Road Tips

Morton's The Steakhouse - Rosemont, IL

A few weeks ago, the C.O.O. for Cambridge Audio and a private consultant working on future initiatives for the company came to Chicago to visit some dealers. Since Chicago is part of my territory, I was the one who picked them up and squired them around town for the day. After a long day of meetings, Peter from Cambridge Audio, and the consultant, Vincent - both Brits, and like most Europeans I know - declared that they were ready for a big Midwestern steak. They were staying at the Hilton O'Hare and not far from there is one of the Morton's steakhouses. I'd never eaten at a Morton's, even after all the years of traveling to Chicago. Since Peter was picking up the check that evening, I decided to drive to the Morton's in Rosemont (see map).

(As an aside - for you crime drama and football fans out there - Morton's in Rosemont was the place where Chicago Bears wide receiver Sam Hurd was arrested by federal agents and charged with conspiracy to distribute cocaine after an undercover sting operation mere days after our visit there.)  

Morton's The Steakhouse is one of the more famous steakhouses in the Chicago area, now with 77 locations in 26 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and six countries. Morton's was founded in 1978 by Chicago restaurateur Arnie Morton who opened his first restaurant - the Walton Walk - between Rush and Michigan in downtown Chicago in the 1950's. Morton, who grew up learning the restaurant business from his father who ran a restaurant on the south side of Chicago, soon became close friends with Hugh Hefner, helping him start his Playboy Enterprises of clubs, restaurants and resorts in 1960. As a VP for Playboy, Morton helped open dozens of Playboy Clubs around the world.

In 1974, along with partner Klaus Fritsch, whom he worked with at Playboy, Morton opened Arnie's, an upscale and tony restaurant on the near-north side of Chicago that catered to high-dollar Gold Coast residents. In 1978, Morton opened his first Morton's the Steakhouse on State Street, near the corner of Rush St. Business was slow at first, until one Frank Sinatra began to frequent the place during his visits to Chicago. Being able to see Frank Sinatra at Morton's suddenly made it a hot place. That's when people began to find out that Morton's served USDA Prime, thick cut, dry-aged steaks.

Arnie Morton (left) and Klaus Fritsch (right) - the original partners in Morton's the Steakhouse.

Business flourished before Morton sold his interest in Morton's The Steakhouse to the Quantam Group in 1987, prompting the expansion of the Morton's brand name nationwide. Morton closed his namesake Arnie's restaurant in 1994 after his lease ran out and died 11 years later suffering from Alzheimer's. His son, Peter, is the founder of the Hard Rock Cafe chain of bars and restaurants. Another son, Michael, is the head of the N9NE group of upscale contemporary steakhouses in Chicago, Dallas and Las Vegas. His daugther, Amy, ran the now-closed Mirador and The Blue Room establishments in Chicago. And another son, David, is behind the Pompei Italian restaurants in Chicago, as well as one of the partners in the DMK Burger Bar restaurants (see my entry on DMK Burger here). Continuing in the family tradition, Morton's grandson, Harry, is the owner of the Pink Taco restaurants in Las Vegas and Los Angeles (see my entry on the Las Vegas Pink Taco here).

It was recently announced that the investment group who owns the Morton steakhouses - including investment company Castle Harlan - will sell the restaurants to Houston-based restaurateur Tilman Ferttita, the man who is behind the Landry's and Bubba Gump Shrimp Company. (To see my entry on a visit to Landry's in Las Vegas, click here.) The deal was supposed to be consummated earlier this month, but I haven't seen any confirmation of that happening. 

(As an aside, I have somewhat of an aversion to both Landry's and Bubba Gump. If they were the absolute last option for dinner, I may go there. But I try to stay away from either after bad service and food experieces at both places in the past.  I'm hoping Fertitta keeps Morton's the way it is.) 

The Morton's in Rosemont is located near the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, in the flight path of planes landing at O'Hare. As you enter the restaurant, you go into the upper level of their 12-21 bar (all Morton's have a 12-21 bar, which pays homage to the date the first Morton's opened on December 21, 1978). A hostess greeted us and ushered us down a wide and winding staircase to the dining area downstairs. As we were being shown to a booth, we passed the open kitchen where they had slabs of strip steaks on an open tray, daring us to order them on the spot.

The picture above right is literally the menu at Morton's. The waitperson brought out a large tray of aged steaks - New York strip, ribeye, porterhouse, filet, T-bone and bone-in ribeye. She also had a live lobster staring at me at a plate on the side. After describing the cuts of meats and fresh seafood they had to offer at Morton's that evening, she also had a number of side dishes that they serve family style. She eventually handed us small paper menus, but by that time I was already to order up.

I ordered the 20 oz. New York strip, rare. I chose sauteed mushrooms for the side and for a starter I got a center cut iceberg wedge salad. Vincent also went with the New York strip, medium rare. He ordered a cup of the lobster bisque for a starter and got a side order of the steak fries for the table. Peter went with the smaller of the two filets (10 oz. versus 16 oz.), medium rare, as well. He ordered oysters on the half shell for an appetizer and got a side of steamed asparagus (grilled asparagus is also available).

I was heartened to hear that Vincent fancied beer over wine. Although a nice bottle of red from Morton's extensive wine list would have been nice, we all three ended up ordering bottles of Sierra Nevada's Torpedo India pale ale. The Brits love their hoppy beer and the Sierra Nevada Torpedo did not disappoint.

My wedge salad was absolutely fabulous. It was topped with a creamy bleu cheese dressing with large chunks of bleu cheese. It had fresh chopped tomatoes, crisp chopped bacon and even more chunks of bleu cheese on the top. I had the waitperson load it up with fresh crack black pepper. It was a massive amount of greens to eat. So much so that I was still trying to put a dent into it when our steaks showed up at the table.

Vincent said the lobster bisque was "outstanding". He said it was creamy and rich with large chunks of lobster meat. And Peter said his oysters were very good, as well.

The steaks, in a word, were awesome. My New York strip was cooked perfectly - red rare with a cool center. It was lean, flavorful and overly tender. The sauteed mushrooms were a great complement to the great steak. We passed around the sides and the steak fries were large and crispy on the outside, but moist inside with a great potato taste. The asparagus was cooked perfectly (I always seem to overcook asparagus - this still had a little *snap* to each bite). 

Vincent and Peter both said their steaks were great. Peter told me prior to going to Morton's that they had eaten at the Tornado Club in Madison, WI the night before (see my entry on the Tornado Club here) and said that it would be tough to beat that meal. But Peter told me afterward, "The Tornado Club was outstanding, but this may have been the best steak I've ever had."

The service at Morton's the Steakhouse was exemplary. The maitre d' AND the restaurant manager both stopped by to ask how everything was and to thank us for coming in. The maitre d' asked me, "How was your steak cooked, sir? To your liking? Not overcooked?"

I told him it was perfect and he said, "I'll let the chef know." And he walked right over to the open kitchen, leaned over the counter and mentioned something to the chef. The chef turned and gave him a "thumbs up".

We closed the place down that evening, savoring our great meal, talking strategy and rehashing the days meetings. As we left, everyone we encountered - from our waitperson, to the manager, to maitre d', to the bartender, to one of the cooks in the kitchen, to the hostess who took us down to the dining room in the first place were all overly expressive with their sincere appreciate for our business. It didn't appear phony or forced at all. My first experience with eating at a Morton's was a real treat. I'm sure the meal wasn't cheap, but it was worth every penny Peter paid for it that evening. I hope I get a chance to go back to a Morton's again at some point.

The Demise of Tastee Freez - Davenport, IA

Our household was in turmoil last evening after watching a gut-wrenching story on the 10 p.m. news - the Tastee Freez on Rockingham Road on the southwest side of Davenport was closing (see map). No reason was given for the demise of the little shop that was first opened in 1954 and served soft-serve ice cream, burgers, hot dogs and sandwiches, as well as milkshakes and malts. It was a wonderful summertime treat for us to take the 20 minute drive over to the other side of town and get an ice cream cone on a warm evening. (Photo courtesy Quad City Times)

The Tastee Freez on the west side of Davenport was a little slice of nostalgia from a time when people would routinely go out for ice cream after dinner. The building hadn't changed since the 50's and it was like going back through a little time warp when you walked up to the one of the two outside windows to place your order. Service was generally fast and efficient and you'd have your ice cream cone within moments after ordering.

In a city where Whitey's Ice Cream rules, the Davenport Tastee Freez had some of the best vanilla soft-serve ice cream I've ever had. For soft-serve ice cream, I liked it better than Dairy Queen and much better than the vastly over-rated Country Style ice cream that has a number of fans in the Quad City area. Cindy liked the chocolate/vanilla swirl, but when they would have their special Walnut flavor ice cream, she would go wild over that.

The highlight, however, was the people watching as you enjoyed your ice cream cone on one of the picnic tables around the building. People from all walks of life went to the west end Tastee Freez, some dressed in some interesting summertime clothes.

The current owner, Tara Kirschenmann from Moline, had owned the Tastee Freez since 1993. She was only the third owner of the franchise in its nearly 58 year history. No word as to why Kirschenmann shut down the Tastee Freez, nor if she was planning on selling the building and its contents. But the signage was taken off the building and the inside appeared to be bare from the picture shown above.

The Davenport Tastee Freez was the last of what was once dozens of Tastee Freez locations across the state of Iowa. There was a pretty good Tastee Freez in Newton, IA where I grew up. It was run by Paul Rose and not only had pretty good ice cream, but they had some of the best hot dogs I've ever had. Many a lunch was spent at the Tastee Freez in Newton until I moved to the Quad Cities over 20 years ago. (Westside Davenport Tastee Freez picture courtesy of Captain Ernie's Showboat.com)

Tastee Freez, as a company, began in 1950 in Newport Beach, CA. The original owners, Harry Axene and Leo Moranz, invented a pump-style soft-serve ice cream machine and the concept was an immediate hit. They began to rent out the machines and franchise the Tastee Freez name. The one on Rockingham Road was one of the first ones in the state of Iowa. As a little kid, I remember getting milkshakes from the Tastee Freez in Newton in cups that had the little Tastee Freez mascots on them - Tee and Eff (below left). Tee, I believe, was supposed to be male, Eff, was female. Or maybe it was vice-versa. It was hard to distinguish the difference between the two other than the "Tee" and "Eff" on their front.

Since 2003, Tastee Freez has been owned by the Garlardi Group, the owners of the Weinerschnitzel chain of fast food restaurants, found primarily west of the Rocky Mountains. In fact, you can find Tastee Freez soft-serve ice cream in over 350 Weinerschnitzel locations across the nation. But the bulk of Tastee Freez locations have closed over the past decade. Today, there are only 42 Tastee Freez stand-alone locations in 17 states including a dozen in Illinois, most of which are in the greater Chicago area.

So it's a sad morning around our house knowing that after a great meal of Cajun barbecued chicken that we won't be able to take the crosstown drive to help cool us off with a great Tastee Freez ice cream cone. Another part of life that we took for granted is now gone.

Inca - Sioux Falls, SD

I was in Sioux Falls earlier this past fall to see a dealer that we've been doing business with for sometime, now. We had to meet late in the day because of scheduling conflicts and afterward I asked him if he wanted to go out and get some dinner. He begged off as he had something going on with his wife. So, I was on my own and sort of had a hankering for Mexican or Cajun food. Well, there really isn't any Cajun in Sioux Falls, but there are a handful of Mexican restaurants. On the recommendation of the desk clerk at my hotel, he steered me to Inca, a Mexican restaurant on the south side of Sioux Falls (see map).

In 1997, Julio Espino was sent to Sioux Falls to service sales systems for restaurants who were clients of the company he worked for. He actually drew the short stick to go to Sioux Falls as his colleagues all passed on the assignment. Espino spent some time in Sioux Falls and fell in love with the area. He also found that there was a paucity of Mexican restaurants in the city. He contacted a friend out in Seattle, Danny Navarro, whom Espino knew from the restaurant industry. He convinced Navarro to come out to Sioux Falls to help him open a restaurant. Navarro thought he'd only stay a few weeks to help Espino start up the restaurant, but he ended up staying in Sioux Falls, as well.

Espino had immigrated to the U.S. in the late 80's and helped a number of Mexican immigrants who moved to the Sioux Falls area. However, in 2007, Espino was convicted of hiring illegal immigrants - paying them cash for their services in his restaurant - and was sentenced to four years probation, six-months house arrest and ordered to pay a $15,000 fine and perform 200 hours of community service over a two year period. It could have been a lot worse for Espino - his lawyer successfully argued that Espino had only hired the illegals to help them get on their feet as they worked to get citizenship, plus the fact that Espino contributed much to the Sioux Falls community (a point that even prosecutors acknowledged). Today, Espino helps other businesses when it comes to hiring practices and how to stay compliant with federal guidelines.

Espino recently opened a second location on Sioux Falls' west side - Inca Express - that has a smaller menu and more of a fast paced feel compared to the original Inca. He has also been thinking of putting a second Inca location on the east side of Sioux Falls.

The food fare at Inca is categorized as Chihuahuan-style. Chihuahuan region food is described as a melting pot of different cuisines picked up by immigrants to Mexico beginning in the 16th century. Not only do you find influences of Spanish food in Chihuahua, but you'll also find variances of French, Lebanese, Welsh and Italian foods. But most importantly to the Chihuahuan region are the Mennonites who immigrated to Mexico in the early 1920's, coming first from their lowland areas of Holland and Northern Germany, then to Canada before accepting an invitation from the Mexican government. Mennonite-raised beans, corn and chiles are now a staple for Mexican food and Mennonite cheese is considered the best of all the Mexican cheeses.  

The dining area at Inca is divided into two areas - the more spacious and well lit main area (below left) that has natural colors on the walls and ceilings, with pastels for the booth seats and table tops - and a smaller area along the west side of the building with booths lined along windows. I was seated at one of those booths next to the window and given a menu.

The chips and salsa at Inca are very good. The chips are light and very thin, but not thin enough where they break under the weight of the thick and very tasty salsa. Espino bottles Inca's salsa and sells it at various grocery stores around Sioux Falls. He estimates that they sell about 1500 to 1600 jars of salsa each month.

I was really in the mood for fajitas, but I found a few other interesting items on Inca's expansive menu. They had a number of steak and beef entrees, as well as a large number of seafood offerings. One thing that I don't think I've ever seen on a menu at a Mexican restaurant are scallops. They had a dish called Scallops el Mojo de Ajo - garlic/olive oil/lime juice marinated scallops sauteed with garlic and butter with fresh mushrooms. It sounded pretty good. They also had Chile Colorado - chunks of slow cooked pork in a red chile sauce. And I almost got the Tacos al Carbon - marinated beef chunks that are grilled, then served in soft corn tortillas with chopped onions, tomatoes, cilantro and parmesan cheese. But I hadn't had fajitas for quite sometime and I decided to go with that. I also got a margarita to start out.

That was when the meal began to go bad.

The margarita was bad - one of the worst margaritas I've ever had. It was syrupy, much too sweet and I couldn't detect any tequila in it. It had one of the worst aftertastes, sort of like they needed to clean out the margarita machine. I drank just over half the margarita and waited for the waitress to come back so I could order a Dos Equis Amber.

The fajitas showed up, all sizzling and the onions and peppers were smelling good. There was a large plate of rice, refried beans and, interestingly, cole slaw, along with a small bowl of pico de gallo, guacamole, sour cream, lettuce and shredded cheese. It really looked promising.

The beef, however, was lifeless. It was overcooked and had almost no taste to it whatsoever. And there was a scarcity of beef on the fajita griddle. I had to pick through the mounds of cooked onions and peppers just to see if there was anymore hidden underneath. There really wasn't. While the guacamole and the veggies were fresh - and the beans and rice were good - I may as well just have gotten vegetarian fajitas. There was barely enough beef to put onto two of the flour shell tacos. And it really wasn't that good.

I was disappointed in my fajitas at Inca and I was very disappointed in my margarita. I can almost still taste that sweet, yet bitter taste on my tongue from that margarita mix. However, the service was good at Inca and I really enjoyed the chips and salsa. In hindsight, I probably should have gone with my gut instinct and gotten the Chile Colorado or the Tacos al Carbon. But my stomach was yelling for fajitas. They just weren't very good. I'm willing to give Inca another chance at some point, but for as little as I get back to Sioux Falls, it may be a long while before that happens.

2012 Consumer Electronics Show - Las Vegas

This was the 26th time I've attended the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. I still remember my first visit in 1987 when the city was much smaller and it was actually easier to get around. This visit, like the last 25, showed me that the city continues to grow dynamically for better or for worse. Traveling around town on errands before and during the show reinforced my belief that most of Las Vegas is a huge toilet that needs flushed sooner than later.

While my company showed high-end audio products and had meetings in suites in both the Venetian and the Mirage, the bulk of the happening stuff was going on over at the Las Vegas Convention Center. A record 153,000 attendees were on hand to see what was new in the world of consumer electronics. And, believe me, there really wasn't a lot of new, earth-shaking technology that CES has been known to debut in the past.

One of the biggest buzzes at the show was from Samsung's booth where they showed flat screen televisions using OLED (organic light emitting diodes). OLED technology supposedly allows for energy savings above and beyond current flat panel televisions on the market. OLED televisions are ultra thin, lightweight panels that give off vibrant colors. OLED technology is not new, but it is very expensive to manufacture. Sony had been working on an OLED concept, but deep-sixed the engineering process in 2011 because they deemed it would be too expensive to manufacture and market.

Samsung had a 55" OLED television on display that was .3 of an inch thick. It weighed about 16.5 pounds - easy enough for most people to hang on the wall by themselves. The Samsung OLED also had an internet connection for interactive smart television capabilities using Android 4.0 technology and features a built in camera that would recognize movements from the viewing position for gesture controlling of the television, as well as a built in microphone for voice control. Pretty nifty, if you ask me.

Samsung also entered into a partnership with a number of cable and satellite providers, including Comcast, Time-Warner and DirecTV to offer an internet protocol-based television that would eliminate the need for set-top tuners with digital video recording. You'd be able to plug your cable directly into the television and use the provider's stored content library at any time. This feature will be able to be accessed by any Android-based smart phone and applications will be made available later this year. Samsung says this technology will be available on all their new 2012 models, including non-OLED televisions.

Production of the OLED from Samsung is supposed to commence this summer, but price hasn't been determined. Sony showed an 11" OLED television a few years ago that was supposed to retail at $2200, so you can almost imagine what a 55" OLED will run. I don't think it will be $10,000, but it promises to be much more expensive than current LED or LCD flat panel televisions on the market.

Not to be outdone, LG also show an OLED model (below left) that was even thinner - .15 of an inch thin! The bezel around the television was ultra thin and it looked like you were looking out a window at action happening on the screen. Looking sideways at the television, the flat panel literally disappeared. OLED is truly a remarkable technology, but one that will not come cheap.

Samsung went a step further by displaying a prototype LCD transparent window that can be used as both a touch-screen computer monitor and as a television (above right). Basically, the monitor/television is used the same as a window using the bright back light from daytime to be able to see the image on the screen, but being able to look out of the house when it's not in use. At night, internal lighting is used to show the image on the screen. Energy savings are said to be enormous and Samsung has been showing similar prototype transparent televisions over the past year that are solar powered. The Samsung transparent monitor can also be used as a shade device, effectively going dark with the touch of an icon on the screen.

It can't be a CES without Sony showing something new and improved. But their new products were somewhat underwhelming with a small line of televisions called the HX series. The flat screens are made with Gorilla Glass, a lightweight and scratch resistant material developed by Corning.

Nearly every manufacturer had some variance of "smart" technology for televisions that will run specific applications such as Netflix, Google TV or other streaming platforms. Remote applications that you can download onto your smart phones will allow for full control of smart televisions including surfing the Internet, scheduling recordings and downloading movies.

Sharp showed their Aquos Freestyle wireless televisions that would allow you to use a high definition television anywhere in your home without having it connected to a cable or satellite box. The 20" flat panel HDTV had a built in battery so it was truly wireless. Sharp is looking at marketing larger, but lightweight models that will wirelessly transmit images and sound to the monitor, but will have AC connections. Want to take your TV out on the deck to watch the football game on a glorious fall afternoon or evening? Sharp will allow you to do that.

The other news regarding flat screen televisions had to do with what are called "4K" televisions, high-resolution flat screens that have 4 times the pixels as the vast majority of flat screen televisions on the market today. 4K televisions - as with OLED screens - promise to have the highest resolution possible. And taking high resolution a step further, Sharp showed a prototype 8K television that supposedly has double the resolution of a 4K television, or about 16 times better resolution than most televisions on the market today.

And even with the advent of these "smart" televisions from many companies, 3-D television is still out there, albeit with a low-key marketing effort. 3-D television has never really caught on (as I predicted in this entry on the Pros and Cons of 3D from a couple years ago). Even with the success of films such as Avatar, 3-D is more of a novelty and it's only as good as the content produced. And there's not a lot of good 3-D content that is out there. However, ESPN touted their 3-D service on DirecTV by staging a boxing match during CES and showing it real-time on large screens in 3-D. ESPN is planning on showing more live events in 3-D in the coming year and banking that more people will turn to the worldwide leader in sports for 3-D entertainment. But 3-D television sales continue to lag and sales are nowhere close to projections manufacturers had made over two years ago.

Tablets were, of course, a big thing at CES. Last year, hundreds of tablets were on display and this year was no exception. Sony showed a dual screen table that folds into a neat 5.5 inch, pocket sized tablet (pictured left). Asus showed their Memo 370T tablet that featured 1 gigabyte in memory, an 8-megapixel camera, HDMI output and an HD display, all for $250. Thin computer notebooks were also shown with Acer's new Aspire A5 model that was only a half-inch thick and weighed less than 3 pounds.

Gaming devices were also big at CES this year with the biggest buzz coming from Razer and their Project Fiona tablet (above right) that will use the new Windows 8 platform when it becomes available later this year. Razer's Project Fiona gaming tablet had a high-resolution monitor that rivaled any gaming platform device on the market. With hand held controls on either side of the tablet, the ease of use was said to be outstanding. The only initial caveat is that it will be expensive when it becomes available later this year - upwards of $800 to $900 per tablet. But as with any type of new technology, the price is certain to drop precipitously once mass manufacturing commences.

An interesting aspect about CES was the amount of talk about a supposed new product from Apple, a perennial "no-show" at CES. Apple Interactive TV has been rumored to be the next "big thing" from the Cupertino, CA-based company for quite sometime. Strong rumors at his years CES were that Apple is on the verge of releasing their interactive television, especially with the strong showing that Samsung had with their interactive smart televisions at CES. By cutting deals with cable and satellite providers, Samsung may have taken the lead in Internet Protocol television, something that Apple had hoped to become the industry flag bearer.

For the higher end audio enthusiast, a couple of companies that we import into North American showed new products at this years CES. Cambridge Audio showed their new top-of-the-line integrated amplifier and matching digital-to-analog converter/digital pre-amp/CD player, the 851A and 851C (below left). You can read Stereophile's synopsis on the new products here. I had seen both pieces during a pre-CES meeting that we had with Cambridge Audio in Montreal a few days before Christmas and they were stunning to look at. They'll be available in late March and early April and I can't wait to get my hands on them to play around with.

Headphones are making a strong comeback and a number of companies showed new models including a pair of $1300 headphones from AKG. Focal, the world-renown loudspeaker company from France that we import into North America, showed their first headphones, the Spirit One model (above right). The cups fit snugly around the ear for maximum comfort and for deep, rich low frequency sounds. The mylar/titanium diaphragms are quick and give an openness for sound in the mid to high frequencies. The headphones come with a removable cord jack that has a built in microphone and controls for iPhones. They're going to retail at $279 a pair and should be fun to play with when they become available in a couple weeks.

Computers also made some news with the introduction of new platforms that support the Cloud computing applications of sharing resources, software and information between computers, smart phones, tablets and other multi-media sources. The multi-layer format allows for computer software to be shared via the Internet with other clients synched within the "cloud". I'm not much of a computer guy and I don't quite understand the overall affect and need for this type of format, but everyone seemed to be making a big deal out of this. I'm sure I'll learn more as time goes on.

Of course, there were a number of new appliances with "smart" technology built in - something that we've seen for years, but still hasn't quite caught on with consumers. Whirlpool showed a prototype smart washer and dryer that when hooked up to your home network will alert you when the wash cycle is complete or when the clothes are dry. Samsung showed something similar with their new "smart" washer and dryer. LG showed "smart grid" appliances that are designed to save you money, but also will tell you if you left the refrigerator door open (not that you can't see that for yourself). Ovens that tell you which temperature to cook a meal to save energy, applications that alert you to upcoming expiration dates for food in your fridge, even "smart" robotic vacuum cleaners that can be remotely started and stopped, smart technology will be coming sooner than later to your home.

Even with record crowds, CES was pretty pedestrian compared to previous shows where new technology wowed the masses. This was the second year in a row where no huge new technology caused a stir such as the introduction of tablets a couple years ago. However, technology marches on and I'm sure that we'll see something great and new to elevate the "wow" factor at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show.

Uncle Jack's Steakhouse - New York

If you're a regular reader of Road Tips, you know by now that the Europeans - and the Canadians - that I work with are always on the lookout for steak each time we get together for dinner at a trade show. At last fall's Audio Engineering Society convention in New York City, it was no different. The only problem is that we had steak EVERY NIGHT we were there. Now, being that I'm from the Midwest, I'm a big beef eater. Even I can get burned out on steaks after three nights in a row. On our last night in Manhattan, I wanted to go out for an authentic New York City pizza. I was roundly shouted down on that request. The guys wanted steak and one of our guys from Montreal said that there was a steakhouse - Uncle Jack's Steakhouse - that was a block away from our hotel, down 34th St. and around the corner on 9th Ave. It was a five minute walk to Uncle Jack's Steakhouse (see map).

Over 20 years ago, Willie Degel was working as a bartender in a working class Queens neighborhood bar. Degel and his brother, both sons of a longshoreman who worked a second job at the main post office in New York City to keep his family going, bought the bar and building, renovated it and turned it into an upscale lounge/restaurant. That went over extremely well and Degel decided to get open an upscale steakhouse. In November of 1996, he opened his first Uncle Jack's Steakhouse in the Bayside neighborhood of Flushing, Queens. (see map)

He named his steakhouse after his godfather - a gentleman by the name of Jack who ran a speakeasy on Manhattan's upper west side during the height of prohibition. After the repeal of the 18th Amendment, Jack's saloon became an upscale restaurant that served a high class clientele. Degel's godfather exhibited a presence where each patron - famous or not - was treated with respect and class, and no detail was overlooked. Degel adopted this philosophy in running his upscale steakhouse.

Willie Degel (pictured right)

Degel perfected his restaurant blue print over the next seven years and in 2003 he began to look for a second location, this one in Manhattan. He found an old Victorian-style saloon on 9th Ave, near 34th Street in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood. He bought the property and other than a little clean up and renovating, he didn't have much to do with the place. The mahogany bar and walls were in place, as was the copper plated ceiling. He opened his second location in December of 2003 and from the beginning captains of industry, the rich and famous, and the average Joe's and hungry tourists made it a hit. In September of 2004, Degel opened his third - and reportedly his last - Uncle Jack's Steakhouse in Upper Midtown Manhattan, three blocks south of Central Park and a block and a half away from Carnegie Hall (see map).

During his time of operating his restaurants, Degel has also found time to come up with his own line of gourmet steak sauces, mainly because he didn't like any of the sauces that were available to him through food purveyors. He also started a side business in which his company builds luxury houses in The Hamptons out on Long Island. In 2010, Degel began working with the TruTV cable television network on a concept show tentatively called "The World's Toughest Boss", that would follow Degel through his day-to-day chores as the owner of Uncle Jack's Steakhouse. I've yet to find out if any programs have aired or if any production work has even started. It could be pretty interesting as Degel is a self-described "obsessive perfectionist."

The 9th Ave. location of Uncle Jack's is certainly elegant. As I mentioned, it features lush mahogany walls, cooper pressed ceiling tiles, elegant, yet subdued lighting and a cozy feel to the dining area. The appearance of the dining room belied the fact that it's only been in existence for 7 years - it looked like we had walked into a place that was just as elegant as it could have been back in the 1930's.

The bar area is just as polished and stately as the dining area. The bartenders and waiters are all in starched shirts, bow ties and snappy vests with aprons draping across the front of their pants. Oh, yeah. This was a pretty spiffy place.

The menu at Uncle Jack's Steakhouse (below left) sits on opposite walls of the restaurant, one above the bar and the other on the far wall. It's not a large menu as you can plainly see - five seafood appetizers, five different prime steaks, pork chops, fish of the day, salads and a number of sides served family style for the table. Uncle Jack's also features a Kobe beef steak for those who really want to throw down a wad of cash for dinner.

For starters, our waiter talked us into two skyscraper appetizers of seafood including jumbo shrimp, crab meat, lobster claws, oysters on half-shell, clams and mussels. Everything was fresh and very tasty. It was an excellent start to the meal.

For wine, my colleague Ian found a wonderful bottle of the Joseph Phelps cabernet on the wine list. It was full-bodied and had a great taste for a hearty red. This was promising to be a great meal.

Since many of us pigged out on the seafood towers, we eschewed salads and went directly for the main course. Steak, steak, steak and more steak was ordered at the table. I was no different - I went with Uncle Jack's 16 oz. bone-in filet, rare. I also ordered a side of sauteed mushrooms for the table to share.

This is where the story gets interesting...

Our steaks were brought to the table and, oh, man! Did they look delicious. After our customary "Bon app!" salute to one another, I cut into mine and it was more medium-rare than rare. Not that I couldn't eat it, it just was a little overcooked. I was content enough to have it as it.

Sitting next to me was one of the pro audio dealers from France, Alain, who ordered the exact same thing and his, too, was more medium-rare than rare. When the waiter came over to check on the steaks, Alain said that he thought his was a little overcooked. The waiter said, "Sir, we'll get you another steak right away. Anybody else have a problem?"

I said, "Well, now that you mention it, mine was supposed to be rare, but it's more medium-rare. I mean, I can eat it, but..."

The waiter cut me off. "Nonsense, sir," he said as he grabbed my plate. "You ordered rare and we'll get you rare." It was sort of embarrassing and pretty impressive at the same time. Alain and I sat patiently while playfully snide remarks came at us from around the table accusing us of being steak snobs and how we were probably going to cost the cook his job.

The second steaks came out and they were covered in more au jus than the first one. But I could tell from the outside of the steak that it was overcooked. I've grilled enough steaks in my life that I can usually tell from the texture of the outside of the steak that it's over-cooked or undercooked. The manager came over and asked us to cut into our steaks to see if they were cooked to our liking. Alain cut into his and he said, "Oh, perfect." And it was - red and cool in the middle.

Mine, I knew it was overcooked and I said so before I even cut into it. In fact, it was even more overcooked than the FIRST steak I was served. The manager immediately said, "Sir, our goal here is 100% customer satisfaction. We will get you a rare steak, I guarantee."

He took the plate away and there was a moment of silence at the table as he moved back toward the kitchen. When he disappeared with the steak through the kitchen door, my colleagues let me have it. "Jesus Christ, Will," my colleague Simon playfully chastised me. "I've seen people send one steak back for being over-cooked, but never TWO!"

Ian said, "It's that Midwestern steak-snobbishness that's coming out, Will. It doesn't suit you well."

Once again, I patiently waited for my next steak to come out. I mean, seriously, I could have eaten the first steak, but they took it away so quickly before I could protest that it was edible.

The others were well through the bulk of their meals before my next steak showed up in front of me. The manager stood over me as I cut into it. This time - perfect. In fact - and I'm chuckling as I write this - it may have been just a tad UNDERcooked. I swear it was 35 degrees in the middle as the meat was COLD. But it was rare and that's what I asked for. Hey, I'm still alive, so it didn't have any microbes that weren't cooked.

And it was wonderful. The USDA prime beef was tender and overly flavorful. It was lean, yet juicy. Along with the sauteed mushrooms that I had with it, it was a fabulous steak. Ian said with a laugh, "Are you happy now?"

Absolutely! It was worth the wait.

This is a picture of the aftermath of my absolutely wonderful steak. You can see, even close to the bone, that it was pretty rare.

Since my colleagues were playfully appalled at the fact that I sent not one, but TWO high dollar steaks back to the kitchen, they made me pick up the tab that evening. It wasn't a cheap evening by any means, but the service, the attention to detail and the whole customer satisfaction philosophy was extremely worth the price. When the manager brought the bill over to me, he leaned over and said, "Sir, we're terribly sorry for the condition of the steaks. We took your steak off the bill as our way of apologizing to you."

I said, "Oh, sir. Honestly. You didn't have to do that. I was overly happy with my steak once it was right. And, quite honestly, I could have gotten by with the first one."

He said, "Well, sir, 100% guaranteed customer satisfaction is our policy. And we want you and your group to come back and see us at some point."

Our waiter came over to thank me and our our group. Even waiters who didn't wait on us made a point to come over and thank us. I was up by the bar and the bartender even asked, "How was your dinner, sir?" After I told him it was excellent and the service was exemplary, he said, "Very good, sir. Please come back to see us."

Everyone made us feel important at Uncle Jack's Steakhouse. We were just schmoes off the street who came in for a good steak and we were treated like big shots. Uncle Jack's is the epitome of a classic New York steakhouse. Great service, great food and total customer satisfaction. I haven't been able to stop talking about the place to anyone who will listen to me. If you ever find yourself in New York and are looking for a great steak with great service, Uncle Jack's won't disappoint.

DMK Burger Bar - Lombard, IL

When Cindy and I were in Chicago last summer for our little mini-vacation, we had lunch at Uncle Julio's in Lombard (click here to see that entry). We parked in the lot near the restaurant, but another place caught my eye. It was DMK Burger Bar. I'd read about DMK Burger Bar in Bon Appetit and in the Chicago Tribune and had always wanted to visit their Chicago location (see map). I went there once, but parking is at a premium and I couldn't find a spot that was close. It turns out they had just opened their second location in Lombard just a day or two before. While I was intrigued by DMK Burger Bar, we wanted to stick to our rule of not visiting a restaurant during its first three months of existence, just to allow them to get the kinks out. We had lunch at Uncle Julio's that day, but I was in Chicago recently and was able to stop into DMK Burger Bar for a burger.

The DMK Burger Bar in Lombard is located in the Fountain Square shopping and entertainment area of Lombard, in between Oakbrook Center Mall and Yorktown Center Mall (see map). It is the second location opened by partners Michael Kornick and David Morton, who also are involved with Fish Bar, next to the Sheffield Ave. DMK Burger Bar location.

If the name Morton sounds familiar, it's because David Morton is the son of Arnie Morton, the legendary restaurateur who founded the Morton's steakhouse chain, as well as the founder of the Playboy Clubs and Resorts. Some of Morton's children have dabbled in the restaurant business, as well. Peter Morton founded the Hard Rock Cafe chain, Miichael Morton is the owner of the contemporary N9NE steakhouses in Chicago, Las Vegas and Dallas, and David Morton founded the Pompei Italian Restaurants with four locations in the greater Chicago area.

Michael Kornick has his own legacy as the executive chef at the long defunct Gordon restaurant (a place that I ate at a couple times years ago and it was absolutely fabulous), as well as working on various projects with Richard Melman of the Lettuce Entertain You restaurants. Kornick was also the executive chef at the Four Seasons Hotel in Boston for a spell.

Kornick (pictured right) became involved with two partners to work on and open two restaurants - Marché and Red Light - but the partnership quickly dissolved. With the help of his wife, Lisa, Kornick opened mk, a highly popular eclectic restaurant in the River North area of Chicago. Kornick started his relationship with the Morton family when he was hired as a consultant/chef/partner for N9NE, then partnered with David Morton to open DMK (a combination of David Morton's and Michael Kornick's initials) Burger Bar in 2009. Kornick is also a multiple James Beard Foundation nominee for best chef in the Midwest.

The menu at DMK Burger Bar consists of nine grass-fed beef burgers that all cost $8.00 each (with the exception of the Big DMK, the bison burger, and the guacamole burger). For the more health conscious, DMK Burger Bar also has turkey burgers, lamb burgers, and salmon burgers, as well as a veggie burger and a portobello mushroom burger. They also feature sides of salads, onion straws, fried okra and dill pickles, and a number of delectable French fries - called Chicago fries - that include sweet potato fries served with a lemon Tabasco aioli sauce, salt and pepper fries with homemade ketchup, parmesan cheese fries with truffle cream, and Amish bleu cheese fries with bacon.

Since it was during the noon hour when I got to DMK Burger Bar, I had a hell of a time trying to find a parking spot in the lot in front of the business. With Uncle Julio's across the way and a Starbuck's next door, parking is at a premium during the rush hours. I was able to find a spot behind the restaurant and went in. I took a seat at the bar and the very friendly bartender greeted me with a menu. Not only does DMK Burger Bar have a number of eclectic burgers to choose from, they have a very good beer list. They had eight beers on tap and another nearly three dozen beers available in bottles. I ended up getting a Great Lakes Dortmunder Gold lager beer they had on tap.

While the bar area is bright and open with white tiled walls behind the bar, the dining area is a mix of brick, contemporary lighting and a wall lined with banquette seating. Not only was the bartender overly friendly and chatty, but so was the wait staff and the manager. They certainly were doing their best to make you feel welcome.

Picking a burger was going to be tough. At new places, I usually like to go with the basic cheeseburger, with possibly bacon and mushrooms on it, to get the feel and taste of the burger. But the were so many mouthwatering burgers being described on the menu that I was having trouble figuring out that I wanted. The Number 8 (you order by the number) was a basic cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato, mayo, onions and pickles. The Number 2 was topped with chili rubbed onion-strings, Amish bleu cheese and a spicy chipotle ketchup. The Number 1 had aged cheddar, barbecue sauce, smoked bacon and charred balsamic red onions. You can see what I was up against.

But what really jumped out at me was the Number 4 - real roasted green chiles (not the stuff you get from cans), smoked bacon, Somoma jack cheese and a sunny-side-up farm fresh fried egg on top. I couldn't pass that one up, so I ordered that with a small side of the salt and pepper fries with the homemade ketchup. (I've since learned the sweet potato fries with the lemon Tabasco aioli sauce is to die for. Next time...)

About 15 minutes after I ordered the burger, one of the waitresses brought it out to me. The presentation was nice - the sunny-side-up egg was prominent on top with the bacon off to the side on the light and flaky homemade bun. It was time to dig in.

From the first bite, it was exquisite. The green chiles gave the burger a great peppery taste, but it wasn't spicy in the least. The grass-fed beef was cooked to a pink middle - exactly as I like it. Although I'd rather have a hard fried egg on my burger, the sunny-side-up egg wasn't all that messy. Along with the jack cheese and the smoked bacon, it was a superb burger.

The salt and pepper fries were absolutely great, as well. I normally don't like to get fries all that much, but these were fabulous. They were crispy on the outside, but moist on the inside. The homemade ketchup was tangy and somewhat tart. Overall, it was an outstanding meal.

I like to stay out in the western suburbs of Chicago when I'm in town for more than a couple days, mainly because it's centrally located for the dealers I call on in the area. DMK Burger Bar is about a five mile drive from where I like to stay and I'm sure that there will be more visits to this particular restaurant in the future. It was a burger worth of mention when my updated Best Burger list comes out in 2012. As I said, it was an outstanding burger.

 

2 Bros. Pizza - New York

On my previous trip to New York, I did get to eat New York style pizza at a place called Naples 45 (see my post entry here). It was a very good wood-fired pizza, but the restaurant lacked the ambiance of a true little New York pizza joint. When I went to New York for the AES Convention this past fall, I had a goal to eat at an authentic New York pizza joint. However, that idea got shot down by colleagues early on. "This is New York," my colleague Ian told me. "They have all these world class restaurants and you want pizza?"

It looked like I was going to get shut out in my quest for pizza in New York City until a late night encounter with two other like-minded souls who also wanted to try a good thin crust New York-style pizza. The only problem was that it was too late for a sit down meal at a pizza joint, and I'd already had a big meal earlier in the evening. So we did what nearly every red-blooded New Yorker has done at least once in their life, we went for a slice of pizza at 2 Bros. Pizza, one of the hundreds of "by-the-slice" shops that are all over the greater New York City area.

There appear to be six 2 Bros. Pizza locations in Manhattan, the original one is on St. Mark's in the East Village (hence the "St. Mark's" above the logo on the sign above). The one I went to was just up the street from our hotel on 8th Ave. at the corner of 37th St. (see map).

We had finished dinner one evening and went back to Cooper's Tavern for a night cap. We met up with Trent and Ian from Moog Music, who work for the makers of the famous keyboard synthesizers and they joined us in the bar for a Scotch. Trent and I got to talking about how we had both wanted a real New York pizza joint experience. "But nobody wanted to go with me," Trent said.

I said, "I'm in the same boat, buddy. No one here wanted to get a pizza." My colleague, Ian, sneered at me when I said that.

Brian from Lauten Audio told us, "There's a 'pizza-by-the-slice' place just a couple blocks up the street and I've been told it's where all the locals go."

I said, "I could go for a slice of pizza. I mean, I'm full, but I could squeeze in a slice." Trent and his colleague, Ian, immediately said they'd do it, too. So we left the bar and walked two blocks up the street.

2 Bros. Pizza is an open air pizza place with pizzas cut into large triangular slices resting (not for long, as we found out) on shelves in a heated glass case. The large pieces are placed on a paper plate that isn't big enough to hold the full slice.

It was around 11 p.m. when we ordered our slices and it was actually pretty busy in and around that 2 Bros. Pizza location. I ordered a sausage and pepperoni slice, as did Trent. Ian sort of looked through the glass case before deciding to also get a slice of the sausage and pepperoni. Ooops! Too late, man. By the time the pizza guy had scooped out two pieces for Trent and I, two other people had ordered sausage and pepperoni and it was all gone. The pizza guy said, "I'll have another sausage and pepperoni in about five minutes." Ian looked into the case and saw a meatball pizza. He took one of those.

The crust was thin and pliable, allowing us to to "fold" the pizza as New Yorkers do to eat it more easily. And from the first bite, I was in heaven. It was a good, greasy pizza and the sausage had a great fennel taste to it. The pepperoni was tangy and had a nice little bite to it. And the mozzarella cheese was a nice caramelized golden brown and tasted fabulous. Overall the pizza was just outstanding. I sort of wished I would have been able to have a beer with it - it was that kind of a pizza where a cold beer would have been a great compliment to the pizza.

Ian (left) and Trent (right) from Moog Music thoroughly enjoying their 2 Bros. Pizza slices.

The great thing about all of this - the slices were $1 buck. That's right - a dollar. Two pieces of the pizza would have been enough for most people to make a full meal. It was a wonderful thing.

All right, so I didn't get to go to an authentic New York pizza joint. Or did I? With hundreds of these little "by-the-slice" places throughout New York City, this is the way most New Yorkers get their pizza fix. Still, I'd love to be able to go to one of the old venerable places like Ray's, John's or Lombardi's. I figured that maybe one of these days Cindy and I are going to have to come to New York and do the tourist thing. That's when I'll be able to have a good pizza in an authentic New York pizza joint.

Berghoff Cafe - O'Hare International Airport - Chicago

Having to fly out of Moline four or five times a year usually means a connection through Chicago. These days when I do fly, I nearly always take United Airlines as I'm trying to get my point totals up to be able to go on a vacation with my wife somewhere far, far away in a year or two. Inside Terminal 1 on the C Concourse at O'Hare International Airport between Gates C-24 and C-26 on the far north side is the Berghoff Cafe (see map). If I'm ever laid over for any significant amount of time, I always try to get to the Berghoff Cafe for a sandwich and a couple beers. On a recent trip back from New York City, I deplaned at C-23 - a very short walk to the Berghoff Cafe.

The Berghoff Cafe is part of the Berghoff Group of restaurants and catering. I've written about the Berghoff in the past, primarily this entry, just before they closed the original Berghoff in 2006. The back story behind the closing is that Herman Berghoff, the grandson of the original owner of Berghoff, also named Herman, and his wife, Jan, wanted to retire from the restaurant business. The only Berghoff involved in the business was their daughter, Carlyn, who owned and operated the Berghoff catering business. She wanted to continue to concentrate on that part of the business and not run the restaurant. The Berghoff family announced in late 2005 that the restaurant would close on February 28, 2006. Like thousands of other people, we went into Chicago for one last meal at Berghoff and waited in a long line that stretched for a good 100 yards down Adams Street during a typically cold Chicago winter.

The original Berghoff was one of the very few Chicago area restaurants that had unionized waiters. The numbers of restaurants that had union waiters had dwindled to around 10 by the time the Berghoff had closed. Some of the waiters at The Berghoff had worked there for over 40 years. I've heard stories from more than one person that the intent of the Berghoff family was to close the main restaurant under the guise of Herman and Jan Berghoff retiring, but it was more to force the union waiters out. I'm not saying that is true - it's just what I've heard from a couple three people.

Carlyn Berghoff had converted the main dining room into her new catering venture and called it "The Century Room". In April of 2006, she reopened the Berghoff Cafe in the basement of the building offering a lunch menu of sandwiches, paninis, salads and soups. Shortly thereafter, Carlyn Berghoff reopened the historic bar (it holds Chicago Liquor License No. 1 - pictured right) and renamed it 17 West at The Berghoff. And in June of 2006, she quietly reopened the original Berghoff with a smaller and slightly different menu than what her father, grandfather and great-grandfather offered before. This immediately brought on some skeptism from people who really wondered why the closing took place to begin with and angered many - including me - who thought the Berghoff was gone for good and waited for hours for one last meal.

Carlyn Berghoff explained that she was a perfectionist and she had never actually run a restaurant before and the team she had in place had also never really run a restaurant. She wanted to make sure that everything was right before they reopened. And presumably without unionized waiters.

Through all of this, the Berghoff Cafe at O'Hare stayed open. I don't quite remember when the Berghoff Cafe opened at O'Hare, but it had to be more than 10 years ago. They open at 5:30 a.m. for the early morning flyers and stay open until at least 9:30 p.m. - and even longer for some people who are delayed by weather. The menu at Berghoff Cafe at O'Hare is somewhat similar to the one in downtown Chicago - sandwiches, paninis and so on.

There's two parts of the Berghoff Cafe, the part where you order your food at the kitchen counter (left), and the bar area where you can dine and get a beer. There was a short line to order, but a full house in the bar area when I got there just before 2 p.m. after my flight from New York.

I always seem to get the same thing at the Berghoff Cafe - the reuben sandwich. They take fresh corned beef brisket out of a steam tray, cut it thin on a rotary meat slicer, then pile the meat high on thick rye bread before topping it with sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and 1000 Island dressing. Then they take it over to the panini press and warm it up for about a minute giving the sandwich nice charred lines on the top and bottom while melting the cheese.

It had been awhile since had been to the Berghoff Cafe at O'Hare and one thing that they added to the ordering line was beer. In the past, you could get your sandwich, but then you had to go to the bar and get a beer. That meant two charges on your credit card for one meal. But now, they have three Berghoff beers on tap including their Lager and Dark beers, as well as their seasonal Oktoberfest beer. I took an Oktoberfest as they placed my sandwich in a styrofoam container. I found a place to sit at one of the communal tables they have in the not-so-large bar area.

The sandwiches at the Berghoff Cafe are always great. First of all, they're pretty good sized so it's always good to have a healthy appetite when you go. Secondly, the combination of the very tasty corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and dressing on the homemade rye bread is absolutely mouth-watering. The bread is a little charred on the outside, but everything is melted together in a fashion that each bite is a gooey pleasure. It's definitely a four napkin sandwich. A large dill pickle spear comes with the sandwich and you can also get chips and some other sides to go along with it, if you want. The sandwich, itself, runs $9.45 and, in my estimation and opinion, is worth every cent. It's much better than getting food at a lot of the other food outlets they have to offer at O'Hare. Unfortunately, a lot of other travelers know that, too. And that's why it's always full at the Berghoff Cafe.

 

So, if you're flying United through O'Hare - as many people seem to do now that they merged with Continental Airlines - with a layover of an hour or more, it's with my high recommendation to take a walk to the Berghoff Cafe and get a sandwich and a beer. Even if you're on the B concourse of Terminal 1, it's worth the walk through the tunnel connecting the two. They also have a shuttle between Concourse C and Concourse F where most of the regional jets arrive and depart. As I said, it's much better than the fast food alternatives that proliferate Terminal 1 and is much better than many of the sit down places in the same terminal. The only bitch I'd have is that I just wish it was a little bigger in the bar area.

JL Beers - Fargo

After our dinner at Green Market Kitchen when I was in Fargo earlier this past fall, my dealer, Rod, suggested that we go to a place down the street from the restaurant - JL Beers - to get a couple nightcap beers.  As we were walking there, Rod's wife, Ellen, said that JL Beers has pretty good burgers.  "They have this machine that cooks them on both sides and they come out to you pretty fast," Ellen said.  "And they have the most amazing homemade potato chips!"  We had a few beers that night, but before leaving Fargo the next day to head west, I stopped in at the West Fargo location of JL Beers to see what the deal was.

The JL Beers in downtown Fargo was the original of what is now four locations of the beer bar/burger joint.  In addition to the one in downtown Fargo and the one I visited in West Fargo, there's a JL Beers that opened up in 2011 up the road in Grand Forks.  They were also scheduled to open a JL Beers across the Red River from Fargo in Moorhead, MN sometime before the end of the year.  Each location features at least 32 beers on tap and another 25 to 30 beers available in bottles.  The food menu at JL Beers is pretty basic - they feature nine burgers and you can add on toppings such as cheese, onions (raw or fried), an egg, bacon, lettuce, tomato, or grilled peppers for an upcharge.  In addition to the great homemade chips Ellen was raving about, they also have fries and something called "Buffalo Blu" chips.  The fries and the homemade chips are available seasoned in either sea salt, barbecue spices or Cajun spices.  

Warren Ackley and Randy Thorson (pictured right - photo courtesy of the Fargo-Moorhead Forum) are the two owners behind JL Beers.  Thorson's and Ackley's company - Global Investments - is the owner of the Old Broadway, a downtown saloon/eatery that I've eaten at a couple times in the distant past, as well as Borrowed Bucks Roadhouse (also with locations in Sioux Falls, SD, Grand Forks, ND and Bismarck, ND) and the WOW 94.7 Radio Bar, billed as the world's first radio station that also serves beer.  

The name JL Beers pays homage to an old friend of theirs - Jim Lauerman - who owned Jim Lauerman's Chili, Sandwiches and Beer, a popular hangout for the locals.  After Jim's death, Ackley and Thorson bought the building that housed Lauerman's chili joint hoping to put a restaurant in it.  However, they didn't do anything with that building and ended up selling it.  Instead, they bought the building on 1st Ave. North in downtown Fargo that also housed a sandwich shop called 1st and Deli.  They opened the first JL Beers in November of 2009.  

The concept was pretty basic - burgers and beers.  And because of the small, narrow size of the space for JL Beers, they initially had seating at the bar - 24 seats.  In fact, their motto was "Seating for 1000 - 24 at a time."  The did put in three high top tables that seated four each at the downtown Fargo location.  The West Fargo location is a little bigger - their motto is "Seating for 25,000 - 49 at a time."  

While the JL Beers in downtown Fargo is located within a building, the other JL Beers locations are free standing buildings that are constructed to look like it's an old building in which the buildings on each side were torn down.  It's a pretty clever design and a pretty neat concept.  When restaurants are looking to expand and have seating for up to 100 or more people, JL Beers wants to keep it simple.  

I got into the JL Beers in West Fargo (see map) around 11:30 a.m. and there was already a good sized crowd in the house.  I took a seat at the bar and took a look at the menu.  As I said, JL Beers only features nine different burgers, but with the add-ons you can literally call your own shot as to what you want on your burger.  

The burgers are cooked on a flat grill with a heated press that comes down and smashes the burgers, cooking them in less than five minutes and giving them sort of a crusty edge.  I'd never seen a flat grill with a heated press like this before.  Once again, another unique concept to the place.  

The burgers they have on the menu range from the Original Burger with just pickles and a special sauce on a single patty, to the Buffalo Ranch burger that has Buffalo wing sauce, ranch dressing, tomato, lettuce and a seasoning on the burger.  Three burgers that caught my eye were the Humpty-Dumpty that featured a burger with cheese and a fried egg on top, the BLT Blu with bacon, lettuce, tomato and bleu cheese on top, and the Rajun' Cajun with pepperjack cheese, JL Beers homemade chili lime sauce and grilled onions.  

And, of course, they have beer at JL Beers.  The West Fargo location has 40 beers on tap as well as a number of imported and domestic beers in bottles.  JL Beers also slums with the best of them by offering over a dozen domestic beers in cans from the likes of Schlitz, Old Milwaukee, Pabst Blue Ribbon and Grain Belt Premium.  The previous night, I was introduced to a beer from a new local brewery called Fargo Brewing.  They have a Wood Chipper India pale ale (the wood chipper is a nod to the somewhat gory scene in the movie "Fargo") that was pretty darn good.  For now, the beer is brewed in Wisconsin, but the group that owns Fargo Brewing hope to have a local brewery up and running sometime within the next year or so.  I had a Wood Chipper IPA brought to me while I looked through the menu.

One thing I thought to be somewhat odd at JL Beers was the fact that you couldn't get mushrooms or jalapenos on a burger.  I was hoping to do a bacon, mushroom, Swiss cheese burger, but I couldn't do that.  I ended up going with the Great American cheeseburger topped with ketchup, mustard and pickles and a slice of American cheese.  For extra measure, I got some bacon on top.  I also ordered some of the homemade chips with the sea salt seasoning and I got a side of their chili lime sauce.  

It certainly didn't take more than three or four minutes before my meal showed up in front of me.  There was a pile of homemade chips surrounding the burger with a toasted homemade bun.  The chips were warm and very tasty.  And the chili lime sauce had a little zip to the taste and went along great with the chips.  But there were so many of the chips and a healthy side of the sauce that I knew I wouldn't be able to eat all of them.  Two people could easily share the order of chips at JL Beers. 

The burger, itself, was, well, just OK.   The bun tasted good - nice and fluffy, but not chewy.  The burger wasn't all that large to begin with and had sort of a crunchiness to the outside of it.  But it wasn't all that flavorful.  It seriously tasted like a fast food burger.  As I said, it was OK, but it wasn't spectacular at all.

It was a pretty expensive lunch, too.  With a beer the bill came to $14 bucks before the tip.  You get dinged pretty good for the burger, then when you add on the chips and the chili lime sauce, it adds up pretty quickly.  Actually, the highlight of the meal was the chips.  Well, and the beer.  The Wood Chipper IPA is a very good beer.  

My impression of JL Beers is that you go there for the beer and if you're hungry you can get an average burger.  Or get the chips if you're looking for something salty in taste to go along with the beers.  While I do like the concept of JL Beers, I'm not overly impressed with the burgers.  Go for the beer, but there's better burgers elsewhere in Fargo, I'm sure.    

Churrascaria Plataforma - New York City

While in New York for the 131st Audio Engineering Society convention, Nicholas Debard, who heads Focal Loudspeakers professional sound division, invited our group, as well as some others out for dinner to Churrascaria Plataforma, a Brazilian steakhouse located on W. 49th St. in Midtown Manhattan (see map). Brazilian steakhouses are always fun, so we took a brisk walk up 8th Ave. and then a left on 49th St. to the front door of Churrascaria Plataforma about halfway between 8th and 9th.

Plataforma, as it's known to the locals, has been in existence since 1996 becoming one of the first Brazilian rodizio (all-you-can-eat) style steakhouses in the city. It's very similar to any of the other Brazilian steakhouses that I've been to - they have a large salad bar that they entice you to gorge yourself on so you won't have room to eat the skewers upon skewers of barbecued beef, lamb, pork, sausages, chicken and turkey they keep bringing to your table. And like the others, Plataforma (which means platform in Portuguese - not quite sure the relevance between a steakhouse and a platform) has a fixed price per person for the meal. They charge a flat rate of $50 bucks per head, so it's best NOT to load up on the salad bar beforehand.

Nicholas had invited a large group that included the five guys from my company working the AES show, Brian from Lauten Audio (makers of top quality microphones), Jurg from Vovox Cables (makers of high quality cables for guitars, microphones and power cables), a couple of guys who ran pro music stores in France who were there for the show, as well as a couple of importer/distributors - one from Indonesia, the other was, I believe, from China. And he also invited Fab Dupont, the owner of Flux Studios in Manhattan and a large supporter of Focal Professional loudspeakers, and his girlfriend, who was celebrating her birthday that evening.

We had walked into the somewhat boisterous and loud restaurant and on a small platform (maybe that's the platform connection) near the center of the dining room was a Brazilian jazz combo playing music. While it wasn't ear shattering, it was still loud enough that caused my colleague Todd to wonder if we'd be able to hear conversation at the table. But to our relief, the hostess guided us into a lower level room, smaller and much quieter than the main dining area. The only problem all night was the rather loud 20-something girl at the table next to us who had this whiny, nasally voice that reminded my colleague Ian and I of the actress Fran Drescher. Ian said, "If I was married to that voice, I'd smother her with a pillow while she slept."

My boss, Daniel, had the honors of picking out wines and he ordered up two reds - a Primogenito Malbec blend from Argentina, and another red South American wine that I didn't bother to look at. That's because the Primogenito was so robust in taste that it completely eclipsed the other red on the table. The Primogenito Malbec was so complex and full-bodied, yet it went extremely well with the meal that we had. Everyone sort of forgot about the other red and more bottles of the Primogenito were brought to the table. It suddenly became a "must find" on my list of wines.

Like other Brazilian steakhouses, the salad bar at Plataforma is huge and full of diverse items such as sushi, red beets, peppadew sweet peppers, cheeses, mixed salad greens, sun-dried tomatoes and roasted red peppers - all of which I got while going through the line. Given that I'd eaten a large steak the night before at Cooper's Tavern, I thought a lot of greens and veggies would be good to have. But, as always, I end up eating the salad, then can never say no to the skewers of beef that they bring out.

After the salad, the little disc in front of me was turned over from red to green signifying that the meat fest was on. And was it ever - they first brought out their signature sirloin on a skewer, cutting off chunks of medium rare to medium cooked beef for me to grab with the little metal tongs. After I passed on the lamb and turkey filet, I tried the bacon wrapped chunks of chicken breast. The chicken was woefully overcooked and somewhat dried out. OK, no more chicken.

Beef ribs, prime rib, beef tenderloin filet and more of the sirloin made it to my plate, but all were somewhat to very overcooked. The meat was good, but we all thought they could have taken it off the grill a little more quickly. At right is my colleague Ian trying to cut through some of the overcooked meat he had on his plate.

The head waiter came over and asked us if we needed anything and Ian said, "Yes! Beef this is more medium-rare, not medium-well. And do you have garlic beef?"

The head waiter said, "Garlic beef? Absolutely, sir! We'll bring some out to you right away."

The garlic sirloin did come out and it wasn't all that great. It, too, was overcooked and only had a hint of garlic in the beef. Actually, the best garlic beef we've ever had at a Brazilian steakhouse was out in Denver at the Rodizio Grill. It was like they injected the sirloin with with liquid garlic as each bite was permeated with a thick garlic taste. That was out of this world. The garlic sirloin at Plataforma was sort of "eh!" I could take it or leave it.

They did bring more rare cooked beef, but by that time I was full. We did have some dessert - I shared a New York cheesecake with a couple other people (hey, when in New York...). It was OK, but I was too stuffed to enjoy the cheesecake to any extent.

Walking back to the hotel, Ian and I both remarked that Churrascaria Plataforma was definitely not the best Brazilian steakhouse that we've eaten at. The highlight of the meal was the great Primogenito Malbec blend. "It just walked all over that other red we had," Ian said. Nearly all the meat I had was overcooked at Plataforma, and a couple pieces I had I couldn't finish as they cooked the life out of the meat. Brazilian steakhouses are still fun, but when the food isn't that great then it takes the fun out of it. Maybe we got Plataforma on a bad night as the place was packed and it's been in business for 15 years. But I have to believe there's gotta be better Brazilian steakhouses in Manhattan.

Bunny's (Sherm's) - Minneapolis

I was up in the Twin Cities recently and set up a morning meeting with the guys from the Needle Doctor. Jerry, the owner, suggested we get together for breakfast at a place just down the street from his store in St. Louis Park - Bunny's Bar and Grill. Along with his right hand man, Kenny, we met there for breakfast one morning.

Bunny's has been around since just after the repeal of Prohibition in 1933. Henry Aretz was getting ready to open his bar along Excelsior Blvd. and he needed a sign for the front of his building. Fully expecting to call his new tavern "Aretz's Place", he asked a sign painter to come up with a sign for him. The sign painter had screwed up a sign that said "Bunnys" instead of "Bunnies" and he didn't want to scrap it. The sign painter asked Henry if he wanted a deal on the sign - a GOOD deal. Coming out of the Great Depression, Henry was watching his money, so he bought the sign for pennies on the dollar. Thus, "Aretz's Place" became "Bunny's".

Original Bunny's sign - the apostrophe was missing.

Aretz and his wife, Lottie, ran Bunny's along with their nine children. One of the big draws during the first few years the tavern was open was a slot machine they had on the premises. Slots were legal in Minnesota until then Governor Luther Youngdahl (who was obviously a fun-hater) shut them down just after he was elected to office in 1947.

In addition to running Bunny's, Aretz was also a home developer. He built homes in five subdivisions in north Minneapolis in the 50's. About this time, the Aretz's added a liquor store to their St. Louis Park bar. The liquor store was run by Henry and Lottie's oldest son, Harold. They operated the liquor store at the Bunny's location for less than a year before moving it to the Miracle Mile shopping area just down the road. The Aretz's were one of nine applicants for a liquor license to sell at Miracle Mile. They opened the Miracle Mile liquor store in August of 1958. Harold Aretz ran it for 18 years before closing it in 1976 to run Bunny's full time after the death of his father three years before.

Harold Aretz and his family ran Bunny's up until 1988 when Sherman Rackner and his son, Gary, bought the bar. The Rackner's immediately added a kitchen to the tavern and began to serve food.

Sherman Rackner passed away in 1997 and about that time, St. Louis Park officials were looking at a plot of land to develop for a condominium complex called Park Commons. It happened that Bunny's was smack dab in the middle of those development plans and they had to be out of there by the end of 1998. Gary Rackner brought in a new business partner, Steve Koch, and the two moved Bunny's to the present day location just down Excelsior Blvd. in 1999 (see map).

Bunny's is actually two places - the main part which is known as Bunny's, and the back bar which is known as "Sherm's" after Sherman Rackner. It's in Sherm's, I found out, that breakfast is served 6 days a week - except Sunday - starting at 8 a.m. I believe Jerry from The Needle Doctor told me Sherm's and Bunny's do a brunch on Sunday beginning at 10 a.m.

Sherm's (lower left) is a smaller place than Bunny's. It has a bar with a number of high top tables. A handful of flat screen televisions hang from the ceiling and are turned on to either MSNBC or ESPN.

Bunny's (above right), on the other hand, is much larger, features a number of televisions, a bigger bar and a broad menu of food. There's a game room toward the back and is a family destination. Bunny's features pizza, pastas, steaks, burgers, salads, sandwiches and appetizers of all types. Through the week, Bunny's has their daily Blue Line specials that consist of comfort food such as meat loaf, hot beef sandwiches and roast pork.

I was a bit early and grabbed a table at Sherm's (after going to Bunny's front door and seeing a sign that said breakfast was served in Sherm's with an arrow pointing north). The bartender was also the waiter and he came over to see if I was by myself or if others were coming. He set up a couple more place settings while I looked through the breakfast menu.

Most of the signature items at Bunny's/Sherm's are their skillet breakfasts - scrambled eggs, potatoes and cheese with ingredients such as gyro meat, other breakfast meats, veggies and other items. With the skillets they also offered a free orange juice OR you could get a free bloody mary or a free screwdriver. They also had pancakes, french toast and eggs benedict. Or you could get eggs any style.

Kenny came in about five minutes after I got there, followed by Jerry soon thereafter. Jerry apologized for being late, "I started to drive over to the old location. (They moved to St. Louis Park in 2010 after being in the Dinkytown area over by the U. of Minnesota since the 70's.) I just spaced out thinking about things and the next thing I know I'm near downtown and thinking, 'Where the hell am I going?' "

The bartender, Sam, came over to greet Jerry and to take our orders. I ordered up the egg sandwich - a hard fried egg topped with your choice of bacon, Canadian bacon or a sausge patty, along with cheese on an English muffin. I had a lunch meeting scheduled for later in the day and I didn't want to load up on a big breakfast skillet.

Kenny ordered the eggs benedict. That sounded good, too, if I wasn't going to have lunch later on. Then it was Jerry's turn to order.

Here's the conversation between Jerry and Sam, about 98% verbatim -

Sam: What would you like, Jerry?"

Jerry: I'll take a vegetarian omelet.

Sam: We don't have omelets.

Jerry: Oh, you don't? Well, how about some scrambled eggs. Like five scrambled eggs with some vegetables.

Sam: We don't have any thing like that.

(At this point, I interjected that Jerry should get the Greek skillet and have them hold the gyro meat. By this time, poor Sam was completely flummoxed. If it wasn't on the menu, he had no idea how to improvise.)

Jerry: Well, I just need protein. Just get me scrambled eggs. Make 'em with five eggs.

Sam: Our eggs are pretty big. Three eggs should do you fine.

Jerry: OK, yeah, that's fine.

Sam: Would you like some mushrooms mixed in with them?

Jerry looked over at me and gave me this incredulous look of "What the hell?" Jerry said, "Yeah, sure."

Sam: Want some onions?

Jerry (now with a knowing smile on his face): Sure!

Sam: How about some green peppers?

Jerry (now with a nearly laughing smile on his face): You bet!

Sam: Tomatoes?

Jerry: Not a tomato guy.

Sam: Want some cheese melted on top?

Jerry: No cheese. Just the eggs and veggies.

Sam: OK, I'll get that right out!

By the time he left, Kenny and I were just about ready to burst, stifling laughs as Jerry and Sam went back and forth. Jerry said, "What the hell was that? I ask for a vegetarian omelet and he said he didn't have omelets. So I asked for scrambled eggs with veggies and he said he didn't have that either. Then he starts asking if I wanted all these vegetables with my eggs and I couldn't believe he was going through the list. That was extremely weird."

A good sized breakfast crowd - especially for mid-week - was in Sherm's so it took about 20 minutes for Sam to bring out breakfasts out. That was OK as we were talking business during the time we were waiting. My egg sandwich was pretty non-descript - it was basically an upgraded Egg McMuffin with sausage. Jerry's scrambled eggs with vegetables were just that - scrambled eggs with veggies. But Kenny hit the breakfast jackpot that morning. The eggs benedict featured two large poached eggs on English muffins drenched in a bearnaise sauce. A large side of hash browns came with his eggs benedict. Kenny's reaction when Sam set the plate down in front of him was a simple, "Wow!"

Actually, my egg sandwich was very good - a lot better than going to McDonald's or any other fast food joint for a similar breakfast sandwich. Kenny thoroughly enjoyed his eggs benedict and Jerry said that his scrambled eggs and veggies - and Sam was right, three eggs were more than enough - were also very good.

I've driven by Bunny's a handful of times since The Needle Doctor moved to their new location last year. I never knew what it was until now. I'm always looking for a sports bar alternative in the Twin Cities since I'm getting kind of burnt out on Joe Senser's, and Bunny's is now on my radar. The portions were huge and the cost was a very good value ($26 bucks for all three plus a nice tip for Sam who was obviously having a bad day). The history of Bunny's is reason enough to stop in and have a drink and some food. But if the rest of their food is as good as their breakfasts - and as good a value - I'm definitely going back at some point to get a meal while I'm watching a game some time down the road when I'm in the Twin Cities.

(Update - I've been back to Bunny's a couple of times since my initial visit and I tried their tuna melt sandwich with a cup of homemade chicken noodle soup on one visit and one of their 1/2 lb. burgers topped with sauteed mushrooms and pepper jack cheese.  It's tough to screw up a tuna melt and I'd say it was above average.  The burger was pretty good, as well.  Not the best, but it hit the spot that particular evening.  But the best of all three was the homemade chicken noodle soup.  Large chunks of chicken, a nice amount of noodles, and a good chicken broth.  I was very impressed with the soup.) 

Miles Inn - Sioux City, IA

Loose meat beefburger sandwiches are a staple around the state of Iowa. Maid-Rites rule the day with this type of sandwich, but as you can tell from this post regarding the difference between old guard Maid-Rites and the newer corporate Maid-Rites there's a big difference between the two. There's also the famous Canteen Lunch in the Alley luncheonette in Ottumwa (that entry continues to be one of the most read on Road Tips) that serves their own loose meat sandwiches. However, out in the northwestern part of the state, there are a number of places that offer a variance on the loose meat sandwich and they call them "taverns". Taverns have a mixture that keeps the meat together and won't crumble onto the wax paper they're served in. And one of the most famous "tavern" sandwiches is the Charlie Boy at Miles Inn in Sioux City.

The Miles Inn has a long history that began back in 1925 when Charlie Miles opened a little grocery store at the corner of Leech and S. Fairmount in Sioux City's Morningside neighborhood (see map). No one is quite sure when Miles turned it into a bar, but guesses are that it was either in the late 40's or early 50's.

The original tavern sandwich in Sioux City dates back to 1934 when Abraham Kaled made his first tavern sandwich at Ye Olde Tavern. Maid-Rites were beginning to become the rage across the state of Iowa and Kaled came up with his own mixture for his tavern sandwich.

Not long after changing the grocery store into a tavern, Miles came up with a loose meat tavern sandwich that he named after his son, Charlie, Jr. That's how the Charlie Boy came about. Nearby workers at the Sioux City stockyards loved the sandwiches and their reputation has grown over the years.

A few years ago, Denny and Julie Lias bought the Miles Inn. During the transistion, Denny Lias worked there for a number of weeks before he was even given the recipe for a Charlie Boy. It's a closely guarded secret and one that many have tried to duplicate for years. I understand the people will come in with their own Charlie Boy for Lias to taste. Some have been close, but there's still something that is in a Charlie Boy that makes it difficult to figure out what it is.

(Julie and Denny Lias at the bar at Miles Inn. Picture courtesy Sioux City Journal.)

The Lias' recently opened a second Miles Inn location up in Arnolds Park, IA in the Iowa Great Lakes region. Other places in the Sioux City area that sell taverns include the Tastee Inn and Out, and Bob's Drive-Inn up in LeMars. (Click here to see my post on Bob's.) But the Miles Tap is the one that most of the locals equate as being the original tavern sandwich.

I had an appointment in Sioux City one morning and before I went out of town I swung over to the Miles Inn for a pre-noontime meal. Now, I've been to the Miles Inn four or five times before and have had Charlie Boy's in the past. I was told by someone before my first visit that I could easily eat four or five of them. I had two and that was more than enough for me.

Miles Inn is an old time, blue-collar bar, full of beer lights, Iowa Hawkeyes signs and old time pictures. The three sided bar is large for a tavern of this size, and there's a handful of chairs and tables around the perimeter of the place. In the back, there's a pool table that I have to say, quite honestly, that never appears to be idle. There's always someone playing pool at Miles Inn, it seems. This visit was no exception.

Behind the bar is the steamer that holds the Charlie Boy meat, as well as the buns they're served on. I ordered up a Charlie Boy with everything (ketchup, mustard, onions, pickle) with cheese. And I got a bottle of Bud Light, which was a mistake because I forgot Miles Inn is famous for their 20 oz. frosty schooners of draft beer. That's OK - I just wanted a beer with my burger and I wasn't going to be there long.

Of course, it doesn't take long for a Charlie Boy to be made up. They aren't big, but they're pretty expensive for their size - $3.00 bucks each. As you can see from the picture at left, the consistency of the meat is such that I'm figuring they add flour or corn starch to the meat to make it more firm than a regular Maid-Rite.

But the taste is baffling to me. There's some additive that makes them a little spicy, almost peppery in taste. It lingers on the tongue and disappears a few moments later. I sat for a couple minutes between a couple bites to try and figure out what that taste was. Certainly, the Charlie Boy at the Miles Inn is a unique taste and one that has to grow on you. The first time I tried one, I was surprised with the taste and wasn't sure I liked it. The second time, I knew what to expect and sort of warmed up to the taste. The following times I've gotten a Charley Boy, I can now see how Sioux Citians have come to love the little loose meat sandwiches that sort of stick together.

Don't expect a Charlie Boy to taste anything like a Maid-Rite if you go to visit. While it's similar in design, it's definitely different in taste. I think they're a little expensive for what they are, but they keep selling 'em by the dozens at the Miles Inn. That's why 3 generations of people keep coming back for the little tavern sandwiches that have been around for nearly 60 years.