Road Tips

Fogo de Chao - Atlanta

Fogo de Chao (pronounced Fo-go dee SHOUN) is not a stranger to regular Road Tips readers.  I've eaten at a couple Fogo de Chao's in the past.  You can read about the Chicago entry here.  The group of guys in our company like the Brazilian steak house theme as there are up to 15 different varieties of meats to choose from at a place like Fogo de Chao.  But I also like the ample salad bar, no doubt put in place so you will load up on greens and eat less meat.

Fogo de Chao, like other Brazilian steak houses, have a "prix fixe" policy in which you pay one price whether you eat two cuts or 20 cuts of meat.  They bring skewers of beef, lamb, pork, chicken and sausage to your table "gaucho" style.  It can get pretty frenzied with all the gaucho-clad waiters bringing meat at a dizzying pace.  If you're not ready for more meat, you just simply turn your little circular card over to the red side from the green side. 

The Fogo de Chao in Atlanta was not far from our hotel in Buckhead and we took a 10 minute walk over there one evening to have dinner (see map).  There were 10 of us as Dominic Baker from Focal joined us for dinner that evening.  Although we were given menus, though it was clear from the start that we really didn't need them.  We knew the drill - go to the salad bar, don't over-indulge there, however, then sit down and turn your little round card over to the green side and watch the waiters come out of the woodwork with meat. 

My boss likes Fogo de Chao for their wine selection.  Their wine list and cellar is pretty extensive.  Each Fogo de Chao has a different selection of wines to choose from, but they do have a number of wines from South America, primarily from Chile and Argentina.  And there are some good wines from those regions.  Since everyone was having beef, it was an easy choice for him to pick out a hearty Cabernet Sauvignon for the meal. 

One thing that we all fight over when we go to a Brazilian "churrascaria" is the garlic-infused top sirloin.  Fogo de Chao has it, as well, but I have to say it is not as good as the garlic sirloin that we had at the Rodozio Grill in Denver.  Even though it was still flavorful, it didn't have that intense garlic taste like we found on our visits to Rodozio Grill.   

As always, we left there walking slow back to hotel, completely stuffed and vowing to never have meat the rest of our visit in Atlanta.   Little did I know that two nights later I had to go back. 

Gary Lahmers, the buyer from American TV, made a date with my colleague, John, and me to go out to dinner while we were at the CEDIA Expo.  We were initially scheduled to go to South City Kitchen, a contemporary Southern-style restaurant that Gary knew of.  I was really looking forward to going there for dinner.   However, an 11th hour change by Gary put us back at Fogo de Chao.  Oh, my GOD!!! NOOO!!!  I was highly disappointed.  I decided then and there that I would do what Fogo de Chao wants you to do in the first place - belly up to the salad bar and go nuts.  

There were six of us - we invited Dominic Baker to join us, and Gary had a couple colleagues that he brought along.  John, also, was not planning on participating in the intense meat overload that we experienced just two nights before.  "Yeah, I think your idea of grazing over the salad bar is a good idea," he said before we sat down.  

The salad bar at Fogo de Chao is huge.  It features different types of greens for a variety of salads, fresh veggies, cured meats and a ton of domestic and imported cheese to choose from.  One could very easily pig out on the salad bar without having any of meat brought to your table and walk away stuffed.  While I didn't say "no" to the waiter when the skewers of filet and garlic sirloin came around, I limited my meat input that evening.  I hit the salad bar a couple times and had three or four cuts of meat.  It was still too much.  Along with three bottles of a great French Cabernet that Dominic picked out, we had a great time that evening.

Dominic, who has eaten at the Fogo de Chao's in Brazil, still thinks the ones in the U.S. are better.  "That one we went to in Chicago was just outstanding.  That may be the best Fogo de Chao I've ever eaten at," he told our group.  And Dominic likes to eat steak.  We traveled for a week together a few years ago and every night he had steak.  He told me at the time, "You just don't get beef like this in Europe."

Fogo de Chao is a fun place.  It has everything that you expect from a quality restaurant - good food, good wine, good service, good ambiance.  But it's a different type of restaurant compared to other steak houses.  With over 20 locations in both the U.S. and Brazil, it's quite possibly the most famous of all the Brazilian steak houses in existence.  You'll never go hungry when you go to a Fogo de Chao.     

The Beatles in Mono

I grew up in a household that played Beatles music incessantly.   I was hooked by The Beatles from the first time I saw them on The Ed Sullivan Show on Feb. 9, 1964.  My older sisters and my cousins all had Beatles records and albums.  For Christmas and birthday gifts, I received Beatles albums.  The first CD I bought was Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band when it was released on June 1, 1987 - 20 years to the day the original vinyl Sgt. Pepper's was released.  (How ironic - the opening line of the album is "It was 20 years ago today..."  Or was it a calculated marketing ploy?)  So, yeah, I've been a Beatles fan for years. 

The first 8 Capitol Records Beatles albums were released on CD a few years ago.  I got those when they came out.  All 8 feature the Beatles songs in both monophonic sound and stereo.  The only problem is that the mono songs sound so much better than the stereo ones.  The reason?  The Beatles and their production engineers, headed by George Martin, put more emphasis into the mono mix because - at the time - there wasn't the proliferation of stereo sound systems available until the boom of stereo in the early 70's.  Car audio was mono, most record players had a built in mono speaker, and AM radio was only broadcast in mono. 

After the tracks were laid down in mono, production engineers would go back and mix the songs in stereo.  Unfortunately, many of those tracks featured the vocals in one channel with the instruments in another channel.  The mono tracks on the re-issues sounded so much better, more vibrant and lifelike.  I ended up using some of the mono Beatles songs for demo material.  They were well recorded, but still lacked some of the dynamics that you find in today's digital music.

For a reported 4 painstaking years, EMI chief engineers Allan Rouse and Guy Massey remixed the entire Beatles catalog in both stereo and mono.  The result was an early September release of The Beatles Stereo Box Set and The Beatles in Mono, all of which are based upon the British release of the albums.  While the differences between the originals and the remixed songs are not as dramatic as to what George and Giles Martin pulled off with The Beatles "Love" album, the songs are definitely more dynamic, more full and amazingly clean. 

Rouse and Massey have been working on Beatles projects for over 20 years at Abbey Road Studios, so the remix of the box sets was a labor of love.  The mono tracks were easy, mainly because that's how 10 of the 13 Beatles album releases were recorded.  Even Sgt. Pepper's was recorded in mono.  Then it was up to the engineers to transfer and mix the recordings to stereo.  Even to me, it boggles my mind as to the work that had to go into these albums to record and release both in stereo and mono. 

The feedback from audio critics was overwhelmingly positive - especially for the mono box set.  Although it was smaller than the stereo box set (the stereo box set has all 13 Beatles albums plus a documentary DVD, while the mono only has 10 albums plus a bonus disc called "Mono Masters 1962-1969"), critics and audiophiles raved about the sound quality of the mono box set remixes.  I first heard a track of the mono mix at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest in Denver earlier this fall and I was blown away.  It immediately became a "must have" item to my collection of Beatles discs and albums that I've collected over the years.

(As an aside - speaking of Beatles collections:  One of the more difficult albums to find is an original copy of The Beatles "Yesterday and Today".  This is because the original cover for the album featured The Beatles holding decapitated baby dolls and blood on their white smocks.  The outrage caused Capitol Records to change the cover.  Over 25 years ago, a friend of mine ran a record store and he was able to get me an original copy of the album from Canada.  I think I paid something like $75 bucks for it.  It was a prized part of my record collection.  And, of course, like a dumb shit, I proudly showed it off to my friends - both savory and ne'er-do-wells, alike.

Through the years with many moves, many hazy nights and many people filtering through the places where I lived, I ended up losing a number of albums - one of which was the original "Yesterday and Today".  I was sickened to find out a couple three years ago that the album (which is what collectors call a "first state" album) was worth up to $7,000 in mint condition.  I don't know if mine was in mint condition, but it still would have been worth a lot of money.  But someone else has it now.  Just goes to show you never know about your friends.) 

However, only 10,000 of the mono box sets were released.  And even at a whopping $239 (U.S.) they sold out rather quickly.  One of my dealers in Chicago, Music Direct, had sold out of their shipment of the mono release before they had them in stock.  A friend of mine told me that you could find them on eBay for $1000.  It looked like getting a set wasn't going to happen.

Due to heavy demand, EMI announced that it would release more of the box sets - both mono and stereo.  The mono box sets were the first to show up in early November, while the stereo box sets were re-released last week.  I heard tracks from both the mono and stereo box sets and relied upon recommendations from other friends and colleagues to tell me what I probably already knew - the stereo box set was nice, but the mono was the one to get. 

Bes from Music Direct told me earlier this month that they had just received more of the mono box sets and I told him to hang onto one for me.  I was in Chicago recently and picked up my box set from Bes.  I couldn't wait to get it home and put the discs on the stereo in the family room. 

The first disc I opened was "Beatles for Sale", which was roughly the same album as "Beatles 65" here in the U.S.  I sat back on the sofa, hit "play" on my Cambridge Audio 840C CD player and waited for "No Reply" to begin.

From the first breath from John Lennon's mouth, his first words and the first chords on the guitar, I was blown away.  It was so open, so lively, so airy, so dynamic, so LIFELIKE!!  It was like the friggin' Beatles were playing in my family room!  The cymbal crashes were open and sustained, the bottom end of Paul McCartney's bass was more pronounced and forward.  The harmonies were more bright and subtle nuances like background hand-claps were more noticeable.  It was just unbelievable.  And I'm not kidding you a bit - the hair on the back of my neck stood up, it was that spectacular. 

I could close my eyes and imagine The Beatles playing about 20 feet in front of me - dead center in the room.  You couldn't even tell they were playing through a sound system.  (Of course, that's sort of the hallmark of a good sound system, as well.  Mono or stereo recordings.)  Each subsequent album that I put on the CD player and played, I was even more impressed with the job Rouse and Massey did on the albums.  The spectacular sound quality only enhanced the stellar performances the band put forth. 

In addition to the great sound, the discs in The Beatles in Mono box set has all the original record sleeves and inserts that were in the 10 EMI mono releases in the U.K.  The Beatles Stereo Box Set has all the Beatles albums, plus it has more paraphernalia and memorabilia to go along with the discs.  While the mono box set is more geared for the audiophile Beatles fans, the stereo box set is more for the hardcore Beatles fan who craves more information on the Fab Four.  I'll eventually get the stereo box set, but for now I'm overly happy with The Beatles in Mono.  Even with the steep price, either box set should be at the top of every steadfast Beatles fan.  To me, it's worth it. 

Consumer Beverage Center - Hales Corner, WI

Milwaukee may have the title of "Brew City, USA", but it may also have the title of having some of the best places to buy beer in the U.S., as well.  The only other city that I think may come close in regard to the number of liquor stores that have a great selection of beer to choose from would be Minneapolis/St. Paul.  But for the Milwaukee area, Consumer Beverage Center in the southwestern suburb of Hales Corner (see map) is one of the top "beer hunting" places I've found in the area.

Consumer Beverage Center was established in 1963 and is currently run by Mike and Libby Praedel and their family.  While it's not a huge place compared to some of the liquor stores in the Milwaukee area, the Praedel's do a good job of stocking it with popular wines, liquors and beers.  Not only do they have a wonderful selection of Wisconsin and Midwestern craft beers, but they also have a large selection of imported beers to choose from, as well. 

The Praedel's also do a good job of marketing their place as they hold special events from time to time.  There are wine tastings, "meet and greets" with brewers, and special prices on liquor, beer and wine on a regular basis.  Just trying to differentiate themselves versus the ever growing threat of the local and national chains in the liquor business is a full time job. 

Consumer Beverage is sort of on the way out of Milwaukee for me on my way back home.  If I don't have time to stop at some of the other places in Milwaukee, I'll usually stop at Consumer Beverage.  That's not to say that it's a last option for me.  It's just to say that I'm lucky it's there on my way out of town. 

The last time I was in was earlier this summer when a friend of mine asked me to pick up some of the new Schlitz beer that has come back onto the market.   Actually, Schlitz never really went away, but it definitely wasn't the same since the 70's.   At one point in the early to mid 70's, Schlitz was the No. 2 brewer in the U.S. behind Anheuser-Busch.  In an attempt to bolster their business, Schlitz changed the formula of the original Schlitz.  This proved to be disastrous to the company who immediately lost market share.  In the early 80's, a crippling strike forced the company to be sold to the Stroh Brewing Company.

Through a series of buy-outs, the original Schlitz formula was lost.  Now owned by the Pabst Brewing Company, the 60's-style flavor was resurrected by a team of brew masters, taste-testers and historians.  Through documents found in old files, the team was nearly able to replicate the original taste of Schlitz. 

The original Schlitz is once again available in the distinctive brown bottles that I remember from 30 to 40 years ago.  But they aren't available in the Quad Cities as of yet.  I was talking with a friend who was asking me about the "new" Schlitz and I told him that I'd seen it up in Milwaukee.  He asked me to pick some up for him the next time I was up in Milwaukee.

Consumer Beverage had a big display of Schlitz on their floor.  I grabbed a 12 pack to take back home with me.  When I dropped them off at my friend's place, he said, "You didn't put these on ice?  I thought we'd try them out!"  I still haven't one of the "new" Schlitz beers.  He told me later on, "These taste just like the ones we used to steal out of my dad's refrigerator when we were 16."  

So, if it's Schlitz or an eclectic craft beer from Wisconsin that you're looking for, there's a good chance Consumer Beverage Center will have it.  They always seem to stock the most popular items, and feature some interesting seasonal beers, as well.  It's a great place to do some beer hunting. 

5th Ave. Grille - St. Cloud, MN

So, I told you about House of Pizza in St. Cloud, MN on Monday, so I could set up this entry for today. 

I'd been promising my dealer in St. Cloud, MN, Audio Video Extremes, that I'd come up to take them out for a nice dinner for quite almost two years.   The co-owners, Rich and Jay, suggested I take them back out to dinner at House of Pizza.  While the return trip to House of Pizza was tempting, especially with a chance to get one of their Italian Conglomerate sandwiches, I wanted to do something upscale.  In the Minnesota northwoods, there are a number of little supper clubs that offer great food.  I asked the guys if there was anything like that in the area.  Rich, who lives about 15 miles outside of St. Cloud, said, "No, there really isn't anything like that around here any more.  There used to be a few of them around that were a 15 to 20 minute drive from town, but they've all gone away."

The problem now was, where is there an upscale restaurant to go to in St. Cloud?  Jay said, "If I'm looking for a good meal, I'll drive into the Twin Cities."  He did suggest one place, 5th Avenue Grille, located in the Radisson Hotel in downtown St. Cloud.  I said it was a date and we'd meet there that evening.  

5th Avenue Grill is billed as an urban contemporary restaurant.  While the setting is elegant and looks very similar to an upscale steak house in a larger market, they have a relaxed atmosphere.   It's the main restaurant for the Radisson, so there is a fair amount of out-of-town travelers that use the bar and restaurant.  

I found the Radisson in downtown St. Cloud and was able to park in the ramp next to the hotel (see map). I was a little late in getting in from Minneapolis, so I found Rich and Jay seated at the bar with one of their installers.  I grabbed a seat next to them and enjoyed a couple drinks and a couple appetizers before we were seated for dinner.  It gave us some time to talk some business and to go over details of a few things that we had going.  

Their installer couldn't stick around for dinner, so it was just the three of us when we grabbed a table.   The waitress was a friend of theirs - small town acquaintances, no doubt.  Jay introduced me to her and he said, "This guy has eaten in some of the best restaurants around.  You can't let him be disappointed in this place."  She said she'd try her best.

We were given menus and I looked through the wine list to see what they had to offer.  Actually, it was a pretty small list, but they did have a few reasonably priced bottles of wine.  One that sort of jumped out at me was the Provenance Vineyards Rutherford Cabernet Sauvignon.  I'd seen that same bottle of wine for well over $100 bucks a bottle at other restaurants.  The 5th Avenue Grille had it for $70 bucks.  I ordered a bottle of that. 

Since we'd had appetizers at the bar, we were ready to jump into dinner.  Even though they offered items such as fresh seafood, pasta, and even ribs, Rich said that the steaks at 5th Avenue Grille were very good, quite possibly the best in the city.  So, that's what I went with.  I got the 8 oz. tenderloin filet, rare plus.  The waitress knew exactly what I was talking about.  "Not quite rare, but not medium rare. Right," she asked. 

They also gave me a choice of homemade sauces.  I thought it would be kind of nice to try their brandy peppercorn sauce.  But they also had a roasted garlic sauce that sounded good, as well.  I asked if I could get both on the side and our waitress said, "Absolutely!"  I also ordered a side of the restaurant's au gratin bacon, cheddar cheese and herb potatoes.  I knew I wouldn't have much of them, but a couple bites would give me an idea as to how good they were.  

Rich ordered a ribeye, medium rare.  Jay also ordered the 8 oz. tenderloin filet, medium rare.  Our wine was poured and it was very good.  I was having a nice relaxing evening with two good guys whose business with me is growing.

Our steaks and sides were brought to the table in about 20 minutes.  My steak was a very large 8 oz. cut and it was cooked perfectly - still red rare in the middle, but warmer than rare.  Jay was also happy with the way his steak was cooked.  The tenderloin filet was juicy and tender.  And his cut, too, was pretty good sized.  Definitely bigger than the 8 oz. advertised on the menu. 

Rich's steak, on the other hand, was way overcooked.  He cut into it and it was pretty tough.  He looked at how it was cooked and you could easily tell it was nowhere close to medium-rare.  He had a couple bites and he said, "Oh, man, this is WAY overdone." 

I said, "Let's get you another steak."

He said, "No, no.  That's OK."

I said, "Look, we're spending some money in this place tonight.  Let's make it right."  I motioned for the waitress to come over.  She slid over to our table and said, "What can I get you?"

I pointed at Rich's steak and said, "He needs a new steak."

Rich said, "Yeah, this is a little overdone."

She looked at it and said, "Oh, my gosh!  I'll say it's overdone!"  She took the plate and ran back to the kitchen.  Jay took a phone call from a client who was having problems with controlling a system, so I shut down my eating while waiting for things to get back to normal. 

After a little over 10 minutes, the waitress came back out with Rich's steak.  He cut into it and declared it to be "much better."  A little while later, the manager came over to ask if Rich's steak was better.  He said it was and she apologized for the screw up.  "I think what he did was cook it along with the filets.  It took a little longer for the filets to cook because they're so much more thick.  I think he just spaced off and threw all three on the grill at the same time.  I certainly apologize for the problem."

Rich said, "It was no problem after I got this steak." 

By the way, the bacon cheddar au gratin potatoes were pretty damn good.  They were flavorful and cheesy with the great taste of caramelized cheese on top.  And the brandy peppercorn sauce was very good, but I was disappointed in the roasted garlic sauce.  It was sort of bland.  I expected more of a garlic "zip" to the taste. 

Overall, the experience at 5th Avenue Grille was above average.  My steak was very good, I enjoyed the au gratin potatoes - the two or three bites I had of them.  And our service was very good.  The waitress, being friends with the guys, had a good sense of humor and was a good sport in some of the guff they were giving her.  The atmosphere at 5th Avenue Grille was relaxed, but the decor was very classy.  All in all, it was a pleasant dining experience.  But if this is the best of what St. Cloud has to offer, I can see where it's worth the hour or so drive into the Twin Cities to get a good meal.

House of Pizza - St. Cloud, MN

In cleaning up a few things on the Road Tips blog recently, I came across this half-written entry from 2007 that I completely forgot I had.  Sometimes I'll start on an entry, but get to working on something else and then forget about the one that I'd started.  And I'm rather embarrassed to come across more than 2 years after visiting this place because the House of Pizza in downtown St. Cloud, MN had an excellent pizza.

The co-owners of Audio Video Extremes in St. Cloud, Rich and Jay, had been raving to me about the House of Pizza ever since I first began to call on them in 2005.  They both had literally grown up on the food from House of Pizza since it had been established in 1964.   They described the pizza as thin crust, plentiful toppings - including the big chunks of Italian sausage that I crave on a pizza - and great to drink beer with.  That's one of the hallmarks of a great pizza for me - does it taste good with an ice cold beer.  I promised that I'd take them out to House of Pizza on a visit.

The House of Pizza, as I said, has been around for 45 years serving beginning as a small pizza and soda shop in downtown St. Cloud.  Over the years, it evolved into one of the more popular pizza places in the state of Minnesota.  Thousands of graduates from St. Cloud State have come back for a taste of House of Pizza, like many former Luther graduates do for Mabe's Pizza in Decorah.  For the last few years, House of Pizza has been run by Brandon Testa, a local man who also owns the Pacific Wok restaurants in the area.  Testa recently opened a second House of Pizza location in nearby Sartell, MN.

I met Rich and Jay at House of Pizza one evening as I was driving back from a day trip to Fargo.  I was able to find parking in a lot not far away from the restaurant (see map).  The interior of the place was clean, but it looked like it hadn't been updated much since the 70's.  The booths were heavy vinyl, the tables and chairs were big and comfortable and it was well lit in the place.  It had been a long day and I was ready for a beer, so we immediately ordered up a pitcher of beer to drink while we looked over the menu.

In addition to pizza, the House of Pizza also offers appetizers, pasta, and hoagies.  I was really intrigued by their Italian Conglomerate hoagie.  If you're a regular reader of this blog, you'll know that I have an hankering for the old Pizza Hut hoagies.  That would be the only reason I'd ever go into a Pizza Hut these days, but they did away with their hoagie years ago.  I've been on a quest for one ever since.   House of Pizza's Italian Conglomerate features grilled Canadian bacon, salami, pepperoni, sautéed mushrooms, onions, green peppers and black olives and then topped melted mozzarella and American cheese.  It's actually a little more involved with the toppings than what a Pizza Hut hoagie offered, but it definitely caught my eye. 

But we were there for pizza that evening.  Jay said, "The crust is thin, but they pile on the toppings.  It's expensive, but you get a lot of pizza for your money."  In addition to the traditional toppings, House of Pizza also offers a number of "gourmet" toppings such as sun-dried tomatoes, roasted red peppers and feta cheese.  The signature pizza at House of Pizza is their House Deluxe - sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, green peppers and onions.  Green peppers and onions on a pizza doesn't usually agree with my digestive system, but I do like the taste of them.  We ended up ordering a 12" House Deluxe, then got a 12" sausage, pepperoni and mushroom - my old staple.  More beer was needed, so another pitcher was order, as well. 

Jay and Rich told me stories of coming to House of Pizza while they were growing up.  Both had first dates with girls at the place, both had gotten late night pizzas there after drinking at bars in the area over the years, and they both claimed they had never found a better pizza than the House of Pizza. 

Now, I live in the Quad Cities where the locals claim that Harris Pizza is the best they've ever had.  Harris Pizza - or the Quad City Style of pizza, as I call it, is weak.  Harris Pizza spawned a number of similar styles of pizza with a thicker crust and ground sausage rather than the large sausage chunks that "real" pizza has.  So, I get a little leery of locals saying that "their pizza" is the best they've ever had.   

Our pizzas came out and from the first bite, I was hooked.  Oh, my God, was it delicious!  And Jay was right - they load the toppings on the pizza at House of Pizza.  And it tasted great with a cold beer.  I tried a couple of the party cut pieces of the House Deluxe and the peppers and onions didn't overpower the taste of the other toppings like they can on other pizzas.  That's probably because there were so many large chunks of sausage, along with tons of slices of pepperoni and fresh mushrooms.  And the cheese was thick.  And the grease pooled in the center of the pizza.  No wonder it was so popular with the college students who had a good drunk on.  Oh, man - I've just found another great pizza.

As we were eating, I just kept saying, "Oh, my God!", or "Jeez, this is great!"  Rich stopped for a second, looked at me and said, "Did you think we were lying?"   I'll never doubt their word again. 

 House of Pizza was out of this world.  That's all I can say.  There are no words to describe the feeling I had while I was eating the pizza.  I've had some very good pizzas in my travels and I'd put House of Pizza up against the best.  It was a great find.  But I will go back for an Italian Conglomerate hoagie at some point.  But it may be tough to pass up another House of Pizza pie on my next visit. 

Uncle Julio's - Atlanta

Sort of a ritual with guys in our company on our first night together when we meet up at a trade show is to go out for Mexican food.  Not far from our hotel in Buckhead was a Mexican restaurant by the name of Uncle Julio's.   Even though the name just screamed, "American-ized Mexican food chain!", we still decided to give it a try. 

Uncle Julio's is a chain, but not a huge one by any stretch of the imagination.  It started in Dallas in 1986 and it is one of the more popular Mexican restaurants in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.  Founder and CEO Todd Conger has expanded into Washington D.C., Atlanta, Florida, and - to my surprise while I was researching the restaurant - they have two locations in Chicago.  I've more than likely passed both of them during my many travels in and around the Chicagoland region, but have never recognized them.  In all, there are 15 Uncle Julio locations.

Since we all ate lunch in the middle of the afternoon at Canyon's Burger Company, we didn't go out for dinner until late.  It was a warm night in Atlanta and we took a table outside on the patio.  The interior and exterior of Uncle Julio's was a classic Mexican theme with soft lighting and large tables.  It was definitely nice both inside and out.  My colleague, Ian, who travels to Atlanta as part of his territory said, "I've been past this place a million times, but have never come in." 

Margaritas were immediately ordered by our group and we were given menus to look over.  From the description of items on the menu, I recognized that this was not another bland Mexican chain restaurant.   Uncle Julio's had a number of what you'd expect to find on a standard Mexican restaurant menu, but they added a number of items with some flair to them.  Such as:

Mesquite-grilled marinated frog legs. 

Slow-smoked mesquite pork ribs with a chipotle barbecue sauce.

Mesquite-grilled marinated quail. 

Honey-chipotle mesquite-grilled salmon. 

Fruit sides topped with sweet cream.

It was interesting, to say the least.

My colleague, Ian, decided to try the quail entree.  I said, "I'm not certain I've ever seen quail on the menu at a Mexican restaurant." 

He said, "Me neither, that's why I want to try it."

There were so many interesting items on the menu, my head was spinning.  Well, that could also be because of the very strong Classic margaritas at Uncle Julio's.  My colleague, Jon, is sort of a tequila aficionado and he said Uncle Julio's Classic margarita is the most authentic margarita there is. They take one shot Patron Silver tequila, one shot Cointreau, one shot water and one shot fresh lime juice and mix it all together.  It wasn't cheap, but Jesus Jones, it was damn good.  (We've since made this at home and I have to tell you, I may never be able to drink a margarita with triple sec again.)

I decided to just go basic with Juanita's Platter.  It consisted of two enchiladas (choice of meat), a crispy taco (beef or chicken) and a tamale (pork or chicken).  I got beef enchiladas, a beef taco and a pork tamale.  Sides of refried beans and rice came with the dish.  I needed food because the first two margaritas went down very quickly and I was just finishing my third one when the food arrived. 

And there was a lot of food on my plate.  I definitely wasn't going to finish my whole meal, that was already for sure before I took my first bite.  The enchiladas were good, but not outstanding.  I did like the crispy beef taco, especially with some of Uncle Julio's salsa added to it.  And the pork tamale was also good, but not the best I've ever had.  I'd rate the meal as above average, but still not as good as some authentic Mexican restaurants I've eaten in. 

By the way, Ian declared his quail as "excellent".  He said, "They must marinate it in lime juice as it was very tender and had sort of a citrus taste to it."  Everyone else at our table said their meal was good to very good.  Even my colleague, Chris, who grew up and lives in Arizona where there are tons of authentic Mexican restaurants, said that his carne asada el jardin was "surprisingly good." 

Now that I know there are a couple Uncle Julio's in the Chicago area, I'll have to stop in and give one of them a try on a visit to the city.  There were a couple of other things that I wanted to try - the cheese and jalapeno stuffed jumbo shrimp wrapped in bacon; and the fresh rolled tortillas for tacos al carbon were choices two and three for me.  I can't say Uncle Julio's was the best Mexican I've had.  But for a chain-type restaurant, it outshines a lot of the other ones that are out there. 

Cool River Cafe - Denver

It what has turned out to be an annual event in Denver, the Colorado Audio Society, in conjunction with Red Rock Audio, hosts the Rocky Mountain Audio Festival at the Marriott in the heart of the Tech Center in the southeast part of the city.  It went from a very basic gathering of high-end, tweaky audio companies to what could now be called the biggest high-end audio show in the United States.  (Stereophile used to put on an annual high-end audio show that would be either in New York, Los Angeles or San Francisco, but that has been defunct now for a couple years.)  Nearly 4000 people attended the show in early October looking at products from over 200 firms. 

We were there in full force with new products from Focal, Pathos and Micromega.  We had our own room on the main floor, but also had some of our Focal Utopia Be III products that were shown in conjunction with Audio Unlimited from Denver.  John Barnes and Carl Jerritts from Audio Unlimited featured the $180,000 Focal Utopia Grande EM loudspeakers, and it was the North American debut of the new Focal Maestro Utopia loudspeakers - a bargain at a mere $50,000. 

Now, the crowd of high-end audio enthusiasts, some of whom I'd classify as audiophiles, is a broad and somewhat rather different crowd.  You'll see all types of people, all dressed in God-awful clothes.   I saw guys in shorts wearing black dress shoes and white socks, one 60-something guy was sporting mullet of gray hair, earthy ladies in hemp dresses were prevalent, and fat guys with ill-fitting Hawaiian shirts were there.  One guy, I shit you not, was wearing black pants with a silver metal belt and the buckle was the size of a satellite dish.  And he was wearing pointy alligator shoes.  I mean, LONG pointy alligator shoes.  Who dresses these people? 

Then you had the smug assholes in horn-rimmed glasses, wearing old tweed jackets who were self-professed audiophiles, but really weren't.  And, of course, you had the propeller-head nerds who spent hours upon hours in their parent's basement memorizing each and every detail of some product, then asking inane questions to the manufacturers present to try and trip them up.  As you can tell, I wasn't impressed with many of the attendees. 

This was my first trip to the Rocky Mountain Audio Festival.  Actually, I had hoped to be going back to New York for the AES Convention a week after the Denver show, but my boss determined that my hips were good enough to do some heavy lifting and moving.  So, I was tabbed to be part of the group that went to Denver.  That's OK, that afforded me a chance to get back to my favorite burger place in the world, the Cherry Cricket.  (We visited the Cricket twice, so more on that later.)

But I came here today to not talk about the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest as much as I wanted to tell you about a place that we went to for dinner one evening - the Cool River Cafe.  The restaurant was not far from the Tech Center area in the southeast Denver suburb of Greenwood Village (see map).   We took John Barnes, his wife, Pam; and Carl Jerritts, and his wife, Christine, and one of their employees there for dinner one evening.  John was one of the dealers who we took to France in the summer of 2008 to unveil the new Focal Utopia III loudspeakers.  I'd met Carl before, but only in passing. 

Now, Christine Jerritts - or I should say Dr. Christine Jerritts - is one interesting woman.  From the first meeting and initial conversations I had with her, I had no idea that she was a leading mathematician and also an open wheel race car driver.  Actually, I knew the wife of one of our dealers was a race car driver, but I didn't realize until later on that it was Christine.   Christine was so unassuming, had a good sense of humor and could actually carry on a conversation without sounding professorial.  It turns out that Carl is her crew chief and head mechanic.  "Just a nice little weekend diversion for us," Carl said.

There were ten of us for dinner at the Cool River Cafe - an upscale Southwestern cuisine/Steak house that is based out of Dallas.  There's one Cool River Cafe location in Dallas, and there's also a Cool River Cafe in Austin, TX.  The restaurants are under the direction of the Consolidated Restaurant Operations, Inc.  Consolidated Restaurants, or C.R.O. is an investment group headed by John Harkey.  They also operate the Cantina Laredo and El Chico Mexican restaurants, and also own upscale restaurants such as III Forks and Silver Fox Cafe.

We had a reservation for 8 p.m. at Cool River Cafe, but they weren't ready to seat us.  I passed the time having a beer and talking with John and Carl's guy, whose name escapes me.  We waited patiently as our table was readied and we finally were seated around 8:30.  The manager apologized profusely for the delay and he bought us all a round of drinks and gave us some complementary appetizers for our wait.  Now, that was a classy move to say the least.

The main dining room at Cool River Cafe is very elegant and chic.  It has sort of an old world steak house feel to the place, but with some Southwestern decor splashed in.  The lighting is subdued and the ambiance is rather comfortable.  I could tell that a good meal was about to be had.

We were given menus and told of some of the specials that evening.  I was in the mood for a steak and that is the highlight on the menu.  They also featured some seafood items, pork chops, rack of lamb and some interesting entrees such as Chicken-fried Venison, Peach chicken, and short rib Pot Roast.  You also had your choice of side items with the entree such as six-cheese scalloped potatoes, cilantro basmati rice and sweet potato hash.

Our free appetizers came to the table while we were looking at our menus.  They gave us calimari, crab cake and a couple orders of their Absolut Peppar shrimp cocktail.  The calimari was outstanding, the crab cakes were flavorful and rich, and the shrimp were very large.  Coupled with the Absolut Peppar-infused cocktail sauce, they, too, were very good.  But the large portions of appetizers they brought out to us pretty much ruled out a chance for me to get a wedge salad.  It would have been too much food before the main entree.

I ended up ordering the 16 oz. tenderloin filet - rare plus.  We all decided to just order a number of sides as they were served family-style and one portion was way too much for just one or two people.  Christine Jerritts said, "I could just eat their six cheese mac and cheese for dinner.  It's the best mac and cheese I've ever had!"

We spent the time before our food showed up talking and I got to know Carl and Christine a little better.  They were talking about the places they've been to for racing.  But most of the races they compete in are around the Colorado area.  Carl said, "We'll go out and do road races like up at Elkhart Lake.  But there aren't a lot of road courses out this way."

I told them that I'd been up to Elkhart Lake to look at the track during our trip to Door County last summer.  He said, "We may get back up there next summer.  If we do, we'll let you know so you can come up and watch Christine race."

Our food showed up and I was ready.  My beef tenderloin filet was on the more done side of rare, which is exactly what rare plus should be.  (Rare plus, I've found, gives you the best of rare cooked meat, but with a little more a warm center.)  And it was juicy, tender and flavorful.

The sides we ordered up were pretty damn good.  Christine wasn't kidding about the six cheese mac and cheese - it was very good, and I'm not a big mac and cheese guy.  I also liked the sweet potato hash, and I had bites of the white cheddar and chives creamed corn, the creamed spinach and the six cheese scalloped potatoes.  The scalloped potatoes were the best of the bunch, in my opinion.  But they were so rich and heavy that I limited myself to only a couple three bites.

The 16 oz. filet proved to be more than enough food, however.  When the waiter came around to ask for dessert, I said, "No, way.  I'm stuffed."

My boss, Daniel, who was seated across the table from me said, "Oh, come on!  Not even any creme brulee?"

(It's a standard joke in our company about me and creme brulee.  On my first trip to France in 2003, I literally had creme brulee as a dessert every time it was offered on the menu.  I love creme brulee and I had some of the best creme brulee on that trip.)

John Barnes came up to me after dinner as we were leaving and said, "So, did this meet with your approval?"

 I couldn't lie - Cool River Cafe was well above average.  The steak was delicious and we had great service from our waiter.  They had an interesting menu and wonderful food.  Cool River Cafe was a fun place and they took very good care of us.  I would have no qualms about recommending Cool River Cafe for a very good meal.

Atlanta Fish Market - Atlanta

During our recent trip to Atlanta for the CEDIA Expo, our friends from Cambridge Audio invited us out to dinner one evening.  They settled upon the Atlanta Fish Market, a very popular restaurant in the Buckhead area.  I'd been by the Atlanta Fish Market a number of times in the past, but never ate there.  It was at or near the top of our list of places to eat while we were in Atlanta during this trip.

It's tough to miss the Atlanta Fish Market with it's distinctive 65 foot copper salmon sculpture out in front.  The sculpture has been a landmark since the original Fish Market restaurant moved there in the early 90's and became the Atlanta Fish Market.  The restaurant is under the corporate umbrella of the Buckhead Life Restaurant Group, headed by Pano Karatassos.   Buckhead Life Restaurant Group includes such popular restaurants such as Buckhead Diner, Pano's and Paul's, Bluepointe, and Chops Lobster Bar.  

Karatassos (left) established the Fish Market restaurant in 1981 and moved it to its present-day location on Pharr Road in 1993 (see map).  Today, the Atlanta Fish Market restaurant is one of the most popular seafood restaurants in the United States.  The head chef at the Atlanta Fish Market is Robert Holley who has over 20 years of chef experience, and who has been the head chef at Atlanta Fish Market since 2000. 

With the heart of Buckhead getting torn up (the Buckhead I remember with the funky little shops, bars and restaurants), it's a little tough to navigate around the area if you don't quite know where you're going.  They're trying to turn Buckhead into the "Rodeo Drive of the East", as my friend from Atlanta told me before I came back to the area for the first time in nearly 10 years.  But with the economic down turn, some projects have just stopped leaving the area a jumbled mess of half-finished buildings and closed streets.  

We got into the Atlanta Fish Market just before our 7:30 p.m. reservation.  The guys from Cambridge Audio hadn't made it in yet, so we waited near the hostess stand in the main dining room.  The main dining area sort of reminded me of a 1950's-style high-end South Florida restaurant.  It had a high ceiling supported with tall, thin columns with large globe lights hanging down.  It had a wood floor and was pretty loud.  At the front of the room was the open kitchen, complete with a large glass-enclosed fish counter - very similar to what you'd find at a large fish market.  You could look in and see what looked good before you ordered your meal.

The Cambridge Audio guys showed up just after 7:30 and they took us through the bar area and into a large room off the side of the bar that was set up for larger parties.  We had 15 people in our party and there was a large party next to us that was just finishing up as we were being seated.  About 30 minutes after the first party left, an even larger party commandeered the long table next to us.  But it wasn't loud or uncomfortable at all.

I sat next to Paul Masson, the Director for Business Development for Cambridge Audio.  All the Cambridge Audio guys are from the United Kingdom, so they've got that certain sense of humor and worldly nature about them.  Paul is a great guy and he's always fun to talk to.

Usually with large groups, most restaurants will require that you order from a group menu to keep it simple for the kitchen staff.  But Atlanta Fish Market is pretty good sized and large groups eating ala carte is no problem for them.  We were given a large menu and we began to check out what they had fresh that particular evening.

My God!  The Atlanta Fish Market had a little bit of everything!  They had over 20 different varieties of fresh fish or seafood to choose from that evening.  They had sushi rolls, tuna carpaccio, fresh oysters and mussels, and chowder and gumbo.  It was like I wanted to try a little bit of everything.

We initially ordered up some appetizers.  I ordered a cup of the gumbo and a plate of the yellow-fin tuna carpaccio for a start.  The gumbo was excellent - very meaty and full of seafood.  I could have just eaten the gumbo the rest of the night, it was that good.  And the yellow-fin tuna carpaccio was just excellent, as well.  Very thin slices of sushi-grade yellow-fin tuna that they served in a lemon/chive dressing.  It wasn't fishy tasting at all.

Some of the guys down the table had gotten oysters on the half shell and Prince Edward Island mussels.  My colleague, Todd, grew up on Prince Edward Island and he knows if the mussels are good or not.  He was very happy with the mussels served at the Atlanta Fish Market.  He sent me down a couple mussels along with an oyster on the half-shell.  The oyster was big and meaty and had great flavor.  But the mussels were excellent - moist, tender, good-sized.  Todd said, "Oh, yeah.  These are the real P.E.I. mussels I'm used to."

My colleague, John, was seated to my left and he ordered some various pieces of sushi as his appetizer.  He gave me a piece of the fatty tuna sushi.  It was melt-in-your-mouth excellent.  I said, "You guys, I gotta quit eating the appetizers or I won't be hungry for dinner!"

For my main entree that evening, I was torn between a number of things.  I mean, I literally couldn't make up my mind.  There was North Atlantic Salmon, Nova Scotia Halibut, Gulf of Mexico Mahi Mahi, Florida Grouper - the list went on and on.  I knew that I couldn't possibly make a bad selection with what they had to offer.  So I ended up getting the blackened red snapper from the Gulf of Mexico.  I also got a side of whipped sweet potatoes (the best sweet potatoes I've ever had in my life have come from Georgia) and a side of mixed vegetables.

Seated to my right, Paul was also having a difficult time trying to figure out what to get.  He ended up getting the Nova Scotia Halibut, blackened.   John ordered up the special that evening - twice baked lobster with crab, shrimp and lobster meat.  Oh, man, that sounded great, but so rich.

The wine was flowing rather well that evening.  Peter Brown, the C.O.O. of Cambridge Audio had selected a wonderful Newton Cabernet from the Napa Valley.  It was full and flavorful, but didn't overpower the seafood.  There was a white wine being passed around, but I went with the Newton Cab, of which many bottles were drank at the table.

About 25 minutes after we ordered our food it showed up at the table, shepherded with precision efficiency by the Atlanta Fish Market wait staff.  Within a minute, all 15 in our party had been served our food and we dug in.

Well, I thought that I couldn't go wrong with anything I ordered, but I was severely wrong about the red snapper.  The fish was dry and thin.  The blackened seasoning didn't help it very much.  I don't think it was over-cooked as much as it was just a below-par red snapper filet.  On the other hand, the whipped sweet potatoes were wonderful, and the mixed vegetable medley was cooked just right - not mushy at all.  The blackened red snapper was easily the weakest part of the meal.

Paul's blackened halibut, on the other hand, was moist, meaty and flaky.  He offered me a bite after I told him that I was disappointed in my red snapper.  It was, in a word, excellent.  I just shook my head and said, "Man, I really screwed this up.  I haven't had red snapper for quite sometime.  I thought about getting a North Atlantic fish of some sort - sole, cod, halibut.  But I decided on the snapper."

Paul said, "Halibut is very difficult to screw up.  Especially if it's fresh.  I find it to be a very safe choice when it comes to ordering in seafood restaurants."  OK, lesson learned from a seasoned traveler like Paul.

John's twice-baked lobster was heavenly and sinful at the same time.  They cooked the lobster tail, then scooped it out and mixed it with chopped crab, shrimp and lobster meat.  Then it's cooked again and served with a white cream sauce.  He offered me a bite and said, "Dude, take a bite of this.  This is so frigging rich that there's no way I'll be able to finish it."  And it was rich.  The cream sauce was just out of this world.

After dinner, they came around to take our orders for dessert.  I was literally stuffed at that point, but Paul kept goading me into getting something.  He said, "If I get a piece of key lime pie, will you help me eat it?"

I said, "I may have a bite, but that's it."  In the meantime, however, I got to looking at the after-dinner drink menu - especially the Scotch.  They had a Macallan 25-year Scotch on the menu - at $22 bucks a shot.  You know, I've had a good year with Cambridge Audio.  I've put on a number of dealers.  I've grown my business in a rough economic time - especially for audio equipment.  I thought I deserved a 25-year Macallan.  I said to Paul, "I'm sorry, but I've worked hard for you guys this year and I believe I've earned this."

He said, "No need to explain yourself, Will.  Yes, you have done a wonderful job for us."

The key lime pie came out with my Scotch.  I've had the Macallan 25 year before, but it just seemed smoother and more rich on the taste buds this time.  The piece of key lime pie was a pretty good sized piece.  Paul said, "You really have to help me with this.  This is a big piece of pie!"

I said I would only have one bite, but after that first bite, I couldn't resist to have a second.  Or a third.  Or a fourth.  It was overly flavorful with a very forward key lime taste.  I was so full from the appetizers and the dinner, but the key lime pie was so good that I couldn't resist.

Other than the very mediocre blackened red snapper, everything that I expected out of the Atlanta Fish Market came to fruition.  The service was impeccable, the atmosphere was very comfortable, and the food - for the large part of what I had (or tasted) - was very, very good.  But I'm starting to wonder if red snapper is an over-rated fish for blackening purposes.  I'd never had blackened halibut before, but I would crawl back to Atlanta Fish Market just to order that.  And we're going back to Atlanta for the CEDIA Expo in 2010 and I'm sure that we'll be heading back to the Atlanta Fish Market for a meal.  And I'll order the blackened halibut then.

John Alexander's - Moorhead, MN

 

On my annual trip to Fargo this year, I had time for lunch with my dealer in the area, Arctic Audio.  The owner, Rod, and his assistant, Cassie, suggested we take a short drive across the Red River of the North and go into downtown Moorhead to a newer place - John Alexander's (see map).  We hopped in Rod's van and got there in less than three minutes.

John Alexander's is a contemporary American restaurant that features light lunch meals and a night time menu that features some interesting entrees.  The restaurant is owned by Juan Mondragon and his wife, Annele.  Mondragon is a native of Mexico and came to the states nearly 30 years ago on a tennis scholarship to a school in California.  The Mondragon's ended up in Fargo and he opened his first restaurant, Juano's - a popular Mexican restaurant in downtown Fargo - in 1996.  They named John Alexander's after their son.

The restaurant is situated in a beautifully restored building in downtown Moorhead.  The building, itself, was built in the late 1880's and was bought by the city of Moorhead about five years ago to encourage development.  Previously, an old bar had been in the location.  Rod told me that it was somewhat weird to eat in John Alexander's when for years he used to drink in what was then a very dive bar in Moorhead.

The lunch menu featured a number of sandwiches, salads and light entrees.  I thought about getting a salad for lunch, until I saw one of the salads they have at John Alexander's brought out to a table next to ours.  It was huge.  I decided to look hard at the sandwiches.  The French Dip caught my eye, but then I saw the Pastrami on pumpernickel.  It was topped with Swiss cheese and sauerkraut.  Cassie said, "Oh, that's my favorite."  She and I both ordered that.  You got your choice of a side and she took John Alexander's beer battered fries while I got a side salad with their homemade white wine vinaigrette dressing.

Rod ordered the fish and chips - a beer battered piece of white fish with a helping of their house fries.  About half way through the ordering process, he stopped for a moment and got to looking at the menu again.  He said to the waitress, "Naw, I was thinking of getting something else, but I'll do the fish and chips."

He said, "There's just too much to choose from on this menu.  It's all good."

And it was good.  My pastrami sandwich was piled high with very tender beef.  The cheese and sauerkraut didn't overpower the taste of the meat.  The salad for my side was OK - it featured a variety of greens and the white wine vinaigrette was interesting.

Rod's beer battered white fish was plentiful.  He said, "This batter is so rich, I usually can't eat the whole thing."  But he managed to do so at this meal.

Cassie asked me, "Did I steer you wrong on the pastrami?"

I said, "Not at all.  This is a very good sandwich."  And it was.  I was very satisfied with my lunch at John Alexander's.

There are actually a number of good places to eat in the Fargo-Moorhead area.  John Alexander's is another one that I've been turned on to.  Rod said the next time I come back up to Fargo - more than likely sometime after March next year - we needed to try John Alexander's dinner menu.   I was impressed with the lunch menu, so I'm sure I'll be pleased with what they have to offer for dinner.

(Update - John Alexander's closed in early 2014 and the space now houses a new restaurant by the name of Rustica.  Look for an entry on Rustica in the coming days.)

One Star Ranch - Atlanta

During our recent visit to Atlanta for the annual CEDIA Expo, my boss and one of my colleagues had to go out to dinner with an account one evening.  My remaining colleagues were in a minor quandary as to where to go for our dinner.  One of our guys, Ian, suggested barbecue and there was a barbecue place not far from our hotel in Buckhead - One Star Ranch.  We decided to give it a try.

I had been in Atlanta a number of years ago when the CEDIA Expo was there for a couple of years and I met up with my friend, Eric Van Fossen, one evening for a night out.  He took me to a rib place that, from what I remembered, was pretty good.  It was sort of a dive place - plenty of picnic tables and a lot of beer signs on the wall.  But the barbecue was good.  For the life of me, I couldn't remember the name of it, nor could I tell you exactly where it was.  When I pulled up in front of the One Star Ranch, it immediately jogged my memory.  This was the place Eric took me to about 12 years prior.  (He confirmed that was the place when I talked to him a couple days later.)

Except it wasn't called One Star Ranch at that time.  A little over 20 years ago, Frank and Pam Bonk opened their little rib place in Buckhead and called it the Rib Ranch.  When they opened their second location in suburban Alpharetta in 2001, they decided to change the name of their restaurants to One Star Ranch.  The waitress at One Star Ranch told me they changed the name when they got a "one star" rating by a local food critic for their barbecue.  Considering many people had thought of the Rib Ranch as being the best barbecue in Atlanta for over 10 years, the Bonk's decided to play up the bad ranking.  It was kind of a funny story.

One Star Ranch is a little tough to find (see map).  When I pulled up, there's a large parking lot next to the place.  Except there was - maybe - two or three cars in the lot.  One of our guys said, "This might not be good.  There's no one here."  We got out of the van and started to walk toward the restaurant.  The waitress who eventually ended up waiting on us leaned over the railing from the outdoor seating area and said, "Hey, are you all comin' in here for food?"

We said we were.  She said, "You can't park there or your van will get towed and we certainly don't want that.  Go ahead and park across the street."

Sure enough, I looked around and saw these warning signs that vehicle that weren't authorized to park in that lot would be towed.  I looked across the street and saw that the smaller lot over there was nearly full.  But someone was pulling out of a spot and I took that.  Oh, yes.  There were a lot of people in the restaurant.

The guys had commandeered a picnic table outside as I parked the van and they immediately started to order up some beers.  Our waitress gave us each a menu and one of the guys said, "Hey, can we get an order of onion rings right off the bat to tide us over?"  

She said, "You all want a whole tub?"

We all kind of shrugged our shoulders and collectively said, "Sure!"  

Being that I'd been there before, some of the guys were quizzing me as what to get.  I said, "All I remember is that the food was good, the beer was cold and they had football on the televisions in the dining room.  It was a fun night." 

We downed our beers pretty quickly, to the point that the waitress suggested that we just get a couple buckets of beer to go with our ample - and excellently greasy - onion rings.  We ordered up another "tub" of rings, as well.

One Star Ranch bills itself as a Texas-style barbecue rather than the mustard sauce-based, pork-centric style that you get in the Southeast.  I was torn between their brisket and the pork ribs.  And they didn't have a combo plate like you get at most other barbecue places.  So, I decided to get both.  The only problem is that you get two sides with each platter.  I went with double baked beans and fries.  I wouldn't eat the fries, but I'm sure other people at the table would. 

One Star Ranch is famous for their beef ribs.  If you grew up watching The Flintstones, you remember some of the exaggerated ribs that Fred or Barney would be gnawing on.  When they brought out the beef ribs that a couple of guys had ordered, well, it was then when I decided that I needed to get a camera phone.  These things were huge!  Just absolutely huge!   And they brought out not one, but TWO per plate!  We all got a large laugh out of how big they were. 

My "regular" pork rib plate consisted of four meaty ribs.  And the brisket plate had a generous portion of sliced beef on it.  And both were very good.  And the beans were very good, as well.  I liked their sweet, yet sort of spicy barbecue sauce.  It was a great complement to the meat and beans.  But it was a lot of food.  I was able to finish the ribs and the brisket, but a lot of the beans were left over and I didn't even bother with the fries. 

Our waitress was just excellent.  She had a sassy sense of humor and was quick on the requests.  She got a hefty tip for putting up with us. 

One Star Ranch was everything that I remembered the old "Rib Ranch" was and more.  I'm more partial to the Texas - Kansas City style of barbecue with the sweet and spicy sauces, juicy ribs and flavorful beef brisket.  And that's exactly what One Star Ranch is.  And I'll tell you - it's far from a "one star" rating.  I'd like to find that critic and find out what the deal really was on their visit. 

  

Canyon's Burger Company - Atlanta

The annual CEDIA Expo was held in Atlanta recently and our company showed a number of products at our booth at the Georgia World Congress Center.  Here's a picture of me and one of my dealers - Steve Hintz from Connectronix in Milwaukee - with one of the Focal Grande Utopia EM loudspeakers.  These retail for $180,000 a pair (that's right!), and they stand 6'6" tall and weigh 580 pounds - each.  They are truly amazing loudspeakers.  Of course, they should be for $180,000 a pair!

It had been about 10 years since I'd last been to Atlanta.  But the group of guys that I work with now are much more in tune with finding good places to eat rather that the guys who I worked with previously who were just looking for food - any food.  While in Atlanta, we stayed in the Buckhead area and there is a plethora of great restaurants within a five minute drive from our hotel.  My colleague, Ian, travels to Atlanta as part of his territory and he said, "We could have stayed downtown near the convention center, but most of the restaurants down there are of the tourist-trap variety.  This is more of a drive, but the restaurants are much better."

We all arrived on the afternoon of Labor Day and made it out to our hotel, the Doubletree in Buckhead.   It was the middle of the afternoon and we were all pretty famished and needed lunch.  Ian had come up with a list of places to eat in the area and one of those listed was a burger place called Canyon's Burger Company, just up the road from the hotel on Peachtree Road NE (see map).  We jumped in the van and headed up for a mid-afternoon burger.

Canyon's Burger Company began in early 2008 in the Atlanta suburb of Woodstock, GA.  The two owners, Sonny Crumpton and Nick Binnings, were veterans of the restaurant business.  Crumpton had been the director of franchise support and construction for the Planet Smoothie and Moe's Southwest Grill chains, while Binnings started Hero's All-American grill in the New Orleans area in 2001.  Hero's grew to four locations before Binnings sold it in 2004.

Binnings moved to Atlanta soon thereafter to work with Raving Brands, a restaurant franchiser that oversaw concept restaurants such as Monkey Joe's, Boneheads and Doc Green's.  It was there where he met Crumpton and the two worked on a concept to open their own restaurant - a gourmet burger place that celebrated outdoor sports such as rock climbing, hiking and cross-country biking.   And just a week after our visit to Canyon's Burger Company, Crumpton and Binnings sold the company to Growth Concepts, a California-based acquisition company that fosters and encourages franchise growth of concept restaurants.  Growth Concepts is headed by Daniel Kim, who is also the owner of the Baja Fresh Mexican Grill chain mainly on the West coast, but there are some Baja Fresh locations in the Chicago area.

Since it was in the middle of the afternoon, and on Labor Day, no less, there were only four people eating in Canyon's Burger Company when we got there.  8 of us walked in and the guys behind the counter were surprised.  The guy taking the orders said, "It was a real slow day until you guys walked in!" 

Burgers rule the menu at Canyon's, as one would expect.  The burgers are 100% Angus certified beef and are never frozen.  They have a number of free toppings that you can choose from to customize your burger, and there's an up charge for cheese, bacon or sauteed mushrooms.  The burger patties appear to be about a half-pound and are grilled to your specification and placed on a toasted soft bun.  It's not fast food - they make 'em as you order them.

They also feature a chicken tender plate at Canyon's.  They take white breast chicken meat, marinate it overnight, then dip it in a batter before deep frying the meat.  Interestingly enough, they didn't have a grilled chicken breast sandwich on the menu.  But they did, however, have a ground turkey burger on the menu.  I understand the turkey burger is one of their biggest sellers.

While my colleagues ordered up their food, I was just looking for a basic burger.  They did have some specialty burgers including the 360 Burger that was just, basically, a bacon cheeseburger; and their Black and Blue Burger that featured a burger with blackened spices and topped with blue cheese crumbles.  Then they had this one - The Grand Canyon - which featured two of their burgers topped anyway you wanted.  That was tempting, but I resisted.

I ended up getting the Canyon Burger and topped it with Swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickles, onions, ketchup, yellow mustard and some jalapenos on the side.   While some of my colleagues ordered onions rings, regular french fries or sweet potato fries, I abstained from a side.  However, I did notice that they had Sweet Water 420, a wonderful local-brewed pale ale that I fell in love with during our earlier trip to Savannah.  I ordered one of those up.  Of course, my colleagues - knowing that I'm a beer aficionado - had their interest piqued on the type of beer that I got.  Suddenly, everyone was ordering a Sweet Water 420.  The problem was they only had four bottles of it in their cooler.  We quickly bought 'em out of that and some of the other guys had to settle for another variety.

The dining room at Canyon's is pretty good sized and features tables and booths.  After ordering our food, we went to sit down and catch up with everyone while we waited for the burgers to come out.   There were a number of televisions on in the dining area.  One had a football game on, but some of them were showing extreme outdoor sports, such as mountain biking and snowboarding.  The snowboarding caught the eye of my colleague, John, whose family was literally raised on skiing.  His mother was a national champion skier a number of years ago, and his brother teaches skiing in New England.

Our burgers came out and they were hot and juicy, just off the grill.  My burger was pretty good - the burger was cooked to my liking and the bun was light, yet sort of chewy.  It wasn't dry or too chewy, however.  And I'm glad I got the jalapenos on the side!  Wow!  Those bastards were hot!  My colleague, Ian, even remarked, "Now these are fresh jalapenos!"  They were so hot that I had finished my beer and had to go get another beer, this time a Bud Light since they were out of Sweet Water 420.

I'm glad I didn't order any french fries, but I rarely do any longer.  They were a crinkle-cut fry, indicative of a pre-frozen fry, rather than the fresh cut potato fries that are much better.  Some of guys were sharing their onion rings and sweet potato fries.  The rings were OK and the sweet potato fries were about the same.  Both were nothing special and I'm glad I didn't get an order on my own.

All in all, Canyon's Burger Company was good.  It wasn't what I'd call a Top Ten burger, but it would get an honorable mention.  In the growing market of boutique burger joints across America, Canyon's doesn't necessarily stand out and they may have tough time growing their business with franchisees.  But if one were to come to the Quad Cities, I'd certainly go back.  But only for the burger.

 

Binnings also created and then sold in 2004 the four-unit Hero’s All American Grill burger concept in New Orleans. He moved to Atlanta to work for Raving Brands founder Martin Sprock, where he met Sonny Crumpton, who was involved in building the Moe’s Southwest Grill and Planet Smoothie concepts, both of which Raving Brands later sold.

Read more: http://www.nrn.com/breakingNews.aspx?id=372888#ixzz0VclZ

Milo's Bocce Garden - St. Louis

I love The Hill in St. Louis.  The restaurants, the specialty food stores, the history.  Whenever I'm in St. Louis I have to make a stop on The Hill.  On a recent trip to St. Louis, I wanted to go have lunch at Zia's.  Imagine my surprise when I pulled up in front of Zia's and found it to be closed - due to a fire that happened earlier in August.  I sort of wondered what was going on as there was ample parking on the street around the restaurant and it was before 1 p.m.

I still had to go to Urzi's Market to pick up some spices and their great Italian seasons mix.  As I was walking in, there was this great smell - it was pizza - and it was from the restaurant next door.  Quite honestly, I've been to Urzi's dozens of times and have never paid attention to the little restaurant just next door.  But the smell of pizza was unmistakeable.  Suddenly, my taste buds changed gears from the "Zia's salad and toasted ravioli" mode to the "pizza" mode.  

As I was paying for my spices at the counter, I was talking with the young lady who was ringing up my purchases.  I said, "Does this place next door do a good pizza?"

She said, "Honestly, I don't know.  I've never eaten there."

I said, "I've had the pizza at Guido's and I've had the pizza at Rigazzi's.  I just wondered if this place next door had good pizza."

She said, "You know who has good pizza on The Hill?  Milo's."  

I said, "Milo's?  Where's Milo's?" 

She said, "Caddy-cornered from the church.  Across from Amaghetti's." 

I said, "I know where Amaghetti's is.  I'll go look for it." 

When I drove up, I found Milo's (see map).  Oh, Milo's!  The little bocce ball tavern that I've been by a ton of times, have always wanted to go into, but never had.  They have pizza at Milo's?  Good pizza?  All right, I'll give it a shot. 

Milo's appears to be one of those little neighborhood bars that I love so much.  On my numerous trips to The Hill, I've often wondered what Milo's was all about.  Some nights, the beer garden out back is just packed, while other times it looks as empty as my beer cooler late on a Saturday night.  But from the outside, it just seemed it had some nice character to the place.  I was more than willing to give it a try, but I hesitated for a moment outside Amaghetti's as I've never tried their place for lunch before, either.  But pizza was calling my name and I went into Milo's. 

It turns out the garden area out back is what makes Milo's so famous with the locals, especailly in the summer time.  It's where Milo's hosts games of bocce, an ancient Italian game that sort of resembles lawn bowling.  Milo's has 3 leagues that run from April into November.  The bocce area is covered and they can play in all types of weather.  A nice little beer garden surrounds the bocce courts. 

In 1977, Tom Savio bought what was the old Wil-Mar Lounge on the Northwest corner of Wilson and Marconi on The Hill and named it Milo's.  His goal was to make it a family style neighborhood tavern where the locals would congregate and socialize over a few beers, good food and a wholesome atmosphere.  Not long after Tom bought the building, the new St. Ambrose Catholic Church was built on the opposite corner of Wilson and Marconi.  I saw an article at Milo's that said the place is one of the very few bars, not only in St. Louis, but in the world that was less than 100 feet from a church.  

In 1989, Joe Vollmer came in as a partner to Savio and he convinced his new partner to build the bocce courts out back.  They promptly did and Milo's has been the center of the bocce universe in St. Louis ever since.  

Make no mistake - Milo's is a tavern, but it's far from a dive.  It has wood-paneled walls with the required beer lights and St. Louis Cardinals posters on the wall.  It has a number of televisions that are usually turned to sports, when they're playing games.  That day I was in there they were tuned to networks like CNN and The Weather Channel.  There is a game room off to the side with a number of video games. 

I sat at the bar and ordered a Budweiser and got a menu.  Then it hit me - I only had about 18 bucks in my pocket.  I thought, "Crap.  If they don't take credit cards, all I can get is a beer and then I'll have to move on."  When the bartender came back, I asked her if they took credit cards.  She said, "We sure do, sweetie."  Whew!  I sure didn't want to go elsewhere for lunch at that point.

While Milo's menu also features a number of appetizers - including their signature wings - and sandwiches, they do feature pizza.  You get your choice of either provel or mozzarella as your first topping, then you can either get one of their specialty pizzas, or get your own toppings.  The crust is thin, but not cracker-thin.  A 9" cheese pizza is $7.00 and it's $1.75 per ingredient that's added to the top.  

Before I ordered my standard Italian sausage, pepperoni and mushroom pizza, something on the menu - and on the plate of a guy near me - caught my eye.  It was Milo's "Special" sandwich - generous amounts of roast beef and salami on an Italian hoagie roll, topped with provel cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles and finished off with a vinegar and oil dressing.  That looked yummy, too.  But my mind was set on pizza, and that's what I ordered.   

Even though it was past 1 p.m. on a Friday afternoon, there was still a sizeable lunch crowd in Milo's that day.  Milo's also serves a daily lunch special and that helps bring in the crowds through the week.  I instantly fell in love with Milo's with the atmosphere and the number of neighborhood people who were greeting one another as they'd walk past tables.  

About 20 minutes after I'd ordered, my pizza showed up in front of me.  The toppings were plentiful and it was the big chunks of sweet Italian sausage that all pizzas should have - not that stupid ground sausage like they do in the Quad Cities.  And from my first bite, I liked it.  The sauce wasn't as sweet as Guido's (which I think is too sweet).  I also liked the thin crust better at Milo's than I did on the Rigazzi's pizza.  The sausage and pepperoni had a nice little bite to it and the mushrooms seemed to be fresh.  The young lady over at Urzi's was right - it was a very good pizza, quite possibly the best of the ones that I've tried on The Hill.  It was surprisingly good. 

With three beers and the pizza, the bill came to about $23 bucks with the tip.  Sort of expensive for lunch, but it was well worth it.  I've found a new favorite tavern in St. Louis and they even serve pretty damn good pizza.  When we come back down to St. Louis next year for a baseball game with our friends, we'll have to stop back at Milo's - even if it's just for a beer.  Hell, before that, I'll stop back in to Milo's when I come back to St. Louis on business! 

Behind the Scenes at River Roots Live 2009

The annual River Roots Live festival closed out the summer music season here in the Quad Cities.  Once again, I was hired to be the stage manager and the announcer for the event.  I must do a pretty good job as they keep asking me back to do the event.

As it was for the River Roots Live event last year, it was held on the streets of downtown Davenport.  Even though we didn't have the floods that inundated Le Claire Park in 2008, Davenport One (now the Iowa QC Chamber)- the producer of the event - thought the downtown venue worked tremendously.  And considering that it was free to the public last year and the crowds were huge, that formula should probably work again.  Well, it did and it didn't.

Highlighting the performers this year at River Roots Live were Blue Oyster Cult, the Fabulous Thunderbirds and the return of Joe Bonamassa.  Some of the other performers included The Nadas, Backyard Tire Fire and the Uniphonics.  To see the full line-up, click here. 

As it's been in the past, the River Roots Live was co-joined by the annual Rib Fest that I've been a part of since its inception over ten years ago.  Last year, a number of the good rib vendors that we'd had in the past had pulled out of the event citing the meager crowd we'd had in previous festivals.  When word got out that it was now a free event - and that the rib vendors ran out of food both nights last year - we had a number of them clamoring to come back.   While we couldn't accommodate them all, we did have Desperado's come back from a one-year hiatus.  Lee and Donna and their family are good people and they serve up some good ribs. 

The problem is that I'm usually so busy that I can't get out to sample any of the ribs.  We do have a catering company that takes care of meals back stage, but it's not ribs. 

I had the pleasure of working with Scott Rexroat from Rexroat Sound who did the sound, lights and set up the stage.  The stage at River Roots Live was the largest that Scott and his crew ever assembled.  And his sound system was also the largest he'd ever put together for a show.  Actually, the P.A. system doesn't look all that big, but Scott is able to squeeze a shit-load of sound pressure out of those cabinets.  It's always a pleasure to work with Scotty and his guys in these events.  They make my job just that much easier.  (As always, to get a better look at the pictures, just click your mouse over the picture.)

About the only thing we had to worry about was the weather.  We'd had an unusually cold and wet summer in Eastern Iowa/Western Illinois and the weather was threatening all week long leading up to the event.  In fact, it began to rain on the Friday afternoon of the event, which pushed our schedule back about three hours and we were doing a lot of catching up to make sure the event went off on time.  It was scheduled to start at 5:30 with a local band, Sleeping on Sidewalks, opening the festival.  We couldn't get them on in time and I asked if they would come back the next morning to open the Saturday portion of the event at 11:30 a.m.  A couple of the guys had to scramble to re-arrange their schedules, but they pulled it off. 

The cool and wet weather on Friday night helped keep the crowd down.  Estimates were around 8,000 to 10,000 people in the downtown area - down significantly from last year's Friday night show when we had an estimated 15,000 people downtown.  Since it is a free festival, Davenport One relies upon beer sales to make up for the cost of the entertainment and other amenities to put on the event.  While it wasn't a complete wash-out on Friday night, the cool weather kept beer sales down about $7,000 from the previous year. 

Blue Oyster Cult's road manager and sound man, Steve "Woody" LaCerra, was a great guy to work with.  We couldn't do a sound check for the band because of the rain and he said, "That's OK.  We'll do a line check before the band starts.  I'll just adjust it on the fly."   Most bands would have a shit-fit if they couldn't do a sound check before the show.  Woody's attitude was very refreshing.  "Shit happens," he said.  "And then we try to make the best of it." 

The members of Blue Oyster Cult showed up about a half-hour before their scheduled show and I met the members of the band in the backstage trailer we provided for them.  There was a "meet and greet"  with Blue Oyster Cult that had been organized by some people associated with Davenport One and I had to escort the guys over to the backstage area to sign some autographs and pose for pictures.  Eric Bloom, one of the original members of Blue Oyster Cult, said to me, "How long is this supposed to last?" 

I said, "As quick as quick can be." 

"How many people," he asked.

"15.  20, tops."

He said, "Good, I hate 'meet and greets' that drag on and on." 

I assured him that I'd have him out of there in five minutes.  What I didn't know is that the person who arranged for the "meet and greet" didn't keep it down to the 15 or so people that had been agreed upon by Woody LaCerra.  When we got over to the backstage area where the "meet and greet" was to take place, I was horrified to see about 45 to 50 people milling about.  But Bloom, nor his long time partner Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser (both pictured here), didn't bitch.  They went about their business, signing autographs, posing for pictures and carrying on with the star-struck fans.

Now, I was a huge Blue Oyster Cult fan when I was younger.  I have three or four of their albums lying around in my record collection at home.  I could have easily brought a couple for the two original members of the group to sign.  But I've resisted doing that during all the events I've worked in the past where some of these classic rockers have come to play.  It just doesn't make a lot of sense to be a star-struck "groupie" when you're supposed to be making sure everything is running on time and there's no hassles for the performers.

Blue Oyster Cult put on a great show, from what I was able to see of it.  I still had The Nadas to worry about (they were going on just after Blue Oyster Cult), getting them on stage and setting up for their set.  That's one of the problems being the Stage Manager for the event - I usually don't get to see a lot of the shows.  I can hear them, but I'm busy doing a lot of things and generally can't relax until the last band is off the stage and I've paid them. 

I was, however, able to talk with both Eric Bloom and Buck Dharma, along with their bass player, Rudy Sarzo, after the show.  Bloom and Dharma were very nice and cordial.  Sarzo, who has played with Ozzy Osborne, Quiet Riot and other established hard rock bands over the years, was nice, but somewhat quiet. 

I also spent a bit of time talking with Woody LaCerra about the Focal Professional loudspeakers that I sell to studios and recording engineers.  I had my Focal shirt on it piqued his interest.  It turns out that Woody is a contributing editor for Mix Magazine, the leading trade magazine for the recording and sound reinforcement industry.  He said, "We've done reviews on your speakers!  That's so wild that you work for Focal!"  We were suddenly friends for life.  Unfortunately, I wasn't scheduled to be at the annual AES convention and trade show coming up in New York.  But Woody said, "Listen, let me know who's coming out from your company and I'll line up some tickets for the Mix Magazine party."  

(The Mix Magazine party is the most coveted and exclusive party that goes on at AES.  But it turns out that we already had tickets for the Mix Magazine party.  Some of our Focal Professional speakers were up for Mix's "Product of the Year" and we had to have our guys who went to the show attend the party in case we won.  We didn't, but I understand the party was a very large time.)

Saturday dawned with brilliant sunshine, blue skies, warm temperatures and light winds.  After a short and fitful sleep at the Radisson in downtown Davenport, I was back to the stage at 7:00 a.m., getting ready for the 7:30 stage call to get Joe Bonamassa's equipment up on stage and ready for a sound check.  Last year, we had a tremendous amount of problems with his road manager/sound man, Warren Cracknell.  Warren was just impossible to work with, initially.  He continued to be somewhat petulant even after we had to have a sit-down with him to explain that his shit really did stink and that he was not the emperor of River Roots Live.  But once he realized that we weren't amateurs putting on the show, he calmed down quite a bit in the hours coming up to the show.

During our pre-River Roots Live production meetings, Scott Rexroat and I were just dreading having to work with Warren again.  Scott told me, "I've already had some pretty contentious phone conversations with him.  I mean, he was swearing at me and saying that he hated these outdoor festivals.  I just told him, 'Hey, Warren.  You don't need to swear at me.  Just work with me and we'll get through this.' "

The Bonamassa bus and his semi-trailer were backed up to the stage when I got there.  The same bus driver that Bonamassa had last year was here again.  He came up and put out his hand and said, "Will!  Great to see you again, man!"  And it wasn't much longer after that that Warren came out of the bus.  He came up to me, put out his hand and said, "Hey, Will.  Good to see you again."  He was quiet, he was laid back.  It was not the same Warren Cracknell that we came to hate last year. 

The stage crew got Bonamassa's band's equipment on stage.  A little after 9, a very sleepy looking Joe Bonamassa came on to the stage.  He came up to me and I didn't recognize him at first.  He shook my hand and said, "Hi, Will.  Joe."

I said, "Yeah, Joe.  How you doin'?"

He said, "I'm fine.  Thanks for having us back again this year."  And five minutes later, the band started their sound check.  By 9:20, it was over.  Warren was happy with the sound, the band wanted to go to the hotel to rest up and Scott and I figured that we didn't have anything to do until about 11 a.m.  So we went back to the Radisson for a leisurely breakfast.  It was a complete an 180 degree difference from last year.

The Fabulous Thunderbirds were scheduled to play before Bonamassa on the main stage and we had to rent a lot of their equipment and instruments (as we did the same for Blue Oyster Cult).  Misha Lapine is The Fabulous Thunderbirds manager and he, too, was a joy to work with.  We had a number of telephone conversations leading up to the event and Misha knew that Bonamassa was going to be the last guy on the main stage that evening.  He told me a week before the show, "Yeah, I've heard some horror stories about the road manager for Bonamassa.  I don't know how you can be that way and expect to have people work with you.  We're easy.  Just give us the front 15 feet of the stage and we'll be happy."   We had a deep stage, so we were actually able to give The Fabulous Thunderbirds about 20 feet of stage in front of Bonamassa's equipment.   Misha was very happy when he showed up and saw the space we'd given them.

Here's a picture from the parking ramp above and behind the stage just before the Fabulous Thunderbirds were scheduled to play.  We had a bigger crowd for Saturday night than we did for Friday night as the weather was so much nicer, but it was not as big as the Saturday night crowd for last year's event.   Marcy Hyder from Davenport One told me after the event that preliminary figures show that beer sales were down significantly from last year.  And since we rely upon beer sales to help subsidize the cost of the festival, it was disappointing to hear that news. 

We also had a couple large sponsors back out of their monetary commitment for the 2009 event, mainly due to the economy.  In all, we started out the event $55,000 in the hole from the previous year due to reduced sponsorship money. 

Even though there's only one original member of the Fabulous Thunderbirds - lead singer/harmonica player Kim Wilson - the rest of the band did a great job performing.   Lead guitarist Johnny Moeller was just fabulous.  I talked to the guys before they played and they were all pretty nice to hang with.  Except for Kim Wilson who was pretty stand-offish.  But they did put on one helluva show - a 20 minute harmonica solo by Wilson notwithstanding.

Over on the side stage, a couple of bands put on some great music.  I was especially impressed by the performance from Dick Prall - or what I saw of his performance.  Prall is a native of Iowa who now bases himself out of Chicago.  His songs are a history of what he's been through in his life and he sang them with the same self-deprecating humor that he had when we spoke before and after his performance. 

Backyard Tire Fire hails from central Illinois and they've been getting a solid following around the Midwest over the past couple three years.   They played on the side stage between the Fabulous Thunderbirds and Joe Bonamassa.  They did a great job in rocking the crowd with their roots-style rock and roll. 

Then things blew up - I was standing over by the side stage to give Backyard Tire Fire their "last song" warning and all the sudden I heard a commotion around the corner.  For some reason, Joe Bonamassa - five minutes before his scheduled time - was up on the main stage and playing.  It caught everyone by surprise.  Warren decided to start Joe on stage early - it didn't matter if the other band was playing on the side stage or not.  I ran over to the main sound board and said to Warren, "What the f***, Warren?  We still have a band playing over behind us!" 

He said, "You weren't around to tell us what to do!"

I said, "That's because I was over at the other stage!  As soon as I got those guys stopped, that's when you were supposed to start!" 

He just gave me that asshole grin of his and he said, "Well, shit happens." 

But that was about the only hitch we had all weekend long.  And Bonamassa put on a fine show, as always.  Since Warren was running the sound, Scotty Rexroat and I hung out and drank wine at the main sound board.  He'd told me earlier in the day for Cindy to bring down a bottle of wine for us to celebrate the completion of another River Roots Live.  Just before Bonamassa took the stage, Scott came up to me and said, "Did Cindy bring down that bottle of wine?"  I told him that she did.  He said, "Well, bring it out to the front of house (main sound board) and we'll drink it during Bonamassa's performance."

So we did.  It was kind of funny when Warren turned around and there was Scott, Cindy and I drinking wine and watching the show.  He just sort of smiled, shook his head and then went back to work. 

After the show, Warren and I talked and we agreed to disagree about the foul-up with the start.  I said, "Warren, I told you we were doing it just like last year.  As soon as the other band stopped on the other stage, you guys were to start up."

He said, "I thought they were done.  That's when I gave Joe the signal to start up."  Oh well...

Joe and his guys didn't stick around like they did last year.  It was the last show of their summer tour and they were all scattering to their homes for a few weeks before they all got together for a tour of Japan.  Joe came up to me and said, "Hey, thanks again, Will.  We always have a good time here."

And just before he was getting ready to get onto the bus to leave, I caught Warren and said, "Hey, you aren't leaving here before I get to say good-bye." 

We shook hands and Warren said, "Thanks for everything, as always."

I said, "Well, if I don't see you again, have a good life, Warren." 

He kind of laughed and said, "So, we're not coming back next year?" 

I said, "I didn't say that, but you never know."    

And with that, another River Roots Live went into the books.