Road Tips

Deeter's - Carmel, IN

I've been spending a lot of time out in Indianapolis since I put on a new dealer there late last year.  Not long ago, I had a special showing of the Focal Alto Be loudspeakers at Ovation Ultimate in Castleton one evening.  After the event, I took the store manager, Duke, and the salesman, James, out for dinner.  Duke was trying to figure out a place to go and he said, "Oh, I know!  Deeter's!"

Duke explained that Deeter's was the "casual" part of the famous Glass Chimney restaurant in nearby Carmel.  I'd eaten at the Glass Chimney one time about 15 years ago and it was very good.  Deeter's is attached to the Glass Chimney and is named after the owner, Dieter Puska.  Puska opened The Glass Chimney in 1976.  It has long been known as "the" place for exquisite food in the great Indianapolis area.  He moved to the present location in Carmel (see map) in 1979.  He had the space in the building to open Deeter's, which he viewed as a more casual alternative to the upscale restaurant.  He called it "Deeter's" because he didn't want people to think it was pronounced "Diet-ers" and customers may think the place was a health food restaurant.   

However, Duke was telling me that Deiter Puska was retiring and he couldn't find a buyer worthy to buy the restaurants.  He was planning on closing the doors to both restaurants in a few days after we visited.  Duke said, "I want to go to Deeter's one last time."

Well, fair enough.  I like these guys and we decided to go all out for the evening. 

Most of the waitresses at Deeter's have been here for a number of years and it would be sad to see them all get laid off after Dieter retired.  We had one especially spunky older waitress who was fun to talk with. 

She gave us our menus and told us of some specials they had for appetizers and dinner specials that evening.  We ended up getting some before dinner drinks and I ordered a bottle of  chardonnay wine.

We were kind of hung up on a number of the appetizer, so we each decided to order something different from the appetizers specials that evening and try a little bit of everything.  I ordered the Oyster martini, Duke got the Prince Edward Island clams and James got the Spinach and Cheese raviolis.  They all sounded great. 

A number of the same food items that are on the menu at The Glass Chimney are on the menu at Deeter's.  Deeter's is definitely more of a casual "pub-like" atmosphere compared to the staid and elegant restaurant next door.  Comparing the two, I felt more comfortable in Deeter's than when I ate at The Glass Chimney years ago. 

When our appetizers came, we ordered up our main entree.  Duke was telling me the Veal Schnitzel was absolutely the best.  But I'd had jaegerschnitzel - veal schnitzel - the night before at The Rathskeller.  But Duke was adamant that Deeter's was the best.  So I took Duke's advice and went with the Veal Schnitzel with a side of red cabbage.  Duke got the exact same thing.  James went with the pasta special that evening which was beef and prociutto tortellini in a white sauce.   That sounded good, too.  James and Duke got the house salads and I got a cup of the lobster bisque.

The appetizers were very good.  The PEI clams were steamed perfectly.  I really liked the oyster martini, a large martini glass filled with shucked oysters and a spicy seafood sauce.  And the spinach and cheese ravioli was very good, as well.  It was almost too much food to have before the main entree showed up.

After the lobster bisque and salads, our food came out.  I have to tell you, my eyes must have gotten huge looking at the two large veal cutlets covered in breading they had on my plate.  There was no way I was going to be able to eat both pieces, let alone one.

However, I have to say that if Duke thought Deeter's veal schnitzel was the best, I would have to beg to differ.  The veal schnitzel at the Rathskeller walked all over the fare at Deeter's.   There was some taste to the schnitzel that was, well, it tasted burnt.  I didn't want to complain to Duke as he appeared to be devouring his veal schnitzel.  Still, I was able to finish one, but that was it.   Duke could only finish one of his cutlets of veal schnitzel, as well.  He said, "I'm going to take this other one home to my wife.  She's going to love this." 

I offered to give him my other cutlet and he jumped at the chance.  I wouldn't have eaten it even if I had a fridge to put it in.  Frankly, it wasn't that good. 

James' tortellini was "wonderful".  It did look very good.  I was sort of sorry I didn't go for something like that instead.  Oh well...

We were talking with the waitress about the two restaurants closing in a few days and she said, "Oh, we're not closing.  Dieter sold the restaurant to some people.  Everything is moving forward."

Dieter sold the restaurant to Corbin and James Roudebush, two real estate developers in Carmel, and Corbin's wife, Judith.   They plan to keep everything the same.  And it appears that with the exception of the retiring Dieter Puska, everyone else is staying on board.

Since Deeter's is staying in business, I'll have to give it another try sometime down the line.  You don't stay in business for nearly 30 years by having bad food.  But I'll probably stay away from the veal schnitzel.    

(Update - I haven't been back to Deeter's or Glass Chimney for awhile and I understand that Deeter's is now closed.  The Glass Chimney is still open, but I guess that Deeter's has closed.)

I'm in France!

Right now, I'm in France for the unveiling of the new Focal Utopia G3 loudspeakers along with my North American sales colleagues and a handful of dealers from across Canada and the U.S.  On Tuesday evening, I flew from Moline to Detroit, then took an overnight flight to Amsterdam.  We arrived in Lyon, France on Wednesday mid-afternoon.  

After touring the cabinet factory on Thursday, we heard the new speaker today.  We've had some great meals and some good wine and I'll be sure to report on all the particulars.

But what I'm looking forward to is a performance tomorrow night of Diana Krall at the Jazz a Vienne 2008 festival that runs on weekends from mid-June to mid-July in Lyon.  The festival is held at an ancient amphitheater built by the Romans when Lyon was part of the ancient Roman Empire.  I'm sort of looking forward to that.

Then it will be a short night as I have a 7 a.m. flight from Lyon to Amsterdam (12 midnight back in Iowa), then going on to Minneapolis/St. Paul and home around 5 p.m. on Sunday.  This will be my shortest trip to France, which is fine with me.  But this will be the first time that I'm not in Paris for at least one night.   

Look for some of my France entries in the coming days!

The Sirius/XM Merger and Comcast aligns with the Big Ten Network

There have been a couple announcements in the past few days that have stoked the fire in the general public's clamoring for unified satellite radio, and to see their favorite Big Ten team on their local cable outlet.  The first announcement was the blessing by Federal Communication Commission chief Kevin Martin for the merger between XM and Sirius satellite radio.  Martin said that he backs the merger and  said that the transaction satisfied the requirement of being “in the public interest” with the conditions that the companies had accepted.

Some of the conditions set forth by the FCC was converting 24 channels to be run by minority and/or non-commercial ventures.  The FCC also said that subscription rates to the combined service could not be raised for three years more than the current $12.95 per month fee both XM and Sirius now impose.   And the merged company would have to work with radio and audio manufacturers to help develop and sell compatible radio receivers, including HD radio receivers.  This will also be beneficial to manufacturers in the audio industry who, for a long time, wanted to incorporate satellite radio tuners in stereo and home theater receivers, but were gun shy in doing so due to the competing formats.  XM and Sirius radio tuners are not compatible with one another.  

I've been driving around a rental car for the past 10 days that has a Sirius receiver as part of the radio.  I programmed 18 stations into the radio (six stations per auxiliary tier on the radio).  What I've been finding myself listening to more than anything are the Classic Vinyl and Classic Rewind stations on Sirius.  They also have a channel called "The Vault" where they play obscure music from the late 60's and early 70's.  During a long, boring drive in North Dakota, I found myself playing a little game to see if I could recognize the artist before hitting the text button on the radio to see the song title and the artist.  They also have a station called "The Spectrum" that plays adult oriented rock music.  That's kind of interesting to listen to, as well.

The one music station that I like is something called "Iceberg Radio" which showcases Canadian independent artists.  They call themselves "an adult alternative" station that plays a wide mix of eclectic music.  It's no one I've ever heard of - although they did have a Robbie Robertson song on the other day.  But for the most part, it's pretty interesting to listen to. 

My friend, Bill Hesson, has Sirius and he listens primarily to Channel 74 - the Blues Channel.  I have the Blues Channel programmed as my first button on the first tier.  But after listening to it for a while, I found the songs to be all sounding the same.  I pop it on every once in a while, but I find the channel boring compared to other blues stations I've heard with "over the air" radio.  Still, it was better than some of the over-the-air offerings you'll find in Western North Dakota.

I haven't pulled the trigger on either XM or Sirius because there's things on XM that aren't available on Sirius, and vice-versa.  But with the anticipated vote by the FCC governors in the coming weeks, it could mean that program offerings that were exclusive to XM before - like Major League Baseball - would be available to Sirius customers.  And the NFL, available on Sirius, would be available to XM customers.  Seriously, that's the major reason why I haven't gotten either one is because of the difference in sports programming. 

Speaking of sports programming, the largest cable provider in the nation, Comcast, has finally come to an agreement with the Big Ten Conference to carry the Big Ten Network.  As I reported here in March, the Big Ten Network finally blinked and backed down from their initial demands of putting the channel on basic cable channels and charging cable companies $1.10 per subscriber.  Only ESPN would have had a higher charge per subscriber.  

And it was exactly a year ago today when the now infamous blog entry - "Comcast to Big Ten Network - 'Blow it Out Your Ass'!" - was posted on this site.  The entry remains one of the top five most viewed posts on "Road Tips".  A year ago, it appeared there would be no hope for any agreement between Comcast and the Big Ten Network, especially after Big Ten officials pushed for an apology from the cable provider after a Comcast executive called the Big Ten Network's offerings as "second and third tier programming."  The thing about it is, at less than a year old, that's a pretty correct statement.

Comcast reportedly will pay between 70 and 80 cents per subscriber in the Big Ten footprint, still a hefty fee compared to other channels offered on cable.  Plus Comcast will air the network on their expanded basic service in the states of Illinois, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio, Minnesota and Indiana.  The Big Ten Network will allow Comcast in Philadelphia put the network on a digital tier.  In 2009, Comcast has the option of moving the network to a digital tier.  However, beginning in August, Comcast customers will have the Big Ten Network available via cable, broadband and video-on-demand services. 

The Big Ten Network is hoping Comcast's agreement with the conference will expedite the remaining large cable providers in the Midwest - Mediacom, Time Warner and Charter - to come to an agreement before the 2008 football season begins in late August.  In an article in the Des Moines Register, a Mediacom official said he was hopeful the Big Ten Network would be as flexible in negotiations with them as they were with Comcast. 

As reported in the Quad City Times, Phyllis Peters, senior manager of communications for Mediacom’s North Central Region, said, so far, that flexibility has not been offered to Iowa’s largest cable operator during previous talks with network officials.

“We welcome any flexibility other than the ‘our way or no way’ discussions we have had in the past,’’ Peters said. “The flexibility we hear about in their arrangement with Comcast is a change from previous conversations. It’s a positive sign from our perspective.’’

Officials at Wisconsin, Ohio State and Iowa have grown weary of the barrage of criticism from fans and alumni in not getting the conference to work with Charter, Time Warner and Mediacom - all three, ironically, are the largest cable provider in those particular states, respectively.  I'm sure school officials are hopeful that once the Comcast agreement is cast in stone, the other cable providers will fall in line.

The Comcast agreement will allow the Big Ten Network to be shown in up to 55 million homes nationwide, and it nearly doubles the current homes in the Big Ten region from 6.2 million to about 13 million.  Mediacom, with 900,000 subscribers in the Midwest, would significantly raise the total number of homes that would have access to the network.  

I'm all for the network, considering that I believe Iowa will be better in football and basketball this coming year versus last year.  But it remains to be seen if the Big Ten Network will have enough viable programming other than football and men's basketball to garner the audience the advertisers are looking for.   

And as an end to this, our main television died about a month ago.  I either have to get it fixed or pop for a new one before the football season starts.  I'm hoping Mediacom will have the Big Ten Network by the end of August.  If they don't, I'll still be able to go to some bars to catch the games.  And the money I've saved on not buying a new TV or fixing the old one can go into more beers for at the bar.

Oh, yeah.  My wife's gonna go for that...

Hampton Inn East - Indianapolis

Many times I write about good experiences I have at hotels and will highly recommend staying there.  However, this is a story of a rather bad experience I had recently at the Hampton Inn - East in Indianapolis. At this point, stay away from this place at all costs. 

First of all, I'm a Diamond level member of the Hilton Honors frequent customer club.  The Diamond level means that you stay at a Hilton property a minimum of 30 nights a year.  I can do that in three months, so I've racked up a lot of points that can be used for free night stays.  And since I have over 400,000 points at this point, I'm sort of indentured to Hilton hotels.  Right now, we have enough American Airlines points and Hilton points to go to Hawaii free for 10 days.  All we'd have to pay for would be food, drink, and a rental car.  I'd like to do that next year. 

Now, I also want to point out that rates at Hampton Inn's have risen tremendously over the past few years.  I remember when I first began to stay at Hampton's on a regular basis about nine years ago, most of the rooms were around $69 to $79 a night.   When I started with my present company and we were told that we had no limit on our travel expenses, I started to stay in Hampton Inn's or other Hilton properties almost exclusively.  Prices for a Hampton Inn have gone from $89 to $99 to nearly $130 dollars and higher for a night's stay.  

A few of the Hampton's have upgraded their rooms, but the precipitous rise in room rates haven't meant that all Hampton's are in great shape.  Case in point - one of the first hotel properties I wrote about on this blog was the Hampton Inn in Addison, IL.  The hotel had just opened about four years ago and each time I went into Chicago, I always tried to get a room in there. 

The last couple of visits I had to that Hampton Inn have been far from stellar.  Suddenly, a number of things are starting to show some wear and tear - torn and dirty carpets, peeling wall paper, room chairs that are increasingly uncomfortable, refrigerators that don't work properly.  I couldn't believe that place was only about four years old the last time I stayed there.  I haven't been staying there all that much when I've been going into Chicago. 

I usually spend my nights in Indianapolis at the Hilton Garden Inn up in Fishers.  It's a nice place and it's close to my dealer in Castleton.  Plus - there's a Hampton Inn literally two blocks away from my dealer, but the Hilton Garden Inn is actually CHEAPER than the Hampton Inn.  However, on this trip, I had to do an all-day presentation for a distributor on the east side of Indianapolis and I decided to stay at the Hampton Inn - East.

I got into the hotel around 10 p.m. and checked in at the front desk.  The lobby area looked nice and I was hoping the room was just as good.  I usually try to get a room on the first floor, but they only had a king room on the second floor for me that evening. 

When I got into the elevator, I noticed the floor was stained and it looked like the inner doors of the elevator had been dented by someone kicking at them.  I didn't think much about that, but that all changed when I started to walk down the hall to my room.  The hallway carpet was torn and stained, doors looked like they'd be beat on and there were chips of wood missing on many of the doors. 

But when I got into my room, I certainly wasn't ready for what I saw.  All the lights in the room were on.  Both the TV and the radio were on.  All the drawers in the dressers, night stand and workspace were opened like someone had been rifling through them.  And the bed looked like it was made backwards with the bed spread turned down at the end of the bed instead of up by the head board. 

I was sort of perplexed by all of this and I wondered what the hell was going on.  I then looked at the door and it looked like it had been busted in at some point and then someone did a half-assed repair job on it.  Well, by this time, I'm beginning to think, "What in the hell have I gotten myself into?"

I thought about going down to the front desk and telling the desk clerk that the room wasn't acceptable, but it was late and I didn't want to hassle with having to either move from the room or move to a different hotel.  I'd stayed in worse hotels before and was no worse for the wear.  But I certainly didn't expect that from a Hampton Inn.  

As I went around the room to turn the lights off and to close the drawers, I noticed wall paper peeling away and the curtains were torn.  And then when I went to turn off the light by the couch, it didn't have an on-off switch.  I had to reach behind the couch to pull the plug out of the wall. 

I went into the bathroom and noticed tiles near the tub were missing, as were bits of wall paper.  And there was sort of a black stain - possibly mold - that was on the grout in the tub area.  I thought, "OK, I know I'm supposed to be here two nights, but I'll find another place for tomorrow night."

As I was setting up my computer, I looked around for a plug-in for my computer's power supply.  The closest receptacle was behind the dresser with the television on top of it.  And I would have either had to unplug the television or the desk lamp to plug in the power supply.  That is, if I would have moved the dresser out with the heavy television on top of it.  So I stretched my power cord over to an outlet over by the bathroom.  Thankfully, the power cord that comes with my power supply is about eight feet long.  But still, most hotels I stay in have a desk lamp that has an outlet for computers on the base of the lamp.  It was like the work space in this room was almost an afterthought. 

One other thing, and it's not all that big.  I'm a Hilton Diamond member, meaning that I've stayed Hilton properties enough that I get some perks along the way.  At Hampton Inns, I'm to receive a bottle of water and a snack.  The snack I don't care much about, but the bottle of water is big to me.  And, of course, there was no snack or bottle of water to be had. 

I booked a room at the Hilton Garden Inn up in Fishers for the next evening and went to bed.  But before I went to bed, I shot off an e-mail to my colleagues blasting this Hampton Inn and expressing my dismay at Hampton Inn's as a whole for escalating prices. 

The next morning, I got up, prepared for the day, packed up and checked out.  I went to the front desk and I told the desk clerk that I was checking out a day early.  She said, "Was everything satisfactory with your room?"

I said, "Well, actually, no."  And I went on a two minute diatribe about all the things that were wrong with the room and how I found it when I walked in the night before. 

She looked sort of puzzled and then she said, "Ohhh...  I know what happened."  And she proceeded to tell me that when a housekeeper finishes cleaning a room for a new guest, they're instructed to turn on all the lights, open the drawers and turn on the TV and radio.  Then the head housekeeper is supposed to come in with my bottle of water and snack, and she'll turn off some of the lights, TV and radio, close the drawers and the closet door and then finish with the bed.  The desk clerk said, "I'm guessing that didn't happen in your room." 

I'd never heard of that procedure before, but I guess it does make sense.  They want to make sure the previous guest didn't leave anything in the drawers and that all the electrical products work for the next guest.  But it was sure a weird way to find this out. 

Now, at this point, I fully expected her to say, "What can I do to keep you here tonight?"  Or, at the very least, "What can I do to make you happy?"  Hampton Inn does have a 100% satisfaction guarantee and she didn't even bring that up.  She handed me my receipt and she said, "Have a nice day, sir." 

I thought about pressing it with the Hilton corporation, then thought, "If she was so indifferent to the whole thing, then that's a hotel I'm just crossing off my list." 

So later in the week, I'm traveling along and I got a phone call from my colleague, Simon, who was traveling in New Jersey.  He said, "Man, I thought about you last night.  I checked into my room at a Hampton Inn, I opened the door to my room and it was exactly like you said the other night.  Lights were on, television and radio was blaring, drawers and closet doors were wide open."

I told him what the deal was and he said, "Well, that's what they told me when I called down to the front desk to complain.  The next thing I know, here comes some Hispanic lady to the door and she proceeds to turn off the lights, close the drawers and finish making the bed.  It was kind of funny."  

So, that's my story about the Hampton Inn - East in Indianapolis.  I'm beginning to be sort of disillusioned about some of the Hampton Inn's I've stayed in recently.  Many have undergone some nice upgrades, but a few haven't and they continue to charge what I think are exorbitant prices for their rooms.  There's a lot of places to stay, and people aren't travel all that much this summer. You'd think you'd want to put your best foot forward and spruce up the place.  Obviously, this place didn't want to.  

The Death of George Carlin

The death of George Carlin this last Sunday robs the world of an immeasurable talent, the likes of which we may never see again.  Carlin's monologues were designed to get a rise out of certain sectors of the masses and he definitely had no sacred cows in his bag.  He loved to push the envelope and, for that, he was a true pioneer in modern stand up comedy.

I saw Carlin in person three times - two times in Iowa City and once in Des Moines.  At one of the two shows I saw him in Iowa City, a buddy and I had front row seats.  Carlin had just started his tour schedule  after a summer lay-off and he had notes on his stool on stage - generally a major no-no for comedians.  He didn't apologize for the notes, just saying that he had "too much shit to talk about tonight and he didn't want to forget anything." 

At the performance in Des Moines, Carlin went off on farmer subsidies from the federal government.  I thought it was a rather ballsy move on his part, considering he was right smack dab in the middle of the corn belt.  As he ranted on and on about how farmers were screwing the federal government, a guy and his wife seated in front of us - and he looked like he was a typical Iowa farmer - got up and walked out.   My date and I looked at each other and she said, "Wow!"

I remember Carlin from the early sixties when he was a buttoned down, short-haired comedian when he was trying to gain a foothold in the New York entertainment scene.  The first time I actually saw Carlin begin the metamorphosis from an "establishment" comedian to the counter-culture comedian was when he did his famous "Newscast" routine in the mid-60's.  Part of the routine was his portrayal of the "Hippie Dippie Weatherman".  You can hear the routine by clicking here.   It wasn't long after that where he grew his hair long and began to sport a beard. 

Of course, while growing up in high school, every friend I had could literally recite Carlin's album, Class Clown.  The album contained the popular "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television".   Carlin gained notoriety for the routine and established himself as the flag bearer for the legions of comedians who followed. 

However, in some of the specials I've watched Carlin perform on HBO over the past few years, he seemed to be slowly slipping into a ranting old man persona.  While he could still be sharp and biting with his tongue, his routines began to sound like a guy who was just about fed up with everything and everybody.  Carlin was the best at observational humor, but that had fallen by the wayside in favor of a more acerbic and preachy style of monologue in his later years. 

Carlin's quick wit, his clever sideways intelligence and his gift of truly analyzing the English language will be missed.  He was a trailblazer for a whole generation of comics and comedic actors.  And the irreverent Carlin truly pushed the buttons of a lot of people who he could make stop and think for a few moments after they'd wiped the tears out of their eyes from laughing so hard.   

The Rathskeller - Indianapolis

One of my favorite places to eat in Indianapolis is the Rathskeller located in the downtown area (see map).  The Rathskeller serves up some outstanding German food and has been doing so since 1894, making it the oldest continuous restaurant in Indianapolis.  I had the pleasure of having dinner there one evening on a recent trip to Indy. 

As I said, the restaurant has been in business since the 19th century and is housed in the basement of the historic Athenaeum Building.  The building was designed by Clemons Vonnegut, the grandfather of the great American author, Kurt Vonnegut.  It was originally called "Das Deutsch Haus" (The German House) until World War I when anti-German sentiment was high in the community.  The building housed a gymnasium, a theater and numerous associations.  Today, the building still houses a YMCA and the American Cabaret Theater.

The Rathskeller has seven separate dining areas that can seat and serve anywhere from 20 to 500 people.  They also have a great "bier garten" area where they have live music in the summertime.  It's really quite a fun place to be. 

I got into the Rathskeller a little after 8 p.m. one evening and I was shown to my table in one of the dining rooms.  I could hear live music being played in the bar area and there seemed to be a nice crowd of people having dinner in the restaurant.  I got a menu from the hostess as I sat down and took a quick look at what they had to offer.  But before I could fully get into the menu, a waiter came over and asked what I'd like to drink.  The Rathskeller has an extensive list of beersfrom Germany, Belgium, the UK and a number of good domestic beers, as well.  I ordered a Warsteiner on tap, but told him I may change my mind on the next beer. 

While he was getting my beer, I was able to look over what they had to offer for dinner that evening.  The Rathskeller is sort of unique compared to other true German restaurants in that they offer a full selection of food from steaks and chops, to seafood and pasta.  But I was looking for some good ol' traditional "stick to yer ribs" German food that evening. 

I remember having their Sauerbraten before - marinated tender slices of beef topped with a brown ginger gravy.  It's truly heavenly.  And I was looking at their pork schnitzel - a breaded pork cutlet topped with a lemon cream gravy.  That sounded killer. 

But I ended up going with the Jaegerschnitzel - veal cutlets topped with mushrooms, garlic and herbs in a rich red wine sauce.  I got to choose two sides to go along with the meal, so I selected red cabbage and sauerkraut.  Thankfully, no one was going to rooming with me that evening. 

The interior of the Rathskeller probably hasn't changed in a number of years.  It has an elegance to the place that makes it look rather regal, but it's also very comfortable and cozy at the same time.  I was dressed in jeans and a polo shirt and there were people in there in shorts, as well as people dressed in coats and ties.  I didn't feel uncomfortable at all. 

After about 15 minutes, my dinner showed up.  Oh man!  Was it ever good.  The veal cutlets were moist and tender, but the mushroom/herb/garlic and red wine brown gravy was just to die for.  I had a basket of homemade bread and I used a couple slices to help capture every bit of the gravy on my plate.  It was heavenly.

The sauerkraut and red cabbage were perfect compliments to the meal.  Both were very fresh and very flavorful.  The taste sensations were off the chart that evening. 

After dinner, I wandered into the Kellerbar, the Rathskeller's main bar area, to look around.  It's a stately place that offers a number of beers on tap and also has a late night menu on the weekends.  The blues band that was playing that evening was on a break and I thought about having a beer before heading to my hotel.  But I was so stuffed and satiated from my meal that I decided to head out.

There's a reason the Rathskeller has been around since 1894, and why it's been named "Best German Restaurant in Indy" for a number of years.  The food is great, the atmosphere has old world charm, and the service is wonderful.  it's a great place to eat and I'll be back time and time again.

Steve's Pizza Palace - River Falls, WI

My old next door neighbor, Eric Page, grew up in River Falls, WI , about 35 miles from the Twin Cities.  He always talked about this pizza place called Steve's Pizza Palace in River Falls.  He used to work there growing up and he said on many occasions to me, "It's the best pizza in the world.  Yes, the world."

I was on my way up to Minneapolis from Milwaukee not long ago - a long drive, to say the least.  What had me going was that I would be able to stop into Steve's for a pizza along the way as River Falls wasn't that far off the interstate.

River Falls is a nice little town.  The University of Wisconsin-River Falls is located there and it's a pretty good school.  The town had a certain "Main Street USA" feel to it.  

I drove through town and into the downtown area of River Falls.  I found Steve's pizza (see map) and pulled up in front of the place just ready to try this pizza.  I could tell by the narrow width of the front of the building it wasn't a big place. 

Steve's Pizza Palace actually began in 1964 in Platteville, WI when a Greek immigrant by the name of Steve Blatkos opened a pizza place.   Steve and his wife, Stella, ran the business for four years before they sold the restaurant to Stella's brothers, John and Nick Zaimes.  The Zaimes brothers ran Steve's for 12 years until they sold it to another brother, Patrick. 

During all of this, Steve's opened a second location in River Falls and it was run by Paul Poulios.  Poulios invited his sister and brother-in-law, Eleni and Panagiotis Patakos, to move over from Greece to join him in River Falls.  The Patakos' and their two children, John and Niki, also made the move to River Falls. 

John Patakos worked in the Steve's Pizza Palace from the age of 15 to 22.  He went to school at UW-River Falls during the day and managed the Steve's Pizza Palace at night.  John ended up buying the Steve's Pizza Palace in Platteville.  Meanwhile, the Poulios family continue to run the Steve's in River Falls today.  

The inside of Steve's isn't much.  There's a small entry area next to the kitchen and then a small dining area with a number of 2 and 4 person booths and a few tables.  There weren't many people in the place that evening.  In fact, I got to looking around and I was the only male in the house.  

A waitress came over to give me a menu and asked me for my drink order.  I said, "Look, I already know what I want.  A guy who used to work here said this place has the best pizza in the world."

She said, "Yeah, it's pretty good.  At least a lot of people seem to think so."

I ordered a 12" sausage, mushroom and pepperoni and got a beer while I waited.  And while I waited I text-messaged Eric and said, "Sitting at Steve's Pizza in River Falls."  

He texted me back and asked, "Do they know me?"

I replied, "The only person I talked to so far is the waitress and she was probably in grade school when you worked here." 

It was about a twenty minute wait for my pizza, long enough to down a couple beers after a long trip from Milwaukee.  And when the waitress brought out the pizza, I could immediately see what Eric had been talking about.  

It was a great thin crust pizza, just the way I like it.  It wasn't crisp, nor was it chewy.  And each of the cut squares had a large chunk of sausage on it.  I let it cool down for a bit and then I took a bite.  From the first taste I was hooked.  It was fantastic!  Was it the best I'd ever had?  I don't know, but it was very, very good.  The cheese and toppings were wonderful.  And when I got into the "honey pot" pieces in the center, it was all I could do to keep the toppings on without them falling off.  

I couldn't finish a whole pizza, but I made a serious dent in the thing.  It was absolutely fabulous.  

When I went up to pay, I told the girl who was ringing me up that a friend of mine used to work there.  She said, "What's his name?"

I said, "Eric Page."

She said, "Oh, yeah.  I know Eric.  I'm best friends with his younger sister."  It turned out that her name was Aleka and was the daughter of Paul Poulios.  She manages Steve's Pizza Palace for her parents.  She told me to tell Eric "hello".  

After I got out of the place, I called Eric up and he said, "So, what did you think?"

I said, "It's damn good.  Very damn good.  You were right."

He said, "See?  That's why every time we go back to River Falls to see the family, we always call and order a pizza from Steve's when we're about a half-hour out of town so we can have one when we get there."

He suggested that we go to the one in Platteville sometime.  It might be kind of tough since his wife, Molly, is nearly 8 months pregnant.  Maybe Eric and I will have to have a "Boys Day Out" sometime before the baby shows up.  I can only hope the one in Platteville is as good as the one in River Falls.  I'd love to get back there sometime.      

The Flood of 2008 - Part II

You have to be living in a cave to not know of the devastating floods we've been having in Iowa over the past couple of weeks.  Cedar Falls, Waterloo, Cedar Rapids, Iowa City and a number of smaller cities have seen tremendous devastation in the past few days.  And cities south of the Quad Cities, such as Burlington, Keokuk, Quincy and Hannibal, are bracing for tremendous flood crests along the Mississippi.

Cedar Rapids and Iowa City have had the lion's share of media coverage from around the nation.  Both cities have been debilitated over the past few days.  Here's a picture of downtown Cedar Rapids courtesy of the Cedar Rapids Gazette.

Here is a picture my friend, Bill Hesson, sent along of the Iowa River inundating the University of Iowa in Iowa City.  I'm not certain where he got this picture, but it's pretty impressive showing the water levels along the river invading up to 16 buildings on campus.    

This is the second major flood we've had in the Quad Cities this year.  That doesn't happen very often.  For pictures of the first flood, click here.

This flood is bigger than the first one back in April.  The crest ended up being 21.3 feet - 6.3 feet above flood stage, but 1.3 feet under the record 22.6 mark from the Flood of 1993.  Davenport didn't have anywhere close to the flood damage other Iowa cities have had - mainly because the Mississippi came up more slowly than the Iowa and Cedar Rivers.  Preliminary forecasts had the Mississippi topping out just under 20 feet in Davenport, but a nearly 5-inch rain we had last Thursday night helped push the level to over 21 feet. 

I went down to take some pictures of the flooding along River Drive and the Davenport river front on Monday.  This is at the corner of River Drive and Iowa St. with Lock and Dam 15 in the back ground.  River Drive goes down under a railroad viaduct at this point, so the water is probably 20 to 25 feet deep right here. 

This is the Arsenal Bridge that connects the Iowa side of the river to the Rock Island Arsenal.  The bridge was not shut down as City of Davenport did a good job of keeping the approach open. 

The picture on the right is of Modern Woodman Ballpark along the banks of the Mississippi.  With the flood in April, I was able to get across River Drive and into the parking lot.  The water levels weren't all that deep right here.  But, with all the crap that is in the river during floods, I wouldn't even dare to tip toe through the water to get a closer look.

Here's a picture of Modern Woodman Park from the air, courtesy of the Quad City Times.  With the new flood berm and flood gates in place the field is high and dry, even though there's water surrounding the stadium.  The Quad City River Bandits had constructed a bridge that goes over the flood waters allowing fans to be able to get to the stadium. 

This is the infamous "sky bridge" in downtown Davenport that heads over to the Rhythm City Casino.  The bridge was designed to allow patrons to continue to go to the casino during floods.  But just as it was back in April, the casino was closed.  I was talking to Marcy Hyder, who is the events coordinator for Davenport One, and whose husband, Mo,, is the VP and GM of the Rhythm City Casino.  I said, "Marcy, why does the casino close?  I thought the sky bridge was supposed to allow it to stay open."

She said, "Emergency services can't get to the boat during a flood.  Well, they could, but they'd have to go up and across the sky bridge and then down to the boat.  And that would be a pain and take too long. "

I'm sure the people who came up with the sky bridge idea didn't think that one out all the way.

But the sky bridge does offer some good views of the flood.  This is looking west into LeClaire Park along the riverfront.  Davenport is the largest city along the Mississippi that does not have a flood wall.  This has been a major bone of contention with FEMA over the years who have helped the city with past floods.  But I have to tell you - walking along the river front in the summertime when the river is safely in its banks is one of the hallmarks of living in Davenport.

Here is the Levee Inn in front of the casino.  As I said in my post from last April, the Levee Inn is sort of a de facto monument to previous floods.  The Flood of 1993 ended up just on the underside of the awning.  The Levee Inn hasn't been open for a number of years and I'm not certain anyone would be foolish enough to reopen the place. 

This is looking east along River Drive.  Once again, the city did a good job of keeping water out of establishments along River Drive such as Front Street Brewery.  However, Front Street was forced to close last Thursday night due to smoke damage from a warehouse fire next door to the brewery.  Geez, if it isn't a flood that nails those Front Street people, it's a fire next door.  I hope they re-open soon. 

And this is looking west along River Drive.  The water is creeping up past River Drive, but well short of 2nd Street where it hit during 1993.  Water is receding now, but it will still be a few days before the river fully gets back in its banks.  And because of that, it will be touch and go for the 2008 Blues Festival being held at LeClaire Park on July 3 thru 5.  I'm hoping it dries out before then as LeClaire Park is a great place to stage a festival. 

Here is the fountain at the foot of Main Street.  They've been talking about restoring the fountain someday, but I'm sure the occasional floods may have city leaders rethinking that little plan. 

We've been pretty lucky over the past three or four years as I can only remember one time when the waters came out of the river.  It wasn't all that bad, either.  I think it got a foot over flood stage which puts a little bit of water along the levee in LeClaire Park.  But now Mother Nature caught up with us and let us know that she and Old Man River can still screw around with us from time to time.

Au Jus - Milan, IL

A new restaurant opened recently in the Quad Cities - Au Jus.  Located on the far south side of the metro area in Milan, IL (see map), it's owned by Paul Lerminez and chef Randall Byrd.  Lerminez's son, Matt, is the operating manager of Au Jus.

 

Byrd is the former executive chef at Bud's Skyline Inn, one of our favorite restaurants in the area.  Byrd and Paul Lerminez opened Au Jus in August of 2007 in a building that used to house the Hodge Podge lounge in Milan.  From the outside, it's not much to look at, looking more like a roadhouse bar than a nice supper club restaurant. 

Cindy had heard about the place and she said she heard they had a Sunday breakfast buffet.  We went over there on a Sunday around 10 a.m. and pulled into an empty parking lot.  I said, "Well, either they're closed or they have a really shitty buffet."  It turned out they were closed.  I'm sure it probably didn't make sense for them to be open on Sunday mornings.

We ended up going back over on a Saturday night recently.   Au Jus calls itself a neighborhood bar and grill and there were a lot of people seated at the large square bar in the main room.  We were seated at a large table in the main room as all the booths were full of people.  It was actually a little loud and a little bright in the room, but it was manageable. 

And there were all types of people in there - some nice dressed ladies at the bar for what appeared to be a "girls night out".  Guys who looked like they were construction workers in t-shirts and jeans.  A number of older people were semi-dressed up and having dinner.  Three or four guys looked like they'd just come off the golf course.  There were families in there with kids dressed in baseball or soccer uniforms.  The clientele was sort of all over the place.

We both got a menu from our waitress and started looking over the offerings.  Right away, we could see that Randall Byrd had brought a lot of Bud's Skyline Inn with him.  In fact, I said, "Geez, this is exactly like Bud's menu."  And the salad bar was almost exactly the same as Bud's, right down to the great pickled beets. 

I was in the mood for some beef that evening and I ordered the large rib eye (16 oz.) with Buck's potatoes - homemade hash browns with onions and peppers.  Cindy ordered her favorite - the beef tournedos, two small and very tender filet's topped with a rich cream sauce.  We also ordered up some onion rings just to give them a try as an appetizer. 

When we went over to the salad bar on the far side of the bar, I looked into a small room and noticed subdued lighting, nice tables and a few people eating in there.  I sort of wondered what that room was.  Cindy thought it was a private party room.  But then I noticed that not all of the people in the room were eating together.  Hmm...  Why didn't they seat us in there, I thought.  OK, next time, we'll ask to be seated in there.

By the time we got back to our table, the onion rings were waiting there for us.  They were the same beer-battered onion rings we would get over at Bud's.  No surprise there.  Even though they brought a big plate stacked with rings, we only had a couple three each.

Looking a little more closely at the booths in the main room, Cindy said, "I think those seats are old church pews that were cut down to size."  Sure enough, they had the arm rests on the outside of the seating and the wood was cut in an ornate style.  Most of the booths were filled with older or elderly people - many of whom had a lot of trouble getting up and over the arm rest to get in and out from the booth.  Cindy said, "Boy, it's probably a good thing we didn't get a booth.  With your hip the way it is, you'd be having trouble getting into those booths!"

Our steaks showed up and - once again, no surprise - Cindy's beef tournedos were exactly like she gets at Bud's.  Very tender filet cuts, so tender you could probably cut them with a fork.  She offered me a bite and they were still very good. 

My rib eye was cooked to a perfect medium rare and it was topped with some seasonings that were salt-based.  It didn't detract from the taste of the meat and actually highlighted the flavor.  Even though I don't like to eat a lot of salt, it was actually very good.  I've had a number of steaks over at Bud's over the years and I don't remember them seasoning the beef when they grill it. 

The other thing about my rib eye is that they called it a 16 oz. cut of meat in the menu, but it had to be closer to 20 oz.  There was no way I could finish the whole thing.  It was cut very thick and it had a lot of great marbling throughout.  I got a "to-go" box and put about a quarter of it in there.

Our waitress was OK, nothing special.  She was overworked and we did have to wait on drink refills a couple times.   Still, we gave her a nice tip on top of the $65 bill we received.

Before we left, we wandered into the other dining area by the kitchen.  Cindy said, "Well, this is much nicer in here.  You don't have all the lights and the loud conversations going on at the bar."  We agreed if we came back, we wanted to be seated in that room.

And we probably will return sometime.  But I still like Bud's Skyline Inn a little bit better.  The food is almost identical, but the atmosphere is better at Bud's and it has more of a supper club feel than what Au Jus exudes.   Plus the service at Bud's is a little better, as well.  But at either one, you really can't go wrong with the food.   

(Update - Au Jus didn't stick around much longer after I posted this in June of 2008.  The restaurant closed down in early 2009.  Bud's, however, is still open and going strong.)

Three Floyd's Brewery and Pub - Munster, IN

Three Floyd's brewery Alpha King Pale Ale is one of my all-time favorite beers.  It is, by far, the most hoppy and forward tasting Pale Ale I've ever had.  But it's very smooth and full-bodied.  And it's also pretty expensive - $10.99 a six pack at most places in Chicago.  However, the Three Floyd's brewery and brew pub is located just across the Indiana/Illinois border south of Chicago.  It's not far from one of my far southern suburban dealers in Chicago and I decided to go over there one day for lunch.

Three Floyd's began in 1996 in a small building in Munster, IN.  Nick Floyd had been a brewer at the Florida Brewery, a defunct small brewery in Florida; and the Weinkeller brewery in suburban Chicago before starting the brewery with his brother Simon Floyd, and his father Michael Floyd.  I believe I read somewhere that the other two Floyd's are no longer involved in the business.

Nick Floyd hired brewmaster Jim Cibak away from Goose Island Brewing in Chicago and the company was off and running.  However, I understand that Cibak left the company in a dispute with Floyd in 2006.  Cibak, who concocted many of Three Floyd's signature beers, ended up at Firestone Walker brewery in California.  (Firestone Walker also has some pretty good Pale Ales.)  It's reported that he's back in Indiana looking to open a brewery in Crown Point.

After a few missed turns and long ways around, I was able to find the Three Floyd's brewpub in a small industrial section of Munster (see map).  I knew I was in the right place as there was a sculpture of the Alpha King holding a beer keg next to the street.  The brewpub looks like it was an after-thought to put it on the brewery.  The addition sort of juts out from the original brewery.

Once inside, you'll find a combination dining area/gift shop with a big window looking into the brewing area.  On the left is the bar area with a projection television and a lot of funky kitsch on the walls and shelves.  The Rocky Horror Picture Show was playing on the projector - with no sound.  And The Grateful Dead were playing on the sound system.  I knew I was going to like this funky little place. 

For around 1:30 in the afternoon, the place was sort of full.  I was able to get a seat next to an elderly guy at the bar and I got a menu from the bartender.  And I also ordered up a Three Floyds Alpha King.  Damn, is that good beer!

I ended up ordering a Reuben sandwich with fries.  I've been on such a Reuben kick that I had to keep going.  The bartender said, "That's a great choice.  We have a good Reuben here." 

While I waited for my sandwich, I was talking with the gentleman next to me.  He told me that he just loves Three Floyd's beer and doesn't like all the "watered down" American beers.  He said, "I spent a lot of time in Austria for my work a number of years ago.  I retired about 8 years ago and I couldn't find any beer that compared to the beer I used to have in Europe.  Then I had a friend who told me about this place and they have about as close to what I was used to drinking in Austria."

My sandwich showed up and I got another Alpha King to help wash it down.  The sandwich had thick slices of corned beef and a tangy homemade Thousand Island dressing on the side.  It was very good.  The seasoned fries were also very good.  But the Reuben was a spot-hitter.   

Before I left, I asked the bartender if they sold beer to go.  She said they did, so I got a couple sixers of the Alpha King.  For buying them at the brewery, you save a buck a sixer - $10 each.  Expensive stuff, but it's worth it. 

The Three Floyd's Brewery has an annual event - DarkLord Day - usually held toward the end of April.  That's the one day the brewery sells their DarkLord Russian Imperial Stout.  I've been told it's a huge, huge deal with bands, food, and beer tastings.  It sounds sort of fun.

The Three Floyd's brewpub is sort of tough to find - you just gotta pay attention to the cross-street signs along Calumet Ave. in Munster.  But the beer is great, the food is good and the atmosphere is fun.  I'm writing this at 6:45 in the morning and my mouth is watering for an Alpha King Pale Ale.  I'll definitely go back.

Big Mouth's - Champaign, IL

I stopped off to see a dealer in Champaign, IL on my way to Indianapolis recently.  It was late in the day and I offered to take one of the guys out for dinner.  He declined, saying that he had to go look at furniture with his wife.  He said, "Believe me, I'd rather go out with you."

Then he said, "Hey!  You're a big burger nut.  There's this place here in town that opened up last year called Big Mouth's.  You really ought to go check it out." 

Big Mouth's is a small Chicago-style hot dog place that happens to serve burgers, as well.  It began in November of 2006 in Normal, IL by two former Illinois State University students, Nick Lavorato (right) and Matt Martin.  They wanted to bring the taste of Chicago-style hot dogs and char-grilled burgers to Chicago area students going to college in downstate Illinois and across the Midwest.  They're looking to expand into Madison, WI and West Lafayette, IN in the coming months. 

The concept is pretty simple - they came up with a fun little place that caters to the daytime lunch crowd and to the late night partiers coming out of the bars.  Big Mouth's is open until 3 a.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings to accommodate the hungry bar patrons at closing time. 

They opened their second location in Champaign in the heart of the University of Illinois' Campustown area (see map).  They stuck with the same decor theme as the original location in Normal - orange walls, some picnic tables and regular chair and tables.  Big Mouth's doesn't serve beer, which is OK.  They also serve their Chicago-style dogs either char-grilled or steamed.  If I had to choose between the two, I'd still take a steamed Chicago dog over a grilled one. 

I got into the Big Mouth's in Champaign around 7:00 p.m.  It was a rainy evening and I was able to find some parking on the street around the block from the location.  The front door of the place was literally torn off and I didn't know it.  I grabbed for the handle and it fell into my shoulder.  OK, not a pleasant beginning for my first visit.  I asked one of the guys at the counter what was up with the door and he said, "Oh, man!  Is it broken again?  Well, we'll have to try to fix it." 

The menu is affixed to the wall and you order at the counter.  They call out your name for pick up when the order comes up.  But the names they've given their signature "Big Mouth Menu" items show that Lavorato and Martin have watched a lot of the same movies and television programs that I have over the years.

Their "Big Mouth Menu" includes the "Sonny Corleone" (James Caan's character from "The Godfather") which is two char-grilled Chicago dogs.  The "Al Czervic" (Rodney Dangerfield's character in "Caddyshack") which consists of two grilled Polish sausages.  The "Fred Sanford" (Redd Foxx's character from "Sanford and Son") that is a double cheeseburger.  The "Johnny Drama" (named after Kevin Dillon's character on HBO's "Entourage") which is a double chicken sandwich.  And there's the "Jackie Burkhart" (named after Mila Kunis' character on "That 70's Show") that's a double veggie burger.   Each Big Mouth Meal comes with an order of french fries, a 32 oz. pop and a fried Twinkie.  Now, I've never had a fried Twinkie, but I understand at 2:15 in the morning they're pretty tasty.

Big Mouth's in Champaign also had "The Farley", an homage to the late comedian Chris Farley that consists of two one-pound char-grilled hamburger patties topped with french fries, mayo, ketchup, mustard, pickles and onions.  Now, that would be interesting to see.

Even though the "Fred Sanford" was tempting, I just got the regular char-grilled cheeseburger and a pop.  I got grilled onions on it and passed on the mayo. 

Since I was the only one in the place at the time, I took a look around at some of the artwork on the walls.  I understand Lavorato and a friend of his went to great lengths to find some of the kitschy items they hung on the walls.

After about 15 minutes, I got my cheeseburger.  I have to say it was very good.  Very messy, but very good.  Unlike some cheddar cheese burgers I've gotten in the recent past, the cheese didn't overpower or detract from the taste of the burger.  The grilled onions also were very good.  I normally don't get grilled onions as they seem to give me heartburn, but these were a very tasty compliment to the burger.  And my stomach wasn't upset. 

While Big Mouth's may not be the best burger I've ever tried, it's a good one.  I may have to try a burger and a Chicago dog sometime when I'm really hungry in Normal or Champaign.  Their motto says it all "Big Meals for Big Mouths".  Unless you really try, you'll never leave Big Mouth's hungry.    

(Update - Big Mouth's closed in the summer of 2011.  I have no story as to what happened to the place, other than it closed.)

Miller Park - Milwaukee

While up in Milwaukee recently, I took in a Milwaukee Brewers game at Miller Park with one of the guys from a distributor I was working with.  I've written about Miller Park before, but it was more of a general post on the place (you can read it here).  This time I took my camera to get shots of the park.

One of the most time-honored traditions they have in Milwaukee is tail-gating before the game.  Just like many football fans do before a game, Brewer fans will tail-gate in the parking lot for up to three hours before a game.  This includes barbecuing brats, drinking a lot of beer and tossing around a baseball.  I'm still rather amazed the Brewers allow this to go on as it undoubtedly cuts into the concession revenues at the stadium. 

Our first stop once we got into the stadium was at one of the Leinenkugel "Leinie Lodge" beer stands they have along the main concourse at Miller Park.  We got got a Leinenkugel Red and walked around for a while before going to our seats before the start of the game.

Miller Park is great in that you can walk all the way around the park to get a good perspective of how big the ball park really is.  It's sort of fun to just go up to a railing and hang out for a while watching the game.  The concourse on the main level is wide and even with a big crowd, you don't feel all that crowded walking along. 

Here's a shot of the Klements Sausage Haus on the east side of the parking lot at Miller Park.  We were going to go over there before the game, but we found out that it wasn't open that evening.  It was kind of a bummer because all the times that I've gone to a Brewers game at Miller Park I've always wanted to hit the Sausage Haus before the game.  This time, we made it down there in plenty of time to go there before the game and it was closed.  Crap!  Oh well...

We settled into our seats just below the press box area at Miller Park.  They were actually pretty good seats.  The Los Angeles Dodgers were in town that evening and there was a good crowd on hand.  We were both sort of confused as to why the roof was closed on such a beautiful night.  We asked a beer vendor if he knew what the deal was and he said there was supposedly a chance of rain for later in the game.  They didn't want to have the roof open and then have to close it up again.  Well, I thought that was the deal with the roof being able to open and close.  He told us they haven't had the roof open all year long, the weather has been that bad in Milwaukee.  And this was in the middle of May!

Once again, satisfying my scoreboard fetish.  While it's a nice scoreboard, I still think the one at Jacobs Field in Cleveland is about the best one I've seen in a major league park. 

Here's the scoreboard from Jacobs Field (now Progressive Field).  Some people may think it's a little busy, but I like the colors and the big "Indians" logo over the board.

This is the left-field perch for the Brewers' mascot, Bernie Brewer, or as my cousin John calls him, "That faggot Bernie Brewer."  Bernie has a long slide that he goes down when the Brewers take the field at the start of the game and when they hit home runs.  That's all that Bernie does.  He doesn't go into the crowd to kibbutz with people.  In fact, when the Brewers are on the field, he's no where in sight!  Bernie is pretty lame as a team mascot. 

We decided to get up and go get something to eat.  A trip to Miller Park can't be complete without having a grilled Klements bratwurst slathered in Secret Stadium Sauce and topped with sauerkraut.  It is the best ball park food in the major leagues. 

Now, I am usually dead set against having any tomato-based condiment put on a bratwurst, but there's something about the Secret Stadium Sauce in conjunction with the sauerkraut and the brat that just makes it so delectable.  Good God, look at this picture.  My stomach is doing jumping jacks just writing about the brats at Miller Park.  They are just heavenly. 

We decided to walk around for a bit during the game and we went down the right field line to the bleacher area in right field.  Actually, I don't know if there's a bad place to sit in Miller Park except for the very upper reaches of the upper deck.   Actually, we decided we should have saved $20 bucks a piece and got tickets for the right field bleachers, then just got up and walked around during the game.  I kind of like to do that rather than just sit in one place during the game.

Here's a picture of the rambunctious crowd in the right field bleachers, also known as the Miller Lite Beer Pen.  It's mostly young adults out there, but you'll find some older people who like to hang out in the bleachers, too.  I believe this area is only open to people 21 and over.  I don't remember seeing any small kids out there. 

Just below the Beer Pen at the field level is the Mercedes-Benz Field Haus. The area accommodates up to 75 people and depending up on the game or if it's weekend, you can pay $59 to $89 per person and have a pre-game buffet and all the pop you can drink.  That's right - beer and mixed drinks are extra. I'm not certain I'd like to watch a game in right field at the field level.

Of course, any Brewers game wouldn't be complete without the running of the Sausage Race.  I was a little upset at myself for not getting in better position to take a picture at the finish of the race.  We thought it went off at the bottom of the sixth inning, but it turned out it was the middle of the sixth when they raced.  There are now five sausages running in the race with the Chorizo sausage being added to the mix within the last couple of seasons. 

Coming around the corner and finishing first this evening was Number 4 - the Hot Dog, also known as "Frank Furter".  The Chorizo (#5) and the Polish Sausage are right behind him with the Bratwurst and the Italian Sausage bringing up the rear.  It doesn't matter how many times I've seen the Sausage Race, I just get a large kick out of it. 

If you haven't seen the Sausage Race, here's a YouTube clip from about three years ago.  The Chorizo isn't in this clip, but you'll get a good idea why the whole stadium goes nuts when the sausages run.

 

And you can't go to a game in Milwaukee without sticking around for the Seventh Inning Stretch and joining in with several thousand people with the singing of "Roll Out the Barrel". Thankfully, the Brewers have been playing good baseball so the crowds have been coming out the past couple of seasons. 

My guest had a little bit of a drive ahead of him to the far south side of Milwaukee, so we decided to leave after the 8th inning and beat some of the traffic.  Sure enough, it was raining when we walked out to the parking lot.  I guess having the roof closed was a good thing. 

Miller Park is one of my most favorite places to see a game.  The food is great, the beer is cold, the Brewers are fun to watch.  It just has a party atmosphere to the place.  I need to take Cindy up there sometime for a couple games.  We've always had a good time each time we've been there.  If you like baseball and can get to Milwaukee, you've got to go to Miller Park.       

Bella Italia - Cape Girardeau, MO

When I was in Cape Girardeau, MO recently, I had the pleasure of taking the owner of Stereo One, John Selby, out to lunch.  John is one of my industry's true gentleman and it's always great to spend time with him.  We went to a spot in downtown Cape Girardeau called Bella Italia.

Actually, I really wanted to take him to one of my all-time favorite places, the Royal N'Orleans in Cape Girardeau.  But John wasn't certain they were serving lunch any longer.  We stopped in and, unfortunately, he was right.  The Royal N'Orleans was closed for lunch.  That's too bad as it had been a long time since I last ate the Royal N'Orleans and I don't get to Cape Giradeau all that much.

Bella Italia is literally around the corner and down the street from Royal N'Orleans (see map), so John suggested we try there.  They were definitely open for lunch and had a nice sized crowd in the place when we walked in.  We were seated at a table by a host and started to peruse the menu. 

The interior of Bella Italia is subdued and sort of elegant.  The tables are adorned with red and white checkered table cloths.  There's a nice bar area with a large walnut bar and a small outside patio in front of the building. 

Our waitress came out with a basket of bread and got our drink orders.  She gave us a few minutes to go over the menu.  And I'm glad she did as there were a lot of great things to choose from.  And it gave us time to dive into the great homemade bread.

I was looking at a couple of things - the Europa Cavatappi, grilled chicken, artichoke hearts, broccoli, tomatoes, black olives and Cavatappi pasta in a garlic cream sauce.  Man, that sounded great.  I also had my eye on the fettuccine carbonara, peas, pancetta and proscuitto in their white cream alfredo sauce. 

But I ended up going with one of their lunch specials that day - baked rotelle pasta in a tomato cream sauce with Italian sausage, grilled chicken and artichokes topped with mozzarella and parmesan cheese.  John got the canneloni stuffed with ground beef and veal, then topped with marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese.  We both also got the house salad made with their homemade Italian dressing.  

Mainly because we were talking so much, we didn't have our salads finished when they brought out our lunch.  The baked rotelle in the tomato cream sauce was very, very good.  It had a little bit of a spicy bite to it and was very flavorful.  I really liked the Italian sausage.  It was nice big chunks of spicy pork sausage.  And the chicken wasn't dried out like you sometime get with grilled chicken that is, in turn, baked into a dish.

John proclaimed his canneloni was "excellent".  He said, "My wife and I haven't been down here for quite some time.  I keep forgetting how good this place is."

And it was very good.  I would put Bella Italia up against any Italian restaurant I've eaten at in St. Louis or Chicago.  It was that good.  John also told me Bella Italia also had very good pizza.  I thought they probably would as the Italian sausage was excellent.  I'm hoping to make it back to Cape Girardeau sometime in the future to give their pizza a try.  All in all, I have to say I was happy Royal N'Orleans was closed or I would have never been introduced to Bella Italia. 

The Still - Lincoln, NE

While in Lincoln, NE recently, I was talking with one of the guys at The Sound Environment about wine and eclectic beers.  I was asking him about a place called The Still that used to be open down the way from the store.  He said The Still had moved to a new location further out off of Nebraska Highway 2 (see map).  He said, "If you're going to Kansas City you'll pass right by it on the way out of town."  He gave me directions, saying that when I see the Home Depot store I've just gone past it.

I really didn't know what I was looking for when I went into The Still.  They've always had a great selection of wine.  But I really didn't need to stock up on any wine.  Plus, I had a case of beer from a previous stop at Beer Crazy and I was planning on picking up more beer when I got to Kansas City, so I really didn't need beer.  Still, I like going into places like The Still to see if there's anything that I absolutely cannot live without. 

The "new" Still is definitely larger than the old location.  I'd say it's about four times larger.  They always had a great selection of wine, but there's an even larger selection at the new place.  Longtime manager John Barker always has good recommendations on wine and also features his monthly "Barker's Best Bets" in The Still's monthly newsletter "Still Stats". 

And The Still boasts over 300 different types of domestic, import and micro-brewed beers.  They had a great selection of beers from smaller breweries in the Midwest.  I actually ended up buying some of the Boulevard Irish Ale beer knowing full well that I'd get more in Kansas City.

The Still also has an impressive selection of over 100 single malt Scotch whiskeys.  Even though I was a little too early for the sale, they have an annual single malt Scotch sale each Spring.  It's rare to find a liquor store that will have advertised sales on single malt Scotch. 

The Still will be one of those places I'll be stopping into each time I go to Lincoln on business.  It's one of the growing number of "superstores" for beer, wine and liquor that seem to keep popping up around the Midwest.  I'd put the selection at The Still up against any other liquor store in much larger metropolitan areas.  You can easily spend an hour looking through the place without buying a thing.  But I'll bet you'll always find something to buy.   

Cairo, IL - Where the Ohio and Mississippi Meet

I recently drove between Cape Girardeau, MO to Paducah, KY on business, but I took a side route to go see the confluence of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers which is located at the far southern tip of the state of Illinois and where Kentucky, Missouri and Illinois meet.  Being the geography nerd that I am, I wanted to see where the Ohio flowed into the Mississippi.

Here's a picture from Google Earth pinpointing the confluence of the Ohio River (flowing at the top) with the Mississippi River (that's the one with all the muddy water in it).  The land at the top of the picture is Kentucky, the land on the lower part of the picture is Missouri, and the tiny triangle tip of land at the left is Illinois. 

I made my way across the bridge from Missouri to Illinois and stopped in at the Fort Defiance Park, the site of the former Fort Defiance which was a Union fort before and during the American Civil War.  The fort - which is long gone - was at one time commanded by Ulysses S. Grant. 

Fort Defiance is now a campground.  But as you can see in the above picture, excessive rains during the spring flooded the campground and it looked like it would be some time before it would be open again.  And that's too bad because there's a point at the end of the park that would have been a great place to take pictures. 

Just beyond the line of trees in the picture on the left is the Ohio River.  Follow the line of trees to the right side of the picture and where they end is where the Ohio meets up with the Mississippi. 

Here's a picture of the bridge that carries traffic from Missouri over to Illinois - and vice-versa.  The Mississippi was very high from flooding in the region and I have this inherent fear of crossing bridges over flooded rivers.  It's something that dates back to walking across an old rickety bridge with my sister when I was 10.  The river was about six inches under the deck and the bridge was swaying.  Coupled with the fact that this bridge is very narrow and there's a lot of truck traffic on the road, my butt was puckering as I drove across. 

At the Fort Defiance site, here's a historical marker noting the starting point of the Third Principal Meridian.  This was a surveyor's marking that helped parcel out land in the early 1800's in the states of Illinois and Indiana.  It's also noted on this marker, as well as on an information board at the site, that Lewis and Clark spent six nights at this spot in 1803 before they made their way up to St. Louis and started out to explore the Missouri River.  It was here that Lewis taught Clark how to use a sextant and compass for mapping.  Or maybe Clark taught Lewis - I can't remember.

Here's the bridge from Illinois into Kentucky.  It was just as scary as the one over the Mississippi.  But I made it, even though it was very high and very narrow.

Here's a shot where I was able to slow down and get a picture of the Ohio emptying into the Mississippi.  Just beyond that point on that island is the confluence of the two rivers.  That's Missouri in the background.

Before I went over into Kentucky, however, I drove around Cairo, IL.  Cairo, at one point in time, was a thriving city that was an important industrial town and commerce center.  Not only did its location make it important for river travel up and down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, but the railroad had a big impact on the city in the 1800's. 

But these days, there's not much to it.  It's a very old and worn down town of 3600 people.  During its hey-day during the early to mid part of the 20th century, Cairo had a population between 13,000 and 16,000 people.  I understand it was quite the place to visit.

Today, a third of the population lives in poverty, including 60% of the school children in the Cairo school district.  The old downtown business district is a shambles with a lot of abandoned businesses and store fronts.  Public housing is a mess.  It's a rather depressing city, to say the least.  I didn't stay in Cairo long. 

I've seen where the Missouri and Mississippi meet up and I understand they now have a very nice museum near the confluence.  I may have to stop in there sometime I'm down in the St. Louis area and check it out.  And I'll have to take pictures of the mouth of the Missouri as it flows into the Mississippi to satisfy my geographical geekness.      

June 1st - The Start of Summer

The first of June is always one of my favorite days of the year.  It usually means that warm weather is here and that's always fine with me.  We've had an abnormally cold and rainy spring.  The only good thing is now that the warm weather is here, everything is starting to bloom out - albeit a week or two late this year.

Cindy thinks this has been the perfect spring.  I have to disagree.  We didn't get warm temperatures until May this year.  In fact, we were still having frost in early May.  It was so wet this spring, my sump pump was running non-stop from mid-March to just about a couple days ago. 

We normally have roses blooming by just before Memorial Day.  We had our first one open up just a couple days ago.  But Cindy's iris' are looking pretty good this year.  This is on the east side of our house.

Our back berm is looking pretty good this year.  The lilac bush and the crab tree blossomed this spring.  And the wegela bush is looking pretty good, as well.   And the columbines are huge this spring.

This is another shot of the berm with the backyard in the foreground.  This is the best our yard has looked in the nearly six years we've lived here.  I always wanted a yard where you can take your shoes off and walk barefoot and it feels like a plush carpet.  We've got it this year. 

We only planted one tomato bush this year.  Perhaps we were omniscient as our next door neighbor Barb was one who benefited greatly from the abundance of tomatoes we would have in the past.  Now she's gone and we'll have one less person who will want our tomatoes this summer.  But in the meantime, I've planted peppers and my usual batch of herbs.  Here's a shot of two of the three basil plants I have out back, along with the oregano.  In the background, Cindy planted strawberries in the strawberry planter.  I'm kind of interested to see how that turns out. 

One of the benefits of a cool and wet spring have been the perennials under our tree in front of the house.  We've tried for years to plant things under the tree, but it just zaps the moisture from the ground.  About two years ago, Cindy started to plant a lot of perennials that work well in the shade.  They just took off this year.  Once again, this is the best the foliage under the tree has ever looked since we've been here.

We lost 9 rose bushes last year after three nights of a hard April freeze.  Warm temperatures in March caused a lot of the rose bushes to bud early and the freeze zapped 'em.  We bought 14 rose bushes this winter and we planted them in the early part of May.  Here's the rose garden with some of the new roses.  We had to cage 'em as the friggin' rabbits like to chew on the tender leaves.   They won't look like much this year, but we're expecting some brilliant colors and great fragrances starting next year. 

Oh, and don't look at the maple tree "helicopter" seeds in the rose garden.  That's another thing that was late this year.  Last year, we caught a huge break with the two maple trees that are over our yard.  The seeds were out and then the hard freeze basically made them fall off long before they dried out and began to "whirly-bird" around the yard.  But this year, they're still on the trees long after they should have fallen. 

Well, Cindy's calling my name telling me to come out and finish cleaning the garage and to help her sweep up the helicopters.  At least the weather is sunny and warm.