Road Tips

Hackney's on Harms - Glenview, IL

Earlier this year, I wrote about The Country House which has three locations in the southwest and west side suburbs of Chicago.  I referenced Hackney's in the entry, saying that the burger at The Country House was very similar to Hackney's.  When I made a search on my blog to link up Hackney's in the entry, I found that I had never written about the place before then.   And I'm truly amazed because Hackney's has one of the best burgers in the Chicagoland area and is a place that I have visited many times over the years.

Though I'm going to write about the original Hackney's today - Hackney's on Harms- there are five other Hackney's locations around the greater Chicagoland area.  I have eaten at them all with the exception of the Hackney's on Printer Row in downtown Chicago.

Hackney's has a rich history that started nearly 70 years ago in north suburban Glenview.  Actually, the story begins back in the mid-20's when the young widow Elizabeth Masterson married a gentleman by the name of Frank Engles.  Along with her two young sons, the Engles' moved to an acreage in Glenview near the corner of Lake Ave. and Waukegan Road.  They had a two story house where the upstairs served as the living quarters for the family, while the downstairs was a bar/restaurant during Prohibition.

In the early 30's, Frank Engles' aunt Helen - also known as "Bebe", and her husband, Jack Hackney, moved to an acreage on Harms Road not far from Frank's place in Glenview.  After Prohibition ended, Uncle Jack and Aunt Bebe Hackney refurbished a small garage and put in little bar and restaurant that served beer and Aunt Bebe's scrumptious burgers.

In 1939, Aunt Bebe Hackney passed away - three years after Jack Hackney had also passed.  Aunt Bebe's sister - who was Frank Engles' mother - inherited the property and ended up selling the place to Engles' step-son, Jim Masterson, and his new wife, Marcella, also known as "Kitz".

Jim and Kitz carried on the Hackney's tradition of a special burger - the Hackney Burger - that was conjured up by Aunt Bebe. It consists of a little over a half-pound of lean, hand cut, freshly ground beef, grilled and topped with cheddar cheese, then served on dark rye bread rather than a traditional hamburger bun.  The taste sensation is just excellent and this picture on the right just makes my mouth water as I look at it.

Over the years, Jim and Kitz' seven children became involved in the family business.  But decided that all of them couldn't work under one roof and make it work for everyone involved, the Masterson's bought a number of other restaurants around the Chicago area.  Actually, the second Hackney's location is now where the original restaurant/bar that Frank and Elizabeth Engles owned on Lake Ave. in Glenview.  That was followed by Hackney's locations in Wheeling, Chicago on Printer's Row, Lake Zurich, and in far south suburban Palos Hills.  Each location is managed by a son or daughter of Jim Masterson, who passed away in 1987.

It was a cool day when I pulled into the Hackney on Harms location in Glenview (see map).  Being that I wanted to write about my experience at Hackney's, I wanted to go to the original location for lunch.   I walked into the half-filled restaurant not long after 1 p.m. and took a seat at the nice bar they have in the restaurant.   I was greeted by the always personable and outgoing bartender at Hackney's on Harms and was given a menu.  I pretty much knew what I was going to get - I usually get the same thing every time I go into a Hackney's - but I wanted to peruse the menu to familiarize myself with what else they have to offer.

Hackney's signature food item is, of course, their Hackney Burger.  But they also have a Bleucheese Burger that is filled with bleu cheese crumbles mix in with the meat, and their famous Inside Out Burger that is stuffed with cheddar cheese and bacon, then topped with both cheddar and bacon.  The Food Network has visited Hackney's a couple three times and has highlighted Hackney's mouth-watering burgers in their segments.

While Hackney's is famous for their burgers, they also offer a wide variety of food to choose from on their menu.  They also offer steaks, seafood and chicken entrees, as well as a weekly daily special such as corned beef and cabbage, meatloaf and bratwurst with red cabbage and German potato salad.  In addition to burgers, Hackney's also has a reuben, French dip, grilled chicken sandwich and both a hot beef brisket sandwich, and either hot or cold corned beef sandwich.  All of them are very tempting to knock me out of my usual routine, but I always end up ordering the same thing.

And the same thing is the half-pound plus Hackney Burger placed on their daily-baked, homemade dark rye bread, topped with cheddar cheese and served with lettuce and tomato on request.  The burger automatically comes with Hackney's homemade cole slaw and then you have your choice of either Hackney's french fries, boiled potato, potato chips, fruit, cottage cheese or a double helping of cole slaw.  Their cole slaw is *OK*, but it's nothing that I do jumping jacks over.   I ordered some cottage cheese with my burger and I also got a cup of Hackney's wonderful vegetable beef soup.

Now, one thing I have never tried at Hackney's - and being on a diet has continued to scare me off - is their onion rings.  I understand Hackney's onion rings are some of the best around.  They were  They're served in a square loaf and you literally have to cut them apart with a knife and fork.  Hackney's onion rings have garnered almost as many rave reviews as their Hackney burgers, with some reviews calling them some of the best in the United States.     

The very friendly and affable bartender brought out my cup of soup and I eagerly wolfed it down.  Hackney's homemade soups are made fresh daily at each location and they are just wonderful, especially on a cool day.

It wasn't much longer when my burger and cottage cheese showed up.  The Hackney Burger is so big that I have to cut it in half.  I usually dip it in some ketchup rather than putting any directly onto the burger.  That allows me to get a couple bites of the full taste of the burger and the cheese together.  And Hackney's beef for their burgers is also ground butcher fresh each day.  They are absolutely delicious.

The one negative about Hackney's can be the prices.  A Hackney Burger runs $8.95, probably a couple bucks higher than comparable sized burgers at other places.  But because their burgers are so good, it's tough to bitch about the price.

I know that the Hackney's on Lake Ave. in Glenview serves a wonderful breakfast on Sunday morning.  We went there one time after spending Saturday night in the northern Chicago suburbs.  Cindy had this wild hunch that Hackney's on Lake had breakfast, she called them up and they said they did, indeed, have breakfast.  So we went there and it was very good.  I've found that the menu and daily special at each Hackney's location differ from place to place.   It's best to go to the Hackney's web site (click on the highlighted Hackney's at the top of this entry) and then click on "menus", then click on whichever of the six Hackney's you'll be visiting to check the full menu in advance.  But one thing they all have in common - the great Hackney Burger.

There - I've finally written about Hackney's.  I highly recommend the Hackney Burger, but I'm sure the rest of their food is as equally good.  But I really still want to try their onion ring loaf sometime.  It's going to have to be with someone else because I'm afraid they'd be so good that I'd want to eat the whole damn thing.

Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

The John Berendt novel, "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil", based upon the true story of a sensational murder trial involving a Savannah socialite, was a New York Times best seller for over four years.  It was made into a movie in 1997 and has probably been the catalyst for the surge in tourism to Savannah over the past 10 years.  While some Savannahans dismiss the book as "trash", others have embraced the book and its content and have profited rather nicely off of it.

A lot of what was written about in the book took place in the heart of Savannah's Historic District.  Now, I had seen the movie, but didn't read the book.  That was until I picked up a copy at a small bookstore near our hotel and I read it while we were in Savannah and on Hilton Head Island.  I have to say it was a compelling read.  And being that we knew the lay of the land around Savannah, the book brought a vivid picture to my mind.  By the time we made it back to Savannah, I had finished the book and we sought out many of the landmarks that Berendt wrote about.

(By the way, I normally don't think this way, but I believe the book was much better than the movie.)

The book focused on the events leading up to and surrounding a murder committed by renown Savannah antique dealer Jim Williams.  While Berendt wove himself into the story, it turned out that he didn't really have a large part in the overall scheme of things.  But he wrote about many of the eccentric people in and around Savannah, the beauty of the town, the "Slow-vannah" way of life of drinking and more drinking, and how the people celebrated their dead they way we celebrate birthdays. 

The epicenter of the book happened here at the Mercer-Williams House.  The house begun construction in 1860, was interrupted by the American Civil War, and was finally finished in 1868.  Originally built for General Hugh Mercer, it turned out that Mercer never lived in the house.  After the war, Mercer was incarcerated at nearby Fort Pulaski and ended up moving to Baltimore, never to return to Savannah again.  Well, until he was buried at Bonaventure Cemetery, the most famous cemetery in Savannah.  But more about Bonaventure Cemetery later on. 

In 1969, Jim Williams bought the house and began the restoration of the home.  Williams bought and restored up to 50 old homes in the Savannah Historic District and was instrumental in the renaissance of the old Savannah.  

We took a tour of the Mercer-Williams House one afternoon.  It was just beautiful and completely furnished as it was when Jim Williams (left) died in the house in 1990.  However, photographs of the interior were not permitted.  Still we were able to see the office area where Williams allegedly shot Danny Hansford, the tall spiral staircase that led to the second floor where Williams had a ballroom (insurance would not let people wander through the house - we saw the main floor and garden only), and sitting room, library and dining room in the house.  Williams was known for his elaborate Christmas parties where he invited a veritable "who's who" of Savannah's elite.  Anticipation of who would and who wouldn't get an invitation to Williams party was usually a hot topic among Savannah's socialites and political heavyweights.

Just down the street from the Mercer-Williams House is the Armstrong House.  This, at one time, was also a residence of Jim Williams that he had restored.  But he sold it to move into the Mercer-Williams House in the late 60's.  Today, it houses the law firm of Bouhan, Williams and Levy, whose senior partner, Frank "Sonny" Seiler, was featured prominently in both the book and movie.  Seiler took over the defense of Jim Williams and eventually got an acquittal during Williams third appeal trial.  As grandiose as the Mercer-Williams house was, the Armstrong house was rather impressive.  I'm guessing that Jim Williams thought the house may have been too big for just one person. 

By the way, for you sports minded people, Sonny Seiler is the owner and caretaker of Uga, the official bulldog mascot for the University of Georgia.  Seiler has raised bulldogs since he was a student at the U of "Joe-Ja" in the 50's.  The current Uga is the seventh bulldog Seiler has raised and used as a mascot.  And all are direct descendants of Uga I, the first one Seiler had when he was a second year law student at Georgia.   The name Uga comes from the transformation of the U of Georgia (GA). 

One of the more notorious characters in the book was a sociable gentleman by the name of Joe Odom.  Joe Odom was a lawyer, real estate agent, piano player, entrepreneur and bon-vivant, notorious for staying a half-step ahead of his creditors and the law.  He really sounded like the kind of guy I'd like to hang out with, as long as you didn't lend him money.  Sort of a respected rogue, if you will.  This is the house he lived in on E. Jones St., not far from the Hilton DeSoto where we stayed.  It was easy to see into the house in the middle of the day, and I can almost imagine the guy watching CNBC in the living room had seen many people like me taking pictures of this house.  And he tolerated it. 

Speaking of hotels, the bar at the Hilton DeSoto was mentioned in the book, as well.  One of the more eccentric characters written about in the book, Serena Dawes - who was really named Helen Drexel and who had actually died 20 years before the book was published - was portrayed as a composite character for a number of like-minded females that Berendt crossed paths with during his stay in Savannah.  She liked to socialize, she liked to be seen in public and she liked to drink.  From what I gathered being in Savannah for a few days, that pretty much capsulized a number of people - both male and female - that live in the city.

 

And very prominently mentioned in "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" is Bonaventure Cemetery.  As I said before, Bonaventure Cemetery is the most famous of all of Savannah's cemeteries.  The haunting nature of the live oaks draped with Spanish moss, coupled with an idyllic setting along the Wilmington River makes it one of the "must-sees" during a trip to Savannah.  Many people use Bonaventure Cemetery as a park, and many grave sites feature benches where people can sit and toast the dead they're memorializing.  Or they can just sit and drink.

Now, another surprise during our trip to Savannah was the realization that one of the greatest song-smiths of the 20th Century, Johnny Mercer, grew up in Savannah.  I was completely oblivious to Mercer's name, but I certainly knew a number of his songs.  Mercer wrote the lyrics for over 1600 songs including Fools Rush In, I Remember You, One More for My Baby (and One More For the Road), and Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive.  Mercer also wrote the lyrics to In the Cool, Cool, Cool of the Evening, Days of Wine and Roses, On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe, and his biggest hit, Moon River.  All four of those songs won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.  In fact, Moon River was based upon Mercer's childhood memories of the Wilmington River that flowed past Bonaventure Cemetery.  In all, Mercer had 16 songs nominated for the Academy Award.

Here's the bench at Mercer's grave site, like many benches throughout the cemetery where people can come out, have a drink and remember the people buried just feet away.  Given that Savannah has celebrated poets since the 1700's, I especially liked the inscription on the bench - a direct quote from Mercer.  "Buddy, I'm a kind of poet and I've gotta lotta things to say."  Believe me, after figuring out who the hell Johnny Mercer was and why everyone in Savannah was making such a big deal over him, I made it a point to learn more about the guy. 

The statue on the cover of "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" featured a unique statue that has been dubbed "The Bird Girl", as it looks like she's holding two bird feeder bowls.  This statue was a monument that was atop the grave site for the Trosdal family of Savannah.  Once the book came out, the family feared the 4 foot high statue would get damaged by the people who flocked to the cemetery to see it.  The statue was removed and placed in the Telfair Museum of Art in Savannah.  While there were four original statues made, we found a number of copies in different sizes available at a store in Savannah.  The smallest statue was about 18 inches high and had a price of around $115 dollars.   While Cindy loves putting little statues in our flower beds, I quickly passed on buying one for us.

Bonaventure Cemetery is the "garden of good and evil" mentioned in Berendt's book.  It is where the voodoo priestess, Minerva, went to cast her spells and perform her rituals to ward off the evil spirits that are interferring with the living.  Well, the living who believe in that stuff and who will pay her handsomely to do so.  I could never really find out if there really was a Minerva, or if it was a composite or take-off on a real person that Berendt came across during his time in Savannah.  And quite honestly, I don't even come close to believing all that stuff about the supernatural and voodoo, so that part of both the book and movie never tripped my trigger.

Another person who was a notable character in both the book and in the movie was The Lady Chablis.  This notorious cross-dressing performer burst out both in the pages of the book and on the screen in the movie.  He/she performs at a club called Club One in downtown Savannah once or twice a month.  While The Lady Chablis performed the last Saturday night we were in Savannah, we made no effort to go catch the show.  Actually, he/she is the master of ceremonies for a show that features a number of cross-dressing, transvestite or trans-gender singers.  While I feel I have a very open mind, it's still not quite the type of entertainment I'd go pay to see.  We did walk by Club One a couple times, but I neglected to get a picture of the place. 

I highly recommend reading (or re-reading) "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" before you go to Savannah.  And it would also be good to see the movie, as well, so you will recognize some of the famous sights from around the Savannah area during your visit.  While we didn't run into anyone who came close to matching the description of some the seemingly never-ending cast of eccentric characters Berendt found during his time in Savannah, reading the book or seeing the movie will go a long way in helping you understand the "Slow-vannah" way of life before your visit.

  

Savannah - Part 3

We walked a lot in Savannah.  As I said in my entry on Monday, we stayed at the Hilton DeSoto hotel in the heart of the Savannah Historic District.  We could walk for 15 to 20 minutes in either direction from the hotel and traverse a good portion of the Historic District.  While the weather was good for us a large portion of the time, there were a couple mornings where we had a little rain and a lot of fog.  But that really didn't deter us from taking off and walking around the Historic District.  I mean, it's Savannah - it should be muggy!

This one particular morning, we decided to take a walk south of our hotel and look at a number of points of interest.  Literally right across the street and down a half-block from the hotel was the famous Sorrell-Weed House.  Savannah is big on ghosts, voo-doo and the supernatural.  They have tours at night to take people around to some of these places where ghosts have appeared.  It's big business, but you wouldn't catch me on one of those tours.  Still, the Sorrell-Weed house is sort of the epicenter in Savannah of all things ghosts and the para-normal.  The house, which dates back to 1840, has been featured on a number of television programs investigating the super-natural.  But to me, the house represented more of an architecture masterpiece than someplace I'd go to see ghosts.

One of the many surprises we found in Savannah was the Savannah College of Art and Design, also known as SCAD.  We had seen these "SCAD Security" cars driving through the neighborhoods from time to time, saw some buildings that had "SCAD" on them throughout the Historic District and not far from our hotel was the main offices for SCAD.  It turns out that SCAD, which was established in 1978, has a student population of around 8,000 in Savannah.  They also have a campus in Atlanta, a campus in LaCoste, France and are soon to open a campus in Hong Kong.   The joke we heard more than once about the Savannah School of Art and Design was it was originally called the Savannah School of Art and Music, but parents had a hard time making tuition checks out to SCAM.  

SCAD's curriculum is unique and diversified.  Not only do they have a world-class art and design program, they have a wonderful architecture and restoration program.  In fact, many of the older commercial buildings around the city have been bought and restored by the college and many of them are used for classrooms.  

The second weekend we were in Savannah, it was SCAD's graduation and the actress Glenn Close was in town to give the commencement address to the 2009 graduating class of 1500 students.  The Savannah School of Art and Design has students from all 50 states and around 35 countries attending school in Savannah.  We saw a lot of Asian students in town while we were there.  

At the bar in the Hilton DeSoto one evening, we met and talked with a guy by the name of Zig Jackson who was a professor of photography at SCAD.  He was a pretty interesting guy.  It turns out that he's also somewhat famous.  Zig Jackson was born on an Indian reservation in North Dakota and his photography of Native American contemporary scenery is featured in the Library of Congress.  In fact, he is the first Native American to have pictures permanently displayed at the Library of Congress.  Had we not had dinner reservations, we may have just sat and talked to the guy all night long.  He was a wealth of interesting information about Savannah and the school.  Click on his name above and it will take you to his web site which has a number of his photographs displayed.

Moving on a little further down the way, we came across the Green-Meldrim mansion.  The mansion's claim to historical fame was that it was the local headquarters for Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman during his famous "March to the Sea" during the American Civil War.  If you remember your grade school history, Sherman's task was to literally burn and destroy everything in his path on his way to the Atlantic Ocean.  When he got to Savannah, he found the city to have such a natural and architectural beauty that he couldn't bring himself to destroy any of the buildings.  He promptly went north and burned down Charleston, SC instead.  I understand that still sticks in the craw of many people in Charleston who view Savannah as somewhat of a rival.

At the far south end of the Historic District is the famous Forsyth Park.   This 20 acre park was laid out by the city of Savannah in 1851.  Not only does it have the usual tree lined walk ways and memorials like many of the other small park squares in Savannah, it also boasts two large fields that were used as training grounds for soldiers back in the 1800's.  The park is the south border of Savannah's Historic District and is the entry point to the city's Victorian District.  Any large outdoor event that is held in Savannah is staged at Forsyth Park.

The most famous icon in the park - well, quite possibly in the city of Savannah - is the Forsyth Park Fountain.   This white cast iron fountain was designed and built in the late 1850's and was designed after the fountain at the Place de la Concorde in Paris.  The fountain had fallen into disrepair over the years and finally was renovated 20 years ago.  We were sort of lucky to get some great pictures of the fountain because the fog was just getting ready to lift and there were hardly any people around the park.  The tranquil beauty of the park was very cool.  We lingered quite a bit around the fountain just taking in the sight.

At the far south end of the park are the two huge open fields.   Right in the middle of the open fields is the Confederate Monument - a rather imposing memorial that rises nearly 40 feet into the air.  The story behind the monument is that a group of people from the former Confederate states commissioned a Canadian artist to design and build the memorial to slain Confederate soldiers.  The stone was mined in Canada, the full monument was built in Canada, and it was shipped via boat to Savannah because the people putting up the money for the monument didn't want it to touch "Yankee" soil.  It was dedicated in 1879.  The city of Savannah put a fence around the monument a number of years ago to keep people from climbing the monument and to keep its architectural integrity.  In other words, there had been some vandalism to the monument over the years.  Actually, it's a pretty impressive monument.

As I said, the large fields on the south end of the park were used as staging and training areas for both Federal and Confederate soldiers in the 1800's and early 1900's.  There were two mock forts that were built on the north end of the large field just after the turn of the 20th century that were used to train soldiers on attacking and holding their positions.  This is the east side fort undergoing an extensive restoration.  Word is that it is going to be turned into a restaurant, but I couldn't get a confirmation on that. 

The west fort was renovated in the early 60's and now houses a beautiful garden called "The Garden of Fragrance."  Inside the walls of the old fort is a large garden full of roses and other fragrant flowers.  Originally built as a garden for the blind, it, too, had fallen into disrepair and was renovated about six or seven years ago.  The only problem was that it was gated shut and we couldn't walk around inside.  But being the rose and flower people that we are, Cindy and I were both amazed at how wonderful the garden was.  We had made a promise to ourselves to come back later on when the gates were open, but we never did make it back.

Just across the street from Forsyth Park stands another icon in Savannah, the Candler Oak.  This live oak tree is said to be close to 275 years old.  The trunk is 16 feet around, the crown of the tree is about 110 feet across and it stands about 50 feet tall.  Live oak wood was used by shipbuilders in the 1700's and 1800's because of the strength and resilience of the wood.  The Candler Oak was part of a five acre area set aside a number of years ago to keep some of the older live oak trees from being cut down to be used in ships and boats. 

Walking back toward the hotel, we went through Monterey Square to take in the Pulaski Monument, a memorial to Polish General Casimir Pulaski who fought on the side of the American patriots during the Revolutionary War.  One peculiar thing I found about the 21 original squares in Savannah was that while nearly each of them had a monument or a memorial fountain in the middle of the park, sometimes the monument didn't match up with the park's name.  Example, there is a Pulaski Square, but the monument to Pulaski is in Monterey Square.  There is an Oglethorpe Square, named after the founder of Savannah, James Oglethorpe, but the Oglethorpe monument is in Chippewa Square.  I found it to be rather peculiar they did it that way.   We took dozens of pictures of the fountains and monuments in many of the squares.  We could have easily spent just one day going around to all the squares and reading about the monuments and memorials.

I could go on and on talking about Savannah, about how it has one of the largest per capita Scottish and Irish populations in the nation; how the Savannah St. Patrick's Day Parade is second in size to only the St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York City; and how they live life in a laid-back, easy going pace that may people refer to as the "Slow-vannah Way".  Savannah was truly a mystical, magical and enchanting place.  We were smitten with the city so much that we canceled a proposed trip to Charleston, SC and went back to Savannah to spend the rest of our vacation after a couple three days on Hilton Head Island.  If you ever get the chance to go to Savannah, do it!   

Savannah - Part 2

After having a great burger at B&D Burgers in downtown Savannah (look for that entry in the coming days), Cindy and I took off again on our trek around some of the Savannah Historic District's more interesting sites. 

In Savannah, they celebrate the dead like the people are still living.  Cemeteries are a big part of Savannah's history and culture.  In fact, many people in Savannah treat cemeteries like parks and you'll sometime find a number of places to sit, even at grave sites.  In fact, this cemetery - Colonial Park - became a city park in 1896.  Colonial was the second cemetery in the city of Savannah opening in 1750 and it officially closed in the mid-1850's.  

A number of historical figures in the colonization and early growth of Savannah are buried in the park.  The above picture is the grave site of Button Gwinnett, the only Georgia signer of the Declaration of Independence.  It was said that Gwinnett was torn between supporting the American revolutionaries and being loyal to the British crown since he was born in England.  He signed his name on the Declaration of Independence as the smallest possible in case the British were able to crush the colonists and Gwinnett could go back and show the Brits that he half-heartedly signed the document in hopes they'd treat him well.  It didn't matter because Gwinnett was killed in a dual less than a year after he signed the document.

Gun duels between two men were prominent in the mid-to late 1700's and early 1800's.  There was an official "dueling field" across the street from Colonial Cemetery where a number of duels took place during that period.  The tour guide joked earlier in the day that it was a convenient spot for duels as they could gather up the defeated duelist and carry him across the street to plant him in the ground.  At least, I think the tour guide was joking about that.  This particular grave site houses the body of Lt. James Wilde who was killed in January of 1815 in a duel with Captain Roswell Johnson of the 8th Regimental U.S Infantry that was based outside of Savannah.  Lt. Wilde was the youngest brother of poet and statesman Richard Henry Wilde, who wrote a rather brusque epitaph for his brother's headstone that took a swipe at Capt. Johnson.  Colonial Park was filled with a number of defeated duelists and some headstones will even tell of who they lost to in a duel.  

During the American Civil War, or as some in Savannah still call it "The Northern Aggression" or even "The Unpleasantness", Union troops occupying the city used Colonial Cemetery as a campground.  Some Union troops broke off headstones and littered the area with them.  After the war, people in Savannah tried to match up the headstones with the grave sites.  In cases in which they weren't able to do so, the headstones were mounted on a back wall of the cemetery to let people know that somewhere in the cemetery this particular person was resting.  

Colonial Park is a big open area that is dotted with a number of what appear to be above ground grave sites.  Actually, these are burial vaults where a number of family members are entombed in the cemetery.  A number of these vaults had been demolished and subsequently rebuilt after the Civil War.  And I understand that some of these burial vaults are actually empty, with bodies of the deceased moved to other cemeteries around the Savannah area. 

Religion is a big part of the Savannah culture, as well.  Some of the most stately churches in the South are in the Savannah Historic District.  This may be the most grandeur of all the churches we saw - The Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist.  This church was originally built in the 1870's and destroyed by fire just before the turn of the 20th century.  It was rebuilt almost exactly as it had stood before as builders were working off the original plans.  While I'm not big on religion, I'm big on architecture and this was one impressive building, to say the least.

The Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist dominates the skyline in the Historic District.  It's twin spires rise over 100 feet in the air and it's a great landmark if you can spot them coming out of the dense trees that line the streets of the Historic District. 

I bravely entered the church - hoping that I would not spontaneously combust when stepping inside for being such a heathen - to take a look at the ornate interior.  It was just absolutely fabulous on the inside.  The stained glass windows were all made in Austria and installed in the church at the start of the 20th century.  The wooden pillars are all hand-carved and elegantly painted.  On the walls around the church are hand-carved depictions of the 13 Stages of the Cross, which chronicles the last hours of Christ. (Cindy, who grew up as a Catholic, had to help me on that one.)  I've seen some beautiful churches in Europe, but this may have been the most beautiful church I'd ever seen in the U.S.

One thing that piqued my interest were the huge pipes on the back wall for the church's organ.  These huge brass pipes stood tall and gleaming against the rather stoic surroundings in the church.  I'm a sucker for huge pipe organs and I told Cindy that I'd almost want to come to a service at this church just to hear the organ.  She perked up and said, "Really?"

The look I gave her back pretty much told her, "Not really."

In addition to the Catholic Cathedral, other notable churches in the Historic District include the First African Baptist Church, which is one of the oldest African-American churches in the nation; the Temple Mickve Israel synagogue which is the only Gothic Revival style synagogue in the United States; and this church - the Independent Presbyterian Church.  As with the Catholic Cathedral, the Independent Presbyterian Church was destroyed by fire in the late 1880's and rebuilt within two years as an almost duplicate to the original one built in 1816.   The original granite steps that were dug from a quarry in Massachusetts survived the fire, as did the original marble baptism font that was originally from New Jersey. 

If you're a movie buff, you may recognize the Independent Presbyterian Church from the opening scene of the movie Forrest Gump.  This is where the wayward white feather began it's journey during the opening credits, eventually winding up at the feet of Tom Hanks' character before he picks it up and puts it in his Curious George book. 

Speaking of Forrest Gump, this is the spot where the bench scenes of the movie were filmed, when Tom Hanks' character was talking about his life to the strangers waiting for the bus.  The bench was never there to begin with as it's not really a bus stop at this spot on the north side of Chippewa Park.  In fact, the street in front of this flower bed is a one-way going to the right.  They made it a two-way street for the movie.  The bench used for the movie is housed today in the Savannah History Museum.  Originally, city leaders wanted to keep the bench on the spot and put a bronze statue of Forrest Gump sitting on it.  But the original bench, which, actually, was made from fiberglass, is now roped off in the History Museum.  No, we didn't pay the admission to go see it.  

There are a number of historic houses in the Historic District.  This house is the birthplace of Juliette Low, the founder of the Girl Scouts of America.  The house is owned and maintained by the Girl Scouts and houses a number of historical items and artifacts from the Girl Scouts over the years. (No, we didn't go in, even though Cindy was a Girl Scout years ago.)  People in Savannah made a huge deal out of the fact that the Girl Scouts were founded by a local native.  I had never heard of the name before, or if I did, I didn't remember the significance.  But the site is sort of a "mecca" for Girl Scouts of all ages.  We saw a number of girls in their uniforms in the area while we were in Savannah.  

A number of houses in the Historic District of Savannah have wrought iron fencing in front of them.  We were told that if a house had wrought iron fencing in front, it signified a level of wealth for the inhabitants of the home years ago.  Some wrought iron fences are more ornate than others, signifying an even higher degree of wealth.  This is in front of one house - known as the Presidents and Poets house - where the original owner had portraits of both U.S. Presidents and famous poets of the day (which were big in Savannah, I understand) etched into the intricate ironwork in front of his house. 

Originally, Savannah was sectored off into 24 quadrants on a grid.  They had one firehouse to take care of all 24 quadrants.  This was the original bell that was used to sound an alarm when a fire had erupted in one of the quadrants.  And if a fire had erupted in quadrant 5, the bell rang five times.  As our tour guide pointed out, "If you lived in the 24th quadrant and you had a fire, well, you had to wait until the bell rang 24 times before they'd even make their way toward your house." 

On the far east end of the Savannah Historic District is The Pirates House, a restaurant that dates back to the 1750's.  Legend has it that it was used as a hangout by pirates in the 1700's, but was more famous as an inn and restaurant for a number of sea-going travelers who came to Savannah from all points of the world.  The restaurant is mentioned prominently in Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novel Treasure Island.  Although we were tempted to have a meal there, we decided it was too much of a tourist trap.

 

We'd pretty much had enough sight-seeing for the day.  In tomorrow's post, I'll tell you about some things we saw when we went for a walk south of our hotel in the heavy fog and dew of a sultry Savannah morning.

(By the way, these pictures were taken with Cindy's little point-and-shoot Panasonic camera.  That thing takes some pretty good pictures.)

  

Savannah - Part 1

Cindy has always wanted to go to Savannah, GA for a number of reasons.  First and foremost, she's a big fan of Paula Deen, whose Lady and Son's restaurant is located there.  But she's also read about the magical and enchanting nature of the city.  She had some vacation time to use up by the end of May, and I was on the back side of my two hip replacement operations.  My boss was nice enough to allow me to take some time off before I got into the bulk of travel this summer.  We booked our flights and our hotel rooms and off we went to Savannah.  (As always, you can click on the pictures to get a larger view.)

Savannah is one of the oldest cities in North America, first settled in 1733 by James Oglethorpe who laid out the unique quadrant grid design of the original city to include a number of park squares.  21 of the original 24 park squares are still in use in the Savannah Historic District, a 1300 square acre area that includes a number of large and historic homes, buildings and monuments.  We stayed right in the heart of the historic district at the Hilton DeSoto hotel.  The area is easy to walk around, taking about 20 minutes in any direction from the Hilton DeSoto to get to the far reaches of the historic district.

Savannah map courtesy J Byous Co./NeoKilts/J Byous Photography - Savannah Wedding's - An Affair to Remember

We gathered a lot of information on Savannah before we left - not only from on-line web sites and travel books, but from people who were familiar with the area, as well.  One of the best pieces of advice we got was to take one of the many trolley tours that take people around the historic district.   These trolleys have a number of stops that will allow you to get on or off at a given stop.  They take about 90 minutes - tops - and the driver is also the tour guide.  You go all through the historic district from the old riverfront area down to Forsythe Park and every where in between. 

We hopped on one of the Old Town Trolley Tour trolleys early on our first full day in Savannah.  While we seemed to be the youngest people on the trolley, it was still informative and gave us a great lay of the land as to what we wanted to go and do and see in the historic district of Savannah.  The trolleys are not all that comfortable with wooden bench seats and are kind of stuffy if you get in one where it doesn't have the open sides.  And it wasn't all that cheap - $25 bucks per person plus tax.  But, still, it was a great way to get to know the area.  

One of the first places we visited after we got off the trolley tour was the City Market area of Savannah.  The City Market dates back to the 1750's where fishermen would bring their catch in to sell to the population.  The City Market survived fires, hurricanes and then an eventual closing in the 50's to be resurrected by the Historic Savannah Foundation a few years ago.  Today, there are a number of shops, art boutiques and restaurants in the market area.  I found most of them to be tourist traps, however.

One of the places we visited in the City Market was the Savannah Candy Kitchen.   This place was highly recommended by a couple of people who said it was the most decadent candy store they'd ever been in.  I have to say there was a lot of tempting things in the case from their famous praline cookies and peanut brittle, their taffy which is pulled on a machine right in the middle of the store, their candied apples, fudge and truffles.  Cindy did try a sample of their praline peanut brittle, but I was a good boy and only bought a bottle of water in the place.  But that mint fudge was sure calling my name. 

From the City Market area, we wandered over to the historic waterfront area and River Street.  River Street is a 3/4 mile long stretch that's an uneven one-way brick and cobblestone street that goes along the old warehouses that now house restaurants, bars, shops and antique stores.  There's a parkway between the Savannah River and the street that featured musicians, kids frolicking in the many fountains and people just hanging out.  Unfortunately, most of the restaurants and shops were more tourist oriented and we were highly disappointed in many of the places we visited. 

The buildings along the waterfront were mainly old cotton warehouses that held loads upon loads of cotton bales that were transported out of the Port of Savannah in the 1700's and 1800's.  When cotton began to be transported via trucks in the 1900's, the warehouses fell empty and became decrepit.  The Historic Savannah Foundation took over many of the buildings and restored them.  Many were turned into shops and restaurants while keeping the original buildings and architecture intact.  This is a picture of original Savannah Cotton Exchange, one of the many recognized historical buildings along the waterfront. 

One of the more interesting buildings along River Street was this one that was built directly over a street.  This structure tested the law and was the first case of "air rights" ever brought forth before a court in the United States.  The architect and builder kept the street below, but attached the building to two of the old warehouses.  They made such a big deal out of it during our tour that I had to take a picture.  But the more I heard about it, I found it to be a pretty significant historical entity in Savannah. 

 

The Port of Savannah is the fourth largest port in the United States in terms of tonnage moved.  The Savannah River was filled with huge ocean going freighters filled with containers.  Savannah is about 15 miles up stream from the ocean and the river is wide enough to allow two large freighters to pass side-by-side.  We were told that they are expanding and upgrading the Port of Savannah and within 10 years it could have the capacity to be the largest ocean port in the U.S., just ahead of New York and Long Beach.

With a commanding presence in the downtown area, the Savannah City Hall is a beautiful building that rivals many state capitol buildings I have seen.  Built in 1901, Savannah's city hall replaced a building that was part of the old City Exchange which housed city government offices since the mid-1700's.  The stately city hall is just across from the historic U.S. Customs House that was built in the mid-1800's and was the third Customs building in the Savannah area.  It was an important starting point for the cotton, tobacco and peanuts that were grown in the Southeast and sent to ports around the world. 

Here is a picture of one of the side streets that will take you down from Bay Street - which is the main drag through downtown Savannah - to River Street and the waterfront area.  In addition to the cobblestones, early settlers mixed in a concoction of sea shells, lime, water, sand and ash known as Tabby.  Tabby was used by early settlers along the east coast, primarily in South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.  Many of the old streets were paved with cobblestones and tabby, and a lot of the early structures were made with tabby.  What the early settlers found was that as time went on, the tabby hardened even more making it ideal for hurricane prone areas.  There are a number of examples of tabby-built structures still standing in the Savannah area.

Just to the east of the City Hall along Bay Street is Emmet Park, a beautiful park full of Live Oak trees strewn with hanging Spanish moss.  Emmet Park is home to a number of memorials, fountains and historical plaques that are pretty interesting to look at if you're a history buff like me.  But the park, itself, was a wonderful oasis of green in the middle of the city.  The Vietnam Veterans memorial is in the park, as is the old gas-powered Harbor Light lighthouse that was in service up to the mid 1800's. 

Also in Emmet Park are two cannons that were personally given to the Chatham Artillery, a militia unit from the city of Savannah, by George Washington in 1791 after the end of the Revolutionary War.  The cannon on the left is British made, the one on the right was made by the French.  Both were being used by British forces during the war and were captured by the American army at the Battle of Yorktown which ended the conflict.  These cannons were used to greet a number of U.S. Presidents during their visits to Savannah with booming reports.  In 1861, they were buried under floor boards in a building so they wouldn't fall into Union Army hands during the Civil War, (which, by the way, is still being fought by some people in the South, as we found out during our trip).  After the war, the cannons were not unearthed until 1872 fearing that occupying federal forces would take the cannons.  The cannons were moved to their present location in 1982, just over 200 years after they were captured at the final battle in the Revolutionary War.   

It was time for lunch, so that took care of what we saw in the morning of our first full day in Savannah.  Coming up, more on our trip to Savannah, GA!

Joe Rogers Chili Parlor - Springfield, IL

Recently, I stopped for a bite of a chili dog at the venerable Joe Rogers Chili Parlor, which has roots in Springfield, IL back to 1945.  I was turned on to Joe Rogers Chili Parlor by Steve Z., a Chicago-area reader of Road Tips, who also suggested I also try the Cozy Dog Inn   in Springfield.  While the Cozy Dog Inn specializes in corn dogs - which I don't like at all - I was sort of intrigued by Joe Rogers.  On a trip back from St. Louis earlier this year, I decided to look for Joe Rogers Chili Parlor and have a chili dog or two.

Joe Rogers started making chili when he was a young man and was finally talked into opening a little diner where people could try his chili just after the war ended in 1945.  Intially in a small building with only 11 counter seats that he called The Den, Joe Rogers had the first of what turned out to be a number of chili (or chilli - as they spell it in Springfield) parlors that sprang up in the coming years around Springfield.  (To see a timeline history of chili - or chilli, if you will - parlors in Springfield, click here.)

In 1973, Joe Rogers passed away and his daughter, Marianne McKay, bought the business from her mother.  By this time there were two Joe Rogers "Den" locations in Springfield.  They had moved to a larger location near the original "Den" and opened another location on the east side of the city.  In 1985, Marianne McKay sold the restaurants to a family who had opened a psuedo-franchised "Den" in Champaign, IL.  Over the next 10 to 12 years, they had some difficulty in keeping the restaurants open and finally shut their doors in the last "Den" in 1995.  Two years later, armed with her father's chili recipe, Marianne McKay opened up Joe Rogers Original Recipe Chili Parlor in its present day location (see map).  For over 60 years, politicians, lobbyists and just plain folk from around Springfield have enjoyed Joe Rogers' chili. 

Joe Rogers chili consists of five different grades of temperatures - mild, medium, medium-hot, hot and something that was originaly called "Firebrand", but is now now as the J.R. or Joe Rogers Special chili.  As it was years ago, if a customer where able to finish a full bowl of the J.R. Special chili, their names would be prominently displayed on a poster in the restaurant.  I'm sure the special chili has loads of habenaro chili peppers in it.  I like spicy chili, but I don't like to have it burn my face or cause third degree burns to my stomach.  Still, I would interested in giving it a taste at some point.  Maybe not a whole bowl, but a taste.

 

 

It was around 11:30 a.m. when I pulled into Springfield.  I drove through town before I finally came upon Joe Rogers on a one way northbound street.  Actually, I passed it and had to traverse around blocks and through parking lots to get back to the restaurant.  I went in and sat at the counter (right) and took a look up at the very simple menu they had on the wall.   Interestingly, they also served something called the Denburger, which was their interpretation of a Maid-Rite loose-meat hamburger.  And you could get it four ways - plain, with cheese, with chili and with chili and cheese.  A number of people were ordering Denburgers while I was there.  

I ordered up two chili dogs - medium-hot.  I also thought I'd try a small bowl of chili topped with cheese.  The ladies behind the counter make up the chili dogs and dish up the chili right in front of you.  My 50's-something waitress sat my chili dogs and chili bowl down in front of me.

Now, I'm always leery of what someone calls medium-hot.  I can usually take very spicy food, but my idea of medium-hot is different from the next person's.  I would have to say that Joe Rogers medium-hot would be categorized as medium, in my book.  It was good, had a nice little bite to the aftertaste, and the hot dogs had that nice "snap" that I like when you bite into them.  However, I think the cheddar cheese detracted from the taste of the chili.  I wish I'd just gotten the chili plain.

Also on the Joe Rogers menu is a tamale and chili.  Although I didn't see anyone order that, I thought that would be an interesting taste.  Joe Rogers chili has a nice chili powder taste to it and some other spices that I couldn't quite put a finger on.  But it was very enjoyable.

I'm glad I got into Joe Rogers when I did because it wasn't long after I sat down and ordered my food that the line began to stretch out the door with people ready to place their order at the counter.  There were a number of "to-go" orders placed while I was there, ordered by people in work clothes and in three-piece suits, alike.  Joe Rogers doesn't take checks or charge cards - it's 100% cash all the way.  

I have to say that Joe Rogers Chili Parlor was very good, a nice surprise, if you will.  I'm always on the lookout for places like this, sort of a nice slice of Americana in the Midwest.  I understand there's a few other chili - oops! - Chilli parlors that are still in business in Springfield.  I may have to try them sometime, as well.  But they're going to have a tough time surpassing the taste sensation that makes Joe Rogers chili what it's been for over 60 years.

Woodfire Grille - Davenport, IA

Woodfire Grill in downtown Davenport is one of few fine dining restaurants we have in the Quad Cities.  The open and airy restaurant features a diverse menu that includes gourmet pizza, steaks, pasta, seafood, burgers, and classic Midwestern dishes such as glazed pork chops, beef brisket and meat loaf.  It's actually pretty damn good. 

Woodfire Grill opened in March of 2008 in the former space that housed Centro in the Redstone Building, just below the River Music Experience and Redstone Room in downtown Davenport (see map).  Centro had suffered a fire in late 2007 and their owners decided to sell the establishment rather than remodel and reopen.  Toby Christianson is the managing partner in The Woodfire Grill and helped open upscale restaurants at various places around the Midwest.  Executive chef Blake Schar has a number of years of experience at restaurants in Arizona, Colorado, Chicago and New York.

Just like it's predecessor, Woodfire Grill uses a wood-fired brick oven to cook many of their entrees.  The wonderful scent of hickory smoke can be smelled throughout the downtown Davenport area.   It's a place where you can walk in with a coat and a tie on, or in a pair of shorts and a polo shirt and feel welcome. 

Actually, Cindy and I made the mistake of going to Woodfire Grill only three days after it opened up.  We were going to a performance at the Redstone Room and decided to just go have dinner at the new restaurant, not knowing that it had only opened three days prior.  We knew we were breaking our rule of not eating at a restaurant for the first three months after opening (to allow all the bugs to be worked out of the system, so to speak), but we thought it had opened a month or so before. 

I had the woodfired meatloaf with a sweet barbecue glaze that night and it was very good.  But Cindy had ordered a ribeye steak, medium.  They brought her out a top sirloin strip.  Cindy exclaimed, "This is the most lean ribeye I've ever seen!"  

We called the waiter over and I asked him, "Is this the ribeye?"

He said, "Isn't that what the lady ordered?"

I said, "Yeah, she ordered the ribeye, but this looks more like a strip." 

He sort of held it up, looked at it and said, "No, I think this is a ribeye."

I had Cindy cut into the meat.  It was void of any significant marbling like you find on a ribeye.  I said, "That's a strip steak."

The waiter said, "Do you want me to send it back?"

Cindy, knowing we were up against a time deadline to get up to the show, said, "No, I'll just have this."

When we were presented with our bill, I noticed that he had still charged us for the ribeye, which was 8 bucks more expensive.  (The strip was 10 oz, the ribeye 18 oz. - Cindy figured that she would cut off a lot of the marbled fat and then get a to-go box for what she didn't eat.  And since we were parked just outside the door at Woodfire Grill, she could just set it in the car before we went upstairs.)  When the waiter came back, I pointed out that he had charged us for the ribeye.  He said, "But that's what she ordered."

I said, "Yes, I know.  But you brought out a strip steak and she had that instead."

He then said, "Oh, yes.  I remember.  So, you want me to adjust the bill?"

I looked at him rather incredulously for even asking the question and I said, "Well, yes!  Of course!"

It wasn't much longer when the waiter brought back the adjusted bill.  Not long after that, the owner, Toby Christianson, came to our table to introduce himself and to see how everything was.  I told him about the mix-up in the steaks and how we had still been initially charged for the ribeye.  He apologized profusely and said the staff was going through some "growing pains."  He said, "I do hope you give us another chance."

Cindy said, "Oh, we'll be back.  We just sort of have a policy of not going to new restaurants for the first three months to allow all the kinks to get out of the system."

Toby sort of stood there for a second and said, "That's a great rule to have.  Except if everyone followed it, a lot of restaurants would be out of business before the 90 days were up."

I said, "That's why I let other people be the guinea pigs."

Well, we have been back to Woodfire Grill on a number of occasions since then, including a rather rainy/snowy night in March after my first hip replacement.  Cindy and I have been doing "date nights" on Monday night lately and trying to spend some time together out of the house.  (God knows we've been spending a lot of time together IN the house after my surgeries.)  Actually, I wanted pizza that evening, but Cindy didn't.  We compromised and went down to Woodfire Grill so she could get a steak and I could get pizza.  

The pizza at Woodfire Grill is an eclectic mix of fresh ingredients, a rather thin and flaky crust and some interesting toppings.  While they only have six different pizzas to offer (they don't allow you to mix or match ingredients), all of them are very interesting.  The one I like is the andouille sausage and mushrooms.  They use large chunks of andouille sausage, cut from the ring, and they add slices of garden fresh mushrooms, topping it with a wonderfully sweet and light marinara sauce and REAL mozzarella cheese, not the processed type you find at most pizza places.  It's cooked in the woodfired oven at around 700 degrees for about 12 minutes and the taste is, well, it's great.  We don't have a lot of great pizza places in the Quad Cities and I wish Woodfire Grill would offer more toppings, but what they have is very, very good.

This time, Cindy DID order the sirloin strip steak on purpose - medium.  It came with a vegetable medley of broccoli, cauliflower, red peppers and corn.  Cindy also wanted some wine with dinner and I ordered a bottle of the Mill Creek cabernet.  I was still going to have a beer with my pizza - it's the only way to truly eat pizza - but a glass of wine or two was going to be nice on a cold night in March.  

It wasn't a busy night at Woodfire Grill, so our waitress was attentive and on top of things.  Not long after we opened and poured the wine, our food made it to the table.  Cindy was very pleased with her steak, cooked perfectly and had a great taste quality to it.  And, of course, my pizza was wonderful, as well.  I'd really rather have a good spicy Italian sausage on the pizza, but I really do like the andouille sausage on the Woodfire Grill pizza.

Although the pizzas are 12" in diameter at Woodfire Grill, they're very light and don't bomb your gut like other pizzas can.  I've found that on my diet I can easily eat a small pizza that is light and thin in the crust and it doesn't have a lasting effect on my waistline.  

Cindy sort of wanted to see the dessert menu, but the girl brought our check out before she even asked if we wanted dessert.  I certainly didn't, but Cindy thought she needed something sweet.  Cindy said, "She didn't even ask if we wanted coffee after the meal."

I said, "Do you want a coffee?"

She said, "No, but it's just the principle of asking."

Oh, boy.  I've turned my wife into a restaurant snob.

The gaffe of not asking if we wanted dessert or coffee, notwithstanding, the meal at Woodfire Grill was very good.  With the wine and tip, it was a little expensive - even for date night.  But if you get to the Quad Cities and want a fine meal at a reasonable price, it's tough to find a better place than Woodfire Grill.  I think they've worked out the kinks in the system by now...

Ciatti's - Onalaska, WI

For a number of years, I've been trying to get things going with dealers in La Crosse, WI.  I had a great prospect that sort of petered out and died on the vine a couple years ago.  However, I had a phone call from a dealer I'd called on for awhile in Onalaska, WI, a suburb of La Crosse, who was interested in our speaker line, Focal.  I went up to see him earlier this year and I ended up taking him out to Ciatti's, an Italian restaurant in Onalaska (see map).

One of the reasons I like going to La Crosse is not only for the beautiful scenery in the area, but for the great restaurants in the town.  After our meeting in La Crosse, I asked the dealer if he wanted to go out to dinner.  He readily agreed and I told him, "Your choice.  I know there's a ton of great restaurants in this town."

He said, "Ciatti's is a very good Italian restaurant just down the way.  Do you like Italian?"

I said, "I love Italian, but I'm on a pretty strict diet, so no pasta."

The dealer replied, "Oh, well, we can go somewhere else."

I said back, "They'll have something on the menu that I can eat, that's for sure.  Not all Italian food is pasta."

Pronounced "Chee-AH-tee's" - Ciatti's is part of a small chain of Italian restaurants owned by Superior Concepts, Inc. based out of the Twin Cities.  There's also a Ciatti's in St. Cloud, MN, and a Chianti Grill in Burnsville, MN and Roseville, MN that have been under the Superior Concepts umbrella since 1997.  The La Crosse location has become a favorite of many people in the area.  The decor is very elegant and there is a certain classiness without a lot of pretentious attitude at Ciatti's. 

It was around 7 p.m. when we were seated at a table at Ciatti's.  We were handed our dinner menus and I took a look at the wine menu to see if there was anything that I couldn't live without for dinner.

The executive chef at Ciatti's/Chianti Grill, Angelo Montes, grew up in Sicily and brought years of experience cooking to the company.  The food at Ciatti's is made from scratch relying upon the freshest ingredients and highest quality in their dishes.  They make their pasta and breads in house each day. 

The menu is wide and varied offering a number of exotic Italian dishes, as well as steaks, seafood and chicken dishes.  I've been really good about staying away from pasta during my diet and Ciatti's had a number of items on their menu that were non-pasta dishes that I could choose from. 

Before we got started, I ordered an appetizer that was Ciatti's version of a tomato caprese salad - the Mozzarella Caprese - which also came with prosciutto ham and homemade garlic crustini bread.  I hadn't been eating much bread for a while, but I have to say that along with the caprese salad the bread was great.  

On the wine list, I saw a 2005 Franciscan Cabernet that they had for about $45 bucks.  I didn't think it was that bad of a price.  In fact, they had a bottle of the Jordan 2006 Cabernet for $75 dollars.  That was a great price for a Jordan Cabernet in a restaurant, but the deal hadn't been sealed with this guy yet.  So I opted for the cheaper, but still very good, Franciscan Cab.  

I was torn between getting Ciatti's beef tenderloin filet, as I read where they age their steaks for four weeks before serving them, or a veal dish.  They had a great sounding Veal Marsala, as well as a Veal Sorrento - medallions of veal topped with capers, mushrooms, tomatoes and served in a white wine/lemon cream sauce.  I wasn't too certain how heavy the cream sauce would be, so I asked our waiter.  He said, "Oh, it's very light.  In fact, I don't know why they call it a cream sauce because it's a lot more of a lemon/wine sauce than it is a cream sauce."

And almost as soon as I was getting ready to order the Veal Sorrento, I saw the bacon-wrapped scallops on the menu.   I deferred to my dealer guest while I tried to make up my mind.  My guest didn't even flinch when he ordered, "Lobster ravioli with the balsamic/gorgonzola dressing on my salad."

The lobster ravioli did sound good - five large ravioli pillows stuffed with real lobster meat and topped with asparagus, tomatoes and lobster meat in a brandy cream sauce.  Well, that didn't help me one bit.  I wavered and finally ordered the Veal Sorrento.  I also got a house salad with the balsamic/gorgonzola which came with a one dollar up charge.

My potential new dealer and I talked a little more business while we waited for our salads to show up.  He was moving to a new location later in the spring that would give him a little more visibility in the market place.  Up to now, he had been in a small retail/office area off the beaten path and he was running out of room.  His new location would be on a well traveled street with some good visibility.  I was excited for the chance to be able to sell him something.  

The balsamic/gorgonzola salad was very good and somewhat filling.  And that was OK with me.  I've really been trying to watch my food intake on my diet and I knew the veal medallions wouldn't be all that big. 

The dealer really liked the Franciscan Cabernet.  He said, "I don't drink as much wine as I should.  We have three kids and we hardly get a chance to go out to a nice restaurant like Ciatti's or Piggy's here in town.  I may drink wine, maybe, two or three times a year.  And that may be for an anniversary or special occasion, or when guys like you come to town and take me out to dinner.  And that doesn't happen all that often since not a lot of reps travel to La Crosse these days." 

Our dinner showed up not long after the salads were finished and I was right - the three veal medallions weren't all that big.  But for the price - $17.99 - I thought it was very adequate.  I've paid well over $20 bucks in much larger cities for basically the same size of veal medallions.  

But they were also very good.  VERY good.  The waiter was right, the lemon/white wine cream sauce wasn't a heavy cream sauce.  Along with the tomato chunks, capers and mushrooms, the taste sensation was very high.  

My guest's lobster ravioli looked scrumptious.  He said, "I get this every time I come to Ciatti's.  I know they have a lot of other great things on the menu.  But once I had this about three or four years ago for the first time, I just can't have anything else, it's so good.   My wife gets mad at me when we come here because I won't even open the menu."

Based upon the crowd Ciatti's had on a Tuesday night, I'm guessing a lot of people liked the food they served.  For a city like La Crosse, Ciatti's was the epitome of fine Italian dining.  I was impressed with the place.  

It wasn't overly cheap - about $120 with tax and tip for the meal.  But a meal like that in the Twin Cities or Chicago would have been 20 to 30 percent more in cost.  Like I said, I thought the Franciscan wine was priced very reasonably.  And the entree prices weren't all that out of hand.  Maybe I'm just used to paying big city prices and I get pleasantly surprised when I get great food at small town prices.  

So far, I haven't been able to close this dealer on the product.  But I'm trying because I want to get back up to La Crosse and Ciatti's at some point in the near future.   

Ready or Not - The Digital Conversion Starts Today!

The previously delayed conversion from analog to digital television broadcasts begins today across the United States.  Many television stations switched over from analog broadcasting to digital broadcasting overnight.  The rest will switch later today. 

The original conversion date was supposed to be on February 17.  But there was an outcry by politicians who said many people weren't ready for the change, even after the FCC had given people ample time (over a year) to get digital ready with a slew of information both in print and in television ads.  When the proposed delay was announced in January, television stations said they would have to spend a lot of money to continue to broadcast both digital and analog signals into June.  And companies, such as Qualcomm, who had spent millions of dollars to buy the transmission rights of the analog bands being used for television broadcasting had to wait another four months to launch new services, losing millions of dollars worth of potential revenue in the process.  

The switch to digital has been a long time coming.  I saw one of the first public demonstrations of digital television at the 1988 Summer Consumer Electronics Show in Chicago.  Zenith, which was based in Chicago at the time, had a demonstration where they broadcast a digital signal that was able to be picked up in about a 20 mile radius from the broadcast site.  I can't really remember what the program content was, but the picture was pretty clear.  Not as clear as a pure digital signal we get today, but it was better than what was available via an analog signal at the time.    

I had a number of posts on the delay and the circumstances leading up to the decision to push back the conversion date to June 12.  You can read them here, here, and here.  A number of smaller market television stations went ahead with the digital transition on the original February 17 date.  Some stations - such as WQPT here in the Quad Cities - switched to an all digital broadcast signal just recently before the June 12 deadline. 

We had a couple of older analog televisions in our "lodge" and in our bedroom that needed to be replaced once we got DirecTV in March.  I ended up getting a couple Samsung 32" televisions to replace them.  We ended up giving the old TV's to Cindy's dad who lives out in the country near Cedar Rapids and who doesn't watch much television.  He was initially reluctant to take the televisions because he would have to get a converter box.  I told him that he could get up to two $40 vouchers from the Federal Government to help pay for the units.  I'd even sign him up on the Internet. 

About 10 days later he got the vouchers in the mail.  He went to a place and bought a converter box for $49.95 plus tax.  We gave him the televisions and he hooked one of them up in his living room.  He was incredulous as to how good of a signal he was getting with the digital broadcasts.  "I can even get Channel 2 now!  I've never been able to get Channel 2," he exclaimed. 

So, ready or not - the digital conversion is here.  In my opinion, if you weren't ready for it, it's your own damn fault.  It's called progress folks.  And with this, we'll begin to see a number of pretty neat services being offered for cellular and personal viewing devices.  I can't wait. 

Boston Blackies - Deerfield, IL

I've had friends in the Chicago area tell me one of the best burgers in town comes from Boston Blackies which has 8 locations throughout the Chicagoland region.  When I was in Chicago before my recent hip surgeries I sought out the Boston Blackies up in Deerfield (see map) for a late burger one evening.

Boston Blackies is named after the fictional character Boston Blackie, who was part of a somewhat famous series of radio programs, movies and television shows in the 30's, 40's and 50's.  Actually, Boston Blackie dates back to the 19-teens when he first appeared in novels written by Jack Doyle.  In the novels, Boston Blackie was a jewel thief.  When he made the transition to film and radio, he was a detective. 

The Boston Blackies restaurants are owned by the same family that owns the Carson's restaurants in the Chicago region, probably the most famous of all Chicagoland barbecue houses.  I've been to Carson's before (click on the Carson's link above to see my post) and while I thought it was OK, I didn't think it was anything special.  I was hoping I wouldn't be disappointed in Boston Blackies as sometimes I hear about places and expect great food, but am utterly disappointed by the end of the meal because of the hype. 

It was a little after 9 p.m. when I finished with my last account of the day and decided to grab something to eat before I went back to the hotel.  I walked into the Boston Blackies location on Lake Cook Road and asked if I could sit at the bar.  The restaurant's dining area was spacious, but because it was late in the evening, there wasn't a lot of people in the place.  I was given a menu by the hostess and I ordered up a beer from the bartender.

I found during my research on Boston Blackies that each location doesn't have the same menu.  For example, the Boston Blackies at the corner of Monroe and Canal in the Chicago Financial District as well as the location up in Skokie features breakfast.  While there were 14 different burgers featured on the menu at the Deerfield location, the River East location in downtown Chicago only featured six burgers on their menu.  But all Boston Blackies featured both carry-out and kid's menus making the restaurants both work and family friendly. 

As I said, the Deerfield location featured 14 different types of burgers on the menu.  Some of them were sort of interesting - the Greek Boy which was topped with feta cheese and a raw onion; the Cowboy with fresh guacamole and pico de gallo with pepper jack cheese, and the Fire Alarm with chili, cheddar and hot giardiniera on top.  I ended up going with a safe bet for my first Boston Blackies, however - the Swiss Connection.  It consisted of a 1/2 pound burger topped with Swiss cheese and mushrooms.  All Boston Blackies burgers are cooked to order and I got mine medium.  And you get a choice of either having a sesame seed bun, a Kaiser roll, or either rye or dark rye bread.  A fresh beefsteak tomato, lettuce and your choice of either cooked or raw onions comes with the burger, along with a side of Carson's cole slaw. 

If you're not in the mood for burgers, Boston Blackies also offers a number of different variations of chicken breast sandwiches, salads, steaks, pork chops and a slew of appetizers.  Some of the locations also offer Carson's ribs on the menu.  You can also find barbecue beef or pork sandwiches featuring Carson's barbecue sauce at nearly all of the Boston Blackies locations. 

About 15 minutes after I ordered my burger, it came out to me, served open face with a toasted sesame seed bun.  From the first bite I could tell I wouldn't be disappointed.  It was cooked a perfect medium, juicy and warm in the middle.  The Swiss cheese and mushrooms helped complement rather than detract from the taste.  I was happy the hype I'd heard about Boston Blackies was more correct than overblown. 

With a couple beers and a tip, my bill came to a little over $20 bucks.  Not exactly a cheap burger joint, but Boston Blackies is a nice place to eat.  Even if it's just for a burger.

OK, I found another good burger place in Chicago.  I'm hoping the other Boston Blackies locations are as good and consistent with their burgers as the one in Deerfield.  I guess I'll find out sooner or later as I look for a good burger in my travels around Chicago.

(Update - The owners of Boston Blackie's were arrested in March of 2010 for their part in a check kiting sceme that scammed two Chicago area banks for nearly $2 million dollars.  Since then, the Boston Blackie's locations were shut down soon thereafter.)

Mondo's - Coralville, IA

A shout out to my friend, Dirk Keller, who is an avid reader of "Road Tips", and who I ran into one day as I was taking one of my dealers to lunch at Mondo's in Coralville, IA.  Dirk was also taking a business client out to lunch there one day earlier this year just before my hip replacement surgery.  He asked me in the parking lot after we walked out if I was going to write about Mondo's on Road Tips.  I said, "Stay tuned, buddy!"  So here you go, Dirk!

Mondo's is owned by Jim Mondanaro (right) who runs a number of restaurants around the Iowa City and Cedar Rapids area.  Mondanaro also had restaurants in the Des Moines, Dallas and Phoenix areas at one time.  One of his restaurants, Micky's in downtown Iowa City (see map) was and still is one of my all-time favorite Iowa City haunts.  I think it has become too high priced for what they serve at Micky's, but the food is still good and the beer is very cold.

The restaurant, located on "the Strip" in Coralville (see map), sustained heavy damage during the Great Iowa Flood of 2008 and it wasn't certain that Mondanaro would reopen the location.  The restaurant sustained over $1 million dollars in damage to the building and its contents.  Mondanaro didn't have flood insurance for the restaurant.  The last I'd heard on the matter was that it was still up in the air as to whether or not he'd reopen.  But that was last fall.

Here's a picture of the flooding that occurred in Coralville along the strip during the summer of 2008.  Mondo's is toward the upper center of the picture.  This picture was taken not long after the Iowa River levee was breached sending tons of flood water throughout the Strip area.  Even today, almost a year after the flood occurred, there are still businesses that sit closed and will probably never reopen.

Officially, the former restaurant was known as Mondo's Tomato Pie.  When Mondanaro made the decision to reopen the restaurant, he wanted a fresh start.  He changed the decor to a more contemporary art deco look, put in a bunch of television sets, and called the place Mondo's Sports Cafe.  He more than doubled the original number of items he had on the Sports Cafe menu to include more of a Mediterranean flair.

Still, the locals refer to the restaurant as "Mondo's".  In fact, Jim Mondanaro said that he didn't want to call his place a "sports cafe", but it doesn't look anything but a sports bar when you walk into the place.  There are televisions turned to some sporting event throughout the restaurant.  Mondanaro kept some of the same touches that defined the old Mondo's, but with all the sports memorabilia dotting the walls - over 1,000 pieces, to be exact - it's definitely not the old Mondo's.

The new Mondo's opened toward the end of January and I happened to be over in Coralville meeting with Scott Cray from Hawkeye Audio toward the end of February.  I offered to take him out to lunch and he suggested to go down the street to the "new" Mondo's.  I said, "I didn't think Jim was going to reopen."

Scott said, "Well, he made up his mind last fall.  In fact, I put a bid in on his sound system and televisions.  I didn't get it.  I sort of want to go in there and see who did his work."

It turned out that a small custom installer must have done the work.  Scott said, "Oh, these are LG televisions and cheap in-ceiling speakers.  Any one of a number of guys who work out of their trunk could get this stuff from any number of distributors."  Scott said that Jim probably tried to stay on the cheap since all of the remodeling and rebuilding costs were coming out of his pocket.

The lunch time crowd was in full swing at Mondo's as we had about a five minute wait before we were seated.  We were led to a table in a separate dining area on the west side of the restaurant.   We got a menu and I took a look at what the new Mondo's had to offer.

Actually, they had a little bit of everything.  The new Mondo's had gourmet pizza, pasta, seafood, steaks and chicken.  They also had burgers, sandwiches and large salads with various toppings.  I remarked that if Mondanaro was trying to make his new restaurant different than the old Mondo's Tomato Pie, I didn't see many differences - only a number of new items added to the old menu.

One of the items on the menu was a Flank Steak salad - a large salad topped with flank steak.  Being on a diet, I went with that.  Scott ended up getting a salad, too - the Rotisserie Chicken salad.  That's a large salad topped with chunks of rotisserie chicken.  And I offered to bring burgers to the guys at the store, so we ordered a couple of the bacon cheeseburgers to go when we were ready to leave.

It wasn't much more than about 15 minutes before our food came to the table.  I have to say that while I've been on my diet, there hasn't been many exciting things to eat in regard to salads and what not.  But I have to give kudos to Mondo's for their Flank Steak salad.  The flank steak was grilled perfectly and wasn't over-cooked like you find some restaurants do with the thin flank steak.  The lettuce was fresh, as were the tomatoes and mushrooms.  And the parmesan peppercorn vinaigrette was just outstanding.  I didn't think something so healthy could taste so good.

Scott declared his Rotisserie Chicken salad to be equally as splendid.  The chicken was mixed in with organic greens, rice and vegetables and topped with a pesto vinaigrette.  Both of us were able to eat a good portion of our salads before the burgers "to-go" showed up at the table.  With that, we both declared we had enough and I got the check.  With the burgers, salads, an ice tea for Scott and a tip, the bill came to just under $50 bucks.  Sort of high-priced, but I've come to expect that with Jim Mondanaro's restaurants.

Still, the food at the new Mondo's is varied and what I had was pretty good.  I'm sure the main entrees, sandwiches and other items are just as good.  Jim's had both a solid and shaky reputation around Iowa City over the years.  I have to say that the new Mondo's helps solidify Jim's reputation.  It's good to see people come back from somewhat insurmountable odds.

Walker Brothers Original Pancake House - Highland Park, IL

                                

When I first started on the road as in independent rep in the mid-80's, one of the sales managers I worked with was Walt Rising, who was - at that time - working for NAD Electronics.  Walt became one of those great mentors of mine at a time when I certainly needed some mentoring.  Although Walt's tenure at NAD didn't last much longer after I began to work with him, we've still stayed friends over the years.  He now lives in the northern suburbs of Chicago and I met up with him for old time's sake over breakfast at Walker Brothers Original Pancake House in Highland Park, IL (see map).

In the 1940's after World War II, brothers Everett, Victor and Dick opened the first of what came to be four Walker Brothers Snack Shops in Evanston.  In 1960, Everett and Victor Walker bought a franchise from the owners of The Original Pancake House in Portland, OR.  They soon opened the first Original Pancake House restaurant on Green Bay Road in Wilmette (see map).  They quickly garnered a reputation for having great breakfasts at a good price.  Today, there are four other locations in addition to the Wilmette and Highland Park locations, all of them located in the north and far northwest suburbs of Chicago.  There are 15 Original Pancake House franchise locations in the Chicagoland area.  But the six Walker Brothers locations are still owned by the Walker family, of which Victor's son, Ray, is the CEO for the restaurants.   

Each Walker Brothers location is unique unto itself as far as the interiors are concerned.  But one thing that is constant throughout the six locations is the collection of stained glass each restaurant has.  The interior is also filled with a lot of brass railing, antiques and comfortable seating throughout.  It's a very comfy and cozy place to eat.

It was around 9 a.m. when I met up with Walt at the Highland Park location.  We were seated at a large booth and given our menus.  Walt and I hadn't seen each other for quite sometime and we spent nearly the next 45 minutes catching up on things.  I think our waitress came back to our table five or six times before I finally said, "Look, we've got to order something before she kicks us out."

The signature dish at all Original Pancake House locations is the Apple Pancakes, and that's what Walt ordered.  I'm not big on apples and they just don't sound appealing to me to even try.  But according to Walt, the Walker Brothers Apple Pancakes are even better than the ones you find at most other Original Pancake House restaurants.  Walt said, "I don't know what they do to them to make 'em better here, but I swear the Apple Pancakes are much better at Walker Brothers than at any other Original Pancake House I've eaten at." 

Although the French Toast looked tremendous on the plate of a lady who was seated across the way from our booth, I stuck to my basic diet breakfast of eggs over easy and bacon.  I have had the blueberry pancakes at Walker Brothers in the past and they are fabulous.  Some of the best I've ever had.  Oh, and so filling!  

We continued to talk as we waited for our food and Walt reverted to his sales manager ways of 20 plus years ago.  He may not be in the audio/video business any longer, but he keeps his finger on the pulse of what's going.  He was free with information and tips to help make my job easier.   He's just one of the nicest guys I've ever run across in my line of work.

Our breakfasts finally made it to our table a little after 10 a.m.  We continued to talk as I made quick work of my two eggs and four pieces of bacon.  Walt's Apple Pancakes were just huge.  There was no way he was going to be able to finish them.  He said, "I'd have 'em box them up for me, but they never taste as good at home as they do here."

He told me that the Walker Brothers locations also have frozen Apple Pancakes that they make up and freeze for people to take home.  "I've never done that," Walt said.  "But I guess they're pretty popular for people to buy 'em to take 'em home."  

It was great to sit down, eat and talk with Walt.  It was like we left off our last conversation just 2 days before and not the 2 years it took for us to meet up again.  And doing at Walker Brothers just added to the enjoyment.  I was more than happy to pick up the tab for breakfast and will do it again when Walt and I get together later this summer.

 Walker Brothers Original Pancake House has been lauded by both national and local publications as having the best breakfast in the Chicagoland area.  They certainly have a lot to choose from on their menu and while I can't enjoy the more sinful things they have to offer at this time, take it from me - the food at Walker Brothers is great.

Back from Vacation

We just got back from a week long vacation in Savannah, GA and Hilton Head Island, SC.  I know, I know.  I have a couple hip replacement surgeries, sit at home for three months, then before I go back out on the road full-time, I go on vacation.  But Cindy had some vacation time that she needed to burn before June 1 or lose it.  We had a nice tax return this year and Cindy wanted to go somewhere nice.  We thought about going back up to Door County again, but Cindy's always had this fascination with Savannah.  So, as a small surprise for her, I booked flights to Savannah and made hotel reservations back in March. 

How was it?  Overall, it was great.   The food was great.  The hotels were wonderful.  The people we met and dealt with were overly friendly.  The weather was very nice, and we're thinking we must have been a good luck charm. 

Savannah had suffered through 14 straight days of measurable precipitation up to the day we arrived.  About an hour before we got into town, it quit raining. The first two days were warm and beautiful with great breezes coming off the ocean.  The third morning, however, right before we were getting ready to go for a morning walk, the skies opened up.  It dumped rain - twice - like a cow peeing on a flat rock.  But the air temperature remained warm.  I like warm rains.  But after about a half-hour, the rain stopped, it was foggy for a while, then it cleared off.  With the exception of a quick shower and a little wind early Friday evening, it was just beautiful the rest of the time.  It was tough to come home, believe me. 

We were going to head up to Charleston, SC for a day or two.  But we liked Savannah so much, we decided to go back for a couple more days after flying back home.  Savannah was that nice and interesting, although I did dig hanging at the beach on Hilton Head for a couple days.

We actually flew out of Milwaukee as we were in town on the 23rd of May to attend the wedding of our good friends Bob Kelly and Kasey Lussier.  Kasey was from Milwaukee and we went to a great wedding and a fun reception.  We had to get up early on Sunday morning and go out to General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee to catch a flight to Chicago, then we had a short layover at O'Hare, then flew on to Savannah. 

I got a great price on the flights from Milwaukee to Savannah - $199 plus tax and fees a person, round trip.  But get this - if we were to drive to Chicago, take the same direct flight to Savannah that we were connecting to at O'Hare, it would have cost us $319 per person.  Flying out of Moline to Savannah thru O'Hare would have cost us $458 per person.  I don't quite understand the pricing policies and procedures that airlines have. 

But I've always wanted to fly out of Milwaukee.  I heard that Mitchell was a great airport.  And it was.  It's ranked by business travelers as one of the top five airports in the nation.  The concourses are open and airy.  It's a lively place, even on an early Sunday morning.  And they have a great bookstore - the Renaissance Book Shop, one of the largest, if not THE largest book store I've ever seen in an airport.  The only problem was that we were there early and it was closed.  The Milwaukee airport also featured the Gallery of Flight Museum.   They had a lot of models of planes, interesting pictures and historical exhibits.  It was kind of neat to spend a little time in there. 

Actually, we also had breakfast at the Miller Brew House at Mitchell International.  I have to say that it was quite possibly the best breakfast I've ever had at an airport restaurant.  I had something called the Wisconsin stuffed omelet - an omelet stuffed with chunks of bratwurst and hash brown potatoes and topped with cheddar cheese.  I didn't eat any of the hash browns since I'm stil on a diet, but the omelet with cheese and the bratwurst were fabulous.  And it was huge, too!

The only problem with flying from Milwaukee THRU O'Hare was coming back.  We had an 11:35 flight on Sunday morning to Chicago.  We got into O'Hare about 12:30 local time.  Then we had a 3.5 hour layover in Chicago.  Ugh!!!  Then it's a 40 minute flight to Milwaukee (about 20 minutes of that time we were in the air).  THEN, it was a 3.5 hour drive home after collecting our bags and getting out to our car.  

More than once, I sat there in the terminal at O'Hare thinking that we could have easily checked our bags through to Chicago, taken a rental car up to Milwaukee, dropped it off there, got our car and would have been going home two hours sooner.  But to rent a car out of O'Hare is unbelievably high - $140 even for a small car!  So, that didn't make any sense.  O'Hare is not one of my all-time favorite places to have a layover in.

We had a chance to be able to fly thru Detroit.  I really like the Detroit airport.  There's a great little bar/restaurant in the Northwest Airlines terminal that has an excellent cheese burger.  Although it was a bit more cheap to fly that way,  the layover thru Detroit on the way down was longer than going through O'Hare and about the same coming back.  Also, I just couldn't see going east, then south to Savannah.  We took the more direct route through O'Hare.  Actually, it was the one that got us into Savannah the earliest - 1:30 in the afternoon.

So we stayed at wonderful hotels, ate at some great places, saw a lot of the sights, relaxed on the beach, took in some historical stuff, walked A LOT!!! and achieved seafood overload a couple three times.  But we're back to reality with about four or five pounds more on the body and having to deal with cool and rainy weather again.   I'll have all the details in the coming days on our trip to Savannah and Hilton Head.

French Rose Bakery - Davenport, IA

                     

(Update - Jennifer at the French Rose Bakery has now opened a bakery/sandwich shop in downtown Davenport.  Click here to read about it.)

One of my worst guilty pleasures in my world is a bakery called the French Rose Bakery.  They don't really have a retail location as they sell their goods at one of the Farmer's Markets we go to nearly every Saturday here in Davenport.  And while they don't have a retail location, they are looking to move into one.  And the bad thing about it, it's not very far from our house.  

Cindy found out about the French Rose Bakery a couple years ago and she had an assortment of cinnamon rolls, eclairs, beignets and croissants delivered to our house for my birthday.  From the first bite of the maple eclair, I was in ecstasy.  By the end of the day, Cindy, her kids and I were fighting over the remaining maple eclairs.  

Then when I tried one of the French Rose Bakery cinnamon rolls, I went straight to heaven.  It was one of the best cinnamon rolls I've ever had in my life.  And just like finding a good burger, finding a good cinnamon roll is one of my life goals.  The French Rose Bakery uses nutmeg in the cream cheese frosting on the cinnamon rolls.  They're big and chewy, and there's ample amounts of cinnamon in the roll.  There's three or four restaurants and/or bakeries around the Quad Cities all well known for their cinnamon rolls.  But the French Rose Bakery is head and shoulders above 'em all. 

And their croissants are so light, flaky and flavorful that I would have thought they were made in France.  The first time I tried one of her croissants, I told Cindy, "This is unbelievable!  This is EXACTLY how the croissants in France taste!"  I have never come close to experiencing a croissant in the U.S or Canada as good as the one from the French Rose Bakery.   

The proprietor of the French Rose Bakery is a 20-something young lady by the name of Jennifer Ewert (right).  I've met her a couple times and she's a great kid.  Jennifer studied as a pastry chef at The French Pastry School in Chicago.  She grew up on the west side of Davenport and she uses an addition onto her parents home as her bakery.  Her mother, Mary, and father, Gary, help her out at the Farmer's Market in the parking lot at NorthPark Mall.  They're really great people. 

Jennifer tried selling some of her pastries at a local gift store, but that experiment ended after a few weeks.  She would invariably run out of pastries, disappointing dozens of people - like me -  who would stop in to pick something up.  Her mother told me earlier this spring that they really needed to have a place where she could bake and sell her good tasting stuff.  The last I heard, she was looking at a store front in a strip mall about a mile from our house.  That's not good, especially for my diet. 

Actually, the French Rose Bakery was probably responsible for a 10 to 15 pound increase in my weight over the past couple of years.  At least, that's what I accuse them of doing to me.  But now that I'm on a diet, I have to show restraint when I walk past their booth at the Farmer's Market at NorthPark Mall.  But those maple eclairs keep calling me and calling me! 

A couple three weeks ago, Cindy was out of town for the day.  But she told me to go up and get a half-dozen maple eclairs at the Farmer's Market from the French Rose Bakery.  She wanted to take some to work with her to show some people how good they were.  When I got up there, a lady I didn't recognize was running the stand.  I asked if they had any maple eclairs and she said, "No, I'm sorry.  She ran out of them at 3 a.m." 

I was kind of perplexed - she ran out of them at 3 a.m.?  Now, I know her eclairs are great, but running out of them at 3 a.m.?  What did she do?  Go hang out outside of the bars in the District of Rock Island and sell eclairs to the drunks walking by on their way home?  (Actually, that doesn't sound like a bad marketing idea.)

Instead, I got a cinnamon roll (and showing restraint, I cut the roll into thirds and ate those portions three mornings in a row).  I walked away and as I was nearing my car, I heard Mary Ewert calling for me.  She said, "I'm sorry, I can't remember your name, but you come here all the time."

 

And then she began to PROFUSELY apologize for not having maple eclairs this morning.  It turned out that Jennifer had a big order of eclairs for another function and she ran out of maple flavoring for the frosting at 3 a.m.  Oh, OK.

Mary said, "But come back next week and we'll have more!"

Now, that illustrates how nice of people the Ewert's are.  She didn't have to come running after me to tell me WHY they'd run out of maple eclairs.  They were out of them, end of story.  But Mary went out of her way to track me down to apologize and explain herself.  Good people. 

Cindy and I went back the next week to pick up some assorted things for her dad's lady-friend's birthday the next day.  The weather was cold and blustery.  There were about 50% less vendors at The Farmer's Market at NorthPark that day.  And the French Rose Bakery was one of the no-shows.  I didn't blame 'em.  

In addition to her great croissants, cinnamon rolls, eclairs and beignets, Jennifer also has a full menu of cookies, cakes, brownies, dessert trays and cream puffs.  Her mother told us that she hoped to be able to expand her offerings when she moves into the retail space.  Boy, I think she has a lot to offer now!

But for now, Jennifer only sells selected items at The Farmer's Market on Saturday mornings, or they'll deliver to your home or business (in the Quad Cities only) for a $50 minimum order.  I know once she opens her retail bakery location, her business is just going to take off.  She's a little higher priced than some of the other bakeries around.  But the difference in taste and quality versus those other places is why The French Rose Bakery is a little more expensive.  

Man, I have GOT to quit writing these blog entries on an empty stomach!  

(Update - Unfortunately, Jennifer has not only quit selling on Saturday's at the Farmer's Market, but never realized her dream to open her own bakery.  While part of me is sad for her, another part of me completely misses those cinnamon rolls and maple eclairs.  I don't know if she's still doing any baking as her web site is down, as well.  Oh, well.  I'd probably be over 400 lbs. if she was still baking.)

(Update May 2016 - We had heard that Jennifer was going to be opening a small shop in downtown Davenport sometime soon.  I got a message from her in the comments section that said she would be open sometime in June.  We'll let you know.)