Road Tips

Le SO - Paris

On my last full day in Paris earlier this year, I was still feeling a little queasy from my bout with what was either food poisoning or my body's rejection of a very good - and very rich - duck entree I'd had a couple days prior.  Our host from Devialet, Julien, specifically asked me what I'd like to have for lunch.  I had managed to down a croissant at breakfast along with some water, so I thought I could go for something a little more substantial, but not exotic.  I said, "You know, I think I need just a good ol' burger."  He knew exactly where to take us, a little bistro not far from the office by the name of Le SO.  

Le SO is one of those little Parisian bistros that isn't very big and features a small bar, sidewalk dining and a number of very uncomfortable chairs that are extremely too close to the floor to get in and out of.  We walked less than two minutes down Rue Montmatre to the corner of Rue Paul Lelong and to Le SO. (see map)

Le SO is named after the owners of the place - the initials of their first names are S and O - and features a menu of organically raised foods.  Their signature dish is their Le SO burgers which are all made with organic beef.  They also have organically raised chicken sandwiches, a veggie burger, and a handful of entrees including a steak salad, veal Milanese (a breaded veal cutlet), shrimp and quinoa, and an Argentinian organically-raised beef filet.  

Each of us went with the SO burger - organically raised beef topped with Comte cheese, fresh greens, sliced onions and served with a small splash of their homemade ketchup - which was more like a 1000 Island dressing - on the side.  They offered three or four different types of buns including a peppercorn bun.  I was intrigued by a peppercorn bun and I ordered that with my burger.  Well, actually, Julien ordered for me as the waiter didn't speak English.  But something got lost in translation as I got a sesame seed bun instead of the peppercorn bun.  We got a small bin of French fries to go along with our burgers.

Now, I ordered my burger cooked "medium".  There's a distinct difference in what the French call medium versus what we call medium in the U.S.  My burger was what I would categorize as rare.  And with a still somewhat queasy stomach, I was having a hard time downing the burger.  The taste of the meat was very good - don't get me wrong.  But I've had stomach problems with rare burgers in the past and coming off a previous stomach-issue episode, I didn't want to tempt fate a second time in Paris.  I had about half the burger before I decided that I couldn't - or wouldn't - eat any more than what I had.  

It's somewhat interesting that the burger revolution has hit in Paris, as well.  The organic beef is a huge key to the flavor of the burgers at Le SO.  It was a good burger, but was overly undercooked for my taste.  It may have been because both Julien and Ian had ordered their burgers as medium-rare and they cooked them all the same.  In any event, what could have - and should have - been a pretty good burger at Le SO was disappointing to me. 

Rustica - Moorhead, MN

On my annual trip to Fargo to see my dealer at Arctic Audio, I called him earlier in the day and asked him if he had a restaurant picked out for us to go to that evening.  He said that he had booked a reservation at a new place over in Moorhead by the name of Rustica.  When I asked him what kind of food they served, he replied, "Well, it ain't vegetarian..."  That sounded good to me.  

Actually, Rustica is in the same space that used to house John Alexander's, a nice little restaurant that I'd been to before.  (Click here to see the entry on John Alexander's.)  The owners moved to downtown Fargo after closing the doors to the Moorhead location in April of this year.

Eric and Sara Watson, who own the highly acclaimed Mezzaluna in downtown Fargo as well as Mosaic Catering, ended up taking over the full space at the corner of Main and 4th St. S. just across the Red River of the North from Fargo.  (see map)  Rustica takes up the first floor of a historic building known as the Kassenborg Block which was built in the late 19th century.  Over the years, the building has been the site of offices, apartments and what my dealer told me "a kick ass rock and roll bar" a few years ago.  

The Watsons moved into Rustica this summer and opened the restaurant part of the place in the old John Alexander's in August.  When I was there, they were heavily renovating the space next door that they were going to turn into the Rustica Tavern.  (I believe the tavern portion of Rustica was scheduled to open sometime earlier this month.)  

My dealer and his wife made reservations for us for 7:30 p.m.  My dealer and I went ahead while his wife finished up some things at home.  We were greeted by the manager on duty, Mason, upon entering the restaurant.  There's a small bar area near the host stand beside the kitchen.  I was told that the Watsons didn't have to do much to do to the space after they took it over from the John Alexander's people.  

We were seated along the brick wall on the east side of the restaurant.  Mason dropped off some menus for us and shortly thereafter our server for the evening, Travis, came over to greet us.  Travis seemed a little nervous waiting on us.  We were guessing he was a newby when it came to being a waiter.

After my dealer's wife joined us, they were pointing out a number of people that they knew in the restaurant that evening.  The president of a local bank that my dealer had installed a sound system for was having dinner with the president of North Dakota State University.  Another lady who he did a big system for - including a pair of the Focal Utopia loudspeakers - was having dinner with her brother and some other friends.  And at the table next to us was Peter Kelly, one of the partners at the former Green Market Kitchen in Fargo (click here to read the review on Green Market Kitchen).  Peter was dining with a young man who was identified by my dealer's wife as a local chef at a prestigious restaurant.  It turned out that Peter and this chef were embarking on a new restaurant venture and hoped to be up and running soon.  (We may have to try that place on my next visit if it's open.)  So in the short time it has been open, Rustica seemed to draw a well-heeled crowd.  

The menu at Rustica consists of a number of locally sourced food items.  This somewhat eclectic menu features beef, chicken, pork and lamb dishes, along with three pasta dishes with pappardelle pasta and your choice of smoked salmon, chorizo or chile-braised beef.  It is truly more of a rustic menu than what you may find in an urban restaurant.

There are also a number of starter appetizers on the menu.  The have an antipasto plate that sounded good, as well as the chile-braised beef tacos with tomato relish, roasted garlic and a creme friache - basically a rich sour creme.  But what we ended up getting was the crispy pork belly with an avocado/basil salsa with a sun-dried tomato pesto.  It was absolutely fabulous.  The pork belly was tender and flavorful, and the avocado/basil salsa with the sun-dried tomato pesto was a perfect compliment to the overall taste of the pork.  

A number of the entrees sounded pretty darned interesting to me.  The pan-roasted beef tenderloin medallions came with caramelized cipollini onions, a wild mushroom and bacon barley, and sweet tomatoes.  The Salisbury steak was topped with a fried egg,  broiled portobello mushrooms and sherry wine-caramelized onions with parmesan cheese mashed potatoes on the side.  The chianti-braised beef tenderloin tips also came with the parmesan mashed potatoes and roasted sweet bell peppers.  It all sounded so good.  

Mason came over to ask us if we had any questions about the menu and I told him that I was sort of up in the air on a couple things - the peppercorn broiled walleye with garlic shrimp entree or the bone-in pork chop.  He said, "Oooo...  Tough choices, but I think I'd go with the pork chop."  

When Travis came back that's exactly what I ordered.  The pork chop was thick and juicy and it was topped with fresh sage and prosciutto.  A grilled vegetable medley came on the side.  Mason didn't steer me wrong.  It was just fabulous.  

When I mentioned that I was interested in the peppercorn broiled walleye with the garlic shrimp, my dealer said, "Yeah, that's what I'm gonna get."  When I go out to eat dinner with my dealer and his wife, we're always sharing bites off of each other's plates so I knew I'd get to try some of the walleye.  And it was fabulous.  It came with a smoked tomato sauce that wasn't overpowering.  The fish was fresh and absolutely wonderful in taste.

My dealer's wife got the bacon-wrapped lamb medallions with a garlic and olive oil glaze.  I usually find lamb in the U.S. to be fatty, but she said it was very lean.  She cut one in half to give to me and I have to say that it was, indeed, very lean and very good.  

I forgot to mention that I had ordered up a bottle of the 2004 Ontañon Reserva Rioja, a nice Spanish wine that was light and not as forward as a cabernet.  It was so good that we ended up getting second bottle as we were finishing up our meals.  My pork chop was so big and so good - and considering the extra bites of other food I tried - that I was getting full.  But my dealer's wife insisted on trying one of the desserts.  We let her order and she got the flourless chocolate cake with macerated (marinated) fresh fruit berries.  I did try a couple of the blueberries and raspberries that came with the cake, but I didn't have any of the cake.  She said it was "simply delicious".

Our first experience at Rustica was a very favorable one.  The food was interesting and very good.  Even though Travis showed some inexperience and stumbled over himself a couple times, his service was fine.  And Mason continually checked with us to see how things were going.  It was a great evening of catching up on business and personal things with my dealer and his wife.  We were very happy with our experience at Rustica.

Soulard Coffee Garden - St. Louis

During a late summer trip to St. Louis, we went for breakfast at a place my wife has been wanting to try for quite some time - Soulard Coffee Garden in the historic Soulard neighborhood just south of downtown St. Louis.  Actually, we'd been there before to pick up some coffee and espresso with some friends of ours on an earlier trip to St. Louis, but the place was packed as it was a Saturday morning and there would have been a substantial wait to get a table.  On this trip, we went early on a weekday morning and no problem getting in this time.  

The Soulard Coffee Garden dates back to late 1999 when the father and son team of Ted and James West opened their little coffee shop in what was once a dilapidated gutted building.  They had purchase the property about 18 months before and spent the time rehabbing the space into the Soulard Coffee Garden.  The West's expanded their restaurant in 2001 by opening a dining garden behind the place.  

The restaurant is located on Geyer Ave. between S. 9th and S. 10th in Soulard.  (see map)  Parking is available on the street.  Walking into the place, there's a handful of small tables as well as a counter where you can order coffee and pastries to go.  It's a small dining area, but it's cozy and comfortable.

Down a hall from the indoor dining room is the outdoor garden patio.  This is where we sat that particular morning.  Most of the tables were filled with people who had the same idea as us.  It was a beautiful morning with low humidity - a plus any time during the summer months in St. Louis.  

One person that I recognized who was having breakfast in the garden patio area was Mike Emerson, the owner of one of my favorite barbecue places in St. Louis - Pappy's Smokehouse.  (Click here to see my entry on Pappy's.)  It appeared that he was having a business meeting with a couple other gentlemen, one of which also had a restaurant logo on his shirt, but I couldn't make out which place he was from.  I thought, "Well, if this place is good enough for Mike Emerson, it's got to be pretty good."  

Our server that morning, Lila, came out and dropped off some breakfast menus for us.  (Soulard Coffee Garden also has a lunch menu that is served up to their closing time of 3 p.m. on the weekdays and 4 p.m. on the weekend.)  While she went off to get a coffee for Cindy and double espresso for me, we took a look at the offerings which included huevos rancheros with a green chile verde sauce, a number of omelets and Eggs Benedict dishes, biscuits and gravy, corn meal/blueberry pancakes, fruit dishes and cereal.  

I ended up getting the French toast that they dip in a maple and vanilla batter then grill it to a deep golden brown on a flat griddle then sprinkled with powdered sugar.  I got two pieces of French toast (you can get one or three pieces of French toast, as well).  I asked Lila if she could add some blueberries.  She said, "Do you want some whipped cream, too?"  Absolutely!  I also got a side of bacon with the French toast.  

Cindy got the croissant sandwich with eggs to order (she got scrambled egg whites) and bacon.  She noticed on the "Build Your Own Omelet" part of the menu that they had spinach.  She's been on a big spinach kick as of late and she asked if she could get some spinach on her croissant.  Once again, Lila said it would be no problem.  The eggs, bacon and spinach were topped with provolone cheese.  The croissant came with a bowl of fresh fruit.  

The French toast featured two thick pieces of bread cut in half.  The battered bread had a nice outer crunch from the grilling process.  With the maple syrup I couldn't get much of an essence of maple flavoring in the batter, but there was definitely a vanilla taste with each bite.  The blueberries and whipped cream helped add a little more of a rich taste to the French toast.  Along with the semi-crisp thick cut bacon, my breakfast was very, very good.   

Cindy's eyes widened when Lila brought out the croissant sandwich.  "Oh, geez," she exclaimed.  "I don't know if I can eat all of this!"  A thick slice of provolone cheese was melted on the chopped spinach and scrambled eggs with pieces of bacon sticking out on the bottom.   The croissant was light and airy with a flaky outer shell.  Cindy could only eat one of the halves of the sandwich and a couple bites of the other half.  She hardly touched her fresh fruit bowl.  She said the croissant sandwich was also very good, but very rich and filling.

You probably don't have to wait for warm weather to experience a breakfast at the Soulard Coffee Garden, but sitting in the quaint back patio area was a treat for us.  The food was top notch and we had no quibbles with Lila's fine service.  Our anticipation level for breakfast at Soulard Coffee Garden was very high and they didn't disappoint us at all. 

Le Point Zero - Paris

Lunch in France is a little different than what we do in the U.S.  In France, lunch is a time to take step back from work, sit back and enjoy the food.  It's a 180-degree turn from how most American's spend their lunch time hurrying to get something to eat, then hurrying to finish their food, then hurrying back to work.  During our business trip to Paris to visit the folks at Devialet, we were treated to lunch on our first full day in Paris at a little bistro not far from the company's main office - Le Point Zero.  

In front of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, there is a small brass compass star that signifies THE central point in Paris and the point where every distance is measured in the city.  Brothers Christophe and Laurent Guyader took the name of their little bistro from that landmark.  Along with chef Evangelos Guitry-Azam, they came up with a concept where the can go in any direction with the food they serve.  Le Point Zero is part bistro, part resto/bar, part "farm-to-fork" French auberge, part "fast food" (as much as a sit down restaurant can be fast food in Paris).  

It was less than a 3 minute walk from Devialet's main offices down a narrow side street to Le Point Zero. (see map).  The small bistro had a main dining room, but also featured a private dining area in the lower level as well as one on the second level of the building.  We took a seat along the wall of the restaurant.  Our server came over with a small chalk board that served as the menu that day.  Le Point Zero's menu changes periodically as they're searching for the freshest items depending upon the season.  

With our host Julien translating for us, the main entrees that day included a strip steak, a duck breast entree, a couple three seafood entrees, a salted pork knuckle dish, and a chicken breast entree with noodles.  They also had a burger on the menu - one that someone seated next to us got and it looked damned good.  But I was in France - in PARIS!  I wanted something exotic.  

I can't do seafood in France - I've gotten sick twice on seafood on previous trips.  And I try to stay away from lettuce and similar greens (sick on my very first trip nearly 12 years ago).  But the duck was calling my name.  Julien was explaining to me that it was actually strips of duck breast formed together in sort of a duck breast roll.  That sounded intriguing to me.

Julien knows that I like beer and he suggested a Paris microbrew that Le Point Zero served by the name of Gallia.  Gallia was a beer brewed in Paris as far back as the late 19th century.  About 50 years ago, the Paris brewing operation closed up.  I was told that for awhile after that most of the Gallia beer came from Romania.  It was still billed as "Paris' Beer" even though it was no longer brewed in the city.  Two young entrepreneurs felt it was time to bring Gallia back to Paris and they bought the Gallia name and opened their own brewery.  The Gallia I had - the Blonde - was actually pretty good.  

We all got gazpacho as a starter for our meal.  The deep orange color of the chilled soup came from the tomato base that was pureed with fresh vegetables.  Fresh chopped herbs were sprinkled on top of the gazpacho before it was served.  It was thick, zesty and very flavorful.  It may have been the best gazpacho I've ever had.  

My colleague Ian and our host Julien got the sirloin strip stak for lunch.  It came with a bed of peas and chopped potato cubelets.  A small pad of melted herbed butter came on top of the pan-grilled steak.  Both Ian and Julien said their steak was "good".   

Looking back, I wish I would have gotten the steak.  Or even the very good burger that I saw.  Oh, it wasn't that the duck was bad.  Quite the contrary - it was fabulous.  As Julien explained before I ordered, they took strips of duck breast and wound them together before it was broiled.  With a honey wine sauce and topped with fresh rosemary and thyme, the duck breast looked like it was a cinnamon roll.  Mashed potatoes and green beans with parsley were paired with the duck.  It was - oh! - so good.  But it was also - oh! - so rich!  

That night, I didn't feel well.  My stomach began to turn and I ended up getting sick - again.  This was my fifth trip to France - the fourth time that I had gotten sick.  But this one was the worst one.  I was up all night in the bathroom and had to miss the trip to the Devialet factory in Normandy the next day.  I don't know if it was a case of food poisoning or the other scenario a friend told me that my body probably couldn't handle rich foods - rich foods that it isn't used to consuming in the States.  All I know is that I ate something exotic to me and I got sick eating it.  I'm hoping it wasn't food poisoning or my body telling me that it needed to get rid of the food I had earlier in the day as quick as possible.  

While the food at Le Point Zero didn't agree with me too well, it was very darned good.  The duck breast roll was one of the most interesting things I've ever tasted.  It was a cool little lunch place in the heart of Paris and one that I wouldn't have a problem going back to - even though the duck probably made me ill.  I just wish I wouldn't have succumbed to temptation just to try the duck.  Oh well...

La Casa Mexican Grill - Moline, IL

A shout out today to Brandon and Jake who have started a smart new website taking a close look at the vast landscape of Mexican food restaurants in the greater Quad Cities area - QC Mexican Food.  Click on the highlighted link to check it out.  

This is one place they really liked - a place that we've driven by a number of times and finally decided to stop in to recently.  It's a small Mexican restaurant in Moline by the name of La Casa Mexican Grill.  We have a lot of good to excellent Mexican restaurants in the Quad Cities and we were eager to give La Casa a shot to see if it was as good as the others we really like.  

Carmen Cruz is a Moline native who was living in Chicago and working for the Department of Defense in information technology.  She would come home to see family in the Quad Cities on the weekend and she envisioned opening a restaurant in downtown Moline that would use fresh, organic and natural ingredients.  She wanted the restaurant to feature more of a fast food fare - one where the food was made in front of the person as they ordered.  Carmen Cruz bought an old gas station at the corner of 19th Street and 6th Ave. in Moline (see map) and turned it into a restaurant - gutting the inside and transforming the outside.  With the help of two sisters running the place for her, Cruz opened the doors to La Casa Mexican Grill in early November 2011. 

The interior of La Casa is sort of spartan.  There's not a lot of decorations or pictures on the brightly colored walls.  There's a handful of booths and tables in the dining area.  Out front, there's a couple three metal tables that can be used on occasions when the weather is nice.  It was sort of cloudy with intermittent rain drops the first night we were there so sitting outside was not an option.  Actually, sitting outside would probably not be an option for us because it was basically just some tables situated in front of the place.  People coming in and out of the place would be walking right past the whole time you're eating.  

We found a booth toward the back of the place and a young lady came back to greet us and drop off some menus, a small basket of chips and three sauces in squeeze bottles.  She asked us what we'd like to drink and Cindy got a Margarita and I got a Sol beer.  They had the prerequisite Mexican beers as well as a couple three Anheuser-Busch or Miller products.

The three sauces that she left at the table were a sort of sweet red salsa sauce, a somewhat spicy - but not overly spicy - chile verde sauce, and a chipotle sauce that had a bit of a smoky bite to the taste.  We liked the chili verde sauce the best out of the three.  The chips were just all right, but we went through them pretty quickly.  When we asked for another basket of chips we were told that it would be 99 cents.  A second basket of chips from La Casa wasn't worth 99 cents.  

The menu features a number of authentic Mexican entrees.  Cindy was impressed by the number of soups they had on the menu.  I noticed that they had a lot of different entrees with different meats and the like.  They had beef enchiladas with a cheese sauce, but I noticed that they had carnitas (pork) on the menu and a chile verde sauce on a couple other items.  When our server came back to take our order, I asked her if they could make carnitas enchiladas with the chile verde sauce on top.  She went back to ask the cook and then came back and said, "No, we can't do that."  I kind of chuckled, shook my head and said, "All right, then."  Most restaurants will be able to accommodate a special order, especially if they have the ingredients available.  But we had the chile verde sauce that I could use on top of the enchiladas, so it wasn't all lost for me.    

I ended up ordering the beef enchiladas - three smallish enchiladas with ground beef.  A large amount of rice and refried beans came with the enchiladas - in fact, the rice and beans covered more than 50% of the plate.  I poured some of the good green chile sauce on top over the Chihuahua cheese melted on the enchiladas and that satiated me for the moment.  The enchiladas were fine - not the best I've had - but good for what they were.

Cindy got La Casa's chicken taco salad, only it was served in a bowl and not in an edible tortilla shell like you'll find at some Mexican restaurants.  It had some sort of a creamy mayo dressing on top with shredded lettuce over grilled chicken.  The chicken was seasoned in some sort of spices - I guessed it was cumin and chili powder.  Cindy thought it was all right.

We went back a few weeks later and decided to try their tacos.  I got three tacos - a barbacoa (shredded beef), a carnitas (pork) and a carne asada (steak) all with double corn tacos, Mexican style with cilantro and chopped onions.  The barbacoa was chopped into fine bits, but still pulled apart rather easily.  The steak was cooked well done, but still was chewable.  And the pork carnitas had a nice seasoning on the large chunks of meat.  The cilantro was fresh, as were the chopped onions.  I doused the tacos in the green sauce to give them a little more of a zippy taste.  

Cindy got a steak taco and a chicken taco.  Once again, she wasn't certain she liked the chicken that they served at La Casa.  She didn't think the seasonings they use with the grilled chicken was all that appetizing.  Still, she thought the steak taco was good.  

While La Casa isn't our favorite place in the Quad Cities, it does have a lot of interesting food on the menu.  What we had on our visits is good, but I'm still somewhat amazed that the chef won't bend on items that aren't on the menu - but the ingredients are - even if it means an upcharge.  And charging nearly a buck for another small basket of chips seems somewhat petty.  Other than the very good chile verde sauce they serve on the table, and the very good service we received from both young ladies on our visits, La Casa is somewhat down on our list compared to other Mexican restaurants we like in the Quad Cities.  

Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen - Memphis, TN

During our late summer trip down to Memphis, we were trying to figure out where to go for dinner one evening.  We'd read about some places on the east side of the city that seemed to be pretty interesting.  It turned out that two of the restaurants we were interested in were virtually across the street from one another on a side street off of Poplar Avenue near our hotel.  One was called Hog and Hominy, the other Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen.  Cindy made the call - we ended up at Andrew Michael for dinner that evening.

It turned out that both restaurants were owned by the same people - Andrew Ticer and Micheal Hudman - friends since they were in their teens growing up in Memphis.  It was a boyhood dream of both to run a restaurant together and they opened Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen in 2008.  But getting there is a pretty interesting story. 

Growing up, Mike Hudman and Andy Ticer (pictured right) came from large Catholic families where the kitchen and good food were the core of the household.  The two went to different, but nearby, Catholic grade schools and first got to know each other when they would talk trash back and forth to one another during sporting events.  The two eventually became friends by high school and shared a common love for their both of their own Italian-born grandmother's home cooking.  Both learned old family Italian recipes and shared a dream of running their own restaurant using family recipes that had been handed down to them.  

After high school, the two attended separate colleges, but stayed in touch regarding their dream of running their own restaurant.  The two eventually went off to Charleston, SC to go to Johnson and Wales University, a private college with multiple campuses around the nation which has a prestigious culinary school.  After graduating there, the two ended up back in Memphis working in the kitchen at the venerable Frank Grisanti's, a long-time Italian restaurant in Memphis.  The two eventually ended up at Chez Philippe - the opulent restaurant in the famous Peabody Hotel.  Interning under Chef Jose Guiterrez (now the owner/chef at Memphis' River Oaks) the two were at Chez Philippe for nearly five years before decided to go out and learn more about the culinary world on their own.

The two first moved to Lyon, France - called the gastronomic capital of Europe.  (I've been to Lyon three times - and, yes - there are some great restaurants there.  The only problem is that I haven't written about any of them on Road Tips.)  From there, the two ended up in Italy where their lives were changed forever.  They attended the Italian Culnary Institute in Copanella, Calabria in Southern Italy where they learned about the importance of locally grown and fresh ingredients used in cooking.  It was also in Calabria where the two butchered their first hog using many of the internal organs in their recipes.  After graduating from the 3 month long Masters program at the Italian Culinary Institute, they made their way back to Memphis to work on opening their own restaurant.  

At the end of October in 2008, the two opened Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen in a converted small house on W. Brookhaven Circle (see map) sourcing many of the items they served from local farmers and growers.  The restaurant was an immediate hit and the two began to garner critical acclaim for their rustic Italian recipes with Southern U.S. twist.  The two were featured in a number of magazines and television profiles.  In 2013 they were semi-finalists as James Beard Award Best Chefs for the Southeatern part of the United States.  The same year, Food & Wine Magazine put Ticer and Hudman on their "Best New Chefs" list.  The two also co-authored a cookbook - Collards and Carbonara - that melds old world Italian cooking with Southern favorites.  We've read about them in Bon Appetit magazine, but never made the correlation until we saw a copy of the same article on the wall in their restaurant.  

After being open for a year, Ticer and Hudman were already working on another concept restaurant - a place that they'd like to eat at after they get off work.  Their love for Neapolitan pizza from their days in Italy put them on track for their next restaurant - Hog and Hominy - that they opened literally across the street in 2012.  The new restaurant went even further in blending Southern U.S. foods with traditional Italian fare.  They have a smoker on the premises as well as a wood-fired brick oven for pizzas.  (We're definitely going there the next time we make it back to Memphis.)    

There's a small parking lot in front of Andrew Michael's, but it was full when we pulled up.  We found parking on W. Brookhaven down the street a ways.  We went in and up to the hostess stand and asked if we could get a table for two.  The hostess said that she wouldn't have anything in the dining room, but had a high top table in the bar for two or we could have a seat at a table on the outdoor patio.  It was a warm evening, but tolerable enough.  We followed her outside where we were seated at a table overlooking the herb garden and given menus to look through.  We were the only ones on the patio.  It was like our own little dining room.  

Our server for the evening, Karen, came out to greet us.  She had short blonde hair and a bubbly personality.  She asked if we wanted something to drink and I got a beer and Cindy got an amaretto sour.  She said she'd be right back with the drinks.

As we were going through the menu, I felt a bug bite me on my ankle.  And another one.  Mosquitoes.  I am a mosquito magnet.  Cindy said, "Uh oh.  This won't work.  No wonder no one else is seated outside."  I got up and went inside to the hostess stand, told her that the mosquitoes were biting pretty bad outside and asked her if the high top table in the bar was still available.  She said that it was.  She set us up at a table next to a window in the smallish bar area which consisted of only three tables.  It wasn't as nice as one of the three dining rooms they have at Andrew Michael, but it was cozy enough.  

Newman Farm, which is situated near the Arkansas border in Southern Missouri, has some of the finest all natural pork in the central part of the U.S.  Their Heritage Berkshire pigs are raised on a 200 acre pasture, not a feed lot, and are considered to be the pig equivalent to Japanese "Kobe" beef.  Many fine dining restaurants in the middle part of the country use Newman Farm pork on their menus.  Both Andrew Michael and Hog and Hominy use Newman Farm product for their pork dishes.  And Hudman and Ticer will butcher the pigs themselves.  (Their third part of their dream is to open their own butcher shop at some point.)  

Karen came back with our drinks and asked if we'd ever eaten at Andrew Michael before and we said we hadn't.  She said, "Our menu is put into three courses, the starters, pasta and the main entree.  That's how traditional Italian families will serve their meals."    The starters consisted of things like calamari, a caprese salad, and something called the A/M Breakfast consisting of a poached egg, pork belly, pork rinds and polenta. 

The pasta dishes for the second course included a couple gnocchi dishes, a couple ravioli dishes and a couple other offerings.  The main entrees that evening included a couple seafood dishes, short ribs, a duck entree and, of course, Newman Farm pork chops.  Everything sounded pretty good.  

The first thing we ordered were a couple salads for starters.  I got the caprese salad that featured three different types of chopped tomatoes along with fresh basil and chopped red onions and finished with chunks of buffalo mozzarella.  

Cindy got the A/M Salad - basically Andrew Michael's house salad with fresh greens with a balsamic reduction and a shallot vinaigrette and finished with buffalo mozzarella.  Both salads were very fresh and very good.  

For the pasta portion of the dinner, I got the Maw Maw's ravioli on the advice of Karen. "Oh, it's so good, " she gushed when describing the dish.  The ravioli gravy, I was told, was an old family recipe from one of the chef's grandmother made with a meat sauce of ground chicken, ground beef and ground pork.  The ravioli were big and pillowy and the meat sauce had a great tangy tomato taste and not a lot of sweetness.  Fresh grated parmesan cheese finished the ravioli dish.  On its own, Maw Maw's ravioli would have been a sufficient entree for me.   

Cindy really didn't know what to get, but I was also intrigued by the gnocchi sardi.  It had a veal ragu mixed with salted ricotta cheese and broccoli in a red wine reduction sauce.  The taste was rather plain compared to the goings on with the Maw Maw's ravioli, but it was still interesting enough the we decided it was worth getting.  

We were sort of worried about the pasta/entree combination since we'd had a big lunch earlier in the day.  I was leaning toward getting the Newman Farm pork chop, but Karen said the pork chops were "huge".  I began to look for something along the lines of seafood.  I ended up getting hogfish snapper, a lean Gulf/Atlantic fish that was served on a green tomato puree with romesco, green beans, hazelnuts and squash.  It was a spot hitter all the way around.  It was light and wasn't fishy in taste at all.  I had a Gascon malbec wine to go with the caprese salad and the pasta, but I went with a St. Supery chardonnay with the hogfish.  

Cindy got the short rib veal breast.  It came with carrots, peaches, sweet sorghum and corn.  It wasn't large - which was fine with Cindy.  She declared it to be "excellent".  It was definitely old Italian cooking melding with old Southern cooking.  Along with her dinner, Cindy got a Burgo Viejo rioja wine from Spain.  This was simply a spectacular dinner.  

You would think that with all that food, we would have just had enough.  But Karen came over with the dessert menu to try to tempt us.  It didn't take much.  The first thing on the dessert menu was the A/M cannoli made with a lemoncello riccota.  They had a marscapone cheesecake with blueberries, hazelnuts and caramel that sounded equally good. And they had assorted flavors of gelato that evening.  We ended up getting the cannoli.  I'm a sucker with anything lemon in the taste and the lemoncello riccota was spectacular.  The cannoli's were light and flaky.  A raspberry sauce was drizzled onto the plate before the cannoli's were laid down.  

When we were settling up with Karen she asked if we were from out of town.  When we told her that we were from Iowa she said, "Hey, our sous chef, Ryan, is from Iowa!"  She went to find out where he was from.  It turns out that Ryan Jenniges - the chef de cuisine at Andrew Michael - was from Cedar Falls, IA.  We told her to say hello from a couple Iowans and give him our sincere compliments on the food.  

The meal we had at Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen was nothing short of fabulous.  The combination of old Italian recipes with Southern U.S. favorites was an absolute hit.  This was a great find on our vacation and quite possibly one of the top 10 meals we've had over the years.  The awards and recognition that Michael Hudman and Andrew Ticer have garnered over the years are more than warranted.  Great meal, great service, great setting.  Weeks later, we're still reminiscing about our meal at Andrew Michael.   

Bistrotters - Paris

We had finished our first full day in Paris and my colleague Ian took me to a place that he'd already made reservations at before we got to France.  Actually, our colleague Simon had made a reservation at the small bistro during a vacation in Paris earlier in the summer with his wife.  However, because he didn't have e-mail while he was on vacation, the restaurant had canceled his reservation because he didn't confirm the reservation 48 hours in advance per the restaurant's requirement.  He was understandably upset, but before Ian and I went to France, he told Ian that we "absolutely had to go to this place.  I need a full report!"  The name of the place was Bistrotters.

As I do on a number of occasions, Ian does thorough background research on some of the restaurants that he visits when travels.  He found that Bistrotters was angling for a coveted Michelin Guide - Paris star rating.  Owner Francois Gallice (pictured left) opened the small bistro in 2012 as a restaurant and a wine shop.  His thinking was that if you liked the wine you had with your meal, you can buy a bottle of it at a takeaway price as a memento or reminder of your evening at Bistrotters.  Chef Erwin Le Gahinet oversees the daily menu at Bistrotters which changes regularly to ensure the freshest ingredients and seasonal foods.  

Bistrotters is open from 12 to 2 p.m. for lunch and 7 to 10 p.m. for dinner Tuesday thru Saturday.  Ian was adamant that we needed to get there for our 7 p.m. reservation.  "They won't hold our table if we are even 10 minutes late," he told me as we climbed into a cab at our hotel around 6:30 p.m.  It took us about 20 minutes to get to Bistrotters located on Rue Decrès across the Seine from where we were staying.  (see map) When we got out of the cab we were somewhat surprised to see a number of people milling about in front of the place.  They, too, had 7 p.m. reservations (they try to do two seatings at night at Bistrotters) and were waiting for the doors to open.  Right at 7 p.m. the doors were unlocked at we went inside.

We were greeted by Francois Gallice and he checked us off his reservation list.  Tall and angular, Francois pretty much gave us our choice of tables.  (I was struck by his uncanny resemblance to one of my dealers back in Iowa.)  We settled for a small table on the upper level of the small restaurant.  The bottom dining area had seating for about 14 to 16 people.  The upper level sat around 10 more.  The small bar for the restaurant was on the left just past the front door of the bistro. 

The menu for the evening was on a chalkboard just above our table.  It was in French, but Francois also dropped off menus that were in both French and English.  His English was also very good with a distinctive French accent.  He gave us a recommendation for a light-bodied French red wine and we ended up taking him up on his suggestion of the Diane de Belgrave Haut-Medoc from the Chateau Belgrave winery in Bordeaux region of France.  It was very good.  

The menu that evening featured a couple of seafood dishes (I don't do seafood in France - been sick twice on seafood in France), a lamb entree, a steak entree and a pork entree.  I was sort of torn between getting the steak tenderloin filet and the crispy pork belly entree.  Ian was actually looking at the same thing.  We decided that I would get the steak and Ian would get the pork belly.  

The first thing that came out was a small cheese puff appetizer that was a nice introduction to the restaurant.  For appetizers, I ordered up some foie gras.  It came with a couple pieces of a toasted housemade French bread and some greens.  The foie gras was not the best I've had in France, but it was still very good.  

Ian had a small bowl of grilled fresh chorizo that he got as an appetizer.  I offered him a bite of foie gras, but I was surprised to learn that he doesn't eat foie gras.  He sort of shuddered and said, "Duck liver.  I've never warmed up to it."  When he offered me a taste of the chorizo, I declined.  I had a food poisoning episode with chorizo a few years ago and I've never warmed back up to it, either.   

My steak was a small filet dressed with some fresh grilled veggies and served with a peppercorn sauce.  I got it medium rare and medium rare in France is really rare.  As in REALLY rare.  (Medium in France would be what I call rare in the U.S.)  It had some fresh herbs on top and the taste was fine.  It was certainly not a Midwestern cut of tenderloin beef.

The pork belly was interesting.  The pork was layered with a crispy grilled outer shell.  It rested on a bed of cooked vegetables that were lying in sort of an au jus sauce.  Ian thought it was very good.  We exchanged cuts of our respective entrees and I have to say that the pork belly was, indeed, very good.  It was better than my steak, which was fine for what it was.  

Francois and another server tag-teamed taking care of the tables that evening.  After we finished, the other server came over to ask us if we wanted dessert.  We mulled over the choices and finally decided that we'd had enough.  It was a good meal as is.

While we felt the food was very good, the service was a little choppy at Bistrotters.  Ian remarked that they had a ways to go in the service end of thing if they were going to get a Michelin star designation.  But Francois was very friendly and outgoing.  He asked where we were from and he said he believed we were the only North Americans in the restaurant that evening.  For a little French bistro, I enjoyed the experience immensely.  They're working hard to please their clientele, so you have to give them that.  

Citizen Kane's - St. Louis

During our trip to St. Louis and Memphis a few weeks ago, we had planned on staying in Cape Girardeau, MO for the last night of the trip before we'd drive home the next day.  We had planned on getting a nice meal at a place in Cape Girardeau, however, after we got into Cape Girardeau that afternoon we found that there was really no "fine dining" restaurant in the area.  We decided to skip Cape Girardeau and head on up to St. Louis for the night.  I knew exactly where I wanted to go that night - a quaint steakhouse in the Kirkwood area of St. Louis - Citizen Kane's.  

I've known about Citizen Kane's for a number of years.  My first visit was when I worked for a company in the west suburbs of St. Louis and a manufacturer took us out for dinner there in the late 1990's. My second visit was a little over 10 years ago when I took a prospective dealer out to dinner there.  The dinner must not have impressed him enough - he never signed up with us.  Since it had been so long since I was last in there, I decided to take my wife there that particular evening.  

There is a Kane behind Citizen Kane's.  Frank Kane opened his steak place housed in a quaint Victorian home on Clinton Place just off of S. Kirkwood Ave. in 1993.  (see map) (S. Lindbergh Ave. becomes Kirkwood Ave. when it goes through Kirkwood.)  He had trouble at first - no bank wanted to finance his project.  Finally, with three houses as collateral, a local bank gave him a $75,000 loan to buy the 1880's vintage Victorian private home for his restaurant.  

Kane wanted his restaurant to be a "special occasion" place where people came for anniversaries or birthdays, but he didn't want it to be too fancy where people could come in casual attire as well as in a coat and tie.  The restaurant is truly a Kane family enterprise - four of Frank Kane's children work in the restaurant along side their father. 

It's interesting that Citizen Kane's had been open for 21 years - it was the 21st anniversary of our first date when my wife and I went there for dinner that evening.  We'd made reservations on our way up from Cape Girardeau to St. Louis and they were able to accommodate us for our 8:00 p.m. request.  It was raining very hard on the trip to the restaurant, but the downpour had turned into a drizzle when we pulled into Citizen Kane's that evening.  Free valet parking is available at Citizen Kane's.  

We were greeted at the hostess stand by a young woman who was able to get us seated right away.  The main dining room at Citizen Kane's is on the second floor of the refurbished Victorian home.  A small dining area is located on the first floor as well as a bar area.  People with disabilities are accommodated on the first floor.  

We were seated in the big dining room toward the back of the upstairs and given menus.  Windows facing the north and east sides allowed us a spectacular view of the lightning moving away from the greater St. Louis area.  The dimly lit room made it hard to read the menu, but made for a cozy and romantic dining experience.  

Our server for the evening, an effervescent and outgoing young lady by the name of Stephanie, came over to greet us.  She wanted to know what we wanted to start out with for drinks and I told her that we'd probably get wine, but asked for a Budweiser "to cut the dust".  Cindy got an amaretto sour to start off.  

The majority of items on the menu are steaks, but they also have a fresh seafood "catch of the day", as well as a T-bone pork chop and a pasta dish called "Chicken Xanadu" - a nod to the name of the estate of the fictional character Charles Kane, the protagonist in the classic film Citizen Kane - that features grilled chicken, bow tie pasta and roasted red peppers in an olive oil and garlic sauce.  

Stephanie tried to tempt us with some of the delicious appetizers at Citizen Kane's.  The sauteed mushroom platter is especially yummy - they're cooked in a combination of white wine, garlic and herbs.  I love mushrooms, my wife does not.  A platter of the sauteed mushrooms as an appetizer would have been a waste as I wouldn't have been able to finish the whole plate.  

We decided that we were ready to order up food.  Cindy ordered the beef tenderloin medallions with the housemade bearnaise sauce and a side of the creamed spinach.  She had her choice between getting a salad or soup for a starter and she chose the lentil bean soup.  

I went with the traditional filet steak - rare.  For a side, I got the garlic mashed potatoes.  I also asked for a side of their housemade brandy peppercorn sauce.  And for a starter, I ordered a dinner salad.  But I was asking Stephanie about a dressing that I had on a previous visit.  "It was like a sweet vinaigrette with blue cheese crumbles," I said.

She said, "Oh, yes!  That would be the sweet vinaigrette with blue cheese crumbles."  She sort of smirked in a playful way and Cindy and I both got a laugh out of that.  

For wine that evening, I found a Ricardo Santos Malbec from the Mendoza region in Argentina.  When she brought the bottle out, I noticed that it was a 2012, but was listed as a 2011 on the wine list.   I pointed that out to her, she checked the wine list and saw that it, indeed, was listed as a 2011.  She asked me if I wanted to take a look at the wine list and to see if there was another wine I may like.  I told her, no, this would be fine.  She was a bit embarrassed and very apologetic for the difference.  

The wine was very good - it was full bodied with a nice ending that went well with the steak we had.  We have gotten deep into Malbec wines from Argentina over the past couple three years.  Unfortunately, a lot of other people have too as prices on Malbec's have risen steadily since we first started finding them awhile back.  

The dressing on the house salad was exactly what I remembered it to be.  It had that sweet "St. Louis-style" Italian dressing taste and the pungent and forward tasting blue cheese crumbles were a great opposite to the sweet dressing.  

Cindy's lentil bean soup with thick and hearty - I thought it would have been a great base for chili.  Cindy allowed me take a couple bites of it because she was worried that it was so thick and rich that it would have spoiled her dinner.  

Another server brought out our steaks.  My filet was about 10 ounces in size and had a nice grilled outer layer.  The server asked me to cut into the steak to make sure that it was to my liking.  It had a red and cool center - the perfect rare for me.  And the taste was exquisite.  Tender, juicy and flavorful, the steak was lightly seasoned with a steak seasoning that Citizen Kane's is famous for.  

Cindy's beef tenderloin medallion entree featured two smaller cuts of beef tenderloin with the bearnaise sauce.  She got hers medium and they were easy to cut and still juicy to the taste.  

I tried some of my steak with the brandy peppercorn sauce and found it to be a bit overpowering in taste.  It the steak was a bad cut of meat, the sauce would have possibly helped in taste.  But in this case it really blocked the great taste of the steak.  And my garlic mashed potatoes were sort of "meh!" in taste.  But I was there for the steak.  

Cindy was sorry she didn't get her bearnaise on the side.  She, too, thought it was overpowering the taste of the steak she had.  She said her creamed spinach side was also just "OK".  

After polishing off the steaks and leaving a good portion of the sides - including the sauces - Stephanie brought out dessert menus for us to go through.  Honestly, we had a large breakfast, somewhat of a late lunch and the steak and salad was settling fine in the stomach.  Besides, they didn't have a lot that I was interested in - a traditional New York-style cheesecake, a chocolate chip cheesecake with a pecan and graham cracker crust, and a couple of cakes - a carrot cake (I don't care for carrot cake) and a triple chocolate cake (I could take or leave chocolate cake).  

But Cindy decided that we needed to get the caramel Kahlua flan - a custard flan infused with brown sugar, Kahlua liqueur and caramel, then served with a light sweet sryup drizzled on top.  It was extremely sweet and - oh! - so rich.  I had three or four bites before I gave up.  The flan went very well with the full flavored Malbec that we finished with our dessert.  

It's easy to see why Citizen Kane's is one of the most popular fine dining destinations in the greater St. Louis area.  The food is consistently good, the service is always top notch, and the cozy and comfortable surroundings of the dining room make for a wonderful dining experience.  The meals I've had there over the years have always been top notch.  This visit was no exception and my wife was very impressed with the place.  And as we all know - if the wife's happy, everyone is happy.  

Syrup - Denver

The annual CEDIA Expo was recently held out in Denver again.  As our company has grown over the years it has become more difficult for all of us to have meals together.  My boss loves the collegial atmosphere when we all get together, but even he realizes that it's tough to have 12 to 14 people sit down for a meal and have everyone be happy with the choice.  This year, we were pretty much on our own for meals.  After a couple days in Denver my colleagues Simon and Ian told me of a place they found for breakfast just a couple blocks down from our hotel, a place simply called Syrup.  I ended up eating there three times with a handful of my colleagues during this trip.  

Tim Doherty was in the midst of a 27 year career working in bars - 16 of those years he was managing one of the Lodo's Bar and Grill locations in Denver - when he went to Florida to visit family.  Having breakfast with his father at a cafe in Vero Beach, it was then and there that he decided that he'd rather get up at 4 a.m. rather than going to bed at the same time.  

Along with business partner and fellow Midwestern native Ian McClure, Doherty envisioned running a classic pancake house with waffles topped with whatever the customer wanted, homemade corned beef, big omelets and hearty lunches featuring burgers, sandwiches and salads.  They opened the first Syrup location in the Cherry Creek area of Denver in 2010.  Two years later, they opened a second location in downtown Denver on the street level of the south tower of the Denver Place complex on 18th St. between Curtis and Champa Streets.  (see map)

My first visit to Syrup, four of us walked in moments after they opened the doors at 7 a.m.  We were seated at a table with chairs on one side and banquette benches on the other.  Our hostess dropped off menus for us and I took a quick look at what they had to offer.

My colleague Simon was telling me of something that he had on Syrup on his first visit - the Remedy.  It features a base of cottage fries that is topped with ground chorizo sausage, cheddar cheese, chopped onions, roasted red peppers and two eggs any way you like then finished with a nice dousing of Syrup's housemade green chili.  He said, "Oh man!  You would go nuts over this!"  I normally would, but I'm not too keen on chorizo since a food poisoning incident with chorizo at a Mexican restaurant years ago.  But it was certainly a glorious mess (taking that phrase from the Slakingfool).  

For my first meal at Syrup, I was really leaning toward the Blueberry Pancakes served with fresh blueberries with the pancakes sauteed in a housemade blackberry syrup.  Then you have your choice of different types of syrups - in addition to blackberry, they have a buttermilk syrup, Kahlua cream, strawberry, butterscotch and apricot syrups and a real maple/vanilla syrup.  Whoa! 

But then I saw the part of the menu that featured their Eggs Benedict.  The Cherry Creeker is one of their signature breakfast dishes at Syrup - slow-cooked corned beef hash topped with two poached eggs and a hollandaise sauce.  Oooo....  (Thankfully, one of my other colleagues ordered that so I could get a picture.)

Then I found the part of the menu with omelets.  The Brooklyn omelet featured corned beef, green onions and Swiss cheese.  Then I saw at the bottom of the list that you could build your own omelet starting out at $6.99 then adding on your choice of cheese or veggies for $1 each and anything else from the a la carte part of the menu for $2 bucks.  I ordered a corned beef and Monterrey Jack omelet and had it topped with green chili.  Oh, man!  It was just killer.  The corned beef was shredded and had a bit of a spicy bite to it.  Coupled with the green chili, this was a winner of a breakfast.  

I also got a side of the maple/pepper bacon.  Oh my God!  Three of my most favorite things in life - maple flavoring, cracked peppercorns and bacon.  The melding of the three was just outstanding.  When I was young we used to vacation in Canada and we had maple bacon everyday.  I've never been able to find maple bacon in the States that is even close to what I remember I had years ago.  But this maple bacon - even with the cracked peppercorns - was some of the best I've ever had.  I half-jokingly said that I was considering coming back and just getting three or four platters of the maple/pepper bacon the next day.  

I did go back the next day with some of my co-workers and I had the blueberry pancakes with the maple/vanilla syrup (see picture above).  Of course, I had another plate of bacon.  I was sort of disappointed in the blueberry pancakes.  I mean, they were fine, but I guess I was expecting something more in terms of a taste sensation.  The maple/vanilla syrup was a little underwhelming and the pancakes were a little more fluffy than I like.  Still, they were better than most restaurant pancakes that I've had.  (I still say my wife makes the best pancakes.)

I went back for a third visit to Syrup on a Saturday morning.  We thought that the place wouldn't be all that busy since most of the people we saw at Syrup through the week were business people who worked downtown.  But we were surprised to find a good number of people - especially younger people - eating at the restaurant around 7:30 a.m.  Service seemed a little slow at times, even when there weren't a lot of people in the place.  From the time we ordered our food to the time we were served the first two times I was there it took nearly 25 minutes both times.  We were a little worried that the food preparation would take longer with more people dining there that day.    

That morning I went with the omelet topped with the green chili again, only this time I had sausage and cheddar cheese inside.  I didn't know which one I liked better - both the sausage and cheddar omelet and the corned beef and Monterrey Jack omelet I had earlier were very good.  The crowning touch on both, however, was the wonderful green chili they had at Syrup.  

One of my colleagues had the breakfast burrito - it was a flour tortilla stuffed with scrambled eggs, chorizo, cheddar cheese, chopped green onions and topped with the green chili.  It was served with a housemade tomatillo green salsa and sour cream on the side.  My colleague said it was excellent, but it was also rather large.  He made a significant dent in the breakfast burrito before declaring that he was stuffed. 

Another one of my colleagues got the breakfast sandwich - a small omelet with chopped red bell peppers, onions and tomatoes, topped with cheddar cheese and  served on an English muffin.  (You could also get the sandwich on a croissant, a bagel or toast.)  And he had a choice of topping the sandwich off with either sliced ham, a sausage patty, or the maple/pepper bacon.  He took my lead and got it with the bacon. When the server set the breakfast sandwich in front of him, his eyes got big.  "This is huge," he exclaimed.  "There's no way I can eat all this!"  And he didn't.  He got half down before he said he was done.  

Other than the long time it seemed to take to get our food to the table after we ordered, I don't have much to complain about with the breakfasts I had at Syrup.  The pancakes were a little underwhelming as I had expected much more from them.  But the omelets were both outstanding - especially with the green chili ladled over the top.  Syrup is one of the better breakfast places I've encountered in my travels.  

Central BBQ - Memphis

We took a late summer trip down along the Mississippi River to Memphis.  We hadn't been to Memphis for about 14 years and we decided on this trip that we'd stay away from the tourist-trap places in the downtown area and branch out to see the rest of the city away from the lights and glitz of Beale Street.  Of course, Memphis barbecue is part of the Mid-South/Midwest triangle of St. Louis and Kansas City - at least to me.  We wanted to try a couple three places while we were in town and I was particularly interested in giving Central BBQ a try.  

Memphis-style barbecue features dry-rubbed ribs and other meats.  The Rendezvous is the most famous place, but we didn't think it was all that good when we first went there years ago.  We checked on other places and found that Neely's Bar-b-cue had closed (I ate at the location in Nashville - click here to read that entry), we were told their uncle Jim Neely's Interstate Barbecue wasn't as good as it used to be, and that some of the really good places for barbecue aren't places you'd necessarily go to at night.  But the consensus with people that we talked to was that Central BBQ was quite possibly the best in town.  (Some people will dispute that, I'm sure.  We found that almost everyone in Memphis has an opinion on their favorite local barbecue joints.)   

As I've found with a number of barbecue joints I've visited over the years, Central BBQ came about from the barbecue competition circuit.  Back in the mid-80's, Roger Sapp and Craig Blondis met on the competition trail.  The two began to compete the annual Memphis in May World Barbecue Championships and got the bug for competition-style barbecue where you have to do everything - smoked meats, sauces, sides - very well.  

In 2001, Sapp and Blondis formed a company - Central BBQ LLC - and began to look for buildings for their first barbecue restaurant.  They found a small place on Central Ave. about a mile from the University of Memphis and opened on April 1, 2002.  The inside of the place only sat 45 people, but they built an outdoor patio area for additional seating in warm weather.  

A little over four years after opening their first location, the partners found a building that housed a former Red Lobster restaurant on Summer Ave. on Memphis' east side and opened their second location in the fall of 2006.  The kitchen area was appreciably larger than their original location allowing for two large smokers to be installed.  Plus, a lot of the kitchen equipment was still in place from the old Red Lobster so the move in was a snap.  The second location also seated about 220 people more than tripling the seating capacity of the original location on nice days.  

A couple years ago, Sapp and Blondis opened a third location in an old warehouse location in the South Main Arts District near downtown Memphis.  The downtown location is the biggest of the three Central BBQ locations seating over 250 patrons.  The two also continue to do barbecue competitions as the time allows.  

Even though we said we didn't want to visit Beale Street during our visit, we decided to head down and walk up and down the street to see if anything had changed since our last visit well over a dozen years before.  Some things had changed - most had not.  It was bike night on Beale Street that evening and a number of large motorcycles - many of them were tricked out - were parked up and down the block.  We grabbed a beer from one of the many street vendors and sauntered up and down the street looking at the bikes.  

After about a half hour of doing that, we decided to go get some barbecue from Central BBQ's original address on Central Ave. (See map)  (Actually, we didn't know the downtown location wasn't far from where we were.  See map)  We got out to the Central BBQ location around 8:30 p.m.  It turns out that they quit serving on weeknights at 9 p.m.  

As you come into the Central BBQ location there's a large outdoor patio area.  On warm weekend nights, I understand Central BBQ has live music on the patio.  We thought about eating outside but it was rather buggy, especially with the hanging lights above the tables.

The main dining room inside is small, but well lit.  There are a handful of booths and tables in the room.  It's cozy and has a little bit of a good ol' funky vibe to the place.  Classic soul music from the likes of James Brown and Sam & Dave were playing on the sound system in the dining room.  A mixed crowd of urban hipsters and middle-aged people were in there that evening.  


Entering the building, the ordering area up front has the menu on a board above the counter and a small bar area off to the right.  The focus meat at Central BBQ is pork, but they also feature beef brisket, chicken, turkey, bologna and sausage from their smoker.  Central BBQ is also somewhat locally famous for their smoked chicken wings and their barbecue nachos that feature pulled pork, cheese, jalapenos and barbecue sauce on tortilla chips.  (You can also get beef, chicken or turkey for a meat topping on the barbecue nachos.)  We noticed a lot of the younger people in the dining area noshing on the barbecue nachos.  They actually looked pretty good.

We decided to get a combo plate - a half-rack of ribs with one side wet (with barbecue sauce) and one side the traditional Memphis-style dry rub along with sliced brisket and pulled pork.  For sides we had our choice of items such as fries, green beans, potato salad, pork rinds, onion rings, collard greens and mac & cheese.  They also had baked beans - a must for me - and cole slaw, which is what Cindy wanted.  

We also got a couple beers with the dinner.  They had Yazoo Brewing Company products on hand, a small brewery located in Nashville that I've had a couple times before.  They had a limited release beer - the 10 Year IPA - that signified their 10-year anniversary of being a brewery that I got.  Cindy wanted to try the Summer Seasonal beer they had on tap.  After we placed our order and paid at the front counter, we were given a number and found a booth in the small dining room.

A young girl brought out our food about five minutes (or even less) after we ordered.  We should have just ordered the ribs completely dry because Central BBQ has a couple of barbecue sauces that turned out to be very good.  The mild sauce was sweet, but it had a little bit of a spicy bite on the backside of the taste buds.  The spicy sauce, well, it certainly got my attention.  You immediately got the spicy taste on the front of the tongue.  Both were very good.  (We ended up buying a bottle of the mild sauce before we left.)  

The ribs pulled apart easily and were moist and meaty with a hint of a smoky taste on top of the dry rub that they used.  It wasn't loaded with the dry rub like you find with other Memphis-style barbecue places.   The pulled pork was moist and almost melted in your mouth.  The brisket was a tad more dry, but still good enough with some sauce added.  Out of the three I would say the pulled pork was the best, the ribs a close second and the brisket was an even closer third.  

The baked beans featured chunks of pulled pork.  I added some of the hot barbecue sauce to the beans to give them a little kick.  I had a bite of the creamy cole slaw and while it was good, the beans were much better.  Cindy thought the cole slaw to be just "all right". 

Much has been written about Central BBQ since they opened over 11 years ago, so I really don't have much more to say than other people who have been there.  I have to say that we were both very impressed with Central BBQ.  I loved the fun and funky vibe to the place, the barbecue was very good to outstanding, and the overall experience was excellent.  I knew there had to be better barbecue places in Memphis than the old stand-bys the tourists go to.  Central BBQ showed us why they continually receive honors for the best barbecue in Memphis.  

HB Jones - Elmhurst, IL

On a recent trip to Chicago, I was out in western suburb of Elmhurst for the night.  Looking around for someplace new to try out I came across a burger joint/bar that I wasn't familiar with - HB Jones.  I thought I'd give the place a try. 

The back story on HB Jones centers on a fictional world explorer by the name of Horatio B. Jones whose favorite food - a good burger - kept him going in the face of danger while descending Mount Everest.  Upon reaching base camp, Jones was rewarded with a burger of "Everest" proportions.  

Cute story, but the real back story involves restaurateur Anthony Gambino - who owns Salseria in Elmhurst - and three investors -  Bob Ceddia, Ken Patchak and Alfredo Luna.  The group turned what was the former Good Earth Market in Elmhurst into the concept burger joint in December of 2012.  Initially, the place was going to be called Hamburger Jones.  However, they shorted the name of the restaurant to just HB Jones around the time it opened.  

Hamburger Jones is located at the southeast corner of S. York and Vallette streets on the south side of Elmhurst.  There's a parking lot in the rear of the building that is accessible off of E. Vallette.  (see map)

The Good Earth Market featured a greenhouse in the back part of the building.  The group turned the greenhouse into a four-seasons dining room with a small bar area.  It was a nice night when I was there, but it was raining lightly off and on.  There is a small outdoor patio dining area, but no one was seated out there due the rain.

The front part of the building that faces S. York features a dining room and a larger bar area.  Most of the people in the place were seated out in the greenhouse.  That's where I ended up seated for my meal.

As I was going through the food menu, my server for the evening - Samantha - came over to greet me and ask if I wanted something to drink.  HB Jones has a number of Midwestern specialty beers and microbrews available and I ended up getting Bell's Two Hearted Ale.  

The burgers on the menu at HB Jones all feature 10 ounce grilled beef patties.  (For littler appetites, they also make 4 ounce "slider" burgers.)  But they also have a number of other items including chicken sandwiches and wraps, skirt steak, meat loaf and pulled pork sandwiches, a slew of salads and soups, along with entrees such as ribs and meat loaf.  

They have about a dozen specialty burgers on the menu that includes the Blue Cheese Wedge burger that features blue cheese, iceberg lettuce, sliced tomatoes and a raw red onion; as well as the Mexican Standoff that was topped with chorizo, Chihuahua cheese, guacamole, pico de gallo, jalapeno salsa and shredded lettuce.  For the truly adventurous - and the truly hungry - the Jones Climbs Everest burger featured 3 - 10 ounce beef patties topped with American and Swiss cheese, bacon, grilled onions, lettuce, tomato and pickles and topped with a house-made Jonzy sauce (which is basically a 1000 Island dressing).  

You can also "build your own burger" and I told Samantha that's the route that I was going to take.  She showed me a piece of paper on the table that allowed me to pick out exactly what I wanted.  Other than beef patties, you can also choose from ground turkey, Italian sausage, smashed meatball or a veggie patty.  Four types of buns - classic, whole wheat, pretzel and kaiser - are available.  Types of cheese includes American, Swiss, provolone, blue cheese, cheddar jack and Merkts sharp cheddar cheese spread all for a dollar upcharge.  

They also have a number of free toppings including the regular compliment of condiments along with grilled or raw onions, jalapenos, the aforementioned Jonzy Sauce, and barbecue sauce.  For a slight upcharge, you can get sauteed mushrooms, giardiniera, or fire-roasted jalapenos.  And for a $2 buck upcharge, you can choose a fried egg (thought that was a little high priced for just one egg), thick cut bacon, chorizo or pulled pork added to the burger.  

I ended up ordering a burger with sauteed mushrooms, Swiss cheese and thick cut bacon with a kaiser bun.  For sides I had a choice of hand-cut fries, tater tots, garlic mashed potatoes, cole slaw, a veggie skewer or mac and cheese.  For $4.00 more, you could get the salad bar that they have at HB Jones.  I went with the fries.  And I asked if I could get some mayo on the side to dip my fries into.  Very European!

The burger that Samantha served me was huge.  It featured a copious amount of Swiss cheese melted on top of the bacon and sauteed mushrooms.  Large bread and butter pickles came on the side.  

The burger, itself, was very good.  It was cooked to a perfect medium with a hint of pink in the middle.  And it was very juicy. It was a good 5 napkin burger, at least.  The bun held together well with all the juiciness in the burger.  But the bun wasn't all that large to where it was the right ratio of bun to burger.  Sometimes you get a bun that is too large and it makes the burger sort of too bread-y.  But the one at HB Jones was the right size.

The fries were very good, but I was having trouble finishing up the burger.  For one of the first times in a long time, I left a couple three bites of the burger.  It was not because it was bad - far from it.  It was just a lot more food than I like to eat that late in the evening.  

For my first visit to HB Jones, I'll have to say that I was pretty impressed with the burger.  Their beer list is good and they also have a number of specialty - including ice cream - liquor drinks.  Samantha's service was fine and I liked the greenhouse dining area at the place. The only quibble I had was that the burger was a little expensive - $14 bucks with all the toppings - but it was a big burger to start out.  If you make it to HB Jones, make sure you bring your appetite.  

Flying Saucer Draught Emporium - St. Louis

I was visiting one of my dealers in St. Louis earlier in the summer and he was telling me about this place that he had gone to in Little Rock, AR when he was there delivering a big system for a customer.  He was raving about the number of beers on tap this place had and how he was mesmerized looking at all the beers they had to offer.  He couldn't remember the name of the place, but a quick look on the Internet came up with the rather funky name - Flying Saucer Draught Emporium.  We found that it was a regional chain and then his eyes got big as he exclaimed, "Holy crap!  They have one here in St. Louis!  It's right down by the ballpark!"  Cindy and I took some time this summer to head down to St. Louis for a ballgame on our own and knowing that the Flying Saucer Draught Emporium was just down the way from Busch Stadium, we decided to walk over there after the game was over.  

Shannon Wynne opened the first Flying Saucer Draft Emporium in 1995.  Wynne, quite frankly, came from money.  His father founded Six Flags amusement parks in Texas.  Before his 30th birthday, Wynne opened the 8.0 (Eight-Oh) nightclub in Fort Worth.  From there, Wynne developed and owned a number of bars and nightclubs in and around the Dallas/Fort Worth area.  

The first Flying Saucer Draught Emporium opened in Fort Worth and from there Wynne began to open similar locations in Texas, Arkansas, North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina and Missouri.  When the St. Louis location opened in March of 2013, it was the 16th Flying Saucer.  (Wynne also owns the Flying Fish restaurants with 8 locations in Texas and Arkansas.)  

We walked out of Busch Stadium, past the Stan Musial statue on the west side of the stadium and a block down Spruce Street to the Flying Saucer Draught Emporium.  (see map)  The game got over around 10:00 p.m. so there weren't a lot of people in the place who were having a late dinner like us.  

Sure enough, the bar area had a number of beer taps on the wall behind the bar.  Dozens of taps of domestic and imported beers were lined up and a large number of bottled beers were in refrigerated cases off to the side of taps.   

We took a seat in a booth just past the bar.  
There were a number of flat panel televisions on the wall of the place as well as what appeared to be a number of antique saucer dishes.  Oh, yeah - we caught the message.  

Our server for the evening, Laura, came over to greet us and to drop off a couple of menus.  The servers at the Flying Saucer were sort of urban-hipster chicks, not dressed up in the "breast-urant" type of clothing that seems to be what a lot of girls are wearing at similar establishments.  Laura asked if we wanted anything to drink and Cindy got an iced tea.  I looked through the beer menu and was sort of surprised that they didn't have any of the Kona beers available.  I've found that a number of bars near the stadium have at least Kona Longboard Lager available.  Looking for other beers, I selected a Lagunitas IPA that was available in a bottle.  

She left for a moment and came back to say, "We're out of the Lagunitas IPA.  Can I get you something else?"  Taking a quick look at the beer menu, I found that they had a Deschutes Mirror Pond pale ale on tap.  She went away and came back with Cindy's iced tea and told me, "We ran out of the Deschutes pale ale earlier tonight."  By this time, I was exasperated.  This has happened to me at other places that have touted their "great" beer selection, but didn't seem to have the beers that I wanted.  Looking at the beer menu - again - I found a Bell's Midwestern Pale Ale.  She said, "I know we have that.  I just served one to a guy a few moments ago."  Indeed, they did have that.

The food menu at Flying Saucer in St. Louis is, well, limited.  There's the usual bar appetizers - wings, chicken strips, beef nachos, chips with queso cheese - but they also had bacon wrapped jalapenos that were stuffed with seasoned beef and chorizo, as well as housemade pretzels and corn-battered bratwursts.  For main course food, it was pretty basic - sandwiches and burgers.  They did have shepherd's pie, a bratwurst entree and pizzas that were called Saucer Pie's that featured what I would call eclectic toppings such as applewood smoked bacon, spicy beef, arugula, avocados and roasted red peppers.

I thought about getting the shepherd's pie, but I ended up ordering the French dip.  It came with fries and au jus on the side.  The roast beef was thinly cut and piled high on a crisp hoagie bun.  Quite frankly, it was just all right.  Not bad, but not great.  The au jus was highly salty and for a guy like me who doesn't eat a lot of salt it was a little overpowering.  

Cindy ordered the smoked turkey sandwich and instead of fries she got a side salad with the jalapeno vinaigrette that she thought she'd try.  The sandwich was topped with avocado and Swiss cheese with lettuce and tomato slices finished with a jalapeno/pesto mayo on a La Baccia bun.  She said the sandwich, too, was just "all right".  She did offer me a bite of her salad with the jalapeno vinaigrette.  It was a bit spicy, but not overpowering.  Actually, the dressing was quite good.   

A couple weeks after we'd dined at the Flying Saucer, I told my dealer in St. Louis that we had gone there and told him that even though they had a bunch of beers to choose from the first two I ordered were out of stock and that the food was just all right.  He said, "Yeah, I know.  We went there about a month ago (before we went) and they pulled the same thing - out of a couple beers that we ordered.  And I thought the one in Little Rock was much better than the one in St. Louis in terms of beer selection."  

If you're into places with a good beer selection the Flying Saucer Draught Emporium in St. Louis is worth a visit.  The food was just average - at best - and there isn't much of a food menu.  Go for the beer - that is, if they have what you're looking for - and eat somewhere else.