Road Tips

Pagalo's Pizzeria - Milan, IL

If you're a regular reader of Road Tips, you know that I'm not very fond of what I call "Quad City-style" pizza. It features lifeless ground sausage and bland tomato sauce on a thin, yet doughy pizza that are cut into long rectangles. Harris Pizza is the main pizza in the area and I'm simply amazed by the number of "cloned" restaurants around the Quad Cities that feature a similar style of pizza. Oh, there are a few places that buck the trend and one of them is a place called Pagalo's Pizzeria in the Illinois-side suburb of Milan (MY-lan).

For years, Pagalo's was better known as Pinocchio's Pizza and was one of the better places around the Quad Cities to get a pizza. I had mentioned Pinocchio's briefly in my synopsis of Quad City area pizza places in one of my first entries on this blog about five and a half years ago - an entry that is woefully outdated. (You can see that entry by clicking here.) Pinocchio's was started by businessman John Hoffman in 1996 and features wood-fired gourmet pizzas, the first of its kind in the Quad Cities. It started out as a small little place that sat about 35 to 40 people when it first opened, but in 1998 Hoffman expanded the restaurant to include a banquet/overflow room that effectively doubled the seats in the restaurant. In 2001, Hoffman took over the business that had occupied the street side frontage of the building and opened J Crickets, a bar/lounge that catered to cigar smokers. When the state of Illinois went smoke free in public places in January of 2008, that concept was literally snuffed out.

Last December, we went to Pinocchio's for a pizza and immediately noticed that the name had changed. It was now called "Pagalo's Pizzeria and Gelato Cafe". We were a little leery with the change, but we walked in and saw that the place was basically the same. After we sat down, Cindy asked the waitress what the deal was with the name change. She said, "Oh, the owner is looking to franchise the restaurant and it turned out that someone else had the Pinocchio name for a pizza place. So, he just changed the name. Everything else is the same, though."

It was a Friday evening and our son, Eric, was with us as we decided to go to Pagalo's (we still refer to it as "Pinocchio's - old habits die hard). It's about a 15 minute drive across the river, down I-74 to I-280 westbound and then getting off at the Airport Road exit which takes you into downtown Milan. Pagalo's is located right where Highway 67 and Airport Road meet up (see map). The parking lot is pretty small, but there is some overflow parking on the north side of the building. We were surprised to be able to get one of the spots just in front of Pagalo's.

For that time of the evening, we were surprised to find only one large party occupying a large table in the center of the well-lit main dining room at Pagalo's, with two or three other couples in the booths along the side walls. As time went along, more people showed up and it began to fill up fast.

The wood-fired oven is along the west wall of the main dining room with a tall counter that serves as a pizza preparation area between the oven and the main dining area. An electronic digital temperature gauge is prominently displayed on the wall next to the opening where you can see the flames dancing in the oven. That evening the temperature darted between 708 and 712 degrees F (375 to 377 C). It doesn't take long to cook a pizza at Pagalo's.

We sat in one of the corner booths and a waitress came over with some menus and took our drink orders. Many of the gourmet pizzas that Pinocchio's featured are the same with Pagalo's. Cindy especially loves the one that features fresh chopped tomatoes, red onions and garlic.

The Italian sausage at Pagalo's is still the same ground sausage like you can find at 90 percent of the other pizza places in the Quad Cities. But they use fresh mushrooms and pretty good pepperoni on their pizzas, and they cut them in traditional triangles, not the long skinny slices that could easily be made into party cuts if the pizza chef would just make a couple more cuts across the pizza.

Cindy wanted her special pizza that evening, so Eric and I decided to get a medium sausage, pepperoni and mushroom. Cindy got a small pizza with all her natural vegetarian stuff on top. She also got a small house salad with homemade poppy seed dressing to tide her over until the pizza came. Cindy also got a glass of the house Chianti wine to go along with her pizza.

As I said, it doesn't take long for the wood-fired oven to make a pizza at Pagalo's. I timed it this time with my timer on my new phone and it took just over 12 minutes from the time we placed our order to the time we got the pizza on the table. Cindy wasn't even close to being through with her salad by the time her pizza made it to the table.

The pizza crust at Pagalo's is thin and cripsy, but has a nice chewy texture to it. The crust edges are much thicker and are indicative of the hand-tossed nature of the dough. Cooking it in a wood-fired grill gives it a smoky and rich Neapolitan taste. The toppings are plentiful - they really put a lot of the ground sausage on the pizza Eric and I had - and very fresh. My only quibble would be that they need to put a little more fresh mozzarella cheese on top of the ingredients.

Well, another quibble had to do with the waitress. She seemed rather indifferent and sort of forgot about us a couple of times. The place was getting busier, but when I wanted to get another beer, she was up behind the counter doing something. When I finally did get her attention to get another beer, it took her about three minutes to retrieve one from J Crickets. And when she left the full bottle on the table, she neglected to pick up the empty. And when I went to pay with my credit card, the bill she left off at the table didn't match the total on the credit card receipt. We guessed that she was rather new to the wait staff at Pagalo's.

The bill is the other problem I had with Pagalo's. Cindy mentioned going to Lunardi's for dinner that evening, but I said that it was too expensive for three people. When she mentioned Pinocchio's (Pagalo's) I thought that would be a pretty good value for a meal. The bill for a medium pizza, a small pizza, two beers, a pop and a glass of wine for Cindy was about $47 bucks. To me, that was a little extravagant for a pizza place. Cindy said, "Well, maybe they raised their prices when they changed names." I'm guessing that was possibly true.

I may have to think twice about visiting Pagalo's in the future. The pizza is very good - not the best in the Quad Cities, in my opinion - but still much better than the Harris Pizza-style joints that proliferate the area. But the price tag was a little bit of a shocker for me. It thought it was about 8 to 10 bucks too high for what we got. But with the dearth of good pizza places in the Quad Cities, we may be forced to go back to Pagalo's down the road. But we just won't go there as frequently as we once did.

Merle's #1 Barbecue - Evanston, IL

A thank you to Road Tips reader Peter Lawrence who suggested that I try the third of the three Clean Plate Club restaurants, Merle's #1 Barbecue in downtown Evanston (see map).  The other two restaurants under the Clean Plate Club umbrella - Davis Street Fishmarket and Pete Millers - I've already visited and have written entries about them.  You can find the entry on Davis Street Fishmarket here and the one on Pete Miller's here.  Both those restaurants were very good, so I went to Merle's with great anticipation.

Merle's #1 Barbecue has been in business for nearly 20 years, first opening their doors in 1992 near the Northwestern University campus.  Merle's prides themselves on cooking their barbecue "low and slow", just as barbecue was meant to be.  Merle's menu features a number of appetizers, burgers, barbecue sandwiches, and wings that feature four different types of sauces - traditional Buffalo, barbecue, a combo of both or the "Light My Fire" ultra-hot wing sauce.   But their barbecue entrees are what people have been coming to Merle's for for years.   They feature Texas-style brisket, North Carolina pork, St. Louis-style ribs (either with barbecue sauce or dry rubbed), and barbecued chicken entrees.  Merle's features two different kinds of sauce - a vinegar-based Texas-style sauce that had a smoky taste with a bit of a bite of jalapenos, and a sweet and mildly spicy Chicago-style.

It was a short walk from my hotel to Merle's on a cool evening with the wind coming in off of Lake Michigan.  I sat at the bar as there was a wait to get into the sort of rustic looking dining area.  The night I was there, Merle's #1 Barbecue offers "all-you-can-eat" wings for $4.50 from 8 to 10 p.m.  They also feature an on-going special of Schlitz in 16 oz. cans for $2 bucks. A large number of Northwestern students were there enjoying the wings special.  That's all right, I was probably going to just sit at the bar anyway.  (Photo courtesy of Planet99.com)

I looked through the menu after I got a beer and I wanted to give the ribs and the brisket a try.  They had a ribs and meat combo for $18.95.  I got the dry-rubbed St. Louis-style ribs.  She asked if I wanted them to "fall off the bone".  No!  I saw on the menu that they had "fall off the bone" ribs and that more than likely means they parboiled them before they put them in the smoker or on the grill.  That's cheating in my book, and it kills the taste of the meat.   

Two sides came with the combo entree - I got their baked beans (a must for any barbecue place) and I thought about their cole slaw, but went with the mac-n-cheese instead.  I asked the bartender if I could get extra barbecue sauce on the side and she reached down below the bar and pulled out two Corona beer bottles - one with the Texas-style sauce and the other with the Chicago-style sauce with dispenser spouts on them and put them on the bar in front of me.  I looked at them and said, "Huh!  Now, this is rather ingenious!  What a great way to store barbecue sauce!"  

But I found out later on how they were able to use beer bottles with dispenser caps on the top.   

When the bartender brought my barbecue entree out to me, I was sort of taken back by the sizes of the sides and how small of a portion of brisket that I got.  While the sides were served in two pretty good sized bowls - neither of which I'd be able to finish - there was only three slices of brisket and about six ribs, primarily from the end of the row of ribs.

The brisket came with the spicy Texas-style sauce - well, it was supposed to be spicy.  I didn't think it was.  I took the beer bottle full of the Texas sauce and poured some more on the brisket.  It was thin and runny - no wonder they could serve it in a beer bottle.  The Chicago sauce - billed to be "sticky sweet" - was almost as runny and not too sweet.  Both were completely lifeless in taste.  I added both to the very mediocre baked beans and the sauces alone couldn't save the beans.  Sometimes you can do that with some barbecue sauces and baked beans.  Merle's sauces were bland and just not very good.  Their beans were some of the worst I've encountered in a barbecue restaurant.

The St. Louis-style ribs were charred and not much on the meaty side.  I don't know what kind of rub they had on them, but it didn't add much to the taste of the meat.  The meat was a little tough to gnaw off the bone.  The brisket was just OK, as well.  The meat was tender and had an average flavor that could have been helped out if the sauces were better. 

Last and probably least, the mac-n-cheese was just plain ol' mac-n-cheese.  It had no pizazz, no flavor, nothing.  It was about as neutral of a taste as you can get for mac-n-cheese.  I'm sure kids probably liked it, but they didn't even add anything to the cheese sauce other than the macaroni noodles.  Two bites of that and I'd had enough.  I sort of wish I would have gotten the cole slaw instead. 

All in all, I was overly disappointed in Merle's #1 Barbecue.  It's, by far, the weakest of the triumvirate of Clean Plate Club restaurants.  It was also one of the most disappointing barbecue experiences I've had in quite sometime.  The ribs were below average and you had to work hard just to get the little amount of meat they had on them.  The brisket was OK - the best part of the meal - but the sauces were runny, flavorless and not very good.  The baked beans were worse than the sauce and the mac-n-cheese was pedestrian, at best.  I'm sure Merle's has a number of loyal customers, or they wouldn't have been in business for nearly 20 years.  But I think I can find better barbecue in and around the North Shore area the next time I'm looking for barbecue when I'm there. 

(Update - It appears that others felt the same as I did about Merle's.  They closed the doors on the place just after the first of January of 2012.  It was said they lost their lease, but if what I read from others that were saying negative things about the place I'm sure it won't be missed.)

 

A Return to Cafe Bolero - Chicago

My first visit to Cafe Bolero in Chicago (click here to read that entry), I have to say that I was disappointed in my Cuban sandwich that I got there.  But two of the guys from Music Direct who went to lunch with me had their special burger - a burger where you can stuff with ingredients such as cheese, olives, onions, jalapenos and a few other things.  It's sort of like a Jucy (Juicy) Lucy from the Twin Cities.  I was back at Music Direct in Chicago not long ago and their product manager, Jason, and I were putting together a big Focal order.  He said, "Are you hungry?  Want to get some lunch?"

I said, "Yeah, sure."  He suggested going over to Salerno's, knowing how much I love their pizza, plus it's close by.  But I said, "What about that Cuban place where you guys took me to that had the good burgers?"

He said, "Oh, uh, Cafe Bolero?  Yeah, we can go over there.  It's a bit of a drive, but, yeah, we can go there." 

It was about a 10 minute drive over to and up N. Western Ave. to the corner of Belden, just south of Fullerton where Cafe Bolero sits in the Logan Square neighborhood (see map).  We found ample parking on Belden west of Western and it was a short walk back to the restaurant.  It wasn't as busy as it was on my first visit, but just one waitress was working the tables in the main dining area up front.  We sat at a window table and looked over the menu.

I did remember that we got some outrageous tapas appetizers on my first visit a couple years ago.  I knew I wanted the burger, but I wanted to try some of their papas rellena - beef-stuffed potato balls.  Jason was keen on getting some of their croquetas, Cafe Bolero's ham croquettes.  Jason looked down the menu and said, "Oh, hey!  They have a combo plate with both of those on there along with a tamale (ham stuffed, Cuban style), and chicken plantains."  OK, that's fine with me.

We ordered up the appetizer/tapas combo and we went ahead and ordered our burgers at the same time.  I got the Cafe Bolero special burger with cheese and jalapenos.  Jason ordered one with olives and cheese.  But about five minutes after he ordered, he got buyers remorse.  "Geez, I really like olives, but I should have ordered it with onions.  Oh, well.  I already ordered it up." 

 

We discussed some business up to the time that the waitress brought out the tapas appetizers.  The first thing I had was one of the potato balls (upper part of the plate).  They have seasoned ground beef encased in the potato ball.  They're just fabulous.

The ham croquettes (in the center of the plate) were the next on my menu.  I tried some of the sweet and peppery sauce on them and it was a killer taste sensation.  Jason said, "I think I can make that sauce."  I don't know what they called it, but it was great.

We split the Cuban tamale, stuffed with ham.  Only it was more of a pulled pork than what I'd call ham.  It, too, was excellent.  It had a salty taste to it and the tamale breading around the pork was light and flaky.  With the sweet pepper sauce, it was just outstanding.

Last, but certainly not least on the tapas appetizer plate, were the chicken-stuffed plantains.  I'm not big on plantains, but these were pretty damn good.   Once again, the sauce helped.

The most wonderful thing about this plate of appetizers is that it was only $9 bucks.  It was excellent and I highly recommend getting it if you go.

Not long after we finished up the tapas appetizers, our burgers showed up.  Somewhat serendipitously, the waitress sat Jason's burger down in front of him and said, "I'm sorry, this one is onions and cheese.  I think you ordered olives and cheese."

Jason was ecstatic.  "No, no!  This is great!  I thought about five minutes after I ordered that I would have rather had onions and cheese instead of olives and cheese.  This is perfect!"

 

 
My burger was served on a lightly toasted sesame seed bun.  Lettuce, tomato, onions and pickles came on the side.  No ketchup or mustard, but that's OK.  It smelled heavenly.  I couldn't wait for my first bite.

Oh, man!  It was juicy, had a great flavor and was oozing with American cheese.  The jalapeno slices were chopped up enough where you got a little bit of a spicy bite with each mouthful of the burger.  But the jalapeno slices, to me, weren't all that spicy.  I thought later on that I should have probably got it without the jalapeno in the burger and gone with the onion instead.  Next time.

Jason was chowing down on his burger and he said, "Isn't this great?  How in the world can a Cuban restaurant have such a good burger?" 

The burger, itself, was a belly buster.  With the tapas appetizers and then the burger on top of them, I was stuffed.  I took Jason back to the office and then took off to go home to Iowa.  The burger continued to hang with me through the evening, so much that I didn't even have dinner that night.  But, oh!  Was it good.

While I don't know if the Cafe Bolero Special burger would make the Top Ten of my Best Burgers List, I'd have to give them a high honorable mention.   The hand-pattied, stuffed burger is big and flavorful.  The only thing that draws it down a bit is the bun which I found to be sort of lifeless and didn't add to the overall taste of the burger.  I really dig Cafe Bolero and now that I've had the burger, I'll have to go back to get the Medionoche (Midnight) sandwich which, I understand, is the closest thing to a true Cuban sandwich that Cafe Bolero has.  But in that same vein, Jason told me that he'd take me to a place that has the best "true" Cuban sandwiches in Chicago. 

Either way, I can't wait... 

(Update - I went back to Cafe Bolero in late 2013 to try a Cuban sandwich, but I was bummed to find out that they had closed.  Oh well...)

Steventon's - Le Claire, IA

While I do like fine dining, I thoroughly detest pretentious fine dining. Those are the kind of restaurants who are good and they either know it or think they are. Pretentious fine dining doesn't work well around the Quad Cities. Well, save for a place in Davenport called Duck City Bistro, a place that has been opened for nearly years. The owner/chef insists to be addressed as "Chef Charles" (or "Chef Chawles", as I like to call him) and anyone who is like that just drips with pretension. For that, I refuse to eat there. There's another place that Cindy and I went to years and years ago that smacked me with such a pretentious gob that I refused to go back - Steventon's in Le Claire, IA, just up the river from Davenport.

Well, that is, until recently. It was my birthday and I decided to give Steventon's a try after a 15 year exile from the place.

It was Cindy's birthday in the latter part of December 1995 and I asked her if she'd like to go somewhere nice for dinner that evening. We'd heard about Steventon's, a fine dining restaurant that had opened just three years before, and Cindy decided we would go out there. Now, I was dressed in a pair of slacks, a button down shirt and a pullover sweater. Cindy was dressed stylishly in a nice top with a sweater, designer jeans and nice shoes. When we entered the restaurant, the host asked if we had reservations and we did not. Then he proceeded to tell me, "We usually do not seat gentlemen who do not wear suit coats in the dining room. But we can make an exception this evening."

I wanted to turn around and walk out right there. But Cindy was set on Steventon's. Jacket required for dining anywhere in the Quad Cities just reeked of false pompicity. I told Cindy after the snooty host sat us at a table, "Our money spends just as well as those people in their suits."

While I remember the food was pretty good, it was a very uncomfortable experience. It was quite evident that we were not the clientele that Steventon's was looking for. And believe me, I was REALLY dressed up for me! But not dressed up enough for Steventon's.

A few years later, a good friends of ours told me that his wife and he had taken his parents to Steventon's for dinner. Knowing this guy would rather be wearing hunting clothes rather than a suit, I asked, "Did you have to wear a coat and tie?"

He said, "No, nothing like that. I wore a sweater and jeans. Hell, my dad was in a flannel shirt." It was evident that they had thoroughly relaxed their clothing requirement at Steventon's, but my initial visit had left a distasteful film in my mouth - one that didn't go away easily.

We had talked about going back to Geneseo and The Cellar, but I decided to head out to Le Claire and head up the little hill off of Interstate 80 and pull into the lot behind Steventon's (see map). Steventon's official name is "Steventon's Riverfront Food and Spirits", but it's quite a ways from the riverfront well south of the downtown Le Claire shopping and restaurant district. But you do have a good view of the Mississippi River and Port Byron, IL across the way.

As I said, Steventon's originally opened in 1992, the lifelong dream of Steventon Wagner, a local Quad City businessman, West Point graduate and Viet Nam War vet who longed to own a fine dining restaurant along the river. Unfortunately, Wagner died in November of 1995 at the young age of 57, but his wife Sharon, has kept the business going since then. She's helped by Jennifer Swanson, the general manager of the restaurant.

Juan Hernandez is the executive chef at Steventon's. He was formerly the sous chef at the restaurant and was elevated to the executive chef after the longtime Steventon's chef left in 2008. Hernandez got his start working as a dishwasher in a restaurant in Chicago. He ended up in the Quad Cities and went to work at Steventon's around 2004. We were told that Hernandez changed a few of the items on the menu when he took over, but much of the menu remains the same as it was since it opened up about 19 years ago.

They had expanded Steventon's from the last time we were there. We entered the restaurant from the parking lot and it took us into an expansive lounge with a nice bar and a good view of the river. This time, I was dressed in blue jeans, cross-trainers, an orange t-shirt with a black V-neck sweater over that. Cindy had a nice top and jeans on. We were much more underdressed than our previous visit. But the young hostess didn't flinch when we asked for a table for two. She said that she wanted to make up a table near the window for us. Moments later, she led us to our table, seated us and placed menus on the table. It was just before sunset and we had a good view of the river down the hill from us.

We don't like to have a bunch of people around us when we eat at nicer places if it can be helped. It wasn't all that busy for a Wednesday evening at Steventon's. Directly behind Cindy was a large group of John Deere engineers, but they were on their last leg of their meal and left soon after we sat down. And another couple was seated directly behind me at another window view table. Cindy thought it was rather strange that the hostess sat us in between two other parties considering there were open tables along the window back toward the bar. I figured those tables had been reserved. But as the night went on, only one other group of four people came into the restaurant and were seated at one of those tables. Oh well...

The dining room looked a little bigger from our last trip to Steventon's. It seemed a little longer to me. Cindy said she remembered a lot of tableside food preparation. But she was also more interested in the artwork on the walls of the dining room. A local artist out of the Bucktown Galleries in Davenport had a number of pieces of art on display at Steventon's and Cindy said that one of our neighbors had some similar artwork in their house.

The wine list for Steventon's is located in the dinner menu. It's not very long, but the first thing that caught my eye was a 2006 Jordan cabernet they had priced for $70. This is the same bottle of wine that I see regularly at other restaurants for upwards of $100 to $115 dollars a bottle. Cindy said, "Wow! That's a great price on the Jordan, isn't it?"

It sure was and when our waitress for the evening, Ashley, came to the table I ordered up a bottle of the Jordan cab for us.

Later on, I happened to find the drink menu and I found that in addition to a number of specialty martinis that they featured, Steventon's also had a reserve wine list. There were only about a dozen wines on the reserve list including about five cabernets, but it was as overpriced as much as I thought that the Jordan cab was underpriced. They had a Cakebread Cellars cab on the reserve list for $125. It's a nice wine, but it's about $25 to $35 higher than what I've seen on the wine list of other restaurants.

Ashley came back with the wine and told us of some specials they had that evening. For an appetizer, they were featuring pan-seared scallops and topped with a spicy creole cream sauce. Two entrees they had for the specials that evening were a horseradish encrusted fresh salmon and another dish that I can't remember. We had Ashley put in an order for the scallops appetizer and I looked over the menu.

Actually, I was sort of interested in a steak that evening and Steventon's had a number of different ones to choose from. Some of their signature steaks included a bone-in 20 oz "cowboy" rib eye. You could also get it "Oscar style" with shrimp, asparagus and a bearnaise sauce, or "Steve's style" with blue cheese, cracked peppercorns and and chopped green onions on top. That sounded really good.

Possibly their most popular steak is the Bushmills Whiskey steak - they take a 16 oz. New York strip, marinate it in Bushmills Irish whiskey, chargrill it, then cover it with a cream sauce and and scallions. It was sort of expensive for $37 bucks, but it was a possibility.

Steventon's also had an 8 oz. filet infused with garlic cloves called the Filet Patori. They topped it with a caramelized onion glaze sauce. That sounded good, too! Another one that caught my eyes were the Tournedoes New Orleans - two filet medallions each topped with a Cajun seasoned shrimp, then covered with a mushroom cream and green onion sauce. That got Cindy's saliva glands hopping. But she hates mushrooms and I pointed out that it had a mushroom sauce. (I have a number of great recipes that feature mushrooms, but she was evidently scarred as a little kid from having too many meals that were made with cream of mushroom soup.) She said, "I'm warming up to the idea of mushrooms." Wow! I was floored!

Steventon's also had pork chops, chicken entrees, seafood, pasta and even lamb chops. But I was torn between a couple of the steak entrees.

Ashley brought out the scallops and asked if we were ready to order our main entrees. Cindy was ready and ordered the Tournedos New Orleans. She got a side with the meal and she ordered wild rice. She also ordered the Steventon's signature salad - the Plantation. It featured lettuce greens topped with a garlic dressing and fresh parmesan cheese with homemade bagel chips mixed in.

I was torn between the cowboy rib eye - Steve's style - and the Filet Patori. Ashley said, "Do you like blue cheese?" I told her I did in moderation. She said, "Well, the Steve's style is literally encrusted in blue cheese. If you don't like a lot of blue cheese, then you may not like that."

I said, "OK, I'll do the Filet Patori."

She said, "Oh, that's my favorite. We actually cut into the filet and place garlic cloves inside the meat. Then we put this sweet onion glaze sauce over the top. It's my favorite."

I sort of hesitated when she said, "Sweet onion glaze sauce." I don't like a sauce that is too sweet on my steak. I contemplated for a second about the Bushmills Whiskey steak, but didn't pipe up. I let my order stand with the filet, rare, also with a side of wild rice.

I remembered that Steventon's lobster bisque was outstanding from our earlier visit and I told her that I wanted to get a cup of that and a wedge salad. She was sort of amazed that I wanted soup AND a salad. But it was my birthday, so what the hell!

Turning our attention back to the scallops - there were three good-sized scallops that smelled a little fishy from a distance, but they were actually pretty good with the spicy sauce mixed with them. They had a nice little chargrilled taste to them and weren't fishy to the taste buds. We both had a whole one and split the third. Cindy was a little miffed that we didn't have any bread on the table. "I wouldn't mind sopping up some of that sauce," she said.

After a bit, Ashley brought out the lobster bisque. I remembered it to be more of a light cream color and loaded with chunks of lobster. This was more of a cheese/tomato based bisque with three little chunks of lobster. A piece of toasted brioche-type bread accompanied the bisque.

Well, at least I THOUGHT it was either a cheese or tomato based bisque. I didn't think it was all that great. I let Cindy have a spoonful and she said, "Oh, that's not the same lobster bisque that I remember, either. You're right, it's sort of like a cheese soup with lobster in it."

When Ashley came back to check on the bisque, she asked how I liked it. I said, "This isn't the same from what we remember. Does he use a cheese base or a tomato base?"

She got a pained look on her face and said, "No, we start out with a lobster reduction. There's no cheese or tomatoes in the bisque."

I sort of shrugged my shoulders and said, "Oh, OK. Well, I could have sworn it was more a cheese soup than a bisque. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I just don't remember it being that way."

As she took away the cup of bisque, she said, "You know, we changed chefs about three years ago and it could be that he changed the recipe of the lobster bisque. I know some of the menu items changed when he took over."

It wasn't that it was bad, but it wasn't as good as the lobster bisque that we'd had before. But, once again, that was 15 years ago.

Our salads came out soon after and Cindy's Plantation salad covered a standard size plate. My wedge salad was on a similar sized plate and covered in creamy blue cheese with real bacon bits and sweet pecans. I usually don't like pecans, but these were a nice touch with the salad. A couple of red onion rings sat precariously on top the concoction. Quite frankly, I thought my wedge salad was pretty good.

I asked Cindy if there was a lot of garlic in salad dressing and she said, "No. I can hardly taste the garlic." She wasn't overly thrilled with her salad. She thought the salad was pretty bland overall. She made an effort to eat about half of it before she gave up. I suggested that maybe some anchovies would help liven up the salad. Cindy said, "I think it needed more than anchovies."

Not long after we finished our salads, Ashley brought out our steaks to the table. The presentation was nice, but I was sort of surprised with the amount of the onion glaze sauce on my filet. It was literally swimming in this rich brown onion sauce. I like a good sauce on the steak, but I thought it was a little too much. But I was pleasantly surprised with the size of the filet. They said it would 8 oz. on the menu, but it looked to be bigger than that.

Cindy's Tournedos New Orleans looked delectable. The filet medallions sat on either side of the wild rice on her plate with the two Cajun shrimp scampi resting on top. The light mushroom cream sauce wasn't quite as overpowering on her plate as the sweet onion glaze was on my steak. It all looked very nice.

My steak was a tad overcooked. It was more medium-rare than rare. And the sauce was a little too sweet for my taste. It completely overpowered the taste of the steak. About half of the sauce served would have been fine with me. I'll have to say that the Filet Patori was just "OK". I let Cindy have a bite of the steak with the sauce and she sort of made a face and said, "Oooo, that sauce IS sweet. I'm surprised you got that. I would have bet you were going to get the whiskey steak."

Looking back, I wish I would have.

Cindy's piece of my steak that she tried had a large chunk of garlic in it. There were three or four medium sized cloves that were cut into my filet and they were punguent. Cindy said, "My God! I can taste the garlic now! There won't be any vampires bugging us tonight!"

But Cindy seemed to like her Tournedos New Orleans. She gave me a bite of one of the medallions with the mushroom cream sauce. It was better than mine. As Cindy jokingly pointed out, she always seems to get the better of the two meals whenever we go out to a nice restaurant.

We finished our meals and Ashley cleaned up the plates. By this time, we were the only people in the dining room, save for the table of four near the bar area. It was a nice, relaxing time and we finished up the rest of the Jordan cabernet.

Ashley came out with a dessert tray that included a lemon cake, a chocolate mousse tort and a couple other things. She said, "We also featured a homemade creme brulee that's pretty good."

Cindy didn't make me a cake or pick one up for my birthday - I didn't really want one. But I was sucked in to the lemon cake on the dessert tray. I talked Cindy into getting the creme brulee as I ordered up a slice of the lemon cake.

I asked Ashley what kind of Scotch they had in the bar. She said, "Oh, Chivas Regal, Johnnie Walker..."

I said, "What do you have for single malts? Glenlivet? Glenfiddich?"

She said, "Yeah, you named about all we have."

I asked if I could go to the bar and take a closer look and she said, "Sure!"

They didn't have a lot single malts in their inventory, but I did see a bottle of the Macallan 12 year. I ordered up one neat, with a couple ice cubes to help open it up.

Ashley brought out the desserts with my scotch. Actually, it looked like a double. And it was - Ashley said, "He went a little overboard with the pour, but he'll only charge you for a single." That was fine with me.

The desserts were, well, not all that great. The lemon cake was presented very nicely with a little lemon cream drizzle under the slice, but it was sort of dried out and not as a forward lemon taste that I prefer in my lemon cake. Cindy and I traded bites of our desserts and I found her creme brulee to be pretty average. She said, "Yeah, it's not that great. I've had better. And you're right. Your cake is pretty dry."

Ashley came out with our bill and she said, "We took off the lobster bisque since you didn't like it."

I howled in protest, "It was all right. I didn't say I didn't like it. I just thought it was different than what I remember."

She wouldn't hear of it. "No, no. I could tell you didn't like it. We won't charge people for what they don't like."

I half-jokingly said, "Well, in that case, I didn't really care for my steak all that much either." Cindy and our waitress just laughed. However, I think Ashley's laughter was more of a nervous laugh.

We went all out at Steventon's for my birthday. The bill with a nice tip for Ashley ended up on the near side of $200 bucks. I thought the meal and desserts well over-priced for what it was. Cindy did like her filet medallions, but was disappointed in her salad and creme brulee. But I thought the Jordan cabernet was a good price and I couldn't complain with the double shot of Scotch for an after dinner drink.

Before we left, Ashley took us out on the new two-tiered outdoor seating area that Steventon's recently built. She said that they have a separate bar menu that features burgers, sandwiches and appetizers. She said, "As soon as the weather starts getting nicer, you need to come back out for lunch on the deck. Or, heck, come out and have one of our martinis on the deck."

Steventon's also has a notable Sunday brunch that I understand is pretty popular. But, just like the meal we had, the brunch is also pricey at $20 bucks a head. The food was OK at Steventon's, but not a very good value. The service was good and there wasn't a bit of pretension or snobbery on this visit. While it will probably be some time before we go back to Steventon's, it probably won't be 15 years before our next visit.

Wakaba - Deerfield, IL

On a recent trip to Chicago, I got into my hotel in Lincolnshire, IL one evening pretty late.  I was tired and just wanted to get something to eat.  I didn't want bar food and a steak would have been too much.  I remembered a sushi restaurant that I'd driven by a number of times that was just down the road a mile or so by the name of Wakaba.  I decided to throw my bags in my room and head down the road for some sushi. 

The name "Wakaba" is Japanese for "young leaves".  But I really don't know what that has to do with the Wakaba sushi restaurant located in the River Run Shopping Center on Milwaukee Ave. in Deerfield.  (see map)   The restaurant has been open since 1997 and is owned by Midong and Haeyoung Choi.  Even though the Choi's are natives of Seoul, Korea, they claim the restaurant is 100 percent Japanese.   By day, Midong Choi's main vocation is as an attorney.  At night, he trades in his coat and tie for a traditional sushi chef robe and headband.  His wife runs the kitchen full time at the restaurant. 

 

 
The interior of Wakaba is typical of most Japanese/sushi restaurants.  It's well-lit and filled with oriental-style furniture for the tables and chairs, as well as numerous oriental pieces of artwork on the wall.  A number of plants are throughout the place giving it sort of a Japanese garden vibe.  I'm guessing that must be the reason for the "Wakaba" name.  On one wall, they have a flat screen television playing a continuous loop of a tank full of tropical fish.  They must figure that it's a lot cheaper to maintain a flat screen and a DVD player than it is to futz with actually having a tropical fish aquarium. 

I sat at the sushi bar and they appeared to have a lot of good fresh fish to choose from in the glass cooler (above right).  I got a menu from the waitress and ordered an Asahi beer.  It had been a long day and I needed a cold beer. 

Wakaba offers much more than just your standard sushi on their menu.  They have a number of Japanese entrees that Haeyoung Choi makes up in the kitchen just off to the side of the sushi bar.  But I was interested in sushi that evening and that's what I got.

The first thing I noticed was that they had toro (fatty tuna).  I got a piece of that to go along with a spicy tuna roll, a couple pieces each of sweet shrimp, yellow tail, regular salmon and smoked salmon. 

Being that it was only me and two other gentlemen in the restaurant, the sushi chef (I'm guessing it was Midong Choi) took care of me pretty quickly.   He also threw in a couple of the deep-fried shrimp heads that I'll take if they're free and leave if they're not.

The spicy tuna rolls were not very good.  I can't say they were all that spicy and the tuna was like mush.  They had a seaweed wrapping around them and I only got five pieces (most places will give you six).

The toro was fine, but the yellow tail was very fishy in taste.  The smoked salmon wasn't all that smoky and the regular salmon, too, had a heavy fishiness to its taste.  The sweet shrimp were the best of the tastes that I had that evening and even they weren't much to write home about.

I finished quickly and just wanted to get back to the hotel as I had some e-mails to return and needed to go to bed rather early.  I finished up and the sushi chef said, "You eat so fast!  You want more?"

I begged off and told him that I was tired and needed to get back to the hotel.  The whole time I was thinking, "Geez, I may need to get back to the hotel in case I get sick!"  Thankfully, I didn't get sick from the sushi at Wakaba.

 

Wakaba wasn't very good that evening.  I don't think they've been able to stay in business for 14 years by having sushi that was as bad as what I had that night.  I'm hoping it was just an anomaly, but I'm not certain I'm willing to give Wakaba a second chance.  Not with a number of other sushi restaurants in the area.

Delaney's Charcoal Steaks - Madison, WI

I had an evening training session for one of my dealers in Madison one evening earlier this spring and I told them I'd take them out for dinner.  They know that I'll eat at a national chain as a last resort and like to gravitate toward places that locally unique.  We were trying to figure out where to eat that was close by for all of us and someone suggested a steak house up the road a bit called Delaney's Charcoal Steaks.  I said, "Yeah, steak sounds good.  I haven't had a good steak on the road for quite a while."  So, it was off to Delaney's for dinner.

We pulled off of S. Gammon Road on the west side of Madison and onto Odana Rd.  My dealer was driving and I said, "I used to stay at that hotel right over there when it was a Hampton Inn."  Instead of turning right to go into the hotel, he took a left and just down the street was Delaney's Charcoal Steaks. (see map)  I was incredulous.  "I stayed at that place over there for six years before they built the new Hampton Inn up the road and I never knew it was over here," I told the guys.  "I could have walked from the hotel to this place!"

The official name of the restaurant is actually JIM Delaney's Charcoal Steaks, named after the founder of the place.  Jim Delaney was a former Marine Corp officer and a service station manager when he saw an opportunity to open his own restaurant in a strip mall on Odana Road just around the corner from the present day location of the steak house that bears his name.  A number of people cautioned Delaney saying that a fine dining establishment wouldn't work outside of the downtown Madison area, but he went through with his plans and opened his steak house in 1973.  Delaney was the "jack of all trades" at the restaurant, wearing the hat of maintenance man, bookkeeper, waiter, bus boy and other jobs around the restaurant.  However, unlike most restaurant owners, Delaney never pretended he was in charge of the kitchen.  He knew good steaks and hired good cooks to work in his restaurant.

After a number of years in business, Delaney moved the restaurant to a larger location on Grand Canyon Drive, nestled back on a side street that you obviously had to know was there.  Delaney felt that the quality of the food and the service at his restaurant would attract people no matter where it was. 

Unfortunately, Jim Delaney died earlier this year at the age of 71.  His son, Daniel, is the long-time manager of Delaney's Charcoal Steaks and continues to run the business today.

The interior of Delaney's immediately reminded me of a rural supper club, the kind found all over Central and Northern Wisconsin.  There was a large bar area off to the left as you come in with a large rectangular bar with a center liquor island taking up a good slice of the real estate of the room.  I immediately saw myself sitting at the bar at some point enjoying a meal.

There were three of us that evening - the other salesperson had to go home to attend to a sick wife - and we were seated in a smallish dining room.  Delaney's appeared to have a number of little dining rooms in the place and not one large dining area.  Well, except for the bar.  Our host gave us menus and we ordered up some drinks to tide us over. 

We were tag-teamed that evening by two well-dressed waiters who were very attentive to our needs all evening long.  I was sort of confused how to tip them at the end of the evening as I didn't know if I should add a little extra for both guys.  I think I ended up tipping about 20% and let them fight over it.  

Delaney's Charcoal Steaks also had a pretty nice little wine list that featured a number of wines I was familiar with.  They had a 2006 Whitehall Lane cabernet that I've had in the past for $50 bucks a bottle, a little expensive compared to other places I've seen it, but still a good wine to have with steaks.  I offered to get some wine, but my two guests were content with beer and a rum and Coke, respectively, for their dinner.  Delaney's did offer a handful of wines by the glass and I figured I could just get a glass with my meal if I needed it. 

For beer, I had an American pale ale from the Lake Louie Brewery located in Arena, WI.  I've seen this beer when I've gone beer hunting at liquor stores in the greater Madison area, but had never tried it before.  The guest who ordered the beer was telling me about it and I thought I'd give it a try.  It was more of a malty taste for a pale ale, not quite as hoppy as I'm used to.  But it was still smooth and it drank well.  

Naturally, steaks rule the menu at Delaney's.  But they also feature pork chops, grilled chicken and seafood, as well.  The onion rings are famous throughout South Central Wisconsin and we got an order of those as an appetizer before we ordered up our main meal.  And they were great - a light, beer batter over sweet onion slices.  I can see why they're so famous in the area. 

The special that evening was an apple-wood smoked bacon-wrapped filet.  That sounded good, but I was leaning toward just a straight filet.  They had three sizes - 6 oz., 8 oz. and 12 oz.  The 12 oz. was a little pricey - $38 bucks.  I ended up ordering the 8 oz. filet, rare.  For a couple bucks more, I had it prepared au poivre style with a cognac and pepper cream sauce on top.  I got a side of their garlic mashed potatoes to go along with my steak.  A salad came with the meal and I got their homemade oil and vinegar with blue cheese crumbles on top.  It was a very good salad. 

One of my guests got the special that evening along with a side of mushrooms and onions, while the other guy got the 16 oz bone-in rib eye steak.  He got a baked potato with the works as his side.  I decided that I liked the Lake Louie beer and decided to stick with that instead of going with a glass of wine.

Our steaks came to the table and the presentation was very nice.  My steak was exactly has I like it - a red, cool middle with a nice charred crust around the outside.  The au poivre sauce was a wonderful compliment to the taste of the steak.  The peppercorn chunks with the cognac cream sauce gave the steak a little bite to the taste. The garlic mashed potatoes were OK, not very garlicky, but that's OK, I was much more interested in my steak. 

My guests also said their steaks were very good.  One of my guests said, "It's been a few years since I was last here.  It's just as good today as it was then.  But then again, this place has always been very good." 

We thought about having an after dinner drink after we finished, but decided against it.  After I paid the bill and we were walking out, I looked into the bar area and I was just mesmerized by the wonderful step-up bar.  I said, "You know what, I really wouldn't mind getting a drink at the bar, after all."  Delaney's had a small list of good Scotch's and we each had one - I had the Oban 14 year single malt which was smooth, earthy and smoky.  Well, I had a couple.  We got to talking about business, proposed expansion of their building and ended up talking about some of the great supper clubs these guys had encountered over the years when they vacationed up north.  It was a really fun evening with these guys. 

A lot of people think that Smoky's Club is the best steak house in Madison.  We were sort of talking about that and my guests were sort of perplexed as to how that could be.  "I've always thought this was much better than Smoky's," one of the guys said.  I told them about my experience at my one and only visit - ever - Smoky's (you can read about that disappointing meal by clicking here).  The service at Delaney's was much better than Smoky's Club and the steak was much better, as well.

Delaney's Charcoal Steaks is sort of tough to find, but I can see why a lot of the locals love the place.  There are a couple good to great steak places in Madison, and Delaney's is one of them.  It was just excellent and I'd go back in a heartbeat.

Lee's on 14th - Rock Island, IL

My buddy, Greg Hipskind, the drummer for Wicked Liz and the Bellyswirls, Superfly Samurai, and the Midwest touring edition of Caroline's Spine, texted me one day earlier this year and said, "Excellent burger at Lee's on 14th in Rock Island. Gotta go there sometime." He had just finished having lunch with his dad there and he texted a second time, "But don't order the double. My dad did and he regretted it. It was huge!"

 

I texted Greg to see where Lee's on 14th was as I didn't seem to be familiar with it. He texted back, "On 14th street in Rock Island. Next to La Rancherita."

I knew where La Rancherita was, but I was sort of confused as to where Lee's on 14th was in Rock Island. After dinner one evening, Cindy and I drove up the hill to go past La Rancherita. As we went past La Rancherita, just down the street my eye caught the sign for Lee's on 14th. Cindy exclaimed, "Oh! We've been here! This was the place we had breakfast!"

On New Year's Eve day, we had tentatively agreed to meet some friends for breakfast at Jimmy's Pancake House in Bettendorf. We got over there around 8:30 and the place was packed (as always - Jimmy's is damn good!). Our friends were there, but they were seated at a booth for four. Instead of staying and waiting for a table for six, I decided to cut our losses and go someplace else for breakfast. It didn't sit well with Cindy. "I would have waited," she pouted as I tried to figure out a place for breakfast.

We went across the river and a place that Cindy had enjoyed in the past was closed up. It turned out they had closed a week before Christmas while they went through some organizational and ownership changes. So, we drove around for a bit more before I remembered this little place called The Waffle House on 14th St. in Rock Island. We pulled up to the place and it was no longer the Waffle House, but called Lee's on 14th. We decided to go in and have breakfast.

Lee's on 14th breakfast menu - click on the picture to enlarge.

 

And I'm glad we did because it was very good. The blueberry pancakes were just outstanding. They fold the blueberries into the batter rather than just putting them on top. I happened to leave my phone in the car and Cindy implored me to go out and get it so I could get pictures of the breakfast we had. I told her, "This place is good. We'll be back. I can get pictures then."

When I went to pay at the cash register before we left, I met the owner, Lisa Slaight. We told her we really liked the food and she was overly appreciative. She told us that this place was, indeed, the old Waffle House. She said they bought it early last year and opened last fall. Lisa told us, "We didn't realize how much work it was going to be to basically remodel everything in this place. It took us nearly 8 months of work before we opened up."

And it's not that big of a place. There's a small counter that seats seven or eight people, along with about five booths and a like number of tables. But it has knotty pine panels on the wall with some rural and rustic accessories on the wall. She told us at the time that they were only serving breakfast at that time, but hoped to start serving lunch very soon.

 

After Greg texted me a couple three months later, it was fully apparent that they were serving lunch now. I called him up a couple days later and I said, "So, Lee's on 14th does a great burger, huh?"

He said, "Oh, buddy! They're huge and they're cheap! My dad ordered a double cheeseburger and he's a big guy, right? Well, he couldn't finish the thing!"

Greg and I immediately made plans to go have lunch there at some point very soon. He said, "Yeah, but they're only open until 2 p.m., so we'll have to make sure we get there before then."

 

A couple months ago, it turned out that for the first time in weeks I'd be home on a Friday. I called Greg up the day before and told him that we needed to run over to Lee's on 14th for lunch. He said, "Cool! Give me a call tomorrow and we'll set it up."

I picked Greg up around 12:30 p.m. that next day at his place in Moline and we drove over to Lee's on 14th. Parking is plentiful up and down the street around Lee's on 14th. We went in and took the last booth available in the corner. Lee's on 14th was hoppin' for lunch just like it was hoppin' for breakfast the one morning we were there.

The waitress brought us menus and Greg said, "I think we know what we want." We both got the cheeseburger baskets that came with fries and your choice of cottage cheese, cole slaw and, I believe, pasta salad with the basket. Greg and I both got the cottage cheese. Greg sort of laughed when she took our order and said, "That was pretty simple!"

They certainly didn't rush the burgers as it was a good 15 minutes between the time we ordered and when she brought out the burgers. I couldn't believe my eyes - the burgers WERE huge! I could see where Greg's dad would have problems eating a double cheeseburger because one was big enough! They were a hand-pattied burger topped with two slices of cheese that didn't even cover the face of the meat. Fresh lettuce, pickles and a very fresh tomato (considering the time of year, it was six months before any vine ripened tomatoes would be available locally) came with the burger. It was all we could do to get our mouth into a full bite of burger, toppings, condiments and buns.

Here's Greg making his best effort to get a full bite into this burger at Lee's on 14th. The only thing that I'd have to say about the burger is that the flat top grill helps with the taste of burgers like the ones at Lee's on 14th. It's evident from the taste of the burger that the grill isn't "broken in" yet for a flat top burger grill. There are a number of places that have burger meat just like Lee's on 14th, but the grill has it's own flavor that helps with the taste of the burger. While the burger was meaty and lean, it was a tad drowsy in taste. Not that it was bad - far from it. But as I told Greg, "I wonder what a burger from here will taste like three or five years down the road. Once that grill gets more burgers on it, it will develop it's own taste and character. It will transfer to the meat and make it even better."

   

Greg shrugged his shoulders and said, "I think it's pretty damn good as it is!"

   

And Greg was right about the price - the burger basket at Lee's on 14th is only $4.95. "That's friggin' cheap," Greg exclaimed. "And the thing about it, a double cheeseburger is only a buck more! How can they do that?!"

 

When I went up to pay for our lunch, I handed the waitress a $20 (they do take credit cards, as well) and she gave me back about 7 bucks and a lot of change. I just took the five dollar bill and gave her the rest. It was a helluva value even with the nice little tip for the waitress.

 

Lee's on 14th is open every day except Sunday from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m 2 p.m. Both visits I've been there, the food has been very, very good. It's small and you may have to wait for a place to sit down, but it's worth it. I'm hoping it doesn't get TOO busy where they'll have to turn customers away. But if they keep it up with the great breakfasts and the large burgers, it could very well turn out that way.

The Cellar - Geneseo, IL

Cindy wanted to go out for steak recently and we discussed going to Bud's Skyline Inn over in Moline for dinner. But we'd had a couple bad experiences the past couple of visits and decided to pass on Bud's. We thought about The Captain's Table on River Drive in Moline, but the Mississippi River was flooding and it would have been tough to make our way around the detours to get to the place (it turned out that all access to The Captain's Table was shut down due to flood waters). So, I made the decision on the spot to head over to Geneseo, IL, just about 15 miles from the Quad Cities, but close enough to be considered part of the metro area, and have dinner at a place we hadn't been to for quite some time, The Cellar.

The Cellar is located in the basement of the historic Geneseo House in downtown Geneseo at the corner of State and Main (see map). The Geneseo House was built in 1877 and was (at that time) a state of the art four-story hotel. The hotel had gone out of business in the 50's and stood empty until brothers Bob and Stan Bestor purchased the building and put a restaurant in the cellar of the building. Calling it, of course, The Cellar, the restaurant featured fine dining and banquet facilities. However, since Geneseo's population was hovering around 6,000 people at that time, the Bestor's relied upon the new Interstate 80 that would allow customers from the Quad Cities to make it to their restaurant in a jiffy.

When the Bestor's opened The Cellar in 1960, their first chef was Bob Schaefer. Schaefer eventually bought the business and building from the Bestor's in 1977. In 1980, a young kid by the name of Scott Stetter came in and asked for a job. Schaefer put him to work as a busboy and a dishwasher, with Stetter eventually working his way into the kitchen and becoming head chef. In 2000, Stetter bought the restaurant from Schaefer. (Schafer still owns the building and much of the space on the upper floors is used as office space.) Stetter continues to work as the head chef at The Cellar and you can see him most nights laboring over the large grated charcoal grill in the kitchen.

The Cellar consists of two main dining areas and a bar area with a banquet are off to the side of the bar. Local artists have their artwork on display on the stone walls of the restaurant. The lighting is subdued and each table features a lit candle. It gave the dining area a nice little coziness. However, the tables in the dining area are a little too close to one another, putting people in pretty close proximity.

It was around 7:30 on a Friday evening when we got to The Cellar. We found some parking on the side street and went down the stairs into the restaurant. We were wondering if we would be able to get in without a wait, but the hostess took us directly to the back dining room and sat us at a table along the wall. Cindy looked at the closeness of the tables around us and she said, "Wow! They really like to cram 'em in here, don't they?"

We were given menus and the waitress came over to take our drink orders. I looked over the wine list and while it was pretty short, they did have a couple three good red wines on the list. Cindy wasn't certain that she wanted much more than a glass of wine that evening, so she ordered an in-house-brewed iced-tea and I got a Bud Light for the time being.

Steaks, chops and seafood are the headliners at The Cellar. They're famous for their chargrilled shrimp served with drawn butter. I considered getting a "surf and turf" combination that evening with the grilled shrimp and a steak.

Another specialty at The Cellar are their skewered beef filet tips. They only have those from time to time, usually after they've cut up a number of filets off of a full tenderloin. It turned out that they had them this particular evening and that's what Cindy ordered. She also got a side of their hash browns mixed with cheese and onions.

I ordered the regular filet, rare. I also got the hash browns with the cheese and onions. We also both got salads - Cindy got the homemade garlic, I got the Italian vinegar and oil with blue cheese crumbles on top. And when the waitress brought out our main entrees, I asked her to bring out a couple glasses of the Avalon Napa Valley Cabernet.

The salads were good, nothing outstanding. The garlic dressing Cindy had wasn't as overpowering as she seems to like her garlic dressing. Nonetheless, I still had to have a bite of her salad with the dressing or I wouldn't have been able to sleep with her that night, no matter how many times she brushed her teeth before we went to bed. My vinegar and oil dressing was pretty basic, but the blue cheese was definitely fresh and had a rich taste. Glad I learned about that combination a number of years ago.

The waitress brought out our glasses of wine saying that she wanted to make sure the wine was on the table before she brought our steak. And it wasn't much longer when she came back with our main entrees.

As I said, it had been a long time since we'd been to The Cellar, but the presentation was very nice. Our beef entrees along with the hash browns were served on a nice, somewhat ornate plate. Everything was very nice. I was a little taken back by the hash browns. It looked like they were more of a potato pancake with some cheddar cheese melted on top. But I soon found that the hash browns were certainly made in house with fresh potatoes, and the onions were cooked in with the potatoes rather than sauteed on the side and mixed in before they were put on the plate. They were very good.

And whoever cooked my steak that evening got the temperature right on (above right). The filet was thick and tender with a nice grill ring around the top and bottom of the steak. It was absolutely fabulous.

And Cindy's filet tips were also very good. She likes hers a little more medium than I and she told me that the tips were cooked perfectly. They, too, were tender and flavorful with a great chargrilled taste to the meat.

 

I also forgot to mention that with dinner we got these little sticky honey buns that were just outstanding. In fact, everything was wonderful at The Cellar. Half way through the meal we were questioning each other as to why it had taken so long to come back over to Geneseo to have dinner there. It's definitely worth the 20 minute or so drive - one way - for us from Davenport over to The Cellar.

 

 

 

 

 

Before we left, we went into the bar area to look around. It's not all that big and not that many people were in there. The bar itself is a dark-wood, three-sided small bar with lighted candles on top. There were a number of small tables in the room, also with lighted candles. It's definitely a nice place to hang out if you have to wait for a table at The Cellar.

As we were getting ready to walk out the door, I glanced into the glass enclosed kitchen/grill area. Scott Stetter silently mouthed, "Thank you!" and waved at us.

I waved back and also silently thanked him and then exaggeratedly mouthed, "We'll be back!"

 

And not long ago, we were. We were invited by some friends of ours to join them for an anniversary dinner at The Cellar with two other couples who had never been there before. This time, I had the 6 oz. grilled boneless pork chop and 5 count grilled shrimp combination. They grill both the pork chop and the shrimp with a homemade barbecue glaze - somethling that I don't care for during the cooking process. Then to top it off, the waitress brought out melted butter for the shrimp and a side of sweet barbecue sauce for the pork chop. I have to question why they glazed the shrimp and pork chop with the barbecue sauce, and then brought out butter and barbecue sauce. Actually, the shrimp were pretty good, but the pork chop was a little thin and a tad overcooked for my liking. But I should have asked for both without the glaze.

 

On this trip, Cindy got the grilled orange roughy that she said was very good. She got a side of rice with hers (I got the good ol' hash browns with onions mixed in and a dollop of cheese on top). While she had a salad with the homemade garlic dressing - this time with more zip in the garlic than last - I had a cup of their outstanding French onion soup before dinner.

 

The two other couples who had never been to The Cellar before seemed to like it very much. All of them had steak and they all raved about how good it was. Cindy said, "I should have gotten the steak, too. It smelled so good."

I love places like The Cellar. While tons of places have come or gone during their 50-plus years of existence, The Cellar has persevered through a couple of tough economic times during that period. The price of the meal wasn't out of line, the service was very good, and the food was just excellent. Sometimes you've got to go to the small towns to get some of the best steaks available, and The Cellar is absolutely one of those types of places.  

Capri Restaurant and Pizza - Rockford, IL

 
I found myself staying Rockford, IL one evening recently.  I had to do an early morning training there and I decided that even though it was a 90 minute drive from home, I'd just spend the night in Rockford rather than making the early morning drive and not be fresh for the training.  I was in the mood for pizza that evening and I found a place in downtown Rockford by the name of Capri Restaurant and Pizza (see map).  It is an old time Italian restaurant that has a history as colorful and lively as the stucco walls inside and out, along with the large mural that adorns one wall in the main dining room.

Vito Grisanzio was born in Italy and moved to America with seven of his nine siblings in the late 50's.  They ended up in Chicago and all worked various restaurant jobs at different points in their lives. 

Vito was invited by two childhood friends who had settled in Rockford and opened a restaurant, the Capri, a few years before.  Not knowing a word of English before he moved to Rockford, Vito ended up learning the restaurant business from his two friends.  After seven months, Vito called his brother Domenic to invite him to Rockford to work with him at the restaurant.  It wasn't long after that, the Grisanzio brothers bought the Capri in 1963. 

The Grisanzio's grew the Capri's business over the years and it soon became known as "THE" Italian restaurant in Rockford.  It was also the favorite pizza restaurant for thousands in the area and was well-known in Northern Illinois for having the best pizza around. 

The first significant change to the Capri happened in 1979 when Vito and Domenic bought the building next to them, an old bar called "The Navy Club".  They closed up their front entrance and began to make their back entrance in the alley/parking lot directly behind the building.  They effectively doubled their dining space and put in a little bar area off the kitchen. 

In the early 80's, the Grisanzio brothers split their business and Vito stayed at the original location.  He and his wife, Janette, had three sons - Domenic (named after his uncle), Vito, Jr., and Michael.  Vito Grisanzio still works at the Capri as does his wife and his sons, Vito, Jr. and Michael.  Domenic and his wife help out in the restaurant when needed.  This is the 48th year the Grisanzio family has owned the Capri making it the oldest single family Italian restaurant in Rockford. 

The sign on the front door along State Street in Rockford told me that the main entrance was around the back of the Capri.  I found the parking lot just to the south side of the building and went in the main doors under the lighted Capri sign.  You go past a big picture window that looks directly into the kitchen at the Capri.  One of the cooks was making a pizza, rolling it out before putting the toppings on.  I was greeted by a matronly hostess at the stand next to the bar area and she asked if I wanted to sit at the bar or in the dining room.  I decided to sit in a booth in the dining room that evening.  I had a Chicago Tribune that I wanted to read with my meal and it was sort of dark in the bar area. 

As I said, the Capri had a full mural on the side wall of the main dining room.  With the high back booths, sturdy tables and chairs with subdued lighting, the Capri had a real old world Italian feel to the place.  The hostess showed me to a booth and dropped off a menu.  I said, "I understand that you're famous for your pizza." 

She said, "We're pretty well-known for our pizza, yes."  It wasn't long before a waitress came over to get my drink order.  I just ordered a Bud Light and looked over the menu.

Although I knew I was going to get a pizza, I wanted to see what other Italian items the Capri had on their menu.   It was definitely a full menu at the Capri with a number of pasta dishes, chicken and seafood entrees with an Italian twist, sandwiches and even a filet mignon for those not looking for full Italian food.  The Capri also featured a family style Italian dinner that allowed groups of four or more to order two different types of pasta with meatballs and two different entrees.  Along with that came a family style salad, garlic bread and pizza bread for $16.50 a head.  I'm sure that would have been a big deal for some families to get the family style dinner at the Capri.

But, nope - I was there for the pizza.  When the waitress came back with my beer, I was ready to order.  I got my standard Italian sausage, pepperoni and mushroom.  Even though they had seven inch personal pizzas, I went with a twelve inch pizza knowing that what I couldn't eat tonight would keep in my hotel room's refrigerator and be able to warm a couple three slices up in the microwave for breakfast the next day.  She told me it would be about 15 to 20 minutes on the pizza and I told her to keep checking back on me for my beer level.   And she did. 

When the pizza finally showed up, it was cut into party slices.  I like the square party cut pizzas the best.  The crust was thin, but not overly thin like I like a little bit more.  It had an ample amount of toppings including fresh mushrooms. 

The first bite told me three things - First, the crust was a little too stiff and crunchy for my taste.  I like the dough a little more soft and chewy for a thin crust.  Secondly, the sauce had a sort of sweet and smoky taste to it.  It was different from a lot of pizza sauces I've had and I'll say that it wasn't bad.  It took a couple more bites for me to decide if I liked it or not.  And I finally realized I did.  And last, the sausage came in the big chunks that I like, but it was pretty bland to the taste.  I like a good fennel Italian sausage, but some pizza places (such as Lou Malnati's in Chicago) say that fennel hides the real taste of the sausage.  The Capri's Italian sausage did not have fennel with it. 

 
Still, it was a good pizza, not the best I've ever had, but better than I can get at most places back home in the Quad Cities.  I was able to eat just over half the pizza and I saved my last piece that I was going to eat that evening to be what I call the "honey pot" piece in the center of the pizza (above right).  It's generally the piece where all the flavors congregate and the crust is usually sopped with a combination of sauce, grease and cheese.  But the crust of the Capri's pizza didn't allow for anything to seep into it, it was too hard and brittle. 

I kept what was left of the pizza and had my waitress box it up.  It did keep well overnight and I did have about two or three pieces in the morning and threw the rest out before I left the hotel.  

The most pleasantly surprising thing about the Capri was the bill.  For a 12" cheese and three topping pizza, the price of the pizza was $10.25.  Now, that's cheap for a pizza.  My waitress was attentive and got a nice tip, as well.  It was a great value, to say the very least. 

And the pizza the Capri was good, not great or outstanding in my book.  But like anyplace, the people who grew up on the Capri's pizza probably think it's the best in the world.  

About a week or so after I was in Rockford, I happened to run into an old friend in an audio store in the Quad Cities.  He had moved to Rockford a few years ago and I told him that I'd been to the Capri recently for pizza.  He said, "The locals seem to like Capri the best, but I think there's a couple others that are better." 

I don't get up to Rockford all that often (even though it's pretty close to home), but he did give me a couple suggestions to try on my next visit.   Still, for an old time pizza/Italian restaurant with a great value I'm still glad I gave the Capri a try.  For the price, the pizza was above average.

 

 

Abuelo's - Middleton, WI

Staying in Middleton, WI one evening, I had my stomach set to eat at a small Italian restaurant in the rapidly evolving downtown area of the town. I pulled up in front of the place and it was closed. It was well before the 9 p.m. closing time, but the lights were off and no one was in the place. I wondered if it had gone out of business, but it didn't appear to be the case. They were just closed that evening. I headed out west of the beltway highway knowing that there are a number of restaurant to choose from in that area. I drove by a shopping complex and looked over and saw a place called Abuelo's. (see map) Since "Abuelo" is "Grandfather" in Spanish, I rightly figured it had to be a Mexican restaurant. Hmmm.... Mexican. OK, it's not Italian, but Mexican would do that evening.

The Abuelo's in Middleton (pictured right) is part of a chain of nearly 50 upscale Mexican restaurants in 15 states stretching from Virginia across the South and Midwest to Arizona. The origins of Abuelo's is sort of interesting, considering that a Chinese native was the person who helped come up with the concept of providing upscale Mexican food.

James Young moved from his native Taiwan in the mid-70's to study electrical engineering at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. He'd never tried Mexican food before he made it to Lubbock, so it's rather curious how he ended up heading a chain of upscale Mexican restaurants. .

In order to make ends meet while Young was going to college, Young worked at a McDonald's, then worked as a waiter at a Chinese restaurant. His wife, Margaret, and he eventually opened their own small Chinese restaurant in a building that used to house a taco shop near the Texas Tech campus. The venture proved so successful that Young gave up any aspirations to become an electrical engineer and instead concentrated upon being a restaurant owner. His restaurant, Chinese Kitchen, had grown to 16 locations before Young partnered with Chuck Anderson and Dirk Rambo to develop the Abuelo's Mexican Food Embassy concept. They opened the first Abuelo's in Lubbock in 1989. Today, Young is the CEO of Food Concepts International, the parent company of Abuelo's.

As Abuelo's has grown, so has their reputation for good food at a good value. Consumer Reports has twice named Abuelo's as the best concept Mexican food restaurant in the nation. They've also been cited for their efforts to preserve traditional Mexican artwork, much of which adorns their restaurants across the country.

I pulled into Abuelo's just after 8 p.m. on a Monday night. Monday nights are usually not that busy for most restaurants (that's probably why the Italian place was closed) and it was no exception at the Abuelo's in Middleton. I had my choice of a table in the ornate dining area, or to sit at the bar. They had a couple flat screen televisions above the bar with basketball on them, so I sat there. There was one other guy at the bar, but he was getting his food to go.

The bartender told me they had a special on margaritas that evening and I quickly signed up for one of those. He asked if I needed a menu and I took one from him. The margarita was good and sweet and was packed with an eye-opening amount of tequila. He later brought out a basket of homemade chips and two bowls of salsa - one large and one small. The small bowl was a chipotle-based salsa and the larger one was their regular salsa with a spicy bite. The chipotle salsa had a nice smoky bite to it and was rather enjoyable. I would have rather had a larger bowl of the chipotle salsa.

The menu featured your typical Mexican food fare - enchiladas, burritos, fajitas and tacos, but it was far from the "American-ized Mexican" food that most Mexican food chains seem to have. Abuelo's had some interesting house specialties including stuffed chicken medallions (chicken breasts stuffed with chorizo, poblano peppers and cheese, then fried), pescado Guerrero (wood-grilled mahi-mahi with shrimp, scallops, mushrooms, roasted peppers, spinach and sliced avocado in a white wine sauce), and enchiladas de Cozumel (three crepe enchiladas stuffed with grilled shrimp, scallops, mushrooms and fresh guacamole). No, this was not your typical American-Mexican restaurant by any means.

They had an extensive combination menu at Abuelo's including Mi Abuelo's manjar (three enchiladas filled with beef, cheese and chile con carne and topped with two eggs), the Nogales (two large enchiladas, one filled with shredded beef and ranchera sauce, the other filled with grilled chicken and a sour cream sauce), and a chile relleno combination (one with blended cheese stuffed inside and the other stuffed with shredded beef). I looked up and down the menu trying to figure out what I was going to get for dinner and I finall decided upon the make your own enchilada combination. I got one with ground beef and chile con carne sauce, another with pulled pork with a green chile sauce, and a shredded beef with ranchera sauce. Papas con chiles - mashed potatoes with red and green chiles, a blend of four different cheeses, sour cream, garlic and jalapenos - came with the enchiladas along with a side of refried beans.

I had pushed away the chips and salsa long before the meal came out or I would have gorged myself on them and ruined my appetite. And I'm glad I did - when the bartender brought out my dinner I was amazed at the large portion of food on my plate. The three enchiladas took up half the large plate and the Papas con chiles and the refried beans took up the other half.

The first enchilada I tried was the shredded beef with the smoky ranchera sauce. While it was good, the sauce sort of overpowered the overall taste of the enchilada.

I next tried the pulled pork with the green chile sauce. The pork was tasty and tender and the green chile sauce was just excellent. It was much better than the shredded beef enchilada with the ranchera sauce.

Finally, the ground beef taco with the chile con carne sauce was good, but not as good as the pulled pork. But I would rank it number two of the three I had that evening.

But I have to tell you, it's rare that the highlight of the meal is a side dish, but the papas con chile was just out of sight. As I was eating bite after bite of the potatoes, I thought to myself that it had to be easy to make. My wife makes a great garlic/cream cheese mashed potato recipe that is outstanding. I usually don't like to eat potatoes on their own, they're usually too bland. But Abuelo's zipped up their mashed potatoes with mild chiles, a blend of Mexican cheeses, sour cream and a hint of garlic with a little bite from chopped jalapenos. Finding the right combination would be the key.

The surprising thing about the whole meal is that the combination was just $11.95. With a margarita special for $3.00 and a Dos Equis Amber beer at $3.75, my meal was under $19 bucks before tax and tip. It was an outrageous value for pretty good Mexican food. And just trying the papas con chile was worth the price of admission for me.

Sometimes, the surprise you get from finding a good restaurant out of the blue makes it all worth while to be on the road. Abuelo's was one of those surprising finds and I wasn't disappointed in the least. If I make it back - and I probably will if I find another Abuelo's while I'm on the road - I'll modify my food order to not include anything with the ranchera sauce (good, but too overpowering) and go more with the green chile sauce. Oh, and the papas con chile. I can't forget that delectable dish! Yum!