Road Tips

Pappasito's Cantina - San Antonio

While in San Antonio earlier this summer for a business conference, we had finished up for the week and decided that we wanted to get some good Mexican food while we were in town.  We were staying at the La Cantera Resort for the conference and we were asking the concierge where there was really good Mexican food close by.  She told us that there was a place just down the road off of Interstate 10 by the name of Pappasito's Cantina that was very good.  I had seen the sign - it was tough not to as you were going by - and I immediately knew where the place was.  We decided to head to Pappasito's for some good ol' Mexican food and a couple of big margaritas.  

One of the problems of going to a city or an area that I'm not overly familiar with, I didn't know that Pappasito's was a chain.  Had I known that, I probably would have asked to go to another Mexican restaurant.  Plus, it turns out that the founders of the company were of Greek heritage, not Mexican.  And, Pappasito's is part of the same corporation that owns the Pappadeux Seafood Kitchen restaurants, Pappas Bar-B-Q, Pappas Burger, Pappas Bros. Steakhouse and other restauants throughout Texas, but also in Illinois, Ohio, Arizona, Georgia, New Mexico and Colorado.  (Disclaimer - I have eaten at a couple Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen's in the past and I found them to be actually quite good.)

Family patriarch H.D. Pappas immigrated from Greece in the late 19th century and eventually opened restaurants in Arkansas, Texas and Tennessee before settling in Dallas before World War II.  Two of his four sons, Pete and Jim, moved to Houston just after World War II to start up a franchise that sold beer coolers to bars and restaurants in South Texas.  The brothers eventually turned that venture into a restaurant supply business that was very profitable.

Though business was good for the Pappas brothers, they found that it was also very cyclical - there would be a lull for new restaurants during economic downtimes.  In 1967, they decided to get into the restaurant business themselves and opened the Brisket House barbecue (now Pappas Bar-B-Q) and purchased the Dot Coffee Shop in downtown Houston.  Jim Pappas' sons Harris, Chris and Greg joined their father and their uncle in the business in the early 70's.  

After Jim Pappas died in 1982 (Pete died in 2005), the brothers took an aggressive business stance by expanding the Pappas restaurant company into highly profitable Mexican and Cajun restaurants in the Houston area.  After they got up to 25 locations in the greater Houston area, they expanded into San Antonio and Austin.  

The brothers opened their first upscale Pappas Bros. Steakhouse in 1993 after a reconfiguring of their Strawberry American Bistro that they originally opened in 1976.  Tragically, Greg Pappas died in a car accident on a Houston highway in 1995.  Harris and Chris continued on and currently still head the corporation that now has 85 restaurants under its umbrella.  And their children are also involved in the company handling everything from marketing and customer relations to property management to the corporation's own meat company to culinary research for the restaurants.  

Even though there are now 21 Pappasito's Cantina's in Texas, there's only the one in San Antonio.  It's located on a frontage road off of I-10 on the northwest side of San Antonio between the Heubner and Wurzbach Road exits.  (see map)  There is a large parking lot behind the building and we were lucky to find a place to park on a busy Friday evening.  

We knew that we would be in for quite a wait even though Pappasito's Cantina was a rather large place.  And there were a lot of people waiting for a table near the hostess stand.  One of the young girls at the stand told us that it would be about a 30 minutes wait for a table, or we could have dinner at the bar if we were so inclined.  She asked for my phone number and she said that she would text me when a table came available.  My colleague, John, said, "Well, I'd say it's time for a margarita!"  

"Or two", I replied enthusiastically.  

It just so happened that a couple were getting up from their seats toward the end of the long bar.  We took their seats and it wasn't long until I got a text message from the hostess stand.  It said something to the effect that if we wanted to eat at the bar to text  back to them.  I asked John, "Do you want to just eat at the bar?"  

Other people were eating at the bar and after looking around a bit, we decided to just eat there.  I texted back that we'd just eat at the bar and we settled in.  

After getting a couple of Herradura silver margaritas, one of the bartenders gave us a basket of fresh chips and a kick-ass smoky chipotle salsa to go with it.  We decided that we needed some guacamole to go along with the chips and it wasn't long before a large plate of fresh guacamole showed up in front of us.  It was very good and very rich.  

I went to the restroom and discovered on my way that they were making fresh tortillas on a machine toward the back of the dining area.  That was a good sign - the only thing better was if some little old lady was hand-making them on a grill.  

The menu at the Pappasito's in San Antonio appears to be the same for the other 20 locations.  While the menu wasn't extensive like you'd find at other Mexican restaurants, there were enough interesting items that caught my attention.  First of all, they had fish tacos - either fried or grilled tilapia filets.  They also had beef brisket and pulled pork tacos, as well.  They had five different types of enchiladas, as well as specialties such as chicken, shrimp, beef or steak fajitas; a skewer of mesquite-grilled shrimp stuffed with cheese and jalapeños, then wrapped in bacon; and a half-rack pork ribs/shrimp combination; and a chipotle glazed salmon with a masa (or dough) encrusted crab cake.  

We both went with enchiladas - John went with the beef brisket enchiladas which featured 3 enchiladas topped with a cheese sauce and fresh cilantro.  The requisite refried beans (topped with shredded cheese) and Mexican rice (with chopped tomatoes) came with both dinners.  

I went with a combination of the pork (2) and the brisket enchiladas (1) with a roasted chile verde/sour cream sauce on top.  The pulled pork was delicious - it was shredded, moist and tender.  The brisket was also good, although I couldn't get much of a mesquite taste out of the beef.  Then again, I was catching what turned out to be a monster cold (my wife had gotten a bad cold on our trip to Southern California and I caught it from her) and my taster was starting to go haywire.  

Although Pappasito's Cantina turned out to be a chain, I was happy enough with the food I ate there.  I'm sure there are better Mexican food places in San Antonio and I made up my mind that I wouldn't mind coming back to San Antonio at some point to explore not only the town but the Hill Country that stretches north of the city.  I'm sure I'll find good Mexican food if I really look in San Antonio, but if you're not familiar with the city and want good Mexican food you can't go wrong with Pappacito's.  (Photo compliments My San Antonio.com)

Romano's - Rosemont, IL

In a small strip mall near the hotel I like to stay at when I'm in Chicago are three restaurants that are side-by-side-by-side.  I've eaten at two of them - Maharaja, one of my favorite Indian restaurants (click here to see my entry on Maharaja); and a pretty good little Mexican restaurant by the name of Laredo's Embassy of Mexican Food (click here to see my entry on Laredo's).  The third restaurant - Romano's Restaurant - is a family owned Italian/pizza joint that has been around for 65 years, but not at this location.  I thought I'd give this place a try one evening earlier this year.  

Charles and Sophie Romano opened the original Romano's - known as Charles Romano's to the locals - in 1950 in a building on E. Oakton St. in Des Plaines.  It was said the pizza joint was the hang out of Hillary Rodham (now Hillary Clinton) and Harrison Ford when they were both going to high school in nearby Park Ridge.  Burt Reynolds and Dinah Shore visited Romano's in the 1970's when that couple were an item.  It wasn't just the thin-crust pizza is what brought people back for generations, it was the neighborhood feel to the place that time hadn't touched since the 1950's.   

Charles and Sophie's three sons - Joe, Paul and Chuck - all worked in the business growing up, but Chuck was the one who took over the family business when Charles died in 1989.  Chuck Romano owned the business until around 2008 when he sold it to longtime employee Tom Sitarski.  In 2010, the IRS had a lien filed on the business and Romano's was forced to close to get their finances in order.  After selling the building and most of the contents to help pay against the lien, Sitarski quietly re-opened Romano's in a strip mall along W. Higgins Road in Rosemont in 2012.  (See map)

If they were trying to replicate the original Charles Romano's location in the new Romano's in the strip mall, well, they had to fall short.  No matter how timeless and well-worn the old place may have been, they couldn't replicate that interior in the Romano's on W. Higgins.  It was dark - all the pictures I took of the interior didn't come out - but had sort of a homey feeling to the place.  

I took a seat in a booth along the wall and was given a menu by a waitress who came over to greet me.  I ordered up a beer and took a look through the menu.  I've read where some regulars of the old Charles Romano's didn't even know there was a menu with other food items on it.  All they did was order pizza each time they came in.  But Romano's features a number of pasta dishes, sandwiches, Italian appetizers, and a number of salads on the menu.  They also have chicken dishes such as chicken parmesan and chicken marsala, as well as ribs and fried shrimp on the menu.  

The pizzas at Romano's are all thin crust and come in five sizes from a 10" individual pizza up to a 20" pizza for groups of 4 or more.  I pulled a rookie mistake and ordered a small pizza thinking that it was a 10", but it came out as a 12" pizza.  I didn't order the "individual" pizza which was the 10" size. That was all right.  What I didn't eat I could take back to the hotel.

The pizza was sort of misshapen and looked handmade.  Generous amounts of mozzarella, sliced fresh mushrooms, large slices of pepperoni and and chunks of Italian sausage topped the crispy thin crust.   From the first bite, I could tell Romano's pizza was a little different from other thin crust pizzas I've had in the past.  

The sauce was sweet and tangy, but cheese seemed to be a little more creamy than what I was used to.  It says that they use mozzarella on their menu, but I thought that the cheese on the Romano's pizza seemed to be more of a blend.  Sort of like it had provolone or even St. Louis-style provel cheese mixed in.  At first I didn't think I cared for it all that much, but I found that it wasn't offensive in the taste.  

The crust also had sort of a strange texture.  I can't quite put my finger on what it was, but the crust was crispy, yet pliable at the same time.  It had a slight burnt taste from the oven, but overall the crust was fine.  I prefer a good thin crust versus a thicker hand-tossed crust.    

After thinking about the pizza after the fact, I determined that I liked it enough that I could always go back if I were staying around O'Hare and needed a quick thin crust pizza fix.  The pizza at Romano's was unique and I can see why some people still send frozen Romano pizza's to friends and family around the nation.  I really wish I would have been able to go to the original Romano's in Des Plaines, from all that I read about the place and from the pictures I've seen the place had character.  It's tough to make a strip mall space have character.  But you'll find Romano's in Rosemont to be inviting enough with the same style of pizza they've been serving for 65 years.  

Durty Gurt's - Galena, IL

My wife likes to take weekend road trips up to Galena from time to time.  I don't mind going if the weather is nice and one recent weekend day we decided to head up to Galena to just get out of town for a few hours.  It was getting to be around lunch time and even though we were still full from breakfast, we decided to grab a burger at Durty Gurt's, a burger joint along Galena's Main Street.  (see map)

The "Durty Gurt" of the place is a fictitious old lady character that seems to be void of teeth.  The burger joint is owned by Deanne Anderson who felt there was a need for a good burger in the downtown tourist area of Galena.  She opened the place in 2007 and it has garnered a reputation for having one of the better burgers in the area. (There's a place down the street that also touts their burgers as being the best in Galena.  We may have to go back at some point and try their burger.)  In 2014, Thrillist named Durty Gurt's as having one of the 17 best burgers in the state of Illinois.  (I've now eaten in 10 of the 17 places on that list.)  

We got into Durty Gurt's around 1:30 and it was still pretty busy from all the people who were in Galena that particular day.  In the vestibule as you come in, you get an idea of the tone of the place as they have three toilets - one with fake flowers coming out of the top of the tank - with a sign over them that said, "Reserved Seating for Stool Pigeons and Crybabys".  The bar area as you walk into the place has a large neon "Durty Gurt's" sign over the bar.  

We were greeted by a young lady who seated us in the middle dining area of Durty Gurt's.   One the fake board walls were whimsical phrases like "I never went to bed with an ugly person, but I woke up with a few", "We never make misteaks" and "I never worry when I get lost, I just change where I'm going".  Groaning and head-shaking attempts at humor for a restaurant has never been one of my favorite things.  

While we were there to get a burger, there's more on the menu at Durty Gurt's if you're not up for a burger.  They also have sandwiches, salads, grilled chicken or tuna melts, breaded seafood entrees and ribs.  Their burgers consist of one such as the City Diner burger that is topped with cheddar cheese, bacon, a fried egg and a housemade mayo; the Blue Moon burger that featured portobello mushrooms, blue cheese and bacon on a pretzel bun; and the Tombstone burger that was topped with cheddar and pepper jack cheese, grilled onion, bacon and a barbecue sauce with onion rings on top of the burger bun.  

Durty Gurt's also featured a couple of "food challenge-type" burgers including the "Woo! Wop! The Bam!" that had four half-pound burger patties that are topped with bacon, cheddar cheese and a housemade mayo; and the "Belly Buster" which had two half-pound burger patties topped with bacon, cheddar cheese, handcut French fries and their housemade mayo with onion rings on top of the bun.  They also had a burger that was nestled between two glazed donuts instead of a bun.  

Cindy and I went pretty simple - we just went with a simple cheddar cheese burger.  She got handcut fries to go along with her burger and I helped her eat some of them.  The half-pound burger featured a toasted split top bun and came with sliced red onions, dill pickles, a slice of tomato, shredded lettuce and the housemade mayo.

The burger was actually very good - it was cooked medium with a hint of pink in the middle.  The bun was spongy and held together very well with each bite.  The cheddar cheese had a great forward taste and went well with the burger.  I'd have to say compared to the other burgers I've had on Thrillist's "17 Best Burgers in Illinois" list that Durty Gurt's acquitted themselves very well.  

While others might like it, I didn't care for the schlocky decor all that much.  But I was able to get well past that and enjoy the burger they served us at Durty Gurt's.  The young lady who was our server did a fine job and other than the obnoxious fake graffiti there wasn't any bad things to say about Durty Gurt's.  The burger was very good and it truly may be the best in Galena.    

Waldo Pizza - Lee's Summit, MO

Since I started to go to Kansas City years ago, I've never really felt that there was any pizza joint that truly knocked my socks off in terms of having really good pizza.  I was telling one of my Kansas City area dealers that one time and he said that I really needed to try a pizza at Waldo Pizza sometime.  On a recent trip to Kansas City, I stayed out in Lee's Summit on the southeast side and there happened to be a Waldo Pizza that was walking distance from my hotel.    

I'd actually tried to get into the original Waldo Pizza off of Wornall at 75th St. in the Waldo neighborhood in south Kansas City on one previous occasion, but the place was packed and there would have been a 45 minute wait for a place to sit.  This location has been open since the mid-80's and definitely flew under my radar in regards to pizza places in Kansas City.  Phil Bourne - the owner of Waldo Pizza since 1993 - started out at the original location in 1991 as a dishwasher, working his way up to being a delivery man, then getting to wait tables.  When the original owners had enough of running the place, Phil gave them an offer to buy Waldo Pizza.  They accepted and Phil's been running the place for 22 years.  

Susan Sims and Donna Vaughan were fans of the original Waldo Pizza and felt that the Lee's Summit area needed a good St. Louis-style (thin crust) pizza place.  They bought an already successful pizza establishment and turned it into a Waldo Pizza franchise.  They opened the Lee's Summit location in 2004.  

The Lee's Summit location is in a strip mall back from N.E. Douglas, a main street in that K.C. suburb.  (see map)  It was later in the evening - around 8:30 - when I went inside and there was a sparse crowd in the place at that time.  There was a small bar toward the back of the dining room, a game room off to the side and a handful of booths along the wall.  I was greeted by a young man by the name of Drake who was sporting a T-shirt that said, "Corporate Pizza Sucks".  I immediately liked the place.

I took a seat at a booth on the side of the dining room.  On the walls were a number of pieces of artwork including this portrait of Kansas City-based blues guitarist/singer Samantha Fish.  I've seen her play a couple of times - she's very good - the first time when she was still a teenager and beginning to make a name for herself.  

The hallway going toward the restrooms was filled with 70's and 80's era album covers that were pretty interesting to see.  In the men's room, a number of jigsaw puzzles that had been put together were on the wall.  It was kind of funny to see jigsaw puzzles in the men's room. 

As I said, the pizza at Waldo Pizza is primarily of the thin-crust variety, but they also feature a hand-tossed and a honey-wheat crusted pizza.  Waldo Pizza also features gluten free and vegetarian options with their pizzas.  They feature 15 different types of cheese to put on their pizzas, over two dozen meat or seafood toppings (including crab meat, smoked turkey, lamb sausage and Spam), and over 30 different types of veggies to put on a pizza (including roasted corn, zucchini, egg plant, as well as almonds and pine nuts).  The Waldo pizza usually comes with a tangy tomato sauce, but you can also get an alfredo sauce, a taco sauce, blended pesto, or a buffalo chicken sauce.

Their St. Louis-style pizzas come with a four cheese blend - mozzarella, provolone, provel, and cheddar.  The thin-crust is glazed with garlic butter and topped with the house tomato sauce.  I asked Drake if I could just get mozzarella on my pizza.  "Uhhh...  I'll have to check," he said in a monotonic voice before he walked away.  I was kind of dumbfounded because it said that you COULD get mozzarella - and only mozzarella - on the pizza if you liked.  He came back moments later and said, "Yeah, we can do that."  I figured he must have been new.  

I ordered up a small (10") thin-crust Italian sausage sourced from Scimeca's Sausage Company, a family-owned grocery store/Italian food purveyor that has been in the Kansas City area for over 75 years.  I also got some mushrooms and pepperoni on the pizza.  It had a crispy crust that was cracker thin (some people don't like that thin of a crust but I do - I'd rather taste the toppings than the dough), large slices of pepperoni were on top of the fresh mozzarella cheese, and the sliced fresh mushrooms and chunks of Italian sausage littered the pizza.  This was a very good pizza - one that easily passed the "Does it Taste Good with Beer?" test.  It went very well with the Boulevard Double Wide IPA that I was enjoying that evening.  

The very thin crust pizza is not everyone's favorite, but I thought the one I had at Waldo Pizza in Lee's Summit was outstanding.  The fresh ingredients and toppings were a definitely plus with the taste of the pizza.  Drake's service was a little confusing and he was very neutral in his demeanor, but that didn't take anything away from the spot-hitting pizza.  After years of searching for a good pizza in Kansas City, Waldo Pizza has become my favorite pizza in the area.  

L. Woods Tap & Pine Lodge - Lincolnwood, IL

I was in Chicago for a weekend trade show earlier this year and I invited one of my dealers out for dinner on a Saturday night.  I suggested a place that I'd known about for awhile, but hadn't been to - L. Woods Tap and Pine Lodge.   

L. Woods Tap and Pine Lodge is modeled after a Northwoods supper club/steakhouse.  And I was a bit surprised that it was under the Lettuce Entertain You umbrella of restaurants that restaurateur-extraordanaire Rich Melman has built up mainly in the Chicago area (along with restaurants in Las Vegas, Washington D.C., the Twin Cities, and Scottsdale, AZ).  I realized that this was a Melman/L.E.Y. restaurant was when we walked in and saw a comical sign on the hostess stand that said something along the lines of "Rich Melman said to seat me right away."  While I wasn't crestfallen that this was another Melman place, I knew that the place would be nice and comfortable - albeit a little whimsical and formulated - but it wouldn't be excellent.  I've never run into a Melman/L.E.Y. restaurant that has been what I would call excellent.  But there's so many of them that I probably haven't been to even half of the Lettuce Entertain You restaurants over the years.  

And it's a wonder that I didn't know that L. Woods was a Melman/L.E.Y. restaurant - it's been open for over 16 years near the corner of N. Lincoln Ave. and W. Touhy in Lincolnwood.  (see map)  Before L. Woods opened, the building housed another Melman restaurant - Bones - that primarily featured ribs and chicken.  Bones had been in business for about 20 years before Melman retooled the place and opened L. Woods in late 1998.   

We stood in the crowded and very nice bar area - known as Frank's Bar -  waiting for a moment until they could get our table set up.  The dark lit room was brightened only by some reduced-light can lights and from the flat panel televisions behind the bar.  When our table was ready, the hostess guided us through the main dining area - a long room with wood accents and decorated with deer antler lights and framed pictures of old scenes and trophy fish from Northern Wisconsin/Minnesota.  We were taken into a small back room that was possibly used as a small meeting/luncheon area most of the time except for when it got busy on the weekends.  We were given menus and it wasn't long before our server, Jason, came over to greet us.  

After Jason took our drink order, he came back with a complementary taste of their tomato pesto and chicken flat bread pizza appetizer.  And it was all right - I wouldn't have ordered it as an appetizer.  But as a little tease for their flat bread appetizers, it was fine.  

The main items on the menu were steaks and seafood - exactly as you find on most Northwoods supper club menus.  It wasn't a long menu at L. Woods - they only featured about four or five each of seafood or steak entrees.  Continuing the tradition that started with Bones in the 70's, L. Woods also had chicken and rib dinners, as well.  They also featured soups and salads, and sandwiches and burgers on the dinner menu.  

After ordering soup for our starters - a good, but somewhat salty mushroom beef barley for me and tomato bisque for my guest that came with a small loaf of a wonderful house-baked onion bread - we were served our dinners for the evening.  I went with the Saturday night special, the prime rib.  I got the 16 ounce cut and asked Jason if they could find as rare of a cut as possibly.  This was more medium rare, but that was fine with me.  It was actually pretty lean as far as prime rib goes with not much marbling.  A side came with it and I got the garlic mashed potatoes.  It also came with creamy horseradish sauce and I asked if I could get some real ground horseradish.  Jason brought some out, but it was pretty pedestrian in taste compared to other fresh horseradishes that I've had.  

My guest went with the ribs and chicken combo.  I didn't want to say that I didn't think the chicken and ribs would be good when he ordered, but he pretty much said that the ribs were dry and the chicken was pretty bland.  He got some broccoli on the side and the crowns were mushy and overcooked.  He didn't think much of his dinner, disappointed that the ribs were overcooked and the chicken was just so-so.

I was happy enough with my prime rib.  The cut of meat was flavorful and juicy.  It had been a long time since I'd gotten prime rib, but this piece of meat told me that I shouldn't wait too long for the next time.  It was well above average for a piece of prime rib.  The garlic mashed potatoes were just all right - there didn't seem to be much garlic in them.  But I was much more focused on the prime rib than the garlic mashed potatoes.  

Even though my guest was less than thrilled with his ribs and chicken, I was happy enough with my prime rib.  Jason's service was all right - he seemed a little forced with some of his mannerisms.  The atmosphere was laid back and the decor was comfortable.  Even though L. Woods is a Lettuce Entertain You concept restaurant it did it's best to capture the essence of a Northwoods supper club - only one that is smack in the middle of Chicagoland.   (Photo courtesy of Check, Please! on WTTW-TV)

Dave & Tony's Premium Burger Joint - Creve Coeur, MO

I had a long day on the road recently seeing a number of dealers before getting into the western suburbs of St. Louis around 8 p.m.  I checked into my hotel and did a quick search to see what restaurants were in the immediate area.  Not far from the hotel over in Creve Coeur was a place that I hadn't heard about before - Dave & Tony's Premium Burger Joint.  It had gotten some good reviews from diners and in the local St. Louis press, so I decided to head over there to check the place out.

Dave & Tony's grew out of a concept sandwich shop - Sammy Scott's - that was started by David Miller, Anthony Dahl and two other investors back in 2009.  The sandwiches were upscale and pricey, but I understand that they did very well with the lunch time crowds that would come in.  However, the restaurant couldn't sustain the level of business needed at night and on the weekends.  The group decided to close the business in March of 2011 and Miller and Dahl decided to do something else with the corner location in Bellerive Plaza strip mall off of Olive St.  (see map)

Miller - whose grandfather is noted St. Louis entrepreneur/restauranteur/developer Lester Miller - and Dahl - who was once the executive chef at J. Buck's in downtown St. Louis, and also at the former Finale in Clayton - decided to come up with a premium burger concept where people could build their own burgers featuring ground steak burgers and multitudes of toppings.  Hoping the more broad approach to the concept would appeal to consumers, the two opened Dave & Tony's in June of 2011.  Since they just celebrated their 4 year anniversary, I'd say they've hit on a winning concept.  

Even though it was around 8:30, there was still a pretty good crowd in Dave & Tony's enjoying their burgers.  The menu for the place is located on four flat-screen monitors next to the front counter.  You place your order and go find a table.  They bring you your food and you eat it.  Pretty easy, huh?

Well, maybe it isn't quite THAT easy.  At the front counter there is a form that you can fill out to make your own burger that gets to be, well, rather complicated if you like.  

Dave & Tony's BYO Form - 

The first step is if you want a sandwich, a garlic/herbed wrap, or just a salad for $6.99.  Then you get to choose from a list of either a premium steak burger, an extra large steak burger (for a buck more), grilled chicken, or a turkey burger or a veggie burger for the health conscious.  Then you get to tell them how you want your burger cooked.  

From there, you get your choice of five different types of buns, or - once again for the health conscious - a lettuce wrap.  Then the choices start getting interesting.

You can then choose from nearly two dozen different types of toppings that include black beans, jalapeños, roasted sweet corn or sprouts.  Oh, they have the regular items like tomatoes, red onions, iceberg lettuce and caramelized onions.  But I don't think I've ever seen a burger with carrots, candied walnuts or crispy wontons on it. 

They also have a list of about a dozen premium toppings for $1.00 each such as bacon, a fried egg, roasted mushrooms and even baked beans (once again - baked beans on a hamburger?).  Then you get a choice of one type of sauce or dressing.  They had chipotle ketchup, steak butter, roasted garlic aioli, and three different types of mustard.  (If you wanted additional sauce toppings, they were 50 cents each.)  

Now, if you don't want to go through all that, they do have things like a simple burger, a mushroom and Swiss cheese burger, a Southwest turkey burger with pepper jack cheese, roasted peppers and jalapeños, a grilled chicken sandwich, as well as hot dogs, chicken tenders, grilled cheese sandwiches, salads and wraps.  They also have a kids menu at Dave & Tony's.  

I decided to build my own burger - a 10 ounce extra large premium steak burger topped with pepper jack cheese, roasted mushrooms and red peppers, bacon, red onion slices and kosher dill slices.  I also got a couple bottles of Budweiser (hey, when in St. Louis...) to go along with the burger.  The counter person asked if I wanted any fries or onion rings (they also have chili cheese fries and garlic herb fries, too), but I declined anything more than what was probably going to be an already too-big burger for me. 

The burger was loaded with toppings - roasted mushrooms and peppers were mixed with sliced red onion rings and kosher dill pickles.  Two thick cut slices of bacon criss-crossed the top of the burger.  I got the regular bun for this particular burger.  With everything all together, this was a handful of a burger.     

The taste of the burger was very good.  With everything that was going on - taste-wise - with the burger, meat shined through very well.  I order my burgers medium and this was just about as medium as you can get it.  It had a small hint of pink in the middle and maintained it's juicy flavor with each bite.  

However, about 3/4's of the way through eating the burger, I bit into something that was sort of rubbery and something that I couldn't get my teeth to fully cut into.  Discretely removing it from my mouth and setting it on the wax paper that the burger comes on, I found it to be a rather gnarly mushroom that had the consistency of a pencil eraser.  But that didn't deter me - I finished up what I felt was a pretty good burger. Other than that little problem, I couldn't find much - if any - faults with my burger.  

The gnarly mushroom notwithstanding, I felt the burger at Dave & Tony's was definitely above average.  I'm frankly sort of surprised that they haven't opened more locations around the St. Louis area.  Having the one location sort of proves to me that they're serious about the consistency of their food and wanting to do the best - even with all the choices you can make when you build your own burger.  While I can't call the burger I had at Dave & Tony's the best burger I've had in St. Louis, it certainly is up toward the top.  

Osetra (the Fishhouse) - San Diego, CA

My wife and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary in mid-May when we went out to San Diego for our first ever visit there.  We knew we wanted to do something nice for a meal that evening, even asking the concierge at the hotel we were staying at to give us suggestions.  He gave us a couple three ideas, but during a walk around the historic Gaslamp Quarter in downtown San Diego, we came upon a restaurant that had its menu posted outside - Osetra.  It was a combination Italian seafood/steakhouse/sushi restaurant with some pasta dishes, as well.  We talked with a young lady who was standing out front about the restaurant and immediately made reservations for two later on for 7:30 p.m.  

Since the summer of 2006, Osetra (named after one of the most sought after caviars in the world) has been serving patrons in their chic and contemporary setting at the corner of E Street and 5th Ave. in downtown San Diego.  (see map)  Restauranteur Alex Minutella and his partners were one of the first groups to open upscale restaurants in the Gaslamp Quarter, restaurants that included Osteria Panevino and Greystone Steakhouse.  The group moved on to Las Vegas to open more restaurants including one of my favorites - Panevino (click here to see my entry on Panevino).  

The young man who Minutella and his partners put in charge of the kitchen at Panevino in Las Vegas was Alberto Morreale, a native of Sicily who moved to Northern Italy to study culinary arts in Milan.  Moving to the U.S. in 1995, he started as the sous chef at the Panevino in San Diego, as well as overseeing the kitchen staff at the former Trattoria Portobello restaurant in San Diego before moving to Las Vegas to open that Panavino location.  

When the group sold their Las Vegas interests, Morreale moved back to San Diego to become the head chef at Osetra.  He eventually became the General Manager and co-owner of Osetra, as well as becoming involved in other restaurants such as the Fig Tree Cafe in the greater San Diego area.    

One of the things that Minutella and Morealle brought back with them from Las Vegas was the flair of theatrics - the concept of Wine Angels from Aureole at Mandalay Bay.  These "angels" literally fly (via a wire harness) up to the top of a three-story "wine tower" storage unit in the center of the E-5 Lounge on the main floor of Osetra.  We didn't see any wine angels flying at Osetra the night we were there.  

We went back to the hotel to freshen up and change into something a little nicer than shorts for dinner and got to Osetra just before 7:30.  We were greeted by a hostess who took us through the chic and contemporary lounge area and up a long set of stairs to the second floor of the restaurant.  As we were going up the stairs, the hostess asked us if there was any special occasion as to why were dining with them that evening.  We told her it was our 20th anniversary and she said, "Oh, that's great!  Congratulations!"  And that was that, or so we thought. 

We were seated at a table next to a large window that looked out onto the Gaslamp Quarter.  (The window tables on the second floor, I found out later, are prime real estate for patrons of Osetra.)  Not long after dropping off menus for us, our server for the evening - a pleasant middle-aged man by the name of Andrea who had a thick Bronx accent - came over to greet us.  He explained a few things about the menu and said he'd come back to let us know about the specials that evening in a bit.  

I was looking through the wine list and I had to say that they were pretty proud - price-wise - of the bottles of wine they served at Osetra.  We had decided on getting a dry white wine since we were leaning toward going with seafood.  I ordered up a bottle of the Ferrari Carano Fume Blanc which was still rather overpriced (in my opinion), but better than some of the prices of other Fume Blanc wines they had.  (Someone's gotta pay for those wine angels.)  

And they're pretty proud of their entrees at Osetra - price-wise - as well.  When they opened nine years ago, they were billed as the most expensive restaurant in San Diego.  I don't know if that is still the case, but their prices were making a strong case that if it still wasn't the most expensive restaurant in San Diego, it was damned close.  An 8 ounce filet steak was $46 bucks.  A bowl of cioppino was $38 dollars.  An order of jumbo sea scallops clocked in at a cool $40 bucks.  I would have hated to find out the market price of the Alaskan king crab legs or the live Maine lobster they featured on the menu.  But, hey!  It was our 20th anniversary so we were going to live it up for the night.  

I pretty much knew what I was going to get even before Andrea tried to tempt with a seafood and a pasta special that evening.  I ended up getting the blackened ahi tuna for my main entree.  Cindy ended up getting the sea bass on risotto.  But before we got our entrees, we had a couple of things as a warm up for our meals.  

Cindy got a bowl of Osetra's lobster bisque.  The rich butter and cream broth had a hint of a spiciness to it thanks to the paprika with chunks of lobster coming up with every spoonful.  For a garnish in the center of the bisque was a dollop of Tabiko caviar with some sour cream.  After Cindy made a significant dent in the bisque, I had a couple bites and it was some of the best lobster bisque I've tasted.  But it was very filling and Cindy was worried that if she ate the whole bowl, she wouldn't be hungry for her sea bass entree.  

I got the wedge salad topped with crumbled Maytag blue cheese dressing.  Of course, I had to tell Andrea that I grew up in the town where Maytag blue cheese is made and that the process of making the cheese smells ungodly.   He wanted to know if it was the same people that made the washing machines.  "Same family, not the same company," I told him.  The salad wasn't large, but that was fine.  There were copious amounts of the crumbled Maytag blue cheese on the salad with fresh chunks of tomato and real bacon bits. It was a nice start to the meal.

Our entrees came out and Cindy was amazed at the size of the chunk of sea bass lying on the risotto on her plate.  The sea bass was covered with fennel and came with a side of grilled asparagus.  The risotto was drenched in a pomegranate reduction sauce.  The sea bass broke off into large flakey chunks and Cindy declared it to be absolutely delicious.  

My ahi tuna was grilled rare and was also a large chunk of fresh fish.  A ginger soy sauce reduction was drizzled along the outer edges of the plate.  This looked excellent.  

For a side, I got the wild roasted mushrooms mixed with truffle oil.  I like mushrooms a lot - Cindy has detested mushrooms for years but has gotten to a point where she tolerates them, especially if they're fresh and not canned mushrooms.  (She actually does like the morel mushrooms that grow in the Midwest each spring.)  These mushrooms were thick cut and very tasty in the rich truffle oil sauce.  Even Cindy liked them.  

There was a problem with my ahi tuna, however.  I had the impression that the tuna was going to have a blackened crust outer shell - at least that's what I was led to believe from the description in the menu.  Earlier, I'd heard a lady at a table near us say to her server that she didn't think there was any blackening on her fish that she'd ordered.  I began to sort of think the same way with my ahi tuna.  

I had taken a couple three bites of the tuna and was sort of turning it around with my fork and knife.  Cindy asked what was wrong and I told her that I couldn't detect any blackening seasonings on the tuna, either by sight or by taste.  I sort of shrugged my shoulders and kept eating the chunk of fish because it was still very good and very fresh.  When Andrea came over to check on us, I told him that I thought the chef had forgotten to put blackening seasoning on my tuna.  "Not that it's a deal breaker," I said. "This is still an excellent piece of fish."  

Andrea said, "That's strange.  I'll have to go check with the chef on that."  (I didn't want to tell him that I overheard a lady a couple tables over say the same thing.)  

Now, I don't know exactly where the kitchen was in the restaurant, but I could hear Andrea and the chef directly below us over the railing talking about my ahi tuna.  "I swear I put the seasoning on it," said a voice I assumed belonged to the chef.  "This is the second person who says they didn't get any seasoning on theirs tonight."  I just sort of chuckled when I heard that.  Obviously there was a difference of opinion between the chef and his customers as to what constituted blackening seasoning. 

Andrea came back to report and I didn't want to say, "Yeah, I heard."  He said that the chef swore there was blackening seasoning on the ahi tuna.  I said, "Look, that's fine.  Like I said, this isn't a deal breaker.  The tuna (I'd finished it by now) was excellent.  I can't get a cut of tuna like this that is this fresh and tasty back home in the Midwest."  

Cindy was having trouble finishing her sea bass.  "My god, this is a lot of fish," she exclaimed as she sat her fork down with a small bit of the fish left on top of the bed of risotto.  "I haven't hardly had any of the risotto or the asparagus because I've been concentrating on finishing the sea bass."

We'd both thrown in the towel - I couldn't even finish half the mushrooms even with Cindy taking a couple of bites.  The wasabi mashed potatoes didn't quite have the forward wasabi taste that I thought they should have, but that didn't quite matter.  I was more interested in the ahi tuna and the wild roasted mushrooms.  

After Andrea cleared the tables and we were finishing up the last of the bottle of wine, a younger lady came to our table and identified herself as the manager.  She said, "I understand that your meal was not to your liking..."  

I cut her off and said, "Oh, god, no.  It was fabulous.  I was just under the impression that a crust of blackened seasoning was just that.  Like I told Andrea, it was far from a deal breaker."  

The hostess who sat us obviously told her that we were there for our anniversary and the manager said, "Well, I understand that it's your 20th wedding anniversary.  Congratulations!  We'd like to make it up to you for not only your dinner but because of your special day."  She proposed free desserts for us and we just sort of groaned.  We were both so full from our meals that we couldn't possibly eat any more.  

Then the manager started to go through the list of desserts that she had.  When she said that she had creme brûlée I sort of jumped.  "You like creme brûlée, I take it," she said to me.  I said that I did, but there was no way that I could eat creme brûlée in the state of overeating discomfort that I was in.  Then she mentioned they had tiramisu and Cindy's automatic question at any restaurant where they serve tiramisu - is it homemade tiramisu?  "Yes, it is," the manager replied.  "We make it fresh here every day."  I sort of shook my head knowing this would be a big mistake.  The manager said, "Let me get you a piece of our tiramisu to try, on the house."  

Well, when Andrea came out he not only had a piece of the tiramisu with a small candle sticking out of the middle of it, but he also had a bowl of the creme brûlée.  He said, "We decided to give you both.  Congratulations on your anniversary.  Enjoy!"  

The tiramisu was rich and fabulous, as was the creme brûlée.  Cindy's a big fan of strawberries and the slices on top of the creme brûlée and surrounding the tiramisu were very fresh.  It didn't cost them much out of pocket for the free desserts, but the gesture was deeply appreciated.  

There was no way we could finish either one of the desserts, but we enough of a dent in them to figure out that both were very good.  Our whole experience for dinner was one that was very memorable - not only for the fact that it was our 20th wedding anniversary but because everything was very good.  The food, the service, and the atmosphere were all superb.  Even the scene below as we gazed out the large windows after the sun set and the lights took over the streets was riveting.  It was pricey - yes.  But even with the question about the blackening seasoning, everything was great.  Osetra was a great find and one we'll remember for a long time.  

Schnell's Brauhaus - Palatine, IL

I'd had my eye on a German restaurant in the far northwest suburbs of Chicago for awhile, Bauer's Brauhaus in Palatine.  I decided to go find the place a few weeks ago when I was in the area and headed over to what would be called Palatine's downtown area just off Palatine Road.  When I pulled up in front of what I thought would be Bauer's Brauhaus, I found that it was now called Schnell's Brauhaus.  Hmmm...  OK, I was a little confused, but I still went in to give the place a try.  

I was sort of intrigued by some of the things I'd read about Bauer's Brauhaus - Chef Jason Bauer had opened the restaurant in early 2012 along with his father, Bob, and his aunt and uncle, Judy and Gene Bauer.  The Bauer's could trace their family lineage back to Ulm, Germany and Jason Bauer specifically wanted to offer old world German dishes in the new restaurant (which also happened to previously house a German restaurant).  

Bob and Gene Bauer had worked with their father in a family-owned body shop before their father sold the business a number of years ago.  The brothers decided to do something completely different and they got into the bar and grille business.  Jason attended culinary school and ended up working for a time at the heralded Vie restaurant in suburban Western Springs before joining his family in their German restaurant in Palatine.  His original general manager, Carl Maier, had most of his family still over in Germany.  

However, I found out during research on Schnell's Brauhaus that the Bauer's unexpectedly closed their restaurant in December of last year.  Two brothers - Joel and Brian Schnell, who are the owners of The Donkey Inn in Palatine - leased the building and decided to keep the place as a German restaurant.  They reportedly hired an Austrian chef as a menu consultant and the restaurant reopened in early February under the name of Schnell's Brauhaus.  

Schnell's Brauhaus is located on Slade Ave. in downtown Palatine in the midst of a number of restaurants in the area.  (see map)  The dimly lit restaurant (none of the pictures I took of the interior turned out) featured traditional German decor with a bit of modern world technology mixed in.  Flat screen televisions on the walls behind the antique bar and all around the restaurant made it sort of look like a Bavarian sports bar.  

I sat at the bar and was greeted by a bartender - Carly - who asked me if I needed a menu and something to drink.  I ordered up a stein of Spaten while I looked through the menu to see what they offered.  

Quite actually, the menu was very disappointing.  I expected more choices of German food, but most of the menu consisted of appetizers, burgers and sandwiches.  The only "true" German items on the menu were a sausage platter that they designated as their "specialty", beef goulash, and pork, veal or chicken schnitzel dishes (with or without a fried egg on top).  And that was it.  I sort of did a mental "eenie-meenie-minie-moe" between the wiener schnitzel and the beef goulash before I decided to order up the goulash.

As I was waiting for my food to come, the rather quite and laid-back atmosphere of the place was tremendously disrupted as a party of about 8 or 9 people came in and took over the end of the bar.  From their loud and boisterous conversations, it appeared that all of them were back home for the funeral of a friend and were rather inebriated by this time of the evening.  I'm sure they were having fun, but I wanted something a little more quiet this particular evening.  

Not long after I ordered, Carly brought my beef goulash to me.  This was a little different from any goulash I've been served in previous visits to German restaurants - the braised beef tips were served with the spatzle on the side and not as a bed for the beef and the sauce.  

The beef tips were large and were cut-able with a fork - barely.  They were overcooked and dry in taste on their own.  The spatzle, too, seemed to be overcooked and rubbery in their composition.  The only redeeming factor in the whole meal was the gravy sauce - it had a great complexity of tastes and helped with the overall taste of what was pretty disappointing beef tips and spatzle.  

I guess I was expecting a lot more out of a place that called themselves a German restaurant.  While Carly's service was nice, and the atmosphere was relaxed (save for the boisterous group that came in), both the quality of the food and the lack of more choices of German food on the menu were lacking.  Schnell's Brauhaus is more of a sports bar and grill than a true German restaurant.   

Paul's Tavern - Dubuque, IA

Years ago, I used to do a "Top Ten" list for the best burgers I'd encountered.  After awhile, I found these types of lists to be boring, repetitive and completely subjective.  I know what I like in a burger and everyone has their own opinions.  I'm just sharing mine with you.  A person replied to one of my "Top Ten" lists saying that I really needed to try the burger at Paul's Tavern in Dubuque.  My wife has a co-worker from Dubuque and he was telling her recently that we really needed to go to Paul's for a burger.  On a recent Sunday, we took a road trip up to Dubuque to give Paul's a try.  

The Paul behind Paul's Tavern is Paul Schollmeyer, just one of three owners of the place that has been in business for 68 years.  He bought tavern just a year after it opened in 1947 and ran it for 45 years.  One thing that Paul liked to do on his vacations in the 50's and 60's was hunt for big game.  He'd bag his trophies and have them mounted to put on display at his little tavern.  Many of the locals refer to the place as "Paul's Big Game Tavern".  

When Tom Koch took over Paul's in 1993, regulars asked him to keep the place just the way it was with the deer heads and the bear skins and the stuffed waterfowl on display.  And Koch did.  Koch had been managing a McDonald's for nearly 15 years before he decided that he wanted to be his own boss.  He was already working at Paul's Tavern a couple nights a week as a bartender, so it was easy for him to slip into the ownership role when Paul sold the business to him.  Paul retired and would stop back into the tavern from time to time when he would get back to Dubuque from wintering in south Texas.  

The bar is a throwback, a little neighborhood tavern that seats just 36 people in five booths and 16 stools at the bar.  There's a large parking lot on the south side of Paul's building and we were able to park in that with no problem on a Sunday afternoon.  Going into Paul's, we ended up seated at the end of the bar with Tommy the bartender holding court over a handful of regulars that day.  Tommy came down to greet us and took our beer order.  They had Old Style on tap and I eagerly ordered one of those.  Cindy saw a Good ol' Potosi bottle in the cooler from the Potosi Brewery just up the road in Wisconsin and she took that.  Tommy also got us a basket of pretty good popcorn to munch on.  

One big thing that Tom Koch didn't change when he took over is the vintage Norge Broilerator that they use to cook burgers with.   The Broilerator dates back to the early 30's and was touted as an economical way to cook a burger - 35% more efficiently than cooking a burger on a grill.  The one that is used at Paul's is the original unit that was installed when the place originally opened in 1947.  Norge went out of business in 1969 when its assets were acquired by Magic Chef - which, in turn, was acquired by Maytag in 1976 - which, in turn, was acquired by Whirlpool in 2006.  So, it's a good guess that parts aren't available for a mid-40's manufactured Norge Broilerator.  But the one at Paul's has cooked countless burgers and grilled cheese sandwiches and is still going strong.  

OK, so we had to have the burger.  There's no fryer at Paul's, so no fries or cheese balls are available, just chips if you want potatoes to go along with the burger.   They source the beef locally and it's pretty lean - probably to help keep the grease from building up too much in the Broilerator.  The burger is served with pickles and sliced onions on a basic bun.  With cheese on top of the burger patty and served on a paper plate, it looks like the classic American cheeseburger.  

And it tasted like one.  It wasn't all that large, but one each was enough for my wife and me.  The burger was juicy, the bun held together well, the onions were fresh, the overall taste of the burger was a B+ in my book - not the best I've ever had, but for $3.15 it tasted pretty good.  

I love places like Paul's Tavern.  It's a great little dive bar that has good burgers, cold beer and a little bit of history behind the place.  Don't expect anything fancy if you go there.  Language from the regulars can be a little salty.  Tommy was fun to talk with and  had a great sense of humor.  (He even gave us complementary Paul's Tavern coozies!) And if you're offended by big game trophies looking at you while you have a burger, well, then just don't go.  But you'll be missing out on an experience that is pretty enjoyable all the way around.  

Giacomo's Ristorante Italiano - Des Plaines, IL

The night before we flew to San Diego for our Southern California vacation, my wife and I stayed near O'Hare Airport as we had a very early morning flight (as in 5:30 a.m.).  We decided to go find a place for some Italian food and I came across Giacomo's Ristorante Italian in suburban Des Plaines.  

The Giacomo behind Giacomo's Ristorante is Sicilian-born Giacomo "Jack" Zito who bought what was already an Italian restaurant in 1998.  Along with his wife, Anna Marie, and their daughter, Amanda, Zito transformed his restaurant into a "casually-elegant" old world-Italian restaurant serving southern Italian homemade-style meals with an old country flair.  

Pictured right - Amanda, Giacomo and Anna Marie Zito.

Giacomo's Ristorante has had a nice following in the Northwest Suburbs over the years, but in recent times they've been featured on a number of local television programs in Chicago as one of the best kept culinary secrets.  It was a review from WGN-TV's "Chicago's Best" program that brought us to Giacomo's Ristorante.  

Giacomo's is located on N. Wolf Road, just north of E. Central Ave. in Des Plaines.  (see map)  In fact, it's just up the road a bit from one of my favorite pizza places on the northwest side of Chicago, Bob Mele's Little Villa.  (Click here to see the entry on Bob Mele's Little Villa.)  We'd called ahead to make sure that we could get in on a Saturday night and we were told we could be seated at 7:30 p.m.  

We were seated in the main dining room, a long and somewhat narrow area that featured linen-clad tables topped with butcher paper.  We were told that the original building was a Dog and Suds drive-in restaurant from back in the 60's.  We were given dinner menus and our server for the evening, a pleasant lady by the name of Linda, came over to greet us.  

Looking through the menu, we found a number of interesting and delectable items to choose from.  Pasta is made fresh daily in Giacomo's kitchen, they also feature chicken and veal dishes, a number of seafood pasta dishes, beef and seafood entrees, and a number of appetizers.  Giacomo's also allows you to create your own pasta dishes choosing from seven different types of house-made pastas, adding your choice of one of 10 different types of sauces, as well as adding meatballs or Italian sausage to the dish if you like.  

When we ordered dinner, I also got a bottle of the Bertani Due Uve, an Italian white wine blend (pinot grigio/sauvignon blanc) that was on Giacomo's wine list.  It was reasonably priced at $32 bucks and had a wonderful taste on it's own that was heightened with the flavors from our food.  

Linda brought back a basket full of fresh baked bread to go along with the dinner salads we had before our main entrees were served.  The bread was warm and soft with ample amounts of sesame seeds on the crust.  Dipped in some olive oil and parmesan cheese, it was sensational in taste.    

I ordered the lobster ravioli with sautéed shrimp in a vodka tomato cream sauce.  I almost went with a veal dish, and I was being pulled toward the shrimp, scallops and marinated portobello mushrooms in a white wine sauce over risotto, as well.  But at the last moment I steered myself toward the lobster ravioli.  And I was glad I did.  The large, pillowy ravioli was filled with fresh lobster and accompanied by large grilled shrimp.  The slightly spicy vodka tomato cream sauce actually went well with the ravioli and shrimp - I usually don't like a tomato-based sauce with seafood.  But Giacomo's pulled it off very well.  

Cindy went with the veal picante entree that I heavily considered getting - tender slices of veal medallions in a lemon/butter/white wine sauce and topped with capers.  She gave me a bite of the veal and it was exquisite.  Tender and flavorful, for a second I thought that I had possibly ordered the wrong thing.  But I was very happy with the lobster ravioli.   

She also asked for a side of fettuccine alfredo to go with her meal.  Wide pasta noodles in a heavy cream sauce made up the fettuccine alfredo at Giacomo's.  The cream sauce was nearly decadent with its rich taste.  I had a couple three bites of it, but decided that I liked the lobster ravioli better.  

After we finished most - but not all of our dinners (it was all so damned rich and oh, so good!) - Linda came back with the dessert menu for us.  Cindy asked if the tiramisu was house-made.  "Every day," was Linda's immediate response.  Cindy ordered up a piece with two forks.  I sort of groaned when she ordered it, but after the first bite I was glad she did.  

The tiramisu at Giacomo's Ristorante had that exquisite full-bodied, mixed with a light taste that good tiramisu has.  There were four or five different tastes going on with the tiramisu that it was difficult to pick out what was what between the soaked lady fingers and the whipped mocha flavored cream in the dessert.  It was a wonderful ending to what was a fine meal.  

Our visit to Giacomo's Ristorante Italiano was a very pleasant experience.  The food was way above average, the menu was adventurous and somewhat unique, Linda's service was very good, and we were comfortable in the dining room.  For being in business for 17 years, Giacomo's may still be a well-kept secret to many.  But I'd highly recommend a trip to Giacomo's for some highly respectable, very good old-world Southern Italian cooking.  

Dixon's Famous Chili - Independence, MO

I had an appointment to call on a dealer in Independence, MO earlier this summer and I got into town a little early to try a place that I'd wanted to go to for a long time - Dixon's Famous Chili.  Always up for a good chili dog, I went there for lunch before heading to my appointment.  

For a place that has been open for 96 years, Dixon's definitely has a lot of history behind it.  It all started when Vergne Dixon set up a cart in downtown Kansas City in the early 1910's vending chili to workers during the day.  In 1919, Dixon started his first Dixon's Chili Parlor in downtown Kansas City.  It was a small place with only six stools.  Most of his employees were down-on-their-luck men who Vergne Dixon gave a chance to better themselves.  Dixon's Chili Parlor was known for their fast service and good food, but Vergne Dixon also had some other rules - no ketchup was allowed in the chili parlor (some customers would sneak bottles of ketchup into the place), no newspapers were allowed (he wanted customers to get in, eat, and get out making room for other customers), and no telephone was on the premises.  

One of Vergne's best customers was a young budding politician by the name of Harry Truman.  Truman would frequent Dixon's Chili Parlor when he was a county judge in the 20's, and after he became a U.S. Senator in the early 30's he'd still come back for chili at Dixon's.  When Truman was President of the United States, he once visited Dixon's with a throng of Secret Service agents following him.  Dixon's enjoyed some national press with the visit and soon thereafter Vergne Dixon changed the name of his chili parlor to Dixon's Famous Chili.  

With advancing age and failing health, Vergne Dixon turned his chili joint over to his nephew, Leonard Totta.  Totta expanded Dixon's Famous Chili through franchises over the next few years.  The original location in downtown Kansas City closed in 1969, and by the mid-70's there were 16 different Dixon's Famous Chili locations in Missouri, Kansas and even up in Minnesota. 

Interestingly, after he took over Leonard Totta rescinded the "no ketchup" policy at Dixon's Famous Chili as the menu expanded.  However there was a 10 cent "fine" for people wanting to use ketchup on their chili at Dixon's.  I've never really heard of ketchup on chili, but evidently it must have been a requested condiment on chili in Kansas City.  

In 1985, Leonard Totta's daughter, Terri Smith, took over the ownership of Dixon's Famous Chili and today she is helped in the business by her son, Stephen.  There is now only one Dixon's Famous Chili location in Kansas City - the one on East U.S. Highway 40 just east of the corner of Blue Ridge Blvd. in Independence.  (see map)

The inside of Dixon's Famous Chili looks like it hasn't changed much since it first opened in the mid-60's.  A white and red parquet floor has yellowed over the years, the tables and chairs are comfy and functional, and there's a number of pictures on the wall showing Dixon's over the years including a large portrait of Harry Truman looking down on the patrons.  

There's a lunch counter with the grill area just behind it.  Stephen Smith was back there running the kitchen area and prepping orders.  I took a seat at a table near the counter and was greeted by a lady who dropped off a glass of water.  The menu was on the table and it featured - of course - chili.  You can order chili three ways - Juicy (with natural meat juices), Soupy (with chili bean broth) or Dry (which is just plain chili).  From there, you order toppings such as onions, ketchup (it's 15 cents if you want ketchup on your chili), sour cream, cheese, pickles or a jalapeño relish - all with an upcharge above the price of the chili.  

Dixon's also features "Chili Plates" where you can have your chili on top of tamales or spaghetti, or where you can get your chili with beans or with just meat.  Dixon's Famous Chili also features burgers, tacos, burritos and the main reason I was there - chili dogs.  

They have a regular size chili dog and a foot long version which is what I got.  The foot long hot dog is skinny, sliced in half long-ways, and grilled.  I had them put cheese and onions on top for an extra charge.

First of all, they have a lot of beans in their chili on their chili dogs.  I took one look at this hodge-podge of chili, hot dog, beans, cheese and onions and thought there would be no way I'd be able to finish this.  One the table was some yellow mustard, but it was some sort of a homemade concoction.  It was sort of a cross between a spicy mustard and regular yellow mustard.  I determined that I liked the taste of the mustard on the chili dog.  

But it was a gut-bomb, but in a very good way.  I liked the taste of the chili, although there were a lot of beans in it.  For a big-assed messy chili dog it was good and fun to eat.  No, I couldn't finish the whole thing, but I made a serious dent in it.  Having been in business for nearly 100 years is a testament to the quality of the Dixon's chili and the generations of Kansas Citians who have grown up with it.    

Sippi's - Davenport, IA

On a recent date night, my wife and I decided to head down to downtown Davenport and get some food at one of our favorite places to grab a sandwich or a burger and a beer, Sippi's.   We've been going there since they first opened in 2009 and even though there was a time when the food suffered a couple three years ago, our last few visits have shown us that they've made a full recovery in the kitchen.

The owners of Sippi's - Frank and Jackie Berner - are also the longtime owners of Frackie's Pub, a favorite neighborhood hangout on Davenport's west side.  In 2008 they purchased a building that dates back to 1885 at the corner of W. 2nd Street and Ripley (see map) and renovated the first two floors into a dining area and the third floor as a private banquet/party room.  They put in a patio on the east side of the building with heavy metal mesh chairs and tables for outside dining.  (We've since been told that they would be enclosing the outside area and putting in the industrial garage doors that seem to be popular these days to open when the weather is nice.)  

This particular summer evening that we were visiting Sippi's was rainy so the patio was closed.  We enjoy eating on the patio and it will be interesting when they put a cover on it and add the garage doors.  The outdoor patio effectively doubles the amount of dining space on the main floor of the restaurant.

Upstairs is overflow dining and a banquet party room - we've eaten up there a couple of times and it's nice up there.  The elevation gives you glimpses of the Mississippi River about a quarter mile to the south.  But most of the time we're on the main floor or out on the patio.  

The main dining area features a bar with an eclectic mix of craft brews on tap.  (A visit in January of this year alerted me to the fact that my favorite beer - Kona Big Wave Golden Ale - was now available in Iowa.  Frank had it on tap at the bar.)  While the bar/dining area is small, it's not cramped or uncomfortable.  On most weekend nights, you'll find Frank and Jackie sitting at one of the tables holding court.  Frank's a big jovial guy and he's always genuinely happy to see us walk in.  Unfortunately, Frank wasn't there during this visit. 

We were greeted by our server for that evening, Gidget (don't know if that was really her name or not), and given menus to look over.  In addition to sandwiches and burgers, Sippi's also features your typical bar appetizers, a large list of soups and salads, steaks and ribs, and a number of wraps for the more health conscious diners.

As I said, there was a time where the food really suffered.  Cindy had ordered one of her favorite items one evening about three years ago - the garlic/butter marinated ribeye steak - and it was inedible.  She ended up sending it back because it tasted so bad and didn't get anything else because it was so horrible.  (I tasted it - there was something definitely wrong with it.)  The burger that I had that evening was overcooked, and the food our friends got wasn't up to par.  It had sort of been going down hill previously to that particular visit and we stayed away for quite sometime.

I ran into Frank a couple years ago who wondered where we had been.  I told him that, quite frankly, the food had been bad.  He said, "Oh man!  Why didn't you tell me?"  (I know, I probably should have.  But he wasn't there that particular night.)  He assured me that things had turned around.  "We've got it under control in the kitchen now," he said.  "Come back to see us."  We did and the past few visits have been pleasing.  

We started off the evening getting an appetizer - deep fried pickles.  For some reason, Cindy wanted fried pickles - she'd never had them before, but thought they sounded interesting.  Now, I'm very partial to the fried pickles at J K O'Donnell's in Fort Wayne, IN.  (Click here to see my post on J K O'Donnell's.)  They're more like sliced dill pickles that are covered in a house-made batter that is very tasty.  The deep fried pickles at Sippi's were all right - just all right.  I think they probably got them from a food service already battered as they were pickle spears covered with some sort of breaded batter.  We made a mental note to not order the fried pickles at Sippi's again.

However, one thing that I really like at Sippi's is the mushroom/Swiss cheese burger.  I also like to get bacon on the top of it, as well.  Only this evening, they forgot to put the bacon on the burger.  (More on that in a moment.) The burger is chargrilled and piled high with mushrooms and melted Swiss cheese.  They definitely didn't overcook this burger on this visit.  

Another thing I like at Sippi's is their onion rings.  I'm not exactly sure how they prepare the onion rings, but it tastes like after they deep fry the battered onion rings they put them over the grill to give them sort of a chargrilled taste.  They're unlike any onion rings I've ever tasted and I certainly do like them.

Cindy went with the Mediterranean chicken wrap - chopped chicken breast, feta cheese, garlic hummus, with Italian dressing along with lettuce, tomatoes and chopped onions were in the tortilla shell wrap.  Only there was something extra - the bacon that was supposed to be on my burger was chopped up and put into the Mediterranean chicken wrap. After I had pointed out to Gidget that they forgot the bacon on my burger, Cindy took a bite of her wrap and said, "I think I found your bacon right here!"

The cook had mixed up and thought the bacon was to go on the wrap.  Cindy said that it was fine, she'd eat it as is.  But Gidget insisted on taking the wrap back and having the cook make it right for my wife.  Less than five minutes later - after she had brought out some bacon strips for my burger - she brought out the correctly made Mediterranean chicken wrap.  

And as you can see from the picture above, they don't hold back on the wraps at Sippi's.  This thing was chock full of ingredients making it a big fat meal.  Cindy really liked the wrap, but combined with the fried pickles she had - and the sides of applesauce and cole slaw - she could only eat one half of the whole wrap.  She had our server bring out a small box so she could take the other half of the wrap home for lunch the next day.  

We're extremely happy that Sippi's has made a comeback.  And with some of the upgrades that Frank is planning for the future it should make it even more of an inviting place.  We've had a series of good meals again and we're hoping that it continues.  Sippi's isn't fancy, but the food is good, they have a very good beer selection, and the patio is nice on a comfortable summer evening.  It continues to be one of our favorite spots in the Quad Cities.  

Moretti's Ristorante and Pizzeria - Chicago

Staying on the northwest side of Chicago on a recent trip there, I was looking for a new place to go in the Edison Park neighborhood.  I found a place that looked sort of interesting - Moretti's Ristorante and Pizzeria.  I didn't know much about it, but it looked inviting enough to give it a try.  

It turns out that Moretti's is a local chain consisting of seven locations primarily in the far north and west suburbs of Chicago.  The Edison Park location is the only one that is actually in the city limits of Chicago.  But they are part of an empire called the Ala Carte Entertainment group headed by entrepreneur Fred Hoffman.

Hoffman was a self-made man who made up his mind when he was 17 years old that he would either make it or break it in the business world by the time he was 25.  In his early 20's, Hoffman opened The Snuggery - quite possibly the first sports pub and eatery in Chicago.  By the time he was 27, he was a millionaire and working on other projects.  He started up Ala Carte Entertainment to oversee Snuggery locations as well as a number of night clubs that he owned.  

Hoffman eventually closed his original Snuggery in downtown Chicago and converted the Snuggery in Edison Park to a Moretti's specializing in thin crust and deep dish pizza, as well as Italian entrees.  Today, Hoffman still heads Ala Carte Entertainment with help from his son, Mark.  (There are still three Snuggery locations mainly in the western and far northern suburbs of Chicago.)  

The Moretti's in Edison Park is located on Olmsted Ave. next to the Metra rail station, a block off of Northwest Highway.  (see map)   I found a parking spot in the parking lot across the street and went inside.  Just inside the door is the main bar area - a large rectangular bar with an old world design.  Tables and booths are in the main area, as well. 

Moretti's is a rather large place with another bar in the room off to the side.  There were a couple other dining areas off the main bar area and there was an outdoor patio for summertime eating.  Although I didn't see the second floor, I'm guessing that there's ample space up there for banquets and private parties.  

I ended up sitting at the main bar simultaneously watching baseball and a Stanley Cup play-off hockey match they had on the large number of flat panel televisions throughout the place.  One of the bartenders, Madison, came over to greet me and to drop off a menu.  She asked me what I wanted to drink and I saw that they had Sam Adams on tap so I got one of those.  

In the mood for pizza, I took a quick gander to see what else Moretti's had to offer.  In addition to their thin crust and deep dish pizzas, they had a number of Italian appetizers, soups and salads, sandwiches, wraps, and burgers, as well as a number of  pasta entrees and Italian specialties such as chicken marsala, baked ziti, eggplant parmesan, and gnocchi bolognese.  They also had ribs, steaks, seafood and gluten-free items on the menu.  There was a little bit of everything once again raising my fears that while they probably do everything well, they don't do everything great.  

Getting back to the pizza, I ended up ordering my standard Italian sausage, pepperoni and mushroom with the thin crust.  Their smallest thin crust pizza size is 12" so I knew that I'd be taking some back to the hotel with me for snacks or breakfast at some point.  

The pizza featured large slices of pepperoni on top of the mozzarella cheese that hid the chunky Italian sausage and fresh mushroom slices they use at Moretti's.  The sauce had a nice tangy and sweet taste that went well with the spicy and salty pepperoni and the somewhat spicy Italian sausage.  It was cut into party squares and I was able to eat all but about four or five slices of the pizza.  I took the rest with me.  Quite actually, I thought it tasted better heated up the next evening when I got back to the hotel and had a couple pieces as a snack.  

While it wasn't the best thin crust pizza I've had in the Chicago area, the pizza I had at Moretti's was good enough that I wouldn't have any problem going back - or to any of the other Moretti's locations, for that matter.  I was happy enough with the pizza, Madison did a fine job making sure that I was taken care of, and there were enough televisions that I could watch a couple baseball games and a hockey match all at the same times.  They've got a good formula at Moretti's and if you don't know what you are hungry for, you could probably figure out something to get when you go there.