Road Tips

The Great Southern Cafe - Seaside, FL

During our stay along Florida's Emerald Coast, we noticed a restaurant that had an outdoor seating area in the same central square in Seaside that housed Modica Market.  (Click here for the entry on Modica Market.)   They were open for breakfast and we took note of that fact.  One morning when we felt like we needed to get out of the hotel to scout around, we ended up at the Great Southern Cafe for breakfast.  

The Great Southern Restaurant is a "farm to fork" establishment under the watchful eye of Chef Jim Shirley.  As a youngster, Jim Shirley was the son of a Navy pilot who was stationed all over the world.  He learned to love many of the various local cuisines that he encountered while growing up.  But his family roots were in the South and the staples of traditional Southern foods that his grandma made when he was a young boy were always his favorite.  

Pictured right - Jim Shirley

Shirley opened his first restaurant in 1995 - Madison's Bar in Pensacola.  Two years later, he opened his second place - The Screaming Coyote.  Both restaurants focused on modern and traditional Southern cuisine.  Shirley became famous for his signature dish "Grits a Ya Ya" - which primarily consists of a mixture of bacon, spinach, and mushrooms with jumbo shrimp in a cream sauce served over smoked Gouda cheese grits.  Along the way, Jim Shirley became executive chef and co-owner of the Great Southern Restaurant Group which owns The Fish House, Atlas Oyster House and Jackson's Steakhouse in Pensacola.  Shirley opened the Great Southern Cafe in Seaside in 2006 and earlier this year he opened The Bay - a Southern/Asian fusion restaurant - just off the causeway in Santa Rosa Beach.  In addition to his duties as a chef, Shirley also wrote a weekly column on Southern cooking and is active in both statewide and local restaurant and civic organizations.  

The Great Southern Cafe is on the north side of the Central Square in Seaside, just off 30A.  (See map) Since it was a beautiful Florida morning, we ended up sitting on the patio at the restaurant.  They had a nice bar area, one that I could see myself hanging out at on a warm afternoon.  

We were seated at a table near the bar and we were greeted by our server, Wendy.  We had gotten our menus from the hostess and the first thing that Cindy saw was that they had beignets.  The first thing I saw was that they had a loaded bloody Mary.  We couldn't help but order both.

The beignets came out soft and warm.  A generous amount of powered sugar topped the beignets with a fruit medley off to the side.  Maple syrup came with the beignets, but we didn't even bother adding any.  The beignets on their own were a wonderful start to breakfast. 

And my bloody Mary was a spot-hitter.  The mix was a bit spicy, not enough that it was too spicy.  A long skewer of olives, pickled okra, pepperoncini and spiced green beans were mixed in with the bloody Mary.   I usually get a beer chaser with my bloody Mary, but this was enough.  More than enough.  

The menu at the Great Southern Cafe features a number of "farm-to-fork" items.  Locally grown produce and meats from area farms are a staple at the restaurant as well as a number of fresh catch seafood.  But they also had breakfast staples such as vanilla pancakes, waffles, eggs Benedict, and biscuits and gravy.  They also featured Jim Shirley's Grits a Ya Ya dish (which I almost got), steak and eggs, and a fresh catch of the day entree that was char-grilled and topped with a choice of a house-made salsa, a spicy Creole hollandaise sauce, or olive tapenade.  It came with smoked Gouda cheese grits, scrambled eggs and a fresh-baked biscuit.   

I ended up getting the corned beef hash/eggs Benedict plate.  A side of cheesy grits came with it.  (Cheesy grits were a popular breakfast item along the Emerald Coast.  I sort of just like good ol' plain grits.)  And I got a side of the house-made sage sausage patties.  I didn't care much for the cheesy grits and the sage sausage patties were flavorful, but very dry.  However, the eggs Benedict/corned beef hash was just excellent.  The hollandaise sauce was light and unobtrusive.  The corned beef was somewhat salty, but had a great flavor.  The combination of the eggs Benedict and corned beef hash was a winner.    

Cindy ordered the veggie frittata - an open-faced Egg Beaters omelet topped with zucchini, yellow squash, red onions and red peppers, then all that was topped with Romano cheese.   She said, "This is perfect!"  She said it was very good, but very rich - even with the Egg Beaters.  She made a significant dent in it before she said she'd had enough.  Had she not had the beignets, she probably would have been able to finish it off.  

We thoroughly enjoyed our breakfast and our visit to the Great Southern Cafe.  Wendy did a great job taking care of us, making sure that we had everything we needed without hovering over us the whole time.  The food was interesting and outstanding.  And we loved the patio setting of the restaurant.  We had a lot of memorable meals during our trip to Florida, but maybe none more than the one at the Great Southern Cafe mainly for the combination of the ambiance and the excellent and interesting food.  

Mas alla del Sol - Chicago

I had a factory guy from the U.K. in Chicago for some training sessions earlier this summer.  After a long day of sessions we invited a couple guys from the dealer to go out for dinner.  Both were on a tight schedule due to family obligations later in the evening, so they wanted to go somewhere close and relatively fast.  One of the guys suggested a Mexican restaurant not far from their store.  We ended up going to Mas alla del Sol in Chicago's Edgewater neighborhood on the north side of the city.  (see map)

Adan Moreno was born in Mexico and enjoyed his family's traditional Mexican food.  While he was a young boy he helped out his mother in the kitchen developing a passion for cooking.  Eventually making his way to Chicago, Adan worked in a number of upscale restaurant in the area including the kitchen at the Palmer House hotel and Wildfire in River North.  He met a young lady, Mirella, eventually marrying her.  They soon fulfilled their dream of opening a small restaurant - Los Nopales - in Chicago's Lincoln Square neighborhood in 2005.  

Things were initially tough for the Moreno's - they didn't have enough plates to serve food upon, and Adan was forced to continue to work two jobs as Mirella ran Los Nopales.  Some days Morella would only bring in $35.  When things looked the bleakest for the Moreno's, they decided it was time to swim or sink.  Adan quit his jobs and started to cook at Los Nopales full time.  The only problem was that he didn't remember how to cook Mexican food.  He eventually went back to his family's recipes that he remembered as a child and started from scratch. 

Adan began to thrive and hit his stride in the Los Nopales kitchen.  Business began to grow and their personal gamble worked - Los Nopales became a hit.  So much so that they received a Bib Gourmand rating in the 2013 Michelin Guide for Chicago.  The Moreno's were soon serving up to 225 people on a Friday or Saturday night.

Chicago 48th Ward Alderman Harry Osterman was already a fan of Los Nopales when he approached the Moreno's about the possibility of taking over a vacant building on N. Broadway.  Adan Moreno was intrigued, but he knew he had to do something different than what the many Mexican restaurants in the immediate area were doing.  The Moreno's bought the building in late 2012 and opened their new venture - named after a song by Mexican singer Joan Sebastian - in March of 2013. (Mas alla del Sol means "Beyond the Sun" - it was Mirella Moreno's favorite song.)  The food at Mas alla del Sol is a step up from the fare at Los Nopales with Adan Moreno's culinary creations still coming from traditional Mexican recipes with a contemporary flair.  

We found a parking spot on Broadway just down from Mas alla del Sol.   Going inside, we were met by a young man who sat us toward the back of the restaurant.  The somewhat large bar along the side of the dining area housed a large number of tequilas.  The place wasn't large, but it was comfortable.  

We were given menus as we sat down and immediately got some chips and salsa.  The salsa had a nice spicy bite and reminded me somewhat of the salsa that I've had over the years ago Raul's in Des Moines.  (Click here to see the entry on Raul's.)  We also asked for some guacamole right off the bat and I ordered a pitcher of margaritas with Cointreau and Herradura with lime juice - a nice combination that my wife likes to drink.  

Most of the items on the menu are not what you'd find at most Mexican restaurants.  This was more of an upscale Mexican place featuring Costillas - Mexican baby back ribs, lamb shank, and a grilled skirt steak served with a chile morita and tomato sauce, along with frijoles borrachos, slices of seared panela cheese, with fried cebollitas and finished with an avocado relish.   There were also a number of seafood entrees on the menu including a grilled shrimp and creamy chipotle dish, grilled shrimp with sauteed verdolagas (a Mexican succulent that is used for exotic cooking there, but it known more as an obtrusive weed in the U.S.), and whole pan-fried red snapper fish served either with a butter/garlic sauce, or with jalapenos, peppers, onions, cilantro and Spanish olives.  

They also had traditional Mexican food such as fajitas, enchiladas, carne asada tacos and panela cheese stuffed chile rellenos.  I was looking at the steak enchiladas for my food of choice that evening.  I had a choice of a mole, suiza (cheese and sour cream) or chile verde sauce to go on top of the enchiladas.  I went with the chile verde sauce.  The three enchiladas were topped with drizzled sour cream and came with Mexican rice and refried beans.  The steak enchiladas - especially with the somewhat spicy verde sauce - were excellent. 

My guy from the U.K. went - surprisingly - with the lamb shank.  Surprisingly, in that he usually will go for beef when he's in the U.S - especially in the Midwest.  But he said that lamb shank was "wonderful".  And  it looked wonderful.  The lamb meat pulled easily from the bone and it was served in a light tomato/chipotle sauce with corn mashed potatoes that were topped with verdolagas leaves.  

One of the guys from my dealer got the skirt steak and shrimp combo.  He was the one that had eaten at Mas alla del Sol before and said he wanted to try the skirt steak at some point.  He got his wish - and he was happy.  The skirt steak was thicker than skirt steak that I get at Mexican meat shops.   

The other guy got the Carne Mas alla del Sol - the restaurant's signature dish.  There was a lot happening on the plate.  The visual was mouth watering.  I don't know if I did the dish justice with the picture above right.  My dealer was extremely happy with his meal.  "This is great," he said when prodded on how good the Carne Mas alla del Sol was.  

The experience at Mas alla del Sol was absolutely wonderful.  The food was very good and exquisite.  The service was very good, as well.  Specialty pitchers of margaritas just helped add to the experience.  If you're looking for something a little different in terms of Mexican food, Mas alla del Sol will probably not disappoint.  

Callahan's Restaurant and Deli - Destin, FL

There's nothing worse than getting a bug while you're on vacation.  That happened to me during the last portion of our vacation to Florida's Emerald Coast.  I don't know if it was bad seafood - or maybe too MUCH seafood - but one day I had stomach problems that just wouldn't quit.  We had planned on trying a seafood place for dinner that night, but I wasn't really up for it.  We decided that maybe a sandwich or something like that would be what I needed.  Looking through Urbanspoon and a few other local websites we found Callahan's Restaurant and Deli in Destin.  Overall online reviews seemed to be positive, so we took off to find Callahan's. 

Established in 1992, Callahan's has long been a favorite of locals and tourists alike.  It's topped the "best of" lists for deli's and comfort food in both local magazine and newspaper polls a number of years.  Suzanne Chesbro is the current owner of Callahan's.

Callahan's is located off the main drag in Destin - Harbor Boulevard - near the Target store.  (see map)  If you're not familiar with the area, you can drive right past the road that takes you to Callahan's, like we did.  After figuring out that we'd passed it, we pulled into the next opening of a strip mall and doubled back.

A large group of people were milling about the entry way waiting for tables.  We both thought, "Oh, no.  Wonder how long of a wait this will be?"  When we went to the hostess stand, we found out that the group of people were all together and waiting for tables to be placed together in the dining room.  The hostess said that she could seat us right away.  She dropped off a couple of menus for us and our server, Luis (pronounced Lewis) came over to greet us.  

The dining room at Callahan's is well-lit and sort of spacious.  The windows were covered with wooden shutter doors and were still closed well after the sun went down.   Most of the tables were four-seaters that could be easily moved around to accommodate larger groups.  

They have an old fashioned meat counter up front in the restaurant.  Meats and cheeses were available for sale out of the refrigerated cases.  Maybe a good ol' deli-style sandwich is what I needed.  

The dinner menu at Callahan's was quite extensive, and that sort of worried us.  We've found that a restaurant that has such a long menu of different items, they usually do everything just all right, but not very good.  They featured a wide assortment of salads, pasta dishes, seafood, steaks, chicken entrees and sandwiches.  The menu is also quite kid friendly, as well.  It was almost too much to choose from.  

Cindy had pretty much decided on the pot roast - it came with mashed potatoes and gravy with a selected vegetable.  Cindy asked Luis what the vegetable was and he told her carrots.  She sort of said, "Oh...OK."  

Luis said, "I can get you something else.  I know we have a zucchini and squash medley in the kitchen tonight."  Cindy perked up and said she'd take that.   She also got her choice of a salad or soup.  She asked what the soup was that evening and Luis told her it was a potato ham soup.  She went with that.  

I ended up with just getting the grilled pastrami and Swiss sandwich.  Potato chips came with the sandwich and I told Luis that would be fine, even though I probably wouldn't be eating many - if any - of the potato chips.   

After Cindy finished her cup of the potato ham soup, Luis brought our dinners out to us.  Cindy's eyes got big.  There was a lot of food on her plate.  Both the pot roast and the mashed potatoes were covered with a brown beef gravy.  Luis apologized for the carrots on the plate, but Cindy said, "Oh, gosh, that's all right.  I like carrots, but I just wondered if there was anything else other than carrots that you had to offer."  

My pastrami and Swiss sandwich was pretty basic.   It was oozing with a generous amount of Swiss cheese on top of a bed of pastrami.  Tomato slices and lettuce usually come on the sandwich, but I had Luis tell the cook to leave them off.  The sandwich had a nice crunchy outer shell from the grill and the flavor of the Swiss cheese and pastrami was a great combination.  With a little yellow mustard to give it a little more flavor, it was a good sandwich.

Cindy thoroughly liked her pot roast.  She offered me a couple bites of the roast beef and gravy.  The gravy was a bit salty, but it was thick and flavorful.  The roast beef was tender and cut easily with a fork.  It was probably the comfort food meal that I needed more than a pastrami and Swiss sandwich.  But that would have been way too much food for my somewhat uneasy stomach at that point.  

While we have some trepidation with a restaurant that tries to do to much with their menu, we couldn't come up with any negatives with our meal at Callahan's.  The food was fine and basic, Luis' service was impeccable, the place was clean and bright, it hit us just right on a night where we needed to step away from rich seafood or Cajun food.  If you're hungry and can't figure out exactly what you want - or if you're in a large group who can't make up their minds what to have for dinner - Callahan's is good place to go.  

The Lazy Cow - Salisbury, U.K.

During our visit to Naim Audio in Salisbury, Wiltshire, U.K., our hosts put us up at a place that was part pub/part steakhouse/part boutique hotel, the Lazy Cow.  We were warned that the building that housed the Lazy Cow was well, somewhat dysfunctional.  The building dates back to the 16th century - its stairs slope to one side.  Rooms are found down narrow passage ways or up outside steps from a courtyard.   There's no air conditioning - which I'll get to later on - and the steam heating units have a hard time keeping up when the weather gets cool.  Bathrooms range from splendidly spacious to maddeningly small.  Steps between rooms within the rooms spell trouble for those not paying attention - especially in the middle of the night.  But other than that, the restaurant/pub is what owner Ross Sanders says is a cross between an American steakhouse and an English Pub.  We spent a lot of time in the pub/steakhouse on our visit.  

Ross Sanders grew up in pubs.  His father Tony owned a number of pubs and the younger Sanders began working for his father at the age of 16. When his father sold off the pubs to a corporate entity in the mid-90's, Ross Sanders went off to study hospitality and catering at Stratford-upon-Avon College.

Pictured right - Ross Sanders

After graduating from college, Sanders first started working as an assistant manager of a local pub in Stratford for a year before joining Luminar Leisure (now the Luminar Group) - a corporate hospitality group that ran the Chicago Rock Cafe chain.  Ross Sanders worked as an assistant manager for Chicago Rock Cafe in Maidstone for a year before he was assigned to the group to open more of the restaurant/pubs around the U.K.  Becoming the opening specialist for Luminar Leisure, Sanders learned the procedures and systems that would help him with future ventures.  

After managing a small number of pubs for a year, Ross Simmons, his father and another partner bought the Greene King Brewery lease on a gastropub by the name of Durham Ox in Shrewley Common, Warwickshire.  That part of the country is well known for the excellent gastropubs that are scattered around the region.  However, on his first visit, Ross Sanders noticed that there was a tractor in the parking lot - parked next to a Ferrari.  He knew he had to somehow keep the locals happy while serving the elite.  He kept the pub area of the place seperate from the restaurant, allowing the local regulars a place to feel comfortable while the affluent diners were enjoying dinner in another part of the place.  

The Durham Ox was a big hit and the Sanders and their partner sold the business in 2006.  Interestingly, Ross Sanders joined an investment firm that owned a number of restaurants and hotels helping manage a hotel for the group.  His talents were recognized by upper management and one day an executive approached Sanders with the prospect of buying 16 location chain of pubs called Bar Room Bar that was owned by the investment firm.  Sanders didn't have the money, but he put together an aggressive business plan that spelled out success for the chain of bars and shopped his plan around.  In 2007, he found a lending institution to put up the money and he bought the Bar Room Bars from the investment firm.

Initially, Sanders business projections were off.  They were too low.  Business at the 16 locations was much better than Sanders planned.  But he continued to need cash for improvements and refurbishments.  But the credit crunch hit in 2008 and his bank - and other lenders - zipped up their pocket books.  Sanders was forced to put the Bar Room Bars into receivership losing £20 million pounds (a little over $34 million dollars) in the process.  

But Ross Sanders licked his wounds and got back up on the saddle.  He was approached by an investment firm who had purchased 44 Massive Pub Company locations out of bank receivership which included Tup's Sports Bar, Auburge English Pub, and Thomas and Clark upscale pubs.  They made the offer to Sanders to allow him to buy 36 of the locations for a meager price.  Forming his new company - Urban and Country Leisure - he was able to work with the investment firm to get control of the pubs.   

Within a couple years, Sanders had closed all but nine of the locations - calling those that remained open the "jewels" of the bunch.  And it wasn't long before he began to work on his new concept that eventually turned into the Lazy Cow.  The first Lazy Cow opened in Warwick in 2010 in what was formerly the Globe Hotel with an attached restaurant that was formerly a Thai Restaurant.  The hotel was an immediate hit with travelers seeking boutique accommodations and the restaurant with beef loving Brits. 

Looking to expand the Lazy Cow concept, he found that the Kings Arms boutique hotel in Salisbury that was also paired with a leased Greene King Pub was up for sale.  He soon bought the place for his second location.  Locals didn't want him to change the name of the hotel, but he did so.  And he put the Lazy Cow steakhouse in with the Greene King pub.  The concept is going over so well that Sanders is looking to change some of his other pubs into Lazy Cow steakhouse locations at some point in the future.   

The hotel part of the Lazy Cow features 18 or so unique boutique theme rooms that are, well, interesting.  Keeping with the cow theme, many of the rooms had cowhide - with real cow hair - covered bed frames, cowhide covered throw pillows, milk bottle chandeliers and big pictures of cattle on the walls.  

My room was no exception.  Every morning I woke up to see this big bastard staring at me on the wall.  And my room was hot - it was just above the kitchen and coupled with the abnormally hot afternoon sun coming into my west-view windows it was easily well over 80 degrees the first night I slept in the room.  With no air conditioning and no fan.  I was miserable.  However, one of my colleagues was in a large room that looked like King Arthur held court in there at one time and he had an extra fan that he let me have for the rest of the stay.  My room was actually two rooms with a small living area as you walk in with the bedroom connected via a hallway with the bathroom in between.  You had to step down to get from the living area to the hallway, then take another step down when you get into the bedroom area.  I jammed my toe on the step up to the hallway to the bathroom a couple times at night.  Click on the picture above to check out the milk bottle chandelier.  

The Lazy Cow's pub and dining area was also unique and cozy.  Cowhide-topped stools sat in the front of the bar.  Rows of lights surrounded by milk bottles hung from the ceiling.  A small fireplace with a flat panel television - something you don't see in a lot of U.K. pubs - was in the main dining area near the bar.  

A small backroom for spillover was where we had breakfast every morning.  It featured banquette seating along the wall with cowhide backs.  Cowhide squares were on the wall above the banquette seats.  There were also a couple of private dining areas in the restaurant. 

The Lazy Cow's idea of breakfast was also rather interesting.  In addition to a continental breakfast, the breakfast menu consisted of things like a New York City-style scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and spring onions.  They had a breakfast sandwich consisting of bacon jam, avocado, fried eggs and what they call "streaky bacon" in the U.K., which is basically, well, bacon.  Streaky bacon has streaks of fat and pork belly in the thin slices of bacon.  My colleague, Chris, had a helluva time one morning with a somewhat ditzy waitress who kept bringing him scrambled eggs instead of the breakfast sandwich.  He was such a good sport about it that he had to laugh after the second time of her bringing him the wrong order.  

They also had the Lazy Cow Eggs Benedict which were, well, once again, Eggs Benedict.  Only the hollandaise sauce was so salty that it was almost inedible.  At least to me.  I hardly salt anything and the salty taste of the hollandaise was over the top for my taste buds.  But the one thing that I had hoped would be a great breakfast didn't turn out to be so good.  On the Saturday we left Salisbury, I ordered the short stack of "fluffy" pancakes topped with blueberries.   I got them because of a dessert I had the evening we were there for steaks.  The dessert was much better than the pancakes.  The blueberries were basically a syrupy compote and the pancakes were like trying to eat an English muffin, only an English muffin would have been better.  

But our experience for dinner was much better.  Even with the trepidation I went into the experience thinking that there would be no way the steaks in the U.K. could even be on par with any Midwestern steak house that I've been to.  To spoil this for you all, I was greatly surprised.  

I work for manufacturers based out of the U.K. and France.  Each time somebody from Europe comes to the U.S. - especially the Midwest - they want steak.  They all say, "We can't get steak in Europe as good as what we get in the U.S."  And that's sort of stuck in the back of my head for a long time.  I was sort of worried the steaks at the Lazy Cow would be a step above horse meat.  

It turns out that the Lazy Cow gets their steaks from all over the world.  They have steaks from Argentina, Scotland (Belted Galloway cattle are known for their wonderful marbled beef), Australia, along with good ol' USDA prime beef from the U.S.  They also had Wagyu beef raised in the U.K., along with British-raised Longhorn beef (grassy and earthy flavor) and Black Angus beef.  The British beef comes from North Yorkshire, one of the most important agricultural areas of England.  The Lazy Cow then ages the British beef for 30 days in their walk-in refrigerated aging room.  

The Lazy Cow cooks their steaks in what is known as a Josper grill.  It's a combination oven/grill where hardwood is usually used to cook the meat.  The chef at the Lazy Cow uses a combination of wood and coals to get the heat inside the oven to over 400 degrees C (750 degrees F) to seal in the juices and flavor in the steaks.  Originally from Spain, Josper grills are supposedly the new "toy" that American chefs now covet.  It cooks the steaks quickly, consumes less charcoal and it reduces flames that keeps the meat from drying out during the cooking process.  

They have about 6 steak dinners on the menu at the Lazy Cow.  The USDA Prime New York strip was the most expensive thing on the menu at £26.50 (about $44.50 in U.S. dollars).  They also had a dry-rubbed Black Angus rump steak, which we call top sirloin in the States, an aged Black Angus strip loin, a 10 oz. wet-aged Argentinian ribeye, an Australian strip loin that they had on special that evening, as well as a garlic and herb encrusted beef tenderloin filet, and a roasted Black Angus strip loin.  For the non-beef eaters out there, the Lazy Cow also featured a roasted sea bass, pork sausage, honey and orange glazed 1/2 chicken, and a grilled swordfish steak.  

We had to order up some appetizers to munch on before we had our dinner.  It had been a long day and a long time since lunch.  Each night we were there, we retired to the pub and got some of the very good appetizers that the Lazy Cow featured including the great onion rings with a thick beer batter on the outside and their very good chicken wings that we'd order hot.  They were very tough to beat compared to similar appetizers I get in the U.S.  

It was time to order up dinner and I pretty much made up my mind that if I was going to get a steak in the U.K. and USDA prime beef was on the menu, that's what I'd get.  Call me provincial, but I remember what the guys from Europe tell me - you can't get beef in the U.K. or France as good as what you get in the U.S.  I got my steak rare.  Everyone ordered up steaks and sides to go along with them.

For starters, a couple of the guys got what was called the West Coast salad - chopped lettuce greens topped with sauteed tiger prawns, chopped avocado, feta cheese, a mix of spinach and coriander (cilantro), grated carrots, chopped candied pecans and finished with a honey/lime dressing.  A fresh strawberry dotted the top of the salad.  Those who had it said it was very good.  

The steaks came out not long after the salads were finished and my New York strip came with a roasted half tomato, a small piece of corn on the cob and roasted garlic.  I found out that they had a green peppercorn sauce and asked our server for a side of that, as well.  The steak looked like it was over-cooked in the Josper oven.  But when I cut into it, it was exactly as I like a good New York strip - red and cool in the middle.  It was extremely juicy and flavorful.  I immediately fell in love with the concept of cooking in a Josper oven.  

Our host, Doug, got the Black Angus rump steak that was rubbed beforehand in a concoction of salt and spices.  It was a little football shaped piece of meat with the Union Jack proudly flying on top of the piece of meat.  All steaks came with the same roasted half tomato, roasted garlic and a small piece of sweet corn.  

The Australian strip loin didn't really look like a strip steak.  My colleague who got it told me, "Australian steak is very underrated.   This is very good."  

One other colleague got the roasted beef loin for dinner.  The North Yorkshire Black Angus beef loin was cut into pieces and came out a perfect medium rare.  One other thing I forgot to mention were the French fries - or "chip", as they call them in the U.K.  The fries at the Lazy Cow were the big, billowy steak fries that I like so much.  I don't know what they did to the fries at the Lazy Cow, but they were excellent.  So good that I had to order a side for myself after a colleague gave me a couple to try with my dinner.  Dipped into the wonderful green peppercorn sauce, these fries were to die for.  And I usually don't eat fries all that much.

For dessert, this is where I got the inspiration to have the pancakes on Saturday morning.  The little tall square container next to the cup of espresso was filled with small squares of pancakes drizzled with a caramel syrup and topped with smoked pecans.  It was absolutely delicious.  I only wish the pancakes I had a couple days later stood out the way this dessert did.  And getting an espresso - actually a DOUBLE espresso - was the wrong thing for me.  I don't drink much caffeine and it really winds me up when I do.  I had a lot of trouble getting to sleep that night, even after a couple Scotch's at the bar for a nightcap. 

The notion that there is no good beef in the U.K. was pretty much squashed that night. You just have to know where to find it.  If you ever find yourself in Salisbury and looking for a good cut of beef, it's going to be tough to beat the Lazy Cow.  Coming from a good ol' Midwestern beef-fed guy, the steak I had at the Lazy Cow was as good as I could find at many good steakhouses in the U.S.  The plus was that it was served in a true English pub with a lot of character.

(Update - I was informed by one of the guys at Naim Audio that The Lazy Cow closed in November of 2014 and was replaced by The Chapter House.)  

Summer in Paris

I finally made it to Paris - albeit over two months later than I wanted to get there.  If you remember this post from a couple three months ago with the reasons why I wasn't in Paris at that time when I should have been, you'll remember that I was a very unhappy camper with United Airlines.  On this trip - thanks to the delays out of Quad Cities International Airport on my trip to the U.K. at the end of June - I made up my mind that I'd just book the flight to Paris directly out of O'Hare International in Chicago and drive in well in advance of the flight.  It worked out fine.  The only problem was that I had to get in the car after a 9 hour flight and drive back to the Quad Cities.  On the Friday afternoon of Labor Day weekend.  I was tired, there was a lot of traffic and I wasn't feeling very well.  (More on that later on.)

The reason for the trip to Paris was a 3-day training session with one of our companies - Devialet.  We got in on the ground floor with this company when it became available in North America and we have endured some growing pains with them.  However, the company is hitting on all cylinders right now, they have some great products - very unique in the consumer audio industry - and they invited individual sales people from our staff over to get indoctrinated in their philosophies, tour the factory and learn the inside poop about the product and features.  I was supposed to go in mid-June with my colleague from Montreal, Francois.  But that didn't work out thanks to United.  So, I re-booked for a late August trip with my colleague, Ian.  Ian and I travel well together and he's rather worldly and - most importantly - a planner.  I let Ian figure out what we were going to do and where we were going to eat.  

After a nine hour overnight flight to Paris, I got into Charles De Gaulle Airport around 10 a.m. on a Monday morning.  About four or five international flights got in at the same time and there were only 4 customs windows open for about 800 to 1000 passengers.  It was excruciating waiting for the line to slowly work its way to the French border guards in their individual booths.   It was close to 45 minutes before I was able to go up to a window as the border guard silently stamped my passport without asking me a question.  Maddening. 

Thankfully, Ian had gotten into Paris about 90 minutes before I did and was waiting for me outside customs.  We found a cab outside the airport and took it into the city.  It was about a 40 minute ride from the airport to our hotel.

Our hotel on this trip was the Hotel Malte Opera in the heart of Paris.  it is located near the Louvre, as well as the Palais Garnier - the Paris opera house.  (Surprise!  Hence the "opera" in the hotel's name.)  It is also right across the street from the Opera branch of the National Library of France.  

The elegant lobby of the hotel was replete with a number of French antique-style chairs and contemporary tables.  It featured a breakfast area and a front lobby desk where they invited their guests to sit down and enjoy a coffee or a bottle of water (sparkling or still) while they checked in.  

The room I was given was what I would say are typical of what you'll find at most French hotels.  The rooms aren't big at all.  (Check out the 1 foot gap between the end of the bed and the wall.)  The bathroom was also very small and - as I've found with other French bathrooms - the shower/tub had no shower curtain or shower door.  I've half-jokingly said that my goal in life is to move to France and start up a shower curtain store.  I still can't figure out why they don't use shower curtains in many of the hotels I've stayed at in France.  Water gets everywhere and you'll need a towel specifically to clean up the wetness on the bathroom floor.

The bed, however, was comfortable and I spent a lot of time in it thanks to getting food poisoning (or having a bodily aversion to some food that was super rich).  I was down for a day and still didn't feel well on my last full day in Paris.  I missed a chance to go out to dinner with colleagues who were in town for a separate manufacturer trip because I couldn't risk going out of a 20 foot radius from my bathroom.   It was pretty upsetting to me because I understand a good time was had by all when I was lying in bed instead.  This was my fifth trip to France - my third trip to Paris - and I've had stomach problems on four of the five trips.  But none of the previous were as violent as what I went through on this visit.  

And because of my sickness, I got to watch a lot of television when I wasn't sleeping.  The television system at the hotel featured, of course, a number of French channels, but I also found CNN International, some BBC programming, as well as American programs broadcast with French subtitles.  There were also a number of German channels including a sports channel that showed soccer non-stop, and there were channels from Italy, Austria and Portugal.  Interestingly, there was no channel that emanated from Spain.  Maybe there's no such thing as good Spanish television.  

After getting checked into the hotel after we arrived in Paris on the first day and grabbing a quick lunch nearby, Ian and I spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Paris in what became a steady rain.  Ian's goal was to go to the Musée de l'Armée at Les Invalides (the French military museum) across the Seine.  He has visited a number of museums in Paris, but had yet to go to this one.  Anything that had to do with military history was fine with me.  

First of all, I love Paris.  It may be my most favorite city in the world.  And I love to walk around in Paris.  But the place drives me crazy when I try to figure out where I am.  I like to think that I have this innate ability to get a directional reckoning wherever I go.  (My colleagues call me the "Human GPS", although I will say that I've lost some of that super power ever since I went out and bought a real GPS a few years ago.)  In Paris, the streets meander in different directions.  The Seine loops through the heart of the city instead of a straight line.  You can follow a street into a roundabout where streets spoke out in multiple directions.  Street names change just by crossing a street.  It's utterly maddening for me to try and figure out where I am in Paris.  Even maps don't necessarily help.  But the beauty of the city more than makes up for the confusion I suffer as I try to navigate.    

To get to the Musée de l'Armée, we had to walk through the courtyard of the Louvre museum complex.   Architect I. M. Pei's  Louvre Pyramid is the centerpiece of the courtyard.  The glass pyramid features 666 individual diamond-shaped glass panels and serves as the main entrance into the lobby of the Louvre.  The wait to get into the Louvre was more than two hours, but Ian - the seasoned world traveler that he is - took me to a hidden and little known entrance later on that had no wait to get into the Louvre.  Since it was near closing time when he showed it to me, it wasn't worth it to spend the money to go in.  Someday...

We made it to the Musée de l'Armée and spent the nearly $20 per person to go in.  I wanted to take a picture of the front of the place, but it was raining rather hard at the time so I figured that I'd be able to find a similar shot on the Internet.  Here's a picture of the front of Les Invalides from Ian when he was in Paris in the summer of 2013. 

After going through a couple areas that showed medieval armaments and battle armor worn by combatants, we decided to look for the part of the museum that specifically dealt with World War II.  We had to go through the World War I part of the museum to get there, but we finally found it.  We lingered for a long while in that area, looking at the French side of the World War II story.  Although many of the signs were in French, we were able to decipher much of what was on display.  

While we were going through the museum, there was a large area that dealt with the liberation of Paris from Nazi Germany occupation.  As I was looking at some stuff, I noticed that Paris was liberated exactly 70 years ago from the day we were there - August 25.   The next day would be the 70th anniversary of the famous parade up the Champs-Élysées led by Charles De Gaulle.  (They had a ceremony that evening - in the rain - commemorating the 70th anniversary of the liberation not far from our hotel.)  Ian and I both thought it was rather neat that we were in Paris exactly 70 years from the day.    

We made our way into the rotunda area of Les Invalides known as the Dome des Invalides.  The Royal Chapel is part of the rotunda celebrating the reign of Louis XIV before it became a military pantheon during the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte.  A number of French military commanders have been buried in Les Invalides which served as both a military hospital and a retired soldiers home into the early 20th century.  

The tomb of Napoleon is located in the center of the pantheon directly under the dome.  Some of Napoleon's relatives - including a brother and two sons - are buried in areas near the red quartzite tomb. To me, it was pretty interesting to see.  

The long day - complete with jet lag - was catching up with us.  We started to walk back to the hotel in a light rain, stopping off at a typical Paris sidewalk cafe along the left bank of the Seine to have a double espresso to keep us awake for dinner later on, and to get out of what was continuing to be a steady rain.  I'm still grateful to the guy who was selling cheap umbrellas in the courtyard of the Louvre for five euros.  

Other than getting sick - and the weather being less than desirable during our visit - I'm always grateful for a chance to get to Paris.  It is truly one of the most beautiful cities in the world.  The architecture, the history, just the feel of the city is so stimulating to me.  Sure, there are the usual touristy things to do, but just walking around the city and soaking up the vibe is what I really like about Paris.  I found myself already missing the place as I was on my way to the airport to come back to the U.S.

Prairie Canary - Grinnell, IA

We were back in Central Iowa visiting relatives earlier this summer and my sister from Arizona - who has eaten at some world-class restaurants in her day - was raving about a sandwich that she had the previous day at a place in Grinnell, IA called the Prairie Canary.  I had heard about this place and thought that would be a great place to stop for lunch. 

The reason I'd heard about the Prairie Canary is that owner/chef Carly Groban was the winner of the inaugural Iowa's Best Bite Restaurant Challenge, a contest that gives the winner a start up restaurant package in one of Iowa's smaller cities.  Groban - a Newton native whose parents started the Jasper Winery and whose brother is the owner of the Madhouse Brewery - was the former owner/chef at two upscale Des Moines restaurants, Proof and the former Flour pizzeria.  She sold Proof and shut down Flour in 2012 before she entered the Iowa's Best Bite contest.  (As an aside, my niece went to high school with Carly Groban and she said that she was always an over-achiever, and she meant that in a complementary way.  "Anything Carly wanted to do, she set her mind and did it," my niece told me.)  

Pictured right - Carly Groban 

Groban had to beat out 44 other contestants in the contest that was the idea of Grinnell Chamber of Commerce CEO Angela Harrington, building owner Dick Knapp, Bryan Schultz whose Opposable Thumbs marketing company worked with the Grinnell Chamber, and Paul Rottenberg from Orchestrate Management, a Des Moines-based hospitality/development company.  The building that the Washington D.C.-based Knapp owned in Grinnell had previously housed two bars and had stood empty on Main Street for over a year.   The group offered the use of the building with the first three months rent free, $10,000 in start up cash, $15,000 to go toward inventory, restaurant mentoring, professional branding by a marketing firm and free signage.  Since Groban opened in August of 2012, she is now known as Carly Groban Ross after marrying her partner Chris Ross.  

It was a rainy Saturday afternoon when we pulled up in front of the Prairie Canary on Grinnell's Main Street.  (see map)  They have a small covered outdoor dining area in front of the place and even though it was raining a few feet away from them, patrons had taken up all the tables.   We went inside the building and found that the place had a nice mix of antique and contemporary stylings.  Wild prairie flowers in small vases on top of each table made for a nice touch.  John Coltrane music was playing in the background of the restaurant.  Downstairs is the Canary Bar, a wide open lounge that has a spartan "speakeasy" sort of look ot the place. 

The back bar area toward the back of the restaurant is where we went to order our food for the day.  Since it was the weekend, we were given the brunch menu to order from.  The brunch menu is different from the lunch menu served through the week and they pare down the number of sandwiches while adding breakfast items.  Unfortunately, one of the sandwiches they pare down on the weekend is the Pork Bahn Mi sandwich my sister raved about.  It features Vietnamese pulled pork, topped with a chili lime aioli, Napa cabbage slaw with sweet Thai chili and placed on a toasted hoagie bun.  I was somewhat heartbroken when the young lady behind the counter told me that it wasn't available on the brunch menu.  

I definitely didn't want to go the breakfast route, so I had a choice between a couple three burgers, a grilled cheese and jam sandwich, a salmon sandwich, and a turkey BLT.  That was it.  The burgers were a black bean and sweet potato vegetarian burger, a basic burger with cheese and something called the Canary Burger with blue cheese and bacon.   Quite actually, none of those sounded good to me.  The girl behind the counter said, "We can make you the Prairie Burger if you want."  She pointed it out on the weekday lunch menu to me - a 1/3 pound Black Angus patty topped with bacon, a fried egg, goat cheese, leeks, kale, and a slice of tomato on a sesame seed bun.  It was also pretty expensive - $13.99.  I said, "Sure, what the hell..."  I had my choice of soup, a salad or fries with the burger.  I went with the fries.

Cindy was pretty much set on the grilled salmon sandwich.  It was topped with a dill/goat cheese spread, along with yellow curry hummus, pickled red onions and lettuce on toasted challah bread.  She got the soup to go along with the sandwich.  For drinks, she got a glass of white wine while I got a Bell's Oberon pale ale.

Her salmon sandwich came with thick bread and a small grilled salmon filet.  The soup was, I believe, a tomato/basil soup with homemade croutons.  She said the salmon wasn't fishy tasting at all and the dill/goat cheese melted on the top with the yellow curry hummus was a great taste combination.  

My burger came with a substantial sesame seed bun - it was almost too large.  I ended up pulling a lot of the bun off the burger as I was eating it.  The burger was very flavorful with the fried egg (over hard), bacon and the goat cheese.  It was cooked medium with a bit of a pink middle and still was pretty juicy to the bite.  It was a very good burger, but I'm not certain that it was worth $13.99.  

I will say, however, that the hand cut French fries were even better.  They weren't seasoned, but tasted like they had been deep fried in something other than vegetable oil.  Along with the fries came a side of a chile lime dipping sauce that was outstanding. I normally don't eat many fries, but these I had to finish these.  And I damned near licked the remaining chile lime dipping sauce out of the small metal container.  It was that good.  

Even though I was disappointed that I couldn't get the pulled pork sandwich on the weekend, it gave me a reason to stop back into the Prairie Canary at some point when I would be traveling past Grinnell on Interstate 80.  My burger was good - not exceptional - but good.  The fries were excellent and Cindy liked her grilled salmon sandwich very much.  Service was all right and the atmosphere was comfortable.  I hope the Prairie Canary can make it in a place like Grinnell as it would probably work better in a larger city.  But it seems to be working fine in Grinnell for the time being. 

(Update - I made it back to the Prairie Canary on a trip past Grinnell very recently and had the Pork Bahn Mi sandwich - spicy Vietnamese-style pulled pork topped with  chile lime aioli, Napa cabbage slaw and a Thai chili sauce and placed on a toasted hoagie bun.  When I ordered it, the server told me it would be a few minutes because they had to make more up - it's a popular lunch item.  And it was as good as what my sister said it would be.  The pork was tender with a hint of a spicy taste, but nothing that was overpowering.  The chile lime aioli was making it happen in the tastebuds and the cabbage slaw was fresh and crunchy.  It was $8.99 for the sandwich and I got it with Prairie Canary's wonderful hand-cut fries.  It was all I could do to finish the sandwich and have a smattering of fries.  It was a great sandwich.)

L'ulivo - London, U.K.

On a London "walkabout" on our recent trip to the U.K., my co-workers and I had just gotten off the "tube" at the Embankment station and were walking toward Trafalgar Square.  Along a small street that was clogged with pedestrians we found a number of little restaurants.  Figuring that we should probably eat lunch sooner than later, we started looking for a restaurant that was suitable for us all, including one of my colleagues who has diabetes.  Looking at the menus of the small restaurants along the streets, we found an Italian place that appeared to fit the bill for us all - L'ulivo.  

The L'ulivo (pronounced lu-LEE-vo - which is Italian for the Olive Tree) on Villiers Street in Charing Cross (see map) is one of two family-owned locations in the greater London area.  The original location in Leicester Square opened over 15 years ago.  The Villiers Street L'ulivo opened in 2000.  They had a third location in Baker Street, but closed it down earlier this year.  The two L'ulivo locations are open daily for lunch at 11 a.m. and continue to serve dinner up to midnight.  

L'ulivo is not large, but it is open and airy.  Contemporary lights hang from the ceiling, but pictures of old world Italy adorn the walls.  We had to wait while they put together a couple tables to seat us back toward the kitchen of the restaurant.  

The kitchen is open and you can see right in on the chefs making the food.  There was a large pot of marinara simmering on the stove top.  You could smell the sauce as it lightly bubbled on the stove.  

Because of that, I was thinking about getting something with a red sauce.  But looking through the menu at L'ulivo, I also found that they featured Neapolitan-style pizzas, a number of veal, beef, chicken and seafood dishes, and, of course, pasta dishes.  The more I got to thinking about it - considering all the walking we were planning on doing after lunch - I didn't want to get too filled up.  I forgot about the pizza and ended up ordering the Vitello con Prosciutto - baked veal medallions topped with prosciutto and mozzarella with a tomato cream sauce.

House-made bread was brought to the table.  If the bread was any indicator, I knew this would be a great meal.  It was warm, soft and had that great Italian bread taste.  Dipped in olive oil with parmesan cheese, the bread was just outstanding. 

A salad came before the meal.  It featured an assortment of lettuce greens and chopped vegetables in a wonderful aged balsamic vinegar and oil dressing.  The salad was also very good.  

The entrees came out and below left is my veal and prosciutto.   Three veal medallions were topped with prosciutto and mozzarella with the light tomato sauce.  The veal was tender and full of flavor.  The addition of the prosciutto gave it a slightly salty taste.  But the tomato cream sauce was an excellent accompanyment to the overall meal.  The overall taste of my meal was beyond delicious.  

One of my colleagues got the Insalata Nicoise - mixed lettuce leaves with chopped tuna, chopped boiled eggs and anchovies, topped with French-cut green beans and a house-made Italian dressing.  He said it was very good, as well.

Some of my colleagues at my end of the table got pizzas.  Below left is the traditional margherita pizza they serve at L'ulivo.  I don't think they had a coal-fired brick oven in the place, but the misshapen pizza had small burn marks on the outer crust similar to what you'd see from a brick oven pizza.  And the pizza didn't have the big chunks of fresh mozzarella that you normally find with Neapolitan-style pizzas.  Still, they looked pretty darn good.  

Above right is the the Pizza ai Funghi - basically a mushroom pizza made with fresh sliced mushrooms.  With some pepperoni and Italian sausage on it, that would have been the perfect pizza for me.  But they didn't have sausage OR pepperoni at L'ulivo for their pizzas.  

But the most interesting pizza was the one my colleague Ian ordered - the Pizza Prosciutto e Rucola.  It was topped with fresh - not cooked - pieces of prosciutto ham and chopped fresh arugula.  When he offered a slice to me, I couldn't say no.  The salty taste of the prosciutto mixed with the tomato sauce and fresh mozzarella made for a great pizza taste combination.  The pizza crust was light and airy, very pliable and great in taste.  It had that sort of coal-fired brick oven taste quality, but - as I said - I didn't see a brick oven in the kitchen.  

My colleague Francois had the mushroom pizza and he said, "Please, have a slice.  I won't be able to eat it all on my own!"  The mushrooms were fresh and earthy.  They went extremely well with the sauce and mozzarella.  These were great pizzas.

And, of course, as I'm wont to do when there's a lot of good food around, I overate.  My veal dish - as good as it was - was probably more than enough.  But the great pizza that my colleagues shared with me was too good to pass up.  L'ulivo was a great find during our little walking tour of London.  The meal I had was very good, the service was impeccable and the surroundings were warm and welcoming.  For those who think there isn't any good food in the U.K., they need to seek out L'ulivo for a very good and authentic Italian meal. 

Los Primos Mexican Grill - Davenport, IA

I have a casual friend by the name of Jerry Lewis - not THAT Jerry Lewis - who was telling me of a new-ish Mexican restaurant toward the east side of Davenport.  Los Primos Mexican Grill has been in business since the late fall of 2013 and he was telling me that their Mexican food was some of the best he's ever had in the Quad Cities.  And that's saying a lot because there are a handful of outstanding Mexican restaurants in the area.  For lunch one day, I took Cindy there so we could try out the place.  

Los Primos is located near the corner of E. Locust and Bridge in what was an old Hungry Hobo location.  (see map)  The Gomez family are the ones behind the restaurant - Estaban Gomez is the co-owner/chef of Los Primos, with his cousin Joe as his partner.  I was told that Estaban Gomez ran a food cart in the District of Rock Island and that's how he got their start in the food business.  Estaban had a job with John Deere, but he gave that up when the food business really started to take off for him. 

They don't sell alcohol at Los Primos, so don't be fooled with the bar they have in the place.  The bar actually overlooks the grill area of the restaurant.  It's a popular place for people to sit when they're waiting for "to-go" orders.  

(Update - as of the Summer of 2015, Los Primos now sells beer.  They have Budwesier, Bud Light, Shock Top and Modelo Especial on tap, along with Corona, Dos Equis Lager, and Negra Modelo in bottles.)

You order from the counter with the menu on the wall just behind the cash register.  The menu at Los Primos is pretty basic.  They have tacos, tortas (sandwiches), burritos (which are huge, by the way) and tostadas.  From there, you have your choice of up to 12 types of meat, fish or veggies depending upon the style of food you want.  

 
I wanted to try a little bit of everything for my first visit.  I got three tacos - a spicy carne de puerco (pork) taco, a braised (shredded) beef taco, and a carne asada (steak) taco.  I got them all Mexican style with cilantro and onions - no cheese.  Cindy ordered up two shredded chicken tacos, also Mexican style.  We took a seat in a booth along the east wall.

Good food usually takes some time, so don't be in a hurry when you go to Los Primos.  Everything is made to order from scratch.  It's not like some other Mexican restaurants where you order food and it's at your table in five minutes.  

While we were waiting, a family of a mother and her two sons had ordered the burritos.  When they were brought to their table, the mother shrieked with laughter at the giant size of the burrito.  "I'm gonna be able to eat on this thing for a week," she told her teenaged boys who were already devouring their big burritos.  

After about 15 to 20 minutes, our food made it out to the table.   A small bowl of Mexican rice came with our lunch.  The tacos were covered with copious amounts of cilantro and each taco came with a good sized lime wedge - something that you didn't see very often during this time with the lime shortage going on earlier this year.  The tortilla shells were made in house and were warm to the touch.  

All three of my tacos were just excellent.  The meat was tender and flavorful.  The combination of the cilantro, onions and meat were a great taste sensation.  And it was heightened even more with some of the salsa they had in bottles on the table.  They had a red salsa that was mild and smoky, and a salsa verde that had a good kick on the back side.  It definitely got my attention as I ate it.    

I added a little bit of the rice to the spicy pork taco after I'd had a couple bites of it.  While it added a little different overall flavor, I liked the taco without the rice.  However, on its own with a little bit of the green salsa mixed in made the taste of rice extremely good.

Cindy thought her shredded chicken tacos were fabulous, as well.  I couldn't make up my mind as to which taco I liked better.  All three were very good.  And with all the choices of different types of meat they had to offer I'm sure I'll find something good to have on my subsequent visits.

Los Primos - excellent Mexican food at a great price.  Don't figure on getting a margarita (but you can get an American or Mexican beer now), don't expect much from the menu and don't be in a hurry.  Once you get past all that, you'll see that the food is the star of the place.   

Gold Rush Cafe - Paducah, KY

On our trip back from Florida earlier this year, we spent the night in Paducah, KY.  I had been to Paducah a couple times to call on a dealer there, but nothing really ever materialized.  After having dinner the night before at Doe's Eat Place in downtown Paducah (click here to see that entry), Cindy decided she wanted to drive back into the downtown area at daylight to see more of the very nice downtown area.  We drove past a restaurant on a corner and Cindy said that she could use a little breakfast.  Parking the car around the corner, we walked into the Gold Rush Cafe to see what it was all about.   

Ken White was a native of Paducah who ventured to culinary school at Walt Disney World just outside of Orlando, FL.  It was there that he met a German girl by the name of Anita who was also attending the culinary school.  After going back to their respective homes, Ken began a "pen-pal" relationship with Anita.  Even in this electronic world of e-mails, the two would hand-write letters back and forth.  

Ken continued his pen-pal relationship with Anita while working at several downtown Paducah restaurants including Cynthia's Ristorante (one that we'll want to try when we make it back through Paducah at some point), and Ristorante di Fratelli.  Ken eventually convinced Anita to move to the U.S. and they were soon married.  

The Gold Rush Cafe had been in business in downtown Paducah since 1998.  The opportunity arose for Ken and Anita to buy the place and they did just that nearly 3 years ago.  In addition to the restaurant, the White's also have a thriving catering business.  

And Ken White is also known for some ingenious foods including deep fried spaghetti, and "Redneck Sushi" which consists of chicken chunks stuffed with chopped jalapenos and Monterrey Jack cheese, then rolled in rice and bacon bits.  He also has a Buffalo chicken chimichanga on the breakfast menu, as well as a chili relleno ranchero that features a cornbread waffle topped with eggs and stuffed with a housemade chicken chorizo sausage.

White is also somewhat locally famous for some of his burgers that he's come up with.  He has an open-faced burger topped with carbonara, a maple peanut butter and pepper jelly burger, and this one that they actually had on display on the counter by the cash register - a fried mac and cheese burger where the buns are made out of deep fried macaroni and cheese.  Uh...  No thanks on that one.  

Every Thursday is "German Thursday" at the Gold Rush Cafe with entrees coming from authentic German recipes Anita brought with her from her homeland.  Dinner specials are available all through the week, as well.  

There's two sides to the Gold Rush Cafe, the small area as you come in the corner front door, and an equally small room off to the side.  That's where we were seated at a two-seater table.  Things were cramped in the room, but it was comfortable enough.  

(Pictured left - coming into the Gold Rush Cafe from the corner front door.)

We were greeted by our waitress, a somewhat scattered middle-aged lady who was having a tough time keeping up with all the customers in the dining room.  We were given menus and took a look at some of the eclectic breakfast items that they feature at the Gold Rush Cafe.  My eyes immediately stopped at the French toast waffles.  They used to have a contest on Friday nights on Gold Rush Cafe's Facebook page where people would make suggestions for the "waffle-of-the-day" to be served on Saturdays.  It's my guess that the French toast waffles came out of that contest.  

Cindy was thinking of something a little more healthy than French toast waffles or pancakes and she found an omelet skillet mixed with spinach, chopped tomatoes and feta cheese with a hashbrown casserole and a housemade biscuit.  

Our food came out to us and the French toast waffles were, well, interesting.  They basically put three full slices of French toast on a waffle iron and turn them into waffles.  I had asked for blueberries to go along with the French toast and our server forgot to bring them out.  It took about another five minutes for her to bring back a small container of blueberries.

The taste was, well, also interesting.  The French toast waffles had that caramelized taste of cinnamon and sugar with a crisp outer side.  After a few bites I decided that I liked the taste.  They were certainly unlike anything I've ever had for breakfast.  

Cindy's omelet was chock full of chopped tomatoes and fresh spinach along with it oozing with feta cheese.  She took a couple bites and said, "Oh, my God!  These may be the best eggs I've ever had!  It's like they just picked the tomatoes and the spinach out of the garden!" 

She said her hashbrown casserole was also very good.  It had hashbrowns mixed with cheese and (I believe she said) bacon.  She offered me a bite, but I was getting full from the very rich and very good French toast waffles.  

When we paid at the front counter, Anita White took our money.  She asked how everything was and my wife couldn't stop raving about the omelet skillet she got.  I told her that I got the French toast waffle and she asked how I liked it.  After I told her that it was interesting, she asked, "Interesting, good or interesting, bad?"

I told her that it was interesting, good - just like their restaurant.  The Gold Rush Cafe was one of those great little finds on the road.  Eclectic and daring foods served in a small town setting are tough to find.  When we get back to Paducah - and we will - we'll have to get breakfast, or possibly one of their burgers, at the Gold Rush Cafe.  

The Haunch of Venison - Salisbury, U.K.

On our trip to the U.K. for factory training at Naim Audio, our hosts took us out to dinner one evening at what is known as one of the oldest pub/restaurants in Great Britain - the Haunch of Venison.  The pub dates back to the 14th century and it was recently listed as one of the 25 English Pubs You Must Drink In by Buzzfeed.com.  One of my goals was to drink beer in an old English pub and the Haunch of Venison took care of that.  

Records show that the building the pub is housed in dates back to 1320 when it housed workers who were building the nearby Salisbury Cathedral. (see map)  The building faced St. Thomas' Church and was reputed to be a brothel in the 15th century.  Clergymen living at St. Thomas' - in order to save embarrassment - actually built a tunnel between the church and the Haunch of Venison in order to visit the ladies living in the building.  (Another pub not far away from our hotel - The Cloisters - also had a tunnel that led from the Salisbury Cathedral so the clergy could visit the ladies at that brothel, as well.)  

Alex Marshall is the owner of the Haunch of Venison.  In addition to owning this pub, Marshall is also the Publican at the Pheasant Inn in Salisbury.  (After dinner, we hung out in the pub downstairs and I got to meet and talk with Alex Marshall.  He's a gregarious guy with a faint resemblance to Tom Hanks.)  Tracey Thorne is the General Manager/Bartender at the Haunch of Venison.  We got to know Tracey almost too well with all the beer and Scotch we consumed that particular evening.  

The bar counter is made out of pewter - probably the last full bar top like it in the U.K.  And the beer taps are the original gravity-fed taps - the Haunch of Venison is one of only five pubs in the U.K. where gravity-fed taps still exist. 

There is a small room - a snug - off to the side of the bar that is called the "Horsebox".  Originally, it was used for women to sit in segregated from the males who drank in the pub.  It is said that Winston Churchill and Dwight Eisenhower used the Horsebox as a meeting place before the D-Day invasion in 1944.   

The public bar area is small with an iron fireplace inserted into the original hearth.   The bar had a number of mismatched stools and chairs and could, possibly, seat 15 people.  The dark wood paneling was supposedly the original paneling in the bar.  

Just upstairs from the pub is the House of Lord's room, or where the upper clergy would drink beer and cider centuries ago.  Back in the corner of the small room is a caged window that houses what is supposedly the decaying bones of a cut-off hand of a card-cheat, complete with the cards he supposedly used to cheat with.  It was pretty hokey and looked like something you'd see in a cheap traveling carnival.  But it helps add to the lore of the Haunch of Venison.  

The restaurant part of the building dates back to the 16th century.  In what used to be called the Merchant's House, that part of the building was annexed by the Haunch of Venison in the 1700's and has been a place where food has been served ever since.  The original fireplace from the 1500's is still in the main dining area which was carefully restored to the unique and cozy feeling it had six centuries ago.  

We were seated in what was the "newer" of the two dining rooms upstairs.  The kitchen was off to the side of the first of the two dining rooms.  Larry Pender and Wotjek Durzynski run the kitchen at the Haunch of Venison.  Most of the food they offer on the menu features locally raised meats and produce.  Steaks, range-free chicken, seafood, lamb and, of course, venison are available at the Haunch of Venison.  

The menu changes depending upon availability of fresh food and that evening they had a lamb rump entree, a beef filet, wild mushrooms in a cream sauce embedded in a Wellington pastry, a slow-cooked pork belly with black pudding, venison and smoked bacon casserole, and a roasted cod loin.  I was still a little hinky on getting steak in the U.K. at that point, but I figured that they probably knew how to do lamb pretty well.  I ended up getting the lamb rump. 

Before dinner, we had a series of salads and appetizers.  One of the more interesting items - and truly locally sourced - was the roasted pigeon breast.  It was cut into quarters and was served with a red wine and juniper sauce.  And, no, I didn't try it. 

The venison lollipop carpaccio was a popular choice of many at the table (above right).  Four thin slices of seared venison were on the plate along with watercress.  Now, I did have that and it was very good.  

Below left is a scallop appetizer that one of my colleagues had.  It featured two large sauteed scallops on a bed of sauteed spinach and sampfire with a bacon and red pepper sauce.  That's the one I wish I would have gotten.   

The entrees came out not long after finishing salads and appetizers.  Above right is my lamb rump - sliced lamb that was not only moist and tender, but had a great flavor.  I'm usually not big on lamb on its own (I like lamb in Indian food), but this was just absolutely fabulous.  It came with savoy cabbage, sort of a Wellington-style potato loaf and drizzled with a redcurrant sauce.  My meal was just excellent.

The roasted cod was also a popular choice that evening.  (below left)  It was featured on a bed with pureed potatoes, fresh cherry tomatoes and samphire.  

One of the guys from Naim Audio got the wild mushroom Wellington.  Sliced new potatoes and braised red cabbage came on the side with watercress on top and a sweet pepper puree drizzled around the plate.  It looked very good and he said it was actually as good as it looked.  

The appetizers and entrees weren't all that large so that left room for dessert at the table.  I went with the creme brulee which was very good, but there was a chocolate dessert that one of my co-workers who sat next to me ordered up. It was a three-layer chocolate cake with a thin caramelized chocolate wafer embedded into the cake.   

Down at the other end of the table, one of the guys ordered a traditional English cheese and cracker plate for dessert.  Fresh grapes and raisins were including with the cheese and crackers decked out on a cutting board.  I don't know, but I thought it was rather neat to see this.  

After dinner, we hung out in the bar downstairs for a bit.  Some of the guys lingered a little longer trying all types of Scotch - many that weren't available in North America.  I had a couple Scotch's after dinner, but was tired from the lack of a good night's sleep the previous evening and ended up heading back to the hotel around 10:30.  

After coming back to the U.S. and reading more about the Haunch of Venison in Salisbury, I came to realize that my visit and meal were probably a little more special than I thought it to be at the time.  Given the history of the place, the reverence that many bestow upon the pub, and the interesting and eclectic food that we were served, the Haunch of Venison turned out to be one of the "one-in-a-lifetime" places to experience.  My only hope is that we get a chance to go back at some point - not necessarily to have food, but to at least have a Scotch or a beer at the bar with Tracey.  

Buckingham Smokehouse Bar-b-que - Columbia, MO

While I was on the road earlier this year, I got into a streak were I just seemed to crave barbecue all the time.  I was in Columbia, MO for an appointment one day and I cranked up the GPS to see if there were any barbecue joints in the area.  One that came up wasn't far from where I was at the time - Buckingham Smokehouse Bar-b-que.  I thought I'd go find the place and see what it was all about.  

It turns out the owner of Buckingham Smokehouse - Mark Brown - has a pretty interesting back story as to how he ended up doing barbecue.  In the early 70's, a band out of Springfield, MO - the Ozark Mountain Daredevils - became a popular band in Southwest Missouri.  In 1974, their first hit "If You Wanna Get to Heaven" became somewhat of a hit song hitting number 25 on the Billboard Top 100 chart.  The next year, "Jackie Blue" made it all the way to number 3 on the charts.  The Ozark Mountain Daredevils were suddenly rock stars touring the nation.  

Mark Brown was a buddy of the guys in the Ozark Mountain Daredevils and was working for the City of Springfield at the time.  In 1976, the OMD's road manager called him one evening and basically told him, "We need you to come on the road with us.  We just had a roadie who broke his leg.  There's a prepaid ticket to L.A. for you at the airport."  He flew to Los Angeles in the morning and became an equipment guy for the Ozark Mountain Daredevils.

When the Ozark Mountain Daredevil tour ended later that year, Brown found himself building stages for the Eagles on their Hotel California tour.  And when that ended a year later and the OMD's going nowhere but down after their earlier successes, Brown ended up back home in Springfield wondering what he was going to do next.  

He knew a guy in Nashville who leased tour buses to rock and country stars.  Giving him a call, Brown was asked by the owner if he would like to drive a band around on a bus.  Brown needed a job and he readily agreed to go to work driving tour buses for the company.

His first job was to drive from Nashville to Hollywood, FL in May of 1979 to ferry around the Moody Blues on the second part of their "Octave" tour.  The band played 17 shows in 22 days.  After three years of riding around on tour buses, Brown found out that he really liked driving the bus.  

Over the next 20 years, Brown drove tour buses for the likes of Kiss (he's still friends with Gene Simmons), Bon Jovi, Phil Collins, Elton John, Prince, Stevie Nicks, Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac and the Grateful Dead.  Brown met his soon-to-be wife while on tour - she worked rock tours, as well.  They married and while she worked nine months out of the year, Brown continued to work around the calendar going wherever he needed to drive a band or performer.  

Brown and his wife had a couple kids and, quite tragically, she was diagnosed with cancer and died in 1996.  Knowing that he had to raise his children who now had no mother, Brown got off the road and wondered what he was going to do with his life.  He didn't want a job where he had to punch a clock, considering he was pretty much living a high lifestyle for so long.  He could always cook, so he decided to open a barbecue place in Springfield.  

The name "Buckingham" and the logo with the cowboy riding the pig came from rock guitarist Lindsay Buckingham, a personal friend of Brown's.  Buckingham's grandfather once had a produce farm and he showed Brown the logo of the "bucking ham" (or pig) that his grandfather used.  Brown was trying to come up with ideas of names for his place in Springfield and he asked Buckingham if it was OK to use his grandfather's logo for his new restaurant.  Buckingham thought it was a great idea and that's how Buckingham Smokehouse Bar-b-que came to be.  

In 1998, Brown opened up his first Columbia, MO location in a leased space on the north side of town.  With most of the growth in Columbia - business and residential - going to the south of the main part of the city, Brown eventually bought a building on Buttonwood Drive in 2006.  (see map)  Today, in addition to two locations in Columbia, MO, there are five locations in and around the greater Springfield, MO area.  

With a back story like that, one has to figure that the barbecue is pretty good at Buckingham Smokehouse.  I was certainly going to find out.  It was around 1 p.m. when I got into Buckingham. I was seated by a hostess at a booth near the front door and given a menu.  Not long after, my server Taylor came over to greet me.  

The menu at Buckingham is your typical barbecue fare - smoked meats such as brisket, pulled pork, ham, turkey and sausage links.  Interestingly, they didn't do chicken at Buckingham Smokehouse.  They had baby back pork ribs, but nothing along the lines of beef ribs.  Sandwiches featuring brisket, pulled pork, turkey and ham were available.  The sides were somewhat interesting, however.  They included the staple pit beans and fries, but they also had horseradish cole slaw and deep fried corn-on-the-cob.  

They smoke their meat on-site at Buckingham.  They have a large walk-in smokehouse in the back of the restaurant with a large pile of wood just outside the doors.  I couldn't tell what kind of wood they had, but I'm guessing it was oak that they were using at Buckingham Smokehouse.  Oak is becoming a very popular choice for barbecue places in the Midwest mainly because it's cheaper than hickory and mesquite, and it lasts longer in the smoking process than most other smoking woods.  

The good thing is that they had combination meat platters at Buckingham allowing someone to try up to four different types of meat, or a half-rack of baby back ribs with one smoked meat selection.  Whenever I see that on the menu I always opt for the brisket and pulled pork.  Two sides came with the combo plate.  I knew that I was going to get the baked beans, but I deferred to Taylor as to what I should get for the second side.  "A lot of people like our cole slaw," she said.  I was leaning that way, anyway.  They also had a great selection of beer at Buckingham Smokehouse.  There's nothing better than a cold beer with good barbecue.  

Taylor brought out my two meat platter with side bowls of the pit beans and horseradish cole slaw. They had two different types of barbecue sauce - a thick sweet mild barbecue sauce and a hotter barbecue sauce that had a nice little spicy kick on the backside.  As I'm usually prone to do, I mixed both sauces together to get that spicy sweet flavor.

The brisket was thinly sliced and I didn't get much of a smoked taste with it.  Actually, it reminded me more of deli-sliced roast beef than a good smoked brisket.  It was all right, but it was certainly lacking that true brisket type taste and texture.  

The pulled pork, however, was excellent.  The pork had a good moist consistency with a hint of a smoky flavor.  Along with the mixture of the sweet and spicy sauces, the pulled pork was just outstanding.  

Normally, I like to add barbecue sauce to the baked beans at most barbecue joints.  I really didn't need to with the pit beans at Buckingham Smokehouse.  They were good on their own.  But even after adding the mixture of sweet and spicy sauces and mixing it all together, I thought the beans were outstanding. 

However, the highlight of the meal - to me - was the horseradish cole slaw.  It had a hint of spicy fresh ground horseradish mixed in with the sweet taste of the slaw.  The combination of tastes with each fork full of the cole slaw sent me over the top.  I wished after the meal was over that I had gotten a double order of cole slaw even though the pit beans were excellent in their own right.   

I came away pretty darn impressed with the overall meal at Buckingham Smokehouse.  The brisket was somewhat disappointing, but the pulled pork, the pit beans, the beer menu, the barbecue sauces and - most importantly - the horseradish cole slaw more than made up for it. Even with the sub-par brisket, I can't complain much about anything else regarding Buckingham Smokehouse.  I may have to try one of their locations when I get back down to Springfield at some point.  

Doe's Eat Place - Paducah, KY

On our way back from Florida a few weeks ago, I had planned on driving about nine hours straight through to Paducah, KY.  I had only one motive and plan - to finally eat at Doe's Eat Place in Paducah.  While Doe's now has franchised locations from their original Greenville, MS restaurant, the one in Paducah was started by - and still owned by - family members of the Signa family whose patriarch, Dominick "Big Doe" Signa, started the original Doe's Eat Place in 1941.  

The Signa family immigrated from Sicily and eventually moved to Greenville in 1903.  They opened a grocery store in a small building where the Signa family lived in the rear.  Doe Signa was born in The grocery store run by Doe's father catered to the large number of black families in the area.  The grocery store was doing pretty well up to the devastating Great Flood of 1927.  The Mississippi River flooded at record levels that year driving thousands of families from their homes.  Many of the families, mainly black families, migrated north to find jobs in the industrial Northern states.  Business took a drastic turn for the worse at Signa's store and it was going to be a long recovery due to the upcoming Great Depression.  It was then that Doe Signa decided that he needed to turn to nefarious means to provide for his family.  He got himself a 40-barrel still and made moonshine whiskey, a practice he continued well after the end of Prohibition in 1933.  It was said he eventually sold the still for $300 and Ford Model T. 

In the late 30's, Doe Signa got a job working at a cafeteria at a nearby air base outside of Greenville and his wife, Mamie, was running the store that had a honkytonk in front that catered to black people.  Doe somehow got hold of a recipe for tamales from one of the airmen he befriended.  Doe gave it to his wife who tweaked it a bit.  She improved upon the recipe and began to sell tamales out of the front part of the store in 1941.  Fish and chili were other items Mamie and Doe Signa would make for their patrons. 

Because of social issues in the 40's, white people didn't patronize Doe Signa's honkytonk.  But a white doctor making his rounds one day stopped in to see Doe coming in through the back door.  Feeling hungry, the doctor looked through the store for something to eat.  He found a steak that Doe had in the meat counter and the doctor asked Doe if he would cook it for him.  It was so good that the doctor would come back to Doe's when he was in the area on house calls.  Word of mouth got around that Doe Signa made a damn fine steak and suddenly white professional people were going to the back door for steaks while blacks still got chili, tamales and fish in the front.  It was sort of a reverse segregation at the time when most establishments didn't allow blacks in the front door.    

The steakhouse restaurant grew in popularity and Doe and Mamie eventually closed the honkytonk in front to make the whole place a restaurant.  Mamie Signa died in 1955, but Doe carried on with the help of his sons, Doe, Jr. (or Little Doe) and Charles.  Big Doe Signa retired in 1974 handing the restaurant over to Little Doe and Charles.  Charles eventually moved to Oxford, Mississippi and opened a Doe's Eat Place there (it closed in late 2007 after the landlord dramatically raised the rent) while Little Doe continued to run the one in Greenville.  The brothers had a little bit of a rivalry with the homemade tamales that they still made from their momma's recipe - both declaring theirs were better than the other's.  

Now, I haven't been able to fully ascertain when and why Charles Signa's son, Paul, ended up in Paducah, KY to open a Doe's Eat Place there as part of a downtown riverfront revitalization project.  Paul worked for his father in the Oxford location in the mid-2000's, so I'm guessing that he possibly moved up to Paducah sometime around 2007 or 2008 to open what is now the only other Signa family owned Doe's Eat Place.   Franchise locations have been around since the early 1990's in places like Little Rock, Fort Smith, Bentonville and Fayetteville, AR, Tulsa, OK and Baton Rouge, LA.  

After checking into the hotel, I set the GPS to take us through Paducah to Doe's Eat Place.  Downtown Paducah is a charming place for entertainment with a number of shops, bars and restaurants.  We really liked it just driving and walking around that night and again the following morning.  Cindy instantly fell in love with the downtown area.  

We found a parking space on Broadway, just down the street from Doe's Eat Place, which is just a couple blocks from where the mouth of the Tennessee River spills into the Ohio River. (see map)  It was around 8 p.m. when we walked through the front door into a bar area with a guy playing guitar to a small crowd of rather raucous - but in a fun way - people.   

The hostess met us at a station inside the first of two dining areas at Doe's Eat Place.  We were guided to an antique-style wooden table that had a serious leveling problem.  After running to the bar to get some coasters, the hostess steadied our table with about a half dozen of the drink coasters.  She dropped off a couple menus for us to look through.  

Our server for the evening was a young lady by the name of Carson.  In the southern tradition of naming a child after the mother's maiden name, I guessed that's how she got her name.  But she told us that named after Carson McCullers, the Southern Gothic-style author famous for short stories and novels set in the deep South.  Cindy's daughter was getting ready to have her second baby and was having trouble coming up with a name.  I thought the name Carson for a girl was rather cool.   

It had been a long day of driving for us and I needed a beer.  I saw that they had Schlafly Pale Ale available.  I was sort of surprised that they had Schlafly, the brewery out of St. Louis.  Then I remembered that Schlafly contracted with a brewery out of Nashville to make and distribute Schlafly products in the Southeast.  But then it dawned on me the next day that it's less than a three hour drive between Paducah and St. Louis.  I only had just the one beer that evening because we switched to a Malbec wine that we shared for dinner.

As I said, Doe's Eat Place is famous for steaks and tamales.  I figured we needed to get some tamales to start out.  We ordered up a couple for us to get started. 

The tamales were wrapped in corn husks and had a type of meat sauce filling.  They were different from most tamales I've had in the past.  The meat sauce wasn't all that spicy, but had a distinct flavor to it.  They came with a chili sauce on the side.  I didn't know the drill, but I guess you were supposed to put the chili on the tamales and eat them like that.  On its own, the chili was meaty and had a little bite.  Had I known that you were supposed to put the chili on top they may have helped with the overall taste of the tamales which I felt were just "OK".  

Carson came out soon there after and told us that they were out of 1 1/2 lb. T-bone steaks and baked potatoes.  I thought it was rather peculiar that they were out of baked potatoes by 8:30 in the evening considering that I saw a number of baked potatoes coming out of the kitchen and going past our table after she told us they were out of them.  But that was all right.

They had a number of different sized steaks on the menu at Doe's including and up to a 4 lb. strip steak.  The table next to us got a 3 lb. strip steak and four of the six people seated at the table carved meat from it in sort of a family-style fashion.  I wanted to get a picture of the steak before they started in on it, but I didn't want to bother them.  

The 1 1/2 pound T-bone was not a deal killer for me, either.  I figured to go with a filet and they had a number of different sizes of those as well.  I ended up ordering the 10 ounce filet - rare.  I got some of their "world famous" French fries for a side.  Cindy got the 10 ounce filet, too, only she got her's medium.  She chose the vegetable medley for her side.  

We both got salads with the house dressing.  Asking Carson what the house dressing consisted of she said it was a mixture of oil, vinegar and garlic chunks.  She had us at "garlic".  I asked if they had crumbled blue cheese and she said they did.  I asked her to throw some on top of mine.  The salads were actually pretty good with the basic oil and vinegar, but the combination of the garlic and the blue cheese made the overall taste just excellent.  

The steaks came out not long after we finished our salads.  The steaks were in sort of an au jus sauce and served with oversized and heavy duty steak knives.  Cindy's vegetable medley was pretty much non-descript while my "world famous" fries were crispy on the outside, but other than that they, too, were pretty basic French fries.  

But the steaks were a completely different story.  My steak was cooked perfectly with a cool and red center.  The steak was juicy, flavorful and very tender.  Along with the sauce on the plate - which was sort of a Worcestershire-based au jus - the steak was one of the better ones I've ever had.  It was just out of this world.  

Cindy and were stuffed after all that food and we decided to walk around downtown Paducah for awhile.  We found a number of other interesting restaurants and a couple places that had live music including a place behind Doe's Eat Place where a couple guys were playing in an open courtyard.  Even though we were stuffed, we ended up getting some ice cream at a place called the Ice Cream Factory which was part of a boutique hotel called the Fox Briar Inn.  It was a nice capper to an evening of fine dining.   

Doe's Eat Place was everything I hoped - and expected it - to be.  It was a unique dining experience all the way around.  The steaks were just excellent and I'd put Doe's up against some of the best Midwest and big city steakhouses that I've gone to over the years.  We absolutely fell in love with Paducah during our short overnight visit and made a vow to come back at some point in the not-so-distant future.  And I'm sure that Doe's Eat Place will be on our itinerary to try again. 

Modica Market - Seaside, FL

While we were on the Emerald Coast of Florida, we stayed a couple nights with my cousin, John, and his wife, Bonnie.  One of their favorite places they like to go to is a small market/restaurant in the planned community of Seaside, Modica Market, not far from their house in Santa Rosa Beach.  Bonnie knew that my wife is big on breakfast and she proposed going to Modica Market for one of their Belgian waffles one morning.

Charles and Sarah Modica operated a small grocery store in Bessemer, AL.  In 1988, the Modica's moved south to the new Seaside development that was being built along the coast.  They built one of the first houses in the planned community and after developer Robert Davis found out that the couple had grocery store experience, he asked them to own and operate the small market that he was building in the city center of Seaside.  Davis envisioned a small market that sold a little bit of everything, a place where people would have to make multiple trips to encouraging a neighborhood feel to the place.  

In 1989, the Modica's opened their market that catered to not only the local population, but to the thousands of tourists who came to the Emerald Coast each year.  Modica Market quickly became a local landmark with Charles Modica, Sr. being one of the area's most loved icons.  Dozens of local kids got their first job working at Modica Market, many of them calling Charles, Sr. as their first and foremost role model.

Pictured right - Charles Modica, Sr.

Charles Modica, Jr., and his sister, Carmel, also helped in the store.  Charles, Jr. worked along side his dad until Charles, Sr. retired in 2006, handing the reins over to Charles, Jr.  Charles Modica, Sr. died in 2010 and part of Highway 30A that runs through Seaside is named the Charles Modica, Sr. Hospitality Way. 

Carmel Modica lives just around the corner from my cousin and his wife and they've become good friends with her.  In fact, when Spring Break hits the Emerald Coast, my cousin volunteers at Modica Market to watch for shoplifting and to help out restocking shelves.   

Modica Market is located in Seaside's Central Square.  (see map)  The Central Square features shops and restaurants with a spoke of streets leading into the center area which features a sloping grassy area with a stage for live music and entertainment.  Due to the heavy rains they had just days before we got there, much of the area near the stage was roped off because the ground was still saturated.  

 
The inside of Modica Market features lively colors and high shelves with gourmet foods and boutique-style goods from both America and abroad.  Rolling ladders allowed for staff to reach for products on the highest shelves, but most of the items on the upper shelves were decorative in nature.  The majority of goods they sold in the store were available by standing and reaching. 

The deli part of the market is in the center of the store.  Breakfast in the morning includes Belgian waffles, breakfast sandwiches and pastries.  For lunch time, the deli will make fresh submarines and sandwiches.  Fresh baked goods are available at Modica Market.  

In 1996, the town of Seaside became a movie set for the Jim Carrey movie, "The Truman Show."  Many of the scenes were shot around Seaside and particularly in Modica Market.  Many townspeople - including Charles and Sarah Modica - were featured in the movie.  Many still shots of the movie were hanging on the wall near the front door.  I've never seen The Truman Show and I'll probably have to rent it at some point to see some of the places we saw in Seaside.

The beer and wine selection at Modica Market isn't extensive, but what they had was pretty impressive.  And, I would say, a tad bit pricey.  Many of the beers that I like and were available in the market ran a buck or two higher per six pack than what I would normally pay for the beer.  Same with the wine.  Bottles of wine that would be $15 to $20 bucks in Iowa were as much as 25% higher at Modica Market.

The deli/meat case at the kitchen area in the center of the store features fresh-cut meats, fresh deli salads and ready-to-eat foods.  The market also had a number of different types of gourmet cheese from around the world.  

It was time to order our Belgian waffles.  Bonnie ordered a Belgian waffle with strawberries.  I asked one of the young gals behind the counter if I could get fresh blueberries on mine considering I saw that they had blueberries for smoothies.  She asked another girl if that could happen and she said it was no problem.  

But the only problem was that the girl thought that both Bonnie and I wanted blueberries, so she made up two blueberry Belgian waffles.  The girl was going to take Bonnie's back and make a strawberry waffle for her, but it took about 10 minutes for a waffle to get made (there were a lot of people in line for Belgian waffles).  Bonnie just decided to take the blueberry Belgian waffle.  

Cindy didn't want a Belgian waffle figuring she could have a bite or two of mine and she ended up getting a spinach and feta cheese croissant that was already made up and wrapped in cellophane and sitting on the counter.  John just got a pastry for breakfast.  We each got fresh squeezed orange juice. 

After John paid for our food at the front counter with Charles Modica, Jr. manning the register, we found some plastic composite tables and chairs out in front of the place.  John and Bonnie were looking at the tables and said that they were brand new.  "Much more comfortable than the old ones they had," Bonnie said.  Carmen Modica told us later on that the city of Seaside had put the new tables and chairs in front of the market.

The Belgian waffles were served on paper plates and we had to eat them with plastic forks.  But the blueberries were big and juicy, the whipped cream on top was real whipped cream and the waffles were pretty darn good for basic Belgian waffles.  It was a nice simple breakfast.   Nothing fancy and definitely laid back. 

Modica Market caters more to an upscale crowd than just your normal run-of-the-mill grocery store.  Their gourmet items and unique food items sets it apart from a normal grocery store.  Major grocery chains have come into the area over the past few years and that's cut into Modica Market's bottom line.  But given the amount of people milling about and waiting in line to buy something at the register they didn't seem to be hurting.  Modica Market has seemed to achieve what developer Robert Davis envisioned for an old-style grocery store in Seaside - someplace that develops a sense of community within the small town.  And that's a testament to the two generations of the Modica family who have run the place for 25 years.  And it's what keeps the people coming back.