Road Tips

Zeffirino - Las Vegas

With all the different schedules we were faced with at the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas back in January, it was difficult to get everyone in my company together for dinner.  As a matter of fact, there was only one night in which everyone was able to be together for dinner.  And it happened on that evening that we dined at Zeffirino, a wonderful Italian restaurant in the Grand Canal Shoppes at The Venetian. 

I had the pleasure of eating at Zeffirino one time before, about nine years prior to our recent visit.  One of the manufacturer's we were representing at the time for the company I was working for back then took us out to Zeffirino for dinner.  I remember the food was great, the service was top-notch and the atmosphere was fun and unpretentious.  When I was called upon to find restaurants for our group to dine in this year, I remembered Zeffirino and I made a reservation for 10 on a Saturday night at 7:30.  Of course, as it always seems to be, we had 12 show up for dinner.  But Zeffirino had no problem accommodating the extra people we had in our party. 

The foundation of Zeffirino began 70 years ago in Italy when Zeffirino Belloni opened his first restaurant in Genova (Genoa), Italy in 1939.  In the previous year to Zeffirino opening the restaurant, his son, Gain Paolo, was born.  9 years later, young Gian Paolo began to work in his father's kitchen, learning the tricks of the trade including making homemade pesto.  Gian Paolo's cooking skills were evident at an early age and he soon was working side by side with his father concocting new and wonderful tastes to go along with their traditional Genovese foods.  Gian Paolo became renown throughout Italy for his pesto and Pope John Paul II declared Gian Paolo "The Pope's Pesto Maker" which, evidently, is a big thing.    

The original Zeffirino is still in Genoa (click here to see their site).  Gian Paolo and his family (four generations of Belloni's are involved in the business) have also opened a resort location in Portofino, Italy (click here) and a location in Hong Kong (click here). 

When the Las Vegas location was built 10 years ago, the Belloni's wanted the feel of Venice in the restaurant.  The elegant restaurant features imported limestone columns, large open Venetian-style windows, a wonderful dining balcony that overlooks the Grand Canal and shops in The Venetian, and a huge main floor bar that was imported from Italy.  It truly is like they've taken a wonderful Italian restaurant from Venice and transported it to Las Vegas.  

The bar area is where we ran into Geoff Poor of Glenn Poor's Audio Video in Champaign, IL, and who also is the managing partner of Balanced Audio Technology, and his wife, Ann, who were having dinner at the bar.  Geoff was surprised to see all of us show up for dinner.  He proclaimed, "This is the best food in Las Vegas, guys.  We come here once or twice every time we come out for CES."  

We met the hostess just beyond the bar and she took us up a meandering staircase, then down a couple of winding halls to the dining area where we were seated at a long table surrounded by heavy antique chairs.  The restaurant was vibrant and full.  Seriously, it was like we were magically transported from Las Vegas to an old world restaurant in Italy.  

We were handed menus and I was amazed at the offerings Zeffirino had.  Many of the items were Northern Italian in origin, with the pasta made fresh in house each day.  The seafood dishes had a Mediterranean flair to them which included a Mediterranean Sea Bass filet served in three or four different variations.  Zeffirino had veal, chicken and beef dishes including a foie-gras stuffed beef tenderloin pan-seared in Marsala wine and Rum and served over Fontana cheese with pan-seared truffles and Porcini Mushrooms.  Geoff Poor told me when I visited him in his store in Champaign a couple months after our visit to Zeffirino that the foie-gras stuffed beef tenderloin is probably his favorite meal in the whole world.  

While we perused the menu, my colleague Ian picked out a couple different Italian wines for dinner - a red and a white.  The wine list at Zeffirino is extensive and reads like a book.  After Ian order up the wine, I took a gander through the list to see if they had some of my favorites.  And they did.  It was a remarkable and impressive list of Italian, French and American varieties.  

When it came time to order dinner, I knew that I couldn't have pasta as I was starting out on a pretty strict diet for my upcoming hip replacement surgery a couple months later.  Even though some of the pasta dishes were tempting, and I probably should have gotten fish to be real true to my diet,  I opted for the Costoletta di Vitello all Valdostana - a breaded veal chop filled with Fontana cheese, pan-seared and served over a Barola wine, Fontana cheese fondue with Amarone wine polenta.   I also ordered the Caesar's Salad to go before the dinner. 

Had I known how good the foie-gras stuffed beef tenderloin was, I probably would have gotten it.  But, to me, there's something fundamentally wrong about getting steak in an Italian restaurant.  Oh, I've had great steaks in Italian restaurants before.  But Zeffirino was truly authentic Italian and I wanted something as close to Old World cooking as I could get. 

It was good to get together with everyone in our company, including a couple of people who we invited to come along with us for dinner.  The setting at Zeffirino was relaxing and that was needed after four long days we had previously.  We knew the show was closing the next day and other than packing up and shipping our products back to the main office in Montreal, we knew the end was in sight. 

About a half-hour after finishing my Caesar's Salad, our food came to the table.  The breaded veal chop was large, flavorful and juicy.  The Fontana cheese was a great compliment to the chop.  I'm not a huge fan of polenta which is basically an Italian corn-meal mashed dish.  But with the dry red Amarone wine infused into the polenta, it brought out a number of great taste sensations.  I was truly satisfied with my meal. 

After dinner, many of the guys in our party had espresso and dessert.  I was a good boy in not getting dessert - many of which were overly tempting. I will admit that I did have a bite of one of my colleagues tiramisu, which was absolutely fabulous.  But I was determined to lose weight and I needed to exhibit the will power to get the job done.  (So far, I've lost nearly 30 pounds.) 

Zeffirino is also famous for their gourmet Sunday brunch.  It includes traditional Mediterranean and Northern Italian foods, as well as seafood, pastas, homemade pastries and baked-goods, and traditional breakfast foods including build-your-own omelets.  It's not cheap - it's something like $55 bucks a person.  But I'm guessing it's out of this world.   

While Zeffirino was far from cheap, we had a great meal in a great atmosphere.  It's hard to imagine that it wasn't much more than about 20 years ago that Las Vegas had a dearth of top-notch restaurants in the city.  Now, it seems like there's 20 to 30 world class restaurants to choose from.  And Zeffirino is definitely one of them. 

Winter's Last Gasp

When I was a little kid, my grandmother always said not to get lulled by early Spring's warmer temperatures and longer days - there's always one last big snow storm that will hit us before winter is finally gone.  Over the years, I found that to be somewhat true more often than not.  Well, the last big one for the winter of 2008-09 is scheduled to hit us later today.

Forecasters say a narrow band of snow that could produce snowfall totals of 6 to 8 inches - and possibly more if some areas get thundersnow - will fall directly over the Quad Cities.  The weather is supposed to start out with some rain this afternoon before changing to some sleet to a wet, heavy snow sometime late in the afternoon.  Accumulations of snow overnight will pile up at the rate of over an inch an hour. 

This is the same weather system that is responsible for heavy rain and tornadoes in the south and heavy snow in western and southern Kansas. The low pressure system will scoot northeast from Oklahoma later today with the center passing up near Chicago.  And being on the cold side of the low puts us smack dab in the middle of the heaviest snow that will hit later tonight. 

We've actually had a pretty nice late winter and early Spring so far.  While it hasn't been as warm as last year, the temperatures have consistently been in the 40's and 50's, with a few days hitting well over the 60 degree mark.  It looks like our roses made it through the winter, the lilac bush is budding out already, and the grass has turned a very lush green thanks to some fertilizing and a very nice rainfall early this week. 

While we're supposed to get a ton of snow here tonight, forecasters say it won't stick around long - which is usually good with Spring snow storms.  Temperatures will moderate into the 40's on Sunday and hit the 50 degree mark on Monday.  And since it's a wet snow, most of it - if not all - should be gone by mid-week. 

I'm certainly ready for Spring to spring...

(A postscript to yesterday's entry) - The major winter storm didn't quite materialize over the Quad Cities as promised. It began to snow around 1 p.m., but it quickly turned into rain and sleet.  The sleet began to accumulate on the roofs and grassy surfaces as the temperature hovered just above freezing.  About 4 p.m., heavy, wet snow began to fall.  This is what they were predicting all along.  On the left is a picture I took of the snow falling with our neighbor's house as a back drop. (As always, click on the picture for a larger and better view.) The picture doesn't really do justice to the huge flakes that were falling.  Cindy said, "It's like little snowballs are falling from the sky."

And this snow wasn't even the heaviest that fell yesterday afternoon.  We ventured out in the weather and went to Creekside Bar and Grill to have a couple three beers with my buddy, Randy Adams, who owns the place.  While we were there, the snow was so heavy that it was almost difficult to see business signs down the street.  It was quite possibly one of the heaviest snowfalls I'd ever seen. 

But almost as quick as it began to snow very heavily, it quit.  I mean, it just quit.  Oh, there were some flurries and some sleet, but none of the heavy snow flakes that had been coming down.  It had snowed about an inch by the time we left Creekside and it was lightly sleeting when we drove home.  And it didn't snow very much the rest of the night.  It turned out that the heavy snow went to the west of the Quad Cities with Cedar Rapids getting 5 inches.  I was outside about 11 p.m. last night and there was a very fine freezing mist in the air.  Nothing that would cause major havoc, that's for sure. 

We're getting some light freezing drizzle and light snow early this Sunday morning, but it is moving out and will be gone from the area before 9 a.m. Temperatures are already breaking the freezing mark.  Skies are supposed to clear later and temperatures are supposed to get up to the lower 40's today and in the lower 50's tomorrow.  The inch or so of the combination of snow and sleet accumulation will be gone very soon.  So soon that I'm not even going to shovel the driveway or the sidewalks.  Consistently warm temperatures are just around the corner.

(By the way, if you would like to see the satellite view of the snow cover from Sunday morning and how much it melted away five hours later, click here.)

Paula Deen's Blueberry Coffee Cake

 I guess I'm what you'd call a Paula Deen disciple.  I subscribe to her adage - "I'm a cook, not a chef."  I really dig her style of down-home cooking.

I saw her make this on her show on the Food Network one time and I made it for my wife and my sister-in-law (who are BOTH bigger Paula Deen groupies than I am - they even met her at a book signing in Chicago one time) and the preperation was very easy. Other than not cooking it long enough, it was still pretty damn good.  The second time I made it, I cooked it a little longer and it came out perfect.

I'm not big on biscuits, but this is out of this world.  In fact, it's so good, it's sinful.  It's definitely not on my diet menu these days.

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2-teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 (12-ounce) can buttermilk biscuits

1/2-cup (1 stick) butter, melted

1-cup quick-cooking rolled oats

1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

1/2-cup sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Generously grease a 9-inch square baking dish or pie tin. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon and mix well with a fork. Separate biscuit dough into 10 biscuits. Cut each biscuit into quarters, and dip each piece in melted butter and coat with brown sugar mixture. Arrange in a single layer in baking dish or pie tin. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of the oats.

Combine blueberries and sugar in a bowl and toss to coat. Spoon over oats and biscuits and sprinkle with remaining 1/2-cup oats. Drizzle remaining melted butter on top. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until cake is golden brown and center is done. Cool for 20 minutes. Serve warm.

Doesn't this look just sinfully great?

A Meaty Bracket

It's one of my favorite times of the year, the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.  For three weeks, I lose myself in the great games, the upsets and the drama that unfolds each year.  For years, people from college basketball experts to just regular people - who wouldn't know that 12 seeds have a historic propensity to beat 5 seeds in the tournament - fill out a bracket before the tournament.  It usually it costs them a buck or two to enter a tournament pool at work and the person who garners the most points can take home some serious money   

I won a couple tournament pools I entered when Michigan won the National Championship in 1989.  It put a lot of money into my pocket and gave me the idea that I knew I was doing when I'd fill out the brackets.  But I haven't been close to winning another one that I've entered ever since.  In fact, I haven't filled out a bracket in something like five years - mainly because it's much easier to watch the games when I don't have an emotional attachment to a team that I have going to the Final Four getting smoked in the second round by a low-seeded team from some directional school from Tennessee. 

Cindy almost won an NCAA bracket contest a number of years ago by doing something like this when she was making her picks: "Let's see, where's Pepperdine?  Oh, Malibu?  Oh, well, we've been there before.  I'll take Pepperdine.  OK, let's see, California.  What's their team nickname?  The Bears?  Oh, I like bears, I'll take them.  Hmm, what colors are are LSU?  Purple and gold?  Those are nice colors, I'll take them."   I mean, seriously, it was literally like that.  I think she came in third or fourth in the pool. 

But thanks to my buddy, Kevin Gertsen, who sent along this bracket that you can really sink your teeth into.   This is a bracket of favorite meats to barbecue or cook on a stove top, done up like you'd find an NCAA Men's Basketball bracket.  (Click on the picture at right for a larger view.)  It actually comes from Paul Lukas who writes rather quirky columns at ESPN.com.  You can click here to link up to Lukas' site where he gives his reasons for picking one meat over the other.

It's broken down into regions - the Pork region, the Sausage region, the Beef region and the miscellaneous, or Meatcellaneous region, with different types of meats seeded in the regions. 

It's not a big surprise that the winner of the meat tournament is the Standing Rib Roast, although I think they deserved a No. 1 seeding in the Meat regional.  It really is tough to beat Bacon as a cooked meat.  Bacon-wrapped anything is just super.  I've even joked about making bacon-wrapped bacon on the grill at some point.

It's kind of fun to look at the different meats and where - in Paul Lukas' mind - they ended up in the tournament pool.   But quite honestly, I think Lukas has a lot of time on his hands to come up with this masterpiece. 

The Steakhouse at Circus Circus - Las Vegas

The Steakhouse at Circus Circus in Las Vegas is one of my all-time favorite steak houses.  Being the sort of "defacto" restaurant guide for our company while we're in Las Vegas for CES, I've wanted to take my colleagues to the Steak House for quite sometime.  I made a reservation for 10 the day I got to Las Vegas.  I was fortunate to get us in on a Thursday night.  

Now, the Steakhouse is about 180 degrees out of kilter w ith the rest of Circus Circus.  While the Circus Circus casino and hotel is rather tired, schlocky and low-end compared to the other casino/hotels in town, the Steakhouse is elegant, vibrant and high-end.  Let's face it - Circus Circus is a dump.  How the Steakhouse has been able to maintain a very high level of food, service and decor for over 30 years in the midst of such a miserable place as Circus Circus, well, it's a miracle.  

 If you can make it through the grungy, smoke-filled casino with old people playing the nickel slots, past the circus themed acts that go on non-stop, and down a hallway littered with run-down shops you'll come to the front of The Steakhouse - decorated with ornate dark wood paneling on the outside.  (Photo at right courtesy of Exploring Las Vegas.)  The interior of The Steakhouse combines the dark wood paneling with green wall panels and paintings of cattle and outdoor scenes.  As one of my colleagues said, "Now THIS is what a steak house is supposed to look like."

The Steakhouse cooks all their meats on an open wood fired grill.  You can actually peer through the thick glass at the chefs grilling the large chunks of meat.  The smell of the meat grilling over the wood is just heavenly and mouth-watering.

 Now, this was not the first time I've been to The Steakhouse.  I think I've been there, maybe, eight or nine times prior.  But this was my first visit in over 7 years.  It was on my first visit in 1987 when I was introduced to Atomic Horseradish. (For that story and others connected to Atomic Horseradish, click here.)  I'd been in nice steak houses before, but The Steak House was, by far, the best steak house I'd ever been to up to that point in my life.

I like to joke that The Steakhouse has three different sizes of steaks to choose from.  There's the "Hunk-o-Beef", the "Ton-o-Beef", and the big daddy of the all, "The Shitload-o-Beef".  The large filets are, seriously, about four inch cubes and have to be completely charred on the outside just to get the inner part of the steak to a perfect medium rare.  But there's nothing better than that wood-fired taste on the steaks when you bite into them.

Starting at the valet parking in front of Circus Circus, it took us about five minutes to wind our way through the smoky and down-trodden casino to the front of The Steakhouse that particular evening.  We had two more people tag along with us and the staff at the restaurant were very accommodating to add a couple seats to our table.  I don't think we waited any more than two or three minutes while they set two more places at our large table in the middle of the restaurant.

In addition to the large steaks and prime rib The Steakhouse offers, they also feature some seafood entrees, as well as pork chops and chicken dishes.  But you don't go to The Steakhouse and order chicken.  It's all in or nothing for great beef.

While they're famous for their prime rib and filets, they also have a wonderful bone-in ribeye steak that is a signature item on their menu.  And their strip steaks are lean and flavorful.  It's so difficult to make up your mind when you sit down to eat at The Steakhouse.

I was just starting my diet and I was looking for something good and lean, so I ended up ordering the filet.  I got the smaller of the two, I believe it was 12 oz. of beef.  I also ordered up a salad along with a side of asparagus.

The wine list at The Steakhouse is better than what you find at many restaurants of the same caliber.  I let my colleague, Ian, pick out a couple of cabernets for dinner.

My colleague, Todd, ordered the bone-in ribeye on my recommendation. When it came out, the look on his face was priceless.  Here was this huge bone with a large amount of beef attached to it.  And being that he likes more of the European taste in his beef, he had ordered it rare.  It looked like the meat had just been cut off the cow moments before it was quickly grilled.  It was truly a "Shitload-o-Beef".

My filet was more of the "Ton-o-Beef" variety, served a perfect medium-rare with a side of Atomic Horseradish.  The asparagus was served in a family style fashion and I shared some with other people at the table.  The filet was just wonderful - flavorful, great texture and it had that wonderful smoked barbecue taste to it.  From the first bite, I was in heaven.  All the memories of previous visits flooded back into my brain.

I had a couple of meltdown moments taking a little more of the Atomic Horseradish in bites than I bargained for.  I'm telling you - there's nothing better than fresh, out of the bottle Atomic Horseradish.  It's almost like torturing yourself when you get a big hit from the horseradish, but the taste sensation is out of this world.

As this was the first visit to The Steakhouse for everyone else with me that evening, I took an informal poll after dinner to see if they liked it.  Their replies were overwhelmingly positive.  As I was leaving the restaurant, I ran into Vance Pflanz, the owner of Pflanz Electronics in Sioux City, IA, and his son, Scott, having dinner at The Steakhouse.  Vance said, "We eat here at least once every time we come out to Vegas."

The Steakhouse at Circus Circus is an oasis of fine dining in the midst of a major dump in Las Vegas.  If you can get past the fact that one of the finest restaurants in town is located in one of the most horrid casinos, then by all means go to The Steakhouse at Circus Circus when you visit Las Vegas.  You'll never be dissatisfied.

Duffy's Cherry Cricket on The Travel Channel

The Travel Channel's Man vs. Food is hosted by Adam Richman, a New Yorker with a background of working in a host of different types of restaurants during his career.   And even though he was never professionally trained to work in a restaurant, Richman picked up a lot of valuable knowledge of the internal workings of a restaurant from working the front counter to working in the kitchen. 

Man vs. Food is Richman's quest to find the biggest, best and most unique foods of what a region or metro area has to offer.  While I think Richman's shtick is a bit over the top, ala Guy Fieri from the Food Network, he does visit some interesting places to find the biggest sandwiches, the best barbecue and the most interesting food that is unique to a given area.  

The following clip is Richman's visit to my favorite burger joint in the whole world, Duffy's Cherry Cricket in Denver (see map).  You can read my earlier entries on Duffy's here, here and here.   And you can read my list of my Top Ten Burger Places here, where I proclaim Duffy's No. 1 out of all the burger joints I've visited.  The four and a half minute clip was just recently on Man vs. Food when Richman visited Denver last year.  I hope your stomach doesn't start to rumble when you watch it!

Until Further Notice...

Road Tips is taking some time off during my recovery.  Since I won't be able to travel until June, it's either finish off some of the entries I have coming now, or wait until I can start writing again like I have been.

This doesn't mean I'm completely going away.  I'll be writing once or twice a week - or it could be once every two weeks.  But I'm running out of material since I won't be able to travel for nearly three months. 

I'll continue my updates on my hip situation, which is coming on along fabulously, thank you.  And I've got some restaurants that I'd still like to talk about.  But I'm just not going to be making entries on a regular basis.  I'm still at the point where I can only sit for about 45 to 60 minutes in my office chair before I have to get up and walk or go back to bed to help stretch my leg out. 

During this hiatus, I may re-print some of my more favorite Road Tips entries.  But I have a fundamental problem with re-cycling old stories.  I'll have to see how I feel about it in a week or so.

Speaking of my recovery, I've started physical therapy and while they've started me out with a lot of stretching, I know the tough days are coming.  I still have little to no strength in my left leg - I can't even lift it from an extended position when I'm lying flat in my back.  But the physical therapists - Nicole and Aaron - are fun to work with and have the patience that I've never possessed in my whole life.  I'm going three days a week and that will continue up until I have my right hip replaced on April 8.  Then it's more physical therapy until they release me to start traveling again, hopefully in early June.

The recovery for my left hip - the lack of strength in my left hip, notwithstanding - has been going even better than I anticipated.  I'm getting a little tired of the pain, which is receding every day.  But I'm also getting cabin fever as I've not been able to get outside all that much because of cold weather.  But it's supposed to be in the 50's and 60's in the next few days, so I'll be able to get out and walk up and down the street rather than back and forth in our hallways at home.   

I ditched the walker on Monday of this week and have been walking with a cane, primarily.  That is, when I remember to take the cane.  I found myself out in our four season porch on Thursday without my cane when I took some recyclables out to the storage bin.  I turned and thought, "Where's my cane?"  I left it in the kitchen.  When I recounted the story for the physical therapists the next day, they said, "No, that's great!  If you're forgetting your cane, then that means you're getting along well without it!" 

Saturday, I went without my cane for about 90% of the day.  Sunday, the only time I touched my cane was to move it to a place where I wouldn't forget it if I needed it at some point.  That's 11 days after the surgery.  Also yesterday, I drove my car for the first time since the surgery.  While it hurts to sit in the car for any long amount of time, at least Cindy doesn't have to take time off of work any longer to cart me around to doctor and P.T. appointments.

It's also weird that I have one leg longer than the other - by about an inch.  But I know it's going to be a temporary thing until April 8.  I'm still a little shaky learning to walk with a pronounced limp.  So even though I'm getting to the point where I don't really need the cane, I'm keeping it around to help with the limp. 

The only big problem - other than getting in and out of bed, and Cindy having to put the support hose on my legs for circulation purposes until next Wednesday - has been with a drug called Lovenox that I was injecting into my stomach as an anti-coagulant medicine.  I'd been noticing that late in the day, I'd begin to get chills, nausea, got fatigued, my muscles ached, swelling in my leg increased and I had to go to bed just to feel halfway good.  Even taking pain pills or taking a long, hot shower didn't take care of the increased pain that I experienced.

Cindy's dad and his lady-friend came down to see me last Tuesday.  I injected myself with the Lovenox around 4 p.m. right when they got there.  About 5:30, I had to excuse myself and go back to bed.  The same symptoms erupted.  I began to think that maybe there was something else going on because I had felt great up to that particular point.

The next day, I got a shot about 4:30.  Around 6 p.m., boom.  Same thing.  I got to thinking, "It's got to be the Lovenox."  We looked up the side effects of Lovenox and I found that I had many of the side effect symptoms. 

I called the doctor's office the next morning and talked to one of the nurses.  I told her that I was having nearly all of the side effects of Lovenox, only they seemed to be somewhat acute.  She said, "We've never had anyone complain about the side effects of Lovenox before.  Let me talk to Dr. Hoffman and I'll get back to you."

She called me back in 15 minutes and said, "Get off the Lovenox now.  You've been on it for 7 days and Dr. Hoffman says to take a full strength aspirin in the morning and one in the evening."  

Sure enough, I didn't eject the Lovenox that evening and everything was fine.  I missed my post-op appointment on Friday (because I went to the wrong office), so I didn't find out if I was somewhat allergic to the Lovenox.  But I have a post-op appointment this coming Friday and I'm sure that will be a topic of conversation.  

My staples come out this coming Wednesday and the incision looks great.  I've had little to no problems with the incision, other than it's beginning to itch.   And one other thing that I've found out during all of this - I'm allergic to surgical tape.  I was developing blisters under the surgical tape that I had on my to hold the gauze pads.  When I got the original dressing changed on Monday, the physical therapist gave Cindy a roll of paper tape to use on me.  It's worked great.

I'd also gained some weight back, probably in the form of water weight gain to help with the swelling due to the operation.  But I've noticed that I'm getting rid of a lot of water lately and I've lost a couple three pounds over the past couple days, so I'm hopefully going back in the right direction to lose more weight.   

So, that's it for now.  Thanks again to all who have written, called or commented on my situation.  It's not that I'm going away for good, so check back from time to time for updates and maybe a couple of new restaurants or events that I've been to lately.  I am going to write very soon about my inital experiences of having DirecTV in our house for the past couple of weeks.  And, who knows?  Maybe I'll start feeling better to be able to get back into the full swing of Road Tips sooner than later. 

Osaka Steak House - Davenport

One of the things Cindy and I do on an annual basis - no matter if we're in Chicago or home in the Quad Cities - is take in a movie on Christmas Eve. This past Christmas Eve was no exception, but we decided to go out to dinner before the movie. We both were thinking sushi, so we went to the Osaka Steak House on Utica Ridge in northeast Davenport (see map).

Osaka used to be just across the street from Southpark Mall in Moline and moved to their present location in the fall of 2008. They also maintain a sushi bar at Northpark Mall. Their Utica Ridge location was formally a local rib joint called R.J. Boar's. Actually, I thought R.J. Boar's was much better at their old location in downtown Bettendorf. And, evidently, a lot of other people felt the same way. It didn't stay in business for very long after their move to Utica Ridge.

When Osaka moved in, they substantially changed the decor to an elegant Japanese theme. There's a large bar area on the right when you move in and the dining area featured a number of grill tables where people can watch one of Osaka's hibachi chef's do their little shtick. And in the far back of the restaurant, through the bar and past the dining area, is the sushi bar. As we like to do, we sat right at the bar and were given a menu. While Osaka has a lot of different styles of Japanese/American food to offer, we were in the mood for sushi.

It didn't take long for us to figure out that we wanted a spicy tuna roll along with a California roll. And then we ordered some other pieces of sushi to go along with it - spicy tuna, spicy yellowtail, red snapper, sweet shrimp, red snapper, salmon. We went to town with the order, really hoping to have a seafood overload for our pre-Christmas dinner.

In addition to all the sushi we ordered, we also got a bowl of miso soup to start out. There's not really much to miso soup - it's basically chunks of tofu, some scallions and some edible seaweed in a seasoned broth. Think chicken and noodle soup, only without the chicken and the noodles and with tofu, scallions and seaweed. But Osaka's miso soup was very good. Some of the best we'd ever tried.

When the spicy tuna roll and California roll came out, we were ready. And the spicy tuna roll was just outstanding. It certainly didn't last very long. In fact, both rolls were devoured within about two minutes of them being served to us. But the good thing is that they weren't overly busy at the sushi bar so our sushi order came up soon after we finished the rolls.

I have to say the sushi at Osaka was very, very good. It's amazing that you can get such fresh tasting fish in the middle of the country. We were wolfing the sushi back like it was the last meal for us.

Now, sushi is not appetizing to a lot of people. Actually, it took me a few times of having sushi to really appreciate the taste sensations and to get past the idea that I was eating "bait". It really can be an acquired taste.

My first trip to a sushi place was out in Las Vegas about 14 years ago. The guys in the company I was working with at the time decided they wanted sushi that evening. And as our sales manager at the time said, "Willie, we're going to go get sushi tonight. Now, you're more than welcome to come with us, but I don't think they have hamburgers on the menu, if you know what I mean."

Although I did find myself wanting to gag during my first couple of encounters with sushi, I learned to really love sushi. Later on, I took Cindy to a sushi place in Madison, WI for a snack one afternoon. She loved it immediately. And she turned her kids on to sushi, too. Her son will do stupid human tricks for sushi, he loves it so much.

One of the decadent pleasures we have in eating sushi is ordering the fatty tuna - or nigiri - from time to time. Usually, fatty tuna is pretty expensive per piece - about three to four times the price of regular sushi. But, man, is it good! We were first introduced to fatty tuna about 12 years ago at a sushi place called Sushi to Dai For in San Rafael, CA (see map). We were the only people at the sushi bar that evening and the sushi chef explained to us the different grades of tuna, cutting chunks of tuna for us to try. Fatty tuna is more marbled than regular chunk tuna and has a wonderful flavor.

It turned out that Osaka had fatty tuna that evening (some places only get it part of the time). We each got a couple pieces of the nigiri - at $7.95 a piece. Yow! But, man! Was it good.

I was still hungry after eating all that sushi, so I ordered up a Crazy Tuna Roll - basically, it's a tuna roll with spicy tuna wrapped around the outside. By the time we finished that, we'd hit the coveted seafood overload level.

But I don't know what it is about sushi. I can gorge myself on the stuff, getting to the point that I'm starting to grow gills on my neck. But an hour to 90 minutes later, I'm craving White Castle hamburgers. Yep, I don't quite know why, but for some reason I get hungry for the taste of a White Castle "slider". I think it has something to do with Cindy and me having sushi in West Lafayette, IN a number of years ago, stuffing ourselves and making our way back to our hotel. Then about two hours later, I was hungry again. It just happened that there was a White Castle near our hotel. We walked over and got a couple "sliders". It was the perfect complement to the sushi we'd had earlier in the evening.

Our sushi-fest at Osaka wasn't cheap - the bill came to over $100 bucks with tip. It was mainly sushi as I had a couple of beers and Cindy had hot tea with our food. But the fatty tuna helped push it over a "c-note". But it was worth it as a nice little Christmas present to us both.

Before we left, I ran into a good friend, Mike Weindruch, who was having a hibachi dinner with his family at Osaka. He said they had just gone to a movie and then decided to have dinner. Mike said, "A movie, then sushi. This is what Jews do on Christmas Eve."

I said, "Hey, we're not Jewish and we're doing the same thing, except we're heading to the movie right now."

We agreed that sushi is definitely a non-denominational treat. And Osaka's sushi was a definite spot-hitter.

Tillerman - Las Vegas

As I've said in previous posts about dining experiences in Las Vegas, it's difficult to get a large group of 10 or more people to get into a good restaurant during the annual CES trade show.  Given that it was a Friday night, I was having a helluva time finding a place that would be able to get us in before 9 p.m.  I finally decided to try an old stand-by, the Tillerman restaurant on East Flamingo (see map).  Surprisingly, they said they would be able to get us in.

The Tillerman is one of the "old school" supper clubs that have been on the Las Vegas valley landscape for a number of years.  Since they first opened in 1980, the Tillerman has been one of the favorite places for local residents to dine in Las Vegas.  And while I've eaten there two or three times previously, I hadn't been there for quite sometime until we were out in Vegas for CES this past January.  

There were 12 of us who ended up at the Tillerman for a 7:30 reservation.  For a Friday night right in the middle of CES, we were very surprised it wasn't more busy than it was.  I'm guessing the restaurant was possibly three-quarters full.  There have been times in the past that I've waited up to two hours to eat at the Tillerman.  But we noticed that a lot of restaurants were able to get larger groups in with little to no problems at this year's CES.

We ended up being seated right away at a large rectangular table in the main dining area.   There are four main dining areas in the Tillerman, including a mezzanine that overlooks part of the restaurant.  The main room has a high ceiling and features a number of indoor trees to give it more of a cozy, outdoor feel to the place.

The menu at the Tillerman is massive and varied.  While they're well known for their steaks and fresh seafood, they also offer pasta dishes, chops and chicken.  And they're pretty proud of their food at the Tillerman.  It's not cheap.  I don't remember it being all that expensive, but I've begun to notice that a lot of the old time restaurants in Las Vegas have raised their prices - some of them tremendously - over the past few years. 

For example - an 8 oz. center cut filet is $49 bucks at the Tillerman.  An Asian style Chilean sea bass is $42 bucks.  A 10 oz. Flat Iron steak with seafood ravioli is just a shade under $40 bucks.  And that doesn't include the side dishes such as baked potatoes, rice, Bearnaise sauce and sauteed mushrooms that range in price from $4 to $7.  There were a number of surprised exclamations from the guys in our group over the pricing.  And remember, we tend to eat a little more upscale when we're together as a group.

And the wine list is also sort of expensive, but they had a great selection of wines.  Since some of us were going to eat seafood, I initially ordered up a bottle of white and a bottle of red.  The white wine was the Ferrari-Carano Fume Blanc wine, a wonderful dry white wine that is one of my favorite whites.  The red we got was the Paraduxx blend that is from the Duckhorn winery that I like so well.  It was a great tasting and very interesting red that everyone seemed to like.   But the Tillerman wanted about $45 bucks for the Ferrari-Carano wine - a wine that you can easily find in stores for around $15 bucks a bottle.  And the Paraduxx - while somewhat expensive in stores at around $40 to $45 bucks - was priced at $115 at the Tillerman.  We knew it was going to be a pretty expensive bill to get out of the Tillerman.

In addition to the choices on the menu, the Tillerman offered some specials that evening.  I went pretty basic, however, in my choice.  For my main entree, I went with the 10 oz. "baseball-cut" sirloin steak with a side of broccoli in a hollandaise sauce with a side of peppercorn sauce for the steak.  That, alone, was $49 bucks for the whole shebang. 

But along with the main entree, they brought out a couple of "lazy Susan" salad bowl servers and placed them on our table.  You served yourself the lettuce, toppings such as cherry tomatoes, croutons, and small veggies; and a selection of homemade dressings including a very good creamy bleu cheese.  It was plentiful and good.

Along the way, our waiter was efficient, but rather stiff.  I would have liked to have someone with a little more personality waiting on us, but he did his job well, staying on top of our needs which can be pretty tough with a large table. 

Our dinners showed up and my steak was good.  It wasn't outstanding, but it was good.  It was cooked to a perfect medium-rare, and I enjoyed dipping a few pieces into the peppercorn sauce to give the meat a little more zip to the taste.  The broccoli was perfectly cooked and the hollandaise sauce wasn't as heavy as I expected it to be, which was fine with me. 

As we finished up our meal, the bill was brought to the table.  With tip included into the bill, it came to just under $1200 bucks.  No one - and I mean, no one - wanted to sign the tab.  Not only was it nearly $1200 bucks, but we didn't think it was worth $1200 bucks.  It was good - don't get me wrong - but we'd all had more fabulous meals with spending a lot less money.  Finally, I was the one who took the bill and presented my company credit card for the meal.  It was pretty tough to sign the charge slip and even more tough to write it up in my expense report about six weeks later. 

The Tillerman is very good, but - man - is it expensive.  In my opinion, it's not worth the money we paid to eat there.  Sure, the service was good, the food was good, the wine was good, it was a comfortable atmosphere and we were able to get out of there in under two hours.  But that's a lot of money spent for the level of food we got. 

(Update - I found this article that talked about the closing of the long time Las Vegas iconic restaurant in February of 2011.  A new owner who sunk a lot of money into the renovation of Tillerman couldn't make a go of the place.  Coupled with the recession and a horrific monthly lease she had to pay on the property, she couldn't make a go of the place.  Too bad.  It was a place that helped those realize what the old Las Vegas was like before all the mega hotels/casinos and the 4 and 5 star restaurants came to town.)  

Toscana - Fargo, ND

Each time I go to Fargo - yes, Fargo - I get more pleasantly surprised as to how much of a "big city" this town of about 100,000 people really is.  First of all, it's the biggest town for hundreds of miles around.  Secondly, there's a lot of money in the community.  And third, they aren't shy to spend it.  I visited my dealer in Fargo before the snow fell last year and we went out to dinner at a great little place downtown by the name of Toscana (see map).

Chef Mirco Morganti grew up in Lucca, Italy and spent five years in cooking school in Europe.  Chef Mirco's work took him all through Europe, then to the U.K. before ending up in the U.S. a few years ago.  When he was working in Sioux Falls at a restaurant there, he met Fargo native Char Nelson.  They soon married and Char convinced her husband to come back with her to Fargo to open a restaurant.  Toscana opened in the late part of 2006 and many of Chef Mirco's recipes are a reflection of his Italian heritage. 

Before we went to Toscana, my dealer and his wife took me for drinks to a new supper club that friends of theirs had recently opened, the Silver Moon (see map).  Owned by Monte Jones and Jerry Erbstoesser, the Silver Moon was a very ornate 30's-style supper club in the heart of the historic district in Fargo.  The restaurant, housed in a building that is over 90 years old, is named after a former and famous local landmark - the Silver Moon - which was located just across the Red River of the North in Moorhead, MN.  I met Monte Jones and he told me they had just opened their doors to the public a couple weeks prior after hosting a number of "dry run" evenings for friends and family.  My dealer and his wife were part of a couple of those "dry run" evenings and they raved about the food and appetizers they were served. 

Actually, with Monte Jones' wonderful hospitality and the ambiance of the place, I was all set to have dinner there that evening.  However, my dealer said, "C'mon, we're going to go get dinner.  You like Italian, don't you?"

Oh, God, yes...

My dealer's wife begged off for dinner as she was hosting a small gathering at their house later in the evening, so it was just a short walk from the Silver Moon to Toscana for my dealer and I on a cool North Dakota evening.  Toscana's decor is very rustic Italian with wrought iron and spackled walls.  It was very nice and comfortable in the restaurant. 

We got the wine list and the menu from our smartly dressed waiter.  Toscana was very classy, but very laid back.  You could have easily taken the restaurant and put it in a place like St. Louis, Chicago or Minneapolis and it would have fit in very well.

After getting a very decent priced bottle of the Jordan Cabernet Sauvignon 2004, we ordered dinner.  My dealer ordered the veal picatta which came with a small Italian salad.  I was torn between the Steak au Poivre - a New York strip topped with a green peppercorn sauce; or the meat filled tortellini in a vodka cream sauce.  The waiter had a great suggestion.  He said, "Get the Steak au Poivre and I can get you a side of the tortellini."  He just earned a nice jump in his tip.  

We talked business over salads and wine.  He announced that he was opening a new showroom in Fargo and was planning on displaying a number of products that we sell.  When we finished the first bottle of Jordan just as dinner was being served, I promptly ordered another.  We were celebrating.     

My Steak au Poivre was just wonderful.  It was cooked a perfect medium rare and the creamy green peppercorn sauce added to the wonderful flavor of the meat.  And the tortellini in the vodka cream sauce was just out of this world.  Along with a great glass of Jordan Cabernet, it certainly didn't suck to be me that evening.

I took my dealer home and he invited me in to join the gathering of his wife's friends who were watching "Project Runway."  I was like, "What?" 

But he said, "It will be a hoot.  Besides, I know they're having wine."  

Once inside, my dealer's wife asked, "So, how was Toscana?"

Well, I have to say it was one of the best Italian meals I've ever had.  The service was great and we had a great time.  Like I say, it seems like Fargo surprises me each time I visit the city.  I was certainly surprised and blown away by the food at Toscana.  It was absolutely wonderful.

An Update to the Hip Replacement Story

Thanks to many of you who have called, e-mailed, or written comments on Road Tips or on my Facebook page.  I haven't been too comfortable sitting up after my surgery, so I've worked on this entry about three times over the past 24 hours.  And each time I had to quit as I became a little sore.   I think I can get finished this time.   

I've always believed in the miracles of modern medicine.  Now I believe in them more so than ever.  After going through a total hip replacement four days ago, I'm truly amazed at how mobile I really am.  Oh, I'm not out running sprints or jumping rope, but with the help of a walker and a cane, I'm scooting around the house pretty well.

First of all, I really had no idea what to expect - other than the worst - for the procedure.  And, for that matter, after the procedure.  I didn't know if I would be a big bowl of gelatin writing in pain, or if I could "man-up" and do the little things that are needed to make me fell better.

Cindy and I got to the Mississippi Valley Surgery Center a little after one on Wednesday.  I got all checked in and then it's the usual "hurry up and wait" procedures where we could have easily come two hours later and not missed the surgery.  Actually, I was told that I would be in the surgery around 2 p.m. and out by 3.  It didn't work that way - I was taken in around 4:30 and back in the room around a quarter to six. 

Now, you have to understand, this is my first major surgery in my life - not counting the tonsillectomy that I had when I was three.  And I remember many aspects of that surgery - screaming for my mom when they're trying to put me under, seeing concentric rings when they put the ether in my face, and not being well enough to enjoy any of the oodles of ice cream they offered the kids after they came out of the tonsillectomy.  I'd heard from a lot of people that I'd be sick from the anesthesia.  I was told that I'd be in so much pain I wouldn't want to eat for a week.  I was also told that the initial pain in the hip would be so excruciating that I wouldn't want to continue the rehab process. 

But I also heard that some people do well coming out of the anesthesia, that the pain may not be so bad, and, in fact, the pain from the stiffness and swelling in joint would feel tremendously better than the pain that I was going through with the bad hip.  So, in other words, I didn't know what to expect. 

When they took me in, they tried to maneuver me around and that was a chore.  Even though I've lost about 25 pounds, I'm still a pretty big guy.  They finally got me into a position where the anesthesiologist could administer a spinal tap to numb my body below my waist.  When I felt something sort of burning going into my hand via the IV, I said, "I feel something burning in my hand."

The anesthesiologist said, "Oh, that's the 'joy juice'."  And that's about the last thing I remember.  I was out. 

I woke up about 45 minutes later, the procedure was just wrapping up.  Dr. Hoffman's assistant, Dean, was putting the staples in to close up the suture.  Actually, I woke myself up singing Aerosmith's song "Janie's Got a Gun".  The song must have been on the little stereo they had in the operating room.  Then I remember saying, "Oh, you guys have such a RIGHTEOUS set of tools in this room!" 

The anesthesiologist was laughing and I heard her say, "Oh, we've got a fun one in this guy."

They put me into a hospital bed, secured a large foam rubber piece between my legs (so I couldn't either move or cross my legs) and wheeled me back in.  Cindy was waiting for me and she said, "I heard you were a model patient!"

Dr. Hoffman had come out to talk to her about the procedure and he said I came through with flying colors.  He told her it was a lot easier than he expected. 

But I still had no feeling below my waist and that was sort of disconcerting.  Cindy was playing with my toes and I told her to knock it off because it was sort of scary that I couldn't feel her pulling on my toes.

I finally got up to walk around 10 p.m. that evening before I went to sleep, and I have to tell you, I amazed myself at how easy it was to get around.  I was using a walker and the two night nurses were standing on either side of me.  I made a couple laps around the patient area and back into the out-patient surgery area before I went to bed.  To me, it was simply amazing. 

The next morning, they got me up at five and started to get me ready to get out of there.  Physical therapy was due in at 8 and all I had to do is pee and I could leave.  Physical therapy got to me around 8:15 and we went for another walk.  In fact, I was saying that I wasn't certain I needed the walker.  Well, I'm glad I said something about that (and don't ever think you DON'T need a walker if you get a hip replacement - you will) because I wanted to have them see how good I could walk with a cane. 

They found a cane for me and I started to walk with it in my left hand.  The physical therapist said, "Oh, no.  You've got it in the wrong hand." 

I stopped and said, "This is the hand they set my cane up for when I went to get fitted for it." 

The P.T. said, "Oh, no.  Always opposite hand from the injured leg."

One of the other physical therapists heard what was going on and he came over to see what was happening.  He said, "Who told you to use the left hand for the left hip?"

I said, "It was the lady who fitted me for the cane at Genesis Home Health Care.  She set my cane up to use for my left hand.  I've been practicing the past couple of weeks with the cane using my left hand."

Well, the male physical therapist was pissed.  "What was her name," he asked angrily.  "She should know better than that!" 

I was able to leave a little after 10 a.m. - 18 hours after the procedure.  I'm tellin' ya - the miracle of modern medicine.  I got home and went to bed.  Now, I have to tell you, the toughest thing about this whole procedure is getting in and out of bed.  As one of my colleagues up in Montreal told me on Saturday, "Your bed can be your friend and your enemy."  Once I get in and get settled, I'm fine.  But I have no strength in my left leg and it's been tough to get the leg up into bed.  And because of that I've strained the lower muscles in my back.  That's not fun.  

Initially, I told everyone that I felt like I took a 95 mile an hour fastball in my left butt cheek and that a horse kicked me in the thigh.  A couple three days later, it's still pretty stiff in those areas.  But I'm getting around as well as could be expected.  The first couple days I was home the weather was beautiful and I was able to walk outside up and down the sidewalk.  Not too far, but far enough that it qualified as a good workout.  Since it's been rainy for the past couple days, I've been able to get around our house in the hallways and walking out through the kitchen in to our four=season porch. 

Cindy has been an absolute angel through all of this.  Her biggest test is putting the TED support hose on my lower legs every morning.  I have absolutely no flexibility in my legs yet and I can't bend over at the waist to put them on myself.  And they are absolute BITCHES to put on.  She's getting better with putting them on, however.  She's been very encouraging and she's much more amazed than methat I'm getting around as well as I can.  She's rubbed my lower back and helped make me feel so much better.  She's the best.

So that's it for now.  I'm doing a lot better than I expected.  Thanks again for the concern, comments, messages and phone calls.  I'm really looking forward to each new day because I can't wait to see how much more of the stiffness and soreness has gone away.   

The Country House - Clarendon Hills, IL

I'm sorry, but I have to apologize to whoever it was who told me that I needed to try The Country House in southwest suburban Clarendon Hills, IL (see map).  The person sent me an e-mail a couple three months ago about how good the burgers are at The Country House.  Not long ago, I tried them out for myself.

The Country House in Clarendon Hills has some interesting history behind the place.  The original building was built in 1922 by Emil Kobel as a combination road house tavern and grocery store.  Kobel continued to run The Country House until 1957, when he sold out and retired to Florida.  In 1974, local residents and frequent visitors to The Country House, David and Patrick Regnery, bought the restaurant.  A year later, the place underwent a major and much-needed renovation.  Along with the renovation, Regnery came up with a new menu which featured the soon to be famous Country Burger. 

In 1985, The Country House expanded to a second location in a small shopping mall in suburban Lisle (see map).  While it was difficult to re-create The Country House experience in a strip mall, the Regnery's decorated the restaurant with a rustic theme, similar to the original place in Clarendon Hills.  In 1996, the Regnery's opened a third location - this one definitely with a country feel to it - in Geneva along the Illinois Prairie Path in the Fox River Valley (see map).  While the building in Geneva is similar to the original Country House in Clarendon Hills, it's larger and features an outside deck area that overlooks a small pond.  

The Country House also is somewhat infamous for being haunted.  The restaurant is visited annually by hundreds who believe in the paranormal as a series of manifestations have occurred in the restaurant over the years.   I certainly didn't know about that before I went there, that's for sure.  

It was just after noon when I walked into the original Country House in Clarendon Hills.  The parking lot was packed with cars and there was a little wait for a table in the rustic dining area.  I kind of stood around in the bar, hoping to get an open chair at the bar.  There was a lady sitting with a man at the bar who had her coat draped over an open chair next to her.  Finally, I had to ask, "Are you saving this chair for someone?"

She looked at me sort of funny, then looked at her coat on the chair and sort of jumped in surprise.  She said, "Oh, my goodness!  No, I'm not saving this seat for anyone.  Let me move my coat!"  So that worked out pretty well.  Sometimes it doesn't hurt to ask.    

Even though I pretty much knew what I wanted, I took a menu from the bartender and ordered up a Bell's Amber Ale that they had on tap.  While most of the items on the menu consisted of sandwiches and burgers, The Country House also featured steaks, seafood, chicken and salads.  But they're famous for their Country Burger - a 1/2 pound chopped sirloin served on light or dark rye bread.  I finally ordered up a Country Burger - medium - with Swiss cheese, and I got an order of steak fries on the side.    

It took about 20 minutes during a very busy lunch hour for my burger to show up.  Immediately, the burger reminded me of the dark rye cheeseburger they serve at the Hackney'srestaurants around the Chicagoland area.  (As an aside - Geez!  I can't believe I've NEVER written about Hackney's on Road Tips!)  And just like the Hackney Burger, the Country Burger was very good.  It was flavorful, moist and juicy.  The Swiss cheese was a perfect complement to the burger meat. 

While I was having my burger, the people next to me left and one of their seats was taken by a guy who immediately ordered up the Country House's chili.  It looked - and smelled - great.  I couldn't help but ask the guy if it was as good as it looked.  He said, "This is the best chili in Chicago.  I can't wait until winter time when they start making it again."  I told him I'd have to try some the next time I came in to Country House. 

And just like Hackney's, the Country House is pretty proud of their burger.  They charge $9.45 for the burger and steak fries.  A little steep, but they don't seem to have a shortage of people rolling in to have their burgers.  I suppose having their burgers recently voted the Best in Chicago by readers of the Chicago Tribune doesn't hurt either.  And their burgers were very good.  A neat place with good food and some history thrown in- that's the Country House in Clarendon Hills. 

The First of Two Hip Replacements

Today, I undergo the first of two total hip replacements.  My left hip gets replaced today.  If everything goes as scheduled, my right hip will be replaced on April 8.  I have to tell you, with all the pain I've been experiencing, I'm ready.

I've known for some time that I was going to have to get hip replacements.  About 10 years ago I slipped on some steps and tore some muscles in my leg.  The orthopedic doctor that looked at my x-rays said, "Do your hips hurt?"

Backing up a bit, I used to play a lot of basketball up to the age of 35.  When I'd finish playing for the day, my hips would hurt to the point where I'd have to take ibuprofen or a muscle relaxer to help relieve the pain.  I told the doctor, "Yeah, they used to hurt a lot when I'd play basketball."

"Look here," he said as he pointed to the X-Ray showing some gnarly looking things protruding from my hip joints.  "You've got bone spurs in your hip.  You're going to have to get hip replacements by the time you're 50."  

I made it past 50, but it wasn't long before I began to notice a large drop in mobility, especially in my left hip.  I was having trouble putting on socks and shoes.  I couldn't crouch any longer, and I couldn't bend to pick things up very well.  I knew it wasn't long before the hip replacement would come into play.  

Beforehand, I went and got a physical and my doctor wanted me to go through a total heart test, since I'd never had one before.  And that resulted in an angiogram, which found that I had a healthy heart, little to no blockage in my arteries and full blood flow throughout my body.  You can read about that here.

With a clean bill of health, I went to see the noted local orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Ralph Congdon.  I've known Dr. C. for a number of years as his son, Craig, ran an audio/video store here in the Quad's for a few years before selling out and moving to Denver.  In fact, the Congdon's were kind enough to offer their Wisconsin north woods cabin for our honeymoon when Cindy and I got married nearly 14 years ago.  (Cabin is a loose term - the place is nicer than our house!) Dr. C. told me that he was turning me over to a colleague, Dr. Joe Martin, who was a joint replacement specialist. 

Dr. Martin saw me a few days later and ran me through some tests.  He looked at the X-rays and said, "Did you use to play a lot of court sports when you were younger?  Tennis, racquetball?"

I said that I used to play some racquetball, but I used to play a lot of basketball when I was young and in shape.  He said, "Ah!  Well, the deterioration in your hips shows that there was a lot of side to side movement."  And there is a lot of side to side movement in basketball.

Dr. Martin cautioned that he didn't want to replace the hip so soon because I was a "young" guy and he didn't know if the hip replacement would last my lifetime.  And at that point, he was just talking about my left hip only.  He said, "The last thing we want to do is have to go in and replace your hip again in 20 years." 

I went back to see him another time in the fall and he was still cautioning in getting the hip replacement at my age.  "It's your call, however," he said.  "If it gets to a point that it's getting to be too much pain, or when it begins to wake you up when you're sleeping, then it's time to replace the hip.  But my recommendation is to wait." 

In the meantime, I began to notice a loss of motion and reduced flexibility in my right leg.  I thought, "Uh, oh.  My right hip is beginning to show the same signs."

In early December, I was reading an article in the Quad City Times about Dr. John Hoffman who worked at Orthopedic Specialists in Davenport.  The article was about a 52-year-old guy who had a total hip replacement in December of 2007 and another total hip replacement in January of 2008.  Five months later, this guy was playing men's league soccer.  Well, that certainly piqued my interest - not because I was looking to play soccer after my hip surgery, but because the guy did TWO replacement surgeries in a month!

I decided to call Dr. Hoffman and make an appointment, primarily for a second opinion.  I went in three days before Christmas and met with Dr. Hoffman and his assistant, Aaron Schulze.  We talked for a while and Dr. Hoffman did some flex tests on me.  He said, "My goodness, you're so stiff in that left leg!"

He was going to contact Dr. Martin's office for X-Rays, but decided to go ahead and take some for himself.  As I was in talking with Aaron after the X-Ray procedure, Dr. Hoffman came in and put the slides on the lighted screen.  He said, "If you hadn't told me that your left hip hurt more than your right, from looking at these X-Rays I would bet a million dollars it was your right hip that needed to go first."  

He said he detected a cyst in the left hip joint and said, "We need to get that taken care of as soon as we can."

Suddenly, what started out as a second opinion became the start of the full blown procedure. 

Dr. Hoffman explained that he only did the procedure on Wednesday's and I looked at a calendar on his wall.  I said, "How about January 21?"

Dr. Hoffman said, "You know, I just finished doing a television interview with Channel 6 where they were asking me about all the broken bones and dislocated joints because of people falling on the heavy ice we've had."  He explained that I'm going to have to use a walker, then a cane to get around after my surgeries.  He said, "You're going to have to get over to physical therapy and I'd feel much better if you went out when there wasn't a lot of ice and snow.  I don't think this stuff is going to be melting anytime soon."

He was right - we didn't lose our ice or snow from December until mid-February.  

The first thing he said was, "You've got to lose weight."  Now, I'd been splurging on food and drink since I'd gotten the clean bill of health over a year ago and when I stepped on the scales I was completely surprised at my weight.  Let's say it was eye-popping.  He said, "You need to lose 50 to 75 pounds before the surgery."  He talked about bariatric procedures, but that's more for the morbidly obese.  I don't think I quite qualify as that - yet.  He talked about simple diets, including the Atkins diet.  But in order for the hip replacement to work, I had to lose weight, plain and simple.  

Dr. Hoffman left the room and a few minutes later one of his nurses comes into the room.  She said, "Dr. Hoffman wants to get you a cortisone shot in your hip to help with the pain."  She looked through her calendar and said, "How about January 7th?"

I said I was going to be out of town for a week during that time (Las Vegas).  She left for a moment and then came back into the exam room.  She said, "What are you doing at 9:45 tomorrow morning?"

A few moments later, another nurse comes in and said, "OK, I'm here to schedule you for your replacements."  I thought it was sort of odd, considering that Dr. Hoffman was telling me I had to lose 50 to 75 pounds before the procedures.  The what was really odd was that she proposed March 4 as the first surgery date.  

I said, "Wait a minute.  A few minutes ago, Dr. Hoffman was saying that I needed to lose 50 to 75 pounds before the surgery.  And I don't think I can drop that much weight in a little over two months."

The nurse sort of panicked and said, "He said that?  Really?"  I told her he had and she left the room.  

A few more moments passed and Dr. Hoffman and the nurse re-entered the room.  I said, "I guess I'm sort of confused.  You're telling me that I have to lose all this weight, but she's trying to schedule me for my surgery on March 4."  

Dr. Hoffman said, "Well, yes.  Theoretically, we'd like for you to lose the weight - eventually.  It's going to do nothing but help you with your recovery.  But we can go ahead and do the surgery as long as you keep losing weight."

So she went ahead and scheduled me in for March 4 and April 8.  Both were tentative in lieu of pre-op tests, but I passed those with flying colors and now I'm ready.

Actually, the cortisone shot was sort of an interesting segment in all of this.  I had to go over two days before Christmas to the Radiology Group in Davenport for the shot.  They put you on a table, mark where they are going to insert the needle, numb you up and then shoot the cortisone into the joint.  I thought they were going to go in from the side, but no.  They go in from the front, near the groin.  Yow!

Dr. Poor, the radiologist who administered the shot, poked the hypodermic needle into me after numbing me up and promptly hit a nerve.  I said, "I've got a tingling in my leg!"  He pulled the needle out and said, "OK, well, I've hit a nerve."  He tried again.  Same thing, major tingling in my leg.  He pulled it out, moved it a bit and tried it again.  Still tingling.  Finally, on the FOURTH try he got in OK.  The only problem was that the needle he used WASN'T LONG ENOUGH!!!  Shit!!!

So, Dr. Poor and the attending nurse were over looking through a drawer for a longer needle.  I overheard him say, "I need the longest needle possible."

The nurse said, "Well, I've got a five inch needle here."

I about came unglued when I heard that.  I said, "Hey, I can hear you guys over here!  I don't know if I really need to hear all this!" 

The procedure began again.  Through all of this, Dr. Poor was asking what I did for a living and when he found out that I was in audio/video sales and he focused on talking about that.  But he would intersperse it with some "play-by-play" of the procedure.  It went something like this - "Yeah, I just bought some new speakers down in Peoria.  I had some old speakers that I bought from an old store years ago.  OK, we're goin' in.  And they had run their course. You might feel a little heat in your leg.  And my wife didn't want to have big speakers.  Almost there..."

I was shaking because I just don't like needles.  In fact, my leg was shaking so much that the nurse had to hold on to it to keep it still.  Finally I said, "Listen, I really don't need a play-by-play here, Doc."

He said, "Oh, well, we're done here."  That was that.  He told me that I'd feel some discomfort in the joint for a couple three days, but after Christmas I should feel fine.  He was right - on Christmas Day I thought I was going to shoot out of my skin a couple of times from the pain.  But the cortisone kicked in and worked very well.  For a month.  I lost the cortisone the last week of January.  I declined to get another shot because I knew I could hold off for a few more weeks before the surgery. 

So beginning at 1 p.m. today, I get a new left hip.  A lot of people have expressed how sorry they were to hear that I was going to have the replacement and I've been saying, "No, no!  Be happy for me!  This damn hip hurts like hell!  I WANT to get it replaced!" 

I'll be on a walker for a few days and then a cane for the days up to the second surgery.  Then it's the same thing all over again in April.  I *hope* to be somewhat back to normal by June and fully recovered by this fall.  But I won't be traveling for three months and during that time I may have to put Road Tips into a semi-dormant stage sometime this spring.  I'll see how that goes, but I will have periodic updates as to my condition.  Plus I need to get caught up on some places I've visited over the past few months. 

Oh!  And I almost forgot - I've lost 20 pounds so far.  My goal was to lose 25 by the first procedure.  And that's completely on diet and with no exercise.  I'd like to lose another 50 to 75 pounds.  And physical therapy and a lot of walking in the coming months to strengthen the hip joints will help.  So I have that going for me.

Pink Taco - Las Vegas

 

Cindy and her sisters had eaten Mexican food at the Pink Taco at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino when they went out to Las Vegas a couple years ago.  She proclaimed it to be "excellent" with a fun atmosphere.  I tried to get us into the Pink Taco at last year's Consumer Electronics Show, but they told me that for a group of 10 or more people I had to make reservations over a week in advance. 

This year, I decided to go ahead and make a reservation for us for the first night we were in town.  I called the Pink Taco and talked with the reservation supervisor, a very pleasant and fun lady by the name of Katy.  She told me that they no longer need a week's advance notice for larger parties, but they do have a fixed menu for  groups of ten or more people.  You can see the fixed menu here.  I was trying to make reservations for the Saturday night we were there for a group of 12 and the fixed price ran from $40 to $51 per person - and that didn't include the optional beverage plan.  Katy told me, however, that if I committed within 48 hours, she'd give us the weekday fixed prices which ran $33 to $42 per person.  

On top of all that, I was going to have to sign a contract and give a deposit of $250.  The contract was sort of confusing as it also said that if less than 12 people showed up I would be charged $25 per person for each person under the agreed upon number.  So if only nine people showed up for a party of 12, I would be charged $75 bucks.  And I had to give 24 hours notice if more than 12 people would be coming to dinner.  

Well, if you know our company at trade shows, the situation with dinner reservations is always fluid.  We have guys that may have to peel off and go to a dinner with an account or client.  We have people that show up at the last moment and go to dinner with us.  We don't know 24 minutes before we're supposed to sit down to eat how many there may be of us, let alone 24 hours in advance. 

Add to this, I didn't feel comfortable choosing food for other people.  Our company has a bunch of "foodies" in the group who like to try eclectic and exciting things on the menu.  And the options included four courses - an appetizer, a salad, a main entree (your choice of three or four items), and a dessert. 

First of all, an appetizer for me at a Mexican restaurant is usually chips and salsa with an occasional quesadilla.  And I can't tell you the last time I had a dessert at a Mexican restaurant - I'm usually so full from the meal that I've never tried fried ice cream or whatever other thing they're trying to pry more money out of your wallet.  And I can easily tell you the number of times I've had a salad at a Mexican restaurant before my meal - zero. 

I just didn't feel overly comfortable in either signing a contract to have dinner or to pick food for my colleagues.  So I deep-sixed the plan and told Katy that if we came, we'd just wait for a table like everyone else.  It actually turned out for the best. 

When I traveled to Las Vegas this year for CES, I took American Airlines thru Chicago, mainly because the price was about $300 bucks cheaper than the nearly direct United flight from Moline thru Denver to Las Vegas.  But my flight between Chicago and Las Vegas was over two hours late because they had to take us off one plane and put us on another due to a leaky toilet.  Then snowy weather further delayed us the place had to be de-iced.  By the time I got to the hotel, I was tired and hungry.

It also turned out that we didn't have a full staff in Las Vegas right off the bat.  We had some guys who were attending the MacWorld Exposition up in San Francisco and they wouldn't be joining us until later in the week.  So it was just five of us for dinner the first evening in Las Vegas.  When someone asked about dinner, I made the executive decision to head to the Pink Taco.  Everyone wholeheartedly agreed. 

The Pink Taco is located in the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas (see map).  The restaurant was founded in 2000 by Harry Morton, the son of Peter Morton - the co-founder of the Hard Rock Cafe chain and the former owner of the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas - and the grandson of famed restaurateur Arnie Morton - the founder of the famed Morton's Steakhouse restaurants, and who also helped develop the Playboy Clubs for Hugh Hefner in the early 60's. 

The name "Pink Taco" is somewhat controversial as it is vulgar slang for describing a woman's vagina.  In fact, when Harry Morton tried to open a second location in Scottsdale, AZ in 2006, it was met with tremendous resistance by the locals - fueled by Scottsdale mayor Mary Manross who felt the restaurant's name was obscene.  Harry Morton undoubtedly looked at the controversy as free publicity, but he claimed the restaurant's name came from a menu item also known as Panuchos, a traditional Mexican taco filled with beans, chicken, avacado and pickled pink onions.  After everyone settled down and received a reality check, the second Pink Taco opened in June of that year.  In addition to Las Vegas and Scottsdale, there is a location in Los Angeles with three more locations slated to open in Hollywood, San Diego and Miami. 

We were able to get a table right away when we arrived around 8 p.m.  Three people in our group were from Canada and it was 11 p.m. body time for them, 10 p.m. for me.  Our other colleague came from Phoenix, so he was at 9 p.m. body time.  In other words, we were all hungry and somewhat tired from a long day of travel. 

We were given menus and we ordered a round of beers or margaritas.  Homemade chips and salsa came to our table while we waited.  The Pink Taco is sort of loud, helped along by the decor that featured wooden floors and high tin-metal ceilings.  It was designed to be somewhat of a funky little Mexican cantina.  I was actually surprised that it wasn't bigger than it really was.  I was guessing they had to have a couple rooms where they'd be able to handle up to 30 people in a group.

I was starting my diet to lose a ton of weight before my planned hip surgery, so I was planning on eating light.  I noticed they had fish tacos, but when I found that the fish was breaded and deep fried, I passed on that. 

I ended up ordering the beef enchiladas - two shredded beef brisket tacos topped with a ranchero sauce along with cheese and sour cream.  What a way to start the diet!  But I had done pretty well for the first few days I was on the diet.  I figured I could jump off the diet for one meal.  

And I'm glad I did.  The beef enchiliadas were excellent.  The beef brisket was tender and flavorful, and the ranchero sauce with melted cheese was a wonderful combination.  I will say, however, that I wasn't absolutely blown away by the meal as my expectations of the Pink Taco were sky high based upon Cindy's glowing review and the feedback I'd received from a couple other people who have eaten at a Pink Taco.  Still, it was a very good meal. 

The service was good, the atmosphere was fun - but a little loud, and the food was very good.  I was sort of worried if everyone in our group shared the same sentiment about the food at the Pink Taco, but each of them said their entrees were very good.  I'm glad, however, we just came in on our own and didn't jump through the hoops they wanted us to do for a big party.  If we come back with a big group, I think it would be worth the time we'd have to wait to get a big table all together.  Hey, they do have a bar area and we can certainly wait there for a table.  It's going to be much better than pre-selecting your meal days in advance.