommodating as they could be.  We'll go back sometime.