Road Tips

Tommy Colina's Kitchen - Omaha, NE

About three years ago the Nebraska Beef Council started their own "Best Burger in Nebraska" contest that is very similar to the Iowa Beef Industry Council's "Best Burger in Iowa" contest.  After a long day, I checked into my hotel in West Omaha after 9 p.m. and looked around for a place to grab a quick bite to eat.  I stumbled into a place called Tommy Colina's Kitchen.  It turned out that they are a two time finalist for the Best Burger crown in Nebraska.  Always up for a good burger, I was happy I found the place.

There is no Tommy Colina - it's actually a hybrid name from the children of the owners, Jon Dye and Grant Lundin.  Jon Dye is a Le Cordon Bleu (London) trained chef.  His specialty was opening restaurants in the Omaha area.  He was the opening chef at such diverse places such as Dave & Buster's, Ted's Montana Grill, Wheatfields, and the Farmhouse Cafe.  Dye struck out on his own with the OmNe Seafood Grill about 10 years ago, but it was a short-lived venture.  

Dye and Lundin got to know each when they were both working for Greg Lindberg's Absolutely Fresh Seafood restaurants - Shucks Fish House and Oyster Bar, and Bailey's, a breakfast and lunch-centric restaurant.   Dye was the executive chef and Lundin was the manager for Shucks.  Today, there are three Shucks locations around the Omaha area.

Dye and Lundin looked to do their own thing and they bought a building that housed the former Don Carmelo's pizza restaurant near downtown Omaha.  It took them less than two months to transform the former pizza place into Tommy Colina's.  They brought a little bit of culinary philosophy with them from Shucks and Bailey's, but with an emphasis on burgers, eclectic sandwiches and interesting appetizers.  In the fall of 2012, they opened the second Tommy Colina's location in West Omaha in the Spring Ridge Plaza just off Pacific and 180th St. (see map) 

As it was after 9 p.m., Tommy Colina's Kitchen was understandably quiet.  Only a couple tables were taken and no one was seated at the bar.  I walked over to the bartender and asked if it was too late for food.   He said, "Nope!  We're serving until 10 o'clock!"  I took a seat at the bar, grabbed a menu from him and ordered up a Boulevard Pale Ale.   

Tommy Colina's "Triple B" burger was the one that garnered a third place finish in the most recent Best Burger in Nebraska contest.  They take their ground steak burgers and top it with thick slices of maple bacon, imported brie cheese, and finish it off with crumbled blue cheese.  That sounded good, but I figured it would probably overpower the taste of the burger.  They had the "Smoke-n-Spice" burger on the menu that came with smoked jalapenos, aged cheddar cheese and maple bacon slices.  The maple bacon intrigued me.  I've had it before and it's all right - much more sweet than regular hickory or applewood smoked bacon.  If I had the choice, I'd take the hickory or applewood smoked bacon over maple bacon.

In fact, a lot of the burgers had the maple bacon on it.  One other burger that caught my eye was "Da Mojo" - it came with the maple bacon, roasted sweet peppers and Havarti cheese.  I almost got that.

As my eyes wandered down through the list of burgers, just below the burgers was a box on the menu that featured "Street Tacos".  It was four different types of taco-style that blended flavors from around the world and was served on pita bread.  The "Calcutta" was interesting featuring thin sliced beef tenderloin, lettuce, tomatoes, sweet red peppers, a mild curry sauce, pickled red onions with Havarti cheese.  If I wasn't so set on getting a burger, I would have possibly tried that.

The bartender had come back a couple of times to check to see if I was ready to order.  I thought to myself, "This is ridiculous!  Pick a burger and go with it!"  When he came back the third time I ordered up the "Tijuana Taxi", mainly because I was interested in the smoked jalapeno bacon relish ("Oh, man," the bartender exclaimed.  "It's good!")  It was topped with pepperjack cheese.  And for a buck more, I added a fried egg to the burger.   I also had my choice of sides - fries, seasoned homemade chips or pasta salad.  I heard myself order the fries fully knowing that I wouldn't probably have more than a couple.  

Good burgers take a little time to make and it was over 15 minutes before my burger showed up in front of me.  It was served open faced with the smoked jalapeno bacon relish on top of the hard fried egg which sat on the burger covered in the pepperjack cheese.  Pickled raw onion rings came with it as well as what appeared to be homemade dill pickles.   After dressing up the burger and putting on the spongy bun crown, I was ready to chomp.  

 
The taste of the burger was good.  Not fantastic, not great, but - well, good.  The beef was cooked the way I like it  - medium with a little pink in the middle.  I couldn't really get a taste of the bacon in the relish, but the jalapeno slices had a smokey little zip to them.  The bun was chewy and held together well with everything that was going on with the burger and toppings.  If I had to give the burger at Tommy Colina's a grade I'd have to say it was a B.  No, probably more a B+.  It was good, but it just didn't trip my trigger like other burger joints have.  

I had a couple of the fries, as I thought I would, and they were "blah".  They were basically a throwaway for me.  And that's all right.  I was much more interested in the burger.  

A place clear out in Valentine, NE won this year's "Best Burger in Nebraska" contest and I'm sure I won't be going out that way anytime soon - if ever.  But this year's runner up was a place that I think has a pretty damned good burger - Dinker's Bar in Omaha.  (Click here to see my entry on Dinker's Bar.)  I didn't think the burger at Tommy Colina's Kitchen was as good as the one at Dinker's, but it was definitely in the ball park.  But there are other things on the menu at Tommy Colina's other than burgers that intrigued me enough to keep the place on my "Restaurants to Visit" list.  I would have no problem coming back to the West Omaha location or trying the one closer to downtown.

(Update - I write my reviews of these places sometimes weeks in advance.  From the time that I went to Tommy Colina's Kitchen, wrote the review, and having it published - the place closed.  A shout out to Bill MacKenzie who pointed out to me the day the review was published that both Tommy Colina's Kitchen locations closed earlier this month.  The Omaha World Herald had a short article that stated the businesses shut their doors on July 20th - about a month after I was in there. I don't know if there's ever been a place that I've reviewed and then was closed that quickly.)  

Weiderholt's Supper Club - Miesville (Hastings), MN

After my entry on the burger at House of Coates outside of Coates, MN (click here to see that entry), I got a couple comments that said I really needed to try a King burger at Kings Bar and Grill in nearby Miesville, MN.  I was driving between La Crosse, WI and the Twin Cities recently and decided to get a burger at Kings.  The only problem was that it was Monday and Kings is closed that day.  Somewhat crestfallen, I saw there was a supper club just up the road that I had passed - Wiederholt's Supper Club.  I U-turned back onto Highway 61 and went back to Wiederholt's.  (see map)

There's not much to Miesville - it's a small blip on the map almost in the middle of a triangle between Hastings, Cannon Falls and Red Wing.  The town features a few houses, a baseball/softball field and a couple three businesses.  That makes Wiederholt's a destination place for diners south and east of the Twin Cities.  And it all started out as a general store just before the Depression in the late 1920's.  That's when George Wiederholt first began selling groceries and pumping gas out of a small building along the highway.  And even though it was toward the waning days of Prohibition, George Wiederholt's little place was also a tavern.  George and his wife, Kate, ran the place along with the help from their only son, Sylvester, also known as Cy.  Cy eventually went away for military duty, but ended up coming back home after his service time was over to work with his father.

It was just after his military service was up that Cy married Harriet Weber.  In addition to working at the store/gas station/tavern, Cy and Harriet began to raise a family and looked to do things in life other than running a small family business along a federal highway.  While owning their own vending company, Cy traveled around Minnesota and Wisconsin and saw a number of supper clubs that were popping up in the post-World War II years in the early 50's.  His dream was to turn the little gas station/tavern into a restaurant.  When Cy and Harriet took over the business in 1961, his dream became a reality with the makeover of the place into Wiederholt's Supper Club.  

Cy and Harriet ran the supper club for another 10 years before Cy's health problems forced them to sell the business in 1971.  Cy passed away in 1972 and Harriet eventually took the business back over the next year. With the help of her two college-aged sons, John and Charlie, Harriet continued to run Wiederholt's Supper Club until the brothers eventually purchased the business from her in 1977.  I understand that Harriet is still up and around, coming in to act as hostess over the weekends.   

It was well past 8 p.m. when I pulled into the parking lot in front of Wiederholt's.  I went inside and was met by a lady at the hostess stand.  There are two sections on the main level of Wiederholt's dining room - one to the left and another on the right past the bar area (below left).  It wasn't very busy at all and she said I pretty much had my pick of where I wanted to sit.  I decided to sit at the bar and catch a game on one of the two TV's they have hanging on either end of the bar.

 
The bar area at Wiederholt's is nothing fancy.  They had a few beers on tap and a number of shelves with liquor selections.  I took a seat at the bar and was greeted by the bartender, Jesse, who turned out to be a third generation Wiederholt.  He gave me a menu and said, "Our Monday night special is an 8 ounce filet with sauteed mushrooms for $17.50.  You get a salad, choice of potato and relish bowl with that."  He also said it was too bad I wasn't there the next night.  "It's our prime rib special tomorrow night.  That usually brings in the people."  In doing research on the Internet on Wiederholt's, I read somewhere that they go through nearly 500 pounds of prime rib during a week.  That's a lot of meat.  

Jesse asked me if I wanted something to drink while I looked over the menu and I saw that they had the Summit Extra Pale Ale on tap.  I signed up for one of those.  He drew out a frosty glass out of a cooler behind the bar and poured me an ice-cold Summit EPA.  

Wiederholt's does primarily steaks and seafood, but they are supposedly famous for their baby back ribs, as well.  They smoke them in the kitchen using hickory wood and have been a favorite item for the patrons of Wiederholt's over the years.  You'll also find chicken entrees, ham steaks and burgers on the menu.

I had a burger on the mind all day long on the way to Miesville, but the beef tenderloin filet special that evening pretty much made me forget about burgers.  I ordered the filet - rare.  Jesse said, "Oh man!  Just how I like it.  We get people that come in here and want their steaks medium-well or well done and I just go crazy.  I'm thinkin', 'How can they even taste the steak when it's cooked like that?'!"  For a side, I got the baked potato.  I don't know why - I hardly eat potatoes that much.  But rice and/or vegetables sounded boring to me.  As I said, a salad came with it as well and they have a homemade Catalina dressing that I got with my salad.   

Jesse brought out the salad with a basket of homemade croutons, a small bowl of carrots, celery and olives.  A bun was wrapped up in a napkin along with the large croutons.  And what looked to be a half stick of butter was included with the salad options.  Years ago, there used to be a small supper club in Oakland Acres, IA, that I loved to go to - not only for the steaks, but they had a great salad bar that featured a sweet Catalina dressing.  I've been trying to find something close to that over the years, but Wiederholt's Catalina dressing was about as close to that particular dressing that I've found.  I may even go back and see if I can buy some of their Catalina dressing at some point, it was that good.   

 
Since it wasn't very busy - and I ordered my steak rare - it wasn't long after I finished my salad that Jesse brought out the steak.  It was a large chunk of beef filet topped with and surrounded by sauteed mushrooms.  They were canned mushrooms, which weren't a deal breaker by any means.  A very large baked potato with sour cream with chives came on the side.  

I cut into the steak and it was perfect - it had a nice deep red color with a cool center.   The steak was tender and very flavorful.  There didn't appear to be any seasoning on the steak, other than from the grill.  I've had steaks that were more than double in price at many other steakhouses over the years that were nowhere as good as the steak I had at Wiederholt's that evening.  

Jesse came over and asked how my steak was.  I said, "Perfect.  Just perfect.  Give my compliments to your grill chef."  

It turned out that the grill chef was talking with some guys at a table in the bar and Jesse yelled over to him, "Hey, he liked the steak!"

The grill chef said, "Was it cooked rare enough for you?"  I gave him a "thumbs up".  It was an excellent steak.

Two things that I like finding on the road are surprisingly good places to eat and supper clubs.  I found both at Wiederholt's Supper Club.   If I'd only had one beer to go along with the meal, it would have been under $25 bucks.  It was an amazingly great bargain for an amazingly great meal.  Wiederholt's is simply one of the best supper clubs I've encountered in my travels.  While I will still make it back to Miesville for a burger at Kings at some point, it will be tough to pass up another meal at Wiederholt's Supper Club.

The Great Indian Restaurant - Moline, IL

A place we've heard about over in Moline, but never had been to before, is a little Indian restaurant that is somewhat audaciously named The Great Indian Restaurant.  I always figured that if it had a name like that, the food had better be damned good.  On a recent Friday night, we made the trek over to Moline for some Indian food.

The Great Indian Restaurant is located on Avenue of the Cities in Moline, just across 44th Street from the Hy-Vee grocery store.  (see map)  It's been in business for 12 years, but the current owner - Sam Singh - has been in charge for the last five of those years.  Before that, the Arora family - who now own and run Mantra Indian Cuisine in Davenport (click here to see my entry on Mantra) - owned The Great Indian Restaurant from 2004 to 2008.  

The building that houses The Great Indian Restaurant looks like it may have been a Mexican restaurant at one time with stucco walls with arches over the windows and over an opening that looks into a side dining area.  They feature a buffet at lunch - like most Indian restaurants - with a full menu of chicken, lamb and vegetarian dishes served at night.  (Great Indian Restaurant is open every day with the exception of Tuesday.)

Pictured at right - the front dining area with buffet at Great Indian Restaurant.  The other dining area is through the entrance in the background. 

One of the things that determines for me if it's a good Indian restaurant is if I see natives of India eating in the place.  There were at least two groups of Indians in the restaurant and a well-dressed man who was ordering food for four to go.  We sat at one of the booths along the outer wall of the front dining area.  A young man brought us water and menus.  

In addition to the vegetarian and meat items on the menu, Great Indian also features tandoori cooked foods such as chicken, fish and shrimp.  They also have fish and shrimp curry on the menu.  But I've been on kind of a lamb jag lately when it comes to Indian food, so I was concentrating on that part of the menu.

They had Rogan Josh on the menu - cubes of tender lamb slow cooked in vegetable oil and a brown gravy sauce with herbs and spices.  But right below the Rogan Josh was the Lamb Saagwala - also featuring tender cubes of lamb meat cooked with fresh chopped spinach with ginger, herbs and spices.  I remember almost getting Lamb Saagwala at an Indian restaurant I had been to before that evening and I decided to pull the trigger on it this time.  The waiter asked how I wanted it on a scale on spiciness from mild - medium - hot.  I told him in between medium and hot.  

Cindy was asking about tandoori chicken and I cautioned her about making sure it wasn't overcooked.  That's been my problem with tandoori chicken that I've got in the past.  I usually stay away from tandoori cooked foods for that reason.  She ended up getting the Chicken Shahi Korma - boneless chicken cubes simmered in a cream-tomato sauce with a dash of vinegar and Kashmiri herbs added.  She got hers mild.  I got a Kingfisher beer and Cindy got a glass of cabernet wine.  

I did order up some garlic-stuffed naan bread for an appetizer before dinner.  It came with a green chutney sauce that was actually a little spicy, some red chutney sauce that was a little sweet.  The naan wasn't all that big and it was far from filling. 

Unfortunately, service was slow at The Great Indian Restaurant.  But it was understandable.  The place was nearly full and there were a lot of people who were coming in to pick up to-go orders.  But we weren't in any hurry, trying to catch up on conversations since I had been on the road so much up to that point.

After about a half hour after we ordered, our food came to the table.  I was ready to eat.  The lamb saagwala had sort of a thick brown gravy sauce with chopped spinach tossed in.  The portion in the picture below left looks pretty big, but it was a relatively small platter that it was served in.  

 
The spicy level of medium-hot for the lamb saagwala certain got my attention.  But it wasn't "burn-your-face-off" hot by any means.  The lamb cubes were tender and easy to cut with a fork.  The combination of the spices, spinach, herbs and lamb in the thick brown sauce was a great taste sensation.  I was very happy with my lamb saagwala.  

Cindy's chicken shahi korma was a culinary stretch for her, as in she didn't know what to expect.  Actually, I didn't know, either.  But it looked rather interesting.  There were large chunks of chicken in a thick cream tomato sauce with chopped cilantro on top.   

 
She told me that her "mild" spice level was actually a little bit too spicy for her.  I was sort of incredulous when she said that because I thought my "medium-hot" was spicy, but tolerable to my taste.  Still, she said her chicken shahi korma was very good.  We traded bites of our dishes - she said my lamb saagwala was too spicy for her; and I thought her chicken shahi korma wasn't all that spicy.  But compared to the spicy level of my food, it was pretty tame.  I was sort of surprised at her as she can handle spicy food.  Maybe her tolerance for spicy food was low that night.  

We've since been back on another visit and I had the Rogan Josh.  I got mine "medium-hot" again, even with the guy taking the order asking me, "Are you sure?"  Once again, the spiciness did get my attention, but it didn't burn my taste buds.  And the Rogan Josh was wonderful.    

Cindy got the lamb vindaloo on that visit - slow-cooked lamb cubes with a special blend of vindaloo spices.  She got her dish with "medium" spiciness again, but this time she didn't think it was all that spicy.  She gave me a couple bites of her lamb vindaloo and it was also outstanding.  There weren't very many people in the restaurant when we were there - but there were at least a half dozen people who picked up "to-go" orders while we were there.  Our food came out in less than 20 minutes after we ordered.  

We now have another good Indian restaurants to choose from in the Quad Cities if we want to get spicy comfort food.  We were both very impressed with the food at The Great Indian Restaurant.  The restaurants name lived up to the level of the quality of its Indian food.  Just be prepared to wait awhile for your food if the place is busy.  But the wait was worth it for us.

Wok 'n Fire - Addison, IL

Along the Lake Street "restaurant row" in the west Chicago suburb of Addison is a Pan-Asian restaurant by the name of Wok 'n Fire.  I've eaten there a couple times before, but I haven't written about the place until now.  It was a cool and rainy evening when I decided to make the short trip from my hotel across Lake Street to get some sushi at Wok 'n Fire. 

The Addison location of Wok 'n Fire is one of six locations in the far western suburbs owned by Siri Lanpouthakoun and his wife, Julie.  There are also Wok 'n Fire locations in Burr Ridge, Wheaton, South Barrington, Elmhurst, and St. Charles.  Prior to opening the Wok 'n Fire restaurants, Siri Lanpouthakoun was involved with his brother, Rod, in the Siri Thai Cuisine restaurant in Hanover Park.  (I understand that place is very good and I've definitely got it on my radar to try at some point.)  

The Wok 'n Fire in Addison is located off of Lake Street behind Zaza's Italian Restaurant (click here to see my entry on Zaza's). (see map)  You can't see it very well from Lake, but if you see Zaza's, then Wok 'n Fire is located in the building directly behind Zaza's.  There's ample parking outside of Wok 'n Fire and there's a corner front door that brings you into a very relaxing and cozy restaurant with Asian accents in the decor.  The dining area is separated from the bar area by a low wall with ornamental oval wood spheres suspended on rods.   

 
The bar area doubles as the alcohol bar and sushi preperation area at Wok 'n Fire.  I decided to have a seat at the bar and I was greeted with a menu by my server for the evening, Sara.  She had a bubbly personality, calling everyone "Hon", but not in the "old lady waitress at the truck stop" kind of way.  She reminded me of the comedic actress and author Amy Sedaris.  I ordered a bottle of Asahi beer and Sara asked me if I wanted a tall bottle.  When I told her that was fine, she said, "Sure, hon.  I'll get it for ya right away."

Looking through the menu, Wok 'n Fire features both sashimi sushi - without the rice; and nigiri - with the rice.  I like getting the nigiri when I get sushi as it's a little more filling and I don't spend as much on sushi as I would if I were getting it without the rice.  When Sara came back with my beer, I began to order up some smoked salmon, regular salmon, sweet shrimp, tuna, yellowtail, and red snapper.  I also got a spicy tuna roll for good measure.  She cheerfully said, "We'll get this right out for ya, hon!"  She was funny and I liked her attitude.  

The sushi chef eventually handed the platter of my sushi and spicy tuna rolls over the counter to me.  It wasn't busy in Wok 'n Fire at that time of the evening, so it didn't take long to prepare my sushi.  It was going to be more than enough to satiate my appetite that evening.

I always start off with a couple pieces of the spicy tuna rolls and the Wok 'n Fire version of spicy tuna rolls were very good.  The spicy sauce had a nice little bite to it.  However, I found out later that the spicy sauce hid some of a bit of fishy taste I got in the regular tuna sushi I ate a little later on.  

But the tuna was the only thing that slightly disappointed me that evening.  Everything else was very good to excellent.  It was some of the best smoked salmon that I've had at any sushi place that I've eaten at over the years.  Yellowtail tends to be a little fishy in taste, but it was not that way on my visit to Wok 'n Fire.  It had been a while since I'd had red snapper sushi and it had a very good taste to it, as well.  The combination of the taste of wasabi and soy sauce with the red snapper made it very wonderful.  Actually, even with the slight fishiness of the tuna, the overall taste of the different types of sushi I had at Wok 'n Fire was was very good.   

When Sara handed me my tab for the evening, she asked me if I had been in before.  I said that I'd eaten there a couple three times before and it was as good that night as it had been in the past.  She asked if I was from out of town and I told her that I was.  She said, "You look like that kind of guy who is staying over at the Hampton Inn looking to get a bite to eat."  She couldn't have been more spot on.  It was like having Kreskin waiting on me. 

I'm hoping Siri Lanpouthakoun is a baseball fan with the name of Wok 'n Fire making a play on the old-time baseball cry heard from dugouts when I was growing up, "Rock 'n Fire!"  The sushi I've had at Wok 'n Fire over the years has always been very good.  Sara was a great waitress, fun and effervescent with a cuteness that helped her get a good tip.  With all the restaurant choices up and down Lake Street, Wok 'n Fire is a good bet for good to great sushi and Pan-Asian cuisine.  

Dixie Quick's (and RNG Gallery) - Council Bluffs, IA

Much has been written about a little restaurant in the Omaha area by the name of Dixie Quick's.  For a long time, it has kind of been a small secret the locals who liked to keep to themselves.  However, both national print and television media has blown the cover off the Dixie Quick's secret and it has become a destination for people who enjoy eclectic and interesting foods.  I've had Dixie Quick's on my "Restaurants to Visit" list for quite sometime.  When Cindy and I were out in Omaha for an extended weekend recently, we decided to go have breakfast at Dixie Quick's. 

René Orduña started off working in the kitchen of his parents Mexican restaurant when he was growing up in Omaha.  Orduña left Omaha and ended up cooking in a number of different places - New Orleans, New York, Atlanta, San Francisco and Kansas City - before ending up back in Omaha with his life partner, Rob Gilmer.  In 1995, the two opened the original Dixie Quick's in downtown Omaha.  After being open for seven years, the two were forced to move to a new location due to the pending construction of Union Pacific Center, the headquarters of the Union Pacific railroad that was moving just across the street.

It was at their new location at 20th and Leavenworth just south of downtown Omaha that Dixie Quick's became known for their eclectic comfort food.  Dixie Quick's Magnolia Room featured a number of different items on their menu from Cajun to seafood to steaks with a Mexican twist to scrumptious breakfasts served on Saturday and Sunday mornings.  And the menu was located on a chalk board on the wall of Dixie Quick's Magnolia Room.  Patrons had to go to the chalk board and see what chef René was cooking up that evening.  The menu changed from day to day due to Orduña's quest to source local and fresh food for the restaurant.  

In 2011, Orduña and Gilmer had the chance to move Dixie Quick's into the renovated Hughes-Irons building in Council Bluffs just across the Missouri River from Omaha.  On one side of the space they occupied would be Dixie Quick's, the other side would be RNG Gallery, an urban and contemparary art gallery that was designed to show cutting edge artwork from local, regional and national artists.  The "RNG" in the gallery's name stands for Rob Gilmer's initials.  Dixie Quick's moved to their new location in October of 2011 and had their grand opening on November 1, 2011.  

We pulled up in front of Dixie Quick's on West Broadway in Council Bluffs around 9:15 on a Saturday morning. (see map)  We were sort of stunned to see a large group of people milling about in front of the place and we wondered if there was already a wait to get in for breakfast.  On Dixie Quick's web site they have general rules and brunch rules and it appears that someone by the name of Lydia has pissed off either Gilmer or Orduña so much that there are taglines after each rule that are directed at someone named Lydia.  I was afraid that if we didn't have a reservation we may be waiting quite a long time to be seated.  If that was the case, I told Cindy we'd go to Plan B, which would be somewhere else other than Dixie Quick's.

After parking the car in a lot on the east side of the Hughes-Irons building, we saw that the crowd out front had dispersed by the time we got in front of the restaurant.  It turned out it was a large group that was just arriving at Dixie Quick's and they were just being seated when we walked in.  We were greeted by a young lady at the hostess stand just as you get into Dixie Quick's and she sat us at table near the bar area.  

The dining area at Dixie Quick's is an "L"-shaped room with the signature menu board on the long wall.  The contemporary urban space features artwork on the walls and the restaurant is lighted by studio-style light fixtures.  

 
On the wall behind the bar were a collection of trays with states on them (above right).  I'd never seen anything like them before and they were sort of neat to look at.

The first order of business is to go over and take a look at the chalk board menu.  Because of René Orduña's multi-faceted culinary background, the breakfast menu reflected his diverse tastes.  There were breakfast dishes with a Mexican flair such as the Cactus Scramble - real bits of cactus scrambled with eggs and black beans and served with tortillas.  Dixie Quick's also featured a red beans and rice omelet as well as down-home Southern-style breakfast plates as biscuits and gravy, and chicken-fried steak.  I almost got the chicken fried steak, I could imagine how good it would be.  

Cindy and I stared at the board for about five minutes before we finally decided on what we wanted to order.  We went back to the table and we were greeted by a tall man who appeared to be a manager.  He said, "Douglas is going to be your server, folks.  But he's busy with other customers right now.  Can I get you something to drink or are you ready to order?"   

Cindy said, "Well, yeah, sure!  We can order!"  

She got the eggs benedict with grilled salmon.  As I said, I almost ordered the chicken fried steak, but I ended up getting the French toast with mixed fruit toppings and a side of bacon.  Douglas finally made it over to greet us with some coffee for Cindy.  "Sorry folks," he explained.  "I guess you got your order in already.  It's like I got three tables all at once.  Thanks for your patience."  

We were fine and dandy with the service between the manager and Douglas up to that point.  It was no problem whatsoever.  

A third server brought out our breakfasts.  And I was amazed what to find on my plate.  The French toast was made out of thick homemade French bread slices piled in a pyramid topped with raspberries, strawberries and blueberries with a large dollop of whipped cream at the apex.  I thought, "There's gonna be no WAY I can eat all this!"  

 
Cindy's eggs Benedict with the grilled salmon featured two rather large poached eggs sitting on a homemade fluffy English muffin.  She said the salmon was a little overcooked for her, but it wasn't fishy tasty at all.  I could smell the salmon and it did smell good.  

I started to dig into my French toast and found that the bread was light and fluffy.  It was almost like angel food cake, there was so much airy-ness to it.  I let Cindy have my strawberries (I have an aversion to strawberries thanks to a childhood allergy to them), but I enjoyed the fresh blueberries and raspberries with the French Toast.  After finishing two of the slices, it became apparent that I would have no trouble finishing the rest.  The combination of lightness and great taste made sure for that.  

When we finished, Douglas brought over our check and even though our service was good I was hesitant to leave a significant tip for him because it was much more of a team effort by the staff at Dixie Quick's who took care of us that morning.   He had two tables - one of six people, the other with four - that he was running hard for.  Even with that, we didn't feel we'd been neglected in the least.  

As we were leaving Dixie Quick's, I wanted to wash some of the stickiness off my hands.  I asked the hostess where the restroom was and she said it was through the gallery to the left of Dixie Quick's and then take a right and go all the way back.  The bathroom was in the RNG Gallery and it featured a communal wash facility.  In the wash area were also a number of interesting photographs on display.  It was sort of interesting that the men's and women's restrooms were off to their respective sides of the sink area and women and men would be side by side washing up afterward.  

 
The RNG Gallery was featuring artwork by a number of artists depicting the Museum of Alternative History.  Actually, some of the stuff was quite believable including wall charts and interesting photographs that had been altered toward the bizarre.  Cindy was especially transfixed on the series of what appeared to be misshapen human skulls that supposedly were from bizarre people.  

I loved a series of little vignettes by Jamie Burmeister of figurines that involved small sculptures intermixed with real objects.  Below left is called "Trap" and it depicts a man caught in a mouse trap with a women grieving nearby.  It was pretty twisted.  

 
I finally got the joke of the exhibit when I found a poster just inside the entry way of the RNG Gallery that explained the basis for the Museum of Alternative History.  Curator Tim Guthrie, an Omaha visual artist, had asked a number of artists to come up with their ideas of what they believed history would be in an alternative plane.  It had this long preamble and was actually a pretty cogent interpretation of what the displays are about.  Then at the bottom, it basically said the whole idea of the exhibit was for the artists to "just make shit up."  

We lingered in the RNG Gallery to fully take in the Museum of Alternative History probably longer than we wanted, but it was so interesting and so trippy that we didn't mind missing a glorious Saturday morning outside.  My descriptions don't do the exhibit justice. And, unfortunately, the exhibit closed in early June.  But I'm sure the RNG Gallery will have other interesting exhibits that you can take in before or after you dine at Dixie Quick's.  

It turns out that I have a new pro music dealer just across the street from Dixie Quick's and I'm looking forward to going back to try one of the eclectic dinner entrees that they're known for.  Dixie Quick's would be what I would call a "must eat" when you're in the Omaha area.  Just don't piss them off like Lydia did.  

Hi-Ho South - Fargo, ND

A shout-out today to Jeni who writes the fun mirror blog sites "Like A Fish Out of Fargo" and "An Herbalist Eats".  Jeni is a Twin Cities girl who moved to Fargo a couple years ago with her husband.  In addition to being a culinary student, Jeni shares a wanderlust with her husband of traveling around parts of eastern North Dakota and western Minnesota looking for interesting places to eat.  (Update - her husband has recently been transferred to Mason City, IA for his job.  She'll be closer to family in the Twin Cities, but she'll miss Fargo, I'm sure.)  Earlier this year, she visited a place that I've had on my "restaurants to visit" list for quite sometime - the Hi-Ho South in Fargo.  Food Network Magazine named the burger at Hi-Ho South as North Dakota's "must have" burger.  (Click here for an interactive map of all 50 states and their "must-have" burgers.)  On a recent trip to the Fargo area, I took the time to stop in to the Hi-Ho South location for a burger.

The original Hi-Ho dates back to before World War II over in Dilworth, MN, which is a small town that butts up next to Moorhead, MN, just across the Red River of the North from Fargo.  In 1947, the Cariveau family bought the Hi-Ho and then nearly 50 years later they opened the Hi-Ho South in Fargo.  (Owner Rick Cariveau and his wife, Kathy, also own the Mills Lounge in Dilworth.)  The burgers at both Hi-Ho locations are made from fresh ground beef - top grade beef, as Rick Cariveau says - from a secret local source and is never frozen.

Actually, the double cheeseburger was the one that was named as North Dakota's "must-have" burger, but I determined I was only going to get a single burger when I made my way over to the Hi-Ho South located in a strip mall on S. 25th St. just north of 32nd Ave. S. in Fargo.  (see map)  It was before the lunch rush when I made it into the Hi-Ho South and found a small table in the corner with a bench seat up against the wall.

The decor of the Hi-Ho South is decidedly drab and basic.  Interestingly, pictures of burgers - and not much else - adorn the walls of the place.  The tables and chairs are the sturdy industrial-style that you see in many restaurants.  A couple televisions were turned on to CNN and ESPN.  Still, it was far from dirty or grungy.

Menus were on the table and I took a look through one when a pleasant young girl came over to greet me.  I saw that they had a mushroom Swiss cheese burger on the menu and I immediately ordered that.  For a drink, I thought, "What the hell?" and got a tall beer.  She asked if I wanted any fries or onion rings, and I declined.  

More people began to filter in while I waited for my burger to get to me.  I noticed a couple guys in the kitchen area working quickly to make burgers.  A few people were coming in to pick up "to-go" orders that they had called in previously.  Hi-Ho South certainly appeared to be a popular and hoppin' place to eat.  

One of the guys cooking the burgers brought my burger out to me.  It was pretty basic looking with a bun crown sitting on top of the burger patty which, in turn, was sitting on a bed of raw onion rings.  Dill pickles came on the side of the small paper plate.  Ketchup and mustard were provided on the table.  Just like the decor at Hi-Ho South, the burger was nothing fancy.

 
Taking the bun off the top showed a lightly toasted bun with copious amounts of canned mushrooms on top of the Swiss cheese-topped burger patty.  For being a "must-have" burger, it was pretty basic in terms of vision.  

The first bite of the burger was sort of a mystery to me.  Hi-Ho South proudly states that they don't season their beef.  And it was about as neutral of a taste that one can have with a burger.  Most flat-grilled burgers pick up a seasoned taste from the grill - especially one that has probably been cooking thousands of burgers since 1996.  But the beef was bland, so bland that about the only thing that I could taste were the raw onions.  

And if the owner of the Hi-Ho places didn't claim that he uses top-grade beef from a secret local source, I would have bet the family farm that the burger patty was previously frozen and bought from a food purveyor.  The hard edge of the burger patty told me that it couldn't be a hand-pattied burger.  There had to be some machine that they use to measure out and form the ground beef patty.  

The whole time I was eating my burger, I was thinking to myself, "This is Food Network's best burger in North Dakota?  It's about as lifeless of a burger that you can have!"  It wasn't overcooked and there was some juiciness to the meat.  But it was a drab taste experience.  I will have to say that even with mushrooms and Swiss cheese, the burger I had at the Hi-Ho South was about as neutral in taste of any burger I can remember ever having.   

(Jeni at "Fish Out of Fargo"/"An Herbalist Eats" sort of agreed with me with the burger she had at Hi-Ho South.  Click here to see her review.) 

I've learned in my travels that some establishments that I don't favor are very popular with the locals, mainly because they're used to the taste of the food.  Quad City-style pizza is one food that I still can't understand the buzz by people who grew up there.  I'll have to say that the Hi-Ho South is probably another place that you have to grow to like.  I certainly couldn't see - or taste - what the excitement was all about.  I know there has to be better burgers SOMEWHERE in North Dakota.  And while I only get up there only a couple times a year, it looks like I'm going to have to search for 'em.

The Doc's Inn - Silvis, IL

We've been in the market for a new car for the wife and we were out on a recent Saturday afternoon over on the Illinois side of the Quad Cities looking for cars at some of the car dealerships along John Deere Road.  Looking for a car for Cindy makes her stressed and since it was around lunch she thought she needed something to eat.  She had been hearing ads on the radio for a place over in Silvis by the name of The Doc's Inn.  She sort of directed me to where the place was, the only problem is that I passed it and had to go back around. Once we got situated and found the parking lot we pulled up in front of The Doc's Inn.

The unique name of the place suggests there's a doctor involved in the business, but it's a take off of another business that owner John Stoupulos and his wife, MaryBeth, owns in Rock Island - Dr. Gyros.  While Dr. Gyros is more of a gyros/sandwich shop, The Doc's Inn features a lot of the same items on their menu, only serving beer and liquor at The Doc's Inn location.  

The Stopoulos' opened The Doc's Inn in mid-March of 2012 in a small strip mall on the Avenue of the Cities at 10th St. in Silvis. (see map)  Already, the Stopoulos' are looking to expand the restaurant, putting in an addition that would add 70 seats in a room that would be used for private parties and overflow in the restaurant. It would also feature an outdoor patio area with a permanent stage for bands to play.  John Stopoulos told the Quad City Times earlier this year that he hoped to have the additions in place by September. 

As I said, if you come from the east on Avenue of the Cities, you're likely to pass the place and you have to double back on 7th St.  Also, the parking lot is a little funky.  There's no drive around lane on the far side of the parking lot in front of The Doc's Inn, so if you think there's an open spot at the end - like I did - and there isn't, you've got to back up and manuever to find an open spot.  It was a little confusing on our first visit.

Walking into The Doc's Inn, we found a brightly lit small bar/restaurant with a number of flat screen televisions throughout the place.  A bar that seated about a dozen people was on the right with an open kitchen to the side of the bar.  High top tables were in the middle of the dining area with booths along the wall.  We waited for a booth to open up while one of the waitresses wiped a table down for us.

Quite actually, I didn't know there was a connection between The Doc's Inn and Dr. Gyros until I did some research into the background of the new restaurant.  I've always wanted to try Dr. Gyros and had I known there was a connection I would have gotten the gyro at The Doc's Inn.  But I concentrated on the burger part of the menu that featured a number of different types of burgers.  They also had a Chicago-style Italian beef sandwich on the menu that sort of caught my eye.  

I ended up getting the breakfast burger that was topped with a fried egg, bacon and cheddar cheese.  For sides, I got their seasoned French fries and cottage cheese.  Cindy went with the chicken caesar wrap.  I asked if I could get my burger medium and our server said that would be no problem.

The only problem is that is wasn't medium.  It wasn't even medium-well.  It was well done and all the life had been cooked out of the burger when I took a bite of it.  And it looked like the burger had the possibilities of being very good, too.  There were chunks of bacon on top of the cheddar cheese melted over the hard fried egg laying on the burger patty.  It had a good bun, light and chewy, which helped the overall taste of the burger.  But the overcooked patty was hard, tough to chew and lacking of flavor and juiciness that I like in my burgers. 

 
Cindy said her chicken caesar wrap was just "OK".  She said there wasn't a lot of caesar dressing taste to the wrap and the chicken was a little rubbery and tough to chew.  She said it was disappointing.  

Actually, the seasoned fries had a good taste to them.  They could have been a little more warm when they were delivered to the table.  But I did dig the taste of the seasoning on the fries.  It's too bad they were the highlight of the meal.   

 
We really wanted to like the food at The Doc's Inn because it looked like a pretty cool place.  With all the televisions in the place, it could be a fun place to come and watch some games.  If we were to come back, I'd probably stay away from the burger and go with the gyro since that's sort of the signature item of The Doc's Inn and Dr. Gyros.  But since it's so far away from our house, I just can't see us making a specific trip back to The Doc's Inn for food or drinks.  It's too bad the burger and wrap were so disappointing.  

Maggie O'Brien's - St. Louis

On a trip to St. Louis earlier this spring, I got a great deal on a room at the Union Station Hotel which is part of the historic St. Louis Union Station shopping and entertainment complex on the west end of the downtown area.  The Union Station Hotel had been a Marriott property for a number of years and had recently changed to a Doubletree property under the Hilton Hotels umbrella.  The hotel - which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places - featured a number of updated rooms and, of course, the lovely and ornate Gothic beauty of the Grand Hall (pictured above).  

While I can't say enough about how nice the hotel was, the adjacent Union Station shopping and entertainment facility has fallen on hard times.  Once one of the premier shopping and restaurant destinations in St. Louis, over half of the spaces available for retail or restaurants at Union Station are now closed.  On a nostalgic walk through the place, of the remaining retail spots I counted no less than four different stores that sold baseball-style hats and urban t-shirts. Union Station is a far cry from the retail and entertainment center that it was when I first came here over 20 years ago.  Pictured at left is the Midway at Union Station.  There were only two stores that were opened in this area when years ago it featured probably four times that many.  However, I understand that the Doubletree is looking to expand into parts of the Midway beginning later this year.

It had a been a long day of travel when I got into the hotel around 6:30 p.m.  I didn't feel like heading out anywhere far away from the hotel to get something to eat.  Most of the remaining dining places in Union Station were of the fast food variety or national chains that I had no interest in visiting.  I remembered there was an Irish pub just down the street from the hotel that I'd been to with a friend of mine a few times a number of years ago.  The place - Maggie O'Brien's - is still open.  I walked the block and a half from the hotel to the restaurant on a beautiful St. Louis evening to get some dinner.  (see map)  

Maggie O'Brien's has been in business since 1979 and is owned by brothers Pat and Eddie McVey.  They bought the business a few years ago from original owner Harry Belli, who also owned the Harry's Restaurant and Bar just up Market Street to the west (as well as two other former Harry's locations in greater St. Louis).  Maggie O'Brien was named in honor of Belli's great-grandmother, Winnie O'Brien.  It's a popular place to stop before and after events at the Scottrade Arena just three blocks to the east.  

The restaurant also has a recent sad past - a bartender was shot to death during a late night robbery attempt in 2009. One of the two would-be robbers was also shot to death, inadvertently it turns out, by the other robber.  A former long-time employee of Maggie O'Brien's was sentenced to jail for masterminding the robbery attempt, as were the robber and the look-out.  It put a damper on the spirits of bar patrons for a few weeks after, but it's in a relatively safe and high traffic area of St. Louis.  Like I say, I walked to and from the bar from the Doubletree.    

Maggie O'Brien's hadn't changed much, if any, from the last time I was in there probably 8 or so years ago.  Actually, the first time I had been in the place was around 1997 when I went there with my-then-boss and another colleague to check on a Runco projector that was acting up in one of the big rooms in the back that was used for parties, meetings and receptions.  The company I was working for at the time was representing Runco.  I remember not caring much about what was wrong with the projector, I was much more interested in the selection of beers they had to offer.

Years later, an old roommate of mine from my days at the University of Iowa would meet up with me at Maggie O'Brien's from time to time for a few beers and some food.  He's since moved out to the far southwestern suburbs of St. Louis and we see each other sporadically now.  So, it was sort of nice to see the dark wood walls and the old Irish pub-style bar area again.      

I took a seat at the bar and was greeted by the bartender, Paulie.  I asked him if I could get a Smithwick's that they had on tap.  I then asked him if he could change the channel on the television in front of me to a game I wanted to watch.  He grabbed a remote and did just so.  A few moments later, I got his attention and asked if I could get a menu.  He quickly said, "No!"  I was sort of taken aback, but then he said, "You've asked for too much already!"  And he handed me a menu.  I immediately liked the guy.  

The menu at Maggie O'Brien's is your typical Irish pub fare - appetizers, soups, sandwiches, and entrees such as fish and chips, Irish stew, corned beef and cabbage, and something called the "O' Hen-essy" which was a deep friend chicken breast topped with a lemon butter sauce and cheese.  They also have burgers, wraps and St. Louis-style pizza with provel cheese instead of mozzarella.  I'll eat a St. Louis-style of pizza from time to time, but I'd rather have mozzarella than provel.  

They also have something on the menu Fat Eddie's Big Boys - four sandwiches that include a reuben, a brat burger and something called Paddy Babe's original smoked corned beef.  They pile the cornedbeef high on a Kaiser roll and top it with pepper jack cheese, cole slaw and horseradish mustard.  I didn't look at the menu any further.  After finishing my first Smithwick's of the evening, Paulie came over to get me another and I ordered up the corned beef sandwich, as well.   Fries came with the sandwich.  I could have cared less about the fries.   

The sandwich was placed in front of me about 15 minutes after I ordered.   Sweet marinated cole slaw - the kind of cole slaw that I love - was slathered across the top of a pile of smoke corned beef.  The pepperjack cheese was underneath the meat.  Thick, succulent slices of corned beef poked out from underneath the cole slaw.  I took a couple bites of the cole slaw on its own and determined it was very similar to the marinated cole slaw my wife and I simply go nuts over at the Belgian Village back in Moline, IL.  (Click here to see my entry on the Belgian Village.)  I even pulled a couple chunks of the corned beef out from under the slaw to give it a try.  The meat was flavorful, tender and juicy.  

Putting the lid down on the sandwich, I was a little worried that all the taste sensations would counteract each other.  But the first bite diminished any trepidation I had originally.  The taste of the cole slaw, the pepperjack cheese, the great corned beef - even the bun - was exceptional.  I couldn't believe that I'd never had this before - or maybe they didn't have it on the menu when I had been in years ago.   I didn't even bother with the fries - they were sort of cold and lifeless, like they'd been sitting in a bin under a tepid heat lamp for a couple hours.  I honestly can't tell you anything about the other food on the menu, but the Paddy Babe's original smoked corned beef was simply outstanding.  

It was good to reconnect with a place like Maggie O'Brien's.  My sandwich was great, Paulie did a good job of taking care of my requests, and the bar still had that old Irish Pub feeling to it.  I don't know if I'll get a good deal on a room at the Doubletree on future visits to St. Louis, but for a good corned beef sandwich just a short walk from anywhere on the west end of downtown St. Louis, Maggie O'Brien's is tough to beat.   

Blue Sushi - Omaha, NE

During our long weekend trip to Omaha a few weeks ago, we decided to have a late lunch after doing some traveling around in the area.  Cindy had seen a sushi place - Blue Sushi - on one of our walks around the Old Market and wanted to go there.  Quite actually, I've had Blue Sushi on my "Restaurants to Visit" list on my computer for a long time.  I had no problem with her suggestion for lunch.

The Blue Sushi location in the Old Market is one of three locations around the Omaha area.  There is also a Blue Sushi in Fort Worth, TX and another location in the LoDo section of downtown Denver.  All are under the corporate umbrella of Flagship Restaurant Group headed by CEO Nick Hogan.  In addition to the Blue Sushi restaurants, Flagship Restaurant Group also oversees the operations of Roja Mexican Grill with two locations in Omaha, Blatt Beer and Table, a craft brew/restaurant in downtown Omaha, and the new Plank Seafood Restaurant that opened in the Old Market earlier this year.  

The first Blue Sushi opened in Omaha in 2002 and I want to say that I had eaten at a location out in the western part of Omaha a number of years ago.  But I'm not overly certain if that was the case or if I had actually eaten at another sushi place thinking it may have been a Blue Sushi location.  The Old Market location also has an upstairs watering hole - Sake Bombers Lounge - that appears to be a pretty happening place during the nighttime hours.  

We walked into the Blue Sushi in the Old Market a little after 2 p.m. (see map) We'd had a big breakfast and we were just looking for something light to tide us over until dinner.  We were greeted by a hostess and I said we were just going to get a quick snack and if it was all right if we sat at the sushi bar.  She had no problem with that.  

Now, I'm not the most metro-sexual guy out there, and my wife is a pretty laid back lady when it comes to casual fashion.  I was dressed in a polo shirt and a pair of khaki shorts.  Cindy had a pair of chino jeans on with a cotton top.  After we sat down, a young lady who was going to be our server came over to greet us.  We may have looked like hayseeds to her because she asked us in what I deemed a very condescending fashion, "Have you guys ever had sushi before?"

Cindy and I sort of looked at one another and Cindy finally said, "Well, yeah!"  The girl gave a little surprised "Oh!" for her reply and dropped off a couple of menus.  I told her that we were going to just get some sushi for a light lunch.  She left and came back with the sushi order menu and a couple pencils, silently dropping them off next to me.  Cindy said, "She seems to have a little bit of an attitude."  

I said to Cindy, "We might not be trendy or 'beautiful' enough for her tastes, dear."  

The sushi menu at Blue Sushi features either 3 pieces of sashimi (without the rice) or 2 pieces of the nigiri (with the rice).  It also had a number of specialty rolls on the menu.  In addition to sushi, Blue Sushi also has a ahi tuna tacos, ceviche, steamed mussels, shrimp tempura and entrees such as a peppercorn ahi tuna steak and a Shishito pepper filet consisting of a pan-seared beef tenderloin filet with Shishito peppers (a sweet Japanese pepper).  

Our server came back and asked us if we wanted any edamane, the snap beans that some sushi restaurants serve as a free appetizer, but Blue Sushi charges $5 bucks for.  We declined, but I did ask her if they had Asahi beer.  She said they did in both the 12 ounce and 21 ounce bottles.  I took one of the big bottles of Asahi. Cindy asked for some green tea.  The girl went back into the back for a moment, then came back out to inform Cindy that they were out of the green tea.  A Japanese restaurant out of green tea?  OK...

She then gave Cindy a verbal list of a number of teas that they had to offer that day.  When she got to "Moroccan Mint", Cindy stopped her.  "Oh, yeah.  I've had the Moroccan Mint tea.  I'll do that one."

The menu that we used to jot down our sushi choices had pretty small print.  Even though it was sunny out and there was some light coming in the large east-facing windows, I was having trouble reading the menu.  I didn't have my glasses with me and I thought I had ordered up a couple pieces of tuna nigiri, four pieces of smoked salmon nigiri and a spicy tuna roll.  When our server came back to pick up the order, she looked it over and she said, "Do you really want the spicy octopus?"

I sort of looked at her funny and she pointed out that I had ordered the spicy tako - spicy octopus - instead of the spicy tekka - spicy tuna.  I said, "I couldn't make out the 'tako' vs. 'tekka'."  She took the menu and gave me a glance that told me she was silently thinking, "You rube..."  

After she walked away, Cindy exclaimed, "What kind of look did she give YOU?  I don't think I like this place.  Too much attitude."

The place didn't seem to be all that busy and they had three sushi chefs working behind the counter.  Cindy and were talking back and forth, and she finally stopped and said, "Do you notice anything different about the sushi chefs?"  

I looked at them and sort of sized them up.  Nothing really jumped out at me, but that's not surprising as my wife says I'm not very observant.  She said, "None of the chefs are Japanese.  They're all Hispanic."  

Sure enough they were all speaking Spanish back and forth amongst themselves.  I guess sushi chefs are sushi chefs, and not that there's anything bad about it, but I will say it is the first time I'd had Hispanic sushi chefs at a Japanese sushi restaurant.

As I said, it didn't appear to be all that busy in the restaurant, but our sushi - six pieces and a spicy tuna roll - was taking an extraordinary amount of time, especially for having three sushi chefs behind the bar.  They were having "happy hour" at the Sake Bomb Lounge upstairs and we wondered if they were serving food up there because there was less than a dozen people in the dining area of Blue Sushi and the sushi chefs were all working feverishly.  Over 20 minutes after we had given our order to our server, one of the sushi chefs handed over the platter across the cooling case to us with a quick apology for it taking so long.

The nigiri sushi featured thick pieces of fresh smoked salmon and tuna.  The spicy tuna roll, however, seemed to be somewhat small in both circumference and in quantity of the tuna.  Wrapped in seaweed, the individual pieces of the spicy tuna roll were not much larger than a U.S. quarter coin.  

I will say that the smoked salmon was very good.  It had a good smoked flavor to it and the fish had a wonderful body texture consistency when you bit into it.  

The tuna was good, but not as good as the smoked salmon.  It, too, had a good texture to the bite in the fish.  The only problem was that when we dipped the nigiri into the soy sauce, the rice would fall apart.  I learned awhile back from a sushi chef at a place I was eating at that if the rice falls apart when you dip it in the soy sauce, the rice didn't have enough white vinegar in it to help keep it moist.   It was a minor hassle for us and certainly not a deal breaker.  

With the long wait for our sushi, the small nature of the spicy tuna roll, and the somewhat condescending nature of our server, the taste of the very good sushi couldn't overpower our unhappiness with our experience at Blue Sushi.  Maybe we caught them on a bad day and I just don't care for servers with attitudes.  But it doesn't mean that I won't give Blue Sushi a try at some other point during a visit to Omaha - that is, if I'm in the mood for sushi instead of a great steak.     

Bagger Dave's - Cape Girardeau, MO

While on a trip to Cape Girardeau, MO to see a dealer earlier this spring, I was looking for a quick place to get a burger and a beer after the meeting.  I found someplace that looked interesting called Bagger Dave's Legendary Burger Tavern on William St. (see map).  I was sort of intrigued by the name of the place, especially with the word "legendary" in it.  I pulled into the Cape Girardeau Town Plaza shopping center and parked in front of Bagger Dave's.

I knew nothing - zero, zip, nada - about Bagger Dave's before I walked into the place.  I was sort of hoping that it was a locally owned restaurant since I'd never seen or even heard of Bagger Dave's before.  Well, I found out later on that it is part of a chain of restaurants that began in Berkley, MI in 2006, but the Cape Girardeau location was the first non-company owned franchise in the Bagger Dave's universe.  

Bagger Dave's is owned and run by Diversified Restaurant Holdings, a corporation that also owns a number of Buffalo Wild Wings franchises throughout Michigan and Florida.  Michael Ansley had graduated from the University of Dayton and took a job with an adhesive and sealant company in Dayton.  After work, Ansley and friends from work would get together for beer and wings at a new place called BW-3 which stood for Buffalo Wild Wings and Weck.  Ansley got to know the three owners and it turned out they were all about the same age as he.  The three owners had gotten together to borrow money from family members to open the BW-3 franchise.  Suddenly, Ansley got the bug to open his own BW-3.

Ansley pestered a college roommate to join him as a partner and procured a loan from family members to open a BW-3 franchise in Ypsilanti, MI in 1995.  Three years later, Ansley was bought out by his partner and he used the money to open a Buffalo Wild Wings in Sterling, MI outside of Detroit.  That was the first of many Buffalo Wild Wings that Ansley opened in Southeast Michigan.  In 2002 when he convinced Buffalo Wild Wings corporate officers in Minneapolis to let him open the first full-service BW-3 complete with waitstaff and bartenders.  No longer did people have to wait in long lines to order chicken wings, burgers and beer. The concept was such a hit that the first full-service Buffalo Wild Wings in Novi, MI was the top grossing BW-3 from 2003 to 2006.  Today, I believe all the BW-3 locations are full service locations.  

In 2006, Ansley developed the concept for Bagger Dave's Legendary Burger Tavern as an "ultra-casual" burger joint that also featured a number of micro-brewed beers from around the Midwest.  The concept quickly grew with a number of locations throughout southeastern Michigan.  

In 2011, Diversified Restaurants Holdings gained approval to franchise Bagger Dave's restaurants in six more states in the Midwest.  Brothers-in-law Bill Zellmer and Lonnie Griggs operated six Buffalo Wild Wings franchises in southeast Missouri and southern Illinois and knew Ansley quite well.  They opened the first franchise of Bagger Dave's in the summer of 2012 in Cape Girardeau.  

 
I walked into the Bagger Dave's location in Cape Girardeau a little before 2 p.m. and the restaurant was nearly deserted after the lunch rush.  I took a seat in a booth along a short wall that divided the main dining area from the bar area of the restaurant.  There was an open kitchen area off to the front side of the restaurant.  A number of old reprints of pictures of Cape Girardeau from back in the early 20th century were on the walls throughout the place, many showing some of the Mississippi River floods that used to inundate the town before the flood wall was built.  On a shelf that ringed both the bar and dining areas was what looked to be a Lionel Standard "O" Gauge train set that ran along the wall.

A young lady by the name of Holly came over to greet me and to drop off a menu.  She asked me if I wanted anything to drink and I asked what kind of beer they had.  She pointed out the beer menu and I immediately found a Bell's Two Hearted pale ale.  I immediately ordered that.   

Bagger Dave's burgers are made from fresh and never frozen quality locally grown beef.  They feature six "legendary" burgers on the menu including the Train Wreck which had two ground beef patties topped with hand-cut fries, a fried egg, sharp cheddar cheese, sauteed onions and mushrooms, lettuce, and their version of Thousand Island dressing called Railhouse Burger Sauce, then served on a toasted sesame bun.  Ooo, that did sound like a train wreck.  

They also had the Kickin' Cheddar Burger that was topped with sharp cheddar, a horseradish sauce and all the garden variety veggies you normally put on a burger.  There was the the Blues Burger that was topped with blue cheese and Cajun spices; and something called the Ono Burger that was topped with sliced pineapple, Swiss cheese, BBQ sauce, jalapenos, applewood-smoked bacon, and sauteed onions.  Uh, no.  I was definitely going to pass on that one.

None of the legendary burgers sounded all that good to me.  I wanted to make my own burger up, but I couldn't figure out how to do that.  Suddenly in the lower right hand corner of the menu, I saw a little box that said, "Create Your Own Legend".  It gave instructions - select a burger, select a bun, select cheese, etc., etc.  I'm like, "OK, where in the hell are the choices for toppings, cheese and the other stuff?"  Then I saw at the bottom of the box in very small font, "See that sheet on the table?  Pick it up and start assembling."   I looked over and found a sheet that had 30 different types of toppings including bacon, fried egg, sauces, veggies and condiments, six different types of cheese to choose from, and three different buns.  I was going through the list when Holly came back with my beer and said, "Oh, good!  You found the little order sheets."  She gave me a few minutes while I checked off what I wanted on my burger with a small pencil they provided on the tables.

Man, all those decisions to put on a burger.  They had smoked gouda on the cheese list and it was either getting that or with the pepper jack cheese.  I had already figured out that I wanted the regular ketchup, yellow mustard, pickles, fresh chopped onions, sauteed mushrooms and applewood smoked bacon on the burger with a sesame seed bun, but I was torn on the cheese.  When Holly came back and I told her my predicament on the cheese, she said, "Order both!"  I almost did, but I opted for the smoked gouda instead.  She asked me if I wanted any of Bagger Dave's fresh-cut fries with Cajun seasoning or the sweet potato chips they're supposedly famous for.  Nope - just the burger was fine with me.

When the burger came out It was wrapped in wax paper with the Bagger Dave's logo all over and placed on a small round metal plate with high sides.  The standard burger I ordered featured two flat grilled, smashed (still trying to get used to having burgers like that) beef patties and then topped with the cheese, mushrooms and bacon, while sitting on the ketchup, mustard, pickles and chopped onions on a lightly toasted sesame seed bun.  

 
The taste of the burger was good - although I couldn't detect any of the smoked gouda with all the other taste sensations going on.  The burgers are normally cooked medium-well at Bagger Dave's.  When I saw that on the little order sheet I filled out, I had asked Holly if it was OK to get the burger cooked medium.  She cheerfully replied that would be no problem.  There was some juiciness to the burger and from what I could tell it wasn't overcooked.  The chopped onions were fresh, pungent and flavorful, reminding me of an old time grill cooked burger that I used to get growing up in small-town Iowa.  It was a good and filling burger.

I was impressed with Bagger Dave's - even after I found out it was a franchise chain restaurant.  The burger tasted good, the service was good from Holly, and the restaurant had a nice ambiance to the place.  I see that they've opened a couple locations in Indianapolis and that more locations are planned for Wisconsin and Illinois.  There's starting to be a lot of similarly-themed burger places like Bagger Dave's.  But with their concept of fresh burgers and eclectics beers, I think they'll be able to hold their own against the competition.   

(Update - I happened to be in Cape Girardeau the latter part of 2014 and found that Bagger Dave's had closed.  No word as to why, but some online reviews seemed to point that it had gone downhill pretty fast in terms of food quality and service.)

La Campana - Bloomingdale, IL

Staying at the Hampton Inn in Addison, IL on a recent trip to the Chicago area, I decided one evening to look to the west once again for any food options that I could find.  I looked on Urbanspoon for restaurants in the Bloomingdale area and found a Mexican restaurant that sort of intrigued me - La Campana.  It was only about a 10 minute drive from the hotel to the restaurant on Army Trail Road on the outer fringes of the Bloomingdale Court shopping complex.  (see map)

La Campana (the Bell, in Spanish) is one of two restaurants owned by Nick and Rosario Kapsouris.  The original De Campana restaurant opened in Bensenville in 1981 on Grand Ave. south and west of O'Hare International Airport.  The Kapsouris family opened the La Campana in Bloomingdale in 1991.  Both restaurants feature almost identical menus that focus on traditional and authentic Mexican dishes.  The bars at both Campana locations boast nearly 250 different types of tequila on hand.  

 
It was around 7:30 when I got into La Campana.  There was no wait to get a table.  The hostess took me to a small elevated dining area that featured Mexican artwork that included paintings and pottery, and overlooked the ornate and lively main dining room at La Campana.  After a bit, a young man brought out chips and salsa for me.  And not long after that, my server for the evening came over to greet me and he asked me what I'd like to drink.  I thought I'd start off with margarita made with Cuervo Gold tequila.   

Looking through the menu, a few things caught my eye.  They had chile rellenos stuffed with ground beef and cheese.  I always loved the beef and cheese chile rellenos at the original Raul's in Des Moines and wondered if the ones at La Campana would measure up.  But I also saw enchiladas verdes on the menu - your choice of beef, chicken or cheese filled enchiladas topped with a green salsa.  I've found that when we go to our favorite Mexican restaurant in the Quad Cities - El Mariachi - I've been getting the beef enchiladas with the verde salsa.  The ones at La Campana gave you the option of ordering them with ground beef or with shredded beef for a couple dollars more.  

The shrimp fajitas at La Campana also got my attention, as did the "El Zacateca" combination plate - one beef taco, one beef and cheese chile relleno, and a pork tamale.  I came about *this* close to ordering that.  

While looking through the menu, I was munching on the chips - which were a little drab and flat in taste - and the salsa.  The first couple of dips into the salsa didn't yield much of a taste sensation, but I sort of dipped deep into the salsa with a chip and stirred it up.  That's when something that was sitting on the bottom came up and gave me a nice spicy bite on my tongue.  It wasn't overpowering, but it gave the salsa more of a zippy taste and made the chips more edible.  

The gold margarita was all right.  Actually, I thought the mix was a little too sweet.  I couldn't taste much of the tequila in the margarita and I was having trouble downing the drink because it was so sweet.  I determined that I didn't like it and ended up ordering a Sol beer before I even finished the margarita.  

I got my choices down to the shredded beef enchiladas verde and the beef and cheese chile relleno.  I wondered if I could get the chile relleno ala carte.  When I asked my server if getting the enchiladas and a chile relleno by itself was a lot of food.  He said in broken English, "No, that not too much."  

When he brought the food out to me in about 10 minutes, I immediately saw that he lied to me.  It was a shitload of food!  The enchiladas, alone, covered almost the entire plate.  They had a small amount of rice and refried beans on the edge of the plate, with a dab of sour cream and a bit of shredded lettuce and chopped tomatoes encircling the enchilada.  I didn't care a bit about those sides as it was going to be all I could do to finish the enchiladas - even without the beef and cheese chile relleno.   

 
The single chile relleno came with a side of shredded lettuce and chopped tomatoes, as well.  The size of the chile relleno was huge.  The pepper had been filled with beef, battered, then deep fried to a golden brown before being topped with cheese.  

I decided the chile relleno could wait for a moment, so I took a bite of the shredded beef enchilada verde.  The fork easily cut through the enchilada and the moist and tender shredded beef.  From the first taste of the enchilada, I knew I had a winner.  The flavor was outstanding and the somewhat spicy green salsa gave the overall taste a nice kick.  But, boy, it was a lot of food staring back at me.

When I took a bite of the chile relleno, it was filled with ground seasoned beef that immediately reminded me of the seasoned ground beef filling I can get back in the Quad Cities at any of the Rudy's Tacos locations.  It was heavy with spices such as chili powder and cumin.  It's a taste that some people dislike, but I find it pleasing from time to time.  The battered pepper was also flavorful, but it was stuffed with a lot of meat and there was a lot of cheese on top.  Oh, but, God, was it huge!

My server came over to check on me and to see if I needed another beer (I did), and to ask how the food was.  I certainly couldn't lie to him like he did to me when he said that three enchiladas and a chile relleno wasn't a lot of food.  The food was very, very good.  I instantly knew this was a place my wife would like if I brought her to La Campana.

Even though iit was way too much food, it was so good that I was able to make a significant dent in the enchiladas and ate about 3/4's of the chile relleno. I was significantly stuffed when I finally declared, "No mas!" to the server when he came back.  He asked if I wanted a box to take the leftovers with me and I declined.  I wasn't certain I wanted to see another enchilada or chile relleno for the next few weeks.  I was stuffed, a little uncomfortable, but happy with my choices.

I was extremely satisfied with my meal at La Campana.  Even though it was way too much food, I was able to thoroughly enjoy my enchiladas verde and the beef and cheese chile relleno.  I was disappointed in the margarita I had as the mix was way too sweet.  The chips were a little flat, but the salsa - once it got stirred up - was very good.  For a family style Mexican restaurant, it was some of the best Mexican food I've had.  I'd highly recommend La Campana if you're looking for good to great Mexican food in the western suburbs of Chicago.   

UMB Champions Club @ Busch Stadium - St. Louis

We recently made our annual weekend baseball trip to St. Louis to see the Cardinals play.  I have a good friend who works for the St. Louis Rams who has a buddy within the Cardinals organization who helps us out with tickets that are closer to the field rather than up in the upper deck at Busch Stadium.  Last year, my buddy got us comped tickets into the UMB Champions Club, an all-inclusive food and drink area on the second deck of the stadium.  It worked out well because the game time temperature was 106 degrees (41C).  This year, he was able to procure comped passes to the Champions Club once again for us.  And that was good - we endured a 3 hour rain delay before the game began. 

The UMB Champions Club (the title sponsor for the room is UMB Financial, based out of Kansas City) has a capacity of about 360 people and opens an hour and a half before the game.  They'll stop serving the food and drinks during the game if it hasn't reached the end of the 7th inning before a three hour time limit.  And if you're lucky enough to hold a ticket to get in to the Champions Club, it's all free.  Yep, free beer, free prime rib, free pasta, free mixed drinks - it's all free.  

With that said, I can't say that it's the best food I've ever had.  But - once again - it's free.  And free food always seems to taste a little bit better.  

The weather over the weekend when we were in St. Louis had been somewhat threatening.   Rain had slightly delayed the start of the previous game the night before.  And a line of heavy thunderstorms was heading toward the St. Louis area about two hours before game time.  After having a couple beers at Mike Shannon's Outfield bar, we (our friends, Scott and Marcia, Cindy and myself) set off for Busch Stadium around 5:30 - more than an hour and a half before the scheduled start of the game.  We figured we could get over into the Champions Club to make sure we'd be high and dry when the heavy weather made it to the stadium.  

We got into the stadium just as the first bursts of wind rocked the downtown St. Louis area.  We made our way up an escalator and through a couple checkpoints to get into the Champions Club.  We found the place to be about halfway full when we procured seats at one of the two bars in the room.  

The focal point of the Champions Club are the World Series champion trophies that are on display in the room. Below left is 2006 World Series trophy and below right is the 2011 trophy.

 

And to the left here is the 1967 World Series champion trophy.  Many of the 11 World Series trophies the Cardinals have won over the years that are on display in the Champions Club used to be on display in the Cardinals Hall of Fame and Museum that was once housed in the old Busch Memorial Stadium until it closed in 2005.  The museum was moved across the street to pair with the International Bowling Hall of Fame.  With the proposed development of the Ballpark Village, the building that housed both the Cardinals Hall of Fame and the Bowling Hall of Fame closed down.  (The International Bowling Hall of Fame has since relocated to Arlington, TX.)  They began work on the first phase of the Ballpark Village earlier this year and by this time next year, they should have the new Cardinals Hall of Fame and Museum open to the public.  I don't know if the trophies will go back on display at the museum, but it's my educated guess that they probably will.  That may kill the concept behind the Champions Club at Busch Stadium.  

The first thing we did when we got settled in was to order drinks from the duo bartender team of Linda and Joyce.  It was Bud Light drafts for Scott and me, pina coladas for the ladies.  Both bartenders were friendly, homespun and down-to-earth.  Even though the drinks were free, we were tipping the gals heavily for being on top of making sure we had something in our glasses at all times.   

There's an area of the Champions Club that features six large flat screen televisions on the wall. (There are over 30 flat screens on the walls all around the room.) They had messages on three of them saying that the game would likely be delayed due to approaching weather and that the Cardinals would do everything in their power to play the game.  They just didn't say if the game would be played that evening or in August or September.    

The tarp was on the field in anticipation of the approaching storm with utility vehicles placed on the corners and along the edge to help keep the wind from whipping under the tarp.  The initial blast of wind was followed by a little bit of rain.  They had the local weather radar on the Jumbotron screen on the scoreboard and you could see that the really heavy stuff was just moments away.  Not long after 6 p.m., the storm hit with a fury.  Strong winds whipped the sheets of heavy rain over the field.  And while the wind did subside after a bit, the heavy rain did not.  It poured for a long time, puddling water on the outfield grass.  While it didn't look good for the scheduled 7:15 p.m. start, it also didn't look good that the game would ever get started that evening.  It was not a big matter to us - we were dry in the Champions Club and eating and drinking for free!

I took a lap around the food area to see what they had to offer.  Actually, it wasn't any different from what they had the previous year.   They had a salad/pasta bar that featured cold and hot pasta with marinara and alfredo sauces.  They also had another food bar that had things like nacho chips, salsa and cheese.  

 
They had a stir-fry area where people could get chunks of beef or chicken cooked with veggies.  It appeared to be a pretty popular place.  

Also a popular place was the prime rib carving station (below left).  The prime rib was a little overcooked and pretty basic.  I had a small slab of it with some au jus and creamy horseradish.  I wouldn't have been happy with the cut of meat had I paid for it.  But for free, it was tasty!

 
My favorite food station in the Champions Club was the hot dog/brat stand.  The guy was cranking out flat-grilled hot dogs and brats by the dozens.  I'm sort of a hot dog connoisseur and the hot dogs they have on the concourses at Busch Stadium are all right, but they're very salty.  The hot dogs in the Champions Club had just a small hint of a salty taste and were very good.  I'm sort of a sucker for a good flat-grilled hot dog.  I went back later on during the rain delay (remember, it ended up being three hours long) and got a brat.  While I like to have my brats boiled in beer first, then put on the grill to char them up, these were also pretty good.  Along with some sauerkraut and mustard, they were as good as the hot dogs.

Scott and the girls found the dessert bar complete with cookies and brownies.  I had a chocolate chip cookie that was good and rich, but it also told me that I had eaten too much food.   I concentrated on drinking beer from then on out.

On the bar, there was a sign that said that due to the rain delay they would stop the bar service at 9:35 p.m.  Now, we had been there since before 6 p.m. so drinking for free for over three hours was a real treat.  We thought it was an odd and arbitrary time - 9:35 p.m. - to pull the plug on the bar.  About 9:15, we noticed that the bar area was getting a little more hopping with people getting their last drinks for free.  The bartenders were doing all they could to keep up with the demands.  Marcia and Cindy decided they wanted one more drink and I thought I'd get a beer.  

I finally got Joyce's attention and had her start making the pina colada mix.  She started the blender and poured the shots of rum into glasses for Cindy and Marcia.  Suddenly, a supervisor showed up and said, "That's it.  Bar is shut down!"  I looked at the time on my phone, it was 9:34.  

Joyce turned to the supervisor and said, "I've got a couple glasses here to finish."  

The supervisor bluntly and brusquely said, "Nope.  That's it.  No more bar service."  

Joyce took the two glasses with the shots of rum in them and turned to pour them in the sink.  I about came unglued.  "You're throwing them out," I asked incredulously.  "All you have to do is poor the mix into the glasses!"  

She sort of shrugged her shoulders and gave me a look of, "Yeah, I know...", as she poured the rum and then the mix down the drain.  I was somewhat shocked they would do that.  But I guess I shouldn't have complained as loudly as I did given that everything was free in the Champions Club.  

The rain stopped around 9:30 p.m. and the field drained sufficiently for the game to eventually get started at 10:15 p.m.   Scott and I made it down to our seats along the left field foul line before the first pitch.  Cindy and Marcia sat in the seats just outside the Champions Club and watched about seven innings of the game up there before coming down to join us for the last couple of innings. And we stayed for the whole game - it ended at 1:15 a.m.  We were part of only a couple thousand people left at the end of the game.  But it was a good game to see.

I've been blessed with having a number of friends who can help me out at times.  The old adage, "It's not what you know, but who you know" came into play here with my buddy who got us hooked up with passes into the Champions Club.  It's nice to be treated to things like this from time to time and I certainly appreciate the gesture.  And I know Cindy and Marcia REALLY appreciate the Champions Club as they enjoy the clean and spacious bathrooms - with no lines - in the place.  The Champions Club is certainly a treat when we have the opportunity to get in.  

Micky's Irish Pub - Iowa City

While going to school at the University of Iowa in the early 80's (that sounds SO long ago), I had a handful of "haunts" that I'd go to for beers or some food.  Places like The Mill, The Airliner, Gabe's  and Deadwood were on my list of regular places that I hung out.  But one that seemed to be at the top of my "go-to" list was Micky's Irish Pub.  And it still is today.  About three or four times a year, three or four friends and myself get together at Micky's to discuss sports and catch up with one another's lives over one of Micky's signature sandwiches - the Conglomeration.  I thought it was time that I brought Micky's to Road Tips.

Micky's is under the umbrella of Fresh Food Concepts, an Iowa City corporation that oversees the operations of a handful of restaurants that includes Mondo's (click here to see my entry on Mondo's), Joseph's Steakhouse, Bread Garden Market, and Mondo's Saloon.  Jim Mondanaro is the head of the company along with his wife, Maureen (Mo).  Mondanaro was a native of Ottumwa who spent three years at Iowa State University in the early 70's.  Figuring that he'd eventually go to law school, an opportunity to own a restaurant in Ames presented itself.  Mondanaro took some of his student loan money and bought a place that he called Mondo's.  

Mondanaro then set his sights on Iowa City and he bought the old Copper Dollar on Iowa Ave.  He owned it for two years before selling it and returning to Ames.  However, in 1980, Mondanaro returned to Iowa City and bought Micky's in late August.  Micky's had been open since the 1940's when Mondanaro bought the place. Other restaurants Mondanaro was involved with in Iowa City, Cedar Rapids and the Des Moines area came and went, but Micky's remained as a constant in his restaurant life.  

While going to school at Iowa, I remember one of the things about Micky's was the long mahagony and oak bar.  Years ago, there was a story on the menus at Micky's about how Richard Nixon had drank at the bar.  It turns out it may - or may not - be true.  Mondanaro bought the bar from a place in Ottumwa that had gone out of business.  During World War II, Richard Nixon was stationed at the Naval Reserve Air Station outside of Ottumwa for just over six months.  When I asked him about it years ago, Mondanaro surmised that Nixon possibly drank at the bar when he was stationed at Ottumwa.  Yeah, it's plausible.  We'll go with his story on that. 

After running Micky's for 30 years, the Mondanaro's sold the establishment to Micky's chef and manager, Robert "Louis" de Blois.  de Blois ran Micky's until May of 2012 when he closed the business and walked away.  Mondanaro still owned the building and entertained offers from others to buy the business, but he decided to do a major facelift of the interior of the place including new a new kitchen, upgrading the downstairs bathrooms that needed upgrading badly, and spiffing up the dining area.  He reopened Micky's on Aug. 28, 2012, 32 years to the day he originally opened Micky's. 

There was also an upgrade to the menu at Micky's, but about the only thing that we all order when we go for our little get-togethers is the Conglomeration.  Actually, Micky's Conglomeration is basically a grilled ham, turkey, Swiss and cheddar cheese sandwich served with ranch dressing on the side.  They used to have Conglomeration specials on Tuesday nights when I was going to school - a sandwich and fries were $2.95.  We ate many a Conglomeration on Tuesday nights in the early 80's.  That's exactly what the four of us ordered this particular evening.  However, two of my friends got them with fries, my other buddy and I got them with onion rings for a one dollar upcharge..  

It doesn't take long for a Conglomeration to get the table.  A couple things we noticed right off the bat.  Since this was the first time we'd eaten at the "new" Micky's after Jim Mondanaro reopened the place, the onion rings were house-battered and not the frozen onion rings they used to get from a food purveyor.  And the second thing was something we all noticed - the Conglomerations were REALLY small.  Much smaller than the ones we had gotten for years.  One of my friends sort of looked at the sandwich and said, "Really?  You've got to be kidding me.  These are like finger sandwiches!"  But the ham, turkey and cheese were piled high on the sandwich like they've been in the past and the sandwich had the nice grill taste to it that we all remembered.  

The onion rings were very good.  The crinkle-cut fries at Micky's are rather pedestrian, but they were better than the onion rings at times.  About half the time I'd go for fries, the other half the o-rings.  I just happened to hit the lottery on my visit this time with the new battered onion rings they now serve at Micky's.  

Although we were all somewhat disappointed they made the sandwich smaller, the Conglomeration was still as good in taste as it has been over the past 30 years that I've been coming into Micky's.  Most of the other food on the menu at Micky's is your typical Irish pub food with burgers, sandwiches and appetizers, as well as Irish entrees and pasta dishes.  Micky's also does breakfasts on Saturday and Sunday morning.  We've made a drive a couple three times over the years over to Iowa City to have breakfast at Micky's, but it's been awhile since we've done that.  I'm guessing the breakfasts they have today are as good as the ones they had years ago.  Micky's is an Iowa City tradition with thousands of people and even though we were disappointed in the size of the "new" Conglomerations, my buddies and I will be back later this year for more.

Gibsons Steakhouse - Rosemont, IL/Oak Brook, IL

In my travels, I'm fortunate to be able to try some world class steakhouses across the Midwest.  Kansas City, Minneapolis and Omaha have their share of places to get a great steak, but Chicago is really the king when it comes to full service, top notch steakhouses.  And I've had the humble pleasure of eating at a lot of them over the years.  One place that has been on my radar to try, but haven't until recently, was Gibsons Steakhouse.  Over the course of a two week period, I had the opportunity to try two of the three Gibsons around the Chicagoland area. 

Gibsons Steakhouse dates back to 1990 when partners Steve Lombardo and Hugo Lalli opened their first restaurant in the Gold Coast section of downtown Chicago.  Times were tough over the first couple years with the pair needing limited partnerships to help keep the doors open.  However, the restaurant began to gain a following with not only the locals, but with out-of-towners looking for a first class steak.  In 1997, the pair opened Hugo Frog's Bar and Fish House next door to Gibsons on Rush Street.  Ten years after opening the first Gibsons Steakhouse location, they opened a second location in the Doubletree Hotel in suburban Rosemont, near O'Hare International Airport.  In 2012, they opened a third Gibsons in west suburban Oak Brook, IL.  In all, the Gibsons Restaurant Group runs the Gibsons Steakhouses, Hugo Frog's Bar and Fish House with locations in Chicago, Naperville, and Des Plaines (inside the Rivers Casino), Ristorante Quartino in downtown Chicago, and Luxbar in Chicago, described to be an "upscale neighborhood saloon."  Gibsons has resisted expansion outside of Chicago, turning down overtures from upscale casino/hotels in Las Vegas and Atlantic City.  Gibsons is Chicago, through and through.

During the AXPONA high-end audio show that was held at the Doubletree Hotel in Rosemont earlier this year (see map), my colleagues John and Todd had flown in to help with set up and manning some of the displays during the show.  We had a long day of trying to dial in a pair of the Focal Grande Utopia EM loudspeakers and it was getting late.  We were tired and hungry, and we just decided to walk to the Gibsons location in the hotel.  Even though it was past 9 p.m., there was still a pretty good sized crowd in Gibsons - a very popular restaurant with conventioneers and travelers staying in the area.  But we were able to get a seat at a table right away.

Conservative elegance is what I'd call the decor at Gibsons.  Heavy on the wood paneling and with hardwood floors and ceilings, the dining room at Gibsons can get pretty loud.  But the room is also understated so that even a person dining in a pair of jeans and a polo shirt can feel comfortable.  

Gibsons serving staff is also well-known for their outgoing personalities and "can-do" attitude.  Our server for the evening, a nice young guy whose name I didn't get, was definitely one of those.  As we were looking through our menus, our waiter brought out a tray of uncooked steaks and a lobster tail to give us a visual of what they had to offer at Gibsons.  The restaurant features U.S.D.A. Prime Black Angus beef grown from sustainable farms throughout the Midwest.  The cattle are fed corn for 120 days, then the beef cuts are aged 40 days before serving.   

Gibsons' signature steak is called the W.R. Chicago Cut - it's a 22 oz. bone-in ribeye steak named after former Chicago Tribune food critic William "Bill" Rice who loved the steaks at Gibsons.  The steakhouse also features a bone-in filet and a bone-in strip steak.  In addition to a number of other cuts of beef, Gibsons also features seafood, baby back ribs, and spit-fire grilled chicken.  Like many steakhouses the stature of Gibsons, they feature large sides that can be shared at the table.   

Since it was late and I didn't want to get completely full before I went to bed, I ordered up the 10 oz. filet - rare. I asked our server if they could put some peppercorns on the steak and he said it would be no problem.  I also got a wedge salad that was described as "loaded" with chopped tomatoes, real bacon bits and their homemade blue cheese dressing.  

My colleague, John, went with the 13 oz. New York strip.  He also took my cue and got his "au-poivre" style with crushed peppercorns.  Todd, on the other hand, stepped up to the plate and ordered the 19 oz. New York strip also with the crushed peppercorns.  For sides, we got a small order of the sauteed spinach and mushrooms with garlic chunks, and a side of sauteed button mushrooms.  

For wine that evening, I found a reasonably priced bottle of the Franciscan cabernet on Gibsons' wine list.  Actually, I thought the prices on their wine list weren't that bad.  The Franciscan cabernet is one of my "go-to" wines when I pick something out for a nice wine to have with dinner at home.  

My salad came out first and it was a pretty good wedge salad.  The dressing had a nice forward blue cheese taste and there was plenty of the dressing to be had.  As I expected it would be, it was a very good wedge salad.  

 
Our steaks made it out still sizzling on the hot plate from the 1800 degree broiler that they use at Gibsons to quickly cook the steaks while sealing in the juices.  My filet was served with a small side of hollandaise sauce and I asked it I could get some fresh ground horseradish.  Within seconds a small bowl of very punguent fresh horseradish showed up.  

My steak was tender, cooked exactly to the red cool center that I wanted.  The crushed peppercorns gave a nice spicy bite to the taste of the steak but were far from overpowering.  The meat was tender, flavorful and juicy.  It was an excellent steak all the way around.    

John's New York strip was equally as good.  After the framed his steak for me with a couple pieces of bread that was served with the meal, he said after his first couple of bites, "Oh, man.  Good call on the peppercorns, bro.  This is an awesome steak."  

 
Todd's stomach was definitely bigger than his eyes.  He couldn't believe how big the 19 oz. New York strip was. (Pictured above right.)   Our plates were all the same size and you can see how Todd's steak almost goes from side to side in the inner indention of the plate.  He, too, said his steak was very good, but he was going to have trouble finishing it.  Todd's from Canada and he still has trouble converting ounces to grams in his head.  He said laughingly, "Oh, man.  19 ounces.  That's over a POUND of MEAT!  What was I thinking?"  Still, he made a significant dent in his steak and after I told him that our hotel rooms had a mini-fridge in the room, he got what he couldn't eat wrapped up for a snack sometime through the weekend.  

Two weeks later I was at the Gibsons in Oak Brook.  (see map)  I put on a new dealer in the western suburbs and I did training for the staff whose store is located not far from the Gibsons near Oak Brook Mall.  We convened after training for some serious beef eating.  The menu at the Oak Brook location is somewhat similar to the Rosemont location in terms of steaks and seafood, but they also had a 33 ounce Wagyu "Tomahawk" bone-in ribeye for $100 bucks on the menu.  

We started out with some appetizers before ordering the meal and the Oak Brook Gibsons had a sesame-seared tuna appetizer that was just excellent.  I had a wedge salad once again and it was as good as the one that I had at the Rosemont Gibsons.  One this visit, I had a bone-in ribeye - medium rare.  It was cooked perfectly and had that great aged U.S.D.A. prime cut taste.  Everyone was happy with their steaks.  

One of the guys who worked for my new dealer had a fine dining restaurant background and he found a wine on the wine list that he wholeheartedly recommended - the Heitz cabernet from 2006.  I wasn't familiar with the Heitz vineyard, but I will have to say that it was a wonderful wine.  It was a little expensive, but it had a great body to it and was a great compliment to the steaks.  

Our waiter for the evening, Jon, was one of the typical Gibsons waiters with the outgoing personality, had a great sense of humor, but was professional and efficient in his service.  After we'd finished our meal, he came over with a piece of one of their massive desserts for the table to share - no charge, on the house.  This is a piece of their chocolate hazelnut cake.  One piece.  We set the salt and pepper shakers next to the plate to put in perspective how huge this piece of cake really was.  There was no way the six of us could eat the whole thing.  One of the guys ended up taking what was left home with him to share with his girlfriend.  Jon said, "Oh, man!  She's gonna love you for this!"  

In the tradition of the finest steakhouses in Chicago - and in the Midwest, for that matter - Gibsons is fully guilty of excellence for the quality of food and service that they offer.  Both locations were absolutely wonderful.  I feel blessed working for a company that allows me to splurge on meals like this from time to time and it's easy to see why Gibsons is one of the favorite places for steaks for locals and business travelers, alike.