Road Tips

J.P. Soars and the Red Hots

It's been quite sometime since I've written about any musical experiences I've encountered.  The tag line to this blog is "A Sales Guy's Guide to Travel, Food and Music in the Midwest and Beyond" and I had the pleasure of seeing someone the other night that I had hoped to see sooner than later, blues guitarist J.P. Soars.  Soars and his band, the Red Hots, played a show at Martini's on the Rocks in Rock Island the other night.  The event was sponsored by the Mississippi Valley Blues Society.  

When I drive throughout the Midwest, I have my car radio tuned to Sirius XM channel 21 - Little Steven's Underground Garage - almost exclusively.  I've found the music to be edgy and eclectic, reminding me of music that I grew up with and introducing me to new bands and artists that don't get a lot of air time on over-the-air radio stations.  It was on Little Steven's Underground Garage where I was first exposed to J.P. Soars a little less than two years ago.  While his songs aren't in quite the same heavy rotation they were about a year ago, I still hear "Doggin' ", "Back of My Mind" and "More Bees with Honey" on the channel from time to time.  When I found out that he was going to be coming to the Quad Cities to play a midweek show, I made double-damned sure that I was going to be in town for that.  (Besides, I have been traveling so much lately, I needed a week at home to catch up in the office and recharge.)  

John Paul Soars was born in California before his family moved to Cedarville, AR near Fort Smith.  He picked up his first guitar at age 11 and continued to play when his family eventually relocated to South Florida when Soars was 16.  Influenced by Jimi Hendrix, ZZ Top and the Beatles, Soars turned to heavy metal music and joined a popular area band by the name of Raped Ape.  Soars was with the band - which eventually took the name Paingod - for eight years turning out one heavy metal album and disbanding soon thereafter.  

While he was still in his "metal phase", Soars discovered the music of French jazz guitarist Jean "Django" Reinhardt, an avant-garde musician and composer who has been called one of the greatest guitarists of all time.  One of Soars songs featured on his My Space web site is called "Django's Tiger" which displays his prowess for the gypsy jazz guitar stylings from the era before, during, and after World War II.

It was also during his time playing heavy metal that he was captivated by down-home, southern-roots-style blues.  Soars was in and out of South Florida bands over the years and traveled the states with other musicians playing all different types of music.    But he was more well-known for his work with hard metal/thrash bands Malevolent Creation and later with Divine Empire, recording a total of six albums with those bands.  

In 2005, Soars left Divine Empire to focus on blues and jazz music.  He started up his blues band - the Red Hots - soon thereafter.  Another one of Soars' side projects at the time was a band called the Gypsy Blue Acoustic Revue, a group of South Florida musicians who played the gypsy jazz music from the 30's and 40's that Django Reinhardt made famous among jazz aficionados.  

In 2008, Soars and the Red Hots won a local competition for Best Blues Band in South Florida and they went on to Memphis to compete in the International Blues Challenge in February 2009.  Soars and his band blew away the competition to capture the Best Blues Band award for the IBC while Soars also garnered the "Best Guitarist" award.  His blues career was beginning to take off.  

We heard a lot of different varieties of music when Soars and his bandmates - Don "The Cougar" Gottlieb on bass, and Chris Peet on drums - took the stage at Martini's on the Rock around 7 p.m.  From traditional blues, to jump-style blues, to down-in-the-swamp blues, to surf music, to gypsy jazz stylings, Soars captivated the audience with his guitar playing.  

About halfway through the first set, Soars got out one of his homemade "cigar box" guitars that he and his brother made, paying homage to some of the down-south do-it-yourself musicians who made guitars out of cigar boxes and wooden planks in the 1920's and 30's.  Soars' cigar box guitars have fretless boards and feature just two strings that are tuned an octave apart.  (For giggles when he was tuning up his guitar, I got out my Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone and got into my guitar tuning application.  He was tuning it to G.)  

With a combination of both a slide and regular fret work, Soars made some amazing music on this cigar box.  The 50 or so people on hand for the show couldn't wait until the next day to tell others what they missed the night before.  

Soars took a short break and Mike Livermore from the Mississippi Valley Blues Society got up on stage to announce some of the bands coming up at this years Mississippi Valley Blues Festival being held at LeClaire Park in downtown Davenport on July 4th through the 6th. I had heard that Walter Trout, John Primer, Eddie Turner, Anthony Gomes and Samantha Fish had already been booked.  But Mike said that another one of J.P. Soars' side projects - Southern Hospitality, a Southern roots blues band featuring fellow Florida bluesmen Damon Fowler and Victor Wainwright - would be playing the festival.

(As an aside, I'll be the Master of Ceremonies for the Mississippi Valley Blues Challenge for both the preliminary round at Muddy Waters in Bettendorf on April 28, and for the finals during the blues fesitval at 5 p.m. on Friday, July 5.  The winning band goes on to the International Blues Challenge - the same competition J.P. Soars won over four years ago.  This will be my 16th time MC'ing the Quad Cities preliminary round of the Blues Challenge.)  

But the biggest announcement was the addition of Kenny Wayne Shepherd to the blues fest line up.  I had run into Bob Covemaker, the chairman of the committee that books bands for the blues fest, a couple three weeks ago and he said that they were close to getting Shepherd to play the festival.  The announcement that night confirmed what Bob told me previously.  

After about a 45 minute break, which allowed me to catch up with some blues society people I haven't seen in awhile, Soars and the Red Hots came back out and began to play a number of songs from his current CD, "Bees With Honey".  He implored the people sitting at the tables away from the stage to move closer.  When the bulk of the crowd took their chairs and tables closer to the stage, Soars said, "There you go!  Now it's a show!"

It was a great show for a weeknight.  The only quibble I had was that they allowed smoking in the enclosed patio at Martini's on the Rock.  We were wondering how they could do that with the no-smoking laws in the state of Illinois, especially when they were serving food out there.  It was the first time in a long time I had to ditch my clothes in the basement laundry after I came home because of the smell of smoke.  Nonetheless, I was glad that I had the opportunity to see J.P. Soars play in a local venue and can't wait until he comes back with Southern Hospitality this summer.   

Lawry's the Prime Rib - Las Vegas

During the recent Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, we were invited by the kind people at Focal to join them for dinner at Lawry's the Prime Rib in Las Vegas.  It was originally a dinner for just the Focal car audio distributor for the United States and their reps, but they found that some of the reps wouldn't be able to make the dinner due to conflicts. (One of the conflicts - the Monster Cable party was going on that night and the entertainer was Alicia Keys).  They ended up inviting the North American home reps to dinner, as well.   

I've eaten at the Lawry's in Chicago on a couple three occasions in the past - the first time was in 1986 when I had just started as a rep on the road. One of the lines I was representing - Bang & Olufsen - had a dinner for the reps at Lawry's during the old Summer CES they used to hold in Chicago until the early 90's.  I was kind of a wide-eyed young pup at the time and didn't want to make a bad impression on my hosts that evening.  I got the bone-in prime rib that Lawry's is famous for and, I have to say, I left a lot of meat on the bone that night.  I was seated next to a wonderful lady by the name of Nancy Rusboldt who worked for Bang and Olufsen of America.  She saw the prime rib bone on my plate, then she leaned over and whispered to me, "You know, if I were eating this at home, I'd pick that thing up and start gnawing on the bone."  Nancy and I were good friends from that point on.  

For years, I always thought the original Lawry's was located in the former McCormick mansion in downtown Chicago.  It wasn't until I ate at the one in Las Vegas that I found that the original Lawry's was in Beverly Hills.  The first Lawry's opened in Beverly Hills in 1938 by business partners Lawrence Frank and Theodore Van de Kamp.  Frank had married Ted Van de Kamp's daughter and the two began a potato chip bakery in Los Angeles in 1915.  In 1922, Frank and his brother-in-law, Walter Van de Kamp, joined forces with the potato chip shop and a bakery the younger Van de Kamp was running.  The two began the Lawry's corporation - which was Frank's nickname.  One of the first things the partners did was to open a restaurant - the Tam O'Shanter.  Now entering it's 91st year in business at its original location, the Tam O'Shanter is the oldest family-owned restaurant in Los Angeles.    

In 1938, Frank and Van de Kamp opened the original Lawry's on La Cienega Blvd. in Beverly Hills.  The restaurant was unique in that it sold only one thing - prime rib.  Oh, and Lawry's famous Yorkshire pudding.  The prime rib was served from cutting carts and cut by a chef to order.  This is a practice that is still done today by the Lawry's restaurants.  (Picture courtesy Old Los Angeles Restaurants) 

The original Lawry's also was a pioneer in the restaurant business by selling their own seasoned salt for beef.  Today, the company has dozens of marinades, seasoning mixes and spice blends available at grocery stores across America.  

The original Lawry's eventually moved across La Cienega to a larger location in the 60's.  In 1974, the second Lawry's opened in Chicago in a renovated mansion that was formerly owned by the McCormick family.  L. Hamilton McCormick was the son of one of the founders of International Harvester (now Case IH), Leander McCormick, and he had the mansion built in 1892.  Richard N. Frank, the son of Lawrence Frank, bought the building in 1974 and renovated it into the second Lawry's Prime Rib restaurant.  

Over the following years, Lawry's opened five international locations primarily in the Pacific Asian Rim, as well as locations in Dallas and Las Vegas.  Lawrence Frank's grandson, Richard R. Frank, is the CEO of the Lawry's empire today.   

The Las Vegas Lawry's is located on Howard Hughes Parkway just off E. Flamingo Road.  (see map)  We showed up at the appointed hour of 7 p.m. and after an hour of drinks, mingling and speeches, we finally were seated at large round tables in a private dining area off the main dining room.  

Now, I know that beggars can't be choosers when it comes to situations like this, but I detest eating dinners with a large group of people.  That generally means that we won't be ordering off the menu.  Oh, I love the conversation and the camaraderie, but the food usually suffers.  For a moment I forgot I was at Lawry's which is famous for feeding large groups of people, including participants in the annual Rose Bowl game each New Year's Day.  A couple three days before the game, Lawry's in Beverly Hills hosts the teams on successive evenings for their annual "Beef Bowl".  The teams get their fill of Lawry's prime rib and Yorkshire pudding.  If Lawry's can pull that off every year as they have since 1957, then the Las Vegas location can handle about 40 sales and marketing people.  

The first thing brought to the table was a shrimp cocktail appetizer - four large shrimp hung over the side of a cocktail sauce.  My colleague, Todd, who is a big seafood aficionado, scarfed his up right away and was able to finagel a couple more servings from one of the servers that he shared with me.  The shrimp were very good.  I love a good shrimp cocktail although the cocktail sauce could have used a little more horseradish.   

After we finished up the shrimp cocktail, a salad was brought to each of us.  It was a prety basic salad of mixed greens with Lawry's signature dressing.  Lawry's is famous for their spinning salad bowl - they take a glass bowl and spin it on a bed of ice adding greens, beets, chopped eggs and croutons, then top it off with their signature dressing.  It's sort of a spectacle when it's done tableside.  It would be a little difficult to do it for 40 people all at once.  

After the salads were finished, a server came over to ask us how we liked our prime rib.  They had two serving carts near the entry way to the private room and the servers were going back and forth between the tables and carts getting orders.  I told the server, "I like it as rare as you can get," fully knowing that cutting a slice off a large prime rib may mean getting it medium-rare, at best.  When he brought back my plate, it had a large slab of a bone-in cut of prime rib  more medium-rare than rare.  I believe the call it the "Jim Brady cut".  Another server came around with pieces of the Yorkshire pudding, another person came around with mashed potatoes and gravy, along with creamed spinach.  After our plates were filled to the edge, we were able to dig in.  

The prime rib that was served to me was juicy, flavorful and outstanding.  It was easy to cut with a knife and was also able to be pulled away from the main piece of meat with a bit of effort with a fork.  I didn't care about the Yorkshire pudding, mashed potatoes and gravy or the creamed spinach - I was there for the beef.

One thing that I definitely needed was pure ground horseradish.  Lawry's serves a horseradish, whipped cream mixture.  I wanted the real stuff.  I asked one of the servers if they had Atomic Horseradish.  His eyes lit up and he said, "Absolutely, sir!"  We had gone to The Steak House at Circus Circus a couple nights prior, (click here to see my entry on The Steak House) and I had introduced Atomic Horseradish to a couple of my colleagues.  (Click here to see my entry on Atomic Horseradish.)   When the server brought the Atomic Horseradish out, my colleague, Michael, said, "I don't know if I want to try any more of that stuff.  It's a killer!"

While the prime rib didn't need any help, the Atomic Horseradish did really zip up the taste.  It was a breath-taking, nostril-clearing experience once again.  

After dinner, we were offered some dessert, but I declined.  When everyone decided to get an after dinner drink, I ordered up a glass of The Macallan 15-year-old scotch.  On top of the two scotches I had before dinner and all the red wine I drank during dinner, I probably didn't need another scotch.  But they had The Macallan 15 and I didn't have to pay for it, so I got it.  Besides, I had a great 2012 with Focal and I didn't feel guilty in the least.  

I really can't say many bad things about our visit to Lawry's.  Even though we couldn't order off the menu, the food served to us was very good.  The service was impeccable.  The private dining area was very nice with tasteful steakhouse-style decor.  I may have to go back to the Lawry's in Chicago at some point to see if the beef they have in Las Vegas is as good as the beef they have in Chicago.  I'm guessing it isn't.  

Short's Burger and Shine - Iowa City

I've had a number of people who have been bugging me about getting over to Short's Burger and Shine in Iowa City, a burger joint just across from the University of Iowa quadrangle (and the Old Capitol). (see map)  I had some time off around Christmas and met an old friend there for lunch.  I was really looking forward to trying one of the Short's burgers out because so many people had spoken so highly of the place.  

Short's Burger and Shine has been open since 2008 in a building that used to house Short's Shoe Shine - a business that was a fixture in downtown Iowa City for about 50 years before closing in the early 70's.  Three partners - Kevin Perez, who opened the One Twenty Six bistro in Iowa City with his brother in 1999, and who also owns Mama Deli's and Catering in Iowa City; Dan Ouverson who helped resurrect the venerable Mill Restaurant along with his brother-in-law; and Iowa City native and Miami Dolphins placekicker, Nate Kaeding - own Short's Burger and Shine.  In 2010, the trio, along with Perez's wife, Lisa, opened Stella, an American-style cafe near Kinnick Stadium in what was the old Melrose Market.   

Even though it was the Christmas break at the U of Iowa, I found Short's to be packed when I walked in just after 1 p.m.  I found my friend Jim sitting at a table near the front.  The building is long and very narrow.  Booths line the walls on the north side of the building back to the bar area, with three-seater tables along the opposite brick wall.  Lattice covers the ceiling and above the brick walls on both sides.  When the place is packed - like it normally is during lunch - it's a little tight in Short's.  

The bar area is situated about halfway back in the building.  Ornate lattice arches hang above the bar with a number of bottles on shelves hung on the brick wall.  If I was in there by myself, I'd probably sit at the bar as it was pretty nice.  

Jim knows his burgers - he was the one who turned me on to the very good Green Gables, one of my Top Ten burgers places.  (Click here to see my entry on Green Gables.)  A food menu was on the table waiting for me and I took a look at the beer menu to figure out what to get to drink.   Short's features a number of Iowa micro-brews on tap and I decided upon the Peace Tree Red Rambler out of Knoxville.  

The burgers at Short's are made with locally-sourced corn-fed Black Angus beef.  They get their beef from a farm near Columbus Junction and the meat is processed at a butcher shop in nearby Riverside.  Their produce they buy from local farmers markets and growers.  The buns for the burgers at Short's are all made fresh daily at a local Iowa City bakery.

They have about 20 burgers on the menu - many of them named after small towns across the state of Iowa.  I grew up near Baxter in Central Iowa, and the "Baxter" burger consists of blackened burger topped with bacon, provolone cheese and a chipotle mayo sauce.  The "Larchwood" burger, named after a small town in extreme Northwest Iowa, features grilled onions, peppers and mushrooms, with Swiss cheese and a red pepper mayo sauce.  Some of the towns we had to look up on my smartphone.  Eldorado, IA is a small unincorporated town just north of West Union and its namesake burger at Short's had a Mexican theme - a burger topped with pepper jack cheese, then garnished with guacamole, salsa and sour cream.  The "Arion" burger, named after a small town I passed many times on Highway 30 on my way from Omaha to Carroll a number of years ago but I certainly don't remember, had a Greek slant to it with a burger topped with feta cheese, cucumber, tomatoes and tzatziki sauce.  

For the health conscious, Short's also has a dozen different variations of chicken sandwiches - all named after Iowa counties; and vegetarian black bean burgers named after various towns with "Junction" in their name.  I sort of liked the nod Short's gave to the rural areas of state on their menu.   

It just so happened that Jim had eaten at Short's recently and had tried the "Colo" - American and Swiss cheeses with grilled onions that was placed on marble rye bread.  This time he ordered the "Essex" burger - a burger patty topped with brie cheese, then finished with grilled peppers and mushrooms with the roasted red pepper mayo.  He got his without the bun and the red pepper may on the side. Fries come with each burger order.

Although the "Baxter" burger sounded pretty good, I found the "Dundee" burger.  It featured a slice of American cheese on the burger, then topped with garlic aioli, sauteed mushrooms and a fried egg.  I said to Jim, "I don't know if I've ever heard of Dundee, Iowa."  

He laughed.  "Dundee is about 8 miles south of Strawberry Point," he said.  Jim should know - he grew up in Strawberry Point.  "It's on the south end of Backbone State Park."   I ended up ordering a "Dundee" with fries.   

Our server brought out burgers out to us a number of minutes later.  Jim's "Essex" burger (below left) was piled high with a mixture of brie, green peppers and mushrooms sitting on shredded lettuce, pickles and a tomato slice.  He told me that one of the reasons he likes the roasted red pepper sauce on the side so he can dip his French fries in it.

 

My "Dundee" burger (above right and at right) was a majestic looking burger with a thick beef patty sitting on veggies, with the ingredients oozing off the top of the burger.  The bun crown had a thick peak in the middle with a crunchy outer shell.  The burger looks damn good, doesn't it?

I had to cut the burger in half just to be able to handle it.  From the first bite, I knew there was a lot of busy tastes in my mouth.  The crisp bacon was very good.  The fried egg - over hard - was superb with the burger, as well.  I could hardly taste the mushrooms with everything else going on, but I did pull one off and eat it plain.  It, too, was very good.  I'm not certain I liked the burger with the tomato and the lettuce - they don't seem to go well with an egg and bacon.  And even though the mushrooms were a stretch with the egg and bacon, it still seemed to work.

The only problem was the burger.  They severely over-cooked it.  Looking back, when I placed my order the server didn't ask how I'd like mine cooked.  I usually get my burgers medium when asked.  But she never asked.  There was no juiciness to the burger as it was pretty lean to begin with.  I know some people like their burgers well-done, but this would have probably been too cooked for those people as well.  What I could taste of the burger meat was all right, but I was very disappointed that it was cooked as badly as it was.  The life was cooked out of what could have been a superb burger.  

Not to be deterred, I went back to Short's for another burger not long ago.  This time - sitting at the bar - I had a "Tingley" burger (named for a small town near the Missouri border in Southwest Iowa).  It was topped with green chiles, guacamole, pepper jack cheese and chipotle mayo.  I asked the server to put the guacamole on the side and have the cook pull it off about three minutes sooner than he normally would. He said, "Do you want it medium rare?"  Knowing how overcooked the first burger I got at Short's was, I thought their idea of medium rare would be a little pink in the middle.  

Not so.  This was all pink in the middle.  I couldn't tell them to send it back because the pepper jack cheese was melted over the top, so I just ate it as is.  Because the beef is so lean, there was still a lack of juiciness to the burger patty. The burger, as presented, looked great.  The green chiles were more of a sauce than roasted chiles like I thought they may be, but that was fine.  I need to have them deep-six the lettuce and tomato the next time I get a burger.  My stomach was a little upset for a time after eating the burger because it was so undercooked, but I felt better toward the evening.  I will say the taste was much better than the burger I had on my first visit.  I guess I need to specify medium on the next visit.  The "Baxter" will be the next one I get when I make my next visit to Short's.  

I understand there's now a Short's Burger and Shine on the east side of Iowa City.  That could take some of the pressure off the downtown Short's.  

After two visits, I'm somewhat mixed about Short's Burger and Shine.  The first burger was severely overcooked.  The second burger was undercooked.  Maybe I went in with too high of expectations on my visits.  On my next trip, I'm getting the "Baxter" and making sure to order it "medium".  And without the shredded lettuce and tomato slices.  I know they're trying and have quality beef and toppings for their burgers.  But I haven't been entirely impressed with the taste of the burgers on my visits.  I'm going to give them another shot and hopefully I'll get over the psychological hump that I'm having with Short's.      

Restaurant le Folichon - Terrebonne, QC

During the last night we were in Montreal for a company meeting just before Christmas, my boss took the North American sales and marketing staff out to dinner at one of his favorite places to dine at in the greater Montreal area, Restaurant le Folichon, located in the northern suburb of Terrebonne.  I'd heard this place was really good and I was looking forward to our meal there that evening.

Restaurant le Folichon (which roughly means "pleasant restaurant") is owned by chef/proprietor Christian Ouellette.  The restaurant is situated in an old small house in Vieux-Terrobonne, basically the older section of the city.  It is only a block from the picturesque Riviere de Mille Iles (River of the Thousand Islands) and walking distance to shops and parks in the city. (see map)  Chef Ouellette uses locally raised food products for his interpretation of French and Mediterranean food.  It is essentially styled after a French auberge - a traditional French inn that uses only meats and vegetables raised in the region in which the restaurant is located.    

The weather had turned cold during the day in Montreal and we took off from our hotel on the north side of Terrebonne and drove down a main road in an area that looked like any other place in North America - chain restaurants, stores, gas stations, etc.  The only difference is that the signage was all in French.  I've always said that if you can't afford to go to Europe, go to Montreal  for a few days.  (I also understand Quebec City has an even more European feel.)  

We turned off the main road as we got toward the old section of Terrebonne and went down a side street until we found Restaurant le Folichon.  The only problem was that there was some sort of winter parade going on that evening and the Old Terrebonne section of town was packed with people and parking was difficult to find.  My boss was able to find a spot in a public parking lot - albeit illegally - and after I dropped off my passengers, I drove around for about 15 minutes before finding a place to park about six blocks due east of the restaurant.  It had turned cold during the day and it was a cold walk back to the restaurant.  

The main dining room is small and cozy.  Wooden supports and ceiling beams are prominent in the room.  The room was bathed in soft lighting from lights hanging from the ceiling and pointed toward artwork on the wall.  There is a small dining area off to the side of the main dining room and an upstairs area for overflow dining or private parties.  I understand that there is an outdoor patio area at Le Folichon that they open in the warmer months.

The menu at Restaurant le Folichon will vary depending upon the fresh foods and ingredients Chef Ouellete can procure on a daily basis.  The evening we visited, the menu featured a five-course meal that consisted of a choice of soup or salad, an appetizer, a sorbet for palate cleansing, a main entree and a dessert.    

But, first things first - we needed drinks.  My boss ended up picking out a pinot noir from Domaine des Perdrix, a small winery in the Burgundy wine region of France.  He ordered up a couple bottles for the table, but in the meantime, I needed something to tide me over until the wine opened up in taste.  I was hoping they had the Boreale Blonde ale that I fell in love with on my visit last year to Montreal.  Unfortunately, they didn't have it, so I settled for a Rickard's Red.  

Since the menu was in French, I needed some help from my French speaking colleagues in interpreting the menu.  I could make some things out, but a few other things were sort of difficult to make out.  The menu featured locally raised deer, beef, lamb and bison, along with some seafood items.  Restaruant le Folichon also had a traditional Southern France Bouillabaisse on the menu that night - a seafood and vegetable soup that is initially boiled, then simmered.  

When it came time to order, I pretty much figured out what I was going to get.  I went the basic route getting the beef filet for my main entree.  Steamed fresh vegetables came with the filet, which I ordered rare.  For the first course, I ordered the minestrone soup and for the appetizer, I got the foie gras.  I hadn't had foie gras for quite some time, so I decided to sign up for that.  Everyone at the table ordered a little bit of everything, so it was going to be interesting to see what came out.  

Our soups and salads came out first.  My minestrone came in a medium sized bowl and was very good.  It featured clam shell pasta, small chunks of ground beef and an assortment of vegetables.  For a cold Canadian evening, I'm glad I got it over the salad. 

Next, the foie gras came out.  It featured two small grilled fois gras patties on small toasted bread and topped with a brown sauce.  Some assorted exotic vegetables were on the side as well as some torn bread to soak up the sauce.  Now, I'm far from an expert on haute cuisine, but I have had fois gras on a handful of occasions on my trips to France.  The fois gras at Restaurant le Folichon didn't compare in taste or texture to what I've had in Europe.  While it was still good, I just felt that I'd had better in the past.  I know, I know.  That sounds pretentious talking about foie gras like that, but I know what I like.  

After the foie gras and just before the main entree was served, our server presented us with a small cup of a red wine/grapefruit sorbet to cleanse our palate.  It had a nice citrus taste with a nice little dry wine finish on the back side.  It worked well in getting my taste buds ready for the main entree.

My filet entree was placed in front of me and it was a large chunk of beef adorned with a single French fry and swimming in a brown sauce.  Assorted vegetables, including a broccoli stalk and a whole cooked turnip, accompanied the filet.  I pretty much knew I was going to pass on the turnip and the broccoli stalk.  

The filet, itself, was tender, but it was a little overcooked.  I like my filet's rare, but this was more medium-rare.  I couldn't complain, however.  The flavor of the beef filet was still very good and it was juicy.  I did enjoy the brown sauce that came with it.  With the homemade bread they had on the table, I sopped up the excess sauce as I ate my filet.  The Domaines des Perdrix pinot noir went extremely well with my filet.  It had sort of an earthy taste and complemented my meal very well.   

 

Seated next to me, one of my Canadian colleagues had the bouillabaisse.  It featured large chunks of seafood in  what was described to me as a nice light tomato-based broth that had a hint of a spicy taste.  My colleague said it was very good, some of the best bouillabaisse he said he'd ever had.  I don't care much for seafood in a tomato stock, but it did look enticing.

Down the table, my colleague, Ian, had the lamb shank.   The locally raised lamb was tender and not too fatty, something that steers me away from lamb.  I sort of wish I would have tried the lamb at Restaurant le Folichon because I know if I ever find a good lean lamb shank somewhere, I'd probably like it.  Ian also said his lamb was very good.  

Across the table from Ian, my colleague, Todd, had le Folichon's version of "surf and turf" - a lobster tail with locally-raised deer venison.  Todd grew up on Prince Edward Island and I've known him for over 10 years.  He's pretty discriminating in his tastes for seafood, but I've also found that he likes farm-raised game.  I've never been fond of deer because of the gamey taste, but Todd said the farm-raised deer around the Montreal area is pretty good.  

And directly across from me, my colleague, Chris, had the bison.  He said he wished he would have gotten the beef filet, instead, as he found his bison to be a little overcooked - like my filet - and sort of dry.  Even with the brown sauce that he also had on his bison, he didn't feel it was as good as other bison he had in the past.

It was getting late and many of us had early wake-up calls for early morning flights back home in the morning.  When our server came around with the dessert menu, many of us said, "Non!" to dessert.  A couple guys had espresso, and while I do like a good espresso from time to time, I didn't want that one late in the evening, especially when I needed to get to sleep as soon as I made it back to the hotel.

Restaurant le Folichon was a wonderful experience, one that I enjoyed thoroughly.  Even though my filet was a little overcooked, it was still very good.  I didn't like the fois gras as I have at other restaurants, but it was still a nice treat.  My boss has been coming to le Folichon for years and I see why he keeps coming back.  The food, the service and the cozy ambiance is very tough to beat.  It was like being in a little rural restaurant/inn in the French countryside.  Restaurant le Folichon was one of those culinary joys that I get to experience from time to time.   

This is Spring?

Today marks the first day of Spring in the Midwest.  Well, the calendar certainly says that, but taking a look outside shows its still winter.  It's a balmy 18 degrees in Davenport this morning. Temperatures today on the first day of Spring are not going to make it out of the mid 20's in the area.  This is all happening a full year after we had a consecutive run of late Winter days with record high temperatures across Eastern Iowa and Northern Illinois. (Cartoon courtesy Dave Granlund)

I said to my wife a couple three weeks ago, "I'm ready for warm weather."  I'm still waiting.  I did feel a 72 degree day in Kansas City when I was there last week, but two days later it was 39 for those people who have suffered through a couple monster winter storms this season.  

Talking with dealers of mine in Fargo and Minneapolis, they, too, are ready for Spring.  But long term forecasts show no sign of immediate warming in the upper Midwest.  Seasonal Affective Disorders are holding on a little longer this year for many Midwesterners.

A year ago, we had shoots on our rose bushes, daffodils and tulips were popping out early, the grass was green and I think I had already mowed once before the first day of Spring.  We had roses a full six weeks before normal last year, and even with a frost in early May, we still had one of the most beautiful Spring-times that I can remember.  

But Spring is still far away and local Quad City meteorologist Terry Swails from WQAD-TV is telling us that GFS models are showing a significant snowfall for Iowa and Illinois starting Sunday and continuing into Monday - a snowfall that could drop 8 to 14 inches of heavy, wet snow with some areas getting locally heavier amounts.  Unfortunately, it looks like the heart of the storm is going right through the Quad Cities.  My grandma always said, "There's always one last big snow before Spring comes."  I was hoping the one we had a couple weeks ago would be the last big one of Winter.  Now I'm really hoping we don't see any April snowstorms.  Stay tuned...     

 

Mantra Indian Cuisine - Davenport, IA

About seven months ago, a new Indian restaurant opened in downtown Davenport - Mantra Indian Cuisine.  It had been on our radar for quite some time.  One Friday evening with nothing to do, Cindy said, "Hey, we ought to go try the food at that Indian restaurant downtown."  That sounded good to me and we struck out for downtown Davenport. 

Jaspreet Arora owned and operated an Indian restaurant over in Moline - Great Indian - from 2004 to 2008.  He and his father, Raj, opened Mantra in August of 2012 in the spot (see map) that had been the old Italian Village restaurant when I first moved here years ago, then it was an Indian restaurant - the India House - for a number of years.  A few years ago, the group that owns the Azteca restaurants in the Davenport area put one of their restaurants in the spot along with a dance club.  They had a lot of problems with the dance club and ended up shutting down the whole facility a couple years ago.  The Arora's came in and took over the spot.  Raj Arora is the head cook at Mantra.  

The main dining room isn't all that large and we had about a five minute wait for a booth at Mantra.  I will have to say the room was very well lit.  There were two waiters working the room, one of which was Jaspreet Arora.  Once the table top was cleared, the other server called us over to the booth and handed us menus when we sat down.   

The food at Mantra is your typical Indian fare - vindaloo, tandoori, kebabs, and curry dishes.  They had an extensive list of lamb, chicken and seafood entrees, as well as a number of vegetarian meals on the menu.  While their bread selection wasn't quite as extensive as I've seen at other Indian restaurants, they did have a number of the typical Indian appetizers and soups to choose from.  

I've been kind of on a roll with lamb dishes as of late and at the top of the list for lamb entrees was the Rogan Josh - cubes of boneless lamb meat slow-cooked in a mixture of spices and herbs.  I'd had the Rogan Josh at the Jaipur Brew House Indian restaurant in Omaha on a recent visit out there and it was very good.  I was never a big fan of lamb before I had it with Indian food.  

For me, it was going to be either between the Rogan Josh, Lamb Vindaloo, or the Chicken Curry.  Cindy was looking at possibly getting Chicken Tandoori until I told her that it came with 8 chicken legs.  I also cautioned her that tandoori has to be cooked precisely or it will get overcooked and dried out.  I've had tandoori chicken a couple times and both times it had been overcooked, so I just stay away from it.  She saw something else on the menu called Chicken Saagwala - boneless pieces of chicken cooked with fresh spinach, cilantro, ginger and herbs.  

We were still looking over the menu when our server came back and asked what we'd like to drink.  I got a Kingfisher beer while Cindy was surprised to see a pretty good list of wine on their drink menu.  She got a glass of the William Hill merlot.  

By the time Jaspreet brought our drinks, we were ready to order.  The prices were very reasonable on the menu, indicating to me that the portions may not be all that large.  Cindy decided upon the Chicken Saagwala.  They cook it either mild, medium or hot.  Jaspreet asked her, on a scale of 1 to 10 - mild to hot, how she wanted it.  She said, "Oh, five, I guess."  He said that was medium.  Well, of course.  

I decided upon the Rogan Josh, also medium.  I figured that I wanted to taste the meal and not the burn. basmati rice came with our meals.  And I also ordered up some of the garlic naan bread.  Jaspreet asked, "Just one or two?"  I asked him how big the naan was and he said he could eat one by himself.  We stuck with one and said that we could order another if we needed.  

We sort of figured that we'd have a wait for the food as the place was pretty full.  The only problem was that a family was seated sort of toward the front of the restaurant and they had a baby - who was screaming - and a little two year old girl, who was screaming even louder.  I mean, it was bad.  The two year old was throwing a tantrum over something and the mother had to take the child outside a couple of times.   While that was going on, the father was trying to shush the baby who continued to scream.  Finally, to the delight of most everyone in the place, the mother came back in, gathered up the baby and the little girl and left.  The father of the kids stayed behind with two other people who were seated at the table and they ended up getting his wife's food to go.  Cindy said, "I can sympathize with the mother, but this is probably not a place to be bringing kids like that because this is not a big place."  

With the screaming kids gone, the atmosphere in the restaurant became less tense.  A second Kingfisher was ordered as we waited, and after about 25 minutes our food came out of the kitchen.

As I suspected, the portions were pretty small.  They were served in small metal dishes, but that was fine with me.  Too many times restaurants bring out large portions of food and you have to end up boxing it up and taking it home.  And I never think that it's as good as when you have it fresh in the restaurant.   The chunks of lamb meat were swimming in a fragrant sauce.  Fresh cilantro topped my Rogan Josh (below left).

 
Cindy's Chicken Saagwala (above right) also had a pungent and thick sauce mixed in with the chunks of chicken.  As with mine, cilantro topped her entree.  She offered me a bite and it was good.  It wasn't spicy in the least and had a hint of ginger in the bite.  It was my first time trying Saagwala and I wasn't disappointed.  

With the basmati rice, my Rogan Josh was just excellent.  The mixture of the herbs and spices gave it a wonderful balance in taste.  Quite actually, I could have stood it to be a little more spicy, thinking that next time asking for medium-hot would be the way to go.  Mild at Mantra has to be palatable to most anyone who can't handle spicy food.  The lamb meat was tender, not greasy at all, and was very flavorful in the sauce.  I gave Cindy a cube and she asked for another - with more of the sauce.  Hey, the portions weren't that big and it was so good that I was reluctant to give her another piece.  

I almost forgot - the garlic naan was also very good.  You could smell the garlic as the bread was sitting in its basket.  The bread was pliable and tore easily to dip in our sauces.  Jaspreet was right - one person could have easily eaten one order of naan bread.  We contemplated getting a second order, but because they were so busy, we figured we'd be done with our meal before it got to the table.  I scooped up every last drop of the great Rogan Josh sauce on my plate and in the serving bowl with the garlic naan.   

The place had begun to clear out around 8:30 when we finished up our meal.  Jaspreet came over to apologize for the delay in the food.  "We were so busy tonight.  It's getting that way now that we've been open for awhile."  Cindy said for him not to worry - good food should take some time.  We were fine.  

Before we left, we began to look up toward the second floor of the restaurant.  Cindy reminded me of when I brought her to the Italian Village restaurant almost 20 years ago that we sat upstairs.  Jaspreet came over to us and asked us if we'd like to see the upstairs.  He shepherded us up the stairs and showed us a bar area with more booths.  He apologized for the mess - they were still working on the place - but he said they anticipated the bar area would be open in a few weeks, if not sooner.  He told us that on the third floor, up another flight of stairs, they had a banquet room.  And, something I didn't know, they had a downstairs basement area that had a pool table and a small bar.  

While I'm still far from an Indian food expert, I do know what I like and the food at Mantra was simply excellent.   The portions are small enough and the price (10 to 12 bucks per entree) is economical enough that two people could easily get three different entries and eat family style at Mantra.  We may do that on our next visit because I wasn't full in the least after finishing half the naan and my serving of the Rogan Josh.  And we're definitely going more spicy next time, too.  Cindy would like to go back for the buffet lunch at some point to try other things they have on the menu.  Just be ready to wait for either a food or table - or both - because the place is getting pretty popular.  (Note - Mantra is closed on Sunday.)

The Spot - Kenosha, WI

A slice of Midwestern Americana can be found in a small drive-in restaurant in Kenosha, WI, simply known as The Spot.  For over 65 years, this small hamburger joint has been turning out thousands and thousands of flat grilled burgers annually.  I have a dealer in the Kenosha area who was telling me about The Spot awhile back.  On a recent visit to Kenosha, I decided to stop by the place for a burger.

The beginning of The Spot dates back to the twilight of World War II when Germany had been defeated and Japan would soon surrender.  Harold DuBois had gotten an honorable medical discharge from the Army two years prior and had married his sweetheart, Janet, the year before.  DuBois always wanted to run a drive-in, but he couldn't have picked a worse time to open a new restaurant.   Beef was in short supply, as were items such as paper, napkins and buns.  Even the cooking equipment the DuBois' procured was old and, according to Harold, "a bunch of old junk."   But they carried on and on July 4, 1945, they served their first burger at The Spot Drive-In.  

The original Spot Drive-In was at the corner of 75th St. and 22nd Ave. in Kenosha.  (see map).  The original building was a small brick structure.  DuBois worked the grill, Janet worked the window and they had a single car hop.  Sometimes when they ran out of food for the day, they simply had to close early.  And because they had no wax paper to wrap the burgers in, they used newspapers.  

The original Spot was a seasonal business, and to help make ends meet in the winter time Harold DuBois sold Christmas trees.  DuBois was the first person to sell Norway and Scotch pines in the area. As the popularity of The Spot grew, they eventually expanded the building and added more car hops.  In later years, The Spot became a year-round restaurant.

Janet semi-retired from the business in 1955, and when their son, Chuck, reached the sixth grade, they hired him to work at the place for 50 cents an hour.  Harold eventually retired, and Chuck and his wife, Nancy, run the business today.  (Truly partners to the end, Harold and Janet DuBois passed away a week apart in 2006.)  

Hundreds of teens and college-aged kids worked as car hops at The Spot over the years.  It was a coveted job that could pay well in the summertime.  Probably the most famous carhop is 2012 Miss America Laura Kaeppeler.  Miss Kaeppeler, a Kenosha native, worked at The Spot for six years throughout her high school and college years.  

It was during the early afternoon on a clear and cold day when I pulled up in front of The Spot.  I then made a rookie mistake - I got out of the car.  A carhop yelled to me, "Sir, we can come take your order."  I sheepishly jumped back in the car, glancing to my left and right at the regulars who were shaking their head at the "newbie".  

The menu at The Spot is pretty basic.  It features most of the items that you'd find at similar burger joint/drive-ins - burgers (including steakburgers), chicken and fish sandwiches, hot dogs (as well as chili dogs), plus fries, onion rings and deep-fried breaded vegetables.  The Spot also features ice cream cones, sundaes, banana splits, shakes and malts.  The menu is posted on the sides of the building under the soffit.  

The carhop came over to take my order and I apologized for getting out of the car.  She said, "Oh, don't worry.  When it's busy, a lot of people will go up to the window.  It's just that it's cold out and I didn't want you to have to stand at the window."  Oh, that was nice of her!

I ended up ordering a double cheeseburger with everything (ketchup, mustard, onions and pickles).  I had a bottle of water with me, so I didn't get anything else.  It was a good 15 minutes before she came out with my burger in a white sack with The Spot's logo on the side.  I gave her a couple extra bucks for enduring the cold conditions that day.  

The burger was wrapped in wax paper with the logo on top.  When I unwrapped it, the juice from the burger, along with melted cheese, stuck to the wrapper.  I always carry a "smeg towel" in the car with me to quickly clean up spills or to use as a napkin if needed.  I put that on my lap because I could tell this was going to be a messy burger.  

The first bite of the burger simply explained to me why generations of Kenoshans have flocked to The Spot for nearly 70 years.  The burger was misshapen as it appears that it was started in a ball and flattened by a spatula on the grill.  It wasn't pressed too much that the juice was completely squeezed out of the patty, however.  But the outer shell of the patty was crisp and very flavorful.  

The burger featured a copious amounts of veggies and condiments, but not too much to detract from the overall great taste of the burger meat.  The bun was pretty average, but still went well with the burger.  And the patties weren't too large, so I was able to easily finish the double cheeseburger.  It was, probably, a 1/3 of a pound total.  

And it was messy.  I generally rate how good a burger is by the amount of napkins that you use when you eat it.  Five napkins came in the sack and I used them all.  It was a very, very good burger.

The Spot doesn't take credit cards (but they do have an ATM on the grounds) and they are open Sunday thru Thursday from 11 a.m. to 3 a.m., 3:30 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.  The burger was outstanding and you could tell the flat grill was seasoned by years and years of cooking burgers on it.  I would have no problem wholly recommending The Spot Drive-In for a good burger and a slice of Americana if you visit the Kenosha area.   (Picture courtesy Paul Evagnoni)

Villa Wellington - Verdun, QC

Last May, the chief technician for our company up in Montreal, Michel, came out to Iowa to pick up a treasure trove of old short-wave magazines that I had picked up for him in the Chicago area and transport them back to Canada.  His wife, Marisa, came back with him and I decided to cook some good ol' Iowa prime beef steaks on the grill when they came.  Michel is my partner-in-crime who shared the 40 oz. porterhouse for two with me at Stack Steakhouse in Las Vegas a couple years ago.  (Click here to see that entry.)  I had to be up in Montreal just before Christmas for a meeting, so Michel asked me if I could come in a day early and we'd go out to dinner.  He told me a couple days before that we'd be having dinner at a place in suburban Verdun called Villa Wellington.  He asked me, "Do you like Peruvian food?"  I told him that I'd never had Peruvian food before, let alone I didn't know what it was.  He said, "If you like seafood, you'll like Peruvian food."  

After landing at Pierre Trudeau International Airport and getting through customs quicker than any time I'd flown into Montreal before, I took the ramp from the customs area and immediately saw my bag on the carousel waiting for me.  After dropping off my declaration card with the customs agent at the baggage claim exit, I quickly got out to my rental car and set the GPS for Villa Wellington on located on Wellington St. in a nice little neighborhood of shops and restaurants in Verdun. (see map) Traffic - as it always seems in Montreal - was a bitch and it took me over an hour to go about 11 miles and I got to the restaurant around 6 p.m.  I parked just down the block from the restaurant and walked along the brightly lit street with large green and red Christmas circular lights hanging up and down Wellington Street.  With a little snow coming down - the first I'd seen in the season - it was almost a festive winter atmosphere.   

Meeting us for dinner that evening was Michel's wife, Marisa, and one of our customer service guys, Francois, who actually lived in Peru for five years working for the Peace Corps.  It was Michel who turned Francois onto the restaurant, I found out.  Michel said he has been coming to Villa Wellington for nearly 20 years, about the same amount of the years the Saravia-Ramirez family has been running the restaurant.  (One of the Saravia-Ramirez sons has opened a small Peruvian restaurant just down the street - Augusto al Gusto.)  Francois has worked for us about five or six years.  Once Michel found out that Francois lived in Peru for five years, he brought Francois to Villa Wellington one evening.  Francois said it was as close to the real type of Peruvian cuisine as what he had in his years in Peru.  

Francois - in addition to being fluent in English and French - is also fluent in Spanish.  And that helped.  The waiter spoke a little English, but was more comfortable in Spanish and French.  And the menu at Villa Wellington was in both Spanish and French.  Now, I can make out some words in both languages, but I was going to rely upon both Michel and Francois to guide me along this evening.  

The first thing Francois and I had to have was a beer.  I understood the waiter when he said, "Rickard's Red", the so-called leading red beer in Canada, brewed by the Molson brewery based in Montreal.  I asked the waiter if he had any Boreale beers, specifically the Blonde.  Unfortunately, he did not.  I fell in love with the Boreale beers on my last visit to Montreal the previous year.  

Starting off, they ordered up two different types of soup - a shrimp soup and a sort of seafood soup, kind of like a cioppino.  And Francois also ordered ceviche - raw fish marinated in a lime juice that cooks the fish.  I hadn't had good ceviche in years and Francois said Villa Wellington's was very good.  

While we waited for the first course, I took a look through the menu to see if there were things that I could pick out with my limited knowledge of Spanish and French.  Interestingly, they had a section for Mexican food (fajitas, mostly), Italian food (fettuccine alfredo, spaghetti, etc.), and something called "Canadian" food that featured fish and chips, a hamburger steak and, quite curiously, souvlaki.  I guess I didn't know souvlaki was a Canadian dish.   

Two large bowls soon came onto the table.  The first, at the lower left, was the Chupe de Camarones, a traditional Peruvian chowder with shrimp and potatoes in a cream sauce.  I was told by Francois that potatoes were a national staple in Peru with over 200 different varieties throughout the country.  "It's like each village has a special type of potato," he told me.  "Because of the difference in altitude and climate, the potatoes can change in texture and taste from area to area."  

The soup above right is called Parihuela - also known as "Peruvian Bouillebaisse".  It consists of a variety of Pacific whitefish and shellfish seasoned with Peruvian chiles and a Peruvian brandy called "pisco".  Both, I have to say, were just excellent.  The Chupe de Camarones was rich and flavorful with large pieces of shrimp and nice chunks of potatoes.  But the Parihuela featured large chunks of whitefish, shrimp and mussels.  It was much lighter in taste than the chowder-style soup.  In fact, Michel - who is a big eater - told me that he'll sometimes just order a big bowl of the Parihuela just for himself.  

The ceviche - Ceviche Mixto - was a combination of lime marinated shrimp and whitefish served with pickled onions and served on a bed of endive with some sauces off to the side.  I first had ceviche on a trip to Isla Mujeres off the Yucatan coast in Mexico about 15 years ago.  I had never had anything like it before and the ceviche I've had since then has never come close to the taste of what I had in Mexico.  But I will say the ceviche at Villa Wellington was superb. We made short work of the ceviche.  

After finishing what was basically the first two courses of the meal, Francois started to ask me what I fancied in food.  I said, "Come on, you know me, man.  I won't do like raw squid or octopus, but I will try about anything.  You seem to be doing pretty well turning me on to Peruvian food already." 

Francois called the waiter over and began to talk to him in Spanish, the two carrying on an animated conversation.  When Francois finally said, "Si! OK!" after a minute or so, the waiter smiled and left the table.  He said, "I ordered a couple things for us to try.  Both are true Peruvian dishes."  

I asked Francois if he spoke any Spanish when he first went to Peru.  He said, "No, none.  Just French and English."  He said working with Peruvian farmers taught him that he had to learn Spanish, and learn it fast.  "I just picked it up along the way," he explained.  "It was all out of necessity."  He said he was conversing in Spanish in about six months.   

About 15 minutes later, the waiter brought out the first of the two entrees.  It was called Lomo Saltaldo - basically Peruvian fajitas with grilled beef strips, sauteed onions, peppers and tomatoes, and - surprisingly - potato strips, sort of like French fries.  It was served without tortillas and each of us just grabbed a spoon full and put it on the plate.  It was actually very good.  And the French fries in the mix were really the highlight.  

While we were noshing on the Lomo Saltaldo, the waiter brought out the second plate - this one a diverse house entree mix of beef and seafood called Piqueo Wellington.  It featured a mixture of anticuchos - basically grilled skewered meat; seafood ceviche; fried calimari; grilled octopus; and causa - a sort of hybrid "catch-all" type of Peruvian food that features potatoes, herbs and marinated onions.  For good measure, Francois also had a small dish of beef off to the side and he offered me a bite of it.  It was sort of chewy and tough, but it wasn't unpleasant.  He said, "Do you know what it is?"  I said I didn't.  "It's beef tongue," he said.  Ugh!  I probably wouldn't have eaten it had I known, but I will say it wasn't bad.  I didn't have another bite, however.     

But the other stuff was pretty good.  I focused on the Lorno Saltaldo, the antichucos and the ceviche.  It was all very wonderful.  It was definitely a horizon-broadening experience for me. Michel looked at me and said, "Isn't this just great?"  It certainly was.  I'm glad he invited me to join them for dinner.  

As we were finishing up the meal, Francois turned to me and asked, "Do you like green tea?"  Sure, I'll drink some of my wife's green tea from time to time, especially when I have a cold.  And since I was on the back side of a nasty cold that I had caught the week before, I thought some tea would be nice.  Francois and the waiter began to speak in Spanish and speaking back and forth for a few moments, Francois said, "Ah!  Good!  They have it.  This will be a treat."  

A few moments later, the waiter brought out some coffee for Marisa, a glass of milk for Michel ("I don't know," he said.  "I just like having milk after a meal like that."  Hey, I like milk, too!), and a couple small tea pots with a couple tea bags.  Francois took the tea bags and put it in my small tea pot to steep for a few minutes.  When I finally poured the tea and took a sip, it was sort of a refreshing experience.  He said, "Do you know what you're drinking?"  

He showed me the outer pouch that the tea bag came in.  It was called Mate de Coca  (ma-TAY day Coke-ah) - basically an herbal tea taken from the leaf of a coca plant - the same thing that cocaine is extracted from.  Quite actually, Francois was surprised that Villa Wellington had Mate de Coca at all.  "It's supposed to be illegal to export any coca leaf product from Peru," he told me.  "Somehow they're able to get it from somewhere."

When the waiter came back, Francois asked him in French where they were able to get the Mate de Coca.  The waiter replied and Francois started to laugh.  "He said, 'I don't know! It just shows up,' " Francois told me.  While it didn't have any effect like cocaine would, it was a very refreshing tea to drink.  Francois explained to me that shepherds in the higher elevations chew on coca leaves "from the time they get out in the field each morning."  They'll put four or five in their mouth and it helps them stay energetic throughout the day.  "And at those high elevations, and we're talking 3000 meters (about 9800 feet) above sea level, they need all the help they can get," Francois explained.  I have to say not only was it a wonderful dinner, the conversation was great and I learned a lot about not only Peruvian cuisine that evening, but Peru, as a whole.    

My first experience at a Peruvian restaurant was fun and certainly educational.  The food was interesting and very good at Villa Wellington.  I went over to Michel and Marisa's house for a nightcap and Marisa kept trying to get me to eat some Christmas cookies, but I was so full and satiated from my meal that I couldn't have any more than one.  I couldn't thank them enough for the hospitality they showed me all evening long.  Villa Wellington was one of those very memorable meals.    

Three Aces - Chicago

I was reading through the Chicago Tribune awhile back and came across an article on a place in the Little Italy section of Chicago - Three Aces.  Actually, the article focused on chef Matt Troost, whose "Ace" burger won the "People's Choice" award at the annual Hamburger Hop, the kick-off to Bon Appetite magazine's Chicago Gourmet event held in Millennium Park in downtown Chicago.  Not only did the burger sound good - a 50-50 mix of prime chuck and sirloin - but Three Aces, on its own, sounded pretty neat as they bill themselves as a neighborhood joint with rock and roll.  I had some time to kill before a meeting in downtown Chicago recently and I easily found Three Aces on Taylor Street (see map).  

Co-owners Anthony Potenzo and Lyle Aker opened Three Aces in the fall of 2010 on the east end of Chicago's Little Italy.  Both had bar/restaurant experience in the past - Potenzo with Gianotti's, and the iconic (and recently closed) Jilly's Piano Bar on Rush St.; and Aker with Whiskey Sky and Five Star.  The pair recruited Troost, who worked at the former Fianco restaurant and the Peninsula Hotel, to come in and fine-hone the menu which features an emphasis on "farm-to-fork" food.  Or as Aker once said, "Three Aces is like the Italian countryside meets the American farmhouse, in Keith Richards' basement bar."  I absolutely had to try this place.    

In addition to the Ace Burger, Three Aces features a number of menu items with an Italian twist including mushroom risotto and rye gnocchi.  Seafood items on the menu featured scallops, cioppino and beer steamed mussels, while meat choices included steaks from Slagle Family Farms, braised pork chops and porchetta meatballs. They also have a handful of small pizzas - called pizzettas - one of which features short rib beef with mushrooms, a roasted garlic cream sauce, blue cheese and au jus.  That actually sounded pretty interesting to me.  Three Aces also has an extensive brunch menu that is served from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. 

Arriving after the lunch rush, I was greeted by Erin, a very pleasant urban chic young lady with piercings and tattoos.  She told me I could sit anywhere.  There were a number of high tables in the bar area up front, with a smattering of booths along the wall.  There was another room toward the back that was void of any diners at that time.  Contemporary rock music was playing at an acceptable level and the whole place had a dark edge to it, yet a somewhat cozy and welcome feel.  

Three Aces also has a number of eclectic beers from throughout the U.S. with an emphasis on many microbrews from the Midwest.  Erin dropped off a menu with me and asked what I wanted to drink.  I saw that they had one of my favorite pale ale beers available on tap that day - Great Lakes Burning River out of Cleveland.  I asked if she could bring me one of those.   

 
There's artwork throughout the Three Aces with one of the most noteworthy being the Three Aces sign out front that was designed by Chicago artist Tony Fitzpatrick.  Fitzpatrick has works of art hanging in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Miami, as well as in the Art Institute of Chicago.  Fitzpatrick has also designed album covers for the likes of Steve Earle, the Neville Brothers and Lou Reed.  In conjunction with Three Aces, Fitzpatrick hosted an "Outcast and Newcomers" art show on the patio last summer. Many of the works of art throughout Three Aces are from artists who were featured in the art show. (Picture above right courtesy Time Out Chicago.) 

Although many of the items on the menu looked pretty good and interesting, I was there for the Ace Burger - a 50/50 mix of prime chuck and sirloin, topped aged Wisconsin white cheddar cheese, bacon jam (Oh yeah!), aioli, red onion slices and mesclun greens and served on a pretzel bun.  In doing some research on the Ace Burger, I also found that there is a secret ingredient added to the beef - bone marrow salt.  To make bone marrow salt, Troost packs fresh bone marrow in salt for six months to allow for the meat flavor to blend into the salt.  When Erin came back with my beer, I told her that I'd take the Ace Burger - cooked medium.  She told me fries with a side of homemade ketchup came with the burger.  That was fine.  The one caveat I asked for was the aioli on the side.  Erin said, "No problem!"    

Good food takes time and I was able to finish my beer and order another from Erin before she brought out my burger.  A large pretzel bun stood majestically on top of the thick ground chuck/sirloin burger patty.  Hand cut French fries sat on the side next to the garlic aoili and a small container of what I thought to be homemade ketchup.  The aged white cheddar cheese was melted down the side of the burger patty.  A dill pickle spear that was marinated in hops and garlic completed the scene on the plate.

The first bite of the Ace Burger yielded an "Ummm..." from yours truly.  The pretzel bun had a crunch to the outside and a soft, doughy consistency on the inside.  The burger was thick, juicy and extremely flavorful.  Even without the bone marrow salt, it still would have been an outstanding burger.  I had to end up cutting it in half because with all the cheese oozing off the burger, it was getting kind of messy.  Erin came over to check on me and after I told her how great the burger was, I immediately asked her for another cloth napkin.  Actually, a beach towel would have probably come in more handy as it was a juicy and cheesy burger.  

My all-time favorite gourmet burger is the one I had at the Atwood Cafe in downtown Chicago (click here to see that entry).  But I have to say that the Ace Burger at Three Aces gave it a run for its money.  I loved everything about Three Aces - the edgy atmosphere, the eclectic beer menu, the great burger.  I'd like to come back in the summertime and have an Ace Burger on the outside patio (it's a parking lot in the winter time).  I was absolutely blown away by the burger at Three Aces.  It's clearly one of the best gourmet burgers I've ever had.     

Moon-Glo - Danville, IL

In doing some research for Gross' Burgers in Danville, IL (see my entry on Gross' Burgers here), I found out about another place in the Danville area that is high on the list of many of the locals for having a good burger, the Moon-Glo.  On a trip by Danville this past fall, I stopped in at the Moon-Glo to try one of their burgers.

The Moon-Glo is one of those old time supper clubs that you found on the outskirts of Midwestern towns in the 50's and 60's.  They feature cook-you-own steaks on the weekends, but they're famous around Danville for their big Moonburgers.   

Getting off Interstate 74 just after getting into Illinois from Indiana, I took a series of backroads south and east of Danville before I pulled up to the Moon-Glo at the corner of Perrysville Road and Markley Road complete with their distinctive blue crescent moon on top of the place. (see map)  It looked exactly like an old time supper club should - stone-base exterior, awnings over the windows and a big stone fireplace on the side of the building.

Inside the Moon-Glo, you'll find a bar to the left, some open grills (for the cook-your-own steaks) on the right and a number of tables with chairs in an L-shaped dining room.  A handful of men were situated around the dining area when I got in.  No one was seated at the bar, so I took a seat there.  There was a menu sitting on the bar, so I picked it up and took a quick glance at it.  Even though I was there for one of their burgers, I saw they had other sandwiches and appetizers through the day.  I understand their deep fried pickles are pretty good at the Moon-Glo.  

The server behind the bar came over to greet me.  She was also working as a server in the dining area, running back and forth with another younger girl between the kitchen and dining room.  She asked me what I wanted and I told her that I'd take a Moon-cheeseburger with a beer.  She asked if I wanted everything on it and I asked what everything was.  She said, "Lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, mustard, ketchup.  You know, pretty much everything."  After I told her I'd go with that she cheerfully replied,  "Comin' right up!" 

The kitchen at the Moon-Glo isn't all that large and there was a man back there helping out with the noon time orders.  It turned out the guy was the owner, Phil Adams.  A group of men came in and almost as soon as they sat down Phil Adams delivered a tray of burgers to the table and sat down to talk with them while they had lunch.  It turned out they had phoned in their orders before they got there - something that I found probably comes in handy.  

The Moonburgers are pretty big - at least 3/4's of a pound, maybe larger - and it takes a little while for them to cook.  Also, the grill is only so big and if they have a lot of orders for lunch - which the Moon-Glo did that day for both to-go and eat-in - then the orders get stacked up.  It took about 20 minutes for my burger to show up.  My server sat it in front of me, wrapped in wax paper.  When I opened it up, juice from the burger was already on the sheet.  

The burger was huge.  It featured a thick and fluffy bun crown with an ample amount of green lettuce leaves on the bottom.  Thick slices of fresh onions and and a tomato formed the bed for the burger.  Pickles, ketchup and mustard were on the top.  It was so big I had to cut the burger in half.  The meat was cooked through, but the burger was still pretty juicy.  

The first bite I had of a Moon-Glo burger was - well, have you ever taken the first bite of something you've never had before and gone "Mmmmmm...."?  That was exactly what happened with me.  The taste of the burger was outstanding.  I mean, it was just excellent.  Even though it was cooked medium to medium-well, it still had a lot of juiciness to the taste of the burger.  It had that flat-grilled taste to it where the grill has probably been seasoned from thousands of burgers cooked on it over the years, but it was hand-pattied and not spatula pressed to draw out some of the moisture in the meat.  It suddenly became one of my all-time favorite burgers, it was that good.

I'm glad I didn't get any fries or fried pickles to go along with the burger.  It was a full meal in itself.  I ate the last bit of the burger even though I was fairly full after finishing half.  The bun was a wonderful complement to the burger, once again backing up my opinion that the key to a great burger is the bun.  

After finishing up and paying at the bar, I got up to take a look around at some of the items they had on the walls around the dining room and to take some pictures.  It appeared that Phil Adams is a big Indiana Hoosiers basketball fan and continues to revere former coach Bobby Knight as there were pictures of Knight on the wall along with other Indiana basketball paraphernalia.  In taking pictures of the place, Phil Adams interrupted his round-table discussion with the men seated there and asked me where I was from.  I told him I was from the Quad Cities.  He asked if I was traveling through and I said that I was.  "Shwew," he said in mock relief.  "I thought with you takin' all those pictures that you were from the health department or a tax man!"  

I asked Phil how long he'd owned the place and he said, "My daddy bought it in 1962 and I took over for him about 20 years later.  We had everyone in our family workin' in here at one time or another."

One of the guys at the table asked him how long the place had been opened before his dad bought the place.  Phil said, "I think it's been around since the 40's.  The original owner, a guy by the name of Willett, was the guy my dad bought the place from."  

Phil explained that this Willett guy was sort of a notorious person in and around the Danville area.  "First of all, he was Dick Van Dyke's father-in-law. (The actor Dick Van Dyke grew up in Danville and married Marjorie Willett in 1948. They raised four children before divorcing in the early 80's.)  But this Willett also spent time in prison for killing a guy.  When he got out, he couldn't own a bar because he couldn't get a liquor license because he was a convicted felon.  So, he put everything into the name of the gal he was livin' with.  So, technically, my dad bought the place from her.  But he was the guy runnin' the place and callin' the shots."

Phil Adams turned to me and said, "Hey, have you gone in the bathroom yet?"  

I sort of quizzically looked at him and stammered out, "Uh, no..."

"Before you leave, you've got to go in there and look at our urinal.  Urinals.com called out urinal a Top Ten urinal.  You can look it up!  Go ahead, take a look at the urinal!"  He seemed so proud of the urinal that I had to go in and take a look at it.  

It was basically an old Kohler wash-down urinal with about three pounds of crushed ice in the bottom.  I guess I didn't see what was so special about the urinal, even wondering how it could be a Top Ten urinal.  After I got home, I was wondering if what Phil Adams was telling me was B.S., so I looked up Urinals.com.  It turns out that there is actually a site - Urinal.net - that showcases urinals of all sizes and styles from all over the world.  (Ya gotta love the Internet!)  They did have a Top Ten list of urinals, but the one at the Moon-Glo was not on the list.  That's not saying that it may have been at some point, but it wasn't on the Top Ten list when I looked it up.  But digging a little deeper on the website, sure enough, there was an entry on the urinal at the Moon-Glo.  (Click here if you want to see it.)  Phil Adams was telling me the he got the idea of putting crushed ice in the bottom of a urinal from some place out in Las Vegas - I believe it was at the TPC Las Vegas golf course, if I remember what he was telling me - a number of years ago.  "Since then, I put ice in the urinal three to five times a day," he told me.  I had to chuckle as Phil was certainly proud of that urinal.

The urinal aside, I have to say- barring two or three other burgers tasting better - that the Moon-Glo burger will easily make my Top Ten Burger List when I update it later this year.  The taste of the burger was outstanding and, if you go, make sure that you bring an appetite.  It was a huge burger and very filling.  But I found myself unable to stop eating as it was so good.  Phil Adams is a true character and while the Moon-Glo is showing some age, it's a fun place to go.  I may have to try the deep fried pickles at some point in the future.  

A Return to the National Corvette Museum - Bowling Green, KY

 

(Update - The first part of this entry took place about four years ago when I made my first trip to visit a dealer in Bowling Green, KY.  The camera I had that day, I forgot to charge the battery beforehand and I ran out of juice about halfway through the visit and I missed getting more pictures of the place.  On a recent visit back to Bowling Green, I stopped in again and saw the 47,000 sq. ft. expansion that the museum went through in 2009.  And I was able to get more pictures.)

A good friend of mine, "Coupe" Underwood, once told me years ago when I began to travel for a living, "Always take a camera with you.  You never know what kind of stuff you're going to run across."  So, I normally take a camera with me.  And I did on my trip to Bowling Green, KY earlier this fall.  But on this trip, I didn't heed my own rule - make sure the battery is charged before you take the camera with you!  I found that out during my visit to the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green.

Actually, I wasn't planning on seeing much in Bowling Green.  I had a potential new dealer who was interested in our speaker line, so I went down there for a meeting.  But when I came up Exit 28 to Bowling Green on Interstate 65, I was surprised to see the National Corvette Museum (see map).  The museum is literally across the road from the plant where Chevrolet Corvettes are made.  The museum is a mecca for Corvette owners of all ages.

Now, there's an old joke - What's the difference between a porcupine and Corvette owners?  The pricks are on the outside on a porcupine.  But I've always thought Corvettes are neat.  It goes back to the early 60's when my dad would test drive a new Corvette for a day and he'd take my older brother and me along with him.  He had a friend, Jack Bailey, who ran a Chevrolet dealership in Newton, IA who'd let him take one out for a drive.  We'd always go around to the small towns in the area, but he'd open it up in between.  This was before the interstate was finished so we REALLY couldn't see how fast one of those could go.  I was, maybe, 4 to 7 or 8 when we used to do it.  My mother would have crapped on the spot if we told her we were hitting 110 on the straight-aways along some back road blacktop.  

I had some time to kill before I went to see my potential dealer.  I parked my car and grabbed my camera from the trunk.  I began to take pictures of the outside of the building.  Suddenly, my battery indicator light began to blink 'red'.  I thought, "Son of a BITCH!!"  For a moment, I thought I'd go back out to the car, get the charger and let it charge up for about 15 minutes in the museum.  But I thought I could get enough pictures out of it before the battery would let go. 

In hindsight, I should have taken in the charger and plugged it in at the front desk and wandered around in the Corvette Store gift shop waiting for it to get a better charge.  It turned out there was a lot to see at the National Corvette Museum. 

 

The building itself is 68,000 square feet.  They have over 75 Corvettes on display as well as engineering and design displays, motor displays and pictures of everything from cars to the men who designed the cars over the years.  As I was there, they were in the midst of building a 47,000 sq. ft. addition that was scheduled to be done on Labor Day of 2009. 

 

 

 

 

 

It cost eight bucks to get in and the museum is open 360 days a year from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.  The first part of the museum that you enter is the atrium area where they have a number of Corvettes lined up.  Many of these Corvettes were either on loan or gifted to the non-profit museum.  They had Corvettes on display in the atrium from the 1950's up to this decade.  All were in mint shape and had to worth thousands and thousands of dollars.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

The first Corvettes were built in Flint, MI and the body was made out of fiberglass - very revolutionary in it's day - mainly because of a lack of steel 7 years after the end of World War II.  This is a 1953 Corvette.  This was one of the first Corvettes ever produced.  Each car had a story board beside it, telling its history and how it made it to the Corvette Museum.  On the walls in the atrium area were a number of pictures of Corvettes and their owners.  There were also kiosks that showed videos of Corvettes in action over the years.

From the atrium, you could go into the Chevrolet Theater which was playing a film on the history of the Corvette, or you could go into the Nostalgia part of the museum.  I skipped the film and went through the museum.  There, they had displays of old Corvettes from the 50's in a diorama.  This is a 57 Corvette sitting in what was an old Mobil gas station.  I think the price on the pumps was 29 cents for Ethyl (high octane). 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is, I believe, a 1955 Corvette.  A friend of our family, Howard Pelzer, had one exactly like this back in the 70's.  He used to drive it in parades.  One time at my aunt and uncle's house, he had the Corvette parked in the front yard.  His grandkids were playing in the car and, somehow, the emergency brake was disengaged and the car rolled down a short embankment.  It got hung up on a concrete retaining wall and broke the fiberglass along the bottom of the passenger side door.  Now, I would have been kicking those kids asses from here to Mars, but Howard was rather laid back about the incident.  "Aw, that's what insurance is for," Howard said,  But, then again, I think he'd had about 8 drinks in him by that time. 

(Note - one thing I noticed from my previous visit to the Corvette Museum was that there were more interactive displays in the museum that I remember.  There were a number of "hands on" displays for both kids and adults in the Performance area.)  

The next part of the museum was the Performance area where they showed concept and proto-type Corvettes that Chevrolet worked on over the years.  This was a pretty neat area of the museum.  This area also included a number of displays on the men who designed the Corvette over the years, including Harley Earl, widely regarded as the "Father of the Corvette."  Displays featuring longtime Chief Engineer Zora Arkus-Duntov and the man who designed the body for the first "Sting Ray", Bill Mitchell, were prominent in this area of the museum.

(Note - this is where I left off in my last entry on the Corvette Museum, basically where my camera gave out.) 

Also in the Performance area was something new that I didn't remember seeing on my previous visit.  Below left is a mosaic of thousands of small portraits of Corvette owners that were sent into the museum that were made up to be a picture of a 1955 Corvette.  It was actually pretty cool.  In the room where the mosaic was located were a number of vanity license plates from all over the United States with Corvette themes to them.  

Going from the Performance area, you then get into the Corvette Museum's Skydome (above right).  The Skydome honors the over 50 members of the Corvette Hall of Fame - designers, engineers, race car drivers, specialists and enthusiasts.  This is also where a number of proto-types and historic cars were on display.

Below left is the 1,500,000 production Corvette - a 2009 model that was manufactured in Bowling Green.  The state of Kentucky was able to lure the Corvette production facility away from St. Louis in 1981 with a series of tax breaks and incentives.  Last ditch efforts by workers and politicians to save the St. Louis plant - which built Corvettes from 1954 thru 1981 - fell through and hundreds of plant workers made the decision to move to Bowling Green to continue working in the plant.  At first, many of the workers, including a large number of African-American assembly line workers, were shunned by the locals in Bowling Green who felt a number of the jobs should have gone to local residents.  As many as 750 people from around the Bowling Green area were trained by General Motors because they didn't know how many people from St. Louis would actually make the move.  But over 900 workers ended up moving to Bowling Green and they had seniority over the locals.  It caused a lot of animosity between the transplanted GM workers and the locals in Bowling Green for a number of years.  Today, about 450 people work in the Corvette Plant across the road from the Corvette Museum. 

And above right is the 1,000,000 Corvette built.  This a 1992 model, white with a red leather interior.  It was specifically made to be the millionth 'Vette built almost 41 years to the day the first Corvette was built on June 30, 1953.  The first 300 production Corvette's built in 1953 were white with red leather upholstry and interior.

The Skydome also housed a number of Indianapolis 500 pace cars.  The first Corvette used as a pace car for the annual Memorial Day race was a C3 model in 1978 and driven by 1960 Indy 500 winner Jim Rathmann.  Later on, famous test pilot Chuck Yeager drove a 1986 Corvette convertible in that year's race.  Corvette's were also the pace cars for the 1995 and 1998 races and a special 50th Anniversary Corvette was the pace car in 2002.  In all, 10 Corvette's have been pace cars at Indy, including a stretch of each year from 2005 thru 2008.  At this year's race, television chef Guy Fieri will drive a 2013 C6 ZR1 Corvette to start the race.  

The Astro-Vette (above right) was a concept car built in 1968 that was one of the few Corvette ideas that never took hold.  Looking more like a Bonneville Salt Flats racer, this car was derisively named the "Moby Dick" by Corvette enthusiasts and relegated to minor car shows.  It was eventually painted orange and put in storage before it was restored to its original color and put on display in the Corvette Museum.  

It was about here that I happened to catch up with two men going through the museum.  One of the men acted like he worked at the museum and I sort of hung back and listened to him explain to the visitor about some of the cars on display in the Skydome.  I didn't want to intrude on his wonderful monologue telling the visitor about some of the cars on display and how they were able to procure the cars for the museum, but I almost stopped him a couple times to ask questions.   

I followed the man and the visitor into a small room in the center of the Skydome that honored the 2012 inductees into the Corvette Hall of Fame - former GM Exec Gary Claudio, Corvette collector Bob McDorman, former President of the National Council of Corvette Clubs Patrick Dolan, and former Corvette racer Andy Pilgrim.  I know people who are big Corvette fans and this is probably much more hallowed ground for them than it was for me, but it was still interesting to learn about some of these people.  

From there, the man and the visitor moved toward part of the 47,000 square foot expansion that the museum went through over three years previous.  I followed them into a large room that, as I heard the man explain it, as an all purpose room that could be used for displays or for active learning center for local schools.  Today, it housed a display called "Country Music Cars and Stars" featuring  a number of cars that are or were owned by Nashville recording artists and songwriters.  Cars owned by Kix Brooks, George Strait, Marty Robbins, and George Jones, among others, were featured on display with little story boards next them.       

Above right is a 1967 Corvette that belonged to singer Roy Orbison.  The accompanying story said that Orbison drove the Corvette to nearly every recording session for the first Traveling Wilburys album that was made before his death in 1988.  There was a picture of Orbison leaning on the car outside the recording studio in Los Angeles.  

Below left is not a Corvette, but a Camaro that was owned by Dolly Parton.  It was prominently featured in the movie, "Best Little Whorehouse In Texas" that starred Parton and Burt Reynolds.   

In the center of the room was a 2011 Camaro that was customized by record company owner Steve Borchetta in honor of the country group Rascal Flatts' song "Red Camaro" (above right).  There was a video playing on a loop behind the car showing the members of Rascal Flatts getting seeing the car for the first time, getting in and starting up the engine.  I think the sound from the engine genuinely scared them.  

Along the south wall, the 1960 Corvette shown below left belongs to Faith Hill who was given the car by her then-boyfriend Tim McGraw before they eventually married.  

Further down, past cars owned by Steve Wariner and Troy Gentry of Montgomery Gentry, Brad Paisley's 1999 midnight blue Corvette stood out as probably the most beautiful of all the cars on display.  I'm sort of a closet Paisley fan, more so for his guitar playing, and I found out that Paisley is a big Corvette guy.  He toured the plant in 2010 and was able to drive his new ZR1 Corvette off the line and out of the plant.  (As an aside, I have a friend from years ago who I ran into not long ago who told me that he won a Corvette in a raffle a few years back and got to travel to Bowling Green to tour the museum and plant, and then drive his car out of the factory.  He said it was one of the best days of his life.  They treated him like a king at the Corvette plant and museum, with workers cheering as he drove out.)

Like the previous incarnation of the museum, to exit you had to go through the gift shop - the Corvette Store.  The gift shop looked to be about double (if not more) the size of the old gift shop that you exited into after going through the museum.  While they did have some interesting items from clothing to hats to accessories for Corvette cars to mugs and glasses, it was all pretty expensive.  They even had Corvette bags and backpacks in the shop that looked pretty interesting.  I really liked some of the Corvette neon signs and clocks they had, as well as some of the Corvette sunglasses.  They even had manuals from nearly every year and model of Corvettes ever made.    

Out of the front of the Corvette Store took you into a large atrium area that had the entrance to the museum on the north end, the Corvette Cafe on the opposite end, and in between there was a reference library and an area for people to come to when they pick up their Corvette from the plant.  Across the atrium is a large banquet room.  I was told by one of the ladies to go in and take a look at the room as they were getting ready for a National Corvette Club dinner for that evening to coincide with a behind-the-scenes look at the new Corvette C7 production model.  But it appeared the catering staff was having a meeting in the room, so I didn't go in.   

In all, it probably took me about 45 minutes to an hour to go through the museum on this trip.  And that's probably because I'd seen a lot of the stuff in the Performance area before.  So, if you do have a chance to go to the Corvette Museum, I'd say you should figure a minimum of at least 90 minutes to go through the whole thing.  I'm not as big of a car nut as some people that I know, so I could easily be low on my estimate for how long it would take to get through the museum, especially since there's so many minute details to see there.  I don't get back to Bowling Green very often, so it was a treat to see what they had done to upgrade the displays and expand the museum.  The Corvette Museum is truly a look at the history of the love affair between Americans and performance cars.

(Update - A massive sink hole opened up under the floor of the Skydome on February 12, 2014 swallowing up 8 of the vintage Corvettes on display including the 1,000,000 and the 1,500,000 Corvettes shown in the pictures above.  Click here to read about it and see a video of the sink hole as it developed along with a video of a drone officials sent in to access the damage.)