Road Tips

Charlie Palmer Steak - Las Vegas

Over the past couple three years during our annual trips to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronics Show, I was the one who made the arrangements to get what usually is a large group of people in one place for dinner.  Being that nearly everyone in our company are food and wine aficionados, it's usually going to be at a pretty nice restaurant.  However, with some pratfalls, some bitching and some poor meals because most of the time we have to choose from fixed menus because of the large group, I gladly relinquished those duties this year to my colleagues Jon and Todd.  But one place that they came up with was a place that I've wanted to eat at for a long time - Charlie Palmer Steak in the Four Seasons Hotel in Las Vegas.

Charlie Palmer Steak is the Las Vegas edition of the network of restaurants owned by the famed New York City chef/restaurateur Charlie Palmer (pictured right).  Palmer is well known in culinary circles as one of the pioneers of farm fresh versus factory processed food.  Trained in the tradition French style of cooking, Palmer opened his first restaurant - Aureole - in 1988.  Aureole featured what Palmer called progressive American cuisine, featuring a menu using a blend of regional ingredients that caught the eye and taste buds of food connoisseurs and critics, alike.  Palmer has opened a dozen more restaurants around New York City, Washington D.C., Dallas, Reno, Northern and Southern California, and the Charlie Palmer Steak and Aureole restaurants in Las Vegas.  He also owns a couple boutique hotels, a wine shop and works exclusively to provide food services with the Seabourn Cruise Line - an upscale company that features small cruise ships.   

Three of our guys have gone to Charlie Palmer's in the past and they've declared it the best steak house they've ever eaten at.  I was just chomping at the bit to go at some point.  But when Todd said that he had made reservations for 17 at Charlie Palmer Steak, I was a little worried that it just wouldn't be as good as if we had a much smaller group.  One of the problems is that they had a prix fixe menu - a fixed price menu with a per person price.  Oh, we'd still have our choice of some of the items that you'd find on the regular dinner menu.  But trying to do 17 orders at once for a large group is taxing and convoluted.  I knew it just wouldn't be the same. 

One of the reasons our group was so big was because we had 13 people from our company at CES this year. We were showing at three different locations with six booths or suites total, so we needed to have that many people.  And on top of that we had 5 people from Focal over from France for the show, as well, who came out for dinner with us.  One of our colleagues, John, did not join us that evening.  However, he was already at Charlie Palmer's hosting two gentlemen from Audio Advisor - one of our largest dealers. 

Now, Charlie Palmer Steak is not cheap.  Even with a fixed price menu it was still $65 bucks a head.  And it was $35 dollars per person for three hours of unlimited drinks including a pre-determined white and red wine.  Plus, there was an automatic 18% gratuity added to the bill for such a large group.  Since we were the ones who invited the Focal people out to dinner, my boss was giving Todd a minor ration of shit that maybe, just maybe, we were going a little overboard on this particular dinner.  But we were sort of contracted into it - he had made the original reservations a month in advance and had to provide a non-refundable $500 deposit via credit card to hold the private room we'd need for the dinner.  Todd said, "Geez, now I know why you and Ian don't want to be responsible for any of the dinner plans.  It's a (freaking) hassle!"   

We arrived at Charlie Palmer's at the Four Seasons (see map) just past our 7:30 p.m. reservation.  For some inexplicable reason, we had to wait another 20 minutes to get into the room - most likely so that we'd have to get some drinks at the bar while we waited.  A couple of the guys did just that, but I thought that if we were getting charged $35 bucks a head for drinks until about 11 p.m., I'd do my best to make a dent into not only my obligation, but a couple of other people's, too. 

Eventually, we were shepherded back to a large room with a long table.  The room had cream colored walls with artwork and dark walnut wainscoting along the base of the wall.   One of the best things about having a large group is that sometimes you get sequestered into your own room.  And while you can't carry on a conversation with everyone at the table, it's a lot more quiet in that type of setting. 

Well, they certainly let us get a head start on the doing all we could to make a serious dent into our $35 per person drink obligations.  It was nearly 45 minutes before they came in to take our food orders.  Actually, the red wine we had was from an obscure Northern California winery and it was pretty good.  I looked at the bottle, but didn't recognize the name.  And, of course, I forgot to take a picture of the label.    

When it came time to order food, it was a three course meal with your choice of a salad, a main entree and a dessert.  Three different salads were available and I ordered Chef Steve's Caesar Salad - hearts of romaine lettuce wrapped in prosciutto with marinated anchovies.  For dinner, I went with the 18 oz. bone-in rib-eye steak - rare.  I had my choice of that, a 16 oz. New York strip, a 10 oz. beef tenderloin filet, fire-roasted chicken, crispy skinned Australian sea bass, or prosciutto-wrapped pork tenderloin.  And we had to make our choice of dessert at the time, too.  I wasn't certain if I'd be able to eat dessert, but my choices were a Chocolate Peanut Butter bar topped with vanilla ice cream and hot chocolate sauce (no way!), a caramel baked apple and frangipane tart (no, I don't think so), and a maple glazed crème brûlée.  Yes!  Sign me up for that! 

Of course, with that large of a group, the food was going to take a long time.  It was about a half hour before our salads made it to the table.  But the wait was worth it.  I certainly liked the presentation of the two romaine hearts wrapped in prosciutto.  And the taste was wonderful - their homemade Caesar dressing was understated and didn't overpower the salad.  It was very, very good. 

 
And about 15 minutes after I finished my salad, out came my steak.  A steamed half-shallot adorned the top.  We were also given sides of citrus-braised asparagus, potato puree and wild mushrooms with caramelized onions.  The steak was probably a tad more done than rare and it was served to me somewhat cold.  In fact most of the people around me who had steaks cooked rare said theirs was served cold, as well.  Cold, as in, just above room temperature.  Not like it was just off the grill. 

But that didn't matter all that much.  It was still good.  They age their beef for 28 days at Charlie Palmer Steak and mine was tender and flavorful.  I can't really say it was the best steak I ever had, but it was certainly very good. 

 
My colleague Michel got the 16 oz. strip steak, rare (top left picture).  Michel is a huge carnivore and he loves steak.  I've seen the guy down 32 oz. porterhouse steaks in a sitting.  He said his steak was just excellent.  And, quite surprisingly, he couldn't finish it.  "I had a late lunch today," he said.  "I didn't know where we were going for dinner tonight, but I knew we would be eating late." 

And my colleague Michael, seated to the left of me, got the 10 oz. filet - also rare.  He said, "This may be the most tender steak I've ever had.  It's so juicy and flavorful."  

We determined that Charlie Palmer Steak uses some sort of a seasoning on their beef, similar to a Montreal or Quebec beef spice that consists of coarse salt, dried minced garlic, cracked tellicherry black peppercorns, a little sugar and some coriander.  I've been using that almost exclusively on my steaks at home and I have to say it really helps zip up the taste of the meat.  The seasoning Charlie Palmer's used was a nice complimentary taste to the meat. 

I really wanted to pick up the bone of my steak and gnaw on it to get the rest of the meat, it was that good.  But I decided that decorum wouldn't allow such a thing at a nice place like Charlie Palmer's.  But by then, I had enough wine in me and my "give-a-damn" factor was pretty low at that point.  I just picked the thing up and took a couple quick bites at the corner of the bone.  We all kind of got a laugh out of that.  Michael said, "Hey, in Europe, that's totally acceptable!"

I asked, "Really?"

He said, "I don't know, but it would be a good excuse if anyone would call you on it!"  

After our main courses were cleared, our desserts came out.  Now, I am a crème brûlée junkie.  I've eaten crème brûlée all across France and North America.  I will have to say the crème brûlée at Charlie Palmer Steak was - hands down - the best I've ever had.  First of all, the maple glaze is what made this creme brulee taste so good.   The crème brûlée, itself, was just outstanding.  But the maple glaze on top just added so much pizazz to the taste.  I told the guys near me that I was almost tempted to order another one.

When the check came, the waiter handed it to Todd, who happened to be seated next to my boss.  What came next was told to me by Todd -

"The waiter handed me the bill.  I opened it up and it was well over $2100 bucks.  Daniel (our boss) saw it and sort of shrugged his shoulders.  He knew it was going to be a big one.  But then Jean-Phillipe (Fontaine, the export sales manager from Focal) reached across the table and said, 'No, no.  This one is on us.'  He grabbed the check, looked at it and his eyes just got huge.  Then Gerard (Chretian, the managing director for Focal) looked at it and almost jumped back in his seat.  Well, suddenly they were stuck with the check and I think I heard Daniel give a sigh of relief." 

Charlie Palmer Steak was very good, but I really think it would be much better if we had a much smaller group.  We talked about this amongst ourselves later on during the show that it may be easier to make three separate reservations for six at the same place.  Even at a large table, you can't carry on conversations with people at the other end.  That wouldn't be much different than having two other groups at two tables at a restaurant.  We're all there together, but we're conversing with those close to us.  Now, I don't know if my boss will sign off on another visit to Charlie Palmer Steak.  It was definitely an expense account meal.  But it was a great dining experience and one that I was happy to enjoy with my colleagues and friends. 

2011 Consumer Electronics Show

The 2011 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) was held earlier this month in Las Vegas.  This was the 25th consecutive year that I've attended the show in Sin City, something that I would have never imagined when I first went there as a wide-eyed pup in 1987. 

CES hasn't changed all that much over the years - most of the exhibits are still in the Las Vegas Convention Center.  But the show has grown tremendously over the years.  25 years ago, attendance hovered around the 100,000 mark.  In 2006, over 140,000 people attended CES (although I still believe that's an inflated figure).  Last year, attendance dipped to around 113,000 and the show lost about 200 exhibitors.  However, this year attendance came back roaring back with an estimated 140,000 people and 200 more exhibitors showed this year bringing that total up to about 2700 manufacturers and vendors.  Over 30,000 people from outside the United States attended the show this year, a new record for foreign attendees.  Could it be that the global recession is waning? 

The "wow" factor was down significantly at this year's show.  There really wasn't anything new that rocked the electronics world at CES.  Most of the new products that were shown had to do with improving consumer electronics devices and products rather than revolutionizing a given platform. 

While most of the shows in the past have centered on new technologies, the theme of the 2011 centered on the Apple iPad - a product that wasn't even officially shown at CES.  Since its launch in April 2010, Apple sold 7.5 million iPads worldwide by the end of their fiscal year in September.  And then they turned around and sold another 7.3 million iPads during the last three calendar months of 2010. Trying to catch up with tablet craze, over 80 different companies unveiled touch screen computers at CES this year, most of which will feature the Android 2.3 operating system.  And it isn't all about being able to play music, read books or magazines, or play games on the thing - a lot of manufacturers are looking at touch computer tablets as being an everyday household gadget, just as you'd use a microwave, television, or a dishwasher around the house.  The only difference is that the touch tablet would CONTROL most of the electronics in your house. 

While most of the tablets are going to continue to be media centric, a number of applications are already available for controlling music systems, appliances, heating and cooling, and other controllable electronic devices in the home.  And the list will continue to grow in 2011.  Already, custom integrators are using iPads for controlling lighting, home theaters and music sources in higher end home installations.  Many mainstream electronic manufacturers are adding iPad or tablet interfaces to their line-up for full wireless control of their products from any room in the home.  

Along with tablet computers, smart phones continue to be a hot item.  Both Verizon and T-Mobile unveiled plans for even faster 4G networks to work with new generation smart phones and tablet computers.  The only problem is that they're in the planning stage right now with no guarantee as to when these new networks - or products - would become available. 

At previous Consumer Electronics Shows over the past years, personal viewing devices were supposed to be the rage of the future.  (See my post from four years ago on what was supposed to be the advent of mobile video products here.)  However, that fizzled greatly with slow-to-adapt technologies and the lack of available programming.  Last fall, Qualcomm announced that they'd be shutting down their FloTV application for smart phones and personal viewing devices.  The bandwidth that they owned for FloTV was sold off to AT&T who wants to develop their own Mobile DTV programming service.  RCA announced at this year's CES that they will be releasing portable viewing devices later this year that will use a new wireless video standard set up by the Open Mobile Video Coalition.  The group consists of broadcast networks and manufacturers who will provide programming and products for people who wish to watch television "on-the-go".  Already, nearly 70 channels are available along with local news, weather and traffic in some selected markets.  And 3-D programming may also be available with Mobile DTV as LG showed a small tablet-sized video device at CES that allowed the user to watch 3-D images without glasses.  

Speaking of 3-D, it appears that many of my somewhat educated guesses on the format from my earlier post on the Pros and Cons of 3-D have begun to come true.  Sales of 3-D televisions and related hardware are down significantly from manufacturers projections, as much as 40 to 60 percent below where they thought sales would be at the end of 2010.  Prices were sliced on 3-D televisions during the holiday selling season as consumers were very slow to adopt the technology for their homes.  Much of it has to do with the lack of viable 3-D viewing content and the fact that you have to wear glasses to see the 3-D image.  Added to this, there's a confused public because there are 3-D televisions that use different types of active systems and some that use passive systems.  Once again, manufacturers shot themselves in the foot by not adopting a standard for 3-D systems and confusing the public once again. 

With that said, 3-D is not going away anytime soon.  There were still a number of 3-D displays at CES this year with manufacturers showing video displays that will not need glasses for people to realize a 3-D image.  Active and passive systems will still be the best to view 3-D, but a handful of manufacturers are working on devices that will allow for a 3-D image to be shown on kiosks or small billboards in the future.  I'm not holding my breath.

But there's also a lot of neat little things that you come across at CES.  Being sort of a grilling junkie, I ran across this product that was right next to our exhibit at the Las Vegas Convention Center - the iGrill.  It's a heat probe/Bluetooth transmitter that paired with a downloaded application to an iPod/iPhone/iPad will give you instant temperature readings of meat that you're cooking on the grill or in an oven.  You can program in a target temperature and the iGrill app will tell you the approximate time the meat will be ready.  And what got my attention is that you can attach two probes to the transmitter which would be handy for me when I'm cooking a beef tenderloin when my father-in-law comes around.  He likes his meat well-done while I like mine pretty rare.  I could put a probe in the small end of the tenderloin for more done while having a probe in the large end for less done.  It retailed for $100, but it turned out that we've got a relationship with one of the distributors of the product and they said they could get me one for cost. 

My company showed at three places at CES - we had a booth in the iLounge area of CES, a part of the show floor where companies that sell iPod/iPhone/iPad accessories and products were lumped.  (Apple, interestingly enough, did not show at CES this year.  When someone asked me why they didn't show, my reply was, "Because they don't need to.")   We showed the Focal XS 2.1 computer loudspeaker system and the new Focal XS Book 2.0 speaker system (XS Book below left on either side of the iMac).  The Focal Book system garnered a lot of attention for the high quality of sound and the deep, rich low frequency information that it generated from a little box.  At $399, we're going to sell a boat load of these things.  

 

We also showed products at the Venetian, part of the high-end audio exhibits at CES.  We had a number of products from Cambridge Audio, Focal and Micromega on display in two suites at the Venetian.  And over at the Mirage, we had three suites that were open to only our existing and potential dealers where we had active displays from Focal, Micromega, Pathos and the North American debut of a new product we just picked up for import into the U.S, a French company named Devialet (duh-VIA-lay).  Devialet's D-Premier hybrid integrated amplifier (above right) with a built-in digital-to-analog converter may have gotten the biggest buzz for high end equipment.  We had an event on the Friday morning of CES for both the audio press and a selected number of dealers.  And it's already begun to get some major attention from reviewers.  Click here to see one review on the D-Premier (with more pictures).  

Here's one other little product that we're now importing into North America.  It's the Minx loudspeaker system from Cambridge Audio.  It's little cube shaped speakers remind many people of the Bose loudspeakers, but only with more versatility and better sound than the Bose speakers.  It's paired with a sub-woofer (you can choose from three different sizes of sub-woofers) and you can also get them in packages for home theater use.  I've been living with a pair of the small Minx cubes and a 200 watt Minx X200 sub-woofer for about two months now and I have to say that I'm overly impressed with the sound quality of the little system.  And those that I've showed it to are also equally impressed.  I anticipate I'll be selling a ton of these systems to my dealers in 2011. 

There's been kind of a morose in the consumer electronics industry over the past couple of years.  With the economy in the tank, people haven't exactly been rushing out to buy high-end consumer electronics.  However, I'm sensing a turn around for 2011.  People I talked to in Las Vegas remained cautiously optimistic, but upbeat for the prospects of a better year than the last three.  My business in 2010 was up about 43% over 2009, primarily because I put on one very large account in the Chicago area.  I anticipate my business in 2011 will be up another 25% because of added accounts and some commitments I've received for more business this year.  CES was definitely upbeat this year and I, too, was upbeat after the show was over.  After a few years of muddling down the road, I'm looking forward to finally having a great year.  And I'm hoping that goes for everything to do with consumer electronics.   

TC's Point After - De Witt, IA

I've been prodded by a number of people who regularly read Road Tips to travel to nearby De Witt, IA so I can give my observations on the pork tenderloin sandwich at TC's Point After.  Their tenderloin garnered 2nd Place in the annual Iowa Pork Producers Association "Best Tenderloin in Iowa" contest in 2009 behind Goldie's in Prairie City (see the post about my visit to Goldie's here).  I've been meaning to go up to TC's for a tenderloin, but never had the time - or actually, made the time. 

Recently, a good friend of mine, Curt Buchmeier, called and said that he was staying in De Witt for a couple nights while he was selling Yellow Pages ads for Hanson Directory out of my old hometown of Newton, IA.  It had been years since we'd seen each other, so we worked it out where could meet at TC's for dinner that night.  Cindy and I hopped in the car and drove the short distance up to De Witt and TC's Point After (see map). 

Chuck Cox was a salesman on the road for over 15 years when he became fed up with overnight travel and mediocre restaurants where the kitchen always seemed to close too early for him.  He said to himself, "If I ever open a restaurant, it would have extended kitchen hours so someone can get a sandwich at 10:30 at night if they want it."  Chuck's dream to open a bar/restaurant came true when he bought a small building in downtown De Witt and with the help of his wife, daughter and three sons, they remodeled the place into a nice little family oriented sports bar.  He named the place by combining the initials of his childrens names (Tracey, Todd, Terry, Tony) with a sports theme - hence, TC's Point After.  Cox populated the walls with sports memorabilia including a lot of Chicago Cubs and Chicago Bears items.  A shelf above the bar holds helmets from various high school football teams around the area.

Cox opened a second location in the Village of East Davenport a little over 20 years ago, but it only lasted a couple three years.  If I remember right, he closed up that location and moved it to the Hilltop Campus Village area of Davenport.  That place, too, eventually closed and he focused his efforts on the De Witt location. 

Being a big Cubs fan, Cox became friends with Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Ferguson Jenkins (pictured at right with Cox).  I don't remember what the connection between the two was, but Jenkins regularly comes to De Witt for fund raisers and outings with Cox.  At the Cubs Spring Training facility in Mesa, AZ, Jenkins helps Cox sell battered pork chop sandwiches called "Fergie's Big Bite".  They're the same pork chop sandwiches that TC's Point After sells in De Witt. 

A couple years ago, Cox sold TC's Point After to his long time general manager Michele Bowers.  Cox still comes in on a daily basis when he's in town, but sits on the other side of the bar in a chair with his name on the back of it.  Cox's grandson, Christopher, remains the head cook at the place. 

The pork chop sandwich that TC's is famous for - dubbed Chuckie's Famous Tenderloin - was actually developed by Cox's wife and daughter.  They take a whole pork loin and cut of about a six ounce center portion of pork, run it through a tenderizer front and back, and then coat it with a secret homemade batter.  It's deep fried and served on a bun.  I'd heard so much about TC's pork tenderloin that I couldn't wait to try it.  

We met Curt around 7 p.m. and took a table in the far back of the dining room at TC's.  It had been over 10 years since we seen one another and probably four years since we'd last talked, so catching up was the first thing on the agenda.  Well, that and drinking a number of beers.  Cindy didn't feel like drinking that evening, so she just had water.  It turned out good for me as one beer turned into three, which turned into six, which turned into...  Well, let's just say that I was grateful that she went along so she could drive me home that night.  

The menu at TC's Point After features a number of steaks, chops and seafood, as well as a number of salads and side dishes to choose from.  In addition to the famous tenderloin sandwich, TC's has an extensive list of appetizers, burgers and other sandwiches.  They also feature nightly specials on a regular basis.  

Cindy was getting hungry and we still hadn't really opened our menus as we were talking non-stop back and forth about what had been going on with our lives.  Cindy took the initiative and ordered up a plate of TC's Hat Trick - a combination of onion rings, cheese sticks, fried mushrooms and cauliflower.  It didn't take long for the plate to show up and I have to say that while I usually don't eat much deep fried food like this, everything that I sampled in the Hat Trick was very good.  It was a pleasant start to the evening. 

We finally decided we'd better order up food for dinner as we'd been there over an hour and Curt and I were completely pounding back the beers, having a very large time.  I knew exactly what I was going to have - the tenderloin with onions and pickles.  I had my choice of either regular fries or waffle fries - I took the regular ones - and a small side of cole slaw came with the sandwich.

 Cindy contemplated getting the grilled chicken sandwich, but she instead opted for the Black and Bleu Burger - a six ounce beef patty topped with bleu cheese and cracked black pepper.  That really sounded good to me, as well.  She got the waffle fries with her meal.

The special that evening was the "surf and turf" combo - a 6 oz. beef tenderloin filet with three shrimp coated in TC's homemade batter and deep fried.  Curt ordered the special and when asked how he wanted his steak cooked, he replied, "Just walk it through a warm room.  I like my steaks about as rare as possible."  Ah!  A man after my own heart!  A baked potato came with his meal.

 
We continued to have more beers and lots of laughs up to the time we got our food delivered to our table.  I was very happy to see that the tenderloin (above right) wasn't pounded to a paper thin width and spread out so that it hung over the bun by six inches in each direction.  While it was still bigger than the bun, it wasn't unmanageable to pick up and eat.

Cindy's black and bleu burger (above left) looked pretty good, but I thought they sort of skimped on the bleu cheese on top of the patty.  But Curt's surf and turf combo looked pretty damn good.  The battered shrimp looked pretty tasty and the small filet looked a little bigger than 6 oz.  The waitress asked Curt to cut into his steak to make sure that it was cooked rare enough for him.  We both agreed that it was overcooked a bit - but it was rare in the middle.  I said, "I think they cooked it about a minute too long on both sides."  Curt said he'd still eat it anyway. 

Cindy just shook her head and said, "You guys are nuts.  That steak is perfectly cooked!" 

I said, "Well, yeah.  That is, if he ordered it medium rare." 

My tenderloin was just outstanding.  One of the better pork tenderloin sandwiches I've ever had.  I thought it was even better than Goldie's tenderloin - the pork tenderloin TC's lost out to in 2009.  And I thought it was even better than the 2010 winner, Buck's Bar in Mitchellville (click here to see the post on my visit to Buck's).  But I'm more partial to a battered pork chop sandwich rather than a breaded one.  I think a breaded tenderloin dries out quickly during the cooking process.  The tenderloin at TC's was moist and tender, but most of all it had some thickness to it.  With the onions, pickles and yellow mustard on top, it was very tough to beat.

Cindy said she liked her burger, as well.  It looked a little over-cooked for my taste, but she said it was fine for her.  I may have to try the black and bleu burger on a later trip to TC's.

And Curt was happy with his steak.  The battered shrimp were very rich and he still had some of his steak left when he said he was finished with his meal.  The steak did look good and I noticed that a number of people that were in TC's that night got steak or prime rib for their dinners.  I may have to go back and try a steak at some point.  If that's the case, I'll have to go back three times because I'll want to get another pork tenderloin sandwich.

A couple of Curt's colleagues were in TC's that night, as well.  One of them was an old softball teammate from my days back in Newton, Brian Flattery.  Brian joined us after dinner and we caught up on stuff in and around my hometown.  Brian quit drinking 25 years ago and, as I said earlier, Cindy wasn't drinking that evening.  That's OK - Curty Wayne and I more than made up for them.  It was well past 11:30 when Curt walked over with two Bud Light bottles for me and a Fat Tire in a 24 ounce mug for him.  I protested and he said, "C'mon, Wilbur!  We only get together once every, what?  Ten years?  You can have a couple more beers with me!"  We proceeded to drink those and when Curt got up to go to the bathroom, unbeknownst to me he ordered one more beer for both of us.  When the waitress brought the beers to the table, I said, "That's it!  This is absolutely the last one!  I've got to go home!"

It was after midnight when we left TC's.  Thankfully for both Curt and I, we had designated drivers.  Brian took Curt back to the hotel and Cindy drove the 25 minutes it took for us to get back home.  It was really great to catch up with an old friend.  Cindy and I made a promise that we'd do our best to get to Des Moines some weekend to get together with Curt and his wife.

I just have to say that the pork tenderloin at TC's lived up to the raves I've heard about it for years.  While TC's isn't a large place and it's not much when it comes to decor if you're not a sports fan, I was overly happy with every aspect of our visit.  Quite honestly, I didn't really know what to expect, but I was pleasant surprised at how good everything was - the food, the service, just the homey-ness of the place.  Oh, yeah.  We'll go back to TC's for more food at some point.  

Las Vegas 2011

This was the 25th consecutive year that I've gone out to Las Vegas for the annual Consumer Electronics Show held primarily in and around the Las Vegas Convention Center.  The show has changed - and not changed - over the years.  Attendance at the show has wavered in the past 10 years.  At one point, there were as many as 150,000 attendees, but more recently we've seen announced attendance of 120,000 which many people said was inflated by show officials.  This year, attendance was noticeably up - as much as 12 to 15 percent - and there were over 200 new vendors showing their goods at the show.

The one thing that hasn't changed over the years is the expansive growth that goes on in Las Vegas.  Every year, it seems like a new hotel or development springs up from nowhere.  And this year was no exception as the long anticipated CityCenter fully opened its hotel, retail and gaming operations.  The $8.5 billion dollar development faced problems right from the start as soaring costs, work stoppages, lawsuits and even deaths caused the original planned opening date in 2008 to be pushed back to "officially" December of 2009 with the opening of three of the hotels - the Aria, Mandarin Oriental and Vdara - adding an additional 5900 rooms to the already bloated number of hotel rooms available in Vegas.  However, parts of the CityCenter including The Crystals retail shopping area, didn't fully open until 2010.  The Veer Towers, designed by the famed architect Helmut Jahn, opened in 2010, as well. 

But one part of the CityCenter - the Harmon Hotel - has seen numerous delays and set backs, primarily from structural defects that were detected nearly three years ago.  CityCenter officials announced in November of 2010 that they would like to demolish the 27 story hotel (it was initially designed to top out at 47 stories) and start over.  However, lawsuits between principal owner MGM Resorts and their financial partner Dubai World, as well as numerous leins that were brought against the property beginning in 2009 has put the planned demolition on hold for at least 18 months.   It will be a while to see if CityCenter (below left) becomes a profitable entity or if it becomes the poster child for corporate excess that became a world-wide plague just before the recession hit in 2008. 

 

Another new hotel/entertainment complex that recently opened in Las Vegas is the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas (above right).  Originally, it was going to be called just the Cosmopolitan, but the Hearst Corporation filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against the then owners of the property.  Hearst Corp owns Cosmopolitan magazine and didn't want their magazine associated with a property in Las Vegas.  The suit was settled out of court in March of 2010 and the resort was officially renamed Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.  But while I was there, it was already being referred to as "The Cosmo".  

The Cosmopolitan was not without its own set of problems.  The original owners defaulted on a number of loans and the German Deutsch Banke AG took over sole ownership of the property in 2008.  Originally, the plans called for 2200 rooms that would be condos with 800 hotel rooms.  However, 400 condo owners who had paid down payments on condos in the Cosmopolitan sued the developers in 2009 claiming that the June 2010 opening would be unrealistic and that they feared that many of the condos would eventually be turned into hotel rooms lessening the value of their properties.  The developers eventually refunded deposits to the owners and they eventually turned all 3000 rooms into suites.    

The Cosmopolitan entertainment complex includes a shopping mall, a number of restaurants and nightclubs and a 100,000 sq. ft. casino.  I was able to walk around the place one evening when we visited the Las Vegas branch of the great Montreal-based Mediterranean seafood restaurant, Estiatorios Milos.  I found the shopping area to be somewhat schlocky and garish.  But then, again, much of Las Vegas is schlocky and garish. 

Las Vegas, as a whole, has been suffering during the recession.  Gambling revenues are down over 15% from 2007 and visitors to Las Vegas is down about the same.  Still, with all the new hotel rooms that have sprung up over the past 18 months, there are now over 77,000 hotel rooms on the famed Las Vegas Strip and an estimated 135,000 hotel rooms in Las Vegas proper.  I read somewhere while I was in Vegas that occupancy rates hover around 70%, but that's a figure that I find hard to believe given the economy and the number of new hotel rooms that have opened over the past year.  What this is doing is creating tremendous pressure on hotels throughout Vegas - especially up and down the Strip - to vie for the tourism dollars.  It will be a challenge for many of the casino/hotels to maintain occupancy rates at current room prices.  Look for some pretty good room deals in Las Vegas in the coming months.

Las Vegas is still not without its own problems.  Unemployment in the area hit 15% this past fall with construction and service jobs affected the most.  Foreclosures in Las Vegas County remain the highest in the nation.  A number of developers have built high-rise condos in Las Vegas and many of the properties sit empty today.  It's not quite the utopia paradise that the city portrays in its ads. 

I've always said that everyone should be sentenced to go to Las Vegas for at least three days once in their life.   If you can get past the glitz and glamour, the trashiness and downtrodden, the excess and misery, Las Vegas is a wondrous oasis that offers people an escape from reality.  But with that, it also attracts the lowest element of mankind and it seems that they multiply right before your very eyes.  I still think Las Vegas - with nearby attractions such as Hoover Dam, Death Valley and the Grand Canyon - remains a viable vacation destination.  And the potential to find good rooms at low prices rises each time another hotel goes up along the Strip.  But I can think of a number of places I'd rather go on vacation other than Las Vegas. 

Atwood Cafe - Chicago

During our stay at the Hotel Burnham, Cindy's principal goal was to have tea at the Atwood Cafe, the in-house restaurant at the Burnham.  Actually, that's been her goal for quite sometime.  She fell in love with the decor at the Atwood Cafe on an earlier look through a few years ago and thought it would be sort of quaint to have tea there.  The only problem is that she couldn't get anyone to go with her.  I told her that I'd at least have lunch at the Atwood Cafe, but sitting drinking tea wasn't very high on my list of things to do.

The Atwood Cafe is named after architect Charles Atwood who designed the upper floors of the Reliance Building in the late 19th Century.  Atwood was a protégé of Daniel Burnham (the person who the Hotel Burnham is named after) and John Root who designed the first level of the building.  After the Kimpton Hotel chain bought the building in the late 20th Century to turn it into the Hotel Burnham, they brought in the Puccini Group- a San Francisco design company that specializes in the planning, building and operations of upscale restaurants situated in fine hotels - to oversee all aspects of the Atwood Cafe for the Kimpton chain.   

Heather Terhune was the original chef at the Atwood before she moved over to Sable, the restaurant within the Hotel Palomar in the River North neighborhood - also a Kimpton property.  Derek Simcik, born in Greece to American parents, took over as the Executive Chef of the Atwood Cafe in 2010.  Simcik's educational background was primarily as a pastry chef, but he worked his way up to chef du cuisine at Jackson 20, a Kimpton restaurant that is located inside the upscale Hotel Monaco hotel in Alexandria, VA.  He moved to Chicago early last year to take over as the executive chef at the Atwood Cafe. 

The decor of the Atwood Cafe is rather unique.  Situated on the corner of the Hotel Burnham, the restaurant features large windows that afford great street views along Washington and State Streets (see map).  The high ceilings, various colors of red, yellow and black abound throughout the restaurant.  Persian rugs over intricately designed flooring, tasteful lighting with etched diamond patterns in the sconces and elaborate chandeliers give the Atwood an elegant art deco feeling like you're transported back to the 1930's and 40's.  The lobby of the Burnham is an extension of the Atwood Cafe with that space used as more of a waiting area for the restaurant.  There's a small bar in the corner of the Atwood where you can get your drinks, then retire to the lobby of the hotel to wait for your table.

After Cindy and I checked in to the Hotel Burnham on her birthday weekend, we decided to head just down the street to Daley Plaza and the Christkindlmarket that has become a Chicago holiday tradition.  It was colder than hell out, though and the market was packed - elbows to assholes, as my cousin so colorfully describes large crowds.  We decided to go back to the hotel to warm up and get lunch at the Atwood Cafe.  We got to the lobby and there was still a number of people who waiting to get seats in the restaurant and the restaurant only served lunch up until 2:30 (it was 1:45).  We went up to our rooms to drop off our coats and I called down to the restaurant to see if we could get our names on the waiting list.  The man who answered the phone told me that they weren't taking reservations for lunch any longer, but he said, "Since you're staying in the hotel, we have two seats that just opened up at the bar.  I'll hold them for you if you like."

Cindy has an aversion about eating at bars, especially at fine restaurants, but this time she said, "Yeah, go for it."  Less than two minutes later we were settling in at the bar and looking over the lunch time menu at the Atwood Cafe.  The lunch menu consists of a handful of salads, sandwiches and main entrees with a much smaller and less diverse selection of what the Atwood Cafe has on its dinner menu.  The Atwood Cafe also serves breakfast Monday thru Saturday, and features a popular brunch on Sunday's. 

The first thing that caught my eye on the menu at the Atwood Cafe were the prices.  Sheesh!  It was not cheap!  Pan fried lake trout was $18 bucks, a chicken salad sandwich was $15, and an Ahi Tuna salad in Asian slaw with a soy/wasabi dressing was $18.  Woo!  My wallet was going to get a workout.  

The bartender asked if we wanted a drink.  Cindy got a glass of the house cabernet and I got a bottle of the New Holland Mad Hatter India Pale Ale.  I'd never had it before and it was pretty good.  But it had better be - the Atwood charged me $6.00 a bottle for the beer.  Ouch!  I was beginning to wonder if the food was going to be worth the price.  

With not much on the menu and time running out as to being able to order lunch, we were a little rushed in our decision.  I ended up getting the Wagyu beef patty - a gourmet cheeseburger topped with Big Ed's gouda (Big's Ed's is from a line of gourmet cheeses from the Saxon Homestead Creamery, a small boutique-style dairy operation outside of Milwaukee), pickled onions, a slice of heirloom tomato, a bib of butter lettuce and Russian dressing on a sesame-seed brioche.  It sounded pretty damn good.  And at $17 bucks, it had better be!  

Cindy got the chef's selection of the day - a half-sandwich and a bowl of soup for $15 bucks.  The sandwich was a glorified ham and cheese sandwich and the soup was a homemade cream of asparagus.  All right - that was fine.  We were eating at the Atwood and Cindy was happy.

As we waited for our meal, we were situated right near where the shelves of tea leaves were stored at the cafe.  They must have had seven or eight different types of teas to choose from including black tea, green tea, white tea (I'd never heard of white tea before, but Cindy had) and herbal teas.  Also, the Atwood Cafe is widely known for their extensive "sweets" menu and some of the elaborate desserts were passing by us in a constant stream.  The sweet potato bread pudding looked especially scrumptious.  

 
Our lunch got set down in front of us about 20 minutes after we ordered and I was ready to eat.  I have to tell you, the presentation on the burger was not overly impressive.  But from the first bite, I have to say that it was just wonderful.  Now, I've had gourmet burgers before, but I can easily say that NONE of them were as good as the Wagyu beef burger I had at the Cafe Atwood.  I devoured the burger, not even offering Cindy a bite (much to her dismay).  But the beef was cooked perfectly, the pickled onions were a great taste sensation, the bun was to die for and the Russian dressing was a great complement to the whole burger.  Even the heirloom tomato tasted fresh like it had just been picked out of a garden out back.  It was, by far, the best gourmet burger I've ever had. 

There isn't much to say about Cindy's grilled ham and cheese sandwich other than they used Black Forest ham and a gourmet Swiss cheese on the sandwich.  The soup, according to Cindy, was pretty good.  She wished she would have gotten the burger instead.   

We were tempted by getting some desserts - especially the sweet potato bread pudding - but decided to pass on it for now.  The bill for tip and drinks was hefty - over $50 bucks for lunch.  Not quite your average lunch counter greasy spoon.  But as Cindy said, "Hey!  It was the best gourmet burger you've ever had, so you've got that goin' for you!"

We went back in to the Atwood Cafe for brunch the next day.  Once again, it wasn't anything overly special - I got the homemade corned beef hash with two eggs over easy and toast for $15 bucks.  Whoa!  And the corned beef hash, while good, was not worth the price of the meal.  Cindy got the Eggs Benedict - $14 bucks for that dish.  She did notice that the Wagyu burger was on the brunch menu as were a lot of non-breakfast items.  But she decided to go the breakfast route at 9:15 a.m.  She said the Eggs Benedict were good, but not worth the price.  

All right, so we went to the Atwood Cafe, but Cindy never had tea on either of our visits.  I'm sure she'll want to go back at some point for her tea in the afternoon on a visit to downtown Chicago at some point in the future.  Overall, it was the best gourmet burger I've ever had.  But the value vs. quality of food was not very good.  The best thing was the burger, but the breakfast and Cindy's lunch were vastly overpriced for what it really was.  You're definitely paying for the ambiance and frills at the Atwood Cafe.  But it's still kind of a neat place to go.  That is, if you're prepared to spend some money. 

Jimmy's Pancake House - Bettendorf, IA

We're always on the lookout for breakfast places close to our home and Cindy noticed a new one that had opened up last September in Bettendorf called Jimmy's Pancake House (see map).  We were driving by the place one day and she pointed it out to me.  "I want to try that place sometime," she said to me.  One recent Saturday morning, we did just that.

The building that houses Jimmy's Pancake House has seen a number of restaurant or food establishments over the past few years.  For a number of years, it was a Pickerman's Deli - a small franchise chain of soup and sandwich shops found primarily around the Midwest.  After the local franchisee closed her two Iowa locations, the former Pickerman's in Bettendorf became a place where dinner entrees were made in advance and people on the go could go in and grab something for their family on the way home to heat up in the oven or microwave.  That didn't last much longer than a couple years. 

 A Greek family from the Sterling/Rock Falls area in Illinois came in last summer and renovated the restaurant into a breakfast/sandwich shop that seats just under 50 people.  They open at 6 a.m. daily and close at 3 p.m.  In addition to a full breakfast menu, Jimmy's Pancake House features a number of sandwiches and salads.  And like any Quad City area breakfast place worth their salt, they also feature a huge cinnamon roll on their menu.  If you're going to serve breakfast at a restaurant in the Quad's, you've got to have a big cinnamon roll. 

Jimmy's was packed the first time we went in - we had to wait about 10 minutes for a table to open up.  Cindy said, "Well, that's a good sign, I guess.  If you have to wait for a table at a place like this, it must be pretty good."

We finally got a booth in the back corner of the place and the very pleasant waitress gave us our menus to look over.  The light colored walls and large front windows help make Jimmy's bright and open.  Pictures of famous Greek landmarks adorned the walls.   

The first thing that caught my eye on the menu was that Jimmy's Pancake House had the normal staples of a breakfast menu including pancakes, French toast and waffles - but you could get your choice of fruit toppings including strawberries, apples and blueberries.  Well, I'm a sucker for anything to do with blueberries for breakfast.  The only problem is that some restaurants we've visited in the past will use blueberry pie filling or compote instead of just using fresh blueberries.  I decided to give Jimmy's blueberry-topped waffle a try.  The waitress asked if I wanted whipped cream on top of them, as well.  Sure!

Cindy has been taking some cooking classes over the past few months and one night she learned how to make crepes.  She made some homemade blueberry crepes for a dessert one evening and I have to say that they were pretty damn good.  She wanted to try Jimmy's cream cheese crepes, topped with a hollandaise sauce. 

Being that it was pretty busy in Jimmy's Pancake House, it took over 15 minutes for our breakfast to show up.  But that wasn't too bad of a wait.  And I completely forgot about the wait once she laid the waffle down in front of me. 

 
The waffle covered the nearly the whole plate and five whipped cream mounds topped the waffle.  The blueberries - fresh and not pie filling (a plus!) - waited underneath the whipped cream.  Even though it was processed whipped cream from a can, it was still pretty tasty on the waffle.  It's pretty tough to screw up a waffle, but the blueberries and whipped cream really gave it a great taste.  It was very good.

Cindy was overly happy with her crepes.  She gave me a bite and I will say they were pretty good.  She didn't know if the hollandaise sauce was homemade or not, but she said that it really didn't matter.  The crepes were very good.  She said asked me if I was going to write about Jimmy's Pancake House and I said that I probably would.  She said, "Don't write about it until we've come back and I've tried their fruit filled crepes." 

Just before Christmas, we went back to Jimmy's for breakfast again.  This time - once again after a short wait for a table - I was looking to get one of their three-egg omelets.  Their Greek omelet sounded pretty good - it features gyro meat, onions, tomatoes and feta cheese.  But I ended up getting their sausage and cheese omelet.  I asked the waitress if I could get some mushrooms in the omelet.  She said, "You bet!"

She asked me if I wanted either toast or pancakes for a side.  I said, "Hmmm... Pancakes?  Really?  OK, I'll go with the pancakes."  I wanted to try them out. 

Cindy, for some inexplicable reason, changed her mind at the last moment from getting the strawberry crepes to getting pancakes with two eggs over easy and a side of bacon.  I said, "Wait a minute.  I thought you wanted to come back to get some fruit crepes?  You could have just had a few bites of my pancakes.  I won't be able to finish them all."

She said, "I don't know.  I thought pancakes sounded pretty good."

 
When the waitress brought out the omelet and pancakes, my eyes had to grow about three times their normal size.  The omelet was big and fluffy.  The only caveat was that they had taken sausage links and cut them up to use in the omelet - I'd rather have ground sausage or sausage chunks in an omelet.  Oh well.  But the mushrooms were fresh - a plus.  But I would have liked to have a little more cheese on the omelet.  I had to try to open the thing up to see if they had actually put any cheese on the omelet.  They had - just not a lot. 

The pancakes were huge, too.  My side of pancakes were basically the same size as Cindy's main order on her plate.  They were a little more thick than I like (Cindy makes homemade crepe-like pancakes that are to die for), but they were pretty good.  A large helping of hash browns came along side the omelet.  It was way too much food.  I told Cindy that it reminded me of some of the breakfasts we had in Hawaii during our trip there nearly a year ago.    

There was no way that I could finish the whole breakfast.  The omelet was just too big and fluffy.  I had about a third of my pancakes and - maybe - two bites of the hash browns before I had to say, "No mas!"  Cindy made an appreciable dent in her pancakes, but couldn't finish it, either.  One thing that I do want to mention about Jimmy's Pancake House is that they have great bacon.  It's thick and tasty, some of the best restaurant bacon I've ever had.   

I was telling a friend of mine who lives within walking distance to Jimmy's Pancake House that we'd been there a couple times so far.  He said, "Isn't that place awesome?  Next time you guys go there, call us up and we'll meet you there!"

We'll definitely go back.  Jimmy's Pancake House has good food at a very good value.  The service can be a little slow, but only because it's a pretty popular place.  I was pretty impressed with my two visits so far.  With a lot of choices for good breakfasts in the Quad City area, Jimmy's Pancake House has become one of the best in a very short time. 

Rosebud (Theater District) - Chicago

When we were in Chicago recently for Cindy's birthday, I really didn't have much of a plan as far as dinner was concerned.  I'd never really stayed in the heart of the Loop that much before and wasn't familiar with the restaurants in the area.  Most of the places I was familiar with were up in the River North area of downtown Chicago.  However, it turned out that there were a number of restaurants within walking distance of the Hotel Burnham.  In fact, the choices were almost too many as we were having trouble figuring out what exactly it was that we were hungry for.  It turned out that two of the Rosebud family of restaurants - Rosebud Prime and Rosebud Theater District - were less than a five minute walk from the hotel.  Since it was a bone chilling night, we decided to walk over to Rosebud Prime and get a steak. 

I saw the address for Rosebud Prime - 1 S. Dearborn (see map) - and we walked around the block and down to the corner of Dearborn and Madison.  The only problem was that 1 S. Dearborn was a 40 story skyscraper with a large lobby with no signs of a restaurant.  We took a quick look around the lobby to see if there was a sign for Rosebud Prime.  There wasn't.  Cindy was getting cold and she said, "OK, what do we do now?  I'm getting cold and I'm hungry."  If you know my wife, cold and hungry is a unpleasant combination that I try to rectify as soon as possible. I looked caddy-cornered across Madison and saw the sign for Rosebud Theater District.  I decided to cut our losses and head over to that Rosebud. 

Now, we've been to the original Rosebud on Taylor Street (see that post here) and to the Rosebud on Rush (see that post here).  The Rosebud restaurants are a small chain of 11 restaurants located around the Chicagoland area.  They range from elaborate and elegant restaurants to the small "grab and go' Rosebud Express located near the Rosebud Theater District.  The original Rosebud opened in 1977 and owner/founder Alex Dana oversees a staff that has grown to over 500 people.  Brian Wright is Dana's longtime corporate chef, having been the executive chef at Carmine's, another Rosebud restaurant.   Wright is responsible for the menu at all Rosebud restaurants and oversees the executive chefs at each location. 

The Rosebud Theater District is located in the lobby of the Three First National Plaza building just west of Dearborn on Madison (see map).  We walked up to the hostess stand to take a look at the menu and decided to just eat there, although our hearts were looking for some beef.  

The Rosebud Theater District has a spacious dining area with an ornate ceiling.  Contrary to the picture at right, the lighting was very subdued that evening.  We were seated at a small table between two larger parties who were just getting their main entrees as we were seated.  The table to my right was a little boisterous with a couple loud-mouthed guys trying to out-do each other with stories they were telling to their group as their dates mousily sat there and let them go on and on.  Cindy looked at me and gave me a pained look as she sort of glanced over at the table after one guy was loudly telling a rather off-color story.  Rosebud Theater District was a pretty classy place and this guy was acting like he was in a neighborhood bar with his old frat buddies.  

Our waitress for the evening, Marina, came over to greet us.  She asked if we needed anything to drink off the bat and I said that we were probably just going to get some wine.  The only problem is that the lighting at Rosebud Theater District was very dim and I didn't take my reading glasses with me.  The wine list had very small type and I was having a ton of problems reading the menu.  In fact, we didn't take any pictures of the place because it was so dark in there that a flash would have been overly obnoxious.  I ended up focusing enough to be able to order a bottle of the 2003 Monsanto Chianti Classico Reserva, a nice medium-bodied Italian blend from Tuscany.  

Cindy was having a lot of problems trying to figure out what to get for her meal.  She still was thinking steak, but the menu at the Rosebud Theater District was more geared to traditional Italian fare.  One thing I noticed was that the menu at this particular Rosebud was condensed compared to other Rosebud's we've been in.  My guess is that a lot of people are probably looking to eat quickly getting a meal before or after a show or during the lunch hour.  The menu still had some of the staples of Rosebud's core selection - four veal dishes, a handful of pasta offerings, five chicken entrees and some steak and seafood dishes.  The menu was definitely designed for fast decisions of entrees that were quick to make - you could tell by the "No substitutions, please" in bold letters at the bottom.  Sort of an elegant fast food place, to put it more precisely. 

The problem was that we were still flummoxed trying to figure out what we wanted.  Marina came with the wine and we still weren't ready to order.  I didn't know if I wanted pasta or veal or chicken or what.  Cindy was having the exact same trouble.  I was looking hard at the penne pasta with broccoli and sausage.  The Chicken Parmesan was calling my name, as well.  And you just can't go wrong with Rosebud's Veal Francese - an egg battered piece of veal, simmered in a white wine and lemon sauce.  Marina came back a second time and we STILL weren't ready to order.

By this time, the large groups on either side of us were finishing up and leaving to go to a show.  We suddenly had a large area all to ourselves.  Marina came back a third time and this time we were ready to go.  Cindy ordered the Veal Milanese - a breaded piece of veal, pan-fried and served with a side of arugula and tomatoes and a small side of penne pasta with their homemade marinara.  It was basically an Italian version of weinerschnitzel.  When Marina turned to me for my order, I said, "I'm torn between the Chicken Parmesan and the Veal Francese."

Marina said, "I really like the Chicken Parmesan.  I'm not big on the veal as much as I am the chicken."  I took her personal recommendation to heart and promptly ordered...

The Veal Francese.  A side of the penne pasta with the marinara sauce came with the veal. 

Now, if you're looking for a quick meal in Chicago - a good quick meal - I can tell you the Rosebud Theater District is the place to go.  It wasn't more than 10 minutes after we ordered before Marina brought our entrees to the table.  Cindy exclaimed, "That was quick!"

I said, "This place is designed to get people in and out rather quickly."  But it's also the type of place where you can dawdle after dinner if you like. 

My visit to the Rosebud on Rush about three years ago didn't go too well with the veal dish I'd ordered there.  But the Veal Francese at Rosebud Theater District was just outstanding.  The veal was tender and tasty, the egg-batter wasn't overbearing.  But the white wine lemon sauce was to die for.  After I made short work of my veal, I sopped up the sauce with the homemade Italian bread.  It was a wonderful taste sensation, to say the least. 

Cindy was equally impressed with her Veal Milanese.  She gave me a couple bites and it was very good.  But I really liked my Veal Francese better.  The penne pasta with the marinara was pretty average, but that was OK.  We weren't there for the complementary sides. 

We decided to finish off the night with sharing a hunk of Rosebud's homemade tiramisu.  While it wasn't the best tiramisu I've had, it was still very good.  It was a nice finish to a very good meal. 

Since we were the only table Marina had at that point in the evening, we were able to chat with her as we took our last bites of the tiramisu.   She had a thick Eastern European accent and it turned out that she was from Serbia.  She said that she went to school in Greece to study as a child psychologist.  During the time she was going to school in Greece, she also helped run a restaurant.  "I worked my way up to being the manager of a small restaurant.  It was great experience for me because if the child psychology thing didn't work out, I had the basics of running a restaurant." 

Marina moved to Chicago in July and had been at Rosebud Theater District for about three months.  She was having some problems finding work as a social worker, either as a public or private worker.  "But I don't mind this," she said as she waved her arms toward the spacious dining area at Rosebud Theater District.  "I could stay here and be happy.  Maybe I'm more happy to be working in restaurants."

After we paid our bill, we walked back over to 1 S. Dearborn to see if we could find Rosebud Prime.  Just down the street and recessed back in the outside corner of the building, we saw some colored lights.  About a 30 foot walk further than where we'd walked before, we were able to plainly see the sign for Rosebud Prime.  Cindy said, "Well, I was happy with my meal.   We'll just have to come back in to Chicago sometime, stay at the Burnham again and walk over to Rosebud Prime."

And I agreed with her.  I'm glad we went to Rosebud Theater District that evening.  Our meal was outstanding, Marina was a great server and the food was served very quickly without the pitfalls that can pop up with quick made meals.  It was another overly positive visit to another Rosebud restaurant.

Hotel Burnham - Chicago

The Hotel Burnham is a boutique hotel in the "Loop" area of Chicago.  We first noticed the Burnham a few years ago during one of our extended Christmas-time visits to Chicago.  Cindy was particularly intrigued by the little tea room/restaurant - the Atwood Cafe - while I was sort of intrigued by the architecture of the building.  It was Cindy's birthday recently and while I really wasn't planning on doing anything special for her birthday, she was a little disappointed that we weren't going into Chicago because she always wanted to go have tea at the Atwood Cafe.  I decided to look on line at the last moment to see if the Burnham had any special deals.  They did - a normal $229 a night room could be had for $119.  I made the reservations on line and surprised Cindy with a trip into Chicago on a Saturday morning.

The Hotel Burnham is named after the noted Chicago architect, Daniel Burnham, often called the father of the modern skyscraper.  Burnham was also one of the first city planners and helped shape the city of Chicago after the devastating fire of 1871.  Along with his partner, John Root, they designed and built the first skyscraper in Chicago - the Masonic Temple - that was 21 stories and 302 feet in height.  Burnham and Root also designed The Rookery, quite possibly the crowning achievement of Chicago-style architecture.  Burnham was also responsible for much of the planning and design for the World's Columbian Exposition that was held in 1893. 

An architect who worked for Burnham and Root - Charles Atwood - was the principle designer of the Reliance Building, the first multi-story building that would use plate glass windows for the majority of the outer surface of the building.  John Root designed the basement and main floor of the building just before his death in 1891 and while Burnham was working on the World's Columbian Expo, Atwood designed the remaining 13 floors of the hotel.  The 14th floor was topped out in 1895 and the Reliance Building marked the beginning of what is called the Chicago construction method of design. 

The Reliance building garnered a listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 and was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1976. 

Over the years, the building had fallen into disrepair from neglect.  But in the late 90's, the City of Chicago partnered with the Kimpton Hotel chain to rehab the Reliance Building and turn it into a boutique hotel.  The Hotel Burnham opened in October 1999 and is part of Kimpton Hotel's nearly 60 three and four-star properties around the United States.  Conde Nast Traveler and Travel and Leisure magazine both called the Hotel Burnham one of Top Ten Places to Stay. 

(UPDATE - An avid reader of Road Tips informed me that a friend of his is a principal in the Mansur Realty Corporation and they physically own the Reliance Building and lease it to the Kimpton Hotel Group.  Mansur owns a number of other properties around the U.S.  To see the list of what they own, click here.)

The Hotel Burnham is also close to a number of attractions in the Chicago Loop - Macy's (formerly the Marshall Field flagship store) is located caddy-cornered across the street.  Daley Plaza - with their Christmas time Christkindlmarket - is located a block to the west.  Millennium Park is a couple blocks to the east.  The C.T.A. Red Line subway entrance is just around the corner on State Street for a quick trip up to the shops on the north end of the Magnificent Mile.  The heart of Chicago's theater district is a short walk from the Burnham.  And the somewhat controversial Block 37 shopping district is located just across State Street from the Hotel Burnham.  Controversial in that developers have faced bankruptcy and the shopping area hasn't materialized as the Central Loop entertainment destination that it was designed to be. 

It was a little over a two and a half hour drive from our house in the Quad Cities across Illinois on a beautiful winter day with trees and shrubs covered with a small layer of ice and snow glistening in the bright sunlight.  It also happened to be the last weekend before Christmas so downtown Chicago was full of the hustle and bustle of holiday shoppers.  Cindy long figured out that we were going to Chicago, but she thought we would just be going to the Atwood Cafe for lunch, then back out to the suburbs to spend the evening.  When I pulled up to the valet stand in front of the Hotel Burnham at 1 W. Washington (see map), Cindy was shocked when I told the valet that we were there to check in. 

We had an early check-in allowing us to be able to get up to the room before 1 p.m. to unload our bag, freshen up and either head out for a walk around the Loop or to go get lunch at the Atwood Cafe on the main floor off the small but ornate lobby area. 

 
Our room was classified as a Queen Deluxe Room - it was a small room (175 sq. feet) that featured a very comfortable Queen bed, a small work station with a chair and ottoman in the corner.  A standard definition flat panel TV was on a high credenza that housed drawers on one side and an honor bar on the other side.  (A bottle of water was $4 bucks - we went to a Walgreen's two doors down from the Hotel Burnham to grab water).   

 
The view outside from the over-sized (and very drafty) window in our room showed a bustling street scene below, filled with holiday shoppers at the corner of Washington and State Street.  With Macy's caddy-cornered across the street, there were street buskers playing drums on plastic buckets.  The reverberation of the drum beats came into the room.  At first it was kind of cool, but later on it was sort of annoying.  Looking up over the building that was directly across the street from our room, you got a good look at the top of the Trump Tower.  

 

The elevators were also very unique with a combination of dark solid wood paneling and ornate wrought iron on the walls.  They weren't very big - I mentioned to Cindy that they reminded me of European elevators.  You could barely get six people on the elevator and if any of them had baggage, well, it got very cramped very quick.  Above left is a picture of Cindy all bundled up ready to brave the cold Chicago weather looking at the elaborate metal work in the elevator.  

Above right is the large mural in the lobby of the Hotel Burnham depicting the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.  The lobby at the Burnham is pretty small and it was always full of people waiting for tables at the Atwood Cafe.  But it was cozy and comfortable. 

I normally stay in Hilton properties when I travel for work.  Quite frankly, because I'm a Diamond member of the Hilton Honors program I get some pretty good perks and also a level of service from most hotels that a non-traveler wouldn't normally get.  I guess I expected a little more out of the Burnham, though.  Oh, they had a free wine reception in the lobby from 5 to 6 p.m. (we didn't partake), and they feature a variety of free coffees and teas in the morning (didn't do that either).  But overall, the Hotel Burnham was just another hotel.  Yeah, it was nice and there's a lot of history about the place.  But I didn't think it was anything more special than other places we've stayed in downtown Chicago.  I think Cindy would like to go back at some point.  I thought the rooms were too small - I like hotels where the rooms are large and you can move about easily.  And I also didn't feel like the hotel amenities were anything special.  But the Hotel Burnham is pretty centrally located and if you can get a great price on a room like we did, it's worth it. 

Stone Cellar Brewpub - Appleton, WI

While in Appleton the night before we went to see the Green Bay Packers play at Lambeau Field, we decided to take in some of the local drinking establishments before we went out to dinner.  Like myself, George has an affinity for Wisconsin brewed beers - especially beers from the Capital Brewery and Esser's Best.  He wanted to go find a couple places with good beers and a relaxing atmosphere.  We ended up at the Stone Cellar Brewpub for a few beers and a good meal that evening.  But more on that later.

We stopped in Madison, WI on the way up to Appleton to have lunch at The Avenue Bar, owned by my good friend Paul Zach.  Paul told us, "Hey, there's this great bar up in Appleton that you guys need to go to." 

He turned to his buddy, Dave, sitting at the bar and asked him the name of the place.  Dave thought for a second and said, "Cleo's!"

Paul said, "Yeah, it's a pretty cool bar.  They've got all these decorations up year round and they've got these amazing drinks." 

It turned out Cleo's wasn't far from our hotel and we found it easily in downtown Appleton.  It was decorated with Christmas lights, wreaths, over-sized ornaments and other stuff.  Turns out it's like that 365 days a year in Cleo's.   First of all, it was far from a beer bar.  Most of the people in the place were drinking mixed drinks.  When George asked the bartender what kind of pale ale beers she had, she said, "Not much.  We've got Bass." 

So he got a Bass and I got a Bud Light.  He said, "I didn't come all the way here to Wisconsin to have a Bass!" 

Cindy said, "You guys notice anything weird about this place?"  I looked around the nearly full place and noticed a lot of guys sitting together drinking what I would call rather feminine looking drinks.  Now, my "gaydar" is an economy model, but Cindy's "gaydar" is a top-of-the-line model.  There were a lot of male/female couples in the place, too, but the men sort of stood out.  Cindy said, "I think Paul sent us to a gay bar!" 

I wouldn't call Cleo's a gay bar, per se.  But there did seem to be a lot of guys checking George out.  At least, that's what I teased him about as we finished our beers and got along to the next place.

We found something next that was right up George's alley - an authentic Irish bar situated in the middle of Appleton.  McGuinness Irish Pub is located - literally - right across the street from the Appleton Police Station (see map).  We found a parking spot out front and George and I openly wondered if the cops would sit across the street and watch people come and go from this place and the bar just two doors down from McGuinness Irish Pub - the Fox River House. 

McGuinness Irish Pub was about as realistic of an Irish Pub as you can find in North America.  So realistic that it didn't have a television set in the place, which was sort of disappointing to George and I at first as there were a couple good football games on that evening.  Oh, wait.  There was a television set in McGuinness Irish Pub - two of them, as a matter of fact.  There was a flat screen over the fire place mantel that showed a number of pictures in rotation, and a small tube television in the fireplace hearth that was showing a DVD of a fire.  I thought it was sort of funny, but it fit in with the hip surroundings in the place.

George was also in heaven.  In addition to a number of great imported Irish and Scottish beers, they had Capital Brewery's winter brew - Winter Skal - a beer that I turned him onto a couple years ago.  I had a Smithwick's, while - I think - Hanna had a beer.  The bartender talked Cindy into getting a Shamrock Martini with Irish whiskey and green Creme de Menthe.  She liked it a lot.

Not having a television around forced us to carry on a conversation at a table that was bordered by two old church pews and a couple chairs.  It was actually kind of nice getting caught up with George and Hanna - they became very good friends before they moved earlier this year.  And even though they're only two hours away, it's still a long haul for us to get together on a regular basis. 

After a quick stop at the Fox River House for a beer and a look around Appleton's oldest continuous tavern, we took off for the Stone Cellar Brewery.  When we got there, I quickly realized that Cindy and I had been there before a number of years ago. 

The brewery was once called the Adler Brau brewery - one of the first brewpubs in the state of Wisconsin.   In 2004, the father-son team of Tom and Steve Lonsway bought and re-opened the brewpub as the Stone Cellar Brewery, named after the stone cellar in the 150-year-old "Between the Locks" building on South Olde Onieda St. (see map).  The building was originally a covert brewery built back in the late 1850's before Appleton's citizens allowed for the brewing and sale of beer. 

That brewery, called the Appleton Brewing and Malting Company, eventually was sold to Carl Muench, a young plant foreman for Joseph Schlitz in Milwaukee.  The Appleton Brewing and Malting Company ran for 58 years, surviving a fire in 1884, before it was sold to George Walther in 1918 who renamed it the Walther Brewery.  The Walther Brewery temporarily went out of business during Prohibition, but it reopened in 1929 when Wisconsin repealed the law on a statewide basis (I've always loved the State of Wisconsin).  Walther Brewery's signature beer was Adler Brau (German for Eagle Beer), a smooth and mild lager.  Having to keep up with modern marketing and sales techniques versus much larger breweries caused the closing of the Walther Brewery in the mid-70's.  

The "Between the Locks" building became a small shop mall, but was reopened as a brewpub in 1989 by John Junger.  Junger brought back the Adler Brau brand name and kept the place going for the next 15 years before the Lonsway's - who owned a homebrewing supply store in Appleton - bought it from him and changed the name.  Steve Lonsway is the brewmaster at Stone Cellar Brewpub. 

As I said, Cindy and I were at the place about 12 years ago when it was still the Adler Brau Brewpub.  Only it was on a Sunday night and they weren't open for food.  I was sort of disappointed that we couldn't eat at the place, but we did end up at a nice downtown steakhouse for dinner that evening.  

The entry to the Stone Cellar Brewpub winds down a stone stair case and opens up into the bar area.  The bar area was absolutely packed and we were worried that we'd have a little trouble finding a table for dinner.  But one of the waiters came up and said that they had immediate seating.  He took us into the two room dining area, into the far back of the place where they used to store kegs, we were told, where he sat us and gave us dinner menus to look over.  

My first job was to find a beer to drink from their beer list.   Stone Cellar keeps seven brews on tap year round and has a handful of seasonal brews to choose from.  The Scottish Tilted Kilt ale caught my eye and I ordered that.  George got their Pie Eyed India Pale Ale.  I forgot what Hanna ordered, but Cindy got one of Stone Cellar's gourmet sodas - the root beer.  She figured the two Shamrock martinis from McGuinness Irish Pub were enough for her for the evening. 

Stone Cellar's menu was pretty extensive featuring about 20 different appetizers, about 10 salads and a like number of specialty burgers.  They had sandwiches from reubens to wraps, and full entrees from steaks, chops, seafood and a chopped Elk steak on the menu.  Stone Cellar Brewpub also features a pub favorites section on the menu with Shepherd's Pie, fish and chips and a beer braised pot roast.  

 I was sort of thinking that if we didn't go to Stone Cellar Brewpub that we'd end up at Frank's Pizza Palace.  But I saw that Stone Cellar had pizza on their menu - a thin crust pizza topped with fresh ingredients.  They featured some specialty pizzas like a chicken, bacon and ranch dressing pizza, and a New Orleans-style with andouille sausage, chicken and shrimp with peppers, onions and Cajun spices.  No, I thought I'd just get my old stand-by sausage, pepperoni and mushroom. 

Cindy ordered the Stone Cellar's special that night - the grilled chicken breast served on a bed of rice and topped with asparagus spears.  George was on some chicken sandwich kick all weekend (he had a chicken sandwich for lunch earlier in the day and had a chicken sandwich when we went to the Great Dane Brewery in Madison the next night), so he got the Brewhouse chicken sandwich - a chicken breast topped with aged cheddar cheese, bacon and chipotle mayo.  Hanna got the Jaeger Schnitzel - an old world style pork chop topped with a dark mushroom gravy and served on a bed of spaetzel and topped with asparagus spears.  I almost got that, but decided on the pizza at the last minute. 

First of all, the beers were very good.  The Scottish ale I had had a nice smooth taste and finish, but wasn't as forward of a taste that I like in my specialty beers.  George said his IPA was excellent, hoppy and very forward.  He was a happy camper.  

Cindy's root beer was like drinking sugar syrup, however.   Stone Cellar makes their gourmet sodas with pure cane sugar.  I had a little taste and, man!  It was like licking a candy cane, it was so sugary.  Cindy couldn't even finish drinking the root beer, it had so much sweetness.  She didn't sleep well that evening, she said it was probably because of the root beer.

I finished my Scottish ale and decided to order the Marquette Pilsner for my second beer before my pizza made it to the table.  It was lighter than the Scottish ale and had a nice pilsner taste to it.  I liked the Tilted Kilt ale better than the Marquette Pilsner, though.   

 
Our food came out and I was pretty happy to see my pizza cut into the thin-dough party cuts that I like so much.  The cheese was caramelized with plenty of fresh toppings mixed in.  Fresh oregano leaves were sprinkled on the top.  It was a very good pizza.  A surprisingly very good pizza.   

Cindy's chicken breast (above left) was butterflied and sprinkled with an herb seasoning and then grilled.  She also declared it to be very good.  She cut off a little chunk for me and I took a bite.  It was very good.  

 
Hanna's Jaeger Schnitzel was truly a "stick to your ribs" meal.  It featured a large thin-cut pork chop smothered in a mushroom gravy.   A large amount of spaetzel rested under the pork chop.  And while George's chicken sandwich wasn't really much to look at, he said it was very good.  The bun was lightly toasted and he said he liked the chipotle mayo and the sharp Wisconsin cheddar cheese on the chicken. 

I offered everyone a piece of my pizza because I knew I wouldn't be able to finish a 12" small pizza by myself.  Everyone was impressed with Stone Cellar's pizza.  In fact, we were all pleasantly surprised and very happy with our meals. 

I'm sort of happy that Cindy and I didn't go to the old Adler Brau brewpub because I'm not certain the food would have been as good back then as it is now.  And I don't remember too much about the Adler Brau beer - I do remember what I had in the past was OK - but I really liked the Scottish Ale Stone Cellar Brewpub had on tap while I have to say the Marquette Pilsner was just *OK*.  The Stone Cellar Brewery also boasts a nice beer garden for summer time drinking (a beer garden that dates back to the early 1860's) and has a large room - the English Room - for parties, receptions and meetings.   Good food and good beer - we all were very happy with our visit to Stone Cellar Brewpub.