Road Tips

Konrad's Kitchen and Tap House - Lee's Summit, MO

On a recent trip to Kansas City, I went over to Lee's Summit on the southeast side of the great K.C. metro area to see one of my dealers around the middle of the day.  They asked if I was hungry and I said that, sure, I could eat something.  So we walked down a ways to a place they like to go to from time to time for lunch by the name of Konrad's Kitchen and Tap House.  

Joe and Julie Kemna are the owners of Konrad's Kitchen which opened in May of 2013.  The train illustration in the logo signifies that the restaurant is located near the train station and next to the railroad tracks in downtown Lee's Summit.  (see map)  

The interior of Konrad's Kitchen features a pretty good sized space with wooden floors and exposed rafters in the ceiling.  The bar area isn't all that large, but they do feature a nice selection of beers as well as a number of signature drinks.  Out a door off the bar area is an outdoor patio.  

There's a stage area along a brick wall in the main dining area where bands and musicians play three nights a week, Thursday thru Saturday.  The music goes until 10 p.m. on Thursdays, 12:30 a.m. on Fridays and 1:00 a.m. on Saturdays.  

It was toward the end of the noon hour when we made it into Konrad's Kitchen.  The menu appears to be typical of what you'd find at a typical tavern/saloon - burgers, sandwiches, appetizers and such.  But they also featured a K.C. strip steak entree as well as grilled fish tacos.  When I was going through the menu, I thought about getting the fish tacos.  

But my dealer took me there for what they called one of the best bargains for lunch in the area.  They have pizza at Konrad's Kitchen and they feature a $7.99 all-you-can-eat lunch special Monday thru Friday from 11:30 to 1:15.  My dealer told me, "We've come here at 1:10 and they only had a couple pieces of pizza on the buffet.  They'll ask us what we want and they'll make it up for us.  And it's only $7.99!"  

We had taken a table near the stage and our server, Jamie, came over to greet us.  My dealer said that we'd be going through the pizza buffet.  She said, "I figured that's what you were going to say."  

He turned to me when we were walking up to the buffet and said, "As you can tell, we come here quite a bit."  

They had a number of pizzas still on the buffet when we got there including one of their signature pizzas, the Train Wreck.  It was topped with just about everything - pepperoni, Italian sausage, pork sausage, beef, ham, green pepper, black olives, mushrooms - it looked overloaded with all the toppings.  

I ended up starting out with a couple pieces of the pepperoni pizza.  There was a thick crust on the outer edge with a thin - but not cracker thin - crust on the bottom.  The cheese was delightfully caramelized and was topped with large slices of salty pepperoni.  Although I would have liked to have had more pepperoni on the pizza, it was enough for what it was.  The pizza was pretty darned good.

I went back and grabbed a couple pieces of the Italian sausage pizza when they brought it out.  It was piping hot and had a good amount of chunky sausage on it.  Together, the Italian sausage and Italian sausage would have made for a fine pizza.

The pizza buffet and drinks for three guys came to under $30 bucks before a tip for Jamie.  She was attentive and even asked if there was any pizza they could make for us before they shut down the buffet.  We were happy with what they had.

I wouldn't mind heading back to Konrad's Kitchen at some point to try some of their fish tacos or one of their burgers at some point.  I liked the atmosphere of the place, Jamie's service was very good - even though we did the buffet - and I did like their pizza.  It was one of the better ones that I've had in the greater Kansas City area over the years. Konrad's Kitchen and Tap House is a good place to try if you're in the Lee's Summit area of Kansas City.  

Riverside Grille - Bettendorf, IA

Earlier this year, a new bar and grille opened in Bettendorf and we've been wanting to give it a try.  On a Monday night date night not long ago, my wife and I decided to give Riverside Grille a try for dinner. 

Riverside Grille is owned by Jim Mohr and Rich Sampson who also own the popular Parkside Grille over across the river in Moline.  Riverside Grille could be classified as a sports bar/grille as they feature 18 flat screen televisions mounted throughout the place.  It had a slick, contemporary feel to the place.  

It was around 6:30 when we went inside Riverside Grille.  The "riverside" name is a misnomer - it's not on the river.  In fact, you can't even see the Mississippi River from the place.  The Isle of Capri Casino sits between the restaurant and the river.  It's situated in a strip mall on the south side of State Street in Bettendorf.  (see map)

We were greeted by a young lady who escorted us to a table in the middle of the restaurant.  She dropped off a couple menus and our server, Jenessa, came over to greet us shortly after that.  

The first thing that impressed me was the admirable selection of locally brewed beers that Riverside Grille had to offer.  The Quad Cities has a handful of local breweries that made some pretty good beers.  

The food at Riverside Grille is mainly the usual pub fare - appetizers, sandwiches and burgers along with salads and wraps.  They also have daily specials that are off the menu.  The special that evening was a barbecued pulled pork sandwich with cole slaw on top of the pulled pork.  Sounded interesting, but I was looking for something else.

They had a pork tenderloin sandwich on the menu that sort of grabbed my attention.  But I finally decided to get the Angus beef burger with Swiss cheese, bacon and mushrooms.  I got two sides with it and chose the onion tanglers - basically onion straws - but was at a loss as to what to choose for my other side.  Jenessa said, "Our cole slaw is very good.  And I really like our baked beans."  I went with the baked beans.

Surprisingly - at least to me - Cindy chose the reuben sandwich.  I can't tell you the last time I was with Cindy when she ordered a reuben.  She got fries and she asked Jenessa if the cole slaw was made in-house.  Jenessa said that it was and Cindy took her word on it and ordered the cole slaw.  

The Angus burger was really nothing more than a processed burger that Riverside Grille got from a local food purveyor.  It was a tad overcooked and somewhat lifeless in taste.  The Swiss cheese, bacon and mushrooms helped with the overall taste, but it was a pretty basic burger patty.  The onion tanglers were overcooked and too crispy for my taste.  And the baked beans - they tasted like they were basically beans out of a can warmed up.  Overall, my meal was pretty underwhelming.

Cindy's reuben came on marbled rye bread.  The fries appeared to be handcut and the cole slaw was served in the same small tub that my beans came in.  Cindy tried the cole slaw first and she said, "Oh, there is NO way this cole slaw was made back in their kitchen."  She could tell it was the garden variety bland cole slaw that was bought from a food distributor.  

And the corned beef they used in the reuben was ultra-salty.  I don't salt anything, but Cindy will put salt on some of her foods.  For her to declare the corned beef as very salty, well, it HAD to be very salty  In fact, later on that evening her lips became puffy.  She said it was from all the salt in the corned beef.  She wasn't impressed with the sandwich.  

Another interesting point about Riverside Grille.  I went to use the restroom and I walked into what was one of the smallest men's restroom I've ever encountered in a sports bar.  It was basically a toilet and that was it.  I could almost imagine a Monday night with football on and a good crowd on hand with a long line outside the men's as only one guy can use the facilities at a time.  For a place that had a marked emphasis on sports - especially with 18 televisions throughout the place - it didn't seem like the restroom was planned out very well.   

We've since been back to Riverside Grille on a couple other occasions - once to have drinks with some of our neighbors and another time to give it a second try on the food. The service during all of our visits has been very good, but the food didn't improve much - if at all - from our first visit.  I mean, it's all right for bar food.  But as nice as the place appears to be on the inside and out, the food doesn't live up to the promise.  It's a good place to visit and to watch some sports while you're sipping a beer or a mixed drink.  But the food is a little under par compared to what we thought it could - or should - be.  

el Bait Shop - Des Moines

I have had el Bait Shop on the south side of Des Moines' downtown area on my "Restaurants to Visit" list for a long, long time.  I've dined at its sister (and attached) restaurant the High Life Lounge a number of times (click here to see my post on the High Life Lounge), but have never ventured over to the el Bait Shop side of the building.  On a trip earlier this year to Des Moines, I made it a point to get something to eat at el Bait Shop.  

El Bait Shop is one of the many restaurants under the Full Court Press umbrella of restaurants that include Hessen Haus (click here for my entry on Hessen Haus), Fong's Pizza, Mullets, and, of course, the High Life Lounge.  It opened in 2006 and quickly became known for its extensive variety of beers on tap and in bottles.  El Bait Shop features over 100 beers on tap.

You can't miss the taps behind the bar at el Bait Shop.  I got in there around 9:00 p.m. that particular evening and took a seat at the bar.  One of the bartenders gave me a menu and I looked through their beer selection.  Imagine my surprise to find that they had Lagunitas IPA on tap - I didn't know that Lagunitas was available in Iowa.  The bartender told me, "Yeah, we just got Lagunitas back in July.  I take it that you're familiar with their beer."  Oh, yeah...

The interior of el Bait Shop could be described as delightfully tacky.  Even more delightfully tacky than any Hooters I've been in - which has been a long, LONG time since the last time I was in a Hooters.  They have a lot of kitsch hanging from the walls giving it a somewhat cluttered - but interesting - look.  

There was an area that paid homage to former professional wrestler Ric Flair.  Flair won more championship titles than any other pro wrestler and his large portrait was the centerpiece of a display of dozens of other professional wrestlers - many of whom used to wrestle in Des Moines years ago.  

Going through the food menu I found that they have the typical bar appetizers - wings, quesadillas, onion rings - but they also have something called bacon wrapped tater tots.  They were tater tots and chopped jalapenos that are wrapped in bacon, deep fried and then topped with cheddar and jack cheese.  Now THOSE sounded good!  

Because they share the kitchen with the High Life Lounge, the menu also features some of the comfort food favorites on the menu next door.  (Similarly, many of the el Bait Shop menu items are available next door at the High Life Lounge.)  Some of the specialty sandwiches served at el Bait Shop include a Spam, egg and cheese sandwich; a maple sausage, egg and cheese on Texas toast; and a good ol' Sloppy Joe sandwich.  

But I was interested in the "el Bait Shop Specialties" part of the menu which included fish tacos.  For $7.99 you could get two flour tacos filled with seasoned and grilled tilapia filets and topped with shredded cabbage, pineapple salsa and cilantro cream sauce.  Black beans and rice came on the side.  (For two bucks more, you could get seasoned grilled shrimp.)  

And that's exactly what I ordered.  I like good fish tacos and the ones at el Bait Shop were very good.  The fish was fresh with a nice little spicy seasoning, the cilantro cream sauce was a nice balance to the somewhat spicy taste of the fish.  I added rice and black beans to the tacos to give them a full hearty taste.  They were nice and light - not too filling - and tasted fine.  For fish tacos, I'd give them a B+.  

So, yeah, el Bait Shop is fun and kitschy.  The food is a step above typical bar food (especially with the help of some menu items culled from the High Life Lounge) and it's difficult to find a place with a more wide variety of beers than what they have to offer on tap and in bottles.  It's a place that if you're 22 or 62 you'll have fun in and get a good meal.    

Umi - Springfield, MO

Springfield, MO is one of my all-time favorite places to travel to.  But a number of stores in the area were in flux over the past three or four years so I didn't have much of a reason to travel there until I got a call from a long-time dealer whom I've wanted to do business with for a number of years.  I signed him up earlier this summer and I've been back a couple times to do training and some business meetings.  Two of the guys working for my new dealer worked for my old dealer that I called on years ago.  After doing training one night, I wanted to take them out to dinner and I suggested that we go back to Haruno, a surprisingly great sushi place that they first took me to about 8 years ago.  (Click here to see my post on Haruno.)  One of the guys said, "Haruno is very good, but there's another place that opened up not long ago that is every bit as good as Haruno, but it won't be packed like Haruno."  The name of that place is Umi Japanese Restaurant.  I was intrigued and we drove over to Umi located in a strip mall just south of Battlefield on S. Kimbrough Ave. (see map)

A gentleman by the name of Spring Park is listed as the owner of Umi which - in addition to sushi - serves a full menu of steaks, seafood and chicken entrees.  The place was very dim on the inside - even with a blazing evening sun, it was very dark inside.  I had trouble adjusting to the level of darkness in the place.  Every picture that I tried to take of the interior of the place didn't come out.  

And the guy was right - Umi wasn't packed at all when we got in there around 7:30.  We were seated right away at a table and greeted by our server, Dillon.  We each got sushi menus and one of the guys suggested getting a plate of some of the various specialty sushi rolls Umi is locally famous for.  He took the lead in ordering up sushi rolls that included the Kiss and Cry Roll, the Ninja Roll and the Touchdown Roll.  I always have to get a spicy tuna roll so we tacked that on, as well.

The plate came to the table and it was filled with a number of rolls in different shapes and colors.  The Kiss and Cry Roll featured spicy crab, red snapper and jalapenos on the inside and layered with chopped avocados, jalapenos, tobikio eggs, and a mix of four different spicy and sweet sauce - including a wasabi sauce - on the outside.  Oh, man - was it delicious.  

The Ninja Roll had spicy tuna, smoked salmon, cream cheese, Sriracha sauce, sliced avocado and crab, then it's deep fried with sweet sauce on top.   The Touchdown Roll was made with fresh spicy crab and topped with green onions on top.  Both of those were very good, as well.  The spicy tuna roll was equally tasty with generous amounts of spicy tuna inside the rice roll.

Even with all we had to eat, a couple of us were still hungry.  I wanted to try their nigiri sushi (with rice) and I asked Dillon to send us out some smoked salmon, red snapper, tuna and regular salmon.  We got six pieces of the smoked salmon, and a couple pieces each of the other sushi.  Like the specialty rolls, the fish was fresh and flavorful without a hint of a fishy taste.  The smoked salmon had a brisk smoky flavor but it wasn't overpowering at all.  With all the specialty rolls we had, it was all I could do to finish a couple pieces of the smoked salmon, one of the tuna nigiri and one of the the red snapper (which one of my guests pointed out may or may not have really been red snapper).  Nevertheless, the sushi was very good.  

I have colleagues who are dead set against having sushi at any place that is more than 100 miles from the nearest ocean.  But I have to say that I have now had sushi at two places in Springfield, MO - 600 miles from the Gulf of Mexico, 1000 miles from the Atlantic Ocean and 1500 miles from the Pacific Ocean - that was very good to outstanding.  Umi was another surprisingly great sushi place in Springfield.  The sushi was fresh, the specialty rolls were interesting and very good, and Dillon's service was also very good. The only quibble I would have with the place was that it was too dark and dank.  Still, they served up some pretty damn good sushi.

Q-BBQ - La Grange, IL

In the western suburbs on a recent trip to the greater Chicago area, it was getting to be around lunch and I was hungry for some barbecue.  I hit the GPS and looked for barbecue places in the area.  One of the first ones that popped up was a place called Q-BBQ in downtown La Grange.  I headed over to find that place and was pleasantly surprised to see a nice building along La Grange Road in downtown La Grange.  (see map)  I was able to find parking nearby and went into the place.  

Michael LaPidas is a graduate of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb and is a self-described "trained-eater, not a trained-chef".  After college, he opened a Roly-Poly sandwich franchise in the Q-BBQ location in downtown La Grange and dabbled in local politics and in charity work as a fundraiser.

Pictured right - Michael LaPidas (Photo courtesy Chicago Sun-Times)

LaPidas discovered a love for good barbecue after having a particularly good beef brisket during a trip in the South and and began to travel extensively looking for the best barbecue places.  Immersing himself into the culture of barbecue, LaPidas learned about smoking techniques, what types of wood to use, different types of sauces - everything that went into what he called "America's original comfort food."  After a year of figuring things out, LaPidas opened Q-BBQ in 2009.   

LaPidas must have done a good job of figuring things out - he opened a second location in Naperville in 2012 and the third Q-BBQ location opened in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood in the fall of 2013.  Also in 2013, Q-BBQ snagged a coveted Bib Gourmand rating from the Michelin restaurant guide for Chicago.  That was something I never realized until after going to the original Q-BBQ in La Grange earlier this summer.

The interior of the restaurant has sort of a contemporary industrial look.  There's an outdoor patio seating area for the warm months with a main dining room that is split in two by a center aisle that takes patrons to the ordering area.  The menu is on chalkboard on the wall behind the front counter with a small glass door refrigerator stocked with bottled beers.   Country music from the 80's and 90's was playing in the background on the rib joint's sound system.   

While the menu isn't extensive, it features Memphis-style (dry rubbed) baby back ribs, Carolina-style pulled pork, either chopped or sliced Texas-style beef brisket, along with pulled chicken and spicy sausage.  I ordered up the two meat sampler plate of sliced brisket and pulled pork.  The only problem was that I was told that they were out of brisket.  Hmmm....  That was a problem because I don't really care for pulled barbecued chicken or sausage all that much.  But then someone from back in the kitchen announced that they did, indeed, have brisket.  I also ordered some of their baked beans and fries to go along with the meal.  For a beer, I ordered the Lagunitas IPA.

The plate was brought out to me about five minutes after I ordered.  It was served upon a metal sheet pan with wax paper below the food.  There was a generous amount of sliced brisket and pulled pork sitting in opposite corners.  A large amount of hand cut fries sat in the middle of the two meats with a small container of baked beans off to the side.  A signature item at Q-BBQ - hush puppies - were provided at no charge.  I'm not big on hush puppies, but I did try one and it wasn't too bad.

The sauces they had on the table included a sweet Memphis-style sauce that had a bit of a smoky flavor to it.  The Texas spicy sauce got my attention with its subtle spicy flavor.  There was also Carolina vinegar sauce that looked more like balsamic vinegar and it didn't do anything for me when I tried it on the pork.  The fourth sauce - a mustard sauce - I didn't want any part of that.  That may taste good on sausage, but I'm not too fond of mustard sauces for barbecue.  

The meats were very good - the pulled pork was moist and flavorful.  It had a nice bark on the outside of the meat and had a great taste on its own.  Adding some of the Memphis sweet sauce along with the Texas spicy sauce gave it a great and zippy taste. 

The brisket had a nice smoke ring around the outside.  It, too, was very flavorful - easy to cut and chew.  I like a good brisket and the brisket at Q-BBQ was some of the best I've had.  

The baked beans had small chunks of pork mixed in with them.  On their own, the beans were very good.  I usually have to add some barbecue sauce to most baked beans I get at barbecue joints just to help jazz up the taste.  But the beans at Q-BBQ didn't need much help at all.  

And the hand-cut fries were thick with a crispy outside and a nice potato taste inside.  I alternated dipping some of the fries into the sweet and the spicy barbecue sauces.  But there was way too many of the fries for me to finish.  By the time I got down with the pulled pork, brisket, a good portion of the beans and about half the fries I was stuffed.  I'm not certain that I even got dinner that evening because I was still full from lunch.  

Q-BBQ was a pleasant and surprising find.  The overall dining experience was very good including the very good barbecue they serve at the place.   Given the amount of barbecue places I've been to during my travels, Q-BBQ acquitted themselves very well against more established rib joints that I've been to.  Q-BBQ is highly recommended by Road Tips.    

Smith's Restaurant - London, U.K.

On our trip to the U.K. for Naim Audio training, we finished up on Friday and had planned on flying back to North America on Saturday.  However, we found that if each of us - eight of us in total - flew out on Saturday it would cost our company upwards in the area $10,000 more than if we spent a night in London at a hotel, had a couple nice meals and then flew out on Sunday.  Leaving it up to my colleague Ian to find us a place to eat that evening, he picked out a winner in the Wapping neighborhood of London along the River Thames - Smith's Restaurant.  

Since 1958, Smith's Restaurant has been synonymous with great food and "famous for fish".  Mike Tavener and Darren Leitsch purchased the Smith's Brasserie in Ongar, Essex - north and east of London - in 2007.  Famous regulars of the Smith's Brasserie location in Ongar included David and Victoria Beckham, as well as Rod Stewart.  Tavener had longed to put a second restaurant along the River Thames in central London.  As a boy, he used to sit in a pub with his parents along the Thames having lunch and looking out over the river.  

Tavener bought a building that used to house Smollensky's Bar and Grill at Cinnebar Wharf along the Thames in 2009.  It's walking distance to the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge and offered great views of the bridge, the contemporary Shard high-rise, and Butler's Wharf.  Executive Chef Stephen Bard had trained at Scott's Restaurant in Mayfair and was the head chef at the J. Sheekey seafood restaurant in the Charing Cross area of central London before coming over to Smith's Restaurant.  The first patrons at the new Smith's Restaurant in Wapping were served on May 4, 2011.    

Because of the popularity of the restaurant, we were unable to get a reservation any earlier than 8:45 in the evening.  It was about a 10 minute cab ride from our hotel on London's east end to the restaurant.  From the outside the restaurant was pretty non-descript.  But walking into the place told another story.

The inside was very contemporary with a large wine selection inside a glass-enclosed case to the left as you walked into the entrance hallway.  The hallway emptied into a small bar area.

A few steps up from the bar was the dining area.  Sleek and cozy, the dining area faced the Thames with an outdoor dining patio just beyond the windows.  The day had been a combination of rain and sunshine and the patio was closed for the evening.  

As we sat down at a large rectangular table next to a large window looking west, one of my colleagues remarked, "Holy cow!  Look at that view!"  Just up river from Smith's Restaurant was the Tower Bridge, the ultra sleek skyscraper known as the Shard, along with a number of wharfs across the river.  The sun was peeking out above the horizon as the clouds were beginning to move out for the night.  It was a spectacular sight.

It was so spectacular that a number of us went outside to take pictures along a railing above the Thames.  The scene with the back lit Tower Bridge and the contrast of the sunlight and the gray clouds, along with the contrast of the old wharfs with the Shard looming in the background made for a once in a lifetime shot.  I took four or five photos of the scene hoping that at least one of them came out.  

Gathering back inside the restaurant, we settled down and began to look through the menu that Smith's had to offer that evening.  Seafood was the main focus, but there were also steaks, cornish hen, chicken, lamb and duck entrees on the menu.   They also had a number of tempting appetizers on the menu, as well.  We decided we'd start off with a few appetizers, get some wine ordered and then go from there.  

The wine list wasn't overly extensive featuring a number of white and red wines - more white's than red's because of the seafood focus on the menu.  But our group all loves big hearty red wines - even with seafood.  My colleague Ian picked out a Spanish rioja wine from the Soligamar winery.  It had great body and was a very meaty red.  

We ordered a number of items - onions rings and calamari with an outrageously great garlic mayonnaise were two of the items that were shared at the table.  But some of us ordered individual appetizers.  My colleague Todd order the oysters on the half-shell.  Big and meaty, the oysters were some of the largest I've seen.  However, Todd - playing the "top this" game told us of hand-sized oysters that he ate during a visit to his parent's home on Prince Edward Island earlier this year.  He offered one of the oysters to me, knowing my penchant for a good oyster and I'll have to say they were very good.  

But I ordered the best appetizer of the evening - the John Ross Jr. oak-smoked Scottish salmon.   Actually, I didn't know how much I would be getting but when the waiter brought out a plate covered with thinly cut, but wide slabs of smoked salmon - well, it looked like it could have been a main entree.  And the taste - oh my GOD!!!  I love good smoked salmon sushi, but this was a taste that was unlike any I've had before.  The salmon had a good smoky taste, but not overpowering.  It literally melted on my tongue.  There was a lot of it, so I offered a number of my dinner partners a little piece of it.  Had I not been intrigued with a couple things on the menu, I would have seriously considered getting another plate.  

For dinner, I got the lemon sole in butter garlic sauce with a side of grilled scallops topped with a lobster sauce.  I also got a side of the chips (steak fries) and asked the waiter if he could bring out a side of the outrageously great garlic herb mayonnaise to dip the fries into.  The fries on their own were very good - excellent, as a matter of fact.  It was the third straight night-time meal where the chips were outstanding.  They really know how to make a great steak fry in the U.K.  They were NOTHING like I've ever had in the U.S.  And with the garlic mayo dipping sauce, it made the fries even more sinful than they were.

Here I am - carrying on about the chips like they were the highlight of the meal.  Thankfully, they were not.  The lemon sole was light and flaky with a wonderful citrus taste.  The lobster sauce was a nice complement to the fish.  And the scallops were good sized, meaty and had an excellent butter-grilled crust on the outside.  This was simply and awesome meal.  

Speaking of lobster, one of my colleagues got the 1.5 pound lobster.  The body was cracked open and the claws were cracked for easy access.  It looked very good.  My colleague said it was superb.  

Across the table from me, one of my colleagues got the Scottish Highland beef filet with a side of the peppercorn sauce.  It came with a grilled tomato - I found that to be a staple with steak dishes in the U.K. - and it came with field mushrooms and watercress.  The steaks at Smith's Restaurant are aged 28 days before serving.  My colleague thought it rivaled steaks he's had in the U.S.  

Below left is - I believe - the Scottish Highland prime sirloin steak that one of the guys got.  It featured tender pieces of beef with an au jus sauce drizzled over the top.  It, too, looked pretty damned good.  

My colleague John was seated next to me and he had probably the best idea of the evening.  Since it was getting late in the evening, John didn't want a big meal.  He asked our server if he could just have a North Atlantic white fish - and that's it.  The waiter suggested a grilled cod topped with a lemon butter sauce.  When it was set in front of him, John said, "This is perfect!  This is all I need!"  I leaned over to him when he was about halfway through the fish and asked how it was.  "This is excellent," he said matter of factly.  "This is awesome fish."  

I was pretty full from dinner, but some of the guys wanted to get dessert.  My colleague Todd spied profiteroles on the dessert menu.  He was going nuts that they had profiteroles.  I had never heard of them.  Immediately, Todd and my colleague Ian chastised me for not knowing about profiteroles.  It was like I crawled out from under a rock in their eyes.

Profiteroles are a French pastry that is basically a creme puff in the U.S., only much smaller.  They're filled with either ice cream, whipped cream or a pastry cream.  The ones at Smith's Restaurant were filled with real whipped cream and rolled in powdered sugar.  The profiteroles were then drizzled with a chocolate sauce and served with strawberry slices.  Todd offered me one and I have to say the richness of the deep fried puff filled with the whipped cream was almost intoxicating.  Todd and Ian were continuing to harangue me.  "I can't believe you've NEVER had these before in France," Ian said.  When I get dessert when I'm in France, it's usually creme brulee.  That's probably why I'd never noticed profiteroles on the menu before.  (In France they're known as choux à la crème.)

This was simply a Top Ten meal in my book.  The setting along the River Thames, the stunning views from the restaurant, the smart and elegant decor, the top-notch service and the excellent food made Smith's Restaurant one of my most memorable restaurant experiences. More than three months after my visit, I still have tremendous memories of the place and will put it down as one of the all-time best seafood restaurants that I've ever been to 

(Here's a bonus picture after the meal was finished and we were waiting for our cab to pick us up.  The River Thames, London Tower and the Shard at night.)

Wente's O&W - Chesterfield, MO

While in the Chesterfield Valley in the far western suburbs of St. Louis recently, I decided to have lunch at a place that I hadn't been to in quite sometime - Wente's O&W.  I used to work for a company in the Chesterfield Valley nearly 20 years ago and we used to go there every once in a while for lunch or dinner.  It became a favorite place to stop when I had the chance for years after.  But it had simply been years since I was last in the place.  

Bob Wente was a noted midget car racer in the St. Louis area.  He got the racing bug when his parents took him to a race track as a little boy and he raced in his first competitive midget race at the age of 20.  10 years later he won his first United States Auto Club (USAC) national championship after finishing second three years in a row.   Wente eventually got to race in the USAC Championship Car Series - basically the Indy car series of its day.  He had 11 starts for the series and ended up with 5 Top Ten finishes.  

Pictured right - Bob Wente (Photo courtesy St. Louis Post Dispatch)

The highlight of Wente's career came at the 1964 Indianapolis 500.  After trying to qualify for the 500 for four years, he finally made the field starting in the middle of the back row.  A horrific wreck on the second lap happened in front of Wente who steered clear of the raging fire.  Despite being penalized for driving off the track and not through the fire, Wente eventually finished ninth during his inaugural Indy 500.  Luck and bad timing cost Wente other shots at driving at Indianapolis on Memorial Day weekend and he ended up going back to racing midget cars full time.  Bob Wente ended up second on the all-time list of most midget car victories behind the legendary Mel Kenyon.  

Wente retired from racing and opened his restaurant in Chesterfield.  He called it Wente's Open Wheel, which was eventually just shortened to Wente's OW.  My old boss who first turned me on to Wente's years ago told me that Bob told him that two many people were calling it Wente's "ow!", like what you'd say when you got hurt.  So he changed it to simply Wente's O&W.  

Bob Wente ran his restaurant up to his death in 2000.  His son Terry - who was also a midget car racer - took over the restaurant upon his father's death.  He continues to run the place today.  

Wente's O&W is located on Chesterfield Airport Road in the midst of office parks and near the Spirit of St. Louis airport. (see map) Wente's is one of the older structures in the ever growing Chesterfield Valley that has seen an explosion of retail stores, restaurants, small businesses and office buildings over the past 20 years.   

Wente's O&W features a number of racing memorabilia throughout the place.  The place is nothing fancy and it's cozy enough to make it inviting.  With all the businesses in the Chesterfield Valley, you'll often see guys in suits seated at a table with construction workers seated at the next table.  Wente's appeals to all walks.  

It was around 1:30 when I got into Wente's.  It was a cloudy day with mist in the air so it was pretty dark in Wente's.  They have an outdoor patio, but no one was sitting out there because of the moisture in the air.  It looked pretty much the same as it did the last time I was in there so many years ago.  

I took a seat at the bar and was greeted by one of the bartenders, Amber.  She gave me a menu and I immediately ordered up a Budweiser.  (When in St. Louis...)   She gave me a few minutes to figure out what I was going to get.

The racing theme extends to the menu with their "Green Flag" appetizers, their "Lap 1"  is an assortment of salads, "Lap 2" is the low-carb portion of the menu, with "Lap 3" being their pizzas.  I sort of remember their pizzas - thin crust and topped with a lot of cheese.  In fact, I almost went with one of their 7" luncheon sized pizzas.  

"Lap 4" on the menu features Wente's smoked barbecue items including ribs, brisket, pulled pork and smoked chicken wings.  "Lap 5" features the dinner platters including an 8 ounce ribeye, fried chicken entrees and a fried cod plate.  "Lap 6" are the available side items that you can order including 1/2 orders of onion rings, breaded mushrooms and jalapenos, and baked potatoes.  (These are available after 2 p.m.)

"Lap 7" was getting into my wheelhouse - steak sandwiches and burgers.  Wente's uses only Certified Angus Beef for their steaks and burgers.  They have a number of specialty burgers on the menu including the Funny Car burger that features a blackened patty topped with pepper jack cheese and fried jalapeno rings.  You can also build your own burger from their basic 1/4 pound burger (or a 1/2 pound burger for $1.29 more).  

The menu ends with the "White Flag" specialty sandwiches that include a breaded pork tenderloin sandwich, a corned beef sandwich, a club sandwich, and something called "Scotty's BLT" - 1/3 pound of bacon with lettuce, tomato, mayo, American cheese and garlic butter on Texas toast.  And the "Checkered Flag" portion features chicken and fish sandwiches.  There's a little bit of everything on the menu at Wente's O&W.  

I went with the double (1/2 pound) burger with Swiss cheese, sauteed mushrooms and bacon.  Amber asked me if I wanted fries with my burger and I sort of turned up my nose at that.  "Cottage cheese?  Baked beans?  Cole slaw," she asked me.  I finally decided on the fries.  

The burger was topped with copious amounts of mushrooms, a couple thick slabs of bacon and Swiss cheese.  Skinny fries came on the side with the burger.  (I found later that I could have had steak fries instead of the regular fries.  I have been on a steak fry kick since I got back from England which had - by far - the best steak fries I've ever had.)  The flat-grilled burger was big, but manageable.  

The first bite was a memory jogger for me - I forgot how good Wente's burgers were.  The burger was juicy, messy and great tasting.  They have rolls of paper towels on the bar and I had to tear off at least five sheets during the course of eating the burger.  It was a glorious messy burger full of flavor.  The fries were basically a throw-away for me.  It was all I could do to eat the burger at Wente's.  

I was certainly glad to get reacquainted with Wente's O&W after all these years.  The food is good to very good for the type of bar/saloon food fare that they serve.  I've always liked going into the place years ago and I feel bad that I've neglected going back in until now.  It's one of those places that never really changes.  And sometimes that's not a bad thing.

Whataburger - Miramar Beach, FL

On our trip to Florida earlier this year, my wife took the first driving shift of the Nashville to Florida leg of the journey.  After driving through torrential rains in Northern Alabama and through traffic in Birmingham, she decided she'd had enough and pulled over south of Birmingham to have a bathroom break and to have me drive the rest of the way.  She pulled up to a gas station/convenience store that was next door to a Whataburger.  Whataburger!  One of my all-time favorite burger places!  I hadn't been to a Whataburger in probably 12 years.  We'd had a large breakfast and it was around noon, but I was far from hungry.  But I got to wondering - if there are Whataburgers in Alabama, I wonder if there are any in the Florida panhandle?  The simple answer was - yes.  We found one in Miramar Beach, not far from our hotel.

Harmon Dobson was a post-World War II entrepreneur in Texas dabbling in diamond trading, shipbuilding and oil drilling.  It was 1950 and Dobson had a vision of a hamburger where people would have to take one of his burgers by both hands, bite into it and say, "What - a - burger!"  He shared his vision with Paul Burton and promised to finance Burton in the new venture.  To get things started, Dobson trademarked the Whataburger name in June of 1950.  

Instead of a two ounce "slider" type burger where the meat was frozen before thawing and cooking, Dobson's and Burton's burgers were 4 ounce burgers - fresh ground beef, never frozen.  Each Whataburger was going to be topped with fresh veggies - chopped lettuce, three tomato slices, four dill pickle slices, chopped raw onions, mustard and ketchup.  And each burger would not be grilled until the customer ordered it.   

Harmon Dobson went to a local bakery to get 5-inch buns (instead of the regular 2.5-inch buns).  Since 5-inch buns were a new concept, the Dobson and the bakery had to find bun baking trays that were able to accommodate the larger buns.  Once that was accomplished, the first Whataburger opened in Corpus Christi in August of 1950.   Burton made $50 the first day and four days later they sold over 550 burgers.  Whataburger was an instant hit.  

Pictured right - Harmon Dobson standing outside the original Whataburger stand.

Because of that, Dobson had to go back to the bakery to see if they could make more buns.  The bakery couldn't afford to get more of the bun trays, so Dobson financed the purchase of more.  

After a year in business, Dobson realized that at 25 cents a burger he was losing money.  He proposed raising the price to 30 cents - something that Burton vehemently resisted.  Burton and Dobson decided that it was best to part ways, but as part of a severance to Burton, Dobson gave him the rights to future Whataburger franchise locations in San Antonio.   Burton eventually put Whataburger locations in San Antonio and ran them up until his death in 1970.  Dobson owned the full rights to Whataburger after the break-up.

Dobson raised the price of the burgers to 30 cents, explaining to customers on a sign in front of his business, "Folks, we priced our burgers too low and we lost our shirts.  Sorry, but we gotta raise our price to 30 cents."  People still came in for Whataburgers at 30 cents each, and they kept coming in a few months later when Dobson was forced to raise the price to 35 cents.  

Dobson was a pilot and he used to fly his plane above Corpus Christi with trailing a Whataburger banner, dropping coupons for free Whataburgers.  He also realized the importance of eye-catching architecture and colors.  He adopted the distinctive orange and white-striped color scheme along with the A-frame structure that would house future Whataburger locations.  The first A-frame Whataburger location opened in Odessa, TX in 1960.  

Whataburger's first franchisee was awarded to Joe Andrews of Alice, TX in 1953.  By that time, Dobson had three Corpus Christi locations and soon opened his fourth in nearby Kingsville, TX.  In 1959, Harmon Dobson opened the first Whataburger outside of Texas in Pensacola, FL.  By 1967, 40 Whataburger locations were spread from Arizona, Texas, Tennesee and Florida.  

In April of 1967, Dobson and a business associate were taking off in Dobson's private plane from a small airport in LaPorte, TX.  Something happened during the ascent and the plane crashed killing both men.  Harmon Dobson's will stated that he wanted the Whataburger business to continue to grow in the vision he created if anything should happen to him.  His wife, Grace, took over the business.  But she wasn't interested in the day-to-day operation of the business and subsequent head executives were from outside the Dobson family.  

While Whataburger grew over the next 25 years, corporate management lost sight of Harmon Dobson's mission.  They introduced breakfast items, salads, soups and sandwiches.  The original Whataburger got lost in the mayhem of the menu.  Finally in the early 90's, franchisees threatened an uprising with the son of the original franchisee, Joe Andrews, Jr., leading the charge.  Sales had dropped over the previous six years, locations needed to be modernized, and many franchisees felt the company had lost focus on its core product - the Whataburger.  

In December of 1993, Harmon and Grace Dobson's son, Tom, was unanimously elected as the president and CEO of Whataburger.  Almost immediately Tom Dobson instituted changes that included going back to making a "made-to-order" family meal at a fair price.  Soon after the younger Dobson took over, Whataburger opened its 500th location.  They were named the No. 1 restaurant franchise by the Nation's Restaurant News in 1995.  

Pictured right - Tom Dobson

Today, Whataburger's corporate offices are located in San Antonio having moved there in 2009 because of a more plentiful talent pool for corporate employees.  Tom Dobson is still the Chairman of the Board of Whataburger with Preston Atkinson serving as the company's C.E.O.  There are over 700 Whataburger locations in about a dozen Southern states from Arizona to Florida.  Over 600 locations are owned by the Dobson family.  Whataburger does over $1 billion in sales annually making them the 8th largest burger chain in the U.S.

The Whataburger in Miramar Beach is right along the main drag, Highway 98, also known as the Emerald Coast Highway (see map).  It wasn't far from the Hilton Sandestin Beach where we stayed for a few nights during our visit.  It was well after the lunch rush when we pulled into the parking lot and went inside.  

This Whataburger location is like many others that I've been to over the past 35 years. It's clean, bright, and comfortable enough for a casual fast food-style restaurant.  The only thing is that Whataburger's food is made to order - they give you a number after you order and bring the food out to you.  

The menu is on the board behind the front counter.  My standard order at a Whataburger is a double-meat with cheese and everything.  That's a 1/2 lb. double cheeseburger with the usual lettuce, tomato, pickles, chopped onions, mustard and ketchup that you find on any Whataburger - and the way it's been for over 60 years.  They have single, double and triple meat Whataburgers as well as a jalapeno cheese Whataburger, a bacon cheese Whataburger, and an avocado bacon Whataburger served on Texas toast.  

They also have a number of specialty burgers at Whataburger including a double meat Whataburger with green chiles, an A-1 Whataburger topped with bacon and A-1 sauce, and a Monterrey-melt double meat Whataburger topped with melted slices of American and Monterrey Jack cheese and a blend of grilled peppers & onions, finished with a dollop of jalapeno ranch dressing.  The also have breaded and grilled chicken sandwiches as well as chicken strips and chicken bites.  

So, I stepped up to the counter and ordered a double meat Whataburger with everything.  Cindy stepped up next and ordered the same thing.  Immediately, I said, "Oh, honey.  I don't know.  That's a big-assed burger."  

The lady at the cash register pretty much echoed the same thing.  "I don't think you can eat a double meat, girl,"  she said.  Then she showed Cindy that she could get the double meat Whataburger Jr. with cheese.  Cindy went with that.  She also ordered some of their fries and a vanilla shake. 

It was about 10 minutes or so before one of the Whataburger workers came out with our burgers.  Double wrapped in yellow paper, the burgers were hot off the grill.  

It had been a long time since I'd had a Whataburger but from the first bite it was exactly the taste that I remembered.  Flat grilled burger patties, toasted bun, a plethora of toppings including the chopped fresh white onions.  It was just a fabulous burger all the way around.

Cindy had to concur.  She really liked her double meat Whataburger Jr.  She said, "Everything is so fresh and tasty.  This would be a great burger even if we were in a regular restaurant.  Heck, this is better than a lot of places we've HAD hamburgers in!"  

Another thing that I love about Whataburger is their spicy ketchup.  When the lady brought out our food she also had a little holder of regular and the spicy ketchup from Whataburger.  The spicy ketchup has a minor kick to it - nothing that is too forward or forceful in taste - but enough to let you know that it's got some zip to it.  They may it with a red jalapeno puree added to the base.  With the fries that Cindy had ordered, I  had to dip a couple into the spicy Whataburger ketchup.  I even ended up putting some on my burger.  It's killer stuff.  (I understand that you can get Whataburger spicy ketchup in some grocery stores in the South and Southwest.)  

Cindy became a Whataburger convert that day.  On our way home through Alabama, we found another Whataburger just north of Birmingham and stopped in there for lunch.  We pretty much had the same thing that we had down at Miramar Beach.  The consistency within the Whataburger locations is what makes it a great place for a quick burger with no frills.  Whataburger is truly one of the most underrated "casual food" burgers in America.  I just wish they had them closer to the Midwest.

The George - Fordingbridge, U.K.

On our last night in Salisbury, our host from Naim Audio, Doug, took us to a little pub near his home.  It was about a twenty minute drive from our hotel in Salisbury down to a quaint little village by the name of Fordingbridge.  We wheeled up in front of The George, a gastropub along the banks of the Avon river.  We were told it would be one of the finest meals on our trip.  With a promise like that, I went in with high expectations.  

The George is an 18th century pub that sits next to a seven-arch medieval bridge, known as the "Great Bridge", of which the historic former market village of Fordingbridge got its name.   The building itself dates back to the late 16th century (and possibly even before that) and is the village's oldest pub.  Originally known as "Le George", it has also been known as "The Great George" before the name was changed to simply "The George" in the late 18th century, possibly as a reference to King George III.  

A young couple simply known as Caroline and James bought the George a little over a year ago.  Caroline had a long history in the catering business while James managed one of the U.K.'s most popular pubs, The Original Oak in Leeds, a number of years ago before getting into a sales career.  Wanting to get back into the pub business, James and Caroline made the plunge and bought the George in September of last year.  

We were dropped off in a parking lot that you entered through a stone arch next to the George. (See map)  Entering the building from the front you come into one of three indoor dining areas.  This one is located on the bar level and that's where we ended up seated for the evening.  It was a little loud with locals milling about.  And it was also somewhat interesting that a handful of people brought their dogs into the restaurant with them.  You don't see that in the States very often.  

The bar area was small, but somewhat stylish and contemporary.  Given how old the building was, it was a complete contrast to the outside decor of the building.  Bartenders were working fast and furiously trying to keep up with all the drink orders.  

Off to the side of the bar area was a little den-like dining room with a fire place.  It was a cozy little room and would be a nice place to hang on a cool winters day.

Behind the bar was a step-down to another dining room that looked out onto the deck and out onto the River Avon (above right).  The southern part of England sustained some heavy flooding in the late winter earlier this year and the Avon was out of its banks on a couple occasions.  I was told that this particular room was under about two feet of water for a long period of time.  

But the most popular place that particular summer's eve in England was on the deck along the Avon.  The two tiered deck was full of people enjoying a nice cool evening along the river.  And below is the scene they looked out on.

The original medieval bridge over the Avon is on the left and its hard to fathom that this tranquil river was a raging torrent of water a few months ago.  I fell in love with the George at this point.  I wouldn't have minded if the food was horrible from that point on.  

Speaking of the food, the menu at the George is not extensive but features steaks, seafood, chicken entrees, vegetarian dishes and various appetizers.  I was past the point of the notion that there were no good restaurants in England, so I was looking forward to trying a couple of things.  

For an appetizer, I ended up getting the pan-fried mushrooms in a port and Stilton cheese sauce.  A couple slice of homemade bread came with the appetizer.  The mushrooms were wonderful and the port and Stilton cheese sauce was a great complement to them.  I could have had a couple more of those for my dinner and called it a good meal.

My main entree was the char-grilled ribeye topped with a garlic/herb butter and served with triple-flashed chips (fries) and a roasted tomato.  The steak was very good - tender, juicy and full of that great steak flavor.  But I have to tell you - I have NEVER had fries as good as the ones at the George.  First of all, they fry them in beef fat - not too healthy, yes, but OH - so good.  They fry them three times in short durations.  It makes the outside of the fries crispy, but keeps the inner potato nice and fluffy.  They were just to die for.  

One of my colleagues seated near me got the seared scallops that rested on a bed of new potatoes, black pudding and sun-dried tomatoes with watercress interspersed on the plate.  He said the scallops were absolutely great.  

Here's the fish and chips that my colleague Matt got.  He was seated next to me and he said, "Hey, I'm in the U.K.  I may as well get some fish and chips while I'm here."  And it was a pretty impressive piece of beer batter haddock that they gave him.  It came with the triple fried chips and a side of what were basically mashed peas.  I told him the peas look they came out of a jar of baby food.  He said the fish was very good.

And while on the topic of fish, our host, Doug, had ordered the George's famous fish platter as an appetizer.  However, due to a missed communication in the kitchen it didn't arrive on our table until the main entrees showed up.  But we were fine with that.  It featured a mix of seafood including prawns in a Marie Rose sauce (which is sort of a British version of shrimp cocktail sauce that consists of ketchup, mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce, brandy, lemon juice and Tabasco), tempura prawns, breaded whitefish, cold smoked trout from the nearby Rockbourne Fisheries which is famous for in-stream trout fishing, crab meat, pickled cucumbers with homemade bread.  The Marie Rose sauce was outstanding with the prawns - I'll have to try to make that for shrimp at some point.  And I have to say that the smoked trout was excellent, as well.  

For dessert after my very good meal, I signed up for the creme brulee.  Our host, Doug, gave me a tutorial on what is actually the best creme brulee.  "If the sugar coat on top is too hard and tough to chip through, then it usually means the custard underneath is too done and rubbery.  If you can crash through the sugar coat easily and there's a bit of play in the custard, then that's the best."  I've had a lot of creme brulee in my life and I had to say that I never took the time to figure out what is good or bad.  I usually can tell if it's too done just by the hardness of the custard.  The creme brulee at the George was nearly perfect.  I got a cup of double espresso, as well.  I don't know why I got it as I didn't get to sleep until after 1 a.m. as the caffeine kept me up.  But it went well with the creme brulee after dinner.

Doug also ordered up a fondue for the table.  It came with various things to dip into the hot chocolate and different types of granulated sugars to roll the fondue in after it comes out of the pot.  I didn't try any because I was so stuffed.  But it was a decadent end to a very good meal.  

The notion that the U.K. doesn't have very good food went completely by the wayside that evening.  Well, I knew that there were some very good restaurants in England and that our hosts would be taking us to some of them.  While I really didn't try true British fare while I was in the U.K., what I had in terms of upscale meals were very good.  The George was no exception.  We had a very good to great meal there.  You couldn't beat the ambiance of the place.  It was a true highlight of our trip to the U.K.

Back Alley Burger - Elmhurst, IL

A place that has been on my "Restaurants to Visit" list for the last year or so is a two location burger joint in the western suburbs of Chicago - Back Alley Burger.  The story of how the husband and wife team ended up transitioning from fine dining chefs to running a gourmet burger joint was pretty interesting to me that I had to give the place a try at some point.  On a recent visit to the Chicago area, I finally had the chance to do so.   

Chris Spagnola was attending the California Culinary Academy (which is affiliated with the prestigious Le Cordon Bleu school of culinary arts) in San Francisco where he met fellow student Mary Libsch.  The two found that they had a common philosophy in the type of cuisine they preferred - "ingredient driven".  After graduating from culinary school, the two ended up in the western suburbs of Chicago where they opened a fine dining restaurant by the name of Maison in LaGrange.  

Things change quickly in the restaurant industry and the two closed Maison a year or so after it opened.  But they had caught the eye of veteran restaurateur Emilio Gervilla of Emilio's Tapas with a location in downtown Chicago and in the western suburbs.  Along with Gervilla, Libsch and Spagnola partnered up for Emilio's Sunflower Bistro in the original Maison location.  The little restaurant was more upscale than Emilio's Tapas and offered full entrees rather than the tapas plates at his other restaurants.  

Pictured right - Chris and Mary Spagnola

The partnership with Gervilla eventually dissolved in 2009 and Libsch and Spagnola were again off to find another culinary path.  In the same space they came up with the concept for Knead Marketplace, a little coffee shop/cafe in the daytime with an upscale bistro menu at night.  They featured some gourmet burgers on the menu at Knead and the two - now married - saw a market for a casual, yet upscale burger place.  They closed Knead in the fall of 2010 and remodeled the space into the first of two Back Alley Burger locations.  Their second location in Elmhurst - the one I went to - opened in early 2013.  

The meat for the burgers at Back Alley Burger is combination of grass fed and corn feed beef.  The have a source for their beef that starts off feeding the cattle natural grass for the first two years, then putting the cattle on a strict corn diet for two months before slaughter.  According the to Spagnola's, this method marbleizes the meat and gives it an extra juiciness.  

Back Alley Burger has also garnered a reputation for their vegetarian burger - called one of the best in the Chicagoland area.  After trying the usual black bean vegetarian burger, the two came upon a concoction of quinoa, edamame, peas, carrots, onions and cilantro into their veggie burger.  It's certainly one of the more interesting veggie burger I've heard about.  

The Elmhurst location of Back Alley Burger is just to the west of the intersection of Illinois Route 83 (a.k.a. Kingery Highway) and W. St. Charles Road.  (see map)  It's not a large place with a series of booths along the windowed walls and tables and chairs in the middle part of the main dining area.  It has sort of a contemporary industrial look with diamond aluminum sheets for accent all around the place.  

The menu is located on four flat screen television monitors over the main counter.  In addition to their burgers, Back Alley Burger also features a number of salads and sandwiches along with a number of sides that include fresh cut potato fries, sweet potato fries, onion rings, fried pickles and any combination of chili, cheese and fries.  There's also a kids menu at Back Alley Burger.  

In addition to their veggie burger, they also have a ground turkey burger that is topped with green olives, mayo and Swiss cheese.   The "Crabtastic" burger is a house-made slightly spicy crab cake burger topped with spicy jack cheese and a tartar sauce.  They also have an Italian sausage burger, a gyro burger, and something called the "B.F.D." burger - the B.F.D. stands for Breakfast for Dinner.  It features an Italian sausage patty topped with a fried egg, green onions, cheddar cheese and spicy mustard on a pretzel bun.

Some of the featured burgers at Back Alley Burger include the "Maui Wowie" burger that features a burger patty topped with fried Spam and pineapple and finished with a sweet barbecue sauce.  The "Brooklyn Burger" has a patty topped with warm pastrami, 1000 Island dressing and sauerkraut.  The "Meister Burger" is topped with Merkts cheddar cheese spread, salami and sauerkraut and served on a pretzel bun.  And for the brave there's the "Most Insane-est Hottest Burger Ever-est" which starts out with a 1/2 pound beef patty and topped with Trinidad scorpion pepper sauce, fried jalapenos, habanero jam, bhut jolokia pepper flakes and Thai chile cream cheese and served on a cayenne spiced Kaiser bun.  Yow!  

They also have an extensive "Build Your Own Burger" selection.  They have two different sizes of beef patty - a 1/3 pound and a 1/2 pound patty.  (Turkey, veggie and grilled chicken breast can also be ordered.)  They have five different types of buns from a Kaiser, pretzel, whole wheat, white and Pumpernickel.  For 75 cents each they have a variety of cheese offerings including American, cheddar, Merkts cheddar, spicy jack cheese and blue cheese.  From there you have your pick of nearly two dozen free toppings including white or red onions, grilled onions, pico de gallo, chipotle ketchup, cucumber slices, and jalapenos.  For a buck more each, you can add bacon, grilled mushrooms, a fried egg, chili, salami, Spam or any of the hot items found on the "Most Insane-est" burger.  

I went with a 1/2 pound burger patty and I added Swiss cheese, sauteed mushrooms and bacon.  I had them put the chipotle ketchup on it along with yellow mustard and chopped white onions.  And I got the pretzel bun.   For a drink, I got a Lagunitas IPA from their extensive beer list.  

The burger came out with knife embedded in the top of the pretzel bun.  I know this drives the author of the great Midwest food blog Jeni Eats absolutely crazy when they do this and it mildly annoys me.  The burger was big, but it didn't really need cut in half.  And it was just a butter knife, not a steak knife.  Put it on the side, please.

Taking the knife out and taking a look at the what was underneath the hood, it unveiled a thick slab of Swiss cheese hiding sauteed mushrooms and bacon slices on top of the burger patty.  There was already a lot of juice on the plate from the burger.

The first bite was one of "Wow!  This is a very good burger!"  I had ordered it medium, but it was plenty pink in the middle - more of a medium rare.  I like my burgers cooked a little bit more than that, but this was still a fine burger.  The juice was pouring out of the burger making it a definite 7-napkin lunch.  Pictured left is the aftermath of the burger.  

The pretzel bun was a great touch to the overall taste of the burger, the thick cut bacon was a nice addition, and even though I couldn't get much of the chipotle taste of the ketchup, it wasn't overpowering.  This was simply an excellent burger.  

I've got to hand it to the Spagnola's - they make a mighty fine burger at Back Alley Burger.  While it was a tad undercooked for my liking, it was still one of those burgers where I went "Mmmmm...." after the first bite.   It was juicy, flavorful and almost more than I could handle with one burger.  Do yourself a favor - stop at one of the Back Alley Burger locations in the western suburbs of Chicago.  You won't be disappointed.   

Whale's Tail - Destin, FL

One day while out doing some sightseeing up and down Florida's Emerald Coast with my cousin and his wife, we decided to go get some lunch at a seaside restaurant.  We found a place that my cousin was somewhat familiar with, but hadn't ever been to before - the Whale's Tail on Miramar Beach in Destin.  We parked down Scenic Gulf Highway from the restaurant (see map) and walked over to the place.  

For over 30 years, the Whale's Tail has been serving locals and tourists that come to the Destin area.  It is part of the Seascape Resort which is located just across the highway from the Whale's Tail.  It's open to the general public and serves breakfast, lunch and dinner.  There's also a downstairs bar in the Whale's Tail for easy access for people on the beach.

The view from the Whale's Tail is spectacular.  Cindy wanted to go somewhere where we'd get a great view and hear the waves coming in.  You get that and more from the deck at the Whale's Tail.  The gulf waters were about 200 feet from the building.

We were greeted by a young hostess with a thick Eastern European accent who wanted to know if we wanted to eat inside or out on the deck.  We opted for the outside seating.  The deck was nothing more than a series of picnic tables - and not very comfortable at that.  

The inside seating was a little nicer, but didn't offer the view the deck did.  it had a nautical theme and featured stirdy tables and chairs - much more comfortable than the picnic tables on the deck.  There was a small upstairs bar to complement the bigger bar downstairs.  

We were looking through the menu when our server, Miriam, came over to greet us.  She, too, had a thick Eastern European accent - possibly Russian.  I could hear a number of the waitstaff talking in some sort of dialect that sounded like they may have come from that part of the world.  Actually, we encountered a number of Eastern European service people during our trip to the Emerald Coast.   

The menu at the Whale's Tail is pretty basic.  Their breakfast menu features three different types of omelets, French toast, a basic egg sandwich and the standard two eggs scrambled or fried, choice of bacon or sausage patties, fried potatoes or grits and toast.  The dinner part of the menu was also rather boring with crab legs, steamed or fried shrimp, oysters and a choice of three types of fish - mahi, grouper or tuna.  

The lunch menu wasn't much more exciting.  They had a burger, a patty melt, a grilled ham & cheese sandwich, and either fried shrimp or fried oyster Po-boy sandwiches.  The menu looked like it was designed for a 17-year-old kid to handle working as a grill cook for the first time.   

Interestingly, they had grouper fish tacos on the menu and that's what Cindy got.  They were three soft tortilla shells filled with seasoned grilled grouper with chopped tomatoes, lettuce and red onions.  A small bit of cole slaw came on the side.  Cindy thought they were delicious.  

Against my better judgement, I went with the Cuban sandwich.  I have yet to find a great Cuban sandwich outside of the ones I've had in Miami years ago.  The sweet Cuban bread makes the sandwich.  I figured that since we were close to the Cuban sandwich strongholds of Tampa and Miami, they could have a good one at the Whale's Tail.  I was wrong.  This was nothing more than a pressed panini sandwich with ham, cheese and pickles.  It was, well, blah...

Bonnie went with the crab cake sandwich which she thought was pretty good.  John couldn't find anything appealing to him on the menu so he just ended up getting the 1/4 pound hot dog.  We flipped him a small ration of shit about getting a hot dog and he said, "Hey, I felt like having a hot dog!"  Actually, I know what he means as I like to get a good hot dog from time to time.  But the hot dog at the Whale's Tail looked pretty basic.

Cindy couldn't eat her full plate of fish tacos, so she offered me one of hers after I'd finished half of my sandwich.  They tacos were very good - fresh grouper with a bit of a spicy seasoning on them.  The chopped veggies were fresh and went well with the fish.  Once again, Cindy got something that was much better than what I had.  

Other than the spectacular view, I can't really give a glowing report on the Whale's Tail.   The menu was basic, my sandwich wasn't anything special, the service was efficient if somewhat robotic, and the picnic tables were a little uncomfortable. The fish tacos were very good, however. I think the Whale's Tail is a place that you go to in a pinch for a quick and basic meal, or you go to hang out in the bar and watch the surf come in.  Of all the places we ate at on our trip to Florida, this was probably at the bottom.   

The Workingman's Friend - Indianapolis

On my list of places to try for quite sometime is a place in Indianapolis called the Workingman's Friend.  They've been in business for nearly 100 years, 3 generations of family members have owned the place, and they're famous for their flat-grilled double cheeseburgers.  I was driving down to Indy from Chicago and decided along the way to find the Workingman's Friend to have lunch that day.  

Louie Stamatkin was a 21-year-old immigrant from Macedonia when he left that war torn country exactly 100 years ago to find a better life in the U.S.  After being processed through Ellis Island, Stamatkin ended up in Indianapolis.  He wanted to open a little tavern/diner and he found a small house with dirt floors and pillars holding up the ceiling near the old Baltimore and Ohio railyard north and west of downtown Indianapolis.  He opened his little tavern - the Belmont Lunch - in 1918 with most of his customers working at the railway roundhouse just north and east of his building.

When Prohibition hit the next year, that didn't deter Louie as he made bootleg whiskey and sold it under the counter at his little establishment.  Word of Louie's bootleg whiskey went far and wide, usually to travelers who used the B&O railways to get back and forth across the nation.  His bootleg whiskey was so popular that when a certain circus would come to Indianapolis they would call ahead and order 200 half-pint bottles of whiskey from Louie.  

When the Depression hit in 1930, many of the railyard workers were living payday to payday and usually didn't have extra cash for something to eat.  Louie would let the workers run tabs for food - he wrote nothing down and it was all done on the honor system.  When payday would come for the workers they would diligently walk over to Louie's diner and pay him what they could.  The workers began to refer to Louie as "the workingman's friend."  

Louie's little diner/tavern made it through the Depression, Prohibition and World War II.  When Louie passed away in 1946, his sons Carl and Earl took over.  Within five years they had built, basically, a new structure around the old house without having to close the doors.  They also changed the name of the place from the Belmont Diner to the Workingman's Friend in tribute to their father.  The interior of the Workingman's Friend looks pretty much the same today as it was in the early 50's.  (The restrooms were updated a few years ago.)

Carl and Earl didn't always see eye-to-eye on business decisions and Earl ended up leaving the Workingman's Friend in 1965.  He eventually started up a Burger Chef franchise which eventually became a Hardee's.  Earl didn't have any children so upon his death, the Hardee's franchise was willed to two of Carl's children from his first marriage.

Carl's ten children came from two different mothers - Mary (Monroe) Stamatkin was the mother to Linda, Larry, Gary and Terry; while Mary Alice (Gill) Stamatkin was mother to Becky, Louie, Steve, Chris, Earl and Danny.  Mary Alice Gill came to work at the Workingman's Friend in the early 50's.  She had a full-time job at Bell Telephone, but started to work in the kitchen on a part-time basis.  She eventually quit her job at Bell and became the full-time cook at the Workingman's Friend.  And soon thereafter, she ended up marrying Carl Stamatkin.  

Steaks, stews and Balkin salads were the main draw in the 60's, but suddenly Mary Alice's double cheeseburgers became the rage with the politicians, sports figures, working-class patrons and captains of industry who came to the Workingman's Friend for lunch.  In the 60's and 70's, medical students from the nearby Indiana University School of Medicine would frequent the place for 10 cent sandwich and beer specials.  

Carl had a stroke in the early 90's that forced him to retire from the bar.  Mary Alice cut back her kitchen duties to help take care of Carl and her daughter, Becky, took over the kitchen duties.  Carl's son, Terry, was a fixture behind the bar for over 25 years before he tragically passed away not long ago.  (Carl passed in 2004 and Mary Alice peacefully passed away in 2008.)  Today, Becky Stamatkin is the third generation family member to run the Workingman's Friend.  Her partner, Shelley Grover, is the general manager of the place.  

l It was Shelley Grover who greeted me in a very matter of fact way when I sat down at the bar after I arrived at the Workingman's Friend.  (see map) "Ever been here before," she asked in a somewhat curt and gruff manner.  After I told her I had not, she said somewhat tersely, "This is a cash only place, we're famous for our double cheeseburgers, onion rings, and our 32 ounce fishbowl beers."   She was definitely no-nonsense in her demeanor and somewhat hard edged.  I ordered up a 32 ounce draft beer and a double cheeseburger.  "No onion rings," she inquired brusquely.  Nope, that's it.  A big beer and a double cheeseburger.

There's still a number of items in the Workingman's Friend that date back to the 50's.  The cash register, juke box and bar are all the same as they were when the Stamatkin brothers remodeled the place.  The poles in the center of the dining area are the original support poles from the original building from the early 20th century.  The tables and chairs from the 50's were replaced when they remodeled the bathrooms a little over 10 years ago.  The place is what I would affectionately call a dive bar.  

There's more than just double cheeseburgers and onion rings on the menu at the Workingman's Friend.   They also have chicken sandwiches, pork tenderloins, Cincinnati-style chili (with pasta), and appetizers such as fried pickles, chicken fingers and fried zucchini.  For the diet conscious, they also feature a diet plate consisting of a burger without a bun, tomato slice and cottage cheese.  And they have fries - seasoned, sweet or regular.  It's typical working class bar food.  

My burger came out and Shelley served it to me wordlessly, placing ketchup and mustard in front of me.  I don't know if she was always that inhospitable or if she was having a bad day, but I was beginning to think that she didn't care for me.  I was about halfway through my burger when she grabbed both the mustard and ketchup bottles from in front of me and plunked them down in front of someone else.  I just had to laugh silently at how brash she seemed to be.  

The burger, itself, was pretty damned good.  They use an 80/20 mix in their beef at the Workingman's Friend and the burgers are flat-grilled.  The burger patties had a crispy outer layer.  There was a small flat two-sided bun in between the burger patties which both had slices of American cheese on top of them.  While I don't care for the crispy nature of flat-grilled burgers, I liked the burger a lot.  I was glad I didn't get the onion rings because the double cheeseburger was more than enough of a meal for me.  It stayed with me a good portion of the day.  

Other than the bartender's rather hard attitude, I liked my visit to the Workingman's Friend.  Heck, with that kind of bar you'd almost expect that kind of attitude.   Workingman's Friend is the kind of place that appeals not only to the working class but to professionals and ordinary people, as well. Yeah, it's a dive, but it's a great throwback place and there's a lot of history in the building.  And it just so happens that the Workingman's Friend has one of the best burgers in Indianapolis. 

Anokaa - Salisbury, U.K.

On our first night in the U.K., my co-workers and I were pretty burnt out from the overseas flight and subsequent meetings with Naim Audio.  We were taken to our hotel for a much needed shower and beers in the hotel's pub.  For dinner that night, our company's Naim Audio "expert" Manu (sort for Emmanuel) suggested an Indian restaurant that he has frequented on his many trips to Salisbury over the years - Anokaa.  "It's sort of Indian/Asian fusion meets French cuisine," he told us.  Indian food was on my list of things to try while I was in the U.K., so I enthusiastically welcomed the suggestion.  

Anokaa - which means "exceptional" in Hindi - features a number of modern twists on traditional Indian foods and not another "curry house" that proliferates the U.K. culinary landscape.  That's been owner Solman Farsi's mission since he originally opened the restaurant in 2004.  Farsi imports many of the spices he uses in his kitchen directly from India.  

It was about a 5 minute walk through the streets of old Salisbury from our hotel to Anokaa that evening.  (see map)  The restaurant has a very contemporary design inside and out, a stark contrast to buildings up and down the small streets of the city of about 60,000.  

Inside Anokaa, the decor was sleek and stylish with subdued lighting throughout the place.  We had a short wait near the bar up front before we were seated at a long table in the far back of the restaurant.  It was very busy in Anokaa, the sign of a very popular restaurant.  

The menu at Anokaa is self-described as including "only the freshest of ingredients, authentic herbs and spices plus rare and unusual specialities to offer a modern twist on traditional Indian cuisine."  They had a number of starter appetizers on the menu ranging from strips of Welsh lamb meat with ginger and coriander, to hand-picked crab cakes with toasted coconut, to goan beef which were cuts of tenderloin beef filets that are soaked overnight in a yogurt and rum marinade.  

For the main entrees, it was far from the normal Indian food that you'll find stateside.   They had a cinnamon-glazed duck breast, a spice crusted chicken breast, char-grilled guinea fowl breasts, and a steak filet marinated in a medium-heat spiced onion marinade.  They also had their own interpretations of Indian food including an Old Dehli chicken curry that was glazed with honey and orange and placed in a rich tomato and cream sauce.  There was also a tandoori-seared rack of lamb cooked with sweet chiles and marjoram, a corn-fed chicken biryani, a curry lababdar with a choice of either chicken or prawns, and a chicken masala stuffed with avocado.  Anokaa also had a number of vegetarian entrees, seafood entrees and traditional Indian food such as vindaloos, tikka masala, bhuna, korma, etc., etc.  

We decided to just let Manu order up a bunch of stuff and we'd just dig in family-style.  But our host, Doug, was sort of wary of this.  "The last time I was here with Manu we had so much food on the table after the appetizers, when the main courses showed up we about died on the spot!"  Manu promised he'd not go overboard this time.  

The first thing they brought out to us was the papadum bread - the thin chip-style bread - along with an impressive array of chutneys and sauces.  There was a sweet and somewhat spicy chutney that I damn near drank directly out of the bowl, it was so tasty.

The starters came out soon thereafter.  Above left is the goan beef slices.  The beef was exceptionally tender and the chile sauce had a bit of a bite on the aftertaste.  The presentation was very French, hence Manu's explanation that Anokaa was an Indian restaurant with a French flair.  

The duck tikka (lower left) was a big hit on the table.  It had a citrus flavor and covered in a seared onion chutney sauce.  I'm not big on duck, but those little guys were fabulous.  

The pankoras (above right) were a delectable little vegetarian appetizer that were shallow-fried nuggets of spinach, mashed potatoes, onions and crushed coriander seeds.  The chutney sauces that came with the pankoras were delicious, as well.  

Quite honestly, after the appetizers were over I was nearly satiated.  But then the main entrees came out with many howls of protest and derision toward Manu.  But everything looked so good that we had to give it a try.

The rogan josh-style Welsh lamb shanks were something that was placed in front of me.  I usually don't care for lamb shanks, although I do like a good rogan josh, vindaloo or curry with lamb.  But the lamb was so tender and fell easily from the bone without a hint of fattiness in the taste.  They really do know how to do lamb correctly in the U.K.

The Old Dehli chicken curry (above right) was also wonderful in taste.  It wasn't overly spicy and had a great overall flavor.  The chicken was also tender and easy to cut with a fork.  I took some of the naan bread that we had on the table and dipped into the curry sauce.  It was just wonderful.

Now, I believe the picture lower left is of the duck jaalsha.  I remember having duck at the table and how we thought there would be a fight that would break out over the duck.  The duck jaalsha featured lean duck breast pieces that were quickly crisped over charcoal, then mixed with apricot, ginger and white wine, then simmered in a strongly spiced sauce with cream of coconut and cardamon.  I can't even begin to describe how good it really tasted.  

One of the other popular dishes at the table was the curry lababdar with the prawns.  The curry had a great little spicy kick and the prawns were good-sized and meaty.   The Kingfisher beer that I was drinking helped cut the spiciness of the sauce pretty well.  

We also had a medley of sauces that I don't quite know what they were that were served with the naan bread.  They were probably a chutney sauce, but they were different from the ones we had gotten with the papadum earlier in the meal.  There was one that was sort of sweet and spicy, one that was sort of spicy and the third was a "burn-your-face-off" spicy.  I really liked the combination of the sweet and spicy sauce on the naan.  

The meal at Anokaa was a great start to our trip to the U.K.  I'd heard that the Indian restaurants in England were top-notch and would put many of the ones in the States to shame.  While I don't quite know about that (as I have eaten in some pretty good Indian restaurants in the U.S. over the past four or so years), the food at Anokaa was not only excellent, it was very interesting and intriguing.  We had exceptional service all evening long with two or three guys taking care of us at all times.  I was full, spent, and needing a bed after finishing our meal and the 10 minute walk back to the hotel.  Our meal at Anokaa was truly a culinary experience. 

Upland Brewing Company (Carmel Tap House) - Carmel, IN

I had a long day of travel and ended up with a couple meetings in Indianapolis on recent trip back out there.  I was on my way to my hotel and I decided I wanted to stop for dinner and a couple beers before I got there.  Checking my GPS to see what might be in the area for brewpubs or something along that order, I found a place listed called the Carmel Tap House in north suburban Carmel.  When I got there, I found that the place was actually owned and operated by the Upland Brewing Company, a microbrewery/brewpub out of Bloomington.  I've never been overly enamored with Upland's beers, but I thought I'd give the place a shot.  

The original Upland Brewery was founded in 1997 and began to produce beers in 1998.  Founders Russ Leavitt, Dean LaPlante and Marc Sattinger came out with their first beer, the Upland Wheat, in kegs and bottles while opening their first brewpub in Bloomington.  The trio got the Upland name for the rolling hills that were found throughout Southern Indiana.  (It's actually very beautiful countryside down there.  My sister, brother-in-law and two nieces lived in nearby Jasper, IN for over 20 years.)  Within four years, Upland beers were available all throughout Indiana and into the Louisville area.  

In 2006, Leavitt, LaPlanted and Sattinger sold the brewery/brewpub to Middlecourt Holdings, a Bloomington-based investment firm that was headed by Doug Dayhoff, a local insurance guy.  Dayhoff became the managing partner/president of Upland Brewery and guided the company in its growth with a new brewing facility and beer tasting room, increased Midwestern distribution (including entering the Chicago market last year), and a partnership with Fuller's Brewery from the U.K. to market some of their beers in the Midwest.  

Caleb Staton is the head brewmaster at Upland overseeing the production of over two dozen everyday, seasonal and specialty beers in addition to their Side Trail Series of beers and 16 different fruit-infused sour beers.  You can find Upland beers in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky and Ohio in addition to all over the state of Indiana in bars, restaurants and liquor stores.  

Upland Brewery opened the Carmel Tap House in late April of 2013.  It was the second Upland location in the greater Indianapolis area, there's also a tap room location in the Broadripple area of Indianapolis.  But the Carmel Tap House is the first Upland location in Indianapolis to serve food.  

Thanks to a pretty heavy thunderstorm, travel around Indianapolis and up to Carmel was pretty slow that evening.  I pulled into the Carmel Tap House's parking lot around 8 p.m.  (see map)  (Don't make the mistake of trying to enter on Guilford, like I did.  There's no way to get to the parking lot for Carmel Tap House.  You take Walkabout Circle, then make a right and another right into the parking lot.)  

I was greeted by a hostess who asked me where I'd like to sit.  The brewpub was sort of a contemporary industrial-type of place.  With a nice sized bar and a lot of natural light from windows.  They have an outdoor patio, but no one was out there because of the storms that had just traipsed through the Indianapolis area.  I decided to sit at the bar.  She left off a menu and a few moments later the bartender, Jeromy, greeted me and asked what I'd like to have to drink.  I took a look at the beer list on the board and decided upon an Easy Chair amber ale.  

The food at the Carmel Tap House is of farm-to-fork variety.  They work with local and regional farmers and growers to procure and serve farm-raised foods when possible.  Their appetizers include soft pretzels, pulled pork tacos with the pork from the Fischer Farms of Minnesota, and edamame hummus.  They have some interesting pizzas including a beet pizza featuring sliced red and gold beets, and a chicken/bacon barbecue pizza.

They have a number of soups, salads and sandwiches including a classic pork tenderloin sandwich that Indiana is famous for.  But for the health conscious, they also have a seitan (a vegetarian wheat gluten) tenderloin, as well.  They have combinations of grilled chicken sandwiches, farm-raised beef burgers and buffalo burgers.   

The main entrees include a pale ale marinated steak, corn-dusted pan-fried walleye, and a duck breast schnitzel that is hand-breaded and pan-fried, then served with a warm apricot chutney, sweet and sour cabbage, and Idaho potatoes.  Now THAT sounded really interesting.  

But what really caught my eye was a special they had that evening, the grilled salmon tacos.  They grill the salmon with spicy seasonings and place them on flour tortillas with a house-made salsa, chopped tomatoes and cilantro, and served with sides of a blistered corn salsa and borracho beans - basically pinto beans in a broth.  me people refer to borracho beans as "drunken beans".  

The fish tacos were very good.  The salmon was tender - a little fishy in smell and taste, but nothing that was a deal breaker.  The chopped tomatoes and cilantro were fresh and flavorful adding a nice balance with the spicy seasonings that were on the salmon.  I added some of the borracho beans and the corn salsa to the tacos to give it a number of exquisite flavors with each bite.  After a couple bites, I couldn't taste that fishy smell that I got initially.  It was simply a satisfying meal.

I've never been a big fan of the Upland beers, but I was happy with the Easy Chair amber ale.  And I was more than happy with the food I had at the Carmel Tap House.  The menu seemed to be above par for a brew pub and the salmon tacos were a nice little culinary diversion from the burgers, pizza and other stuff that I usually find when I'm on the road.  With all the different beers that Upland has to offer and the diverse food menu that the Carmel Tap House has, there's a little bit of everything available for anyone if you go there.