Road Tips

Ribs at Creekside Bar and Grill - Davenport, IA

Right off the bat, I have to put a disclaimer on this post. The owner of Creekside Bar and Grill - Randy Adams - is a nearly lifelong friend. We've known each other for almost 40 years. And I've already written about the Creekside Bar and Grill here and here. It is one of the biggest good food secrets in the Quad Cities. They have great burgers, an outrageously great 10 oz. foot long hot dog and great chili. And now they are doing pork ribs. Good ribs. No, great ribs. I'm almost afraid to let the secret out because I'm afraid that they'll be overrun with people wanting their pork ribs.

But let me tell you the story anyway...

Randy Adams and Randy Brekke met while in an apprenticeship program at the Rock Island Arsenal nearly 20 years ago. They stayed close friends as Randy B. moved to Florida for about 10 years and then came back about four years ago to go back to work at the Arsenal. In the meantime, Randy A. had opened Creekside Bar and Grill and eventually took it over from his ex-wife a couple years after their divorce. Enter Lorrie Brekke, Randy B's oldest child. She and Randy hooked up after Randy B. moved back and they eventually got married last year. So for the sake of painting the picture, Randy B. is Randy A's father-in-law.

Randy B. is also what I would call an accomplished barbecue enthusiast. I've learned a few things from Randy B. over the years and have incorporated it into my barbecue world. A little over a year ago, Randy B. got to thinking that he could take an old conventional kitchen oven and turn it into a smoker. He could put the rack of ribs in the oven like you would with any other food, but use the bottom drawer that usually is used to store pans and such as the smoking chamber. He put it up on cinder blocks in his back yard and it worked great. He could get about 8 to 10 racks of ribs in the oven, the smoke would permeate the oven through the internal vents, and he could get a nice even temperature around the ribs. He'd cook the ribs for 4 hours, then take them inside to his real oven in the kitchen and cook them for another 4 hours. It worked slick and the ribs were delicious. He called it his "Redneck Smoker".

Randy B. began to provide Creekside Bar and Grill with his ribs and the initial reaction among the few who tried them was overly positive. He also made a wonderful homemade barbecue sauce that I have to say is one of the best homemade barbecue sauces I've ever had. It has a sweet and smoky flavor to it with just a small bite of spicy flavor at the end. I like it on French fries when I have them as a side at Creekside.

Randy also has his own homemade rub that he uses on the ribs. He cooks his ribs dry - something that I like to do with my barbecue, rather than slather the meat in sauce which will burn and detract from the taste of the meat. I've been trying to get him to give me the recipe for both his rub and the barbecue sauce, but that's a closely guarded secret.

As demand grew for Randy B's pork ribs, he had to figure out how to make a bigger smoker, one that he could use behind Creekside or take to other places if they asked for Creekside barbecue catering. A lady who frequents Creekside told Randy that she had a line on an old fuel oil storage tank - something that Randy B. was looking for when he started to draw out his design for a smoker. With the help of a welder in Bettendorf, Randy B. transformed this fuel tank into a portable smoker, complete with a trailer and hitch. They were able to fashion some racks attached to a rod that went to an electric motor that acted like a Ferris wheel inside, turning the racks of ribs to even out the heat and smoke while cooking. He also got an old top from a gas grill to act as the smoke box that he put off to the side and used a fan to push the smoke into the cooking chamber.

On paper, it was rather ingenious on Randy B's part. But in real life, he had some problems from the start. The fan melted because it got too hot near the wood box. The motor to run the racks was too small. The rod they used to attach the racks turned out that it was also too small and needed to be larger in diameter. There was heating problems and a handful of other things that he had to sort out before he could really get into smoking ribs and other meat in his smoker. Being a resourceful guy, Randy B. got things sorted out and the smoker is up and running on a regular basis just off the beer garden at Creekside. In addition to ribs, Randy B. can take out the racks and use a spit for doing a pig in the smoker. He's done that a couple times. He can also put a wire rack on top and be able to smoke pork butts or brisket if he wants.

Randy B. (pictured above right) cooks the ribs for about 4 hours at 350 degrees, then transfers them to a table top steam cooker in the kitchen at Creekside for another 4 hours. After the ribs are cooked, they put them in the refrigerator and then re-heat them when ordered. More and more rib joints are doing this - Cactus Bob's in Des Moines is one - and I'm beginning to believe this is a great way to do barbecue because the taste of the rub and the smoke flavor gets all through the meat and it's just wonderful. Some barbecue purists say that's cheating, but after having some good barbecue at both Creekside and at Cactus Bob's, I'm starting to think that it may be the way to go.

I went into Creekside a while back just to try some of the ribs from the new smoker. You can order the ribs either in 1/4 slab, 1/2 slab (Randy B. cooks 'em half slab as shown above) and full slabs. Hand-cut French fries come with the ribs. Oh, and Randy B's homemade barbecue sauce. I can't forget about that great stuff.

I ordered a 1/4 slab of ribs. I asked for some extra Randy B's barbecue sauce so I can dip my fries in it, as well. After a bit, Stephen brought me out a platter of ribs and hand-cut fries. I'm sure that he threw a couple extra bones on there for good measure just because I eat there a lot. The ribs were meaty, juicy and literally falling off the bone. There was a nice smoke ring deep into the meat and the overall taste was just wonderful.

In order to get fall off the bone ribs, you can do it two ways - the correct way of cooking the meat low and slow, or the wrong way of parboiling the meat before you stick it on a grill. There are two rather well-known places in the Quad Cities who are famous for their ribs who will parboil the meat before they cook it on a grill, then they slather the meat with a sweet sauce to try and bring back the taste of the meat that they cook out in the boiling process. Randy B's ribs were the former - he cooks his at a little higher temperature than I would cook the ribs, but these were far from dried out or overdone. They were damn fine ribs.

Randy and Lorrie Adams are always looking for ways to improve on the food at Creekside Bar and Grill. Between the great burgers and now the great barbecue, Creekside Bar continues to be one of the best kept secret for food in the Quad Cities. The ribs are just fantastic and for a homemade barbecue sauce, I've not had one that is finer. But please don't tell anyone because I don't want the place to be overrun with people who will buy all the ribs up before I can get more. Let's just keep it our little secret.

(Update - Creekside Bar and Grill was sold to a group in February of 2015 and they are planning on turning it into a sports bar.   They are planning on changing the menu and revamping the building to be more of a sports bar/restaurant.  Meanwhile, Randy Brekke has informed me that he is looking for another location - or possibly his own spot - in which to do barbecue.)

 

Kauffman Stadium - Kansas City

With the end of the 2011 Major League Baseball season today, it's always a melancholy time of the year for me. Summer is over, winter is closing in and, to me, there is nothing more lonely than a baseball field in the dead of winter. Oh, I know the playoffs and World Series are coming up, but for me baseball is over for the season. I may give a cursory glance at a playoff game on TV, but I don't like to watch the insipid network coverage of Major League Baseball. However, to get one last baseball fix in before it all ended, I had to go to Kansas City for some meetings last week and I was able to take a night out and go to Kauffman Stadium to see the Royals play the American League Central Champions Detroit Tigers.

People in Kansas City were optimistic before the season started that the young Royals ballclub was going to make a big splash this year. With one of the best minor league feeder systems in all of baseball, many observers felt that Kansas City could have a surprising year, but the majority of the baseball pundits felt the Royals were possibly a couple three years away from contending once again. Even with a quick start that saw them at and/or near the top of the division standings the first month of the season, the Royals faded quickly after losing at least five games in a row two times in the months of May and June. The Royals will end the season firmly entrenched in fourth place of the AL Central division.

With the anticipation of better days ahead for the Royals, Kansas City fans came out and supported the home team this season. Nearly 110,000 more people went through the gates of Kauffman Stadium this past season versus the 2010 season. And with the renovation of the stadium three seasons ago, it's much more of a fan-friendly environment - definitely on par or even above most major league baseball stadiums.

I had not been to the renovated stadium during my recent travels to Kansas City. I think the last time I was there was 2008 when I went to a game with a local dealer. At the time, renovation work was fully underway and was completed in time for the start of the 2009 season. I'd been asked by a handful of Kansas City area people during my travels over the last couple of years if I'd been out to the "new stadium". I had to chuckle thinking that Kauffman Stadium has been around since 1973 when it was originally known as Royals Stadium. Although it wasn't really new, people in Kansas City felt it was new to them.

Since I knew I was going to be doing a lot of walking around to look at the renovated stadium, I got a standing room only ticket for the game against the Tigers. According to the chart at the ticket window, standing room only tickets run $10 bucks. But the lady at the ticket window said they only had $11 dollar standing room only tickets that evening. I was too dumbstruck to ask, "Hey, what's the deal?", until I found out later that depending upon the night and who is in town to play the Royals standing room only tickets can run between $10 and $15 bucks. Actually, $11 bucks to attend a Major League Baseball game isn't too bad.

Upon entering the stadium, the first thing that struck me was how wide the concourses were compared to the pre-renovated Kauffman Stadium. Before the concourse under the grandstand was - maybe - 25 feet wide and when you tried to pack 30,000+ people into the place AND have the concession stands in the concourse, as well, it created bottlenecks and traffic jams of the most ungodly proportion. With the renovation, the concession stands were moved back about 20 feet giving people a wide walk way to and from their seats.

The renovated stadium also offered a 360 degree concourse completely around the stadium - something the "old" stadium didn't have. They added seats, a sports bar, family amenities and renovated their famous fountains and put in a new scoreboard in center field. This new area also allowed fans to stand just behind the fountains and watch the action from the outfield - something I sort of like to do. The outfield concourse also features a "Walk of Fame" with bronze statues of the three Royals whose numbers have been retired - George Brett, Frank White and Dick Howser - along with a statue of Ewing and Muriel Kauffman who brought baseball back to Kansas City in 1969 and for whom the stadium is named after.

Troubling to me, however, was the family fun area just past the outfield concourse area. It had a carousel, a video game room, playground equipment and a miniature golf course. Call me a traditionalist - or a fun-hater for kids - but I don't think I'd take my kids to a ballpark to ride a carousel, play video games or have a round of miniature golf.

However, one area of in the outfield just beyond the left field concourse was a small baseball field called the "Little K". It had an artificial surface and allowed for young kids to come onto the field and hit a few balls thrown to them by a worker. I thought this was a better thing for kids to do at a ballpark than ride a carousel or play miniature golf. Actually, this little kid (pictured bottom left), who probably wasn't much past the age of 3, was hitting the ball really well. He had an amazing swing for as little as he was. I was trying to set up my video camera on my phone to catch him in action, but he was done before I could get a quick video.

Also along the left field concourse at Kauffman Stadium is the new Kansas City Royals Hall of Fame. Not only did it have exhibits and displays from the 42 years the Royals have been in existence, but it also had displays for the Kansas City Monarchs of the old Negro Baseball League, as well as some for the old Kansas City Athletics.

There was a theater that had a short video presentation on the history of baseball in Kansas City, a number of kiosks and wall-displays of former Kansas City greats who played for the Monarchs or Royals over the years. It also had historical timelines of baseball history in Kansas City, features on Royals Cy Young and Gold Glove Award winners, and a timeline of Ewing Kauffman's efforts to not only bring baseball back to Kansas City, but on his efforts to build a new stadium for his Royals.

In a room with a large video display showing highlights of the 1985 World Series is the world championship trophy that the Royals won. I know this is really gonna rankle those of you who are huge St. Louis Cardinals fans because of the horrible call in Game Six that literally stole the World Series away from the Cards. But, to me, who is a fan of baseball, it was pretty neat to see up close.

Also in the Royals Hall of Fame was a display of 3,154 baseballs shaped into a huge number 5 for George Brett. The baseballs signified the number of hits Brett had in his 21 year career with the Royals. The bat that Brett used and the ball that he hit for his 3000 Major League hit late in the 1992 season are also on display embedded within the number 5. The Royals Hall of Fame had a guy standing near the display and he kept saying, "Please do not touch the baseballs. They are suspended on metal rods and we don't want the balls to get dirty." And almost as soon as he said that, some 30-something rube went over and tried to grab one of the balls. I just stood there, dumbfounded. I sort of looked at the guy who tried to grab one of the balls, then I glanced at the Hall of Fame worker and sort of pointed at the guy. The worker sort of shook his head and said, "I could scream 'Do not touch the baseballs' at the top of my lungs and people would still want to touch them."

I said, "Maybe you ought to just say nothing and when someone reaches out to touch a ball, yell "Hey! Get away from the baseballs!" He sort of chuckled over that.

One of the growing trends among major league baseball stadiums are in-house sports bars/lounges that serve food. Just beyond the right field wall is Rivals Sports Bar, the Kauffman Stadium sports bar that is open to the public. With a baseball theme and over two dozen televisions turned the Royals game it was actually a pretty cool place to hang out during the game. There was a little patio with waitress service next to it that overlooked the field just behind the fountains in right field.

Above right is the custom made 360 degree circular bar at Rivals. It allowed for people to stand at the bar and easily watch the action through the floor to ceiling windows that looked out onto the field. Even though there was a pretty good crowd there that evening (just shy of 27,000 people came out - about 2/3rds the capacity of Kauffman Stadium), I heard one guy remark that this was the least amount of people he'd ever seen in Rivals.

Of course, the game had to be played and I always like to get the first pitch of any Major League ball game that I attend. Here is the first pitch that evening from Kansas City's Luis Mendoza to the Tigers' Austin Jackson. In the starting line-up that evening for the Royals were five guys (out of ten - including the designated hitter) who started their seasons in Omaha for the Royals AAA team. Three of those guys were playing for the Royals when I was there earlier this season (to see my entry on my visit to Werner Park in Omaha, click here). As I said, the Royals have one of the best minor league systems - if not THE best minor league systems - in all of Major League Baseball. So there's cause for optimism among the Royals faithful for years to come.

I ventured up to the upper deck of the stadium to take a look around. They have two open areas that are sponsored by Proctor and Gamble that will allow people to stand and watch the game. There are designated standing room only areas along the outfield concourse areas, but I stood in a number of areas during this game and I wasn't hassled in the least. In fact, I had very helpful ushers ask me if I needed help finding my seat. When I told them I just wanted to stand to watch the game, they left me alone or, better yet, told me to enjoy myself. I found the staff at the renovated Kauffman Stadium to be overly friendly and helpful.

And, of course, if you're a regular reader of Road Tips you know that I have a scoreboard fetish when it comes to Major League ballparks. This is the Royals' CrownVision scoreboard that is a marked improvement over their old scoreboard. The CrownVision scoreboard is 106 feet high by 85 feet wide. It was designed, built and installed by Daktronics, a Brookings, SD-based manufacturer of high-end sports scoreboards and video screens. It has 1800 lines of high definition resolution and features line-ups for both the offense and defense, stats for the batter, inning-by-inning scoring and the count and outs. The scoreboard will then shift to a huge video display to show instant replays in high definition. Although it isn't the neatest scoreboard I've found in the Major Leagues, it was still pretty cool.

Beer and hot dogs are a staple for me at any ball game, major league or minor league. I always have to try the hot dogs at any given stadium. I got one of the Royals' hot dogs from a concession stand for $4.75 and a 22 oz. Bud Light for $9.00. The hot dog was overcooked and a little dried out from the warming drawer they kept them in. I would have graded the hot dog a C because the taste wasn't actually all that bad. But I would have preferred a sizzling hot dog directly off the grill. The beer, however, was very cold. And I like cold beer at a ball game.

Walking around later in the game, I happened upon a hot dog stand out along the left field concourse. I sort of went up to the place - called the Dugout Dog House - and took a look at the various styles of hot dogs they had to offer. They had Chicago-style hot dogs with the tomatoes, pickle relish, sport peppers and the works, the Royal Bacon hot dog with bleu cheese and real bacon bits and chopped red onions, the Island Dog with smoked ham, pineapple slices, mandarin orange chunks, with cole slaw and teriyaki sauce, and the El Diablo Dog with chili, pepper cheese, and jalapeno peppers. I was contemplating getting the El Diablo until the guy in front of me turned and said, "Man, the All-Star dog is the best. They put pulled pork on top of a dog, cover it in barbecue sauce, then put on pickles and cole slaw. Damn, is it good!"

The thought of any type of a tomato-based product on a hot dog or a brat almost turns my stomach. About the only tomato-based sauce I like on a brat or hot dog is the Secret Stadium Sauce at Miller Park in Milwaukee. But this guy talked so passionately about the All-Star dog that I had to give it a try.

The Dugout Dog House has either regular or foot long flat-grilled all beef hot dogs. The grill cook rolls the hot dogs to give them an even char on the outer casing. Just as I like 'em - hot off the grill. I followed the guy's lead in front of me and ordered a regular All-Star dog.

The grill cook pulled a plump all-beef hot dog off the grill, put it in the bun and then proceeded to slather it with copious amounts of pulled barbecue pork, topped with an equally large amount of cole slaw (pictured below left). Then he topped it off with dill pickle slices and a large squirt of barbecue sauce. I got a 16 oz. bottle of Bud Light to go along with it (although they did have a number of very good beers to choose from). The total cost for beer and specialty dog was $14.25. Ouch!

But from the first bite I have to say it was worth the price. The bun was moist and light, the top of which was piled on with the cole slaw, pulled pork and barbecue sauce. Once you got past that, the grilled hot dog was rich and flavorful. It was so much better than the nearly lifeless hot dog I got earlier in the evening. This was just an outstanding combination of taste sensations. In fact, it was one of the all-time top hot dogs I've ever had in my life. Remember, I'm not big on a lot of tomato-based product on a hot dog, but having the pulled pork with the barbecue sauce on top was out of this world.

And I'm not ashamed to admit that I went back later in the evening to get another one. However, this time it wasn't as good. They were getting ready to close up for the night after the 7th inning and the bun wasn't as moist and light as the first one, the hot dog wasn't quite as crisp as the first one. But the pulled pork and the cole slaw/barbecue sauce toppings were still wonderful.

I left soon afterward as the Royals ended up winning the game by a score of 10-2. The "new" Kauffman Stadium is a great place to watch a ballgame and the amenities - including a truly outstanding hot dog from the Dugout Dog House - are major league worthy. But, it's going to be another six months before I get fired up to hear the crack of the ball hitting the bat, along with warmer temperatures, sizzling hot dogs and ice cold beer. Winter bums me out, but knowing that baseball isn't that far off is what keeps me warm. And a trip back to Kauffman Stadium next year is a must for me. Especially for an All-Star dog.

 

Capitol Grill - Nashville, TN

During my trip to Nashville for the 2011 Summer NAMM show, my colleague, Ian, and I were invited to dinner by Brian Loudenslager, the founder and president of Lauten Audio, makers of high quality microphones for the professional music industry. Brian picked out the place and it was a good one - the Capitol Grill inside the historic and prestigious Hermitage Hotel in downtown Nashville (see map).

When I found out we were going to eat at the Capitol Grill, I immediately looked up the restaurant on the Internet. Not seeing the subtle difference in spelling (Capitol versus Capital) I went to the web site for the Capital Grille chain of upscale steakhouses. I had never been to a Capital Grille restaurant and I was sort of excited to finally eat at one. However, when I was trying to find the Nashville location on their web site, I was surprised to see that it was not listed. That's when I figured out that the Capitol Grill in Nashville is not connected with the Capital Grille chain.

The Capitol Grill in Nashville takes its name from the state capitol building in Nashville, located just a stone's throw from the restaurant. The Hermitage Hotel, which houses, the Capitol Grill, is one of the finest hotels in the south. First opened in 1910, the Hermitage has hosted politicians, famous actors, and the elite of the country music scene over the past 100 years. By the late 1990's, however, the hotel was tired and in need of some TLC. In 2000, a group calling themselves Historic Hotels of Nashville bought the property and went head to toe in redesigning and updating rooms and the other amenities of the hotel. Gone was the old Hermitage Grill and in came the Capitol Grill. They also updated the bar area of the place - simply called the Oak Bar. In 2003, the Hermitage reopened and it was soon awarded five stars by both AAA and Forbes Travel Guide for the comfort, technology and luxury each room offers.

Tyler Brown (left) is the executive chef at the Capitol Grill. His nickname is "Farmer Brown" as he uses a number of locally grown, farm fresh foods and ingredients in his work. Brown is a 1997 magna cum laude graduate from Johnson and Wales University's School of Culinary Arts in Charleston, SC. His first job was at the Peninsula Grill in Charleston, SC, before moving on to the Fearrington House in Chapel Hill, NC. He then became a partner and executive chef at Southern Comforts BBQ and Soul, an upscale comfort food restaurant in Charlotte, NC.

After the Capitol Grill opened in 2003, he was named the chef de cuisine at the restaurant working under the nationally recognized chef Sean Brock. Brock was the executive chef at the Peninsula Grill and hired Brown directly out of school. Brock stuck around for three years at the Capitol Grill before moving on to become the executive chef at the newly renovated McCrady's Restaurant in Charleston, SC, leaving the Capitol Grill in Tyler Brown's capable hands.

The Capitol Grill does have a sister restaurant out in Cheyenne, Wyoming, of all places. The Cheyenne Capitol Grill is located in the historic Plains Hotel in Cheyenne. Similar to its Nashville location, the Capitol Grill in Cheyenne specializes in what they call Western High Style cuisine with many of the foods on the menu locally grown. It's easily one of the finest restaurants in the whole state of Wyoming.

We met Brian in the outer lobby of the Hermitage Hotel around 7:30 and walked down a flight of stairs into the spacious dining room of the Capitol Grill. We were seating at a table toward the back corner, not far from the kitchen. The dining room was elegant with soft lighting from sconces and antique lamps. The chair backs were a woven pattern and rich to the touch. Small lamps sat a top the sturdy tables covered with thick white tablecloths. I was immediately impressed with the place and knew it wouldn't be a cheap meal.

We were given menus and Ian took a gander at the extensive wine list the Capitol Grill has to offer. Many of the vegetables the restaurant has to offer comes from the Farm at Glen Leven, a historic site that is maintained by the Land Trust for Tennessee. In 2010, the Land Trust allowed Tyler Brown to use some of the land as a garden growing heirloom tomatoes, potatoes (lots of potatoes!), squash, watermelon and other food items that he uses in his kitchen at the Capitol Grill. Brown even maintains much of the growing plants at the farm and will expand the land use for honey bees and has just begun to raise cattle at the farm for his own fresh beef.

While the menu isn't extensive, it is interesting with a handful of items such as roasted chicken and roasted domestic lamb, a grouper fish with something called butterbean chow chow and cucumber dashi on the side, as well as a vegetarian plate that featured Glen Leven-raised veggies with artichokes covered in a curry emulsion. Of course, there were steaks on the menu and that's sort of what all three of us were looking at getting.

Ian is much better versed in French and Italian wines than I and he picked out a bottle of the French Cote de Nuits Villages burgundy. Actually, that is one of the few French wines I'm somewhat familiar with and it is very good.

Each of us ended up getting a steak - I got the Painted Hills ribeye. It's a 16 oz. cut of naturally grown beef from Oregon. Of course, I ordered mine rare. Brian got the 10 oz. Painted Hills filet and Ian got the ribeye. The sides at the Capitol Grill come family style so more than one person can enjoy them. We ordered some of the truffles with mac and cheese, peas and cornbread, and fingerling potatoes confit to go with our meals.

For starters, Brian and I both got the Hunter's Plate - a mix of smoked and pickled foods including meats and vegetables. Ian, as always, got the Caesar Salad.

Before our food began to show up, I excused myself and went to the men's restroom. On the outside of the restroom, there was this plaque (pictured below) that touted the men's room as being rather unique. During the renovation at the hotel in 2003, the men's room was remodeled to be nearly the same as it was back in the 1930's.

Inside, the black and green color scheme accented the decor with art deco lighting and fixtures in the bathroom. Women are encouraged to take a look inside the men's room and as I was washing my hands after using the facilities, a man with a thick German accent yelled in the door, " 'allo? Anybody in zere?" I let him know that I was in there and he came in and said, "You donze mind if I bringz my vife in zere, do you? I vantz to getz a picturez of herz in ze menz roomz."

I said, "As long as I can get a picture of her, too."

He said, "No, go rightz aheadz!" So, that's the picture of the German guys wife in the men's room at the Hermitage Hotel above right.

The men's room was named the best public restroom in the nation in a poll conducted by USA Today in 2008. Actually, it was kind of nice.

Ian's salad and Brian's and my Hunter's Plate come out to the table not long after I returned. The Hunter's Plate had a mix of ham's, prosciutto and salami, along with small containers of pickled vegetable confit and some lettuce greens on the side with some pickled onions on top. Grilled homemade bread came with the plate and I have to say that it was very good. It was light, yet had a great taste to the smoked and cured meats. Brian was more than impressed with the Hunter's Plate. "It's like they just took the meat out of the smokehouse," he said.

Time marched on into the night after we finished our first courses. Not knowing Brian very well (we met for the first time that evening) and trying to learn about his product made the time pass rather easily. But after awhile, we noticed that it was getting close to 9 p.m. and our steaks had not shown up. It wasn't long after that that our waiter came up and apologized for the delay in our meals. A couple large parties where in the restaurant (including a large table of loud and somewhat obnoxious women seated not far from our table) and they were getting behind in the kitchen. We told them that we understood, but that we were getting pretty hungry.

Our food finally made it to the table and this is my ribeye served in a small cast iron dish. A cream sauce was on top and it was laying in it's own juices. From the first bite, I was in ecstasy. The steak was juicy, tender and overly flavorful. It was cooked exactly as I wanted, red rare. It was a large steak that had a lot of marbling in it, so the taste was exquisite.

Brian and Ian were both impressed with their steaks. Brain's filet was literally falling apart with each stroke of his knife. Ian said that his steak was even better than the ribeye he got at Merchants Restaurant the night before. "And that was a great steak at Merchants, too" Ian exclaimed.

The sides were also very good. I did get a hint of a truffle taste with the truffle, mac and cheese. I'm not big on peas or cornbread, but it's a good Southern dish that Brian wanted to try. He said the bread were wonderful and the peas were cooked perfectly. I tried a couple three bites of the fingerling potatoes confit - basically mashed potatoes. And they were pretty good, as well. The truffles with mac and cheese was a big hit at the table.

After we finished our meal, the restaurants manager, a very petite young lady named Hannah, came by to apologize for the delay in our meal. She offered each of us free dessert and coffee, but I was so stuffed from the huge steak that there was no way I could eat anything else. Brian and Ian were in the same boat and we declined her offer. When the bill was brought out, Brian picked it up and Hannah came over to explain that she had directed our waiter to take 15% off the price of the meal for being so late in coming to the table. That was a generous token on her part for something that really didn't detract from the meal.

The Capitol Grill isn't overly cheap, but if you want to get a great meal in a great setting with great service in Nashville, it's going to be tough to find a place finer. Just going for a drink at the Oak Bar and then stealing a quick look at the men's room would still be enough for most people to try. The Capitol Grill was one of the finest dining experiences I've enjoyed over the past few years.

Tandoor - Bloomington, MN

It had been a long day of driving, stopping at accounts between Davenport and the Twin Cities, when I got into my hotel in Bloomington, MN one evening earlier this summer.  I have an application on my smart phone that allows me to see what restaurants are in the area.  I wasn't too thrilled with going across the parking lot to Joe Senser's for a burger and few beers, so I looked up what was in the immediate vicinity of the hotel.  A name that came up and one that wasn't far at all from the hotel was an Indian restaurant called Tandoor.  Looking to expand my knowledge about Indian food, I set off in that direction.

Tandoor has been in business since the mid 80's when Kul and Sarita Kalra opened their original restaurant on E. Hennepin, caddy-cornered from Surdyk's across the Mississippi River from downtown Minneapolis.  After  the city renovated their building and jacked up their rent, and seeing a need to grow their business, they found a new location about 1996 in a secluded strip mall of Bloomington off of American Blvd. at the end Morgan Circle just behind the Southtown Center shopping complex (see map).  Tandoor specializes in Southern Indian cuisine, clay oven specialties and has a number of Indian-inspired seafood entrees along with vegetarian dishes.  At lunch, they also feature an all-you-can-eat buffet where you can try a little bit of everything.

 It was around 8:30 when I got into Tandoor.  I was greeted by a young man and seated at a table and given a menu.  Tandoor's interior is similar to many other Indian restaurants I've been in lately - well lit with a Southern Asian motif throughout the restaurant.  They were busy and I noticed that a number of a India natives were eating in the place - always a good sign in an Indian restaurant.  

After my experience with Tandoori chicken at the Himalayan restaurant in the Chicago area, I knew that any clay oven entrees were probably not going to happen for me this particular evening.  Tandoor featured a number of curried dishes, lamb and goat entrees (sorry, had the goat before and will pass), the aforementioned seafood entrees, as well as the normal chicken dishes such as vendaloo, tikka masala and madras, which is made with a coconut sauce in curry.  It's supposedly a delicacy in Southern India.  One thing that caught my eye was the chicken mushroom entree with boneless chicken breasts in a curry sauce with fresh mushrooms.  In fact, they may have had a dozen different varieties of entrees for the chicken alone.

I do remember liking the chicken vendaloo before - basically boneless chicken and potatoes in a somewhat spicy and tangy red sauce.  When the waiter finally came over to take my order after sitting there for 10 minutes, I ordered that.  I also ordered a side of garlic naan bread and a Taj Mahal beer.  I was beginning to sense that the service was a little less than desirable at Tandoor.   

I did get my beer right away, but it was sort of warmish in the bottle.  I didn't care - it had been a long day and I wanted a beer.  The Taj Mahal bottle is 22 oz. and it didn't take me long to nearly finish that bottle.  By the time my meal showed up, I was ready for another one.

I had hoped my garlic naan would be out before my meal, but it came out with my chicken vendaloo.  A waiter other than the guy who took my order brought out my food and I pointed to my empty bottle of Taj Mahal thinking that he'd get the idea that I wanted another one.  He picked it up and walked away.  I didn't get another beer and no one came to check on me the rest of the meal.  

A side of rice was served with the chicken vendaloo and I added some of both together.  First of all, I don't know if it was good vendaloo or not, other than the fact that it tasted very good to me.  So, I'm guessing it was good.  The sauce was excellent with a minor bite of spiciness to it.  But the highlight of the meal was dipping the garlic naan into the vendaloo sauce.  Oh, boy!  The garlic naan was outstanding.  I've not had a lot of garlic naan during my Indian food excursions, but it was just wonderful.  

I noticed a guy next to me was having one of the many vegetarian meals they feature at Tandoor.  In fact, Tandoor is considered by many to be one of the top vegetarian restaurants in the Twin Cities.  But he was also having the same problem I was having.  Once our meals came out, they pretty much forgot about us.  I really did want another beer, but ended up just drinking water with the rest of my meal.  Then when we both were ready to leave, no one was around where we could get our checks.  The guy finally just got up and went up to the cash register and stood there for about two minutes before one of the waiters saw him.  Then he had to go find his waiter to get his check.  

I sat at the table for another five minutes waiting on my check.  Finally, a waiter came around with a pitcher of water and offered to fill up my glass.  I said, "No thanks, I really need my check, though."

And it was another full five minutes, at least, before my waiter came with my check.  By this time, I was fuming.  I was tired and I really wanted another beer. (Thankfully, there was a liquor store just down the way in the strip mall and I got a sixer to take back to my room.)  The waiter didn't get a very good tip from me.

Overall the food at Tandoor was very good.  I liked it tremendously.  The service plain sucked.  And that's too bad.  As much as I liked the food at Tandoor, I'll have to seriously think about going back in the future.  Bad service overshadows good food in my book, and unfortunately for my experience at Tandoor, it left a bad taste in my mouth. 

Behind the Scenes at the 2011 River Roots Live

The 7th annual River Roots Live festival was recently held in LeClaire Park in downtown Davenport and, once again, I was the stage manager/announcer/parking attendant/janitor/paymaster and whatever else needed to be done behind the stage area. I've done River Roots Live for six of the seven years of its existence - the one year I didn't work the event turned out to be a financial disaster, and the Davenport Chamber (now the Quad City Chamber) took over the event and folded it in with the highly popular Rib Fest. The Rib Fest has been going on for 14 years, and I've worked each one of those running the stage area with the exception of the first year in 1998.

It takes a lot of hard work and planning to pull off an event like River Roots Live. After last year's event, our planning and production team was pretty much burned out and we all said, "This is it - we're not doing another one of these."

But Marcy Hyder from the Quad City Chamber called me in March and said, "Well, are you up for another one?"

I said, "Wait a minute! I thought you said you were through!"

Marcy said, "Yeah, I know. I know."

In addition to Marcy heading the planning for the festival once again, we had Kate Benson and Tom Swanson from the River Music Experience booking bands, Ellis Kell from the R.M.E. coordinating the "Junior Jam" sessions, Scott Rexroat from Rexroat Sound (and his very competent and professional crew) doing the sound, staging and lighting again, Kyle Carter from the QC Chamber handling marketing of the event (and who took many, if not all, of the pictures in this entry), and Marcy's assistants Abbey Nagle and Jeanna Trenkamp, along with their summer interns, Kelsey (who I kept calling Ashley by mistake) and Nichole who were all a big part of helping pull off another big event like this. Chris Mandle and his crew handled the beer delivery once again and did a stellar job of helping keep the tubs full of beer. I've also got to give a shout out to Dale Sievert from the Davenport Police Department and Tom Flaherty, Marcy's boss at the QC Chamber, for their efforts in making the event a big hit once again. And I also have to thank Mike and Michele Monfort for their continued great food for backstage catering. Finally, I have to give a shout out to my lovely wife, Cindy, who helped us all out in a lot of different capacities once again this year.

Over the past couple three years, Mother Nature hasn't cooperated with us. Last year, it rained out a portion of the Friday night program. The two years previous to that, flooding in LeClaire Park meant that we had to venture onto the streets of Davenport. (To see my previous entries on River Roots Live, click here, here, and here.) This year, we were back in LeClaire Park and even though rain was a distinct possibility during the weekend, we were pretty blessed with good weather for a large portion of the event. It rained on early Saturday morning - enough to leave mud puddles in some areas of the backstage (I'll talk about that in a moment) - but since it had been so dry, the ground sponged up much of the water and by mid-morning on Saturday, it was mainly sunny and the grounds were mostly dry. It did rain ever so lightly on Saturday night for a brief moment, but we didn't lose any of the crowd and actually it turned out to be a record night with well over 25,000 people in the park. (This picture is just before Blues Traveler hit the stage on Saturday night.)

Since River Roots Live is a free event, the event is predicated upon selling beer to help defray the costs of the event. Lots of beer. And we did just that. I'm not going to give out numbers of beer sales that I heard after the show was over on Saturday night, but I was amazed at how much beer was sold. And I was told afterward that many people were upset that the beer lines were so long that they just gave up and walked up the street to Sippi's and got beer up there and listened to the music from their outdoor patio.

Ribs are still a big draw for River Roots Live. We had six national rib vendors and a couple local guys for the ribfest portion of River Roots Live this year. We had some repeat vendors such as Desperado's, Chicago Barbecue and Texas Outlaws. But one big surprise was Uncle Bub's Barbecue from Westmont, IL, a place that I've eaten at a couple three times before. (To see my entry on Uncle Bub's, click here.) Since I'm pretty busy most of the time around the stage area, I don't get a chance to try much of the barbecue (to my chagrin). But I was able to try some ribs and pulled pork from Big Boned Barbecue, the winners of the "People's Choice" award at this year's River Roots Live/Ribfest. Both were pretty damned good.

This year also featured an appearance by the world famous Budweiser Clydesdales (above right). Chad Pregracke from Living Lands and Waters, a great environmental group based out of the Quad Cities that goes around cleaning up the nation's waterways from all the junk and crap that people throw into rivers, was to receive a large grant from Anheuser-Busch during River Roots Live this year. He was also offered the Clydesdales to use as a promotion and he wanted to have them at the festival. Well, it was a logistical nightmare to have these large animals pulling a Budweiser beer wagon down a narrow street with thousands of people around them. Scott Rexroat and I joked (but were also somewhat serious at the same time) that the whole thing was going to turn into a Clydesdale stampede. But long story short, their appearance came off without any incident.

Music started on a beautiful Friday evening with the local band, the Candymakers (below left), starting things out. Last May, the band won a spot and will represent the state of Iowa in the International Blues Challenge in Memphis next February. I've worked a couple three events with them now and they're good people and put on a great show.

Following the Candymakers, Kevin B.F. Burt and the Instigators from Iowa City came to play on the side stage at River Roots Live. I've seen Kevin (pictured above right) play both with his band and as a solo act for a number of years, but had never met him before.  And it's a wonder as it turns out that Kevin and I know a lot of the same people.  He did a great job and the early evening crowd really got into his music.  

One of my highlights of the Friday night portion of the evening was the appearance of the Kansas City-based blues band, Trampled Under Foot.  This band consists of two brothers and a sister who grew up in a household with parents who played blues music in bands around the K.C. area.  About four years ago, I just happened to click on Iowa Public Television and there was this band with a male guitarist and a female bass player - both of who played left-handed - who were performing from the Simon Estes Riverfront Amphitheater in Des Moines.  I was immediately drawn in, not only because of the music, but because I'm a left-handed guitar player. (I'm not very good at it, but I still dabble from time to time.)  It's extremely rare to see a group with one left-handed guitarist/bassist in the band, let alone TWO of them.  

Trampled Under Foot consists of guitarist Nick Schnebelen (above left) and his sister, Danielle, on bass, and brother, Kris, on drums (above right).  The siblings won the International Blues Challenge in Memphis in 2008 and have garnered a growing following around the U.S. over the past few years.  They were all just very nice and easy to work with.  They stuck around for a good portion of the evening before they hopped back into their van to head to the East Coast for a round of dates out there.  

Speaking of easy bands to work with, the Gin Blossoms headlined the Friday night portion of River Roots Live.  Like most national bands that play the festival, I don't have a lot of interaction with the band members as much as I do with the production staff they have.  The two guys that I worked with primarily, Brian Allensmith, the Gin Blossoms production manager; and Gary McIntyre, the band's road manager, were great guys to work with.  They do around 100 shows each year and both were overly impressed with how professional we all were in regard to getting them up and going from the time they showed up around noon to the time they left about midnight that night.  Most of the band members were back at the hotel, but lead singer Robin Wilson hung out a good portion of the day with the production crew.  At first, I wondered who this shirtless guy hanging out behind the stage was and I finally had to ask Gary McIntyre if he knew him.  He said, "Oh, yeah.  That's Robin, the lead singer."  I got to talk to him a few times and he was a great guy, down to earth and very unassuming.  He did turn into a rock star after the show inviting girls back to their RV/dressing room and wanting to stay there and party with them all night long before I finally had to ask Gary to get him to vacate the grounds.  But all in all, they were great to work with. 

During their encore, Robin Wilson told the crowd, "You know, we'll do about 80 to 90 shows this year and we have to put this event in our top ten."  I was pretty happy to hear that.   

Another side story about the Gin Blossoms - Robin Wilson had left behind his iPod Shuffle in the RV they were using as a dressing room.  We found it after cleaning it up later that evening and I called Gary McIntyre to let him know we had it .  He called me back on Sunday to thank me for picking it up and to give me their corporate FedEx number and an address where to send it.  He said, "I just want to let you know that we all had a great time the other night.  The guys couldn't stop talking about how well everything went with your festival.  It was really first class."   

He contrasted River Roots Live to a show the Gin Blossoms did the following evening in Atlanta.  "It was a benefit concert that they changed the venue three times on us," he said.  "I guess a car dealership had to put up the money after the original promoters ran out of money."  

Gary told me that the stage didn't have a roof and, as you can guess, it rained, heavily, an hour before the gig.  He said the rain ruined two on-stage amplifiers and half of the stack of amplifiers used to run the P.A. system. Gary told me, "The people running the event were nowhere to be found once the shit began to hit the fan.  We had to literally pull the whole thing together by ourselves and the small crew that they had."

Gary told me that our festival was one of the best ones that they've ever played at. He said, "From the time we were booked for your show, before, up and through showtime - and now afterward - it was one of the most organized and easy shows we've ever played. And when it's easy for us, it's easy for the band and they play better." He told me the touring community is pretty tight knit and he sees the tour managers and production managers of a lot of bands all the time. Gary said, "I'll let 'em all know how well you guys do things in Davenport."   

A crowd estimated at just over 10,000 people came to listen to the Gin Blossoms on Friday night and, thankfully, many of them stayed to listen to Jason Isbell and 400 Unit.  Jason Isbell is the former guitarist with the great alternative rock band, The Drive-By Truckers.  Isbell, a native of Northern Alabama, joined the Truckers in 2001 and recorded three albums with them before he split from the band after his divorce from Drive-By Truckers bassist Shonna Tucker in 2006.  Isbell has been getting some rave reviews for his recent album, "Here We Rest", and things are beginning to come around for him.  

I talked to him at length before and after the show.  I told him that I really liked his work with the Drive-By Truckers.  He was very appreciative that I brought that up.  "When I went out on my own about five years ago, I didn't know where it would end up," he told me.  "I had my doubts and things were tough for a long time, but we're finally starting to put it together."   

We had an 8 a.m. stage call for the load in for Blues Traveler and I had my alarm set for 6:45 as I was expecting a 7:30 phone call from Gina Thompson, the road manager from Blues Traveler (and the subject of the song "Gina" from Blues Traveler's first album).  However at 6:05, I was awaken by the sound of thunder outside my bedroom window.  I went into the office and looked up the weather radar on my computer.  A large thunderstorm cell was just about to hit the area.  And when it did, it poured.  We got about a 1/3 of an inch in 20 minutes.  Thankfully, the ground was so hard and dry what didn't run off right away was soaked up into the ground.  

 However, a curve ball had been thrown at us about six weeks prior.  The picture to the left is the backstage area behind the bandshell at LeClaire Park.  This was taken just as construction was beginning on a new addition to the bandshell that would hold two dressing rooms, a couple permanent restrooms, and a handicap access to the stage area.  By the time River Roots Live came about, they had a good portion of the addition up, but the backstage area (that we use extensively during the festival) was a large dirt pile.  In other words, we didn't have a backstage area for River Roots Live.

I was actually the one who alerted Tom Flaherty of the QC Chamber to this construction after it had initially started.  He said he didn't know anything about it.  A few calls to the Davenport Public Works department by Tom also failed to come up with an answer as to who made the decision to allow Russell Construction to begin on the bandshell addition even with three or four more large events coming up in the summer.  I found out much later that a guy in the Public Works department, who had a reputation for being somewhat of a turd to work with, authorized the start of construction after the Mississippi Valley Blues Festival ended on the 4th of July weekend.  And he did it just before he retired on June 30, so the city couldn't reprimand him as the construction was supposed to begin in September.  Or as Tom told me, "This guy gave the city one more big "F You!" before he retired.  

Since it was a big dirt pile, Tom authorized the city to come in with five large dump truck loads of gravel - after considerable prodding by Marcy - to cover a large portion of the dirt so we could, at the very least, use part of the backstage area as a drive through to get back to the RV dressing rooms and catering that we placed closer to the river.  When the rains came, the water was repelled by the gravel and a couple dirt areas that were still exposed became muddy quagmires.  After the show on Saturday night, I playfully went over to Tom and showed him the dry gravel and then a deep, muddy hole that still had water in it from the downpour that morning.  I said, "Hey, Tom!  Look at this!"  I pointed to the dry gravel and said, "Gravel."  Then I pointed to the muddy hole and I said, "Dirt.  Aren't you glad that you had them bring in gravel on Thursday?"  

He sort of put his head down and said, "I know. I know..."  Tom's a great guy.  

The sun had come out by 9 a.m. when we were setting up Blues Traveler for their show that night.  I had worked with Blues Traveler one time before about seven or eight years ago and while the guys in the band were great guys, the road crew was not a likable bunch - well, at least one of the guys was sort of a prick to work with.  I got to know Chan Kinchla, the guitarist for Blues Traveler (Chan is in the corner on the far left in picture on right), during their previous visit and it was good to see him again.  I reminded him of the time I ran into him at O'Hare Airport in Chicago when I was on my way to Montreal and he had a morning flight that was taking him from Fargo to Cleveland.  He said, "That's right!  That was right after we played here the first time!"  

However, on this pass through Davenport, Blues Traveler's crew were great to work with.  Gina was with the band the first time they had played at the bandshell in LeClaire Park and she didn't remember playing there.  She said, "When we pulled up, they said we'd played here before.  I didn't think we had.  But then our bass player (Chan's brother, Tad Kinchla) pulled himself up out of his bunk and looked out the window of the bus.  He said, 'Is that a minor league park over there? (John O'Donnell/Modern Woodmen Park is next door.)  Yeah, we've played here before.' "  

When I told Gina that my memories of working with Blues Traveler the first time around wasn't very pleasant, she wondered what the deal was.   I said, "You had a guy that was just a prick the whole time he was here."

Another guy working for Blues Traveler was standing there with Gina at the time and at the same time they both said, "Fisher!"  It was the former production manager/sound guy who was pretty high strung.  Gina said, "We were getting the reputation of a pretty difficult band to work with on the road.  We had to make a change and it wasn't long after we were here before that the band fired him."  

Scott Rexroat and I were talking at one point on Saturday night and he said, "Whoever hired these bands, I want to know if the first question out of their mouth was, 'Are you easy to work with?'  Because every band we've dealt with this weekend has been great!"      

He told me that one of the production guys in the Gin Blossoms had told him the day before that they had fired their long-time drummer about two years ago and had him replaced because he was so difficult to work with.  "I guess he was pretty demanding with the local (production) crews and the band was getting a bad reputation within the touring industry because of this guy," Scott said.  "It was getting to a point that if a venue booked the Gin Blossoms, they never wanted them back."  

I told him the story about the story Gina Thompson had told me about their former production manager that they had let go.  The Blues Traveler show from seven or eight years ago was the first time I'd worked with Scott and we've been good friends ever since.  He said, "Yeah!  I remember that prick!  Oh, he was a piece of work."  

Music started at noon on Saturday and by that time the sun was high in the sky with a few puffy white clouds.  It was still a little humid, but there was a nice breeze out of the north helping keep things very nice.  A good-sized crowd had come in early in the afternoon and it just kept filling up the rest of the day.  By the time Blues Traveler came on, there were more than 25,000 people in the park.  It was just packed.   

We had another curve ball thrown at us late in the morning.  Chamberlin, a band from Vermont, had their tour van break down on the way to the show the night before and they wouldn't be able to make their appearance later in the day.  Kate Benson and I huddled and decided to give the five afternoon bands an extra 10 minutes to play to make up for the 50 minute set that we were going to lose.  It actually worked out pretty well.  Each band that we told we were going to give an extra 10 minutes on stage were literally ecstatic.  To them, playing River Roots Live was a big deal.  

One band that I was really looking forward to seeing was the Kris Lager Band, a blues band based out of Nebraska and an act that I'd seen before during a trip out to Omaha a few years ago. I even have one of their CD's in my collection, I liked them so much.  The only problem was that they were woefully late getting to the venue.  Along with River Roots Live going on, the Quad City River Bandits had a game that evening and it was to feature fireworks.  They had their biggest crowd of the season and traffic downtown was a mess.  Kris Lager and his band were stuck in traffic.  By the time they finally got parked, it was 20 minutes before their scheduled appearance.  But with our great stage and sound crew and the fact that they didn't have a lot of equipment for a four piece band, we were able to get them set up, do a line check for monitors and sent them off right at 7:30 p.m.  

After he played a blistering set that had people screaming for more music, I was able to talk a little bit with Kris Lager.  He said, "I heard you were freaking out that we were running late."  

I said, "In all the years of doing an event like this, I've never had a band show up so late.  And then we were able to get you guys up and going withing 20 minutes.  So, yeah, I was freaking out a bit."   

Kris told me later in the evening, "We've done hundreds of festivals like this over the years and I have to say that this is probably my all-time favorite.  The crowd, the river being right there, the whole set up.  This is first class."   

Wisconsin-based Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons was a band that was scheduled to play River Roots Live last year, but were canceled due to the rain we had on Friday night.  Well, just after the Kris Lager Band began to play that particular night, it began to rain - but ever so lightly.  Enough that you knew it was raining, but not heavy enough that you were running for cover.  And it only rained off and on for about 45 minutes.  By the time Cory Chisel and his band took the stage, the little bit of rain caused some major malfunctions with the sound at the festival.  He had to play a good portion of his set with feedback issues and sound cut-outs.  It was all the Rexroat Sound crew could do to keep it from falling apart.  Cory Chisel wasn't too happy with the problems, but it was Mother Nature and not shoddy workmanship that was causing it to happen.  Still, he put on a good show, but told me afterward that he was pretty frustrated that the rain played havoc - again - with his scheduled appearance at River Roots Live.  "I want to come back next year," he told me.  "And I want it to be warm and sunny!"  

After the Clydesdales made their entrance with Chad Pregracke on the barrel wagon along with Budweiser executives and people from the local distributor with him, it was time for Blues Traveler.  The last time Blues Traveler played, the band all came together on a bus, with the exception of lead singer/harmonica player John Popper (pictured at left) who flew in for the gig.  This time, they all came on the bus, but Popper has some pretty peculiar rituals the day of the show. While the band and crew were staying at a hotel over in Bettendorf, Popper was placed in one of the nicer hotels in downtown Davenport.  Gina told me, "It's just better for John to be seperated from the band.  He goes through all these pre-show rituals and it takes him forever to get ready for a show."  

At the last Blues Traveler show I worked years ago, I sensed a little bit of "prima donna" syndrome with Popper as he didn't hang with the band by the side of the stage as they were getting ready for the show.  The guys in the band, especially Chan Kinchla, were all great guys, easy going and fun to joke around with.  When Popper came out of the bus to go on stage, he had a handler to show him the way to the stage.  

This time, Popper showed up with one of our van-driven runners about an hour before the gig.  He's had some health issues over the years and Gina said that it's tough for him to get up and down stairs.  When I showed her that he only had to go up about seven or eight stairs inside the bandshell to get to the stage, she was happy with that.  While the guys in Blues Traveler still milled about backstage before the gig started, Popper relaxed in the bus.  

But once they started, he was great.  During set up earlier that morning, they had his custom microphone that he uses for both vocals and playing his mouth harp on an old table that looks like he's used for 20 years.  I found it to be rather interesting with the volume control and the buttons for his Hammond Leslie bottom that he used to play his harmonica through. I know I was probably committing some sort of sin for a stage manager, but I had to get a shot of it.  

After the show was over, the band came off the stage and I happened to be near the bus.  Each one of them shook my hand, including John Popper, who told me, "Thanks for having us back.  This was a great show." 

Later in the evening, one of the guys from Blues Traveler was still hanging around after the show and he went up to Cindy who had a River Roots Live "staff" shirt on.  He sort of touched her arm to get her attention and he told her, "Great job.  You guys know how to put on a show."  

Cindy told me later, "All I could say was 'thank you!'  I wish he would have told someone else who worked a lot harder and more hours than me!"  

Closing out the 2011 River Roots Live was an L.A.-based rhythm/soul/funk performer Nikka Costa.  Last year, we had Grace Potter and the Nocturnals close up the show after Creedence Clearwater Revisited played.  Our hope was to keep a good portion of the people in the park up to the midnight closure of the festival.  But it didn't quite happen as well as we planned.  This year, however, once Nikka Costa and her very good band got to starting as soon as Blues Traveler got off stage, I was simply amazed at how many people stuck around for her set.  While a large portion of the crowd filed out after Blues Traveler, there was three to four times the crowd that stuck around for Nikka Costa than did for Grace Potter last year.  

 And put on a show she did!  I don't generally get to see much of the entertainment at River Roots Live because I'm usually so damn busy behind the stage, but I did make it a point to go out to the sound board and catch some of Nikka Costa's act.  She had the crowd in her hand.  Dressed in a glittery top with spandex pants and high boots, Nikka belted out tune after tune, played percussion, sank to her knees for effect.  The crowd was really into her.  She was a great performer and I can't say enough about her band.  They were tight and on top of it in the hour or so that she played.  

When Nikka Costa came off the stage after her last song and the band was still playing, I was there with a flashlight to illuminate the path off the back of the side stage.  I said, "That was a great show.  But I've got to tell you, you've got one helluva band!"

She sort of laughed and said, "They are very good, aren't they?"

We had very little problems during this year's River Roots Live and some brainstorming directly after the event gave us some great ideas for next year's festival in August of 2012.  Tom Flaherty wants the event to get bigger, going after big name bands rather than older bands that primarily tour on their name.   I don't know if we're quite ready for that, but as energized (but physically beat) as I was after this year's River Roots Live, I almost can't wait for next year. 

Pete's Hamburgers - Prairie du Chien, WI

Years ago when Cindy and I first started to date, she used to tell me of family outings to Prairie du Chien, WI and the highlight was to stop by Pete's Hamburgers, a small trailer that served steamed burgers. Cindy and I were in Prairie du Chien about 15 years ago and we stopped at Pete's to get a burger. While I'd never had a burger that was literally boiled on a flat top grill in water with onions, I wasn't overly certain that I cared for the taste at first. After having a Two Mits burger in Elkader - which does their burgers in the same fashion as Pete's - I knew I was hooked. The burgers are moist and juicy, and have a great taste to them.

It had been years since I had a Pete's burger and I happened to be driving through Prairie du Chien from LaCrosse just before the noon hour earlier this summer. I decided to stop at Pete's and get a burger.

There's a long and storied history regarding Pete's Hamburgers, a little place on Blackhawk Ave. in Prairie du Chien just across the street from the somewhat famous Stark's Sport Shop (see map). (Stark's is well-known in NE Iowa and SW Wisconsin as a place where hunters and fishermen can get all their supplies - including liquor.) Back after the turn of the 20th century, Pete Gokay was a member of the Prairie du Chien volunteer fire department. The fire department would hold fund raisers and events and Pete was on the food committee. He was in charge of cooking hamburgers and when there would be a lull in the action, he would put the cooked burgers in a pan simmering with warm water and onions to keep them from drying out from overcooking. When people began to ask for the burgers that Pete had in the pan rather than the ones hot off the grill, he knew he was on to something.

The Foley brothers who ran a saloon in Prairie du Chien knew that Pete Gokay was on to something, as well. They asked Pete to cook his simmered burgers on weekends and holidays. On nice days, Pete would cook his burgers outside the Foley Brothers Saloon at a table he had set up. The burgers - and Foley's - would soon become a big hit with people in and around the Prairie area.

Along with his brother in-law, Jack St. Jacque, Pete went around to county fairs, street carnivals, auctions, wherever large gatherings occured just to sell his simmered hamburgers. By this time, Pete was using a special spice concoction that he'd add to the water before placing the burgers and onions in with it. Finding that moving around his cooking "box" was a little too cumbersome, Pete decided to stay in one place to cook his burgers - right next to Foley's Saloon at the corner of Blackhawk Ave. and Beaumont Rd. in Prairie du Chien. In 1942, Pete custom built a trailer that was placed at Foley's. It turned out to be a convenient way of preparing, cooking and serving his hamburgers.

A few years later, a man from Elkader, IA who was a loyal customer of Pete's Hamburgers thought this type of burger would go over well in his hometown. He convinced Pete to sell him his trailer, but Pete relented only after he built a newer - and bigger - trailer for his Prairie du Chien location. The trailer that went to Elkader was the forerunner of Two Mits.

In the mid-50's, Foley's had sold out and Geisler's Restaurant opened in their old building. Pete Gokay (pictured at left) had a fall out with the new owners and he moved his trailer to the present day location at 118 W. Blackhawk on a site that is owned by Stark's Sport Shop. Pete ran his stand for over 60 years before dying in 1972. His son, Bob, ran the stand until he passed away three years later from cancer. Bob's wife, Phyllis, continues to run the stand today with the help of her 8 grandchildren. Just as it was years ago, Pete's Hamburgers is only open Friday, Saturday and Sunday from sometime in May thru the summertime and into the early fall, starting at 11 a.m. They stay open until 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and until 7 p.m. on Sunday.

Knowing that lunchtime crowds can get pretty big around Pete's, I was sort of pleasantly surprised to see that there were just two people at one of the two windows that are on the side of the Pete's trailer. The menu at Pete's is pretty basic - burgers, no cheese; pop, chips, and bottled water. I made the mistake of ordering two with cheese from the lady and she curtly, but pleasantly informed me, "No cheese!" She did ask me if I wanted onions on them and I said, "Sure!"

People generally line up before Pete's opens at 11 a.m. and they were already cooking up the second batch of the day on the old grill that has the burgers on one side and the onions on the other. A thin layer of seasoned water simmers the burgers on the flat grill with a ridge around the grill to keep the water in. The burgers literally suck up the seasoned water making them moist and tender. The seasoning is there to help bring the flavor back to the burger that is cooked out in the simmering process.

Pete's had tried to do other things in the past like chicken, barbecue and hot dogs, but it's been their tried and true burgers that have kept them open for years. Two Mits in Elkader has cheese for their burgers, and they also sell brats and hot dogs. Actually, the hot dogs at Two Mits are very good.

After serving up the burgers, wrapping them up in wax paper and putting them in the sack, I got a bottle of water to go along with my meal. At $3.50 a burger and $1.25 for the water, the bill came to $8.25. The burgers are pretty small and not as good of a value as you may get elsewhere. But it is Pete's and it's a pretty famous place in the region, especially with the history behind the place.

I took my two burgers back to the car and made sure that I laid out my "smeg towel" that travels with me to sop up any juice that comes off the burgers before it hit my shirt and pants. With a little ketchup and mustard on the burger along with the simmered onions, it's not much to see for a burger. And because the meat is simmered rather than fried, there's no marks on the hand-pattied burger.

While I'm almost certain there's probably not a lot of difference between a Pete's and a Two Mits burger, the Pete's burger seems to be a little drab in flavor. Oh, you can't deny that it's juicy, moist and tender. But like boiling any meat, you do lose some of the taste of the burger. The seasoning helps to bring back some of the flavor, as do the onions. I'm not saying that the taste is bad - it's not. It's different from a grilled burger and one that does require a little getting used to.

I guess the big difference - to me - between the Pete's burger and the Two Mits burger is the cheese. The cheese on top of a Two Mits burger really livens up their burger. It really helps the overall taste and that's why I've given it an honorable mention on my Best Burgers List. Without the cheese, I'm not certain that a Two Mits burger would taste any differently than a Pete's burger.

Still, Pete's is still one of the originals and as they like to tell people there were there long before McDonalds, Burger King, Dairy Queen or any of the other national or worldwide hamburger chains. People around NE Iowa and SW Wisconsin have long believed that a Pete's burger is the best and have thought so for over 100 years now. It's an acquired taste, for sure, but there's also something magical with a slice of Americana about Pete's Hamburgers. If you're ever in Prairie du Chien - or even in the NE Iowa/SW Wisconsin area - on a summer or early fall weekend, you have to stop at Pete's at least one time.

La Playa - Nashville, TN

After we finished setting up our small booth at the 2011 Summer NAMM show at the Nashville Convention Center, my colleague, Ian, and I began to walk back toward our hotel thinking about getting something to eat.  Mexican sounded good, especially a cold margarita.  We came upon an old alley way off 4th St. called The Arcade.  It housed some tourist shops and restaurants and we found a Mexican restaurant called La Playa about 3/4's down the way from the 4th St. entrance (see map).  We decided to give La Playa a try.

The Arcade, itself, is the oldest shopping complex in Nashville, and quite possibly the South.  It was built in 1902 and designed after a similar shopping arcade in Italy.  It's located in what was formerly the Overton alley and is in between 4th and 5th Streets in downtown Nashville.  It went through a major renovation in the past few years, but it's still somewhat of a tourist trap with trinket shops and specialty food outlets.  

 

The Arcade is two stories high and is covered with a glass roof the length of the building.  State flags hang from the upper walls of the Arcade.  And the thing that sort of amazed Ian and me was the fact that many of the restaurants in The Arcade were only open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.  (In fact, as a testament to how Nashville rolls up the streets at night, many restaurants that we saw away from the Lower Broadway area had limited their open hours to daytime only.)  It was getting close to 2 p.m. when we got into La Playa.

 

 

 

 

 

 The inside of LaPlaya is brightly colored with murals painted on stucco walls of a Mexican village courtyard on the main level.  But it's pretty small and I'm sure there could be some long waits for tables. There are a handful of tables on the first floor and a couple outside the front, but there are a larger number of booths and tables on the second level.  The upper level is where we were shepherded to and were placed in a booth.  

The first thing we found out was that LaPlaya didn't have margaritas.  Or beer, for that matter.  It was a non-alcoholic restaurant.  Well, so much for our plan of getting a margarita after set up at the convention center.  Ian got a soft drink and I just opted for water.

The menu at La Playa was also pretty limited and it wasn't all that adventurous.  It was the typical burritos, enchiladas, tacos - that sort of thing.  Chips and salsa were provided, but they didn't have much pizazz to the taste.

I ended up ordering a beef burrito.  Ian - you know, I don't remember what Ian got because I was so hungry and sort of upset that I couldn't get at least a beer with my meal.  We ordered up and in typical Mexican restaurant fashion the food came to us pretty quick.  Or it came out quick because they wanted us to eat up and get the hell out.

And, quite actually, my burrito was pretty good.  No, it was damn good.  It was large, full of seasoned beef and topped with a creamy white cheese that didn't hinder the taste of the meat.  The burrito was surprisingly good and I normally don't go for burritos all that often.  

Our lunch at La Playa was pretty cheap, too.  Even with a drink and a tip, the bill came to just a bit over 20 bucks.  It was a lot of food for a low price.  La Playa was a good value with above average food.  The only strikes against it that it doesn't serve alcohol.  Still, for a lunch place that is only open 3 hours a day, it probably doesn't need to serve alcohol to make money.  La Playa was a good find for a good and quick Mexican meal.     

Adrian's Tavern - Minneapolis

In my entry on Town Hall Tap last week, the basic story line there was that I accidentally went into that place when I was looking to go into Adrian's Tavern which is situated right next door on Chicago Ave. I was told by a local that the cheese-stuffed Juicy Lucy burgers (or Jucy Lucy, depending upon which tavern you favor) were among the best in town. I had probably been past Adrian's many times in my travels to Minneapolis as it is just down the street from one of my favorite Mexican restaurants, Pepitos (see my entry on Pepito's here). The day after I had gone to Town Hall Tap, I went to Adrian's for a Juicy Lucy for dinner.

Adrian's Tavern had been a long time destination for tons of Twin Citians for 80 years. The South Minneapolis location opened in 1931 as a steakhouse. After Prohibition ended, the place turned into a beer bar selling 3.2 beer and food. It had gone through a number of owners and in 1963 it was renamed Adrian's Tavern, after, presumeably, some guy or family named Adrian.

The tavern eventually ended up in the hands of Jim and Karen Pratt who turned it into a family friendly neighborhood tavern with a dozen different burgers on their menu, along with a turkey burger, brats, chicken and pork tenderloins. Unfortunately, and sadly, Karen Pratt passed away in July of last year leaving her husband, four children and 19 grandchildren. Jim Pratt continues to run Adrian's today.

It was around 7:30 when I got to the 48th and Chicago neighborhood in South Minneapolis (see map) and was able to find a place to park on 48th around the corner from Adrian's. This time walking PAST the Town Hall Tap, I went into the open door on the front side of Adrian's. There were seats open at the bar. The back bar area was somewhat cluttered and a large picture of Karen Pratt stood on a shelf. A Minnesota Twins baseball game was playing on a television tucked away up in the corner of the bar area.

Adrian's Tavern is long and narrow with booths along both walls. There's a gaming area toward the back of the place for the kids. It had a nice feeling to the place and I immediately liked it.

The restrooms are downstairs at Adrian's, and a word of warning - the men's restroom may have been the most despicable public restroom I've ever seen in a restaurant/bar. It appears they hadn't updated the restroom since the original owners opened in 1931. They had taken an apron to put over the men's urinal so people wouldn't use it. The floor was grimy and there was rust on the metal shelving over the heating elements. Even for me, it was pretty disgusting. Maybe only Booches in Columbia, MO makes the bathroom at Adrian's look clean. But, then again, Booches has great burgers, so that could be a common theme for these old places.

It had been a long, long day and I was interested in getting a couple beers and some food in me and then heading back to my hotel in Bloomington. I looked over the menu and saw that they did have their version of the Juicy Lucy. The guy who told me about Adrian's Tavern also told me their onion rings were pretty good. So that's what I ordered. The waitress/bartender said, "It will be about 20 minutes on the Juicy Lucy. We cook 'em slow so we don't overcook the meat while making sure the cheese inside melts between the two patties." I told her that as long as there was a beer in front of me and a baseball game on the television, I was fine with that.

The grill at Adrian's is a small flat grill that is situated in a pretty small kitchen off to the side of the bar. A number of people were in the place that evening and there were a slew of burgers and a couple three Juicy Lucy's cooking up along side onions and toasting buns. I was trying to figure out how in the world this could have housed a steak house back in the 30's with such a small kitchen. It was obvious why the menu was so limited to burgers and a few other items. They couldn't make anything else that would fit in the kitchen area.

The bartender/waitress was correct - it was a full 20 minutes before my Juicy Lucy burger came out along with the onion rings. Quite honestly, I had a lot of food in front of me and I was sort of worried that I'd leave a good portion of the large basket of rings. The rings did look good, though. And I was sort of surprised to see a side of chips (with dill pickle slices) with my burger. And another surprise that I've never seen on a Juicy Lucy-type burger in the Twin Cities - they put a slice of cheese on top of the burger in addition to the cheese inside.

The problem with Juicy Lucy burgers is that the cheese inside can be as hot as molten lava. Many places caution you to wait a few moments before biting into the burger as you can get second degree burns in your mouth from the stuffed cheese. I waited a few moments before biting in to my burger. And when I did...

Ka-BOOM! Hot cheese splattered everywhere. On my shirt, my pants, down on my shoes. I've had cheese explode in my mouth and burn the living crap out my tongue, but I'd never had a Juicy Lucy that had just exploded with such a vicious velocity on the first bite that spewed cheese everywhere. I had cheese down my hand and arm. It was a mess. Thankfully, there were tons of napkins and I did my best to clean up what I could. I had to go back down to the dingy bathroom to try and clean some of the gooey cheese off of me before I could continue. Looking back, it was probably a good thing I didn't go there the day before because if the burger would have spewed cheese on me like it did that particular evening, I would have had to go all the way back to the hotel to change clothes before going on to my next appointment. Since I was done for the day, I could handle having some stains on me. 

When I got back to the bar, the cheeseburger had cooled down sufficiently. And I can say that the burger was just OK. You have to cook the living crap out of a Juicy Lucy to melt the cheese inside and the only thing that is usually juicy is just the cheese. Even though the cook at Adrian's cooked it low and slow, it was still overdone to my liking. I realized right then and there that my quest to find the best Juicy Lucy in the Twin Cities had ended. The Blue Door Pub was number one and The Nook was a close number two. (The Nook recently reopened after a devastating fire last December.) Even the more famous stalwarts of the Juicy Lucy (Jucy Lucy) - Matt's Bar and the 5-8 Club - aren't as good as those two places.

The onion rings at Adrian's Tavern were good, not outstanding, but good. And as I thought, I knew that I wouldn't have been able to finish them all and I didn't. After what amounts to a double cheeseburger with a load of cheese in me and on me, I was definitely full.

Still, I wouldn't mind going back to Adrian's Tavern just to try a regular cheese burger at some point in time. I'm afraid, though, that I'd probably go past Adrian's and head right into the Town Hall Tap to get a burger there. That was an outstanding burger at Town Hall Tap. But I did like the atmosphere at Adrian's and the place did hold a lot of history. Being in business for 80 years is nothing to sneeze at and just for that, Adrian's deserves another chance at some point.

Merchants Restaurant - Nashville, TN

During my trip to Nashville for the 2011 Summer NAMM show, my colleague, Ian, and I found a pretty good place to eat in downtown Nashville on the touristy Broadway St. called Merchants Restaurant.  We went there for dinner after doing a little driving around the greater Nashville area earlier in the day.

The Merchants Restaurant is housed in a building that dates back to just after the Civil War.  In 1892, what was once a pharmacy on the street level, a hardware manufacturer on the second level and a wholesale drug distributor on the third floor, the Merchants Hotel came into being.  Each room was 25 cents and with the European plan you could also get a meal for a quarter.  Over the years with it's close proximity to the Ryman Auditorium and the honky tonks up and down Broadway, the Merchants Hotel became the place for country music's elite to stay when they were in town.

Once the Grand Ole Opry moved out to Opryland in the 70's, the area up and down Broadway became rather seedy with strip bars replacing the old honky tonks.  The Merchants Hotel became just as seedy, becoming a flop house hotel and a front for downtown prostitution.  When the city of Nashville moved to shut down the adult clubs and take back Broadway as a tourist destination in the mid-80's, Merchants reopened as a restaurant.  As Nashville began to grow again in the 90's and professional sports began to come to town, more upscale restaurants came into town pushing Merchants into the afterthought category for fine dining in town.  After floundering for nearly a decade, two brothers who grew up in Nashville, Max and Ben Goldberg, bought the Merchants Restaurant in April of 2010 and gave it a clear vision path of what it is today.  

The Goldbergs are no strangers to the restaurant and hospitality industry.  They already had created and oversaw some of the better niche restaurants and bars in the greater Nashville area such as Aerial, Patterson House and the somewhat kitschy Southern-fried food outlet named Paradise Park Trailer Resort.  As their executive chef at Merchants, they brought in Clayton Rollison who previously was the sous chef at the Capitol Grille at the Hermitage hotel, and before that had worked at Gramercy Tavern in New York City after graduating from the Culinary Institute of America.    

The first floor of Merchants Restaurant is more of a bistro with black and white tiled floors, waiters in bow-ties and suspenders and sort of a quasi-art deco theme to the place (below left).  It's a little more rowdy and loud in the main floor part of Merchants, sort of like the people that are walking by on Broadway.

The second floor is the fine dining area where there's dark green wall paper, dark wood paneling, subdued lighting and the waiters are all in suspenders and long ties.  The downstairs menu is different from the upstairs menu. Downstairs in the bistro, Merchants features sandwiches, burgers, appetizers, salads and basic entrees such as pan roasted chicken, fish tacos, smoked brisket and rainbow trout.  Upstairs, it gets more eclectic with sockeye salmon, a low country shrimp platter, a rack of pork and various types of aged steaks.  

 It was less than a 10 minute walk from our hotel straight down 4th Street to the corner of Broadway (see map).  Lower Broadway is now this huge tourist and entertainment district, similar to Beale Street in Memphis.  It features restaurants, bars, honky tonks, tourist traps and most anything that you'd find that has to do with country music.  This was the first and only time I was on Lower Broadway during our trip to Nashville.  

We got into the restaurant and went to the servers stand toward the back of the bistro, in a lobby area with an elevator and a wonderful winding staircase.  I had made reservations for us at 8 p.m., but it was evident that we probably didn't need them as some people were coming in and getting seated upstairs right away.  We waited in the lobby area for about 10 minutes while they got our table fixed up.  

When we were taken upstairs via the elevator we were asked if we wanted a table near the windows or one in the middle of the dining area.  Considering the tables near the windows were smaller - and that the shades were drawn - we opted for one of the larger tables in the middle of the room.  Our waiter, Porter, came over to greet us and he had a helper in tow with him most of the evening.  We knew the service was going to be very good.

I started out with a beer to wet my whistle and I asked Porter if they had Sweetwater 420, the great pale ale from Atlanta. (I had found a liquor store in Nashville earlier in the day that had Sweetwater 420 and I thought some of the bars or restaurants would have it, as well.)  He said he did not, but they had a local pale ale - Yazoo Pale Ale - on tap.  I decided to give that a try and it was pretty good.  Ian took a glass of the Oak Knoll cabernet for his initial drink. 

Because Merchants has a number of different steaks to choose from, I didn't even consider getting anything else that evening.  Ian was pretty much thinking along the same lines.  They featured natural raised beef from farms in Kansas and Oregon, as well as good ol' Angus beef including a 14 oz. New York Strip and a 16 oz. Delmonico ribeye, both of which were aged for 28 days.  It didn't take Ian and I very long to figure out what we wanted - he took the ribeye, I got the strip.  

Some interesting sides are available at Merchants.  Sweet potato hash was on the menu, as were duck fat fries.  There was poached asparagus in a truffle cream sauce, as well as gnocchi mac and cheese.  I went with the sweet potato hash for my side and Ian got the duck fat fries.  For a starter, I got the iceberg wedge salad and Ian went with their Caesar salad.   

Porter brought out our salads and I had him put a lot of ground black pepper on my iceberg wedge.  I usually joke with wait staff people that I like a lot of pepper on my food and that they'll end up getting carpal tunnel from twisting so much pepper out of the pepper cellar.  After I stopped him, he said, "Boy, you DO like a lot of pepper!  I ought to just leave this thing at the table."

My wedge salad was outstanding.  It had fresh chunks of tomatoes, real bacon and chunks of avocado that were swimming in a creamy buttermilk/bleu cheese dressing.  It wasn't all that large, but the taste sensation was excellent.  Ian proclaimed his Caesar salad as being very good, as well.     

Just before Porter brought out our steaks, I had ordered a glass of the Kenwood cabernet from him.  Ian got another glass of the Oak Knoll.  Porter's assistant brought out our glasses of wine, then for some reason, Porter brought Ian out ANOTHER glass of wine.  He sort of stopped and said, "Oh, boy.  I messed that one up.  I thought he was getting the Kenwood for you (looking at me), and I was going to get the Oak Knoll for you (looking at Ian).  I guess he got them both.  Oh well, I'll leave this one for you and if you want it, fine.  It's on the house."  

Ian said, "I doubt it will go to waste..."  

Porter and his helper brought out our steaks and the presentation looked delectable.  My New York strip (below left) was sitting on a small bed of the sweet potato hash.  The steak was covered with a demi-glace sauce that was light, but had a good flavor with the meat.  The steak was cooked perfectly to my liking - rare to rare plus - but the cut had a far amount of gristle in it.  I'd say that about 20 percent of it was inedible due to the gristle.  That's not to say the steak wasn't outstanding, because it was.  I've had enough steaks to know that you get a gristly one from time to time, even at the finest restaurants.

The sweet potato hash was pretty pedestrian, I'd have to say.  There wasn't much flavor to them and they just sort of sat there in dull fashion on my plate.  The steak definitely trumped the side.  Now I wish I would have gotten some other side instead of the sweet potato hash.   

Ian's Delmonico ribeye (above right) was a full 16 ounces and literally eclipsed the duck fat fries that it sat upon.   He likes his medium rare and he was happy with how it turned out.  It was obviously juicy when he would cut into it.  He said it was tender and very flavorful.  "A good piece of meat," Ian observed.  

After dinner, Porter tried to entice us with Merchants dessert tray.  Although the desserts looked tempting, there was no way that I was going to be able to have anything else that evening.  I was full and looking to wind down for the evening.  

Merchants Restaurant went through some hard times, but the Goldberg brothers have turned it into something special.  They're doing their best to make it a destination for not only the tourists, but to bring back some of the locals who have gotten away from the downtown area for being too touristy.  If the food and service is any indication, Nashville has a gem of a restaurant in Merchants.    

Cactus Bob's BBQ Corral - Johnston, IA

A couple people had contacted me about a place called Cactus Bob's BBQ Corral in the Des Moines suburb of Johnston. It's located just a mile north of Interstate 80 on Merle Hay Road (see map) in a strip mall on the east side of the street. When I was in Des Moines recently, I met one of my dealers for lunch there.

There actually is a "Cactus Bob" - Robert Prince is a former sheet metal worker and a self-trained gourmet cook. Over 15 years ago he became friends with Craig DeDecker, a certified chef with over 20 years of experience in food service. The two had a love for homemade foods and especially barbecue. They began to make their own homemade beef jerky and hot pickles, and for a time they sold them at the Des Moines Farmers Market.

In 2002, Prince and DeDecker entered - and won - their very first barbecue championship. Entering more barbecue contests over the next couple of years, the two worked on different rub concoctions, fine tuned their barbecue sauces and came up with a variety of sides to go along with their meats. After winning first place for smoked pork butt and brisket, and a second place in ribs in a barbecue cook-off in 2004, Prince and DeDecker decided to open their own barbecue place the next year. I had heard about Cactus Bob's, but had never really taken them seriously until I began to look for barbecue places in the very underrated barbecue community in greater Des Moines.

Now, allow me to digress to tell you a story to set up my next story about Cactus Bob's...

Years ago, there used to be a barbecue place in Des Moines called Big Daddy's Barbecue. Located on the east side near East High School, Big Daddy's became notorious for the different levels of hot barbecue sauces they had to offer. When I first had Big Daddy's, they had a mild, a mild/hot and a hot. Then they started to name them. This was back in the late 80's and they named them after movies or movie quotes. They had a sauce called "Make My Day" after the Clint Eastwood "Dirty Harry" movies, they also had "Death Wish I" and "Death Wish II" after the old Charles Bronson movies. The hottest of what I believe were six levels was simply named, "Oh My God!" The names of the sauces changed over the years, but these were the ones I remember as they were named.

Big Daddy's had a challenge where a person had to finish a sandwich of either pulled pork or brisket with the hottest level of sauce on the sandwich in either 10 or 15 minutes, I can't remember. It's not an urban legend to say that more than one person went to the Emergency Room after trying to down one of Big Daddy's hot sandwiches. One guy reportedly threw up in the parking lot after taking - and winning - the challenge. Unfortunately, it was right in front of a lady picking up ribs to go at the drive thru window. She quickly canceled her order.

Big Daddy's went out of business a couple three years ago for good after going through some tough times over the previous few years. I had their mild/hot sauce one time and it was pretty zippy. I had a friend who is a longtime rep in the audio business who had the hot sauce on a sandwich one time and he said he regretted it later that evening as he was sitting on the toilet. He said, "I can handle hot food, but that was almost too much for me. I can't even imagine how hot some of those named sauces could be!"

It turns out that Cactus Bob's has similar levels of hot sauce to choose from, if you want. They feature seven different sauces with the hottest - Black Bart's Desert Death - made from an Asian pepper that is said to be 400 times more hot than a habanero pepper and a 1000 times hotter than a jalapeno. In fact, Cactus Bob's also has a similar challenge to those who think they can handle the hot sauce - the Cactus Bob's Showdown Challenge. For a six dollar entry fee and a signed waiver clearing Cactus Bob's from any legal ramifications or medical bills that may result in the person taking the challenge, a person has 10 minutes to down either a pork or brisket sandwich while not taking a drink of any liquid. I like to eat, but I don't like to hurt myself either during or after I eat, though.

There appears to be many winners of the challenge in the past. The picture above right shows a wall covered with former winners of what was called the "Old Rule" challenge. I don't know for sure, but I'm guessing Cactus Bob's "Showdown" sauce is probably hotter than the former sauce they used for the challenge.

It was a hot summer afternoon just after one when I met up with my dealer at Cactus Bob's. I had just driven in from Minneapolis and was hungry and could use a beer. The menu at Cactus Bob's is up on the wall above the counter in the very well lit main dining area. Not knowing what to get on my first visit, I was thinking of getting a sampler platter of brisket and pork. But they don't offer that at Cactus Bob's. The closest thing they have on the menu is a pork rib tips and your choice of smoked pork butt or brisket with two sides.

They feature two different styles of pork ribs at Cactus Bob's - baby backs and St. Louis-style (which, I've been told, are basically baby back ribs with less of the fat cut off the rack). They also have smoked chicken, turkey and link sausage. In fact, Cactus Bob's will smoke whole turkeys, prime ribs and whole bone-in hams for you for a fee. That's done through their Smokehouse menu. Cactus Bob's also features a full catering menu for parties, corporate events and other gatherings.

I finally decided to try one of Cactus Bob's sandwiches - the Chuckwagon - as it had the smoked pork, brisket and turkey on it. It was served on a toasted bun and I had a choice of two sides. I took the baked beans and a small bowl of Cactus Bob's Texas chili, complete with large chunks of beef brisket chunks. My dealer got a sandwich of well, I believe it was the Longhorn, which was the beef brisket sandwich. Cactus Bob's also threw in a couple of their hot "prickly pickle" spears to go along with the meal.

Cactus Bob's dry smokes their meat with their own rub spice recipe. They've adopted the "cook earlier, refrigerate, reheat upon ordering" technique that is becoming the norm for many barbecue places. This is common practice for a number of barbecue joints who can smoke the meat in advance and then reheat it after a few hours in the fridge. A few barbecue snobs think this is cheating (sort of like how I think parboiling ribs to make them "fall off the bone" tender robs the taste of the meat and you have to rely upon the sauce), but I'm of the school of thought that it actually helps enhance the taste of the smoke and rub spices with the meat when they're put in a cold environment for a few hours.

We got our sandwiches and sides and found a place to sit in the long narrow dining area just off the main dining room. Before I bit into the sandwich took little bites of both the brisket and the sliced pork on their own. The brisket was a tad overcooked, but still flavorful. The pork was juicy and flavorful and had a great taste to it. And even though I'm not big on turkey, it tasted very well with the pork and brisket.

In addition to the seven hot barbecue sauces that Cactus Bob's has, they feature three on the table - their original "sweet and spicy" sauce that I have to say is very, very good; the "sweet and smoky" sauce that is similar to the original Cactus Bob's sauce, only with a little more smoke flavoring to it; and their "Revenge" sauce that kicks the original up a bit with some hot peppers added to the mix. I tried the "Revenge" sauce and it was hot, but not anything that I couldn't handle. Actually, I liked to mix a little of the "Revenge" sauce the original Cactus Bob's sauce to give it even more of a zippy taste on the sandwich.

The two sides were just outstanding. The chili was top-notch with a great seasoned blend of spices, beans and large chunks of brisket. And the beans weren't too far behind. I probably didn't have to add any of the Cactus Bob's original and "Revenge" sauce to the beans as they were excellent on their own, but I did anyhow and they were even better.

I was very impressed with the barbecue at Cactus Bob's, so much so that I really need to come back and try a half rack of baby back ribs at some point. The meats were good (although the pork seemed to be better than the brisket), I really liked the table sauces and was too much of a wimp to even try the first level of hot sauce, and the beans and chili were some of the best I've ever had at a barbecue joint. Des Moines has a number of very good barbecue joints and Cactus Bob's has to be near or at the top. I can't wait to get back for some ribs at some point.

Town Hall Tap - Minneapolis

Sometimes, mistakes happen. And sometimes, those mistakes turn out all right. That's sort of what happened on my visit to the Town Hall Tap in Minneapolis on a recent visit to the Twin Cities. Let me explain...

Actually, I was trying to go to Adrian's Tavern on the recommendation from someone who told me they have a very good Juicy Lucy burger. (Juicy Lucy's - or Jucy Lucy's, depending upon which place you favor - is a cheese stuffed burger.) Adrian's Tavern is on a short stretch of bars and restaurants on Chicago Ave. at 48th St. south of the downtown Minneapolis district (see map). I pulled up in front of Adrian's around 2 p.m. one afternoon and I walked into an open air bar/restaurant fully thinking that it was part of Adrian's. There was no signage out front, at least any significant signage, that told me any different. I walked in and took a seat at the bar and a bartender came over with a food menu. It was then that I discovered that I was not in Adrian's, but in the Town Hall Tap. Feeling a little foolish and somewhat embarrassed, I decided to just cut my losses and have lunch there.

The Town Hall Tap is an offshoot of the Town Hall Brewery, a small brewpub that I wasn't familiar with (and a place I'll have to visit at some point). The Town Hall Tap has a nice little neighborhood feeling to it and that's what they were looking for when they opened back in November of last year. With exposed ceiling beams, wooden garage doors that open up in pleasant weather, and tasteful decorations of vintage beer signs, Town Hall Tap is a somewhat charming and very inviting place to go.

The bar at the Town Hall Tap is an antique bar that was used at a bar in Chicago and found at a place in Bloomington, IL. The back bar area (above right) features refrigeration units and storage with a large mirror that gives the cozy little tavern a sense of spaciousness. I felt completely comfortable sitting at the bar looking over the menu.

One thing that completely jumped out at me while I was perusing the beer menu at Town Hall Tap was the fact that they had Alaskan Brewing Company beers on tap, along with many of their own beers brewed at their brewery. I couldn't resist to get an Alaskan Amber beer as it had been such a long time since I'd had one. It turns out that Alaskan beers are now available in Minnesota. I was overjoyed because the closest I could get Alaskan beers was on business trips to Colorado. And that was only once a year, if that. I don't know what it is about the Alaskan beers, but they're some of my all-time favorites, including their pale ale (which, coincidentally, is not available in Minnesota as of yet).

And one thing that they do not have on the menu at Town Hall Tap is a traditional Juicy (Jucy) Lucy. They DO have stuffed burgers such as the "Hot Damn" which features a burger stuffed with jalapenos, green peppers and onions and topped with bleu cheese. They also have the "Heidelberger" which is stuffed with onions, then crusted in bacon bits and topped with Tillamook cheddar cheese. (I was told after the fact that that burger is to die for.) And they also have something called the "Serrano Popper Burger" that featured a mixture of Angus beef and prosciutto ham, stuffed with cream cheese and then topped with pickled serrano peppers. All of those sounded great, as did the "Pete's Cabin Burger" - a mixture of Angus beef, mushrooms, Minnesota wild rice and crumbled bleu cheese then topped with Wisconsin double-creme cheese.

My head was spinning from all the possibilities that I finally just decided to go basic for my first visit to Town Hall Tap. I ordered up the Brewer's Cheeseburger. It comes with your choice of seven different types of cheese on a bakery bun with homemade mayo on top. I ordered it with the mayo on the side and topped with the Tillamook cheddar cheese. Fries came with the burger.

In addition to burgers at Town Hall Tap, the menu boasts a handful of chicken sandwiches, a Cuban pork sandwich, a reuben and a number of appetizers. Turtle Bread Company - a full service bakery just down the block from Town Hall Tap - provides much of the bread for sandwiches at the tavern.

My burger came out and I was ready to eat. With another Alaskan Amber poured and in front of me, the presentation on the bar was excellent. The Tillamook cheddar was oozing over the thick and juicy burger. I popped a little ketchup and mustard on the burger and took my first bite.

The burger was cooked perfectly for me - it had a little bit of pink in the middle and it was juicy and flavorful. The bun was outstanding and really helped with the taste. The Tillamook cheddar was mild and wasn't overpowering. With each bite, I was less sorry that I walked into Town Hall Tap by mistake. This was, very simply, an outstanding burger. It was one of the better ones I've had in the Twin Cities during my visits to the area.

One thing I learned from my colleagues up in Montreal is the very European way of eating mayonnaise with French fries. The homemade mayo they provided on the side was excellent. Although I couldn't eat all the fries because my 1/2 pound burger was filling enough, I made a significant cut into the pile, helped along with the homemade mayonnaise.

So, my mistake of going into Town Hall Tap was not quite a big mistake after all. I was overly surprised at how great the burger was. And to top it off, they had Alaskan Amber on tap! I got to thinking that maybe the burger gods were looking out for me on this one as I probably would have NEVER gone into Town Hall Tap had I just gone into Adrian's next door. I did make it to Adrian's a couple nights later and I'll have that entry in a short while. But here's a little hint - Town Hall Tap blew it away!