Road Tips

Barrio Eat Mexican - Carlsbad, CA

We spent some time in Carlsbad, CA during our trip to Southern California earlier this year, a quaint seaside community about 35 miles north of San Diego.  We spent a portion of a day walking around the downtown area known as Carlsbad Village and we came across a little Mexican restaurant - Barrio Eat Mexican - that had outdoor dining and sort of a cantina look to the place.  Deciding that a margarita and a couple tacos would be nice for lunch on a sunny day, we took a seat at a table on the sidewalk in front of the little place along Grand Ave. in downtown Carlsbad.  (see map)  

Barrio Eat Mexican is owned by Mayur Pavagadhi, a restaurateur who owns two other Carlsbad area restaurants - Paon, a French-inspired restaurant and wine bar; and 83 Degrees, a gastropub that was converted from Pavagadhi's seafood restaurant Catch in 2013.  (Pavagadhi originally was going to call the place 38 Degrees, but the owner of 38 Degrees Ale House located in a suburb north and east of Los Angeles objected to the name citing that it would confuse patrons who thought the Carlsbad location was an off-shoot of the Alhambra location.  At the last moment, Pavagadhi changed the name to 83 Degrees.)  Barrio Eat Mexican opened at the end of September of last year.  

The inside of the small cantina featured an indoor-outdoor bar up front with a number of tables and chairs in the dining area.  The decor was festive, yet sort of subdued.

The kitchen area was located in the back of the restaurant and you could see inside through a fine mesh screen.  The smells of the seasoned meats cooking in the kitchen were intoxicating.

Our server that day, Kellie, came over with menus and asked what we wanted to drink. We both got one of their housemade margaritas, but I got a Negro Modelo after finishing the excellent margarita.  We were looking more at their tacos, but Barrio Eat Mexican also had enchiladas, quesadillas, fajitas, burritos and tamales.  

Cindy was still sort of full from a large breakfast so she just ordered up a single shrimp taco.  The grilled shrimp were topped with some shredded cabbage, radish slices and a chipotle mayo sauce and served on a housemade tortilla shell.  

I went with three tacos - pork carnitas, shrimp, and carne asada.  The carnitas came with chopped tomatoes and guacamole, while the carne asada came with chopped onions and cilantro and a side of the tomatillo chile verde sauce.  All three of them were outstanding - the carnitas were tender and had a nice spicy seasoning on them.  The shrimp tacos were excellent with the butter-grilled shrimp and the spicy/smoky chipotle mayo sauce on top was a great combination in taste with the shrimp.  But the carne asada taco - with the fresh chopped onion and cilantro, topped with the great chile verde sauce - was the best of all three.  I raved about it so much that Cindy had to get her own.  She was glad she did.  She did like the carne asada taco, but thought the shrimp taco was better thanks to the chipotle mayo sauce.  

For a laid back street taco type of place, we sincerely loved our visit to Barrio Eat Mexican.  Kellie was fun and efficient with her service, the tacos were interesting and excellent, and being able to hang out in the warm California sun with a margarita and a beer was an enjoyable part of our vacation.  Barrio Eat Mexican was a fun and good place to have lunch on a sunny California early afternoon.  

Road Tips' 10th Anniversary - The Story of Road Tips

10 years ago today I published my first blog entry on Road Tips.  Most blogs don't last 10 months and here we are today, celebrating a decade of what started out as a hobby but has turned into a life of its own.  I've had some people ask me in the past how I got started doing this, and if you'll indulge me for the next few minutes I'll tell you the story of Road Tips.

I've always liked to write.  I was inspired by Jim Bouton's great book Ball Four to write my day-by-day experiences of being a sophomore in high school.  That turned into a diary of my experiences of my junior year of high school, followed by a journal of my experiences as a senior in high school.  I took writing classes at the University of Iowa and gained some practical experience - including the highs and lows of critiques.  After college, I entered the business world and used my limited writing skills primarily for memos and training documents.  

I've been on the road for nearly 30 years and have eaten at a lot of places along the way.  I joined a list serve that talked about Iowa Hawkeyes sports where I became friends with many who had similar interests as me.  Invariably, the talk would turn to food and where the best burger was, or who made the best pizza, or who could recommend a nice restaurant in, say, Minneapolis.  It seemed that I contributed more to those discussions due to my travels over the years.

In 2002, I started to work for my present company - the best job I've ever had - and my travel became even more extensive.  Covering 11 states with trips to various parts of the U.S., Canada and Europe broadened my culinary and cultural experiences.  It was in 2005 when one of my list serve friends, Tom Kirkendall, suggested I write a blog of my travel experiences.  My first reaction was, "What's a blog?"  It turned out that Tom was already writing a successful blog of his own - Houston's Clear Thinkers.  He pointed me in the right direction by suggesting that I go with Typepad as my blog engine, given that I didn't know what the hell URL's and HTML was all about.  I signed up for a free trial in October of 2005 and officially joined Typepad a month later.  

I'd thought about doing something that would help the traveling community in the Midwest, providing information about hotels that are good to stay at, where you can get a good late night dinner in a specific town, even have information as to the nicer public restrooms in a given area.  So, I sort of had a game plan but the initial execution was much to be desired.  

Coming up with a name was nothing like an epiphany or a bolt of lightning out of the blue - I was going to be on the road and I was going to give tips.  Road Tips.  Simple, easy to remember.  Certainly nothing that stands out or is intriguing.  Still, to this day, I get called "Road Trips" by some other bloggers who link my blog on their sites - which, in hindsight, is probably a better name than Road Tips.  But I started with Road Tips and I'm sticking with it.    

My first official entry on Road Tips was on one of my all-time favorite burger joints - the since-closed Dad's Town Pump in Clear Lake, IA.  It was a three paragraph post, no pictures and no basic facts about the place.  You can click here to see that particular post.  As you can see if you care to read it, it was simple and not very well written.  

Initially, I tried to have entries every day - I was told that frequency got you more readers.  But then I found that it was nearly impossible to do.  I backed it down to three times a week, then down to two times a week.  Once I got on a regular traveling schedule and figuring that I was visiting a number of new restaurants each week - and given the time I actually took to sit down and write the entry - I was back up to three times a week.  It's still about three entries a week, but my goal is to go back to two entries a week.  Frankly, I'm getting tired of finding new places and I really miss going back to some of the ones that I've found - primarily because I feel like I have to find new places to eat each week I'm on the road.  

And that's the one thing - good and bad - about continuing the blog for this long is that it pretty much forces me to seek out new and interesting places to try when I'm on the road.  On the other hand, if I've found a place that is really good and I want to go back, I have to think twice to see if there's somewhere that I've pinned as a place that I would like to try.  Right now on Google Maps I have dozens of restaurants pinned in the 11 states I cover in the Midwest that I would like to try. But as much as I worry about it, I don't think I'll be running out of subject material anytime soon.  

Not being too confident in my writing, I initially told only a handful of people about Road Tips and after a year I had a small gathering of friends and family who would look in from time to time.  I was getting something like 50 to 65 hits a day on the blog site, sometimes it would surge to over 100 hits if someone linked a blog entry to an e-mail.  And my focus wasn't quite in place yet.  I would post recipes, talk about condiments that I particularly liked, and added reviews of DVD concerts and music that caught my fancy.  

It went on that way for about four years - every once in awhile there'd be a major spike when someone would link a blog entry on a list serve or another blog site.  But for the most part I continued to get about 50 to 65 hits a day.  That is, until Google came calling.

I received an e-mail from a young lady at Google who had come across Road Tips and wanted to know if I would be interested in working with them on a beta test for a new search engine feature they were working on.  It had something to do with keywords and other stuff that I didn't fully understand.  I said, "Sure, why not?"

On May 31 of 2009, I think I had something like 52 hits that particular day.  On June 1st, my hits went up to about 175.  The next day, it was well over 200 hits.  Later in the week I was suddenly getting about 400 hits a day for my little hobby blog.  I was like, "Uh oh.  There's people out there who are actually READING my drivel!"  I decided that I needed to step up my game with better writing, more in-depth info on the history behind the places I was writing about, and adding more pictures to the entries to try to captivate the reader through the end of the piece.

All that summer I was getting nearly 375 to 500 hits a day and on Sept. 1 the beta test went away.  Suddenly, I was back down to 55 to 70 hits a day.  It stayed that way for awhile until someone from Google asked me if my hits went down significantly.  Well, yeah!  They certainly did!  And I can't tell you exactly when their new keyword program went into effect, but my daily hits went back up to the levels I saw earlier in the summer.  And they've stayed there ever since.  

Because of the sudden uptick in page clicks for my blog, my wife and others began to suggest that I have advertisements on my page.  My wife had this vision of going to Hawaii every year based upon the advertising revenue that could be generated from my blog.  But I had to let her down gently when I discovered that the advertising revenue earned from my site would - possibly - pay for the annual subscription I have to give Typepad for administration fees.  It's not quite enough for an annual Hawaiian vacation, that's for sure.

Still, I hemmed and hawed about it for awhile, even checking with some other bloggers who have ads on their sites.  I decided that I wanted to keep Road Tips as it is - no endorsements and no advertisements.

Along that same vein, I've had a number of requests from restaurants - mainly through marketing people who work for the restaurants - to come do a review on their place.  Some have even sent along vouchers and on-line gift cards for me to use.  I've even gotten gift cards sent to me after a particularly glowing review of a given restaurant.  I never have - and never will - accept any form of gratuity for my efforts in what is essentially a hobby for me.   I usually just toss the gift cards or delete them when I receive them via e-mail.  I very rarely identify myself as a blogger to a restaurant where I'm eating, mainly so I can make sure that I get the same experience as a person walking in off the street.

To help facilitate the upward swing in viewership, I started to develop a Road Tips social media presence with both Facebook and Twitter.  I've got over 350 followers on Facebook along with over 450 "likes", and probably 150 followers (give or take) on Twitter.  Not quite a huge following either way, but big enough that there's an audience out there who seems to enjoy receiving updates on blog posts.

About 4 years ago, I got an e-mail from a local Quad Cities restaurateur who liked a review that I gave him.  He said that he was getting trashed by some people on Urbanspoon - possibly a former employee or a competitor since most of the bad reviews were one-offs - and wanted to know if I could link my review of his place to his Urbanspoon page.  I really didn't know what to do, but I looked into it and found that it was relatively easy to post a link to a blog entry on Urbanspoon.

I began to do it for most of the restaurants that I had visited up to that point and suddenly I had over 100 reviews on Urbanspoon in the course of about three days.  I was soon contacted by a guy from Urbanspoon who said that I was pretty prolific as a reviewer and they couldn't keep up with posting the entries on their end as fast as I was putting them up.  He basically gave me editor status on Urbanspoon to allow me to post my reviews on their site as soon as I put them up.  

At one point in time, Urbanspoon even recognized Road Tips as their "most traveled" blogger - I had reviewed restaurants in something like 70 areas up to that point.  I found that my blog was also one of the more popular on Urbanspoon jumping all the way to No.1 in the world on the site before settling comfortably into the Top Ten of popular blogs world-wide.  (I still didn't quite understand the way Urbanspoon's point system worked, but it was still nice to have the recognition.)

Earlier this year, Urbanspoon was bought by Zomato (pronounced zo-MAH-to) and my reviews migrated over there.  I had a conversation with a Zomato representative out of Chicago a couple months ago and I now have the coveted "blue star" designation from the site that shows that I have been verified as a true blog site and am not some troll that will write bad reviews on restaurants I used to work at.  I now have over 1000 reviews on Zomato - I'm not the most prolific reviewer on that site, but I'm one of a very few number who have over 1000 reviews.  

Yelp is another restaurant site that I visit from time to time to check out reviews on places I'd like to try.  Yelp isn't friendly to bloggers - they don't seem to embrace the blogging community the way Urbanspoon did or Zomato now does.  While I'm not too whippy on the content style on Zomato, it still does a good job of getting my blog out in front of more eyes.  (Interestingly, I have something like 75 people on a growing list of followers on Zomato.  I would say that 80 percent of them are women.  Yes, I have Road Tips groupies!)  

I've looked into contributing to Yelp and Trip Advisor, but they're definitely not blog friendly.  I have two colleagues who are heavy contributors to Yelp and their posts are interesting, but not as in-depth as I can go on Road Tips.  I've been asked to contribute to Trip Advisor by some people, but I'll stick with Zomato for the time being.  

And because of social media, I've made Internet friends with other like-minded food and travel bloggers whose sites I admire and read on a regular basis -

- Slakingfool is a former newspaper employee who doesn't drive, but still gets around the Des Moines area (and other parts of Iowa and the Midwest) to do his reviews.  He likes beer and good ol' dive bars with good food - just like me.  

- I started to follow the Jeni Eats blog site when she was living in Fargo with her husband who works for Pepsi, and continued to follow her as they moved to Mason City, IA and most recently to St. Louis for his job.  She's got a pretty keen eye for interesting foods, restaurants and places, and her blog is always entertaining.  And it's well laid out, too.  Her blog looks like a professional site while mine looks like a fifth grader's project.  

- And I've been following the Chicago BBQ King's Smoking', Chokin' and Chowing with the King blog site for a number of years.  I've gotten some great ideas from him for out of the way places to try in the Chicago area (and elsewhere around the Midwest) over the past few years.  When he followed me on Twitter, I was like, "Wow!  This guy follows ME on Twitter!"  

With the 10 year history of a hobby gone viral, it's interesting to look back and see some of the neat or weird things that have happened.  I used to be worried that no one would comment on my posts.  I didn't know if I was provocative enough or if I had given out enough information.  However, when I got more readers, I got more comments. 

Some of the comments that I've received over the years have been downright strange. I've gotten comments from people looking for family members of theirs, comments from people who want to get a job application for a restaurant I reviewed, and comments from people who are looking for recipes.  The most commented-on blog posts on Road Tips have to do with a visit I wrote about to the now closed Rosalie's in Marblehead, MA, and the on-going debate regarding Maid-Rite's in the state of Iowa - and what's better, Taylor's Maid-Rite in Marshalltown, the Newton Maid-Rite or the Canteen in Ottumwa.  (Man, I really struck a nerve with people from Ottumwa when I first wrote about the Canteen.)

Critical comments are part of the territory.  I think my first criticism of a post I wrote had to do with the poor service at an Indian restaurant in the Twin Cities.  The commenter called me a "tool".  I thought, "That's great!  I finally made it as a blogger.  I'm getting called names!"  Some critical comments have been dismissive of my food acumen and my reviews as a whole.  I've also been threatened, like the time that I wrote a somewhat lukewarm review on a place and a commenter threatened to find me and put an end to my blog.  I would have been more worried had he not posted the comments anonymously, like most - if not all - of the most critical comment have been over the years.   

One criticism basically made me realize that I needed to unpublish a blog post on a former Iowa high school girls basketball player who had a peculiar - and somewhat funny name - when she was growing up.  It was probably the most read blog post I've had - and still may be, even though I took it down about two years ago.  It was an in-depth story on the strange named girl told to me by a person who knew her and her family growing up.  To me - and a vast majority of others - we couldn't fathom a girl going through life with a name like that and wondered what her parents were thinking.  Well, it turns out that she's a great gal from a salt of the earth family who has feelings.  I thought it would be best to just sort of put that entry to bed.  

I've come close a couple times to having a shadow blog site - Burger Lust - named after one of my all-time favorite burger joints in Omaha that would focus only on burgers that I've run across.  But I have a hard enough time just keeping up with this particular blog and I do hear from time to time that I probably eat too many cheeseburgers, so I thought maybe that would be a little too much.  

But, then again, what would you rather read about and see pictures of - 

     This?

                                                                                                                                    Or this?

Uh huh.  I rest my case...

I thank the people who have followed the blog for all these years.  You know who you are.  I keep doing it for you.  

Finally, I have to thank my biggest fan - my wife.  At least I think she's my biggest fan.  She's put up with this nonsense for 10 years and she's been part of many of the entries on Road Tips.  She was sort of appalled - initially - that I included her in some of the blog entries.  But she's just sort of accepted it as part of our lives now.  She even gives me tips on places to try from time to time, as well.  

So, in a nutshell, that's it - now that's all you know about Road Tips, the 10 year journey and how it's grown into this own little, well, something.  I can't quite put a finger on what it is - it's own little world?  It's own little life?  I don't know.  All I know is that it's been fun, it's made me broaden my culinary horizons and seek out the unique and unusual places in addition to finding the places where the locals eat when I'm on the road.  Even though I continue to have a bit of wanderlust in me, traveling is a minor pain in the ass.  Finding the neat experiences and good restaurants - and sharing them with you - is what helps keep me going.

Thanks again for looking in! 

Bravo Burritos - St. Cloud, MN

I was calling on one of my dealers in the Twin Cities about a year ago and one of the salesmen asked me where I was heading next.  I told him I had to go see my dealer up in St. Cloud.  "St. Cloud?!  Man, you have to stop at a place up there called Bravo Burritos," he told me.  "That place is the best!"  I never did try Bravo Burritos and earlier this year the same sales guy asked me if I'd been to Bravo Burritos yet.  It just so happened that I would be going to St. Cloud later in the day and I made it a point this time to stop in and have lunch at Bravo Burritos.  

Bill Ellenbecker and Helen Shay grew up in St. Cloud, went to St. Cloud State, eventually married and moved to San Francisco in the early 70's.  They frequented a Mexican restaurant - El Faro - in the Mission District that specialized in healthy Mexican food known as Mission-style burritos that were bigger than most burritos and filled with beans and rice.  The couple traveled extensively through Mexico during their time in San Francisco learning about Mexican foods and how to make a proper margarita.  

After 13 years of living in San Francisco, the couple contemplated the rest of their lives and decided that their hometown of St. Cloud could benefit from a restaurant like El Faro and they moved back in 1984 to start their dream of owning their own Mexican restaurant.  

At first, they were told by advisors that 9 out of every 10 restaurants failed within the first couple of years, and those that do make it 9 out of every 10 came from people whose families were already in the business.  However, Bill Ellenbecker remembered something a teacher told him when he was going to St. Cloud State - when you find a niche and fill it, that's a great step forward toward being successful.

Pictured right - Bill and Helen Ellenbecker.  Photo courtesy St. Cloud Times.

The Ellenbeckers opened Bravos Burritos Mexicatessen and Bar in downtown St. Cloud in April of 1985.  The styled their menu similar to El Faro in San Francisco, even serving the burritos in aluminum foil like the restaurant in the Mission District did.  They also came up with other traditional Mexican foods that were derived from cookbooks - some only in Spanish - the two had picked up during their travels to Mexico.  Bravos Burritos were the first restaurant in the area to serve fajitas and to serve margaritas without the syrupy mix that most American Mexican restaurants served.  The margaritas were made with fresh squeezed lime juice, Cointreau and Triple Sec with 100 percent blue agave tequila.  

The biggest problem the Ellenbeckers faced was the fact that ingredients for authentic Mexican food were not readily available in the mid-80's in Central Minnesota.  That meant multiple weekly trips to St. Paul to a Mexican food purveyor to haul back fresh items to make their authentic food.  

After 8 years, the Ellenbeckers opened a larger location in a strip mall in the midtown area of St. Cloud near a couple malls and other eating establishments.  Then in 1995, they opened a third location in Minneapolis along Hennepin Ave.  The location in Minneapolis didn't have a kitchen which meant that the Ellenbeckers would have to make up the food, transport it to Minneapolis in a van and warm it all up once they got there.  

After a few years of working 100 hour weeks looking after three locations, Bill Ellenbecker knew that he was getting burnt out.  He ended up closing both the Minneapolis location and the original downtown St. Cloud location to focus on the midtown location in St. Cloud.  And that's where I went to when I got into St. Cloud around 1:30 that particular afternoon.  (see map)

Bravos Burritos is not big - it has a number of four-seater tables set in between a small bar and a row of two-seater booths along a pine wood wall.  Mexican artwork adorns the wall making for lively visual surroundings. 

The menu is located at the front counter where you order your food, just like at the original El Faro when it was open in San Francisco.  In addition to Mission-style burritos, Bravos Burritos features tacos, fajitas, enchiladas, quesadillas and tostadas.  Meat fillings for their food items include pork carnitas, shredded beef, chicken verde, and something called Bravo Chili, a hot combination of chunky beef and pork simmered in a housemade spicy chili sauce.  Bravos Burritos is also known for their vegetarian items on the menu.  

I wasn't all that hungry, but knew that I needed something to eat as I wouldn't be back in the Twin Cities until later in the evening.  I ended up getting a pork verde enchilada.  It wasn't all that big, but it was smothered in a green chile sauce and cheese, served with a bit of rice and garnished with shredded lettuce,  salsa, sour cream and a single sliced jalapeño.  Chips with refried beans also came with the enchilada prompting the question - Why? - in my head when it was set down in front of me.

The taste of the enchilada was very good.  Along with a pint of Dos Equis Ambar that they had on tap, this was a very good Mexican lunch.  The pork was tender, the green chile verde sauce had a bit of a bite, and the overall taste was outstanding.  I couldn't really find fault with any bit of the meal I was served at Bravos Burritos.  

I contacted the sales guy back at my dealer in Minneapolis and told him that I had just visited Bravos Burritos.  He asked me what I thought and I told him that I thought the pork verde enchilada was outstanding and with the number of types of meat to choose from I knew that at some point I had to go back and try something else.  Bringing a little bit of Mexico and a little bit of San Francisco to St. Cloud has turned out to be a winning combination for the Ellenbeckers and Bravos Burritos.  It's no wonder they've made it 30 years and counting.  

The Argyle Culinary and Cultural Walking Tour - Chicago

Not long ago, my wife and I joined a friend of hers and her husband from Indianapolis in Chicago for a weekend.  The main goal was to take a culinary and cultural walking tour in the Argyle/North Broadway area in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago.  This area is a veritable melting pot of SE Asian and Chinese culture and cuisine.  My wife and I are not well-versed in Vietnamese food, but her friend and her husband were.  But they actually learned some things during the tour that they didn't know about some Asian foods.  It was a beautiful Fall Saturday when we did the tour in Chicago. 

We contracted the tour through Walk Chicago Tours, the same tour company that my wife and I took for the Pilsen tour of Mexican cuisine, culture and architecture last April. (Click here to read about that tour.)  Our host was once again the lovely and sassy Judith Dunbar Hines, pictured here from our tour in April.  We took the CTA Red Line train to the Argyle stop and met Judith about a block away at the corner of Argyle and Broadway.  (See map)  We were all a little early for our 10:30 a.m. appointment, but that didn't matter.  Judith was there waiting for us and we started on the tour earlier than planned.  

Judith told us the story of neighborhood with a decidedly non-Asian name of Argyle came to be the epicenter for Southeast Asian food and culture in Chicago.  The area was initially developed in the mid-1880's as a Chicago suburb.  Developer and Chicago Alderman James Campbell named the area for Scottish ancestors, the Dukes of Argyll.  The small village was annexed into Chicago in 1889.  

Southwest of the Chicago Loop, Chinese immigrants set up their own neighborhood of commerce in the early 1900's.  This neighborhood grew over the years under the watchful eyes of two organizations the Hip Song and On Leong associations, or "tongs".  Both organizations were competing with one another to help business people in the neighborhood and tensions came to a head in the 1960's.  That's when restaurateur Jimmy Wong, president of Hip Song Tong, decided to start looking for a "new" Chinatown.  

When an area of Chinatown was selected to be the new home of the Metropolitan Correctional Center in the early 70's, Wong and his associates knew they'd have to move many of their businesses.  While the On Leong Tong settled on an area that is the present day Chinatown south of downtown, Wong and Hip Song Tong bought up a good portion of a rundown neighborhood in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood centered primarily between Sheridan Road and N. Broadway.  Its close proximity to public transit was one of the big reasons for the move.  

Wong and Hip Song Tong provided financial assistance to Chinese-Americans looking to start businesses along Argyle St.  Not only did many Chinese businesses from around the city relocate to Argyle, but the group also persuaded a number of Chinese businessmen from around the nation to open branch stores in the neighborhood. 

Wong, who was sort of a local celebrity hobnobbing with movie stars and musicians at his eponymous restaurant, envisioned an area along Argyle Street with large pagodas, reflecting ponds and trees to beautify the run down area.  However, Wong broke both of his hips in 1974 and he had to retire, backing away from his dreams of development along Argyle.  The area languished in disrepair for five years.  That's when Charlie Soo entered the picture in 1979. 

Charlie Soo was the president of the Asian American Small Business Association and he took up Jimmy Wong's cause to make the Argyle neighborhood the "new" Chinatown.  Soo lobbied Chicago officials to fix the sidewalks and help with restorations of building fronts.  Soo also got the Chicago Transit Authority to have the Argyle "L" stop on the Red Line renovated and updated.  In 1981, Soo threw the first "Taste of Argyle" festival along Argyle St.  

As the Chinatown area centered at the corner of Wentworth and Cermak, Argyle became more of a Southeast Asian enclave with Thai, Laotian, Cambodian and predominantly Vietnamese immigrants settling in the neighborhood.  However, as Judith told us during her little talk of the history of the Argyle neighborhood, less than 40% of the population of the neighborhood is now of Asian descent.  "Kind of surprising," she told us.  "But it shows how the neighborhood has changed in diversity over the past number of years."  

Then Judith said, "OK, it's time for breakfast!"  

She led us down Broadway to the Sun Wah BBQ, a Hong Kong-style barbecue place that was originally on Argyle, but moved to N. Broadway when they had a chance to expand.  (see map) 

This is the kind of place where they have the barbecued ducks hanging in the window.  Our "breakfast" consisted of roasted duck slices in a Chinese bun with pickled vegetables and a bowl of seafood congee, a customary Chinese breakfast where the leftovers from the meal from the evening before - usually rice and whatever main dish (chicken, pork, seafood, etc.) - then it's all mixed together with a cream broth.  I'm going to do a separate entry on Sun Wah BBQ at a later date.  

From there, Judith took us to Tai Nam Food Market, an Asian grocery store that primarily caters to Thai cuisine.  (see map)  Before we went in, Judith had us pick from a number of paper tabs she pulled out of her purse.  We were going on a scavenger hunt in the store.  I picked palm sugar - a Thai sugar that is used not only in sweets, but in curries and sauces; Cindy got rice paper - primarily used for Vietnamese spring rolls; her friend Pam got Thai basil - which we found out has square stalks; and Pam's husband Jay picked tamarind paste which is used in a myriad of cuisines from Thai to Indian to Jamaican to Mexican foods.  It's also an important part of Worcestershire sauce.  However, it wasn't going to be a free-for-all scavenger hunt - Judith was going to sort of guide us to the areas we needed to look.

The Tai Nam market has been open since 1993 and is one of the leading places in the Chicago area to get Asian foods.  They feature over 10,000 items and is a full service grocery store with a meat department, seafood department, fresh produce, kitchen utensils and cookware, and locally made tofu.  (According to Judith, one of the best tofu manufacturers in the U.S. is located up the street on N. Broadway - Phoenix Bean - an artisan tofu factory owned by former United Airlines financial executive Jenny Yang.)   

Tai Nam is also a wholesaler to restaurants.  They had large sacks of dried mushrooms, peppers, peanuts and garlic.  I found a 40 lb. bag of cashews for $139.  Wow!  

They had a little bit of everything in the wholesale foods department.  Judith said that most of the restaurants in the area - and around Chicago - use Tai Nam for the basics of ethnic Asian foods.  But the rest of the market was designed for a person to make an authentic Asian meal at home.  

The meat department was a beehive of activity.  Judith told us that the butcher shop at Tai Nam was one of the best in all the Asian markets in Chicago.  "Not all of them are as clean as this one," she explained to us.  "I have no problem buying meat here because they're much more conscious about cleanliness here than at other places."  

As we were walking away from the meat department, Cindy turned to Judith and said, "Were those containers full of duck blood?"  She said that they were.  I missed them and asked Cindy where she saw them.  She told me to go back to the cooler opposite the meat case.  Judith told us that duck blood soup with vermicelli is a delicacy in parts of China.  The Vietnamese also have a soup called Tiet Canh Vit that is a Northern Vietnam variation of duck blood soup.  Nope - not anything I'd like to try, thank you.  

The seafood department at Tai Nam was better than some regular seafood shops I've been to in the past.  They had live lobsters and crabs in tanks toward the back of the store.  The crabs looked great and if we hadn't been traveling without a cooler (and staying that night in Chicago) I would have though hard about grabbing a couple to take home to steam.  

They had a long row of whole fish on ice - well over two dozen different varieties of fresh fish.  I was sort of amazed to see the fish displayed this way, but Judith said that it was nothing for Asians to take home a whole fish and use most of it in different types of dishes.  

The fresh produce aisle showed us a number of fruits - whole and cut - that were completely foreign to me.  We were greeted at the front of the store by a huge display of whole jackfruit with cut up jackfruit available in the produce section.  Interestingly, the produce didn't have much signage signifying what it was.  The produce aisle was also the place where Pam found her Thai basil.  Judith pointed out that a lot of Asian greens can look alike, but you need to look at the stalks to figure out what is what.  She pointed out the square stalks on the Thai basil to show the difference.  The things you learn in an Asian grocery store.

We were toward the back corner of the store looking at a number of kitchen utensils and cookware used in Asian homes.  As we were looking at a clay pot used for cooking outdoors, a guy and his wife walked by us.  He was Caucasian and she was Asian.  He asked, "Are you guys learning about Thai food?"  When we told him that we were, he said, "That's cool.  My wife had to teach me when we first got together and now that's about all we eat."  

His wife was showing us the techniques people use to cook food outdoors in the clay pots.  "The clay pots cook everything evenly," she said.  

Judith looked at her watch after a bit and said, "Oh, goodness!  We've spent a lot of time in here!  We have another stop before we go for lunch!"  

Our next stop was a Thai bakery on Argyle Street - Chiu Quon Bakery.  (see map)  I noticed some baked goods from Chiu Quon Bakery on the shelves at the Tai Nam Market.  Chiu Quon Bakery first opened over 25 years ago in Chinatown and opened a second location on Argyle about 15 years ago.  

The bakery, at first glance - looked like any other bakery in Chicago.  But a closer look saw that it was not your normal American bakery.  Baked goods such as Lotus Bean Paste Moon Cakes, Duck Egg Cake, and Sesame Cake Balls with Bean Paste were prominent in the case.  

What caught my eye were racks of baked buns with food baked into them.  Jay and I were both salivating over some of the offerings which included a ham and egg baked into the buns, along with hot dogs or Chinese sausage baked into the buns.  (Judith's description of Chinese sausage almost made me get one of those buns.  If we weren't going for lunch in a little bit, I would have done it.)  They also had a number of steamed buns with fillings such as pork and shrimp, barbecue pork, or sausage, egg and pork in a refrigerator for take home meals.  The thing about all these baked food buns - they were a buck each.  What a great deal!

Chiu Quon also had a few small tables for people to eat in the bakery.  On one of the tables in the back, one of the bakers had just set down two large trays of what looked like angel food cake in clay pots.  But Judith explained they were a type of bun, but fluffy in consistency.  I believe they also had food baked in with them, as well.  

Judith picked up a number of items for dessert after our meal and we took off down Argyle again.  Along the way she pointed out a number of murals on the walls of buildings, similar to the murals we saw when we did our walk through the Pilsen neighborhood.  Judith said that like the Mexican residents in Pilsen, Southeast Asians are also prolific when it comes to painting murals depicting historical events or ones that tell a story.  

The mural below left is named "The Roots of Argyle" depicting 100 years of Argyle Street starting from 1900 and starting out looking through the door of the old Essanay Studio that was housed on Argyle Street in the early 20th Century.  The studio was famous in its day for the silent movies it made with stars such as Charlie Chaplin, Ben Turpin, Gloria Swanson and Tom Mix.  There are six different portals in the mural depicting immigrants coming to America - six generations in total.  

The mural above right memorializes local hip-hop artist and poet John "Vietnam" Nguyen who tragically died in a drowning accident on a Wisconsin lake in 2012.  He helped save a friend from drowning while he was a student at the University of Wisconsin, but died in doing so.  To honor Nguyen, the City of Chicago named the 5000 block of N. Winthrop Ave. after him, the first Vietnamese-American so honored.  

Argyle Street was undergoing some major renovations with sidewalks and sewer lines being installed.  We ended up criss-crossing the street to avoid construction and ended up at a place Judith picked out because we told her we didn't know much - if any - about Vietnamese food when we went on our previous walking tour with her in the Spring.  We ended up having lunch at a place called Uptown Pho.  (see map)

Uptown Pho (pronounced "fuh" - we learned - although "foe" is also acceptable) is one of the more popular places along Argyle for Vietnamese food.  Judith told us that she had other options to take us to, but she felt that for our first true Vietnamese meal that Uptown Pho would be the best because of the diversity of foods on their menu.  

She had arranged with the owners beforehand with a set menu of foods to try including Beef Pho, Banh Xeo (a Vietnamese crepe - the French held Vietnam until 1954 and there's a lot of French influence in Vietnamese food), Banh Mi - a grilled pork sandwich, and a lotus stem salad.  Now, Jay and Pam thought they were pretty well-versed when it came to Vietnamese food.  But even Jay was stumped with some of the foods that Judith had ordered.  He's had Pho before, but the Banh Xeo and the Goi Ngo Sen - the lotus salad - surprised him.  He taught me that a dash of Sriracha and Hoisin sauce made the Pho jump to life.  

(I'm going to do an in-depth entry on Uptown Pho at a later date.  Let me just say that the Vietnamese coffee - thick and sweet - almost sent me out of my skin!)   

After the desserts from the bakery, we were over with our tour of the Argyle neighborhood.  Once again, Judith taught us so much about an area of Chicago that we weren't familiar with, but the double treat was that she turned us on to many great foods that we had no idea existed.  We're going to do another tour with Judith next Spring - it will probably be the tour that she does that centers on an Indian neighborhood and restaurants on the far north side.  Even though we like Indian food and have grown to know it pretty well, she said that an in-depth look at some of the Indian foods along Devon Ave. would broaden our horizons even more.  And that's what we're looking for - broadening our culinary horizons.  

Crosstown Pub and Grill - Naperville, IL

One of my dealers in the Chicago area told me of a place that he and his family like to go to for kind of a casual night out from time to time, a sports bar not far from where they live in Naperville called the Crosstown Pub and Grill.  He raved about their food from their chicken wings to their burgers to the stuffed mac & cheese dishes that both his daughter and his wife really like.  I decided to give Crosstown Pub a try for lunch when I was in the area one day earlier this summer.  

Jim Nichols is the owner/chef of the Crosstown Pub in Naperville.  In addition to being a chef, Nichols is a huge sports fan and he named his restaurant after the series of games played in the regular baseball season between the Chicago Cubs and Nichols' beloved Chicago White Sox.  But his love for the rivalry between the baseball teams doesn't stop there as his restaurant is a shrine to the other professional teams in the Chicago area.  Nichols, with the help of his wife Susy, opened Crosstown Pub in 2007 and earlier this year they opened a second location just off Randall Road in the far western suburb of Batavia.

I got into Crosstown Pub around 1:30 on a dreary summer afternoon. The restaurant is located on the busy Ogden Ave. corridor in Naperville.  (see map)  It had been spitting rain off and on for a good portion of the day and the outdoor seating area at Crosstown was closed up.  I went into the bar area and took a seat at the bar.  I was greeted by one of the bartenders, Tosha, who dropped off a menu.  I ordered up a beer as I looked through the menu. 

I went into Crosstown Pub thinking about getting a burger or possibly a sandwich, but I found that they had a number of interesting items on the menu.  The "Schmacon Me Crazy" sandwich was Crosstown's take on a BLT and featured American cheese melted over slices of beef bacon sourced from the nearby Schmaltz Deli, along with lettuce, tomatoes and a garlic-pesto sauce and served in between two slices of Texas toast.  They also had jambalaya on the menu, as well as grilled chicken kabobs with pineapple, white onions and green pepper topped with a Jamaican jerk sauce served over dirty rice with andouille sausage.  That sounded very interesting. 

Their very well known for the burgers at Crosstown Pub.  The burger meat is a blend of chuck, brisket and round cuts of beef, antibiotic and hormone free.  And there doesn't seem to be much of a basic burger on the menu (although I'm sure you can order one like that).  For example - they have a burger with grilled jalapeños, guacamole, chipotle mayo, chopped cilantro and crumbled farmers cheese with is basically a dry cottage cheese or similar to Cotija cheese in Mexican food.  Another burger - the Master - features a burger patty soaked in teriyaki and topped with grilled pineapple slices, crumbled blue cheese and bacon.   

One of my dealers who follows my blog told me this summer, "Man, you write a lot about burgers."  Well, I guess I do.  But I like burgers.  (At one time I was going to start an off-shoot blog called "Burger Lust", but decided not to.)  But as interesting as the burgers were at Crosstown Pub, I found something on the menu that tripped my trigger more than a burger.  The fish tacos.

They actually had a handful of Mexican options on the menu, but the fish tacos stood right out.  The flour tortillas were filled with chunks of a cajun season grilled cod fish, topped with the farmers cheese, slices of green onions, a mango/pineapple relish and drizzled with a copious amount of a chipotle mayo sauce.  When I ordered them from Tosha, she asked, "Do you want guacamole with the tacos?"  I couldn't say no.  Black beans - not refried, thankfully - came with the tacos as well as a side of rice.

I added the guac and some of the black beans (topped with the farmers cheese) and the rice (more like a Cajun-seasoned rice) to the tacos and took my first bite.  Man, there were a lot of taste sensations going on all at once.  I caught the coolness of the guacamole and the mango/pineapple relish and I got the spiciness of the chipotle mayo sauce and the Cajun seasoning on the fish and rice.  The beans were the a great addition to the taco.  I'll take black beans over refried beans any day.  

I have to say that was mightily impressed with the fish tacos at Crosstown Pub.  Much of the menu looked very interesting.  Even though it's a sports bar, the food they serve at Crosstown Pub is definitely a notch or two above the typical fare you see at most other sports bars.  My mission is to get back to have a burger at some point.  I can easily see why Crosstown Pub is one of my dealer's favorite places to go with his family.   

Mad Madeline's Grill - Temecula, CA

During our trip to Southern California earlier this year, we spent a day in the wine region near Temecula, CA.  As we were going through Temecula to get to the road that took us out to the wineries, we passed a place that had an intoxicating smell of cooking burgers on a grill.  We had a number of places that we could have eaten at or near the wineries east of Temecula, but the smell of the burgers from Mad Madeline's Grill lured us back into town for lunch.

The Mad Madeline behind the name of the restaurant is a former owner Madeline Joyce.  It was said that she was mad all of the time because she raised five boys that were in and out of mischief.  In 1991, Bert and Mary Hamilton bought the business from Joyce and expanded the building to include a front porch for seating.  They began to source their meat from a local butcher shop and it was brought in fresh daily where the Hamilton's would grind it themselves.  Their son Sid was involved in the business and he eventually took it over from his parents.  He continues to run the business today.  

Mad Madeline's is located in the heart of Old Town Temecula on Old Town Front Street, just down from the road that takes you out to the Temecula wineries.  (see map)  There's a small parking lot to the side that we were able to find a spot in because it was getting close to 2 p.m. when we stopped.  On the outside of the kitchen area was a sign proclaiming Mad Madeline's as the "1st Place Winner California Great Hamburger Hunt."  With the smell of cooking burgers wafting through the air, this all seemed to be promising. 

We took a seat in a booth on Mad Madeline's patio area.  It was cool and they were getting much needed off-and-on showers that day in Southern California so the plastic window coverings were down.  We got a menu and started to look through it.  One thing that I noticed right off the bat was that in a region that had a multitude of great beers to choose from, Mad Madeline's didn't feature really anything but beers from the big American breweries.  It was disappointing.  

Burgers rule the menu at Mad Madeline's, but they also have sandwiches including a hot pastrami, a grilled ham & cheese (a cold ham & cheese is also available), and a pulled pork sandwich.  Chicken strips, hot dogs (including chili dogs) and a slew of appetizers are also available.  

Cindy went with the 1/4 lb. cheeseburger basket with zucchini sticks.  I'm still not overly certain as to why she went with the zucchini sticks, but she did.  The burger was topped with American cheese and came with a slice of fresh tomato, onions and lettuce.  it was wrapped in paper and served on top of the zucchini sticks.  

I got the 1/2 lb. Swiss cheese, mushroom, bacon cheeseburger with fries.  Onions, lettuce and tomato also came with this burger.   With the smells emanating from the kitchen, the sign proclaiming they had the best burger in California, and the looks of this burger on the right - with all the Swiss cheese oozing over the bacon and mushrooms onto the beef patty with the sesame seed bun crown - it had to be good.  Didn't it?

Turns out the answer was a resounding no.  

Our burgers were tremendously overcooked.  Overcooked to the point where it was almost inedible.  There was no juiciness to the burger, no taste, no life.  It was one of the most disappointing burgers that I'd ever had.  It was like the cook forgot about the burgers and was doing something else for 20 minutes while it sat on the grill.  I mean, it didn't have a burnt taste to it.  It was just dry, overcooked and lifeless.  

And that's too bad.  I had high hopes for Mad Madeline's.  It turns out that they won the Great Hamburger Hunt back in the 1990's, over 20 years ago.  Everything about Mad Madeline's was promising - the quaint looking place, the smell of the cooking burgers on the grill, even up to the look of the burger before I took my first bite.  But it turned out that the burger was not only overcooked, it was overhyped.  This was - by far - our worst meal during our trip to Southern California.  I just can't help to think this was an anomaly because there's no way a place like this stays in business cooking burgers like that.  

Real Urban Barbecue - Oak Brook, IL

I had an early morning meeting in Oak Brook, a suburb on the west side of the Chicago metro area, and I ended up staying the night at a hotel that I hadn't been to in years and years.  I did some scouting around the area to see if there was something that I might like to get and I found a barbecue place that sounded sort of interesting - and a name that I remembered later on for seeing one of their locations in the far northern suburbs of Chicago - Real Urban Barbecue.  I headed over there to try some barbecue that particular evening.  

Like most barbecue places, Real Urban Barbecue came out of what was an award winning team on the competition barbecue front.  Jeff Shapiro was a native of the north shore Chicago suburb of Highland Park who loved barbecue.  He started to enter competition barbecue events with the team name of Dr. Deckle and Mr. Hide.  Shapiro also expanded his knowledge of barbecue as visited famous barbecue places in Kansas City, Memphis, Texas, the Carolinas and St. Louis.  After winning some events, he did what the majority of other barbecue circuit winners do - he opened his own barbecue place.  The only difference between Shapiro and many of the same barbecue competitors who opened their own places is that he actually had extensive restaurant experience prior to opening his own barbecue joint.

Pictured right - Jeff Shapiro.  Photo courtesy Illinois Restaurant Association.

As a young man Shapiro started in the restaurant business working for the Lettuce Entertain You conglomeration of restaurants in the Chicago area that included stops along the way at R.J. Grunts, Bub City, P.J. Clarke's and the now closed Papagus and Bones (now known as L. Woods) restaurants.  After leaving Lettuce Entertain You, Shapiro became the operations manager at Carmichael's Steakhouse that was located near the United Center which was a popular destination for people going to or coming from a Chicago Bulls or Blackhawks game.  (Carmichael's was open for 18 years before closing earlier this year.)

Shapiro sensed that an urban barbecue place was something that people were clamoring for and he opened his first Real Urban Barbecue location in Highland Park in November of 2010.  He opened his second Real Urban Barbecue in far north suburban Vernon Park in July of 2012.  (I actually saw that location not long after it opened up and it sort of piqued my interest.)  And in November of last year, he opened a third location in Oak Brook.

The Oak Brook location is on Clearwater Drive near the corner of York Road and 22nd St., about a half mile east of the Oakbrook Center shopping and entertainment complex.  (see map)  It's located on the west end of a strip mall that's visible from 22nd St.  

It was around 8 p.m. when I got into Real Urban Barbecue.  It's a cafeteria-style place where you place your order with a guy who cuts the ribs, slices the brisket, dollops the pulled pork and dishes out the sides and plops everything down on a tray.  The menu is located along the wall above the counter and their main feature are the pork ribs that you can get either wet - with the barbecue sauce served on them; dry - with nothing on them; rubbed - a Memphis-style dry rub blend of spices; or "perfection" - which is basically Memphis-style and wet together.  As I said, they also feature brisket and pulled pork along with smoked turkey, burnt ends, chicken and sausage.  

I went with a combo plate of ribs - I got them wet, but I should have just gone for the Memphis-style rubbed - pulled pork and brisket.  I had the guy put some barbecue sauce on the brisket and pork, too.  But I found that was a mistake.  They had barbecue sauce on the table and I wanted to try the different styles that they had on the meats.  They had a number of sides in steamers along the cook line that included mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, a walnut/sweet potato souffle, and a sort of scalloped corn side.  I ended up going with the dirty rice (something I don't think I've encountered at a barbecue place in the Midwest) and, of course, the baked beans.  I also got a couple cans of the Revolution Brewing Company Anti-Hero IPA.  Finally, a big handful of dill pickles came with the barbecue.  I love dill pickles with my barbecue.  

I sat down on a long community table in the main dining area.  There are two rooms to dine in at the Real Urban Barbecue location in Oak Brook.  On the walls there's corrugated metal wainscoting and above that are signs and pictures of places that Jeff Shapiro visited on his barbecue pilgrimages.  I recognized many of the ones from Kansas City and Memphis that he visited.  Seated at the end of the same table I was at was a guy working on his computer.  I recognize him now from the picture above - it was Jeff Shapiro.  Wish I would have known it was him.  I would have loved to have talked to him about his trips to barbecue places.  

The sauces they had on the table were sort of interesting.  The Original sauce is a Kansas City-style sweet sauce.  The Texas Roadhouse sauce had a nice spicy bite to it.  There was a Carolina vinegar sauce called Piedmont.  The Mustard sauce featured a blend of 3 different types of mustard.  And something that they just happened to have on the table along with their four regular sauces was a Bloody Mary sauce that had elements of a bloody mary mix with some horseradish mixed in.  

First of all, this was a lot of food.  The ribs were big and meaty, the slabs of the brisket were thick, and there was a good helping of the pulled pork.  The pulled pork had some of the burnt outer side of the pork butt mixed in that gave the pork a nice smoky caramelized taste.  It was a shame that I got the barbecue sauce on it at the counter because I would have loved for the full taste of the pork to shine through before I put barbecue sauce on it on my own.  

The ribs were all right - they were a little tough and dried out.  They probably had been lying there a good portion of the day in a holding oven.  They were pretty disappointing.  

But the brisket and the pulled pork more than made up for the ribs.  The brisket was tender and had a great taste.  The pulled pork - in addition to the smoky caramelized chunks - was moist, tender and scrumptious.  I couldn't make up my mind what I liked more - the pulled pork or the brisket.  If I had to say, I'd go 1) brisket; 1A) pulled pork; 3) ribs.  

Trying the different barbecue sauces, I determined that I liked the spicy Texas roadhouse sauce the best, followed closely by the Original sauce.  The vinegary Piedmont sauce had a nice peppery taste and I liked it better than the Bloody Mary sauce that would have been a nice addition to, well, a bloody Mary.  Finally, the mustard sauce was down on my list only because I don't care for mustard-based barbecue sauces.  But each of them were a unique taste in their own right.  

I almost forgot to comment on the sides I got - the dirty rice was a nice surprise that they had it as a side, but it was sort of bland and sort of "meh!"  It, too, may have suffered from being in a steam bin a good portion of the day.  And the baked beans featured five different types of beans (by my count) and all had a distinctive flavor.  A flavor that I didn't care for, but some people may.  

The brisket and the pulled pork were the stars at Real Urban Barbecue.  Next time I'll get them served dry and put my own barbecue sauce on them.  The Texas Roadhouse and the Original sauces were my favorite, but I was disappointed in the ribs and somewhat in the sides, as well.  Overall, this was a good barbecue experience - not as good as some I've encountered in the St. Louis/Memphis/Kansas City triangle of great barbecue places.  But Real Urban Barbecue acquitted themselves very well compared to others in the Chicago area.  

Miguel's Cocina - Coronado, CA

During our time in San Diego earlier this year, we went out to Coronado Island and took a walk on the beach, did a quick look around at the famous Hotel del Coronado, and did some shopping at some funky little shops along Orange Ave.  Deciding to get something to eat while we were in Coronado, we found a little place in the back of the El Cordova Hotel - Miguel's Cocina.  (see map)  We decided to give it a try.  

It turns out that Miguel's Cocina is a chain of six locations in the San Diego area under the Brigantine Family of Restaurants that includes Miguel's and Brigantine Seafood and Oyster Bar with six locations in San Diego.  The company also ran the Steakhouse at Azul in La Jolla until the property was sold last year to Donovan's Steak House.  

The Brigantine restaurants were started in 1969 when Mike Morton, Sr. and his brothers were involved with owning a liquor store in Point Loma, the peninsula just to the west of San Diego.  During the day working at Trader Mort's Liquor Store, the Morton's would see fishermen hauling their fresh caught fish to the Chart House, at the time the hottest seafood place in San Diego (and still a popular seafood destination today).  Thinking that they should cash in on the seafood business, Mike Morton Sr. and one of his brothers took out a second mortgage on their mother's home and opened the Brigantine Seafood and Oyster Bar, named after a type of two-masted sailing ship.  

Their original restaurant was on Shelter Island Lane in Point Loma and during the first couple years the place struggled to stay open.  The Morton brothers, along with Mike Morton Sr.'s wife Barbara, waited tables, cooked in the kitchen, were dishwashers and janitors, bought the seafood, and did the books.  Things got so bad at one point that Mike Morton was forced to sell Barbara's car to make payroll.  But their late night business is what saved them - many of the workers at the Chart House and other places on Point Loma would end up after their shifts at the Brigantine drinking and eating until 2 a.m.  In 1973, the Morton's were able to open a second Brigantine on Orange Ave. in Coronado.  

One day in the 70's, Mike Morton Sr. was talking with a sales manager with a local seafood company and came up with a term to highlight freshly caught fish.  The phrase "Catch of the Day" became the common vernacular among seafood restaurants worldwide.  And it all started as part of a brain-storming session between Mike Morton Sr. and a seafood company sales manager over a couple of drinks.

In 1982, Mike Morton Sr. opened a new concept restaurant, Miguel's Cocina, with many of the recipes coming from the family of Brigantine employee Javier Alaniz.  The white sauce that Miguel's Cocina features in many of their authentic Mexican dishes came directly from the Alaniz family.  

Today, Mike Morton Jr. and his brother Mark run the Brigantine Family of Restaurants.  Mike Jr. has been the CEO and president since 2008, and Mark is the regional general manager overseeing the Brigantine and Miguel's locations.  While their father is retired from the business, their mother Barbara is still involved and Mike Morton Jr.'s children have joined in the business making it three generations of family members involved in both Miguel's Cocina and the Brigantine.  

The Miguel's Cocina in Coronado had a nifty little courtyard dining area that was nicely shaded.  It was probably the warmest day during our visit to Southern California - and that wasn't saying much.  The temperature may have hit 72 that day, if that.  We opted to sit at a table in the courtyard and given menus to look over.  After a bit, our server Barreuto came over to greet us.  Cindy got a margarita, I went with a 22 ounce draft of Dos Equis Ambar. 

Most of the food at Miguel's Cocina was familiar to us - enchiladas, burritos, fajitas, and tacos.  The tacos especially caught my attention - they had grilled swordfish tacos, brisket tacos, braised beef tacos, and battered fish and battered shrimp tacos.  I decided to go with the carnitas tacos - two housemade tortilla shells filled with shredded seasoned pork and topped with diced onions and chopped cilantro and finished with a tangy avocado cream sauce.  A side of Mexican rice and refried beans came with the tacos, but I knew I wouldn't make more than a dent in those concentrating primarily on the tacos.  

Cindy had the chile relleno/carne asada taco combination plate.  It also came with rice and refried beans.  The chile relleno was rather large and stuffed with brisket, green chiles and cojita cheese and topped with a roasted tomato sauce.  She said the chile relleno was very good, better than ones that are usually just cheese filled like we find back home in the Midwest. 

I was happy enough with my tacos.  The pork was sort of bland - more bland that I imagined that it would have been given the seasonings it was cooked in.  Still, it was above average for Mexican food.  But not as good as some tacos I'd had at other places during our trip to San Diego.  Cindy gave me half of her carne asada taco as she was having trouble eating all the food on her plate - as I said, that chile relleno was pretty good sized.  I had a couple bites of the carne asada taco and thought it was fine, as well.  Not outstanding, but good enough.  

We were sort of intrigued by the tattoo Barreuto sported on his forearm.  It was a dream catcher with hearts.  We asked him the significance and he said the dream catcher signified his family and each heart was a member of his family.  "I can add more hearts when we add more to our family," he explained to us.  I'm not usually big on tattoo art, but this one was pretty impressive.

While we liked our food at Miguel's Cocina, we felt that there were better places we tried during our visit to San Diego.  The tacos were good, the chile relleno was big and stuffed, the service was very good, and we liked the cantina atmosphere while sitting on the patio.  It was definitely above average in terms of taste and quality, and in a city where there's a number of very good to great Mexican restaurants Miguel's Cocina can easily say they run with the pack, but probably never lead.  

Perry's Steakhouse & Grille - San Antonio

During my time in San Antonio earlier this summer, one of my colleagues who works for one of our British manufacturers wanted to take my colleague and I out for a great steak dinner.  We were staying at the La Cantera Hill Country Resort, site of the conference we were attending and we asked the concierge if there were any great steakhouses in the area.  She didn't hesitate and told us about Perry's Steakhouse in the upscale Shops at La Cantera shopping and entertainment complex just down the hill from the resort.  In fact, she told us that they have a courtesy vehicle that would take us there and pick us up.  We couldn't say no at that point.  

Perry's Steakhouse and Grille started out as a family-owned butcher shop that eventually turned into a small regional chain.  In 1979, Bob Perry opened a small meat shop on the southeast side of Houston that quickly became well-known for their great cuts of meat, including an incredible bone-in pork chop. In 1986, son Chris Perry joined his father and convinced him to open a small dining room where people could pick out their cuts of meat and have them grilled on site and served in the restaurant.  It quickly became known as Perry and Son's Market and Grill and it went over tremendously well.  They opened a second location in nearby Friendswood, TX in 1989.  

The Perry's stepped up to the big leagues by opening their first upscale Perry's Steakhouse in the Houston suburb of Clear Lake in 1993.  Today, there are 13 Perry's Steakhouse and Grille locations with six in the greater Houston location (their flagship location in the Houston suburb of Clear Lake will close this fall and they'll relocate to a much larger facility nearby), two in Dallas, one in Austin and one in San Antonio.  Over the past few years, they've gone beyond the Texas border with locations in Denver, Birmingham, AL and one in the Oak Brook area of Chicago.  (I never knew they had a Perry's in Oak Brook - it opened in November of 2013 in the Oakbrook Center shopping complex.)  

The Perry's Steakhouse and Grilled in the Shops of La Cantera opened in November of 2011.  It's located on the far east side of the complex with other restaurants nearby.  The courtesy van driver from the La Cantera resort dropped us right near the front door.  (see map)

As you walk in the door, there is a meat cooler showing the different cuts of meats that Perry's Steakhouse has to offer.  All of the steaks served at Perry's are cuts of USDA prime beef, butchered in their in-house meat shop and cut to order.  Perry's Steakhouse also features bone-in ribeye and New York strip steaks in addition to bone-in lamb chops.

The inside of Perry's Steakhouse is a typical elegant steakhouse with dark wood paneling, subdued lighting and comfy seating.  There's a very nice bar area at Perry's - Bar 79 - and private dining is available, as well.  We didn't have a reservation, but we didn't have to wait long to get seated.  The three of us were escorted to a circular booth near the open kitchen area and given menus to look over.

Our server for the evening - and I never did get his name - was sort of a nervous fellow.  He was sort of fumbling his words and sort of acted like it was his first day on the job in an upscale restaurant.  Who knows?  It may have been.  And as I was looking through the menu, unbeknownst to me, the waiter dumped water on my colleague seated across the large semi-circular table.  The next thing I knew we were getting moved to another booth nearby.  I mean, my colleague was soaked and so was the table cloth.  I was like, "What happened?  Where was I when this happened?"  

We moved to a second half-circle booth and the first waiter we had was promptly replaced by a new guy.  My colleague called over the manager and said, "Hey, we want the first guy.  It was an accident.  The poor guy's day can't get any worse than that."  

And with that, our original waiter was back - much less nervous than he was before.  "Thanks, guys," he said apologetically.  "I don't know what's going on today.  Just a bad day, I guess."  His service was stellar from then on out.  

The first thing I did was to look through the extensive wine menu to find something that we could drink with our beef or pork.  I found a 2011 Terrazas Reserva Mendoza Malbec that was a little overpriced at $50 a bottle, but we ordered it up anyway.  

We ordered our food and got some appetizers to start out.  One of the guys spied the bacon-wrapped scallops on the menu and decided on getting those for a starter.  They were four large scallops wrapped in a thick slice of bacon and grilled to a dark brown color.  I had one and it was simply scrumptious.  I don't know why I don't do bacon wrapped scallops at home on my grill.  

I got the wedge salad - it was one of the smallest wedge salads at an upscale steakhouse that I'd ever been served.  It was a quarter of a small wedge of lettuce, topped with chunks of bacon, chopped tomatoes, red onion rings and a chunky blue cheese dressing.  Although it was small, it was very good.  I think I gave the waiter carpel tunnel from him twisting the pepper grinder so many times to load up the fresh cracked black pepper on the salad.  I like black pepper, something that I'm sure I got from my dad.  

It turned out that I didn't probably need a large wedge salad as the three peppercorn New York strip that I ordered was a nearly 1 pound piece of meat.  It was rolled in black peppercorns and served with a peppercorn reduction sauce with chopped pink and green peppercorns served on top.  I had ordered the steak medium-rare and when I did the fork test to see how done it was it felt like it was woefully overcooked.  But when I cut into the steak it turned out that it was a perfect medium rare.  Cooking the steaks over a high temperature will harden the outside of the steak, sort of making it crispy.  That's how the steak was at Perry's Steakhouse.  And the taste was fabulous.  It had a great peppery taste and the reduction sauce just added to the taste sensation. This was a great steak.

Along with the New York strip, I also ordered a side of sautéed mushrooms for all of us to share.  They were big button-capped mushrooms sautéed in butter and topped with chopped parsley.  They were so big that I had to cut them into thirds when I ate them.  These, too, were just fabulous.  

The tenderloin filet, shrimp and lobster kabob (pictured right) was what one of my colleagues got.  The presentation was rather interesting - they hung the kabob from a hook and brought it to the table like that.  The kabob featured a couple of thick pieces of beef tenderloin, a good sized segment of lobster tail and three or four grilled shrimp.  It was served with a side of asparagus.  He said that the combination of the shrimp, steak and lobster meat was outstanding.   And he was having trouble finishing the meal because of the richness of the lobster and the shrimp, and the amount of beef tenderloin that was on the kabob.  

Since they started in 1979, Perry's have sourced their pork chops from the Midwest - I'm guessing primarily from Iowa since we have such outstanding pork in the state - and they've become famous for them in their restaurants.  My other colleague got the pork chop for his selection.  The pork chop was brought to the table and with a rather large fanfare the waiter carves the huge pork chop table side.

He cut about a third of the way down, cross-ways against the grain of the pork chop, then did another cut to make three cuts in the chop.  It makes it much easier for the diner to cut and handle than using a large carving knife to get through the large pork chop.  After Perry's procures the pork chops from their supplier, they cure the pork, then they slow roast it before finishing it off in a smoker giving the outer skin a caramelized coating.  I almost got the pork chop just based on its description in the menu and after seeing it across from me I was very sorry that I didn't.  Knowing now that Perry's Steakhouse is located in the western suburbs of Chicago, I may have to stop in and try the pork chop.  My colleague said the taste and tenderness was out of this world.  "This may be the best pork I've ever had in my life," he exclaimed about halfway through his meal.   

Our overall experience at Perry's Steakhouse and Grill was wonderful.  The waiter settled down tremendously after he accidentally spilled water on my colleague and wasn't so nervous the rest of the night.  All of our meals were absolutely outstanding.  The presentation with each meal was superb, as well.  I can't think of a better New York strip that I've had and the one I had at Perry's - I'm certain - came close equalling the best I've had in the past.  This was simply a tremendous dining experience.  Pricey, yes.  But my manufacturer colleague picked up the check and put it on his card, so the meal tasted even better!

Kalmes Breaktime - Dubuque, IA

I had a buddy who had spent a weekend up in the Dubuque area as part of a getaway with a lady friend of his earlier this summer.  He texted me on a Sunday and asked me if I'd ever been to Kalmes Breaktime in Dubuque.  He said the burgers were very good and the bloody Mary's were exceptional.  On a trip back home from Wisconsin earlier this year, I was going through Dubuque just after the lunch hour and decided to find Kalmes Breaktime to give it a try.  

The Kalmes family name is well-known in the Dubuque area.  Kalmes Restaurant in nearby St. Donatus has been around since the 1850's when Peter Kalmes, an immigrant from Luxembourg, opened a little roadside bar.  Today, the fifth generation of the Kalmes family run the popular restaurant known for prime rib and steaks, burgers and sandwiches, and hearty breakfasts.  

In 1996, Mike and Theresa Kalmes bought the Blue Moon Inn located in Dubuque's historic Millwork District.  The floor in the over 100-year-old building actually pitched down toward the front of the building so floodwaters from the nearby Mississippi River would drain more easily.  The Kalmes redid the interior of the bar and revamped the place making it more modern without losing some of the old time charm.  

Mike and Theresa Kalmes eventually sold the business to their two sons, T.J. and Dallas.  Their boys were no strangers to the restaurant business having worked at the Kalmes Restaurant as busboys before they were both 10 years old, as well as helping out their parents in the Kalmes Breaktime restaurant.  Both T.J. and Dallas continue to run the business today.

It was around 1:30 when I pulled up to Kalmes Breaktime at the corner of E. 11th and Jackson in Dubuque.  (see map)  The restaurant had a smattering of people after the noon lunch hour and I could sit pretty much about anywhere I liked.  There's an upper level dining area in the back of the place that featured tables of various sizes.  

I ended up taking a seat at the bar and was greeted by the bartender, Lucas.  I saw that they had Good ol' Potosi beer on tap from the Potosi Brewery just up the road in Potosi, WI.  I ordered one of those and got a menu from Lucas, a young looking man whose physical features belied his true age. (Others were joking with him about making sure he had his ID with him when he went up to the Potosi Brewery that weekend.) He told me of a couple lunch specials they had that day, but I had my heart set on getting a burger.  

Quite actually, Kalmes Breaktime features much more than burgers and sandwiches, especially at night.  Their dinner menus consists of steaks, broasted chicken, pork and ham steaks, seafood included battered shrimp and broiled cod, and on Friday and Saturday night they feature prime rib.  

The burger menu at Kalmes Breaktime features a dozen different types of burgers, or a customer can build their own.  The burgers are 6 to 7 ounces in size and they get their meat from steak trimmings from the Kalmes Restaurant in St. Donatus.  The trimmings are ground at St. Donatus and sent up to Dubuque for the Kalmes boys.  An extra burger patty adds three bucks to the price of the burger.  

I ended up getting my old standby Swiss cheese, mushrooms and bacon.  Actually, they had a Swiss and mushroom burger on the menu and I had Lucas put bacon on it as an upcharge.  It came with a small tub of cole slaw and some crinkle-cut fries.  The Swiss cheese was thick and slathered over the top of the bacon and sliced mushrooms lying on top of the burger patty.  

From the first bite, I could tell this was an excellent burger.  It was the kind where you'd go "Mmmm...." during the first bite.  The burger was definitely juicy - this was a multi-napkin burger.  The fresh baked bun held together very well and was a great compliment to the burger.  It was sort of like a croissant-style of bun, light, airy and spongy, but it didn't fall apart.  This was a great burger.

The fries were crispy on the outside, but moist inside - the perfect French fry.  They would have a little snap when I would pull them apart and the flaky potato inside would sort of spill out.  Great fries to go with a great burger.  

The cole slaw - I'm not certain I cared for it. It sort of had sort of a medicine-vinegar taste, but it wasn't overpowering.  It was all right, but it didn't matter all that much.  The stars of the meal were the burger and the fries.  

It turned out that T.J. Kalmes was seated a couple places away from me at the bar.  He asked me how the burger was.  "Killer," I replied.  "A spot hitter."  

He sort of laughed and said, "That's what we like to hear!"  

Kalmes Breaktime does serve up a terrific burger.  There was absolutely nothing that I could find fault with the burger, from the juicy burger patty made from ground steak trimmings, to the pungent Swiss cheese, with sliced mushrooms and smoked bacon that topped the patty.  The fries were very good - the perfect French fry, crispy outside, moist inside.  The burger I had at Kalmes Breaktime was simply one of the better burgers I've had.  It was worth every penny they ask for it.  

Cannons Seafood Grill - Dana Point, CA

During our trip to Southern California earlier this year, we spent a couple three nights in Dana Point, CA.  I've often said that if I had the money - especially after I retired - I'd move to Dana Point in a heartbeat.  It's a great coastal city with a wonderful harbor and a great seaside vibe.  Our first night in Dana Point, we took a drive up to a place that was called one of the Top 50 Places to Eat with a Scenic View by readers of OpenTable.com - a seafood place called Cannons Seafood Grill.

Simply known as "Cannons" to the locals, the restaurant is housed in the first building that was built on the bluff overlooking the fabulous Dana Point Harbor, located in what was once called Capistrano Bay about halfway in between San Diego and Los Angeles.  Author Richard Henry Dana, Jr. - whom Dana Point was named after - fell in love with the bay in the 1830's calling it the most romantic spot on the West Coast.  He had sailed from Boston to the California coast around South America and Cape Horn on the ship Pilgrim and kept a diary that eventually turned into the 1840's memoir "Two Years Before the Mast" that became the most popular book to garner information about California in its day.  

After the harbor was commissioned in 1971, Cannons opened in 1972 in what was the first free standing restaurant in Dana Point.  In 2004, Cannons was purchased by longtime restaurant executives John Creed and Steve McGillin who installed Greg Mortimer as the operating partner.  The group changed the name to Cannons Seafood Grill at that time.  Cannons is popular for weddings, receptions and other special events.  

After a couple drinks at a restaurant/bar in the Dana Point Harbor, we drove up the hill on Dana Point Harbor Drive and took a right onto Street of the Green Lantern to Cannons.  (see map)  It was a Sunday evening so it wasn't busy and we were able to be seated right away.  

The main dining room is up some stairs from the main entry and features a number of tables on two levels with large picture windows along the south side of the building.  The lighting was subdued in the upper level with more natural light coming in from the large windows.  

We were escorted to a window table on the lower level that looked out onto Dana Point Harbor, down past Doheny State Beach - the first state beach in California - and down the coast to San Clemente.  The weather had turned a bit dreary with much needed rain in the area, but it still didn't detract from the great view we had from our table.  

We were looking through the menu when our server for the evening - Brandon - came over to greet us.  Right away I ordered up a bottle of the St. Supery sauvignon blanc wine from our personable young waiter.  

The seafood served at Cannons is always fresh, never frozen.  They have daily specials based upon the freshest ingredients that executive chef Omar Ramirez can procure from local fishermen and produce farmers.  Seafood is, of course, the main focus at Cannons, but they also have an herb-crusted prime rib, organic free range chicken entrees, and a Filet Oscar that features an aged Black Angus tenderloin cut in house, then topped with Alaskan king crab, asparagus and a béarnaise sauce, and comes with roasted vegetables and scalloped potatoes. 

We started out with sharing a wedge salad that wasn't all that large and was a little pricey for what we got.  The cool and crisp iceberg lettuce was topped with a creamy blue cheese dressing, chunks of diced tomatoes, red onions and bacon bits, and then topped with crumbled blue cheese from the Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Co. in Northern California.  Quite actually, compared to other wedge salads that I had the taste was sort of "blah" making it still overpriced in my book.  

For dinner that evening, I knew I wanted seafood and I ended up picking the fresh mahi mahi, grilled and topped with a lobster reduction sauce and mushrooms.  It came with fresh green beans and garlic mashed potatoes.  The mahi mahi seemed to be overcooked - it was dry and sort of hard to chew and swallow, even with the wonderfully tasting lobster reduction sauce.  It wasn't the best mahi mahi that I've had by any means.  The garlic mashed potatoes were sort of "meh!", and the best thing were the green beans, I'm sorry to say.  It was somewhat disappointing to say the least.  

Cindy was leaning toward getting the seafood skewer medley that featured chunks of fresh shrimp, swordfish, scallops, mahi mahi and salmon that were all drizzled in a white wine/butter/lemon sauce.  But for some reason she ended up getting the cioppino - an authentic seafood stew with chunks of Alaskan king crab meat, scallops, black mussels, shrimp, mahi mahi, salmon and swordfish, all of which are sautéed in a tomato and spices broth.  Large pieces of toasted bread with herbs came with the cioppino.  Cindy liked it - a lot.  The seafood was very rich and the toasted bread came in handy to dip into the tomato broth.  I eagerly took a couple bites of the cioppino when she offered.  It was very good.  

After dinner, Brandon came over and since it wasn't busy we took some time to talk with him about things to do in the area.  We discussed going out to Catalina Island, but he pretty much told us that it would be a day trip and we hadn't budgeted enough time on this leg of the trip for that.  But he did say that if we ever got the chance in the future, that would be a great place to go.

He tempted us with a number of desserts on the menu including a house-made cheesecake and a chocolate creme brûlée.  I was sort of full from dinner, but Cindy noticed the key lime pie on the menu.  It was made with a granola crust and topped with fresh berries and mint leaves, then sprinkled with powered sugar.  Once again, compared to other key lime pies we've had in the past the one at Cannons was just all right.  It wasn't bad, but it didn't have the great tart key lime taste that we've come to like with other ones we've had.  

I probably would have given Cannons a much higher grade had the wedge salad wouldn't have been so neutral in taste, the mahi mahi hadn't been overcooked, and the key lime pie sort of subdued in taste, as well. The service was impeccable, the atmosphere was comfortable and welcoming, and you can't beat the million dollar views from a window table seat in the main dining room.  My wife's cioppino was very good, but I was disappointed in what I had.  And that's too bad because a place like Cannons doesn't stay open for over 40 years serving the food that I experienced this particular evening.  

JD's Q and Brew - Arlington Heights, IL

One evening when I was in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago last winter, I passed a barbecue place that I'd never known about, a place called JD's Q and Brew.  I turned around and went back to get something to eat, but found that they had closed for the evening at 8 p.m. (winter hours).  I made a mental note to go back there at some point and I had the chance to do so earlier this summer.  

The two men behind JD's Q and Brew are cousins Peter Veremis and Thanos "Tom" Grigorio.  Veremis and Grigorio both have extensive backgrounds in barbecue - Veremis has been in the restaurant business for over 25 years and ran a barbecue place in Calumet City on Chicago's far south side before opening JD's in the fall of 2012.  He brought in Grigorio because of his extensive knowledge around a barbecue place - over 30 years of expertise.  

Veremis wanted a place that also had an extensive selection of beers.  A restaurant consultant told him to keep the beer menu to a minimum, but Veremis dismissed the advice and went with a large number of bottled beers from craft breweries around the Midwest and beyond.  The beer menu at JD's features over 100 different beers to choose from.  

JD's Q and Brew is located on Rand Rd. in Arlington Heights, just north and west of Palatine Rd.  (see map)  I had just come from a dealer in the area and decided to grab some lunch at JD's around 1:30 one afternoon.  The dining area was spacious with a number of tables and chairs in the middle with comfy booths along two walls.  

The menu is located on a board behind the front counter where you order.  They serve all the regular barbecue items at JD's - ribs, pulled pork, brisket, chicken and turkey.  Sandwiches include pulled pork or pulled chicken sandwiches, a smoked turkey breast sandwich, and smoked Cajun sausage.  They also feature hamburgers, shrimp, grilled tilapia, and beer battered cod on the menu.

Having such a large selection of beers can be troublesome for a restaurant - just as the restaurant consultant told Peter Veremis when he opened for business about three years ago.  I ordered a Lagunitas IPA that they had on tap, but the first taste told me that the keg had turned flat.  I took it back to the counter and the young lady had a manager come over to try the beer.  He poured some from the tap into a glass and took a swig.  "Yep!  That's gone flat," he pronounced.  

From there, I had to pick another beer.  I looked through the beer menu that they had and saw that they had the Three Floyd's Dreadnaught IPA in a bottle.  Well, it's turned out that no, they didn't have that particular beer in stock.  I was trying to find something else to have and I noticed in the glass doored cooler that they had the Lagunitas IPA in a bottle.  After some confusion with the girl taking my order as to whether I could actually change from a Lagunitas draft to a Lagunitas bottle, I ended up getting one of those. It was a bit of a hassle, but at least I got a beer.

I ordered the brisket and burnt ends combo platter and got baked beans and onion straws for sides.  I hadn't sat down for anymore than three minutes before they brought my plate out to me.  The first thing I noticed was that the onion straws - plenty on my plate - were woefully burnt and I found them to be inedible.  That was a bummer because I really like onion straws.  Frankly, I'm surprised the person back in the kitchen even let these get put onto a plate with the other food.  (Click on the picture to get a closer look.  Some of the onion straws appear to be black from overcooking.)

I've never been big on burnt ends, but I've sort of grown to like them on a couple recent trips to a couple of my favorite barbecue places in Kansas City.  The burnt ends at JD's Q and Brew were tender and tasty.  I added some of their chipotle sauce to give it a little kick in taste.  The chipotle sauce had a nice smoked pepper flavor to it, but it wasn't all that spicy in taste.  The regular house sauce was actually sort of bland and lifeless.

The brisket was also moist and tender, easily cut with a fork.  It had a nice smoke ring on the outer edge and was good without any sauce added.  I'm a sauce guy with my barbecue and while the chipotle sauce was fine, it wasn't anything that jumped out and made me go "Wow!"  

The baked beans had chunks of bacon and pork in them.  They were all right - sort of bland in taste.  I added some of the regular house sauce that did nothing to add to the bland taste.  Adding some of the chipotle sauce only made them marginally better.   

The confusion with the server on the beer choice after the draft beer I'd ordered turned out to be flat, the overcooked onion straws and the simple barbecue sauces sort of put a damper on the overall meal at JD's Q and Brew.  The interior and exterior were very nice and inviting.  The brisket was all right, as were the burnt ends.   The barbecue at JD's was average - at best - and I don't think I'd go out of my way to go have barbecue there again.  

Le Club Chasse et Peche (The Hunt and Fish Club) - Montreal

During our dealer trip to Montreal earlier this year, my colleague Todd was in charge of picking out restaurants that could handle a group of about 25 people.  He did very well with the previous night's choice - Le Local (click here to see the entry on Le Local) - and this particular evening he had made arrangements for the group to dine at Le Club Chasse et Peche which translates into The Hunt and Fish Club in the Old Montreal section of the city just down the street from the city hall.  

After graduating from culinary school in the late 70's, Claude Pelletier bounced around kitchens in the Montreal area before he became the head chef at the La Sapiniere restaurant in the ski resort town of Val-David, Quebec.  In 1995, Pelletier opened his first restaurant - Restaurant Mediterraneo (the Med Grill) in Montreal.  He closed that restaurant in 2001 and opened a new place - Cube - an upscale restaurant located in the Hotel St. Paul, a boutique hotel in Old Montreal.   

In 2004, Pelletier opened Le Club Chasse et Peche in an old building on Rue Saint-Claude very near the St. Lawrence River in Montreal.  (see map)  From the outside, the building is nondescript and the Le Club Chasse et Peche sign hangs from the side of the building.  (As an aside, Pelletier and two other partners including Le Club Chasse et Peche maitre d' and co-owner Hubert Marsolais opened the popular Le Filet steakhouse on Mount Royal in Montreal in 2011.)

The dining area of Le Club Chasse et Peche was sort of dark and somewhat low key, but in a very elegant way.  The tables were covered with white linen table cloths.  The very interesting light fixtures that hung from the low ceiling had white ceramic geese at the top.  

We were seated in the bar area at three tables.  It was cozy, but it wasn't overcrowded.  After we were seated, I immediately ordered up a St. Ambroise Pale Ale, a wonderful pale that my colleague Todd turned me on to a couple of years ago.

Because we had a large group, we had a fixed menu at Le Club Chasse et Peche.  The first thing they brought out were seared scallops in a fennel puree and topped with a lemon confit.  These were just fabulous.  The scallops were big and meaty, the lemon confit was thick and had a great citrus taste that went well with the scallops.  

But the highlight of the evening was the braised piglet risotto with foie gras shavings.  On the menu that was prepared for the evening, it just said that is was braised piglet risotto - my colleague Todd was smart enough to know that some of the American dealers could possibly balk at eating foie gras, but not so if they didn't know there was foie gras in the dish.  "This stuff is killer," Todd told me earlier in the day.  "But I made sure that they left the foie gras off the description when I had them make up the menu for tonight."  

This was...  Well...  Hmmm...  I don't know if I can use a word that would adequately describe the taste of the braised pork risotto.  Awesome.  Unbelievable.  Stupefying.  Magnificent.  It was simply one of the best things that I've ever tasted in my life.  And the dealers sitting with me at my table were all in agreement.  Weeks after we were in Montreal, I still had dealers commenting on how great the braised pork risotto was.  

The meal could have ended right there for most of us, but the main entree that evening was a duck magret dish.  It's basically the duck breast of a duck that's been force fed to make foie gras.  Yeah, yeah...  I know.  But it's SOOOO good!  The duck breast was cooked to a medium rare and served with a side consisting of a blood orange, turnip, spelt (dinkel wheat) and maple syrup parfait.  The duck breast was also fabulous.  And, OH!  So rich!  I like a good duck breast, but I was a little apprehensive because the last time I'd had duck I'd gotten sick during my trip to Paris last summer.  But this was fine and I had no after effects this time.  Along with dinner, we had a wonderful Crozes-Hermitage red from the Alain Graillot winery in the Northern Rhone region of France.  It was a full-bodied red that really brought out the highlights of the duck breast.

After dinner, a dessert menu was presented to the table.  I was stuffed from the meal and didn't want any dessert.  But I did get a Macallan Amber scotch that was so damn smooth.  However, many of the dealers sitting at my table went with dessert.  There were five options available on the dessert menu including a lime pie that caught my attention.  But it was topped with white chocolate and coconut shavings.  I'm not big on coconut, so I went with the scotch instead.  

One of the more popular desserts at the table was the caramel and milk chocolate tart with an 80% chocolate sorbet.  This looked rather decadent and I was told that it was also very rich.  I didn't want to spoil the taste of the scotch, so I passed when one of my dealers offered me a bite.  "You don't know what you're missing," he told me as he pulled back the plate.  

The other popular dessert at the table was the maple syrup parfait topped with dark chocolate shavings and served with a red berry sauce.  Now, I DID try a bite of this as I'm a sucker for real maple syrup - and this was the real stuff, not the high-fructose store-bought maple syrup.  It was simply heavenly.  The desserts were a big hit.

Actually, the whole meal was a big hit at Le Club Chasse et Peche.  This was a world class dinner.  From the seared scallops to the out-of-this-world braised pork with foie gras to the excellent duck magret finished with the eclectic desserts, the experience at Le Club Chasse et Peche was one of the more memorable meals I've ever had.  The service was excellent, the food was equally excellent and it was a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere in the place.   Weeks after we were there, my colleague Todd is still receiving kudos for picking this place.  

Great American Ball Park - Cincinnati

And since today is the last day of the 2015 Major League Baseball regular season, I thought I'd talk about one of our favorite ball parks that we recently visited on our trip to the Great Smoky Mountains - Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati, home of the Cincinnati Reds.  The Reds didn't have too good of a season this year and were playing a game against another lowly division opponent, the Milwaukee Brewers.  But it was still Major League Baseball and we got two great seats - cheap - on StubHub for a Sunday afternoon game.  

Because it was going to be a warm day, I opted to get seats along the first base line, but under the second deck that would keep us out of the wicked hot sun on a somewhat humid early September day.  We'd been to Great American on a couple of previous occasions and found that we really like the ball park.  When we were planning our vacation trip we decided to go through Cincinnati, spend a couple nights there and go to a ball game. 

The stadium opened when the Reds played their first games in the place in 2003.  It replaced the venerable Riverfront Stadium which - when it was built in the late 60's - was one of the nicer ballparks in professional baseball.  But the coliseum-style of ballparks that were prevalent in places like St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Houston, Philadelphia and Cincinnati fell out of favor with fans and baseball purists and there was a rush to build new ball parks in each of those cities - ball parks that brought back the old style feeling of open spaces in an urban setting.  

I always try to get the first pitch of any ball game that I attend.  Below left - here's the Reds rookie right hander Michael Lorenzen delivering the first pitch to Milwaukee shortstop Scooter Gennent.  It was 90 degrees that afternoon at first pitch and many people were smart like us and were up underneath the overhangs or down the first base line to stay out of the blazing sun.  

I have a fetish about scoreboards and the one at Great American Ball Park is one of the better ones I've seen in the major leagues.  Just before the All-Star Game that Cincinnati hosted in July, the team put up a second, but smaller, scoreboard in right field.  Some people complained that it now blocked views of the Ohio River located a couple hundred yards beyond the stadium's right field wall.  

There weren't a lot of people at the ball park that day and we got up to do some exploring.  Just up the concourse from our seats was Bootleggers, a new drinking establishment inside Great American Ball Park that was fashioned after a longtime popular cafe/bar in Cincinnati, down to the tin roof ceiling and the Prohibition-era lighting.  It was air-conditioned in there so a number of people were bellied up to the bar or to a table to enjoy a beer and watch the game on television.  

They had a number of local brews on tap at Bootleggers including a Moerlein Northern Liberties IPA that we had tried earlier in the day across the street from the stadium.  We grabbed a couple of those to take with us as we did a lap around the stadium. 

As sort of a tradition that started on our first visit to Cincinnati over ten years ago, I had to stop by the Skyline Chili stand along the right field concourse to get a couple of their coney dogs.  I like Cincinnati chili that it is made to be thin with no beans and uses various spices such as cinnamon, allspice and cloves for the distinctive taste.   You can read more about Cincinnati-style chili dogs and the various places around the city you can get them by clicking here.     

They pile grated cheddar cheese on top of the small chili dogs at all the Skyline Chili locations.  I don't really care for the cheese all that much and usually order them without cheese when I go to a Skyline Chili place, but the cheese came with the chili dogs at the Great American Ball Park.  The cheese had coagulated into a somewhat gooey mess with the warm chili covering the hot dogs by the time we started in on them.  It was a multiple napkin meal.  But even with the loads of cheese covering the coney dogs, they were still great.  

From there, we spent some time along the railing in the right field concourse next to the Sun Deck (or Moon Deck, if it's a night game) bleacher seats.  Below left if a view of the ball park looking to the north along the right field line with the Great American Tower in the background of the stadium.  Great American Insurance - part of the American Financial Group - is the naming sponsor for the ball park.  

On our way back down the third base side concourse we came upon an updated feature at Great American Ball Park - the Brewery District bar.  This bar along the concourse is 85 feet long and features over 20 regional and local craft brews including beers from SweetWater in Atlanta, Bell's from Michigan and Deschutes from Oregon.  I sort of got a kick out of seeing all these regional and local craft brews tappers and then sticking out like a beacon was a Bud Light tap.  It just didn't look like it fit in with the other beers.  Like I said when we were in San Diego at Petco Park, why in the world would anyone drink a mainstream beer when they had all these great choices of beers?  

We settled back into our seats for the remainder of the game.   After Milwaukee's Ryan Braun homered in the top of the 8th to narrow the score to 5-3 in favor of the Reds, Cincinnati plated a run in the bottom of the inning to build a three-run cushion for their All-Star closer Aroldis Chapman in the top of the ninth inning.  Chapman routinely throws at or about 100 miles an hour and I took a picture of every pitch he threw until he actually did hit 100 mph on the stadium's speed gun.  This was the pitch to Brewers pinch hitter Hernan Perez where he finally hit 100 mph.  My new Samsung Galaxy S6 took this picture and if you click on the picture you can actually see the 100 mile an hour fastball as it travels to the plate.  A couple three pitches later, Chapman struck out Perez swinging to end the game and preserve a 6-3 Reds victory.  

They said there were over 28,000 people in the stands that day, but we were pretty incredulous that there were half that amount in the stadium.  Still, it was a great day to see the game and, as always, we really enjoyed our visit to Great American Ball Park.  The baseball fans in Cincinnati are knowledgeable and passionate about the Reds, even though they were basically playing out the string the last six weeks of the season.  And the ball park has all the amenities and comfort that a modern baseball stadium can provide.  It continues to be one of my all-time favorite ball parks to visit.

Petco Park - San Diego, CA

This is the final weekend of the major league baseball season for 2015.  Being a big baseball fan, I like the regular season much more than the post season, mainly because of the over-the-top coverage of the play-offs leading up to the World Series.  I'll casually watch some baseball over the next couple three weeks, but not like I do during the regular season.  During our trip to San Diego earlier this year, we stayed in the historic Gaslamp Quarter in the downtown area and the centerpiece of the neighborhood is Petco Park, the home of the San Diego Padres.  They were playing the Chicago Cubs the night we were there and we caught a game.  

We went to the ball park's ticket office early on the day of the game to pick up a couple tickets.  We walked around the outside of stadium and saw that we could sort of glimpse into outfield of the stadium.  Then we walked a little further along a concourse that turned into an open park area just beyond the right field wall.  Sitting on bleachers just beyond the right field wall and lounging around the statue of Tony Gwynn - the Hall of Famer and inarguably the greatest San Diego Padre of all time - in the grass beyond the concourse were dozens of people eating an early lunch or taking a break by reading a book.  We could walk right down to the right field fence and be right at field level standing in what could easily be described as a huge white sand sandbox.  The picture at the top of this entry is a panoramic shot I took from the bleachers in right field. 

When Petco Park opened in 2004, it was hailed as one of the most civic friendly ballparks in the nation.  The left field line incorporates the old Western Metal Supply Company building that was designated a historic landmark in 1978.  Because of its designation, the building couldn't be razed for the new stadium.  So they incorporated the old empty warehouse into a multi-purpose building for the stadium.  The ground floor is Padres gift shop, the upper floors are suites and party rooms used primarily during games.  

This is the view from one of the public areas next to the Western Metal Supply Company building.  Since the stadium opened I was always intrigued by the building that juts out into fair territory along the left field line.  I was hoping to get a glimpse of one of the suites after the game by sweet talking one of the many ushers in the area.  But we had a couple of bad experiences with ushers that took their jobs too seriously later in the game.  More on that later on.  

The other thing that Petco Park is famous for is the myriad of food they have to offer at the park.  There was a sushi chef in the Seaside Market area of the ballpark.  The market also offered juices, healthy snacks, a hot bar with fried chicken, and a salad bar that heavily featured kale in many of the offerings.  

The Bumble Bee Seafood Company's corporate headquarters are next door to Petco Park and they had a stand selling tuna melt sandwiches, tuna and chicken wraps, and seafood salads with both tuna and salmon available.  The number of healthy foods at Petco Park made me long for a hot dog and a beer.

Beer was no problem at Petco Park.  In fact, along the concourse down the right field line was a series of carts selling beers from some of the better San Diego microbreweries such as Stone, Ballast Point, Karl Strauss, Alesmith and other local brews.  There was also a Kona Brewery Liquid Aloha Lounge area along the main concourse that - for some reason - we never visited.  I would have loved to have gotten Big Wave Golden Ale at the ballpark had I known it was there.  I was simply amazed by the number of craft beers at Petco Park and wondered aloud on more than one occasion why would anyone want to get a Coors Light with all the great beer available at the stadium.    

Getting to our seats, we bought a couple tickets along the first base line, not far down from the main concourse.  It was a cool evening - my wife was prepared as she bought a sweatshirt earlier in the day.  We had a great view of the field, the Western Metal Supply building and the high-definition scoreboard.  We weren't crammed in with other fans and it wasn't a far walk back up to get a beer or to hit the restroom.

After a few innings, we decided to get something to eat.  As we did our first lap around the main concourse we came across a number of places that seemed to be pretty popular.  One of them was the Cardiff Market that had a tri-tip sandwich that looked pretty damn good.  

We decided to get one to share.  The beef tri-tip was sliced thin, placed on a soft bun and topped with a light barbecue sauce that had a peppery taste.  We concentrated more on the meat and not so much on the bun.  The tri-tip was tender and had a nice taste.  I like to think I make a pretty good tri-tip at home, but this was very good.  Some homemade potato chips came with the sandwich, but we concentrated primarily on just the beef.  It was already one of the best things I'd ever eaten at a Major League ball park.  

Another place that seemed to have a lot of people hanging in line for their food was at Phil's BBQ along the main concourse.  For most of the game there were at least 20 people in line wanting to get barbecue from this outpost of a local favorite barbecue joint.  Around the 8th inning the line had gotten much smaller and we decided to give Phil's a try.  They smoked the meats on the patio behind the stand and the smell of the wood and meat drove me wild.  

We ended up getting a pulled pork sandwich to share with an order of fries and some cole slaw on the side.  We got some of Phil's barbecue sauce - a sort of sweet and smoky Kansas City-style sauce - on top of the pulled pork.  First of all, the pulled pork was outstanding.  The bun was soft and didn't fall apart with the sauce and moist pulled pork.  The fries were also very good, especially dipped in some of the sauce.  And even the sweet and creamy cole slaw was good.  For as good as the tri-tip from the Cardiff Market was, I think the pulled pork sandwich from Phil's BBQ may have topped it.  

The Cubs were winning handily and we decided to check out some other things around the ballpark.  As we were making our way toward the outfield along the concourse we noticed a booth that was making crepes while also serving artisan chocolate and gelato.  Not quite certain I've seen a concession stand that serves crepes - or even gelato - at a Major League ball park.

We went out to the left field stands in the 9th inning.  We found a row of seats along the outfield wall that had a metal counter to sit food and drinks.  There were - maybe - three people sitting in the seats and we decided to watch the bottom of the 9th inning from this vantage point.  An elderly lady who was an usher in the area came up to us and asked if we had tickets.  I said that our seats were over behind the first base dugout and we wanted to come out to the outfield to get a different perspective of the game.  She said - rather rudely - "Your seats are over there.  You need to go back."  I said that our seats we paid for were obviously higher priced than the outfield seats that hardly anyone was seated in.  "Doesn't matter," she said tersely.  "These aren't your seats."  She shooed us out of the area like she was giving a couple bums the rush out the door.  

We went down a couple of sections and sat up in the first row of the bleachers.  Another elderly lady who was an usher sauntered over to us and asked if we had tickets.  I told her the same thing - we had tickets, which I produced, over behind the first base dugout and we wanted to get a different perspective of the game.  She didn't flinch.  "These aren't your seats."  I looked around at the sparse crowd that was left in the immediate area with one out in the bottom of the 9th.  I tried to explain that we just wanted to watch the rest of the game in these seats.  "Sorry," she said in a matter of fact manner.  "You'll need to move along."  

I was absolutely floored.  This was the first time - ever - that I had been told to move, not once, but twice from an outfield bleacher seat late in the game at a Major League ball park.  I was damn near offended.  We weren't hurting anyone, the stands were nowhere near close to full, and the seats we had purchased - and sat in for most of the game - were much more expensive than the ones in the outfield.  I almost wrote a letter to the Padres letting them know about the experience and the fun-hater old lady ushers in the outfield.  But what good would it do?

Other than that unfortunate encounter with the two ushers who took their jobs WAY too seriously, I'd have to say that Petco Park may be my most favorite ball park that I've been to.  I used to think Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore was the best ball park I've visited, but Petco blew it away.  The choices of craft brews were nothing that I've ever seen at other parks.  The food choices - and the quality of the food we had - were the best we've come across.  The views from our seats - not only of the field but the surrounding downtown buildings - were some of the best we had.  The incorporation of the ball park with the surrounding historic downtown area, the nifty "Park at the Ball Park", and the dozens of fan-friendly amenities were very impressive. The people of San Diego are lucky to have such a spectacular baseball stadium in Petco Park. 

Vigilucci's Cucina Italiana - Carlsbard, CA

During our stay in Southern California, we wanted to have a nice meal one of the evenings we were in Carlsbad.  There's a number of restaurants in the downtown area of Carlsbad and we decided upon an Italian restaurant on historic State Street - Vigilucci's Cucina Italiana.  (see map)  Without having reservations, we decided to give the place a try.

Roberto Vigilucci grew up in Milan, Italy learning about cooking food from his grandmother and mother.  He visited the U.S. for the first time in 1986 and ended up in San Diego.  Falling in love with the area, he decided to live there permanently.  Bouncing around for a bit, Roberto ended up managing a Thai restaurant in the beach community of Encinitas for four years.  Figuring that the area could use a good Italian restaurant, Vigilucci opened his first restaurant - Vigilucci's Trattoria Italiano - in 1994 just down the street from the Thai restaurant he used to manage.  

Vigilucci's restaurant venture was a hit right off the bat.  He asked his childhood friend Alex Pedrazzani to join him in the business and the two continue their partnership today with Pedrazzani as the V.P. for the Vigilucci's Restaurant Group.  In 1999, Vigilucci's opened the Carlsbad location and soon thereafter they opened Robbie's in the Leucadia neighborhood of Encinitas which was sort of a sports bar/Western-style steakhouse/entertainment venue.  Robbie's was open for a little over 10 years before Vigilucci decided to move his original Vigilucci's Trattoria Italiano into the larger space where Robbie's was located.  

Vigilucci's next venture was a steakhouse/seafood restaurant along the Pacific Coast Highway in Carlsbad.  Vigilucci's Seafood and Steakhouse features fresh seafood and prime grade steaks served in a building that offers stunning views of the Pacific Ocean.   (We considered Vigilucci's Seafood and Steakhouse for a moment - primarily because of the location - but decided that we wanted Italian instead.)  And in 2009, Vigilucci's Ristorante Coronado opened up on Coronado Island just west of downtown San Diego.  The Coronado location is locally famous for a wall-to-wall waterfall and great views of the Pacific Ocean and Point Loma.  

Carlsbad on a Friday evening - at least this Friday evening - was a very vibrant place.  There was a band playing in a park and the restaurants along State Street were packed.  Parking was at a premium and we finally found a spot in a parking lot behind Vigilucci's Cucina Italiana.  We walked around to the front and went in to the hostess stand.  There was immediate seating out front on the fenced sidewalk dining area, but it was a little cool that evening.  (Temperatures were unseasonably cool in Southern California during our trip in late May.)  The hostess assured us that we'd be close to a propane heating tower.  When she showed us where the table was, we decided to take that.  It was going to be a 30 minute wait for inside dining.  

The menu at Vigilucci's was an impressive selection of traditional Italian dishes - there were nearly two dozen different pasta entrees to choose from.  They had veal entrees, chicken entrees, and seafood entrees, as well as a couple of entrees that featured beef filets.  And they had a good selection of antipasti appetizers, salads and soups.  

Our server for the evening Miguel came to greet us.  I had been looking over the impressive wine list they had at Vigilucci's as we were thinking about getting some wine.  The only problem was that Cindy was looking at getting a seafood entree and I was leaning toward some veal dish.   She wanted some white wine and I wanted some red.  Vigilucci's has a handful of wines available by the glass and I ended up getting a glass of the Santa Celina malbec from Argentina, while Cindy got a glass of the Charles Krug chardonnay.  

We each started out our dinner with the house salad.  Organically grown lettuce greens were tossed in a balsamic vinaigrette and garnished with chopped carrots, cucumber slices and small cherry tomatoes.  I had Miguel load mine up with pepper to give it a little more kick.  Everything was fresh, crisp and the balsamic vinaigrette had its own special kick to the taste.  This was a good salad to start off what promised to be a very good meal.

For my entree, I resisted getting the housemade pappardelle pasta with pan-seared scallops with fresh field mushrooms in a white truffle and brandy cream sauce that kept calling my name and I ended up getting the veal piccata al limone - pan-seared veal scaloppine in a lemon/white wine sauce with capers.  A side of angel hair pasta came with the veal along with a bacon-wrapped medley of roasted green beans, red peppers and zucchini.  I also had Miguel load the veal up with cracked black pepper, probably too much this time.  But the veal was tender and very good.  The lemon/white wine sauce was thick and full of a fresh citrus flavor.  I swirled the pasta around in the sauce and couldn't believe how great of a taste sensation it all was.  Even as good as the veal and the bacon-wrapped roasted veggies were, the lemon/white wine sauce was the star on my plate that evening.     

Miguel had entinced Cindy into one of the specials that evening - a grilled swordfish filet served with truffle-mashed potatoes and grilled asparagus.  She had been sort of leaning toward the grilled salmon simmered with pancetta and leeks, served over beluga lentils then topped with a garlic-saffron aioli.  But when she asked Miguel to re-describe the swordfish special that evening and after that she was sold. The only problem was that the swordfish was slightly overcooked.  It didn't flake apart like swordfish should, it was sort of tough to cut and it was dry to the taste.  She was slightly disappointed, but it wasn't bad enough to call her meal a total bust.  She had just hoped that the swordfish would have been pulled off the grill a little sooner.  

After we'd finished our dinner, Miguel did a good job of selling us on the dessert menu at Vigilucci's.  We ate well, but it wasn't the time of stomach-stuffing meal that sometimes happens.  Cindy asked if their tiramisu was made-in-house and Miguel confessed that it wasn't.  But he should have lied because the tiramisu that they served was very good.  The forward taste of the coffee, the richness of the mascarpone cheese mixed with the lady fingers, and the delicate cream topping dusted with heavy amounts of cocoa powder made for a wonderful dessert.  It was some of the best we've ever had.  

Next door to Vigilucci's Cucina Italiana is Vigilucci's Gourmet Market, a full service Italian market that included a meat and cheese counter, a selection of imported and domestic wines (many of which they feature next door at the restaurant), and a number of imported Italian pastas and food items.  I was impressed with the variety of Italian foods they offered and a little jealous that there wasn't anything like this market back home.  The gourmet market also is the centerpiece for Vigilucci's catering business that has been going for over 20 years featuring a wide variety of foods including antipasto meat plates, hors d'ouevres and full dinners.   

Everything about our experience at Vigilucci's Cucina Italiano was top notch.  It was a classy place, but laid back and welcoming.  The food was very good, even with the overcooked swordfish.  And the service was attentive and efficient - Miguel did a wonderful job of taking care of us.  Vigilucci's was one of the finer meals we had during our trip to Southern California and a place that we'd recommend for a nice Italian meal when you're in the Carlsbad area.