Road Tips

J. Christopher's - Franklin, TN

During our late summer vacation earlier this year, we spent a couple nights in the Nashville area.  We stayed down in Brentwood on the south side of the city and spent some time in the quaint little city of Franklin.  Looking for a place for breakfast one morning we came across an interesting looking place by the name of J. Christopher's.  Here's what we encountered.   

It turns out that J. Christopher's is a regional chain based out of Atlanta.  In the mid-90's, partners Jay McCann and Chris Brogdon came up with a restaurant concept that would feature breakfasts and lunches made with natural and healthy ingredients with interesting twists on traditional foods.  Combining their first two names, they named their restaurant J. Christopher's opening the first location in the Atlanta suburb of Marietta in early 1997.  Today, there are nearly two dozen J. Christopher's, primarily throughout the Atlanta area with two in the greater Nashville area.  

The J. Christopher's in Franklin is located in a small shopping complex not far from the corner of Mallory Lane and Cool Springs Road.  (see map)  The lot they share with other businesses in the area was sort of full when we got there around 9:30 that particular morning, but we were able to find a spot not far from the restaurant.

The inside of the restaurant was well lit from both the natural light coming in the east side windows, but from the ceiling lights interspersed throughout the place.  One of the noticeable features of the restaurant were the number of pop culture and famous people prints that were hanging on the walls.  Many of these pictures - perhaps all of them - were painted by Lee Bivens, an Atlanta artist has been commissioned over the years by both corporate and private interests for his murals and portraits.  We lingered after breakfast to take a closer look at some of the paintings. 

We were seated in a booth along the wall with Elton John looking down on us.  After we got our menus, we were greeted by Jillian, our server that morning, and the restaurant's manager Kenny Henck.  He announced to us that not only was it Jillian's first day, but we were going to be her first customers!  I don't know if he told us that to warn us or to make us feel sorry for her so we should cut her some slack if she fouled up.  Cutting to the chase, it was all for naught - she did a great job and if we hadn't been told it was her first day, we wouldn't have known.  

The menu featured quick items for those on the go and well as healthy choices including turkey bacon or sausage, egg white dishes and a South Beach Phase 2 diet plate.  They also have a number of omelets, skillet dishes, waffles, "crunch" cakes - basically pancakes with granola, and challah French toast.  J. Christopher's is definitely not your average breakfast place.  

One of the new things they were trying out was something they called the wren's nest - poached eggs, sundried tomatoes and spinach leaves in a bread bowl.  Cindy thought it was interesting and she ended up ordering that.  It came with a hollandaise sauce over the top with sprinkles of paprika.  

I had the Eggs Benedict with a side of grits and a side of corned beef hash.  The Eggs Benedict were your basic kind of E.B.'s, thick hollandaise sauce cover the top of the poached eggs on top of Canadian bacon and a half of an English muffin.  They were good, but nothing special.  The grits were also fine, not the best I've had, but all right.  The corned beef hash looked to have been made in-house and was pretty tasty.  The only problem was that it was a pretty small side for corned beef hash.  Four or five forkfuls and it was gone.  

The manager, Kenny Henck, came over to check on us wanting to know how Jillian was working out (she was doing fine - she had to have some previous waitressing experience, I'm guessing), and he also wanted to know how Cindy liked her Wren's Nest breakfast.  "We just put that on the menu and we're giving it a try," he told us.  She told him that it was fine, but it was lacking something in flavor.   She said that something like - maybe - avocado slices might liven up the taste.  And she thought it was too much bread - but she doesn't eat a lot of bread, anyhow.  He appreciated the feedback and thought the avocado slices would be a nice addition.  

The one thing about J. Christopher's - be prepared to spend a lot of money.  I thought our breakfast was on the high-end of the price of what a normal breakfast should be.  Still, they had some unique items and it was definitely more upscale of a breakfast place than your usual chain places.  Jillian - even for her first day - did a fine job for us.  It was nice that the manager came over to check on us a couple of times.  Other than being a little expensive, we thought our breakfast at J. Christopher's was fine.  

Teluwut - Lake Mills, IA

I've been hearing good things about Teluwut (Tell U What) in the far northern Iowa city of Osage.  I don't get near Osage all that often, but then I found out that the same people had a restaurant in Lake Mills, Iowa - just south of the Minnesota border and not far off Interstate 35.  On a trip home from Fargo earlier this year, I made the stop at Teluwat in Lake Mills to try the place out.  

There are actually three Teluwut restaurants - there's also a location in Cresco, Iowa - that are owned by siblings Troy Krahenbuhl and Becky Wagner.  The Krahenbuhl family was involved in a restaurant in their hometown of Osage for a number of years before selling the place.  Becky stayed in Osage to work for the local school district while Troy took off to Minneapolis to work in restaurants there for about 15 years before moving to Arizona, then on to Florida.  

Suddenly, the restaurant that the Krahenbuhl family owned years before became available.  Becky was contacted to see if she would be interested in reacquiring the 1872 Pub, so named as the building that housed the restaurant was built in 1872.  She contacted Troy who was helping a friend open a restaurant in Orlando to gauge his interest in coming back to Northern Iowa to help her out.  It turns out that Krahenbuhl's goal was to get back to the Midwest at some point to open his own concept restaurant, hopefully turning it into a multi-location endeavor.  He jumped at the chance to help his sister at the new restaurant.

Coming up with the name was a bit of chore, but the Krahenbuhl family had a running joke due to a quirk in Troy's verbal skills.  Before nearly every sentence when he was making a point, he would start by saying, "Tell you what..."  They thought a play on Troy's signature saying would be perfect for the restaurant.  Teluwut opened in Osage in 2004.  

Pictured right - Becky Wagner and Troy Krahenbuhl.  Photo courtesy Mason City Globe-Gazette

Krahenbuhl had an aggressive plan to open 10 Teluwut restaurants in the Midwest including getting back into the Minneapolis market.  After three years in Osage, Wagner and Krahenbuhl opened a second location in Cresco in what was the former Prime and Dine restaurant.  After restoring the building to Teluwut standards, the Osage location opened in October of 2007.  

Krahenbuhl's expansion plans didn't quite take off the way he wanted, but the brother and sister looked at Lake Mills, IA as their third location.  In 2009, Krahenbuhl and Wagner - working with a local non-profit organization that was trying to develop vacant buildings in downtown Lake Mills - leased what was the old First National Bank building and an adjacent former jewelry store.  

With a substantial grant from the city of Lake Mills and the Hanson Foundation (started by John K. Hanson, the original president of nearby Winnebago Industries), Krahenbuhl and Wagner were able to restore the old buildings into a functional restaurant.  It took some time to do so - the first year was spent primarily cleaning up the old buildings and shoring up floors and ceilings.  By the time everything was ready to go, the Teluwut location in Lake Mills opened in late 2012.  

The Lake Mills Teluwut is located at the corner of Main and Mill in downtown Lake Mills.  (see map)  I was able to find a parking space across the street on N. Mill.  It was after 2 p.m. when I walked into Teluwut and I was sort of surprised to see a pretty good sized crowd in the place for that time of the day.  

The Lake Mills Teluwut features brick walls covered with antique signage and memorabilia.  Exposed duct work hung from tin-covered ceilings.  The main dining room featured windows with southern and western exposure allowing for a lot of natural light to stream in.   

Off to the side of the bar area was the original vault from the bank that used to be in the space years ago.  They've made it into a small dining area.

Past the vault room was the space that was formerly the jewelry store.  This was a secondary dining room for Teluwut and the brick walls were also covered with pictures, signage and memorabilia from Lake Mills local schools.  

The antique back bar in the main dining area featured a number of etchings and designs.  It fit in well with the old time decor in the building.

Speaking of the bar, that's where I took a seat to grab some lunch.  The bartender/server Keli greeted me with a menu and asked what I wanted to drink.  They had a $2.00 special on large draft beers.  I couldn't say no to a Goose Island IPA.  

The menu at Teluwut is extensive with a number of entrees including steaks, seafood, pork chops, chicken and pasta.  They also have a number of sandwiches and burgers on the menu.  I feared that the menu was so extensive that they possibly didn't do everything great, but did them all well enough.  Teluwut also features a number of salads and a good amount of appetizers including chicken wings with a choice of sauce temperatures, bacon-wrapped shrimp, deep fried pickles, and beer-battered onion rings.  

A number of things caught my eye on the menu - the beef brisket with smoked gouda cheese sandwich was one.  Another was the Loaded Blackened prime rib sandwich that came with sauteed mushrooms and grilled onions, then topped with cheddar jack cheese and served on a grilled hoagie bun.  The Texas pork tenderloin sandwich featured a seasoned pork center cut loin on grilled Texas toast topped with sauteed red onions and Swiss cheese, and served with BBQ sauce on the side.  All three of them had me really intrigued.  

But I ended up going the burger route - I'd read a couple of places that Teluwut made a pretty good burger.  I went with the Cheesy Bacon Burger - a 1/3 pound Black Angus beef patty topped with two slices of cheddar and a couple slices of applewood smoked bacon.  A side of seasoned fries came with the burger.

First of all, the burger was woefully overcooked.  And that was a sad thing.  The burger was tough, lifeless and hard to chew.  I was highly disappointed in how overcooked the burger was.  Some people may care for the life cooked out of beef, but I'm not one of them.  I was even more disappointed with the fact that the bun was actually very good.  A great bun makes a great burger and the bun was definitely the star of the burger.  Had the burger not been so overcooked and lifeless, this had a chance of being a very good burger.  

The overcooked burger was a significant disappointment at Teluwut.  I hope that it was an anomaly because I've heard nothing but good things about the food at the Teluwut restaurants.  I just don't know if I would take the chance to go back again at some point to see if it truly was a deviation from a normal burger at Teluwut.  I enjoyed the atmosphere and the service at the Lake Mills Teluwut and I hope to think they'd probably do a better job on my next visit.  But that probably won't be for quite sometime.  

Cherokee Grill - Gatlinburg, TN

We stayed in Gatlinburg, TN for a couple nights during our visit to the Great Smoky Mountains National Park earlier this year.  While we didn't care much for the tourist-trap nature of Gatlinburg, we did find a couple places to eat that stood out among the fast food/national restaurant chains that lined Parkway Drive.  On our first night we found a place called the Cherokee Grill that we decided to give a shot.  But first, here's their story - 

Michael Chase opened his first restaurant - the Copper Cellar - in nearby Knoxville, TN in 1975.  The Copper Cellar was a traditional steakhouse and became a popular destination near the University of Tennessee.  In 1982, Chase opened a second Copper Cellar in Knoxville, both of which were very successful.  In order to keep his restaurants under a corporate umbrella, he formed the Copper Cellar Corporation.  

Chase - a native of Maryland - felt that Knoxville needed an upscale seafood place that featured fresh seafood served Eastern shore style.  He then opened Chesapeake's Seafood to satiate his passion about great seafood.  Chesapeake's was significantly different from the Copper Cellar restaurants not only for the emphasis on seafood, but for the more laid back atmosphere in the restaurant.  

From there, Chase decided to enter the already crowded barbecue landscape in Knoxville and in 1983 he opened Calhoun's BBQ Barn, a family-oriented barbecue place.  A year later, Calhoun's won the title of Best Ribs at the National Rib Cook-Off held in Cleveland.  After that business took off for Calhoun's which now boasts seven locations in Eastern Tennessee.  

The Cherokee Grill and the Smoky Mountain Brewery followed in Gatlinburg and in 2014 the Copper Cellar Corporation resurrected Cappuccino's, a long-time Italian restaurant that was a favorite of many in the Knoxville area in the 1970's and 1980's.  Today, the Copper Cellar Corporation oversees 17 restaurants as well as the Copper Cellar Catering company.  

We had parked down the street in a public lot (for $10 bucks!) and walked along Parkway looking at the tourist places and dodging the hucksters out front trying to get us to come in to see whatever.  We hated that part of Gatlinburg tremendously.  But we came upon the Cherokee Grill that was part of the Calhoun Village complex that included the Smoky Mountain Brewery, a Calhoun's barbecue joint, and a handful of shops. (see map)  We also found that if we had parked in the Calhoun Village lot and eaten at one of the restaurants or bought something from one of the shops we would have gotten free parking.  

The outside of the Cherokee Grill is a sleek looking building with rock pillars and some neon accents.  Inside, the restaurant has a contemporary mountain-style decor with wooden ceiling beams, brick pillars and walls, and reduced lighting giving the room a cozy feeling.  

We were greeted by a hostess and directed to a booth next to at windows on the street side of the restaurant.  After we were given menus, our server - Jessica - came over to greet us and take our drink orders.  Cindy got a glass of malbec wine while I got a Great Smoky Mountain Appalachian pale ale that they had on tap.  It was actually a pretty good beer. 

The food emphasis at Cherokee Grill is primarily steaks, but they do have other entrees that include pork chops, barbecued ribs, shrimp dinners and crab cakes, as well as chicken entrees that are prepared either fried, barbecue grilled or on a rotisserie.  Sandwiches, burgers, salads and about a dozen appetizers round out the menu.  We decided to get steak for our meals that particular evening.  

We started out with salads for the evening.  I got the wedge salad while Cindy got a regular dinner salad.  My salad featured a large quarter head topped with creamy and crumbly blue cheese with tomato chunks.  The lettuce was cool and crisp and the blue cheese crumbles were fresh and pungent.  This was a pretty good wedge salad.

For steaks, we both went with the filets that evening.  I got the 9 ounce filet and Cindy went with the 7 ounce filet.  Both were reasonably priced for a steakhouse.  I got an au poivre sauce to go along with my steak.  Cindy got a side of broccoli to go with her steak and she also decided to get the baked mac and cheese.  She's glad she did - and so was I.  The baked mac and cheese was stellar.  

I also got some sautéed button mushrooms along with some blue cheese grits to go along with the meal.  The button mushrooms had a great earthy taste, but were very salty from the burgundy wine sauté.   But the blue cheese grits were just outstanding.  I normally don't care for cheese in grits, but the taste sensation with the blue cheese grits was out of this world.

Cindy ordered her steak medium and I got mine rare.  They were both cooked exactly as we liked - a little bit of pink in the middle for hers and a cool red center for mine.  The steaks were tender and tasty - the au poivre sauce wasn't necessary for my steak, but I did enjoy dipping a couple pieces of the meat in the sauce.  This was a very good meal.  

For dessert, Jessica enticed us into getting some of their blueberry cobbler to go.  We weren't really ready to eat anything else after this very good meal, but we decided that we may be ready to eat something before bed back at the hotel.  Interestingly, the ice cream that she provided in a separate container from the cobbler was still cold and firm when we got back to the hotel about an hour after we left the restaurant.  The blueberry cobbler was very good.

Before dinner, I went to pay for parking at a public lot with my credit card and I realized at that point that I had left it back in Knoxville at a place we'd had lunch at earlier in the day.  Fortunately, I had my emergency credit card with me and we were able to pay with that.  After I paid the bill, I got a different receipt than what was presented to me.  The amount was the same, but there was a discrepancy on the prices that were on the first bill and the tax totals were more.  I asked Jessica if these numbers were correct and she said that they were.  I sort of shrugged and signed the bill - as I said, it was the same total as on the first bill I was presented.  

As we were getting ready to leave, the manager came over to see us.  He said, "I understand that you had a question on your bill."  I told him that even though the total bill amount was the same on both bills I was given, they were different in food and alcohol totals and taxes.  He said, "You folks must not be from Tennessee."  He explained to us that there are different taxes on food and alcohol both in the state and in the municipality of Gatlinburg.  "We have no income tax in Tennessee," he said.  "So, they have to tax everything that we do in this state."  He said they have to separate out the differences in the food and alcohol and that affects the prices on the bill.  It sounded complex and he was sort of exasperated as he told us about the process.  Nonetheless, he was a nice guy and we appreciated the fact that he took the time to stop over to explain the billing to us.

Our meal at the Cherokee Grill was very good.  We certainly couldn't complain about much, if anything - save for the saltiness of the sautéed mushrooms.  But that was certainly not a deal breaker for the over all taste of the meal.  Our steaks were top notch and a very good value compared to other steakhouses we've been to.  The sides - especially the baked mac and cheese and the blue cheese grits - were outstanding.  The service was polite, timely and even keel.  While we didn't care for Gatlinburg all that much, the Cherokee Grill stood out as one of the better meals we had on our vacation.  

Sawatdee Thai Restaurant - Bloomington, MN

It was a cool and rainy fall evening on a recent trip to the Twin Cities and I was in a food funk.  I get that way from time to time when nothing really sounds all that good to me.  A lot of times when I get in these types of funk, I usually turn to Asian food.  I hadn't had Thai food for quite sometime and I saw that there was a Thai restaurant - Sawatdee Thai Restaurant - the wasn't far from my hotel in Bloomington.  I ended up going there for dinner that evening.  

Sawatdee Thai Restaurant is actually a small chain of restaurants owned by Thai native Supenn Harrison.  Born in Thailand in the late 1940's, Supenn was a biology teacher in Thailand in the late 60's and early 70's. She came to Minnesota in 1972 as a foreign student at the University of Minnesota studying for her Masters of Arts in Education.  Supenn's plan after college was to get as far away from Minnesota as possible.  That is, until she fell in love with fellow Minnesota student - and Iowa native - Bruce Harrison.  They were married and eventually raised two daughters, Jenny and Cynthia.  

After Supenn graduated from Minnesota in 1974, Bruce and she went back to live in her native Thailand.  It didn't take long to see that the job market was tight and they ended up moving back to Minnesota.  There, she worked as a surgical equipment technician at a local hospital.  From time to time, she would make her native Thai food and bring it in to work for her co-workers to share.  They especially liked her egg rolls and one of her co-workers suggested she look into having a booth at the Minnesota State Fair.  She secured booth space in 1976 and Supenn's egg rolls were an instant hit with fair goers.  

She continued to do temp work and teach here and there - as well as working the booth at the state fair -  for three years before a small cafe became available to purchase.  The Harrison's bought the Gopher Grill in Minneapolis' Uptown area in 1979.  It was your typical greasy spoon - burgers, breakfast, comfort food - and it didn't take long for Supenn to figure out that in order to make money at the restaurant, she had to change some things.

Pictured right - Supenn Harrison.  Picture courtesy Andrew Zimmern.com

Coming to the realization that the Twin Cities was void of any Thai food restaurants, Supenn replaced the flat grill and deep fryers with woks.  She changed the name to the Siam Cafe and she introduced Thai food to thousands of people in the area.  When they were told what they were eating, many patrons thought that Thai food was from Taiwan.  

The Siam Cafe was a huge hit and Supenn began to realize that she had an opening to turn her passion for cooking Thai food into something much larger.  In 1983, the Harrison's sold the Siam Cafe for a healthy profit and looked toward St. Paul to start their next venture.  They found space in what was a former warehouse that was being turned into a retail and condominium location and opened the first Sawatdee restaurant later that year.  The Thai term for "hello" is "sawasdee", but it's pronounced "sawatdee", so they went with the phonetical spelling of the word for their restaurant.  

Food critics and patrons were all in agreement that the flavors served at Sawatdee were exquisite and unique.  The Minneapolis Star Tribune food critic gave Supenn Harrison's restaurant 4 stars and it became a destination for many diners around the Twin Cities.  In 1986, Supenn sold the restaurant to her sister and she opened a second Sawatdee on Washington Ave. in Minneapolis in April.  This space, too, was located in what was formerly a warehouse that had been renovated.  Suddenly, loyal diners from Minneapolis didn't have to venture over to St. Paul to get some of Supenn's wonderful food.  

In 1990, Supenn opened a third Sawatdee in Bloomington, a fourth Sawatdee - more of a bar and cafe - was opened in 1994 in the Minneapolis Warehouse District, not far from the present day Target Field and the Target Center.  More Sawatdee restaurants were opened - either owned by Supenn or franchised by her - and today there are a total of five Sawatdee Thai restaurants in the Twin Cities and another one up in St. Cloud.

The Sawatdee in Bloomington is located in a strip mall on the east side of Lyndale Ave. at 85th Street.  (see map)  I was able to park in front of the place and went in to the restaurant.  I was greeted by a young girl - who also turned out to be my server - by the name of Daija.  She was a pleasant girl and very friendly in a laid back kind of way.  

The restaurant is pretty basic with the kitchen in the back part of the restaurant, some booths along the walls and tables in the middle.  She took me to a booth near the front window.  There were a handful of Asian people eating in the restaurant that evening - a good sign that the food is most probably authentic Thai food.  She gave me a menu to look through.  

They don't serve beer at Sawatdee, so I was just going to have water with my meal that evening.  Prices weren't terribly out of line, either.  I usually just go with beef and broccoli when I go to a Thai restaurant - pretty unspectacular, I know.  Actually, they had some things on the menu that I'm not certain I've ever seen at a Thai restaurant.  They had something called Tod Gratium Prig Thai - stir fried meat (your choice of beef, chicken, pork or shrimp) seasoned with garlic and black pepper.  I almost got that.  They also had a ginger stir fry with either chicken or pork and it came with sliced fresh ginger, Chinese mushrooms, chopped onions and chopped celery.  That sounded pretty interesting, as well.  They also had beef in an oyster sauce with broccoli and green peppers.  That was pretty close to my old stand-by of beef and broccoli.  

And that's what I ordered from Daija.  She asked me what temperature as far as spiciness that I wanted my food.  They had six different levels - a mild with no spice, a mild with spice, a mild-to-medium, a medium, a medium-to-hot, and a hot.  I ordered up the beef and broccoli with the medium sauce.  She said, "Uh, that's pretty spicy.  Will you be all right with that?"  I told her that I would.  I couldn't imagine a "medium" being all that hot.  

She brought my food out and I took a bite.  Well, she wasn't kidding about the level of spiciness.  Medium WAS hot!  It wasn't "burn-your-face-off" hot, but it was spicy enough to get my attention.  The beef in the oyster sauce was very good - tender and flavorful.  The broccoli and green peppers still had a "snap" when I would bite into them.  I usually don't like cooked green peppers as they have a tendency to talk back to me later on.  But these were very fresh and it was almost like they were quickly heated up in a wok and served that way.  Piling the beef, green peppers and broccoli on to a small bed of steamed rice was an Asian comfort meal in the making.  I had no problem finishing all of the beef, broccoli and green peppers.  The oyster sauce was so good that I wanted to tip up the plate and drink it down.  Had I been home alone, I would have done it.  

The meal I had at Sawatdee was a definite "spot-hitter".  After being in a food funk for a couple days, Thai food always seems to help break me out of that mindset and the food at Sawatdee was some of the best Thai food that I've ever had.  Not that I'm an expert on Thai food - far from it.  But I know what I like and the beef with broccoli and green peppers in an oyster sauce was very tasty.  The service I received from Daija was friendly, prompt and informative.  And believe me, if they say medium is sort of spicy at Sawatdee, they really mean it!   But the overall value of the meal was the big thing.  I got a lot of food for $11.95 plus tax plus tip.  Sawatdee was a great find for Thai food in the Twin Cities.   

Stock & Barrel - Knoxville, TN

During our trip to the Great Smoky Mountains earlier this year, we passed through Knoxville, TN around lunch time and decided to find some place to have a bite to eat.  We were looking stuff up on a smart phone and my wife found an interesting place that specializes in gourmet burgers and a large selection of bourbon whiskies.  We set the GPS to take us to Stock & Barrel in downtown Knoxville.  

A trio of owners - Bill and Nick Angelos, along with B.G. DeHart - came up with the Stock & Barrel concept and opened their restaurant in August of 2013 in what was a former Cuban restaurant in Knoxville's Market Square entertainment and shopping area.  The Angelos' were already in the restaurant business owning three restaurants in Eastern Tennessee.  It was at Angelos at the Point on Douglas Lake about 35 miles east of Knoxville where DeHart first worked with Bill Angelos in the restaurant business before he graduated from Belmont University in Nashville with a business degree.  

DeHart and the Angelos had a number of late night conversations about a gourmet burger/rare bourbon concept restaurant before embarking on a place to put their restaurant.  They looked initially at Charleston, SC and the highly esteemed restaurant scene there.  DeHart talked about possibly looking at Nashville because of his ties to Belmont.  But one weekend evening Nick Angelos and his wife happened to come into Knoxville for dinner and noticed that the spot at 35 Market Square (see map) was vacant.  On Monday, they called about the spot and by Wednesday the group had signed the lease on the building.  Nick Angelos is the partner/chef while DeHart is the managing partner of the restaurant.  

Market Square is a large pedestrian mall in downtown Knoxville full of shops and small restaurants.  There is also a stage area at the north end for live musical performances in the better weather months.  We found a parking garage just to the northwest side of Market Square and parked in there.  

In its two short years, Stock & Barrel has garnered a number of local awards including best new restaurant and best place for a burger in Knoxville.  Understandably, there was a wait when we walked up to the restaurant.  

The inside of the restaurant featured a long and narrow space with a bar on one side and a row of tables along the red brick wall.  Antique-style light bulbs inside large circular bowls hung from the ceiling over the bar.  This was not a big place and there was a 45 minute wait to eat inside.  

Fortunately, a table out front in a small patio area had opened up and the hostess asked if we'd like to sit out there.  It was warm - deep into the 80's - but we would be seated in the shade.  We decided to eat there.  She dropped off a couple menus for us and soon thereafter our server, Sarah, came over to greet us.  We started off the meal by ordering a couple of the Hi-5 India pale ales from the Terrapin Beer Company in Athens, GA.   

The menu at Stock & Barrel is impressive, primarily because of the number of bourbons they have to offer.  I counted just under 90 different types of bourbons on the menu at Stock & Barrel.  I'm not much of a bourbon drinker, but there were some interesting selections on the menu.  In addition to the bourbon, they also featured a number of Scotch, Irish, wheat and rye whiskies on the menu - including Templeton Rye based in Templeton, IA.  

But the burgers are the main item on the menu at Stock & Barrel.  They get their beef from Mitchell Family Farms in nearby Blaine, TN and their buns are made fresh daily for them by the Flour Head Bakery in Knoxville.  They also feature a number of appetizers on the menu including fried green tomatoes, a spicy crab cheese dip served with pita chips, and fried pickles, which is exactly what Cindy ordered up as we looked through the menu and enjoyed the Tennessee afternoon.  They were lightly battered dill pickle chips and served with a ranch dressing.  They had a great flavor to them.  Cindy has really been on a fried pickle kick as of late.  

Cindy went with the bison burger.   She passed on the three different types of mushrooms that were supposed to come on the burger, but did go with the crispy fried onions along with boursin cheese and a garlic aioli.  Her bison burger burger came with an order of the duck confit fries.  The burger was lean and tasty, not overcooked or dried out.  She said, "Whoever made this burger knows how to cook a bison burger."  

I ordered up the "Shroomin'" burger - the three different types of mushrooms (crimini, shiitake, and button) that Cindy didn't want on her burger were on mine.  It was also topped with Swiss cheese and a horseradish spread.  I also got Sarah to throw on a couple of strips of bacon that Stock & Barrel sources from Benton's in Madisonville, TN.  The burger came with a side order of the regular hand cut fries, but Cindy was kind enough to allow me to share her large portion of the duck fat fries.  

The burger was cooked to a perfect medium with a hint of pink in the middle.  The bun was light and spongy, it held together very well without detracting from the overall taste of the burger.  The mushrooms were fresh and earthy, the Swiss cheese was thick and covered the burger patty, and the bacon was crisp and added a great over all flavor to the burger.  This was a great burger.  

Unfortunately, a minor glitch happened after we paid for our lunch.  Sarah brought out the receipt to sign and a copy for me, but she neglected to give me my credit card back.  I sort of spaced out and didn't realize that I didn't have my card when I got up to leave.  In fact, I had gone in to use the restroom and when I came back out the hostess was cleaning up our table.  She asked how the burger was and I told her it was outstanding.  Had I left the card on the table I'm sure she would have realized it and given it to me as I had come back out of the restaurant.  It wasn't until later that evening that I realized that the card was not in my possession and we were over an hour drive back to Knoxville.  I called up to Stock & Barrel and they said that they did have the card.  Fortunately, I had my emergency credit card that we used that evening until we could drive back up to Knoxville the next morning to get the credit card.  I've left my credit card behind at restaurants on a couple occasions, but never at a place where I had to drive over an hour one-way to get it back.  It was a hassle, but everything worked out.

Other than having to go back to get my credit card, the experience at Stock & Barrel was great.  While I would have probably liked it more to eat inside the old-style restaurant, eating outdoors wasn't all that bad.  It was relaxing, Sarah's service was fine (up until she forgot to give me my credit card back), and the food was top-notch.  It's easy to see why Stock & Barrel has received all the local accolades they've gotten in  just over the two years they've been in business.  Great burgers, great beer selection, and an unbelievable selection of whiskies.  

Papa Bear - Aurora, IL

I had been trying to meet up with a dealer from the western suburbs of Chicago on a handful of occasions over the summer months and our schedules just never came together.  A few weeks ago, we finally made an appointment to have breakfast at a place just off I-88 at the Farnsworth exit and just across from the Chicago Premium Outlets mall in Aurora.  The name of the place was also unique and sort of fun - Papa Bear.  We met there on a sunny Friday morning on a recent trip into Chicago.  (see map)

Pete Andrelopopouls is the owner of Papa Bear which originally opened in 1982.  It's a family style restaurant that features breakfast, lunch and dinner.  It's open 7 days a week at 6 a.m., closing at 10 p.m. (9 p.m. on Sundays.)  

I was a little early for the breakfast meeting and waited at the hostess stand for my dealer to show up.  There are two dining areas at Papa Bear - the front room has a traditional counter behind a half wall.  When my dealer showed up, we were seated in a booth in the back dining room.  

The breakfast menu at Papa Bear is rather extensive.   There were the normal egg dishes including three egg omelets, pancakes, a number of skillet entrees and a surprising number of Mexican-style breakfasts on the menu.  They also had crepes, baked goods, steak entrees and breakfast sandwiches on the menu.  There was no way I was going to be able to take less than 10 minutes to dissect the menu.  

A couple things jumped out at me - the corned beef hash special came with two eggs, hash browns and choice of toast or pancakes; and the Farmer's skillet with corned beef hash, hash browns, eggs your way, fried onions and melted cheese.  I've been on sort of a corned beef hash kick for breakfast lately.  (And I still can't understand why restaurants serve hash browns with corned beef hash.  It's sort of a duplicity, in my book.)

But then I saw the cinnamon-swirl French toast.  I asked our waitress if I could get blueberries with them and she said it was no problem.  "How about whipped cream," she asked.  I couldn't say no.  My dealer went light - a bowl of oatmeal and an English muffin.  I also got a side of bacon to go along with the French toast.

When she brought out the cinnamon-swirl French toast, our eyes much have gone the size of silver dollars.  It was topped with a generous portion of blueberries and a large amount of whipped cream.  The cinnamon-swirl bread was cut thick, dipped in a vanilla batter and flat grilled.  (I thought I could also tell a bit of nutmeg in the batter, as well.)  The taste of the French toast on its own was very good.  Adding the blueberries gave it an even better taste and the whipped cream was, well, the icing on the cake, so to speak.  The bacon - four pieces - was crisp and thick.  I ended up sharing a couple pieces of the bacon with my dealer because I had a lot of food on my plate.  I was almost embarrassed by what I got compared to my dealers breakfast.  And I had a hard time putting down the fork to not overeat.  The cinnamon-swirl French toast topped with blueberries and whipped cream was a decadent start to my day.  

I'll have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by how good the cinnamon-swirl French toast was at Papa Bear.  Topping it off with blueberries and whipped cream made it even better.  This was a lot of food - I ended up skipping lunch that day as I was not hungry until dinner that evening.  Their breakfast menu had a lot of choices, the service was efficient and friendly, the restaurant was clean and comfortable and the breakfast I had at Papa Bear was very good to excellent.  This is simply a great place for breakfast and I'm sure their lunch and dinner choices are good, as well. 

Cynthia's Ristorante - Paducah, KY

My wife and I spent a night in Paducah, KY on our way home from our Florida vacation last year.  We were sort of enamored with the downtown area with its shops and restaurants and we made a plan to go back to Paducah for a couple days at some point.  When we planned our trip to and from the Great Smoky Mountains earlier this year, we booked a couple nights in Paducah to try a couple restaurants in the area.  One place we passed by when we were walking around on our first visit was a little Italian restaurant - Cynthia's Ristorante.  It looked quaint and interesting and we made a note to go to there on our next visit.  Well, this was our next visit so we made reservations for two on a Friday night.    

Bill Gardner grew up in Paducah around good cooks.  His grandmother and his mother were good cooks and his aunt owned a catering business in the area.  Bill went off to the University of Kentucky and started to work in a fine dining restaurant that featured upscale food served by waiters in tuxedos.  It was there that Bill Gardner decided he wanted to be a chef.  

Gardner eventually ended up in Nashville to work at a restaurant there and he met Cynthia who worked at the same restaurant.  Bill told Cynthia of his dream of becoming a chef, and with her support and with the help of his old boss from Lexington he was accepted into the California Culinary Academy, a Le Cordon Bleu-owned school in San Francisco.  After graduating there, Bill and Cynthia worked in restaurants in Georgia, Florida and Missouri.  

Bill was supposed to spend a year in Italy working in an upscale restaurant and learning the art of Italian cuisine.  But the long distance between Cynthia and Italy was too great for Bill to handle.  He ended up coming back to the States, and two weeks later Cynthia and he were married.  The Gardners moved back to Paducah to be near his aging mother and he decided to open a restaurant there.  With the support of mentor chefs he'd worked with or studied under along the way, he had the confidence that he could make great food.  The only question was - would the people of Paducah accept his European-style of cooking?  Paducah was a fried food and barbecue kind of town and Bill knew that he would have an uphill climb to get people accept his type of cooking.  

In 1993, the Gardners rented a small building in the historic Market House Square and opened Cynthia's Ristorante.  The restaurant only had 12 tables, but business was good for the Gardner's.  It was so good that when the larger space next door became available, they moved in there.  That is the current location of Cynthia's Ristorante.  (see map)

We made reservations at Cynthia's for 7:30 that particular Friday evening.  We were greeted at the host stand just inside the door and shown to a linen-topped table in the middle of the restaurant and given menus.  The space was elegant with a small bar up front.  The light was very low in the place making it difficult to read the menu or to take good shots with the camera.  There was an upstairs to Cynthia's and I don't know if that was for larger groups or for overflow dining.  It may have been a little of both.  Given that Paducah is not a big town, the locals seated at the bar and at tables near us were checking out the two strangers from out of town with quick glances in our direction.  Actually, we thought it was pretty funny and somewhat understandable.  

Our server for the evening, Adam, came over to greet us.  He had a down-home demeanor and a quick wit.  He saw me using my flashlight on my phone to read the menu in the darkened restaurant and he made a comment along the lines of, "You'd think we'd turn up the lights to let people see what they're eating.  But we have to save money on electricity around here."  We immediately liked him.  

Bill Gardner specializes in making foods with the freshest ingredients using as much locally raised food and produce that he can get.  The menu changes depending upon availability of products and they feature nightly specials.  Cynthia's features a short, but respectable wine list with prices that I felt were tad high, but nothing outrageous.  I got a glass of the Earthquake cabernet from the Micheal David winery outside of Lodi, CA.  Cindy got a glass of the DeLoach chardonnay, one of our favorite wineries from the Russian River Valley of Northern California.  

After sharing a Caesar's salad, Adam brought out the food we ordered that particular evening.  Cindy got the grilled Prince Edward Island scallops placed on a bed of house-made Pappardelle pasta mixed together with an herbed cream sauce and sliced fresh mushrooms.  I was sort of surprised she ordered this because she doesn't care for mushrooms all that much.  But she's gotten to a point that if they're fresh and not out of a can she can tolerate them.  

I contemplated getting chicken saltimbocca - an organically-raised chicken breast that's pounded flat, pan-fried and topped with sage and prosciutto and served over a bed of fettuccine noodles and finished with a mushroom/veal wine sauce.  But one of the specials Adam told us about - the rigatoni mixed with Italian sausage in a tomato cream sauce with red pepper flakes - kept calling my name.  I was torn about the two and Adam talked me into the rigatoni.  "You can always come back and the chicken saltimbocca.  It's a regular item on the menu," he said.  

And I was not unhappy with the rigatoni.  It had great flavor and enough spiciness to get my attention.  It featured small chunks of spicy Italian sausage that tasted great.  The tomato cream sauce was light and a great overall complement to the dish.  This was simply an outstanding pasta offering.

Cindy couldn't rave enough about her PEI scallops and the pasta in the cream sauce.  She let me have a bite of the pappardelle pasta with a couple fresh mushrooms slices and it was exquisite.  We were both overly happy with what we got and I didn't regret not getting the chicken saltimbocca in the least.

After dinner, Adam enticed us with some of the dessert selections they featured at Cynthia's.  We settled on the tiramisu.  While the presentation was nice, the tiramisu was a little dry with an uneven taste to it.  While it didn't detract from the scrumptious meal we had, it wasn't quite what we were looking for as a finish to our evening at Cynthia's. 

While the dessert wasn't up to the level of the food, I can't find much to say bad - if anything - about our experience at Cynthia's Ristorante.  About the only thing would be that it was pretty dark in there and they could brighten the lights in the dining room a notch or two without spoiling the aura of the place. Our entrees were excellent, the service was friendly, down-home and efficient, and the ambience and atmosphere of the restaurant was relaxed and peaceful - even with the locals continually stealing looks our way to see who the two strangers were.  We were simply amazed that this type of meal was available in Paducah, KY.  This was a meal that was worthy in any large city we've traveled to.  

Graeter's Ice Cream - Cincinnati

Late last summer when we were in Cincinnati, we had taken in a Reds baseball game at Great American Ballpark and afterward we had some time to travel around the city.  Something jarred my memory - possibly because it was 90 degrees in Cincinnati that September day - about a place that was famous for ice cream in the greater Cincinnati area.  I asked my wife if she wanted some ice cream.  She's never turned me down for ice cream.  Looking up an address on the GPS and finding that we weren't far away, we took off to go to Graeter's Ice Cream.  

As it says on the logo, Graeter's has been around for 145 years - an amazing feat for any business, let alone an ice cream company.  It all started in 1868 when the Graeter family moved to Madison, IN, an Ohio River town about halfway between Cincinnati and Louisville.  Two years later, young Louis Graeter went to Cincinnati and started making ice cream consisting of - among many things - fresh cream and egg custard in  two gallon French Pots that he had.  The slow French Pot process - and in small batches - yielded a rich and creamy texture to the ice cream after it was frozen.  This slow and small process with fresh cream and egg custard as the base for the ice cream is the same way that Graeter's makes their product today.  

Louis Graeter started out selling milk shakes from a small stand in downtown Cincinnati before moving to a store front in the mid-1870's where he made candy in addition to his ice cream.  Louis Greater was soon joined in business by his brother Fred and Fred's wife, Anna.  They moved their operation to a larger shop in Cincinnati in 1880.  

In 1888, Louis Graeter took off for California leaving Fred and Anna Graeter with the ice cream and candy shop that he started.  Finding that life wasn't for him in California, Louis Graeter - now in his mid-50's - moved back to Cincinnati and took a young wife.  Regina Berger was 26 years old when she married Louis in 1900.

Pictured right - Regina and Louis Graeter.  Photo courtesy Graeter family.

Louis and Regina started their own ice cream company after they got married.  They soon had two sons - Wilmer and Paul - who also became involved in the business.  The family eventually moved to a larger shop where they had a shop upfront and made candy and ice cream in the back while the family's living quarters were above the business.

In 1919, Louis Graeter was struck and killed by a street car on a Cincinnati street.  Regina - now with two teenaged sons - took over the business and continued to run it with the help of her boys.   Regina turned out to be a very astute businesswoman overseeing an expansion of Graeter locations around Cincinnati.  In 1934, they had outgrown their building and moved to a new building on Reading Road in Cincinnati.  This continues to be their main manufacturing facility to this day.

Regina lived in a small apartment above the small retail shop and ice cream manufacturing facility.  She was involved in the business nearly up to the day of her death in 1955 at the age of 80.  Her sons Wilmer and Paul took over the business after her death.  

Wilmer and Paul Graeter incorporated Graeter's and took on different roles within the company.  Wilmer was in charge of manufacturing the ice cream, while Paul was in charge of the then 17 Greater stores in Cincinnati.  But like many siblings who are in business together, Wilmer and Paul didn't see eye to eye.  In 1957, Wilmer bought out Paul and brought in his three sons - Lou, Dick and Jon - to help out in the company.  (Their sister, Kathy, joined the company in the mid-60's.)  

The Graeter family started to see that they were expanding too fast and needed to weed out a number of underperforming locations.  By the end of 1970, they were down to just 10 locations in the greater Cincinnati area.  Procedures were put in place for the manufacturing process and new flavors were added (much to the consternation of Dick Graeter who liked the good ol' vanilla ice cream).  By the mid-1980's, Graeter's began to franchise locations in Louisville and in Columbus, OH.  

In 2003, Jon's sons - Chip and Bob - and Dick's son - Richard - bought the family business from the third generation Graeter brothers.  Today, there are over 50 Graeter's Ice Cream locations - both company and franchisee owned - with 20 store fronts in Cincinnati, alone.  You'll also find Graeter's Ice Cream shops in Columbus, Louisville, Dayton, OH, as well as in suburban Chicago (Northbrook) and even one in Las Vegas.  You can also find Graeter's Ice Cream in grocery stores in Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky.  

We ended up going to the Graeter's Ice Cream on Kenwood Road in the Deer Park neighborhood of Cincinnati.  (see map)   We found a parking spot in the back and went in the rear door of the ice cream shop. Actually, Graeter's is more than just ice cream.  We found baked good, ice cream cakes and candy on the shelves and in the cases toward the back of this location.  They also serve pastries and coffee for morning customers.  

The front of this Graeter's location featured a number of the old style ice cream parlor chairs and tables.  It was sort of cramped in that area, but it was a nice nod to the history of Graeter's and its importance to the people of Cincinnati for nearly a century and a half.  People of all ages were at Graeter's that day enjoying their ice cream treats.  

The ice cream counter was a busy place and we sort of hung back to take a long look at the menu to determine what we wanted to try.  The look of the counter was similar to an old time ice cream fountain only without stools in front for people to sit down.  At Graeter's, they do ice cream cones, shakes and malts, classic sundaes, and smoothie drinks.  The toppings that can go on the top of ice cream - from hot fudge to chocolate sprinkles to butterscotch to whipped cream - are all made in house.  They also featured gelato and fruit sorbets at Graeter's.  

I thought about just getting the plain ol' vanilla just to see what the basic taste of Graeter's ice cream was all about until I saw a couple things on the menu that day that tripped my trigger - lemon ice cream and blueberry ice cream.  When I went up to order, I asked the guy behind the counter if I could have a scoop of both in a cup.  He enthusiastically said, "Absolutely!"  He said that it was good that I got the blueberry because this was the last container they had and it wouldn't be available until next summer.  

Cindy got a one-scoop dish of chocolate walnut that was also a seasonal item on the menu.  There were large chunks of walnut folded into with the rich and creamy Graeter's chocolate ice cream.  

Now, Whitey's Ice Cream in the Iowa and Illinois Quad Cities is our gold standard of ice cream, but I have to say that it doesn't even come close to the taste, texture and consistency of the Graeter's Ice Cream.  The richness of the ice cream was almost overwhelming.  The forward fruity and tart flavor of the lemon ice cream was some of the best I've ever had.  And the blueberries were definitely real and fresh.  

Cindy was equally happy and impressed with her chocolate walnut ice cream.  Graeter's uses real chocolate chunks during the flavoring process giving it a heightened chocolate taste.  She said the walnut chunks tasted fresh and still had a crunchy consistency.  Cindy was happy that she only got a one scoop cup - like mine, the ice cream was very rich and filling.  

Graeter's Ice Cream has garnered a national following from people who have either visited Cincinnati, or who have traveled from Cincinnati extolling the virtues of the great ice cream.  Everyone who has ever told me about how great the ice cream is at Graeter's was certainly correct.  The French Pot small batch process has been a success for the company for 145 years and it's absolutely no wonder they've stayed around for so long with such great ice cream.  If you ever get to Cincinnati - or any of the other cities that you may find a Graeter's location - I strongly recommend you go try some of their ice cream as it could be the best ice cream you've ever tasted.  

Reza's Pitch - Bismarck, ND

I had come across an article earlier this year on the top burgers in the state of North Dakota.  I kept a couple in the back of my mind including a place in Bismarck by the interesting name of Reza's Pitch.  I was traveling across the state on Interstate 94 earlier this year and I decided to stop into Reza's Pitch to check out the place.  

From the logo, you can probably figure out that the "pitch" that is part of the name refers to the field on which soccer is played, usually called a "pitch" outside of the United States.  The Reza behind Reza's Pitch is Reza Kamranian, an Iranian immigrant who opened his eponymous restaurant in 2010.  Prior to opening his own restaurant, Kamranian worked in a number of restaurants starting out as a dishwasher and working his way up in a number of various positions.  

He eventually ended up in Bismarck and became a partial owner in three restaurants before becoming the A&W/Long John Silver's franchisee in the area.  However, after the parent company overseeing the franchises was sold to a group of investors, Kamranian didn't feel that he was getting the support he needed to continue with his franchise.  That's when he decided to strike out on his own.  He closed his remaining A&W/Long John Silver's in 2009 and renovated the building into a sports bar with a soccer theme.  In March of 2010 he opened Reza's Pitch with an emphasis on both burgers and craft beers.  

Reza's Pitch is located at the corner of Front St. and S. 3rd St. in downtown Bismarck. (see map)  The interior of the place kind of had a contemporary industrial look to it with exposed metal beams in the ceiling, large windows letting in a lot of natural light, a series of tables and booths in the dining area and a good sized bar with the order window into the kitchen behind the bar.  Numerous flat screen televisions were hung through out the place all tuned to sports channels.  Ironically, none of the televisions was showing any soccer. 

I took a seat at the bar and was greeted by a young lady by the name of Jessica dressed in a Reza's Pitch soccer jersey, similar to the other servers in the place.  She asked what I wanted to drink and I wondered what they had in beers.  She gave me a beer menu and I picked out a local IPA - Feast Like a Sultan from the Laughing Sun brewery in Bismarck.  

Jessica asked me if I had dined at Reza's Pitch before and I told her that I hadn't.  She pulled out a sheet that was basically their menu where you check off what you want, then hand it in to your server once you've made your selection.  At the top of the sheet, Step 1 is "Choose Your Striker", basically choosing between a 1/3 lb. single or a 2/3 lb. double burger.   Step 2 is "Let's Kickoff" - premium toppings such as various types of cheese, bacon and/or a fried egg.  Step 3 is "Select Your Midfielders" which allows one to select various veggies to put onto the burger.  Step 4 - "Get Onside" - is where you pick various spreads, sauces and condiments including horseradish, barbecue sauce, a spicy blue cheese dressing, a spicy cajun ranch and something called "Sudden Death Ketchup".  From there, you get to select your "Sidekicks" - sides that include fries, onion rings, stuffed jalapeños and housemade potato chips. 

I got the double burger with Swiss cheese, sautéed mushrooms (raw mushrooms were also available), and bacon - I know, it's my standard burger.  The burger patties were flat grilled and juicy.  This was definitely a multi-napkin burger with the cheese oozing out from under the lightly toasted bun.  I could have easily gotten by with a single burger patty and I'm glad I didn't get any sides to go along with the burger.  The bun - always a key to a good burger - was light and spongy, and it held together very well.  It was a very good burger with a great taste.

Compared to other burgers I've had in North Dakota, the burger at Reza's Pitch was one of the best I've had.  The service was efficient and reasonably quick for a lunch-time crowd, the beer selection was numerous and interesting, and it was a nice little sports bar with good burgers and an adequate amount of sides and appetizers to choose from.  Reza's Pitch was a good find in my travels.

(Update October 2016 - On a recent trip to Bismarck, I passed by Reza's Pitch and found that it was closed.  It turns out that owner Reza Kamranian decided to retire after 40 years in the restaurant business.  He closed the restaurant at the end of June of this year.  That's too bad because they had a very good burger at Reza's Pitch.) 

Spanky's Stone Hearth - Frazee, MN

I have a dealer in Fargo who - along with his wife - has turned me onto a number of great places to eat in and around the Fargo/Moorhead area.  I was in Fargo for a late summer visit and I told them to find a place that we could go for dinner.  He asked me if I was up for a little bit of a ride and I asked how far.  He said, "Oh, a little bit over an hour."  They wanted to take me to a supper club on a lake in Western Minnesota.  I was up for the drive and we ended up out at Spanky's Stone Hearth near Frazee, MN, not far from Detroit Lakes.  (see map)  

Josh Hanson grew up not far from Spanky's Stone Hearth and had worked at a nearby supper club until it was eventually closed in favor of turning it into a convenience store. He went over to Spanky's and started there in 1995 working part-time.  He went to college in nearby Moorhead, but came back home after finding that college just wasn't his thing.  He came back to work at Spanky's full-time and worked his way up through the ranks.  Hanson eventually took over the restaurant in 2005.    

In August of 2010, a devastating fire that started in ductwork above the kitchen demolished Spanky's Stone Hearth.  The fire took place during the busiest weekend of the year with a annual local celebration taking place at that time.  Prior to the fire, Hanson was growing tired of the long hours of running the restaurant and had listed the place for sale.  After the fire, the insurance company gave him two weeks to decide to rebuild or take a cash pay-out.  Hanson took some time off to go on a solo hunting to Montana to contemplate his future.  He decided that the restaurant - originally built in 1946 with an addition added in early 1997 - needed to stay open.  He had 50 employees who were working for him and he decided to give it a go again and put his full effort into the place.  

The restaurant was rebuilt and it reopened in May of 2011 with the full staff back to work as well as chef Jeremy Timm running the kitchen.  Anthony Soland continued as the restaurant's general manager.  (Hanson also owns the Skal Bar and Grill in nearby Vergas, MN which focuses on burgers and sandwiches as well as craft beers.) 

Spanky's Stone Hearth is located just across a county road from Rose Lake, about three miles from Vergas.  It was a beautiful evening and the lake was calm when we pulled into Spanky's.  We didn't have a reservation and there was going to be a bit of a wait as the place was pretty full even at 7 p.m. on a week day.  We ended up taking a seat at the bar getting a couple drinks while we waited for a table to open up.   My dealer was drinking a gin and tonic, his wife had a mojito and I got a bottle of the Summit Extra Pale Ale.  The front of the bar featured river rock inlays with wooden shelves behind the bar.  

The showcase of the Spanky's is, of course, the stone hearth that was part of the original building in 1946.  It - along with the fireplace in the new addition on the other side of the bar - were both cleaned and restored with a high-pressurized sodium bicarbonate after the fire in 2010.  The main dining room featured a high wooden ceiling with wood log highlights and supports with pine wood from Montana.  It definitely had a Northwoods feeling to the place.

We were seated at a table near the bar in the main dining room and given menus to look over.  Our server, Lezlee, came over to greet us and check on our drinks.  She gave us a couple of the highlighted menu selections for the evening which included an interesting item - the "Trust Me".  They wouldn't tell you what it was until they brought it to the table, but to trust the chef that you'd like it.  I'm not quite that adventurous, but it definitely intrigued my dealer's wife.  

We started out with a couple appetizers - an order of onion rings and the mussels in a white wine/garlic butter and saffron sauce that was served with toasted garlic bread.  The onion rings were beer battered and were just "all right", in my opinion.  But the mussels in the broth were just something else.  Now, I don't remember much about the mussels - they had to be good - but dipping the toasted garlic bread in the broth was absolutely fantastic.  We made short work of the bread we were originally served and Lezlee brought out more of the toasted garlic bread for us.  We got pretty full on that.  

Before we ordered dinner, I took a wine list through the very surprising wine list - surprising in the number of wines they had to offer, but also with the very reasonable prices they were asking for the bottles of wine.  I ordered up a 2009 bottle of Jordan cabernet that was priced about 30% under what I've seen it priced at other restaurants.  

My dealer's wife was the adventurous one and she went with the chef's "Trust Me" choice that evening.  It turned out that it was osso buco on a bed of a very interesting sauerkraut garlic-mashed potatoes.  She was more than happy with the choice.  Her osso buck was tender and flavorful.  

My dealer - obviously watching his weight, I joked - went with the grilled halibut filet.  He, too, went to with the sauerkraut mashed potatoes, not knowing that his wife would also get the same thing as her side.  The halibut was lightly grilled and served with a lemon wedge and a whole orange slice.  

I ordered up the ribeye steak, but it turned out that it was almost more of a strip steak as it didn't have a lot of marbling imbedded in the meat.  I also got some sautéed button mushrooms to go along with the steak as well as joining the others in getting the sauerkraut garlic mashed potatoes.  The potatoes were good, but I couldn't really decipher much of a taste of either the sauerkraut or the garlic.  It could be that the two tastes canceled each other out, but it certainly gave me an idea to try in the kitchen at home at a later date.

The ribeye was very lean and not overly thick.  It was cooked to a perfect medium rare and was very good.  I was sort of surprised that ribeye didn't have that much marbling, but it was still very good in taste.  I couldn't complain about anything.  

I love supper clubs in the upper Midwest and Spanky's Stone Hearth may be one of the nicest ones that I've visited during my travels over the years.  Looking out over the calm lake, the Northwoods ambiance, the fun and efficient service from Lezlee, and the very good food were all part of what made the visit to Spanky's Stone Hearth a memorable one for me.  I couldn't thank my dealer and his wife enough for turning me on to another great place in the Fargo area - even though it is a 60 mile drive from Fargo to the lakes region to get there.  It was definitely worth the trip.   

Nada - Cincinnati

On our vacation to the Great Smoky Mountains earlier this year, we spent a couple nights in Cincinnati to get reacquainted with the Queen City.  It had been quite sometime since we'd been there and we decided to try and find someplace to eat in the downtown area.  I read up on a place that had contemporary Mexican food by the name of Nada and decided to give that place a try.   

Nada is part of the Boca Restaurant Group headed by chef David Falk.  Falk, a Cincinnati native, was schooled at the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY and continued his on-the-job education in the kitchen at two of the all-time best restaurants in Chicago - Charlie Trotter's and Spaggia - before he made his way to Rome to work at Ristorante Paris, an elegant and traditional Italian restaurant.   

At the age of 26, he made his way back home to Cincinnati and opened his first restaurant - Boca - in the Northside neighborhood of the city in 2001.  Boca was an immediate hit with its patrons serving a mix of traditional Italian foods with an European flair.  (Boca has since relocated to downtown Cincinnati.)

In 2007, Falk opened Nada, a funky and whimsical contemporary Mexican restaurant in downtown Cincinnati.  A second Nada location opened in Columbus, OH in 2014 and a third Nada is planned for Indianapolis sometime in 2016.  (Falk and the Boca Restaurant Group also runs Sotto, an Italian trattoria located in downtown Cincinnati.)

It was around 9 p.m. on a Saturday night when we found Nada at the corner of Walnut and E. 6th St. in downtown Cincinnati.  (see map)  We found a parking spot over on E. 7th St. and walked over to Nada in a light drizzle.  When we got into the restaurant we found it to be very busy, even at 9 p.m.  We were told that it might be 45 minutes for a table.  Since our body clocks were still on Central time, we decided to stay and have a seat at the bar and get a couple of margaritas.  

The bar area was right next to the hostess stand and we were able to squeeze into a couple seats that just opened up.  The decor of Nada featured a sort of contemporary cocina look to the place.  It had large glass windows that looked out into the plaza in front of the place.  High ceilings and wooden floors helped raise the decibel level in the place to a somewhat uncomfortable setting.  I don't care much for having to yell at the bartender to make a drink order.  

We both had a Herradura silver/Cointreau with lime juice margarita.  The bartender gave us generous pours and it was a good margarita.  We hadn't finished our drinks halfway when the hostess came over and said that they had a table ready for us.  We hadn't been there 10 minutes.

The hostess took us to a small table next to the stairs and dropped off a couple menus for us.  Our server for the evening, Jacob, came over to greet us.  We immediately ordered two more margaritas and a single serving of guacamole.  The chips were fresh and had a sort of a salty seasoning on them.  The red salsa had a smoky chipotle taste to it and it was very good.  But the guacamole was pretty interesting - in addition to the fresh avocado it had lime juice and chopped tomatillo's along with crudite chips consisting of radish, cucumber and jicama.  (Jicama is a Mexican turnip that can be eaten raw.)  The different tastes going on with the guacamole made it some of the best we've ever had.  

The menu was interesting with a grilled salmon entree, a grilled adobo-rubbed pork chop with a potato purée, and a chile-rubbed grilled chicken breast served with charred green beans, caramelized cauliflower, chayote (a Mexican squash) with a citrus habañero.  They also had a number of taco plates including grilled salmon tacos, pork belly tacos, a vegetarian taco platter and barbecue/beef short-rib taco plate.  The only problem was that there were so many different choices of tacos, but they didn't allow you to pick and choose different ones to go onto your plate.  And the other thing was - the tacos weren't cheap with most platters running between $15 to $19 dollars.  

I ended up getting the pastor - a chili-marinated pork topped with cilantro, pickled onions and lime cabbage. (below left)  The marinade was sort of interesting.  It had a bit of a spicy bite to the taste, but the overall taste was salt.  It was VERY salty.  I don't eat much salt and anything that even has a hint of too much salt is very heightened.  But this was way too much of a salty taste for my taste buds.  After a bit, I couldn't discern anything I was tasting because of the abundance of salt with each bite.  

Cindy ended up getting the Arrachera taco plate - seared marinated sirloin chunks that were topped with avocado and a corn cider salsa.  (above right)  Unfortunately, her tacos were also very salty.  She can tolerate salt a lot more than I can and if she says something is too salty, well, it's too salty.  It was too bad - the salt overpowered the overall taste of our food.  I really couldn't get past the taste of the salt to enjoy anything about the tacos at all. 

 

The restrooms were upstairs, which was sort of annoying since people were walking past us all during our meal.  The upstairs dining area also featured a bar area and a party room toward the back.  

 

One of the interesting features of Nada were the number of Robert Anderson prints that adorned the walls.  The late artist was famous for his "pulp" Western paintings and they had a number of them on the walls in the upstairs area of Nada.  I took some time to look at some of the prints before we left.  

 

We were sorely disappointed in the food at Nada.  The service was great, the margaritas were wonderful, but the ambiance was a bit too loud and being seated by the stairs with people clomping up and down the steps was somewhat annoying.  The tacos - interesting as they were - were just too salty for our tastes and a bit overpriced.  The salt overpowered the overall taste of the food.  And that's too bad because I really liked much about Nada up until the food was served.  If they backed off the salt in the kitchen, then the tacos could have been superb.    

Hala Kahiki Lounge - River Grove, IL

When we were in Chicago for our Asian cultural and cuisine tour earlier this fall (click here to see that entry), we stayed at the Hilton Garden Inn out by O'Hare - my de facto home away from home (when I can get in there) in Chicago.  We were in the bar area having a beer or two and my wife was talking to one of the servers in the bar about places around the area.  The server said, "Have you guys ever gone to the Hala Kahiki Lounge?  It's a tiki bar, just down the road."  She told us that it was a Hawaiian bar serving tropical drinks.  Our friends, Jay and Pam, have spent considerable time in Hawaii - Jay even lived on a boat in Hawaii for awhile.  Before going to dinner that evening, we decided to head to Hala Kahiki to check the place out.  

How a tiki bar started in Chicago over 50 years ago and sustained all these years is an interesting back story to the place.  Rose and Stanley Sacharski, Jr. were running a funeral home in the Buck Town neighborhood in Chicago.  Business wasn't all that great and with a young family the Sacharski's would sometimes have to work second jobs to help pay the bills (Stan drove a cab for a few years).  They decided that if they were to have second jobs, they may as well work at some place that they own.  

A tavern on W. Fullerton near the Elmwood Park area was for sale and with money saved up from their second jobs, the Sacharski's bought it in 1964.  It was just a neighborhood tavern that was pretty nondescript.  However, the Sacharski's decided it needed a little livening up.  Rose Sacharski had fake ferns and flowers that she used in the place.  The floor of their little tavern was painted in a tropical color.  Unbeknownst to them, the tavern had - ironically - been a funeral home years before.  They named their little bar the Lucky Start, hoping the name would give them good luck.  

After World War II, the tiki culture - fueled by U.S. servicemen who came back from the South Pacific - became a phenomenon, albeit one where many Americans were misinformed on the true tiki culture.  Many homes built in America in the 50's and early 60's had a family room in the basement that had sort of a south seas look to the rooms.  Tiki bars began to pop up around the nation, thanks to the success of West Coast entities like Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic's.   People coming in to the Lucky Start would remark that it sort of had a tropical or "tiki" feel to the place. Rose Sacharski saw an opportunity and she had Stan go to Sears to buy palm-matted wallpaper and bamboo poles.  In the daytime, Rose would design the decorations and Stan would do the installations.  At night, people would come in and be dazzled by the tropical motif.  Rose decided that they needed to add tropical drinks to the bar menu.  The Lucky Start was a hit with its patrons.  

But the area was changing around them.  The Ukranian and Polish churches in the area began to close up and many of the ladies who were in the church clubs in the neighborhood that frequented the Lucky Start quit coming in.  The Sacharski's decided to sell the bar and look for a new place further west.  

They found a "shot-and-a-beer" place on River Road in near west suburban River Grove that was for sale.  The building originally was a greenhouse and it still had the pane-glass windows in the front of the place.  It later became a general store, then a gas station before it became a neighborhood working class bar frequented by truckers who ran freight to and from nearby O'Hare Airport.  In another ironic twist, the bar had kind of a funeral theme to the place.  There was a mural of a cemetery on the wall behind the bar and for $10 bucks customers could get their names printed on gravestones on the wall.  The Sacharski's bought the bar and went full bore in turning the place into a full fledged tiki bar.  

The family - including their kids Rosemarie (a.k.a Dolly), Stanley, III (a.k.a. Sonny), and Stanlene (a.k.a. Cookie), - lived in a small apartment in the back of the bar.  Trying to figure out a name for the place, one of the kids was reading a Dennis the Menace comic book where the Mitchell family was in Hawaii.  They were visiting a pineapple plantation and the name of the place was called "Hala Kahiki" - roughly "House of Pineapple."  Haha Kahiki was born.  

The first three years were trying for the Sacharski's - the place was drafty thanks to the glass-pane windows.  The regular truckers would laugh at the family for thinking they could turn the little dive bar into a tiki bar.  And they served burgers topped with pineapple slices, pork and other island-themed foods.  But the bar became so popular that they eventually quit selling food, took out the kitchen and added more seating in its place, expanded the bar and rebuilt the outer wall where the glass-panes from the old greenhouse once were.  

The whole family worked in the place - Sonny Sacharski was a bartender along with his father and mother, Cookie and Dolly would mix up the ingredients for the tropical drinks and wait tables.  Rose Sacharski started to buy up Witco tiki carvings - a hit with many people decorating their homes in island themes.  She bought - and subsequently sold - a number of Witco carvings to patrons that she turned the family's apartment into a gift shop.  Hala Kahiki now has one of the largest collections of Witco tiki carvings in existence.  An author once called the tiki bar the "King Tut's Tomb of Witco" carvings.

A third generation of the Sacharski family, Cookie's son Jim Oppedisano, started to work in the bar when he was in the second grade helping his grandmother clean and restock product for $2 bucks an hour.  He later helped out with payroll, mixing the ingredients for drinks, repairs and other things.  But he didn't join the business out of high school like his mom, aunt and uncle.  He went to college for a brief spell, then worked at a Sears for awhile.  He eventually became a Starbucks manager and met a young lady who he would eventually marry who was also a manager at a Starbucks not far from his store.  

The oldest of the Sacharski children, Dolly, died of heart failure in the mid-80's at the age of 40.  When Stan Sacharski, Jr. died in 1998, Cookie and Sonny took over ownership of Hala Kahiki while Rose still came in to work at the gift shop or tend bar from time to time.  Rose passed away in 2005 while Sonny passed away in his sleep at the age of 57 two years later.  His wife, Maggie, took over his part of the bar along with Cookie Oppedisano.  

When Cookie died in 2011, Jim Oppedisano was her heir-apparent to take over her part of the business.  The younger Oppedisano was in the advertising industry - working at the bar at times when he and his wife would come back to visit.   He wasn't certain that he wanted to take over his mom's share.  Hala Kahiki was making money, but there was little to no management going on in the place.  After Sonny's death, Connie tried to run the place by herself.  Work schedules were haphazard and Oppedisano feared that employees were stealing from the company.  She had simply become burned out.  

Did he want to be a bartender the rest of his life?  No, was his answer.  But was there a potential to grow the business?  Absolutely, was his answer.  He took over the business after his mother's death.  (Maggie Sacharski passed away in 2014 and her shares of the business have been passed along to her two children.)  

Oppedisano saw a place that was pretty tired looking and in need of some invigoration.  Knowing that he couldn't completely revamp the decor, he decided to live with it the kitschy look to the place.  The patio furniture needed to be replaced, the parking lot was revamped, and he added a juke box to allow patrons to play their own music rather than listening to Hawaiian music all the time.  He added beer and wine selections in the bar.  One would think that these little changes would upset the regular patrons or tiki purists that visited the bar, but 2014 was their biggest year in business and 2015 promises to be just as good if not better. 

Hala Kahiki still does not have meals.  They provide free pretzels to patrons and they do have authentic taro chips and sweet potato chips, as well as vegetable chips with mango or pineapple salsa.  To this day, people who aren't familiar with Hala Kahiki who come in looking for food, are usually dismayed that it's generally drinks only at the place.  They're the ones that will get up and leave five minutes after they've arrived.     

Another interesting thing about Hala Kahiki - they also serve fortune cookies after the patrons are finished with their drinks.  Now, I'm sure you're wondering why a tiki bar would be giving out fortune cookies.  It turns out that Stan Sacharski was stationed in San Francisco while in the Navy and thought the little "fortune tea cakes" that Chinese restaurants would give out were a nice little touch. 

Servicemen returning to points all over the United States who had spent time in San Francisco during and after World War II would ask their local Chinese restaurants why they didn't have the little fortune cookies like the ones in the Bay Area.   During the war, nearly a dozen Chinese bakeries in the San Francisco area were making these little treats, hand folding the small fortune strips into the dough before baking.  They couldn't make enough to keep up with the demand in the Bay Area, let alone try to make enough to send around the U.S.  

That is, until Edward Louie - the owner of the now defunct Lotus Cookie Company - came up with an automatic fortune cookie machine.  Suddenly, the San Francisco bakeries had the means of making upwards of 250 million fortune cookies annually and by 1960 fortune cookies had become a mainstay of Chinese/American culture.  Rose and Stan Sacharski thought giving out fortune cookies would be a nice talking point about Hala Kahiki, especially with the servicemen who served in the Pacific theater during World War II and came into their tiki lounge.  

It was an unseasonably warm fall day when we went to Hala Kahiki.  (see map)  I had driven past the place a few times over the years but never really noticed it - mainly because there's no large sign out front of the place.  (Plus, my wife says that I'm just not very observant.)  It was just before 7 p.m. when we walked in.  

We walked into the bar area of the place and it was like we were transported into a South Seas tiki bar.  While it was sort of kitschy, it was done in a very tasteful way.  There were no windows in the place and seemingly nearly every bit of the woven palm-matted wallpaper was covered with something.  It was cozy, pleasant and curious all at once.  Jay - who has studied and practiced Buddism - especially liked the Laughing Buddha statue on the bar.  

We were greeted by a young lady who asked if we had reservations.  We didn't know we needed them.  She said, "On Friday and Saturday nights - especially after 8 p.m. - reservations are generally required.  It gets really full in here."  But she said she had room for us.  We found out that there was an outdoor patio area and Cindy thought it would be nice to go out there and have a drink.  

When we got out there, we sat at a table and were given drink menus to look through.  The drink menu was, well, almost overwhelming.  Nearly every tropical drink with little umbrellas known to man - and then some - were featured on the menu.  They also had chocolate drinks, hot coffee drinks, cream drinks, daiquiris, and ice cream drinks on the menu.  It was going to take us a long time to check out all the drinks they had.  

While we were sorting through the menu, I felt a mosquito bite on my ankle.  Then another.  I am a mosquito magnet - especially after having a couple of beers.  It turns out that Jay is also a mosquito magnet - and he isn't that much of a drinker.  He has a bald head and they were buzzing him pretty good.  Cindy immediately said, "We can't sit out here and have you guys get bit up."  We walked back inside and asked if we could get a seat inside.  

She took us back to a room toward the back of the place.  It was like going deeper and deeper into a vault filled with Polynesian and Hawaiian artifacts.  We took a seat at a table and dove back into the drink menu.

To say Hala Kahiki was unique would be, well, a major understatement.  Leopard print lampshades, Polynesian art work, tiki carvings - nothing against our guests, but it was almost more interesting to get up and look around the place than it was to sit at a table and chat.  

Cindy and I are big mai tai fans.  Jay and Pam, as I said earlier, aren't big drinkers.  They're more of an apple cider kind of couple.  They didn't really know what to order and Cindy said that she thought they'd like the mai tais.  So, we ordered a round of mai tais for the table.  They came out adorned with a slice of pineapple, a plastic palm tree swizzle stick and what I believe was a palm leaf.  I thought they were pretty good - not as good as I remember having when we were in Hawaii - but good enough for the middle of United States.  

It turned out that Pam and Jay didn't care much for their mai tais.  They didn't care for the sweet and sour taste of the drink.  So, they let Cindy and I have their drinks.  Now, one was probably enough, but two was pushing my limit.  

Instead of mai tais, Pam got a daiquiri drink while Jay got a drink that was - well, I don't remember what it was.  All I know is that it was a color unlike any drink I've ever seen before.  It, too, came with a palm leaf, palm tree swizzle stick (of which Cindy kept the ones we had in our mai tais), and a pineapple slice.  I think they were more happy with these drinks than with the mai tais.  That was fine with us as Cindy and I both enjoyed having more mai tais than we probably should have had.  

Our goal was to have one drink and go get some Indian food for the evening.  (Well, in my wife's and my case, it was two drinks.)  Jay had been noticing people walking past us, past a small hanging bamboo opening  and disappearing in the back.  I knew the bathrooms were closer to the bar and that's where I headed after I finished my second mai tai before we left.  Pam and Cindy sort of wandered around the place looking at the artwork, while Jay said to himself, "I wonder what is back here?"  He went through the hanging bamboo opening, around a corner and found himself in the South Seas Gift Shop.  

I went out the front door of the lounge and walked around to the side where the outside entrance of the gift shop.  Jay was in there talking to a lady who was seated behind the counter.   I like a good comfortable Hawaiian shirt and they had one of the largest collections I've ever seen in the Midwest.  

This place was beyond trippy.   They had clothing for men and women, women's jewelry and accessories, tiki carvings, hula girl lamps, statues, novelty signs, and hundreds of other kitschy items throughout the gift shop. But possibly the most trippy part of the gift shop was the lady behind the counter.  She was a SALESWOMAN! She was trying to sell Jay and I everything in the gift shop, pointing out different things, offering deals and discounts on multiple items they had in stock, even letting us know that the shop was closed on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday, but if you asked someone at the bar if you could get in to look around they would be able to open it up.  Jay and I sort of looked at one another and smiled.  She was doing her damnedest to sell us something before we got out of there.  

Another couple of people came into the gift shop and she started up with her spiel again.  Jay and I kind of glanced at one another very quickly and he burst out laughing.  She was definitely putting the hammer down on getting someone to buy something.  

By this time, Pam and Cindy had wandered into the gift shop.  And the lady started in with her spiel on them.  Cindy pointed out the Hawaiian shirts and called me over to look at them.  The lady sensed our interest in the shirts and she started to tell us that she'd give special pricing on the shirts if we bought three or more.  Now, these were real Hawaiian shirts and I don't know if you have priced good Hawaiian shirts but they usually start on the north side of $60 bucks.  They really did have some great shirts, but I wasn't ready to part with any money to buy three or four at a special price.  

When we left the gift shop, Cindy and Pam were laughing hysterically at how the lady was really going all out in trying to point out nearly every item in the gift shop.  "She wouldn't stop," Pam said laughingly.  "I would be looking at something and then she'd try to get my attention to show me something on the other side of the shop."  As a longtime salesman, I could tell that she was a good one - probably too good.  

So, that was our first experience at the Hala Kahiki Lounge and South Seas Gift Shop.  I've never seen a tiki bar in the Midwest that has such an elaborate and extensive collection of South Seas and Hawaiian artifacts on display.  The interesting thing about all this is that no one from the Sacharski family tree - from Stan, Jr. and Rose, down to their kids and now their grandkids - have ever been to Hawaii.  In fact, no one has been further west than California.  But they've certainly done their homework in making Hala Kahiki one of the foremost tiki bars anywhere.  They certainly have a great selection of tropical drinks, don't expect to get food as they don't have a kitchen, linger and take a look at the artifacts and artwork throughout the place, and don't forget to go to the gift shop if it's open.  Hala Kahiki is fun and peculiar, exotic and unusual, remarkable and bizarre, marvelous and mysterious.  It's definitely one of a kind.  

Flip's Pancake House - Moline, IL

A co-worker of my wife was telling her of a new breakfast place over in Moline that she thought was pretty good.  My wife was telling me that the lady was talking the place up, so much so that she even put it on par with Jimmy's Pancake House which is our gold standard for breakfasts in the Quad Cities.  (Click here to see the entry on Jimmy's.)  I said that I had to check this place out.  On a recent Sunday morning we drove over to Flip's Pancake House.  

Sam and Fatima Abduli are veterans of the restaurant business.  They ran a small restaurant - Sam's Ice Box - before moving to the Quad Cities to open the Milan Family Restaurant in the early 1990's.  The Abduli's ran the restaurant for 21 years before Sam decided to retire.  They leased the restaurant and drifted into retirement.

But retirement didn't sit well with Sam and he knew that he needed to keep working.  The long-time local favorite Bon-Air Tavern and Liquor Store had closed and the building became available.  The Abduli's leased the building and oversaw a six month rehab of the space - even keeping the old circular corner booths that were popular at the Bon-Air - before opening in March of this year.  They had four different names for the restaurant and they decided to let their daughters and grandchildren vote on the name.  They voted on Flip's - a fitting name for a pancake house.  

Flip's Pancake House is sort of hard to get to - it's on 27th Street next to I-74 and near John Deere Road.  But you can't get there from John Deere Road.  We came down 27th Street from the Avenue of the Cities and pulled in to the good sized parking lot.  (see map)  

The interior of Flip's is open and well-lit.  It's not overly large, but there's ample enough seating for the customers.  It has a number of tables in the middle of the floorspace, booths along the walls and a small breakfast bar.  

We took a booth by the front window and a waitress came over with a couple menus for us.  Of course, pancakes are the main item at Flip's Pancake House, but they also had skillet breakfasts, Eggs Benedict, cereals, biscuits and sausage gravy, omelets and waffles.  They're open 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. so they also have sandwiches, burgers and salads on the menu.  

I went with the French toast with blueberries and a side of corned beef hash.  The French toast featured six half-pieces of thick Texas toast battered and grilled.  The blueberries were fresh and flavorful.  The corned beef hash was almost laughable - it was a small amount and it was pretty basic corned beef hash out of a can.  It wasn't anywhere close to the $3.99 they charged for it as a side.  But the French toast was good and filling.  It was an all right breakfast.

Cindy got the Greek skillet with gyro meat, potatoes and onions topped with scrambled egg whites.  She had a choice of either toast or pancakes and she wanted to see how good the pancakes were at Flip's.  She thought the skillet was fine, it had an adequate amount of gyro meat mixed in with the eggs and hash browns.  The pancakes - she wasn't quite so enamored with.  I had a bite and agreed with her.   Jimmy's Pancake House continues to be our go-to place for a great breakfast in the Quad Cities.  

That's not to say that the breakfast at Flip's Pancake House was bad - it was far from it.  We were oversold on the place from my wife's co-worker.  We expected a lot more, but what we found at Flip's Pancake House was an adequate and slightly above-average breakfast with good service and prices that were a tad high compared to other breakfast places in the area.  Flip's is worth trying and probably going back to once you realize that it's an average to slightly above average place to get breakfast in the Quad Cities. 

 

Bistro (An American Cafe) - Bismarck, ND

Earlier this past summer, I was in Bismarck calling on a couple of dealers.  I went to lunch with one of the dealers and he took me to a place called Bistro where I had a great reuben sandwich and he had a Caesar's salad with blackened salmon.  I checked out the menu for dinner and I was pretty intrigued.  A few weeks ago I had to go back to Bismarck to do some work for another dealer in town and I took some of the guys out to dinner at Bistro.  None of them had ever been there before, so they were looking forward to giving it a try.   

Bistro is housed in what was an old carriage house that was built over 100 years ago next to the main railroad tracks that go through Bismarck.  In 1996, Dona Rockstad - whose husband Terry was the CEO of Dan's Super Markets with locations in Central and Western North Dakota - opened Bistro 1100 offering eclectic and upscale food offerings.  Bistro's chef Gerard "Mo" Schmidt fashioned a menu that featured locally ethnic foods along with traditional steaks and seafood grilled over red oak wood, Italian pasta and meat dishes, along with wood-fired pizzas.  A couple of years ago, Schmidt bought Bistro from Dona Rockstad, slightly changed the name to Bistro - An American Cafe, and continued to run the kitchen along with the business.

Bistro is located on E. Front St. between S. 11th and S. 12th streets near downtown Bismarck.  (see map)  There is a huge parking lot to the east of the restaurant and on my first visit earlier this summer the parking lot was completely full for the lunch rush.  On this visit, we got to the restaurant after 8:30 and there was no problem in finding a place to park. 

Coming into Bistro, you find yourself in the stylish bar area that had a lot of earth-tones and sort of an old world feel.  This was where I had lunch on my first visit to the place last summer.  Bistro is certainly a popular place for lunch and we had to sit in the bar area - which was fine.  There's also outdoor seating during the summer months just off the bar area.  

We were met at the hostess stand by Jacque (Jackie) who turned out to also be our server that evening.  She led us into the dining room that was well-lit, but not overpowering.  There were five of and we were seated at a six-seater with a good look back toward the kitchen area.  The first thing I did after Jacque gave us our menus was to order the locally-brewed Laughing Sun IPA that they had on tap.  

For some reason, I wasn't that hungry and I didn't really want to eat a lot that evening.  I looked at the pasta - the spicy chicken tortellini and the lobster ravioli looked appealing.  The grilled mahi mahi with a sweet chili glaze sounded good, but I wasn't certain I wanted seafood that evening.  They had a number of wood-fired pizzas on the menu, but I didn't feel like having a pizza.  Hmmm...  I was in a bit of a quandary as to what I really wanted to get.

Three of the guys were ready to order when Jacque came back to check on us.  I let the guys go first and I finally decided upon the New York strip topped with a whiskey peppercorn sauce.  The peppercorn sauce got me.  Actually, the other guy who didn't know what he wanted ended up getting my second choice - the beef burgundy with sautéed mushrooms and grilled onions in a burgundy cream sauce.  

One of the guys had ordered a cup of the lobster bisque.  I thought about getting a wedge salad, but I thought that might be too much.  The lobster bisque turned out to be a great choice - it was rich, but not overly filling.  The bisque was topped with chopped avocado and leeks, and featured small chunks of lobster meat.  The creamy lobster bisque was a great start to the meal.  

The peppercorn strip steak was at least 16 ounces, thick and juicy.  I ordered it medium-rare and it may have been more toward the medium side of medium-rare.  Not a deal-breaker by any means, but a tad overcooked for my steak-snob tastes.  Still, the whisky peppercorn sauce was creamy and helped the overall taste of the steak.  I liked the fact that the chef covered just about half of the steak with the sauce so I could enjoy the taste of the meat.  Sometimes if it's not a good cut of meat, the restaurant will try to hide it under a sauce.  This was a good cut of meat and the steak - without the sauce - was very good.  

Along with the steak I got a side of sautéed vegetables and some garlic mashed potatoes.  I didn't have any of the veggies - they looked a little limp - but the garlic mashed potatoes featured large chunks of garlic in them.  The were really strong and pungent, yet tasty.  

One of the guys got the parmesan encrusted chicken - a chicken breast covered in fresh parmesan cheese, cut into strips and served with garlic mashed potatoes and covered with a garlic cream sauce, chopped red peppers and mushrooms.  Now, THAT looked great.  I normally don't get much chicken when I'm on the road, but I think I would have really enjoyed it.  My guest certainly did.    

But the most interesting thing on the menu at Bistro was the seared kangaroo.  Yep, it was truly kangaroo meat.  I've tasted kangaroo once at a restaurant outside of Montreal.  It was interesting - sort of the texture of beef, but it sort of reminded me of elk meat.  The guy who ordered it was intrigued enough to try it and he was definitely happy he got it.  "I've never eaten here," he said.  "But I'll always remember this meal as the first time I had kangaroo."  He said the meal alone would be worth telling the story a few times over beers with buddies.   

The last guy - who was directly across the table from me - got the Bourbon Street penne pasta.  It featured grilled shrimp, sliced andouille sausage, chopped chicken breast along with fresh red bell pepper slices and sliced onions.  It was all tossed together in a spicy garlic broth.  When I asked him how it was, he was effusive with his praise.  "This is outstanding," he gushed.  "Everything is just so fresh."  

I couldn't finish all of my steak, but I made a serious dent in it.  I did enjoy what I had and I was very happy with the garlic mashed potatoes.  When Jacque asked me if I wanted a box for the leftovers, I declined since I was traveling.  I did seriously think for a moment that having steak in the morning in my hotel room might have been a good thing.

All of my guests were in agreement - Bistro served up some very good meals for us.  First of all, Jacque was spot-on with her service.  She was in good spirits and a good sport waiting on five guys up to - and past - the dining room's closing time.  I was happy with my steak and the garlic-mashed potatoes were some of the better ones I've run across.  The other meals - including the seared kangaroo - were all to the liking of my dining guests.  I've had lunch there and now dinner - both times I came away with a very favorable impression of Bistro.  It's another great place to eat that I've found in my travels to Bismarck.