Road Tips

Le Restaurant du Musée - St. Etienne, France

On my first trip to France over 13 years ago, the first French meal I had was actually in a modern art museum in St. Etienne - Le Restaurant du Musée.  When we were over in France visiting one of our factories earlier this year, we were treated to a return visit at Le Restaurant du Musée.  It brought back a lot of memories of my first trip to France and I was happy that we were going back on this visit.  

Le Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain - the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art - opened in St. Etienne in 1987.  Initially, it was part of an industrial museum that also had a wing devoted to museum artifacts from the mining industry in the St. Etienne region.  St. Etienne is a highly industrialized city - there are over 400 manufacturing facilities in the city of 175,000 people - and it was the center of French arms and ammunition industries that date back to the 16th century, mainly due to its close proximity to metal mines in the mountainous region surround the city to the south and west.  (As an aside, St. Etienne is also an international "sister city" to Des Moines, IA.)  

The museum houses over 19,000 pieces of art, many of them contemporary pieces, but they also have some ancient pieces of art, as well.  There are works of art from Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso and surrealist Victor Brauner.  Many of the more well-known works of art are regularly loaned out to other museums.  I've been to the restaurant twice now without going into the museum, itself.  

Le Restaurant du Musée features an ever changing menu of fresh and seasonal items.  Chef Stepháne Laurier mirrors the spirit of the museum by offering a contemporary mix of farm fresh items, fresh baked breads, and light lunch meals.  (Le Restaurant du Musée is open only for lunch to the public with evening dining for groups by appointment only.)   

The entrance to the restaurant is to the right as you walk into the main entrance to the museum.  As you can see from the picture at the top of the post, the entrance to the restaurant is pretty subdued.  There's a couple doors with portal windows and a small sign with the restaurant's name on the wall.  

Inside the restaurant, the lunch time crowd was in full force with the restaurant nearly full.  Our hosts had made previous arrangements and we were seated in a smaller room off to the side where tables were set up for larger groups.  The main dining room featured a small bar with contemporary tables and chairs throughout the room.  Contemporary paintings hung on the walls throughout the main dining area.  This was as close as I got to looking at any of the works of art at the museum.  

After we were seated, a waiter brought over a chalkboard with the day's menu on it.  Our hosts - and my colleague Francôis - were able to translate the menu for us.  I was able to pick out "poulet" (chicken), "boeuf" (beef), and "poisson" (fish), as well as "fromage" (cheese), "avocat" (avocado) and "champignons" (mushrooms), but didn't know the accompanying words describing the dishes.  

The three course lunch consisted of a salad for starters, a main entree and dessert for a fixed price.  Starting out there were two salads - an avocado salad with shrimp and mango slices with greens on the side, and a fresh greens salad with a mushroom purée on the side topped with a cream dressing with bacon bits.

I went out of my comfort zone on the salads and I got the avocado salad.  It was cool and creamy with the great avocado taste.  It had the consistency of guacamole, but didn't have the guacamole taste.  The mangos were fresh, sweet and citrusy.  Coupled with the small shrimp on the plate, the avocado and mangos went well with them.  

My colleague Matt got the salad with the mushroom purée and the way he raved about it, I was sort of unhappy I didn't get that salad instead.  But I liked what I got and that was that.  

For my main entree, I took the chicken.  It was a chicken breast that was cut and rolled around a filling of prosciutto and Fontana cheese.  The chicken was on a bed of stewed mixed vegetables.  The chicken was fine - it was a good hearty meal for a lunch.   

The other entrees included torbet - a flat fish that is found in the Mediterranean Sea just three hours south of St. Etienne.  I don't think anyone got the torbet, but the other entree was a locally raised chunk of beef that was resting on a bed of mashed potatoes and the same stewed mixed vegetables that I had with my chicken.  More than half the table got the beef entree and all seemed to like it.  

For dessert, the choices were a pomegranate puree with a side of sorbet, a cheese plate or a strawberry cake.  I went with the pomegranate and sorbet - and I'm glad I did.  The taste was simply outstanding.  This, alone, was worth the whole price of admission.  The puree was sweet, tart and refreshing.  Taking a small bite of the sorbet after a spoonful of the pomegranate puree helped cleanse the palate for the next bite.  The taste just exploded on the tongue.  The avocado salad was refreshing in taste, the chicken was more neutral and comforting, but the pomegranate puree was a "wowzer!"  I'm big on creme brulée when I go to France, but this beat any creme brulée I've ever had in all my travels to France.  

It's sort of interesting to eat in a museum and Le Restaurant du Musée is a special place for me as it was the place for my first French meal on my first trip to the country nearly 14 years go.  While I don't remember much about the first meal I had, this meal will be long remembered for the pomegranate purée dessert.  The chicken entree I had was fine and interesting, while the avocado salad was a nice start to the meal.  Maybe on one of my future trips to the factory in St. Etienne we'll be able to have lunch here again and then linger in the museum to see some works of art and to walk off the hearty meals they serve in the restaurant. 

 

Crescent Moon - Omaha

When I was in Omaha over a year ago, I was talking with a friend of mine and his wife about reuben sandwiches as I had had one earlier in the day at lunch with a dealer of mine.  I thought it was pretty good and my friend's wife said, "Oh, I think the best reubens are at the Crescent Moon.  And they've got a great beer selection, too."  Well, the Crescent Moon immediately went on my "restaurants to try" list and on a warm spring evening on a recent trip to Omaha I had a chance to go there.  

Bill Baburek grew up on the south side of Omaha.  A precocious kid, he collected lots of things - stamps, coins, Matchbox cars, golf balls that he picked up that were lost by golfers at a nearby golf course.  He started to collect beer cans, primarily cans that came from the old Omaha breweries like Falstaff and Storz.     

He soon found out that finding cans from Omaha breweries were tough to come by, so he dove into the history of Omaha breweries that were in full production before Prohibition such as Krug and Metz.  Baburek went to libraries to peruse old newspaper clippings and other articles about the old breweries that eventually went out of business as they couldn't keep up with the advertising and marketing clout of bigger breweries in Milwaukee and St. Louis.  Not only was Baburek a collector of vintage beer cans, he was also collecting historical information on the breweries who put beer in the cans.

By the early 80's, Baburek had a collection of over 2000 Falstaff cans and was president of the local chapter of the Beer Can Collectors of America, now known as the Brewery Collectibles Club of America.  The Storz brewery had closed up and all that was left was the Falstaff Brewery on the city's near north side.  On the south side of the city was the Falstaff Inn, a corporate-owned bar and hospitality room.  Baburek and others donated their vintage Falstaff cans to put on display at the Falstaff.  When Falstaff closed their operations in Omaha in 1987, there were no more large brewers in the Omaha area.  The Falstaff Inn also closed and it was soon torn down to make way for a new police precinct on the south side of Omaha.

Baburek went into the corporate world working as a trainer for First Data traveling the United States.  During his downtime at night, he would explore the city he was staying in to seek out the growing culture of craft breweries and bars that sold craft brews.  After 12 years of travel, he decided to go back to Omaha and buy a bar.  

He found an old tavern that was for sale at the corner of 36th and Farnum just west of the downtown area.  (see map)  In 1996, he opened the Crescent Moon Alehouse, a place that he made the first place in Omaha to serve craft brews that were available in Nebraska.  There was a large party room in the downstairs area of the Crescent Moon and in 2005 Baburek turned that into Huber-Haus, a Bavarian-style tap room with over a dozen German beers on tap.  

A little over a year later, Baburek transformed a space next to the Crescent Moon in to Max & Joe's, a Belgian beer haven which also sold top-shelf liquor.  He named the place after his late parents Maxine and Joe Baburek who fostered his involvement in collecting beers cans as a youth by building shelves for his collection in their basement.   Max & Joe's features over a dozen Belgian beers on tap and over three dozen available in bottles.  

Knowing that people sometimes like to experience fine beer at home, Baburek opened Beertopia, called the ultimate beer store in Omaha.  The place features over 650 different beers in nearly two dozen styles.  With Beertopia as part of the other Baburek businesses at the corner of 36th and Farnum in Omaha, the corner is known to the locals as Beer Corner USA.  

In 2012, Baburek opened a microbrewery - Infusion Brewing Co. - along Maple Ave. in the Benson area of Omaha.  Housed in a nearly century old building that was once a meat market, Baburek realized his dream of brewing his own beers and distributing them to restaurants around the Omaha and Lincoln areas.  Last year, he was able to lease a larger building on Omaha's southwest side to increase production of his beers.  Infusion Brewing Company maintains a small brewing facility along with the original taproom in Benson, and they have a taproom with brewery tours at the southwest Omaha facility.  

I was able to find a parking space in the lot behind the building that houses Beer Corner USA just north of 36th and Farnum.  I went into Crescent Moon Ale house and waited to be seated.  The place was busy, colorful, loud, and vibrant.  The entrance to Max & Joe's was upfront toward the bar as you come into the Crescent Moon, and the entrance to the stairs that take you down to Huber-Haus is toward the back of the place.  Vintage beer signs from old Omaha breweries were on display around the place.  

I was seated at a small table along the wall and given a food menu.  Not long after I was seated, my server for the evening - Beth - came over to greet me.  She was a very pleasant young lady with a great smile.  She told me that it was Empyrean pint night at the Crescent Ale - Empyrean Brewing Co. out of Lincoln was there with a tap takeover event.  Empyrean came from the first brewpub in Nebraska - Lazlo's Brewing and Grill - one of my favorite places to go to when I'm in Lincoln.  (Click here to see my entry on Lazlo's Brewery.)   But I opted for an Odell Brewing IPA out of Colorado from Crescent Moon's extensive beer list that evening.  (The beer list for both tap and bottled beers changes regularly at Crescent Moon.)  

The food menu at Crescent Moon is you basic pub fare - appetizers, soups and salads, burgers, a number of chicken sandwiches, melted sandwiches, and, of course, their famous reuben sandwich which was named by the Omaha World-Herald as the best reuben in Omaha.  I had to order one of those from Beth when she came back to take my food order.  

Now, many people who live in Omaha believe the reuben sandwich was invented in Omaha at The Blackstone Hotel, which was once located just across the street from Crescent Moon.  (The Kiewit Corporation - one of the largest construction companies in the world - is now housed in the renovated former Blackstone Hotel.  Billionaire Warren Buffett's company - Berkshire Hathaway - also has its head corporate office in the former Blackstone Hotel building.)  During a poker night between friends in the Fern Room at the old hotel, a guy by the name of Reuben Kulakofsky slapped together a sandwich consisting of corned beef, sauerkraut mixed with Thousand Island dressing, Swiss cheese, and put it on dark rye bread.  Kulakofsky was a poker buddy of Blackstone Hotel owner Charles Schimmel who liked the sandwich concoction so much he named it the Reuben sandwich and put it on the hotel's menu.  (Many in New York City, however, believe the sandwich originated from Reuben's Deli over 100 years ago.)  There are dozens of restaurants in Omaha who serve a variation of the original Blackstone Reuben sandwich.

And Crescent Moon is one of them.  In fact, they claim the recipe for their reuben sandwich is the exact same thing as the original one served at the Blackstone Hotel.  And it was somewhat different from the ones I've had in the past.  It was a little spicy and I could taste fennel seasoning in it - part of the secret ingredients Crescent Moon uses in the sandwich, no doubt.  There was a lot of the Thousand Island dressing with the sauerkraut on the sandwich.  The corned beef was lean and tender, but the dressing really masked the taste of the meat.  The dark rye bread was tasted lightly on the outside and the Swiss cheese was melting along the sides.  Even though it was different, I liked it - I liked it a lot.  About the only thing that I had a quibble with was the slathered Thousand Island dressing.  They could have backed off on the sauce somewhat and it would still be a fine sandwich.  

Crescent Moon Ale House - vibrant place, great beer selection, exemplary service with a great smile, and - named by many - as having the best reuben in town.  It was an interesting sandwich, maybe too much Thousand Island dressing on it, but it had a unique taste - one that I liked.  Crescent Moon is the kind of places that I like to find on the road.  It's not too fancy, it's far from a dump, and the atmosphere is energetic without getting out of hand.   

South Shore Tiki Lounge - Kihei, HI

We had just arrived on Maui after a nearly 8 hour flight from Chicago.  It was around 1 p.m. when we landed and we had to wait nearly an hour on our bags in the humid baggage claim area at the Kahului Airport.  After that, we had to go pick up our rental car at Hertz and that was another 45 minutes of waiting for our car.  We were tired and very hungry, so we took off toward the south shore of Maui, to Kihei to get something to eat.  I knew of a sushi place in Kihei and my wife seemed to agree that would be a good lunch to have - even at 3 p.m. (which was 8 p.m. body-time).  When we pulled up to the sushi place, we found that they didn't open until 4:30 p.m.  My wife looked across the parking lot and toward a small strip mall across the street to the south.  We saw what seemed to be a couple three places to eat over there and we ended up heading that direction.  After parking the car, we had our choice of what appeared to be an Irish pub, a sports bar and a tiki lounge.  I thought about checking the Irish pub out, but my wife - clearly the smartest of the two of us - said, "Hey, we're in Hawaii!  I want to go to a tiki bar!"  And that's how we ended up at the South Shore Tiki Lounge.   

The South Shore Tiki Lounge is in the Kalama Village shopping and restaurant complex across from Kalama Beach Park in Kihei.  (see map)   It's been around since 2003 when Gabriel Sallard started the place.  After an economic turn-down in 2008, Sallard ended up selling the restaurant to the husband and wife team of Mikhail and Alma Tassi (pictured at right - picture courtesy Pacific Business Journal).  

The Tassi's changed a few things up with the food offerings and they now get just about everything they serve locally.  Much of the produce the use comes from an Upcountry Maui farm, seafood is selected daily from fishermen who bring in their catch, their beef comes from the Maui Cattle Co., and even buns and breads are baked locally for the South Shore Tiki Lounge.  They also offer vegan selections for those people who prefer to go meatless.  

We walked into the South Shore Tiki Lounge and were immediately greeted by a young lady behind the bar.  We told her that we just wanted to get something to eat and she invited us to sit outside on the lanai (patio).  The bar area is not big - it seats probably a couple dozen people, tops.  But the decor - complete with a thatch front to the overhang of the bar - was pure and simple South Seas in whole.  

The lanai area was significantly larger with a number of four-seater picnic tables scattered on a wooden floor. A local guitarist - Tom Conway - was setting up for the start of his two-hour set at 4 p.m. and a few of the locals were coming in to listen to him.  

We took an open table just about in the middle of the lanai and we were soon greeted by Nora, a petite young lady who was wearing a Chicago Blackhawks t-shirt.  She asked us what we wanted to have to drink and Cindy immediately ordered a mai-tai - the first of many both of us would be having during our return trip to Hawaii.   And this was a serious mai-tai - it was in a huge tiki schooner topped with pineapple slices and the required tiny umbrella.  

Before I left to go to Hawaii, I was talking with a friend of mine and we were wondering if my favorite beer in the whole world - Kona Brewing Co. Big Wave Golden Ale - tasted different on the islands than it did on the mainland.  Well, I was going to find out because on the wall in the lanai said that they had Big Wave on tap.  However, when I ordered it from Nora she told me that they didn't have any draft beer at that time.  "Something is wrong with our beer lines," she said.  "They've been acting up all day."  

Crap...  OK, well, I guess I won't find out if it tastes different just yet.  I told her that I'd just take a Big Swell IPA from the Maui Brewing Co., another place that we had visited on our previous visit to Maui.  (Click here to see the entry on the Maui Brewing Co.)  I forgot how good that beer was - the closest it comes to Iowa is Colorado and I've had it on my last couple of visits out there.  But, quite frankly, at that point after getting up early, a long flight, delays at the airport and at the car rental company, any Hawaiian beer would have tasted great.  

We were looking through the menu and I really didn't want to get anything heavy as I figured we'd probably go out for a nicer dinner later that evening.  I was surprised to see they had pizzas at South Shore Tiki Lounge -  and they looked good, too, as a couple at a table over from us had gotten one.  But we had pizza the night before - Cindy made me take her to Pequod's when we were in Chicago to spend the night.  Plus, a pizza was more food than what I was looking for at that point.  

I thought about getting a burger, then I saw the Tropical Tacos - two soft shell tacos filled with a grilled fresh-caught fish and topped with shredded cabbage, cilantro, a mango salsa and finished off with a dollop of sour cream.  Cheddar cheese normally comes with the Tropical Tacos, but I asked Nora to have the kitchen hold the cheese.  A large scoop of jasmine rice came with the tacos.  The tacos were light, the fish was fresh and the mango salsa helped pull all the tastes together.  These were very good tacos.  

Cindy ended up getting the Kalua pork nachos.  The tortilla chips are made in-house and it was topped with pretty much the same stuff that came on my tacos including melted cheddar cheese and jalapeño slices.  I love good Kalua pork - traditional Kalua pork is a whole pig  cooked in a hole in the ground over Koa wood, with the pork seasoned with sea salt and covered in banana leaves.  But you can find recipes to replicate the taste of Kalua pork in a home pressure cooker or crock pot.  The Kalua pork they had on the nachos had the deliciously smoky flavor to it.  

We got to talking to Nora and asking her about her Black Hawks t-shirt and she said that she grew up in Chicago.  When we told her that we had just flown in from Chicago and that we had Pequod's the night before, she gasped and said, "Oh, my gosh!  Peqoud's!  I'm so jealous.  I love that place."  She said that she used to work at Pizano's in the Chicago area, but that the Pequod's in Morton Grove was her favorite.  

During our previous stint on Hawaii and on Maui six years ago, we found a lot of the people we interacted with who worked at restaurants had an interesting story as to how they ended up in Hawaii.  Nora told us that she and her husband honeymooned on Kauai and they ended up moving there.  Her husband was a chef and they ended up moving to Maui when he became the chef at a resort just down the road.  "That's how we ended up here enjoying the weather year round rather than having to endure those brutal winters in Chicago," she said in an almost cheerful tone.  

I wanted to go back at some point to the South Shore Tiki Lounge, mainly to sit at the bar and enjoy a mai tai or two (or three).  But we never got the chance.  Still, the light lunch that we had, the monster mai tai my wife enjoyed, and the service we received were all very good.  The fish tacos were the perfect mix of tropical tastes, the Kalua pork nachos were tasty as well.  This lunch was a spot-hitter.  The South Shore Tiki Lounge has won many local awards for being the most favorite bar on Maui.  It suddenly became my most favorite bar on Maui, too. 

Stefano's Grill - Orlando

While down in Orlando for a trade show earlier this year, I was in the mood for Italian and John wanted a steak.  We compromised and asked the concierge at the hotel where a good Italian steakhouse would be in the area.  She suggested a place called Stefano's Grill near the Restaurant Row area of Orlando in the Marketplace at Dr. Phillips shopping and entertainment complex.  (see map)  It was a 15 minute drive from our hotel to Stefano's Grill.  

Stefano Tedeschi grew up in Pittsburgh, a huge Pittsburgh Steelers fan and the son of a pizza shop owner.   He worked in his family's pizza joint until he graduated from high school, then he joined the Marines.  After his stint was over, he decided that he wanted to get back into the restaurant business, but on a level higher than just making pizza.  

He traveled to Italy to study under some of the top chefs in that country.  He was in Italy for a number of years working in restaurants honing his skills in the kitchen.  In the mid-90's, Tedeschi was named a member of L’Order International des Disciples d’Auguste Escoffier, an organization located in Nice, France that was named in honor of the French Chef Georges Auguste Escoffier.  Auguste Escoffier was a late 19th/early 20th century chef and culinary writer who popularized French cooking, updating many traditional recipes for more modern tastes of the day.   Tedeschi was the first American to be named as a member of the organization which promotes culinary excellence.  

Stefano Tedeschi eventually moved back to the Pittsburgh area and his life became somewhat of a whirlwind. He developed a local cooking show that was seen in Pittsburgh (his production company - Stuffed Pepper Entertainment - unsuccessfully tried to get it picked up by The Food Network) and he became known to thousands as "Chef Steff".  In the meantime, he was involved with the venerable Cross Keys Inn, a Pittsburgh dining institution.  He then went on to open Stefano's Ristorante in O'Hara Township northeast of downtown Pittsburgh.  

It was when he was running Stefano's Ristorante, a number of Pittsburgh Steelers would come into his restaurant.  He came up with the idea of a new cooking show called "Food and Football" that was produced by a local Pittsburgh station and shown on some stations that formed the old United Paramount Network (UPN).  It featured a number of football players with a focus on nutritional offerings with the athlete in mind, as well as fun recipes for the family.  Chef Steff suddenly became "The Sports Chef" and was featured on Sunday NFL Countdown on ESPN, The Best Damn Sports Show Period that ran for 8 years on Fox, and also on Food Finds which ran for 7 seasons on The Food Network   Stefano Tedeschi was soon rubbing elbows with the likes of celebrities such as Elle MacPherson, the late James Gandolfini, Kevin Pollak and Jay Mohr, as well as with sports figures such as Bill Cowher, Ben Rothlisberger, Marshall Faulk and Larry Fitzgerald.  

Pictured right - Stefano "Chef Steff" Tedeschi with his wife, Mary.  

Tedeschi and his business partner, Patrick Amore, opened a new restaurant - Chef Steff's Ristorante - at the Galleria at Pittsburgh Mills shopping complex on the far northeast side of Pittsburgh.  It soon closed in 2007 under some unpleasant dealings with the mall's ownership.  Needing a change of scenery, Tedeschi moved to Amore's hometown of Orlando and the two soon opened Stefano's Italian Grill in the Windermere area on the west side of Orlando.  In 2011, it was named by the Orlando Sentinal as the best new restaurant in the area.  

In late 2014, Stefano's Grill closed in Windermere and moved south into a new location in the Dr. Phillips area of Orlando opening in early 2015.  Near the old Stefano's location in Windermere, the Tedeschi's opened Caprino's Italian, a casual Italian restaurant that specializes in pizza and traditional Italian favorites.  

The concierge at the hotel had made reservations for us at Stefano's and we were promptly seated when we arrived.  The dining area featured a small bar and was elegant in an upscale Italian steakhouse kind of way.  After we were given menus, our server for the evening - Joey - came over to greet us.  He took our drink orders - I got a Sierra Nevada pale ale to start out, but I got a glass of an Argentinian malbec later on.  

The menu at Stefano's Grill features hand cut steaks, fresh seafood, pasta dishes, flat bread's made with imported flour from Italy, and one of the largest gluten free menus in Orlando.   I was thinking of getting a salad to start off with and I ordered up the burrata cheese with greens in a balsamic vinaigrette.  Burrata is a creamy mozzarella-style cheese where the mozzarella has been formed into a pouch, then a soft-stringy curd and cream are poured in to settle.  It has a softer consistency than mozzarella and it was very tasty.  

John was in the mood for the house-made Italian sausage appetizer that was topped with grilled onions and sweet red peppers.  He gave me a bite of the sausage and it had a great spicy and savory taste to the meat.  I remarked that the sausage would have tasted good on a pizza.

When I went into Stefano's Grill, I was in the mood for pasta.  But then I got to see the full menu and I suddenly became torn between a couple three items.  The Bolognese Rigatoni was calling my name - ground beef in a tomato cream sauce with rigatoni pasta.  But then I saw the Lobster Ravioli - chunks of fresh lobster folded into house-made ravioli and served in a creamy tomato basil shrimp sauce.  And they had veal osso bucco on the menu that night, as well.  Oh, man.  I was going in a lot of different directions. 

I ended up getting the veal marsala.  Our server Joey, who was doing a great job of explaining items on the menu to us and making suggestions along the way, told me that I really should get the veal marsala with the fresh shrimp toppings.  He did such a good job of selling it that I couldn't say no.  

John ended up getting the 10 ounce bacon-wrapped filet that he ordered medium-rare.  It came with what I believe was a horseradish sauce that he slathered across the top.  After his first bite, he said, "Oh, boy.  This is perfect.  This is exactly what I was looking for tonight."  

Having gone into the restaurant bent on getting pasta, I couldn't have been more happy with my veal marsala and shrimp.  Fresh chopped mushrooms were swimming in the sweet marsala wine sauce with the veal and shrimp.  I'd never had shrimp in a marsala sauce before and it turned out that Joey was spot on with his recommendation.  The combination of the sweet sauce with the shrimp were heavenly.  The veal was tender and very easy to cut with a fork.  It was a lot of food and it was very rich.  This was an outstanding meal.  

After we finished our meals, Joey brought over the dessert menu.  I was pretty full from my meal, but John talked me into sharing some cannoli's with him.  These were absolutely decadent in their taste.  The pastry shells were light and flaky, the cream filling was rich and, well, creamy, and the drizzled chocolate sauce gave the cannoli's a sweet taste.  By the time we finished the last cannoli, I was officially stuffed.

I got up to use the restroom and when I got back Mary Tedeschi was at the table talking with John.  He gets a kick out of telling restaurants that "a world famous blogger" is dining with them that evening and he was pouring it on thick describing my blog to Mary.  She was appreciative that we stopped in and wondered how I liked my meal.  I said, "Don't worry.  You guys will get a nice write up from me."  She was outgoing and effervescent, lingering to talk with us for almost 10 minutes learning more about where we were from, what we were doing in Orlando, how we found Stefano's, etc., etc.  

The meal I had at Stefano's was top-notch.  The veal marsala with the shrimp was simply outstanding.  The burrata cheese and greens salad was a great starter.  And even though I was overly stuffed at the end of such a rich meal, the cannoli's that closed out the dinner were a wonderful end to an exquisite meal.  My colleague simply loved his steak and he thought the house-made Italian sausage with onions and peppers for an appetizer were very good, as well.  The service was outstanding and helpful, the atmosphere was elegant without a bit of pretension, and even talking with Mary Tedeschi was a nice treat after the meal.  Stefano's Grill was a great recommendation and one that I would heartily recommend if you're ever in Orlando.  

La Finca - Davenport, IA

I've said many times before that the Quad Cities is blessed to have a number of good to great Mexican food places in the area.  Two guys even had a website called QC Mexican Food (it's dormant now, but there's still some information on the site) that highlighted the Mexican restaurants around the area.  They made a Top Ten list of their favorite places and their second place restaurant was a place that I hadn't been to before until I had a lunch date with a friend of mine earlier this year - La Finca.  It turns out that my wife had been there before and she liked the place.  On a rainy Sunday evening when I couldn't cook on the Weber grill, we decided to go down to La Finca for some tacos.  

The Negrete Family - Erica, Rafael and Ofelia - are listed as the owners of La Finca (which translates into "the farm") which has been in business since 2008.  The place is a combination Mexican grocery store/restaurant.  Some of the better Mexican restaurants I've eaten at are part of a grocery store.  

La Finca is located on West 2nd Street just west of the downtown area of Davenport, across from the main post office for the city and just west of the Centennial Bridge.  (see map)  There was plenty of parking on the street in front of when we went there around 6:30 p.m. that evening.  

The restaurant part of La Finca isn't very fancy.  The dining area is well lit and features bright orange walls with a series of booths that look like they were salvaged out of an old 70's-style fast food restaurant.  My wife remarked that she thought the place was sort of dirty pointing out food on the floor, tables that needed wiped off, and just a sort of dusty atmosphere.  They don't serve liquor at La Finca, so a margarita is out of the question.  But they do sell Mexican beers and Jarritos flavored soda pop if you want a liquid taste of Mexico with your meal.  

The grocery store is on the other side of the wall from the dining area.  It featured a full meat counter that included house-made chorizo and other Mexican-centric meats.   They had fruits and vegetables, imported Mexican food brands, and even plants such as aloe.  La Finca is also known for their house-made pork rinds.  

Depending upon the day - or even the time of day - you may get wait service in the restaurant at La Finca.  But most people order at the counter, like we did that evening.  They have a menu board, but they also have a number of handwritten signs touting the type of tacos they have, as well as their burritos and any specials they may have.  We ordered up some tacos and found a seat in the dining area.

We were brought out a basket of warm fresh tortilla chips and some thick red salsa.  The chips were great and the salsa had a good amount of cilantro and onion mixed in.  

I got a couple carnitas tacos and a carne asada taco that was served Mexican style with ample amounts onions and cilantro on the meat, with lime wedges served on the side.  I asked for a salsa verde to be served with the tacos and I poured some of that onto my tacos.  I thought the carnitas tacos were fabulous - the moist and tender chopped pork had a bit of a spicy seasoning to them, but it wasn't overpowering at all.  The carne asada taco was also good, but the beef was a bit overdone and dried out compared to the carnitas.  Still, it was a pretty good taco.  The flavorful green salsa helped out with the overall taste of my tacos.  

My wife went with a couple chicken tacos.  She found the chicken to be a little overcooked and dry to the taste.  She added some of the salsa verde to her tacos to help give them a little more flavor but she was sort of disappointed in the tacos.  "I've had better tacos here in the past," she told me.  "I can think of three other places I'd go to for tacos before I'd come back here."  

The tacos I had at La Finca, I thought, were pretty good.  The carnitas tacos were very good, while the carne asada taco was good.  My wife wasn't too enamored with her chicken tacos and she thought the dining area needed to be cleaned up.  Looking past that, I thought La Finca did a good job for Mexican-style tacos.  Just don't expect it to be a fancy place that serves a lot of different types of Mexican food.  

Dietrich's Modern German Cuisine and Biergarten - Lee's Summit, MO

While in Kansas City earlier this spring, I was looking for something that was more of a "stick-to-your-ribs" type of meal.  I was staying out in Lee's Summit on the far southeast side of the city and it turned out that there was a German restaurant not far from my hotel.  I decided to head over to Dietrich's Modern German Cuisine and Biergarten for dinner that evening.  (The name of the restaurant is quit a mouthful, so I'm just going to shorten it to Dietrich's for this post.)  

Randy Schulenberg was an Internet Technology Engineer in the Kansas City area with a son - Craig - who was working as a sous chef in an area restaurant.  Randy Schulenberg's grandfather - Dietrich Schulenberg - had emigrated to the U.S. in 1874 and the family had a number of old world German recipes that had been passed down through generations.  Randy Schulenberg took a look around Kansas City and saw that there were a half-dozen German restaurants in the area, but none were near Lee's Summit.  Along with his wife Becky, who was an accountant, the Schulenberg's decided to make a mid-life switch and get into the restaurant business.  Their son was brought into the plan to have him run the kitchen using modern and traditional German recipes.  

After finding a spot in Lee's Summit in what was the former Monetti's Italian restaurant, the Dietrich's set out to turn the space into what they called sort of a distressed old-world castle motif.  They installed stone hearths and walls, and put in an indoor-outdoor biergarten with seating out in front of the place inside a tall wrought iron fence.  The Schulenberg's opened Dietrich's in August of 2014.  

The indoor bar area features a small stage for live music, primarily during the weekends and festival times.  Beers on tap include many different varieties from the KC Bier Company, a small German-style brewery that has been in business for a little over two years.  

Helping get things in order for the Schulenberg's menu was Martin Heuser, the owner/chef for Affäre, an upscale modern German cuisine restaurant in Kansas City.  Heuser mentored Craig Schulenberg in the ways of modern German cooking while helping fine tune some of the recipes the Schulenberg's were going to use in their restaurant.  The connection between the Schulenberg's and Heuser continues today as the family buys their bratwurst from Affäre, basically because Craig Schulenberg feels that Heuser's house-made bratwurst are the best he's ever tasted.  

It was just after 7 p.m. when I pulled up in front of Dietrich's located in a strip center of three or four restaurants along N.E. Douglas in Lee's Summit.  (see map)  I was met by a young guy by the name of Kurt who may have been the front of house manager.   He showed me to a booth in the main dining room and gave me a menu.  He told me that my waitress for the evening - and I didn't get her name - was brand new and it was her first day on the job, so he would be helping her out.  I took a look at the beer list and ordered up a beer that it turned out they were out of.  Kurt suggested a German helles (a light pilsner) from the Kansas City Bier Co.  

The menu isn't all that extensive at Dietrich's - they featured such German favorites as schnitzel, sauerbraten short ribs, beef rouladen, and hendl - a slow-roasted chicken seasoned with spices.  The main entrees also included an oven-roasted trout and a beer-battered tilapia.   Sides include spaetzle, German potato salad, mixed vegetables, and kartoffel - mashed potatoes with cabbage.

While I was looking through the menu, my waitress brought out a small loaf of house-baked bread.  It was cut into slices and served with some butter.  The bread was fabulous - warm, spongy and tasty.  I was worried about eating too much of it so it would spoil my appetite.  

Because the menu was so short, I pretty much knew I was going to get either the veal schnitzel or the sauerbraten.  It was a mental coin flip in my head when it came time to order and I got the sauerbraten.  It was marinated in a ginger and juniper for over 24 hours, then slow roasted and pulled from the bone.  The sauerbraten was served with a side of kroppkakor - dumplings stuffed with bacon.  And I got a choice of one side, so I went with the red cabbage.  

The sauerbraten was fine, not the best I've had, but it was good for what it was.  It seemed to be a little underwhelming in taste, but I was still happy I got it.  The kroppkakor dumpling was very good, as was the the red cabbage.  Thankfully, I had some bread left over to sop up some of the sauce that came with the sauerbraten.  There was a lot of food on the plate, much more than I could finish on this visit.  

For being new on the job, my waitress did a fine job.  I would describe her as a middle-aged woman who probably had extensive experience as a waitress prior to her first day at Dietrich's.  She did a fine job of checking up with me and taking care of me that evening.  

My meal at Dietrich's was fine.  It wasn't the best German food I've ever had, but it was still fine for what it was.  The sauerbraten was just all right, but the bacon-filled dumplings were very good, as was the red cabbage.  But the highlight was the great house-made bread they served before the meal.  My server - for being new on the job - did a good job as I'm guessing she had restaurant experience prior to her coming to Dietrich's.  My overall experience at Dietrich's was pleasant and I was happy I gave the place a try.  

Le Comptoir d'Ainay - Lyon, France

Our last night in Lyon, the upper management from the factory we were visiting invited us out to dinner.  The CEO, the director of products, and the international sales manager met our small group at a place not too far from our hotel, a little restaurant by the name of Le Comptoir d'Ainay.  (The Counter of Ainay)  We had eaten at some wonderful restaurants during our stay in France and we knew going in this would be no exception.  

Le Comptior d'Ainay has been in business for 5 years, owned by Claire Dreyer, with her kitchen headed by Marseilles native Chef Romain Renard who once worked under the renowned New York chef Daniel Boulud.   The restaurant is located in what is known as the Ainay section of Lyon which is known for their antique shops in the area.  The centerpiece of the neighborhood is the Basilica of Saint-Martin d'Ainay, a Romanesque church where parts of the building date back to the 11th century.  It was about a 15 minute walk from our hotel through Place Bellecour to Le Comptior d'Ainay on a cool, moist night.  (see map) 

Le Comptoir d'Ainay is a small, narrow restaurant with a small bar up toward the front of the restaurant.  We were seated along a wall with banquette bench seating.  The menu was in French on the wall above where we were seated.  Many of the items on the menu are selected based on their freshness and locality.  While it Le Comptoir d'Ainay had a somewhat upscale menu, I didn't feel that there was an ounce of pretentiousness with the staff.  

After getting three or four bottles of the Saint-Thomas red blend, we just started ordering up the food.  I started out with the foie gras ravioli - plump foie gras wrapped inside pillows of ravioli pasta and served in a beef broth with fresh parsley sprinkled on top.  These were just outstanding.  The foie gras was flavorful, but the broth gave it a bit of a salty and savory flavor.  Foie gras had upset my stomach earlier in the trip and I said that I wouldn't get it anymore.  But the foie gras ravioli was just too tempting to pass up and I'm glad I got them.

My colleague Francois was seated near me and he got the prawns topped with greens with sort of a guacamole spread with a passion fruit emulsion.  The presentation was superb and he said that the combination of the flavors with the guacamole, fresh greens and the prawns were outstanding.  The prawns and the foie gras ravioli were a popular choice.  Also on the starter menu were regular foie gras, an artichoke salad with prosciutto and parmesan cheese, and a salmon tartare.  

After a lemon and white wine aperitif to help stimulate our appetites, the main entrees showed up at the table. I got the Spanish wild pig shoulder served in a mushroom/brown gravy sauce.  New potatoes came with the pork shoulder.  The pork was slow-cooked, cut into thirds and topped with fresh parsley.  It was tender and had a great taste.  I was more than happy with my selection that evening.  

One of our hosts seated next to me got the duck breast placed on top of a bed of risotto topped with chips of parmesan and sprouts.  That, too, was a popular dish at the table.  The duck breast had been cut in half and pan fried.  I like duck, but it's almost too rich for me.  

The person on the other side of me got the shrimp cannelloni - two pasta shells stuffed with chopped shrimp and covered in a white wine sauce and topped with rosemary and parsley. The description of this by one of our guests who was translating the menu was mouthwatering.  I came about *this* close to getting this dish based on the description, but I was happy with my pork.      

My colleague Francois got the roasted lamb with mixed vegetables in a peppered brown sauce.  Lamb in Europe is better than lamb in the U.S., in my opinion, and this would have been a close third in my choices for dinner.  We traded pieces of my pork shoulder and Francois' lamb, and the bite of lamb I had was excellent.  He, too, thought the pork shoulder was very good.  "I almost got that," he told me.  "I was hoping someone would get it so I could get a bite of it!"  

My colleague Ian got the steak - a 250 gram (about 9 ounce) beef filet that also had new potatoes and a mushroom sauce like my pork shoulder.  Ian had three or four steaks while we were in France and he said this one was the best one of all that he had.  

The meal was very good, but we also had to get dessert.  I decided to break up my crème brulée routine by going with something that turned my head when it was mentioned - an orange cheesecake.  It came with a sugar crisp wafter with mint leaves embedded in the cheesecake.  Oh, God!  This was heavenly!  The cheesecake came with an orange emulsion that gave it a bit more of a citrus taste.  A couple times I stopped and shook my head side to side just taking in the unbelievable taste sensation of the orange cheesecake.  

My colleague Francois is big on dessert.  More than once we've waited on him to finish his dessert when everyone else was too full from dinner to eat a dessert.  This time, he got something that could only be described as two sugar crisp wafers with a lemon cream bedding in between.  

They also make their own ice cream at Le Comptoir d'Ainay and my colleague John got the lemon ice cream. It was more creamy than a sorbet.  I wanted to get all three of these desserts as I'm a sucker for anything lemon in a dessert.  But the orange cheesecake was one of the most memorable desserts I've ever had.  

Actually, the whole meal at Le Comptoir d'Ainay was quite memorable.  The Spanish wild pig shoulder was delicious, tender and full of flavor.  My foie gras ravioli was simply delectable and very interesting.  And the orange cheesecake with the citrus sauce was off the charts great.  Everyone raved about their meal and we were very thankful to our hosts for treating us to such a culinary experience. The overall meal I had at Le Comptoir d'Ainay was simply one of the finest meals I've had - ever.  

 

 

Rub's Backcountry Smokehouse - Chicago, IL

I like to get barbecue for one of my big dealers in the Chicago area from time to time they will have barbecue delivered from a joint that's not too far from their place, Rub's Backcountry Smokehouse. I've always thought their barbecue was very good and I wanted to go directly to the source at some point to give it a try fresh out of the kitchen.  I finally had a chance to go to Rub's on a warm afternoon on a recent visit to Chicago.  

The man behind Rub's is Jared Leonard, a former ski-bum who was living in Vail, CO.   He befriended some guys from Alabama who were selling barbecue out of a food truck near the ski slopes.  Leonard was hooked and he began to smoke meats for his friends.  He got pretty good at it - or so he thought.    

He eventually moved to Chicago and became an on-line stock trader.  But on weekends in the summer, he was manning a smoker at any number street festivals around the greater Chicagoland area.  After awhile, he decided to change vocations and turned in his stock trading job to run a barbecue place full time.  He and his wife Amanda found a small place on Lunt Ave. off of Western Ave. in the West Rogers Park neighborhood, installed a gas smoker behind the place that was surrounded with a chain link fence and barbed-wire at the top of the fence, and opened the doors to his barbecue joint six years ago.  

Pictured right - Jared Leonard

One of his first customers was Chicago barbecue guru, Gary Wiviott.  Wiviott was doing reviews of barbecue places for the Chicago Reader, a local free weekly newspaper, and he thought that Leonard's barbecue was, well, not that great.  But Wiviott saw potential in the young guy's barbecue.  Leonard admittedly didn't know the first thing about the "low and slow" cooking method using wood that Wiviott championed in his book "Low & Slow" that he co-wrote with Colleen Rush.  But he dove deep into learning the cooking technique, so much so that he ended up hosting a number of classes teaching the low and slow smoking method to backyard barbecue enthusiasts.  Rub's Backcountry Smokehouse Cooking Classes teaches "Barbecue 101" which dissects regional barbecue styles, the types of wood to use in smoking, the time and temperature needed for different meats, and what types of rubs and sauces to use.  The three-hour class costs $120 per person and comes with tastings and a diploma given to each attendee at the end of the session.  Sessions are usually held on Friday and Saturday, and Leonard has taught over 500 classes over the years.  Leonard also has a barbecue supply shop at Rub's where people can pick up wood, rubs, sauces and even meats to make their own barbecue at home.  

Gary Wiviott knew what he was talking about when he said he saw a lot of potential in Leonard after his initial visit six years ago.  Wiviott teamed with Jared Leonard to found the Windy City BBQ Classic, the only Kansas City Barbecue Society-sanctioned barbecue event in the Chicago area.  The event doesn't allow gas or electric smokers - it's a wood only event.  Wiviott and Leonard started the event in 2013, but the event was suspended for this year as they are going through a reorganization of the event.  The organizers hope to have another event next year.

As Leonard's classes grew in popularity, so did his little restaurant.  A year after opening, Leonard was able to move both of his wood smokers into a small store front that had opened up around the corner on Western Ave.  And in 2013 when the space next to the smokehouse opened up, he was able to move his restaurant to the spot effectively giving the restaurant double the seating space.  Amanda Leonard runs the catering operation of Rub's Backcountry Smokehouse while raising the Leonard's two children.  

In May of this year, the Leonard's opened a second restaurant - The Budlong - a Nashville-hot style chicken eatery on N. Broadway in the Lakeview neighborhood.  The restaurant is named after the family who used to own 500 acres of farmland where modern day Lincoln Square is located.  Eventually, Jared Leonard would like to have a larger Rub's Backcountry Smokehouse location complete with a brewpub and a stage for live music.   

When the Leonard's opened Rub's six years ago, a number of people were puzzled by their location of a barbecue restaurant.  They were on the southern edge of a Hasidic Jewish neighborhood with a number of kosher restaurants and grocery stores north of them at the corner of Western and Touhy.  To the south around the corner of Western and Devon, a large South Asian population lived with a number of Indian restaurants and grocery stores.  It turned out that being the only place of its kind in the area was a plus for Rub's.  It stood out against the other restaurants in the area.  

I found a parking spot just south of Rub's along Western Ave. (see map)  I went into the small store front to see what it was all about.  And it's none too big.  There's a handful of wooden tables with banquette bench seating along the wall with a picnic table along one wall.  State flags from the likes of Texas, South Carolina and North Carolina - all barbecue hot spots - were hung on the brick wall.  

I took a table along the wall with the banquette bench seats and the young lady who seated me gave me the album cover of Simple Dreams by Linda Ronstadt.  I was a little confused at first, but opening the cover was the menu for Rub's.  It turned out that all the menus were inside double  record album covers (or single albums that were inside double covers).  I thought it was a pretty cool way to show the menu's off.  

The first thing I discovered is that Rub's doesn't serve alcohol, but is a BYOB place.  That wasn't that big of a deal for me, but I do like a cold beer with my barbecue.  On the table, however, were fresh house-made dill pickle slices.  They were very good.  

Rub's features meaty St. Louis-style ribs, pulled pork, sliced brisket, pulled chicken and smoked sausage.  Their sides - made fresh every day - feature truffled mac & cheese, giardiniera cole slaw, meaty baked beans and Rub's signature custard-filled cornbread.  They also have a ground brisket burger on the menu, a pork or chicken panini sandwich, a reuben made with pulled pork, and the brisket melt with beef brisket topped with provolone cheese.  

As I'm wont to do when I try a barbecue joint for the first time, I like to try at least a couple different meats - sometimes three if I can also get a couple ribs.  Rub's had a Big Guy's Meal with 1/4 pound each of the pulled pork, pulled chicken and brisket slices along with three rib bones.  That seemed like a lot of food for me on that visit, so I ended up getting the 1/2 + 1/2 platter with pulled pork and sliced brisket - a quarter pound of each.  Cole slaw came on the side along with smoked kettle chips - there's no fryer at Rub's.  But I also wanted to try their baked beans, so I got a side of those, as well.

It wasn't long before the food was brought out to me.  The brisket slices and the pulled pork nearly filled the plate - it seemed like it was more than a 1/4 pound each.  A fresh-baked bun came with the platter in case you wanted to make a sandwich.  

They had four different types of barbecue sauce on the table at Rub's - a smoked jalapeño that had a bit of a back bite in taste, a smoky sweet sauce that I thought was just all right, and a Carolina mustard sauce that I didn't try.  However, I was happy to see that they had their citrus chipotle sauce on the table.  I'd had that before when I'd had barbecue brought in to my dealer and it is just outstanding.  The smoky spiciness of the chipotle side of the sauce is noticeable, but is cut back at the end of the taste by a touch of the sweet citrus.  It was, by far, the best of the sauces they had at Rub's.  

The brisket was tender with a hint of a smoky flavor.  The pulled pork was moist and also a bit smoky in taste, but it wasn't overpowering to the overall flavor of the pork.  I wasn't certain what I liked better - both were outstanding.  

But the baked beans were off the hook excellent.  They featured three different types of beans and were mixed with smoked pork, sausage and beef chunks along with chopped green peppers.  I added a bit of the citrus chipotle sauce, even though they didn't really need it.  The beans were so good that I finished all of them without even touching the smoked kettle fries or even opening the container of cole slaw.  

I was going to take a picture of the front of Rub's, but a fierce thunderstorm had begun - complete with hail - when I was in the restaurant.  I needed to get to my next appointment and I made a mad dash to the car instead of stopping to get a picture of the outside of the restaurant.  I figured that I could get the picture on my next visit and put it in the entry.  

And there will be a next visit to Rub's.  Having the barbecue catered in and having it taste wonderful is one thing, getting it fresh out of the kitchen is another.  Everything I had at Rub's was very good to excellent.  I enjoyed but the sliced brisket and the pulled pork, but the meaty baked beans were outstanding as was their excellent citrus chipotle barbecue sauce.  Jared Leonard has a great little place going here and he's figured out the true ways of low and slow barbecuing with wood.  Either if you get it catered for 35 or have it in-house - Rub's is outstanding barbecue.

Big Fin Seafood Kitchen - Orlando

During a trade show in the Orlando area earlier this year, my colleague John and I decided to go out and get some real seafood at a real seafood restaurant.  The concierge at our hotel directed us to what she said was one of her favorite places - Big Fin Seafood Kitchen.  She said it was along Orlando's "Restaurant Row" on Sand Lake Rd. (see map)  We decided to make the trek over to Big Fin for some seafood.  

Bobby Moore got his start in the restaurant business when he opened his first restaurant at the age of 20.  He took an older rundown tavern and, with the help of his mother Marge, turned it into his first restaurant - Keg-a-Brew - on the east side of Detroit in 1971.  The little tavern/restaurant was a big hit and Moore parlayed his success with his love for high-speed boat racing in his second restaurant, The Shipping Channel Restaurant and Marina.  The inside of the restaurant featured seating in the wells of high-speed boat frames - there were originally 10 boat wells with 110 seats in the restaurant, but it eventually grew to 50 boat wells with 400 total seats.  

Moore then bought the St. Clair Shores location of Pat O'Grady's - a landmark restaurant in the Detroit area - and turned it into Bobby Moore's Blind Fish, a high-end seafood/steakhouse.  The restaurant featured a six-pound cut of prime rib called "the Elephant's Cut".  It was so named because of Moore's interest in training elephants, one of his indulgences that he enjoyed along with speed boat racing.  Moore bought his first elephant in 1982 and trained under one of the top elephant trainers of the day, Robert "Smoky" Jones.  Moore's herd of elephants eventually grew to 13 and they were hired by the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus for some tours.  

After selling his herd of elephants in the early 90's, he opened a new themed-restaurant - Race Rock - in the suburbs of Detroit.  Moore teamed with a number of race drivers including Mario and Michael Andretti, Richard and Kyle Petty, Rusty Wallace and Jeff Gordon to open the racing-themed restaurant.  The decor of the place was filled with tons of racing memorabilia, televisions that showed races of all types non-stop, and featured basic bar food like burgers and pizza.  In 1996, he closed the Detroit Race Rock and moved his collection to a new Race Rock location in Orlando.  The Orlando Race Rock was a huge hit with tourists as it included a race-used car from Jeff Gordon, race suits worn by Dale Earnhardt, and one of the original "Big Foot" monster trucks built by Bob Chandler.  (Moore closed Race Rock in 2007 and sold off the vast majority of his memorabilia at auction.)   

Bobby Moore also was in the news for a not so savory situation - his Blind Fish restaurant, then known as Bobby Moore's Steakhouse - caught fire in September of 1997.  A subsequent investigation turned up that Moore was involved in the fire, as well as racketeering and other illegal activities.  However, he was cleared of all charges by a three-judge panel two years later.  

Moore opened a new restaurant in Winter Park, FL - Beluga - in 2006.  It was an upscale seafood restaurant that was named "Orlando's Best New Restaurant" that year and garnered "Best Seafood in Orlando" a year later.   Moore was slated to open a second Beluga location along Sand Lake Road in the Dellagio Town Center, but the original Beluga abruptly closed in early May of 2009.  

In the meantime, Moore partnered with English businessman and venture capitalist John Bonner to start Big Fin, located in the upscale Dr. Phillips area of Orlando (the area is named after Dr. Philip Phillips who was the first person to mass-produce orange juice from oranges which came from his 5000 acre citrus grove).  Big Fin opened in early December of 2009 and has garnered numerous awards during its current run.  Executive Chef James Slattery is a veteran in the restaurant industry who worked for celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse and  was also the executive chef at Circa in nearby Winter Park before being hired by Moore and Bonner to run the kitchen at Big Fin when it opened.  Many of the staff members who worked for Moore at both Beluga and Race Rock made the move to Big Fin.  

It was a 15 minute drive from our hotel to Big Fin.  Valets were available to take care of parking for us.  The concierge at the hotel had made a reservation for us and we were seated as soon as we checked in.  The dining room was spacious and elegant with subdued lighting.  The room had sort of a red hue thanks in part to a lighted sign that said "Fresh Seafood" that was on a slow-spinning metal globe hanging in the middle of the room.  After we were seated and given menus, our server for the evening Jordan came by to greet us and take our drinks order.  I ordered up a High Stepper IPA from the Crooked Can Brewery in Winter Park.  

When you come into the entry way of the restaurant there is a display case full of iced down seafood that included crab legs, shrimp and oysters.  It was a mouth-watering introduction to the fresh seafood that is available at Big Fin.

They had a number of tasty appetizers including calamari, shrimp cocktail, and even fried alligator served with a remoulade sauce.  They even had sushi as either a main meal or as an appetizer.  But we ordered up a dozen of the Malpeque oysters for an opener.  They were big and meaty with a slight fishy taste to them.  But doctoring them up with some lemon juice, fresh ground horseradish and Tabasco sauce gave the oysters a great overall taste.  These were some of the meatiest oysters I've ever had.  

I knew I wanted seafood that evening, but I wasn't exactly certain what I was looking for.  At the top of the seafood menu they had a 14-ounce center-cut swordfish filet - they called it the filet mignon of swordfish.  It was blackened and grilled, served with a house-made sauce and served along with asparagus and garlic mashed potatoes.  I think I quit looking at the rest of the menu after that.   

My colleague John went with Big Fin's "famous" fish and chips - battered fish filets served with fries and a side of cole slaw.  He said the fish was delicious. The batter was light and the fish was moist and tasty.  

My swordfish filet was very good.  It was a huge cut of swordfish and it was a little tough on the outer side due to the blackening, but it was tender and flavorful in the center of the cut.  The blackening spices gave it a little bit of a spicy bite that I like.  The garlic mashed potatoes were pretty pedestrian, as was the asparagus.  But the swordfish filet was very good, so I concentrated on trying to finish that.

Jordan tried to entice us with the dessert menu, and while things like a slice of key lime pie or their signature dessert - a hot brownie with vanilla ice cream topped with caramel and pecans in a milk chocolate cup - sounded good, we both passed as were pretty stuffed from dinner.  I got what I wanted - a good seafood meal.

And the meal at Big Fin was good.  I wouldn't call it outstanding, but I thought my swordfish filet was very good.  My colleague liked his fish and chips, and the Malpeque oysters were some of the better ones I've had.  The service we received - sort of a tag team affair with another server helping our main waiter - was very good, as well.  There wasn't anything bad about the experience at Big Fin, other than it was a little pricey.  But we don't get fresh seafood in our neck of the woods like they get in Florida, so this was a nice treat for both of us.   

Don Juan's Restaurante - Chicago

Along and near Northwest Highway in the Edison Park neighborhood on the far northwest side of Chicago, there are a number of long established restaurants.  You can find steakhouses, Italian cuisine, seafood - even a small French-style bistro.  But the landmark restaurant in Edison Park may be a longtime favorite of many for Mexican food - Don Juan's Restaurante.  I've wanted to try Don Juan's for a long time and I finally got a chance when I stopped in for a late lunch one afternoon a few weeks ago.  

Maria Concannon (pronounced ken-CAN-non) was a teacher at a Montessori school and a part-time cook at a restaurant when she decided to go to culinary school to hone her skills.  After graduating from culinary school, she opened a small carry-out taqueria in a small tavern in Edison Park in August of 1983.  People loved her Mexican food so much that she decided to open a full-sized, sit-down restaurant just a block away.  A year after starting out in the restaurant business, she opened Don Juan's Restaurante at the corner of Northwest Highway and N. Oshkosh in Edison Park, the same building that the restaurant is in today.  (see map)

She was helped by her family in her restaurant and it turned out that her son Patrick was deeply bitten by the restaurant bug after he procured a job in the highly acclaimed Gordon restaurant in downtown Chicago in the mid-80's.  He then moved to Maui to be part of the opening of the then-brand new Westin Hotel on Kaanapali Beach working under Hans Loschl in the fine dining restaurant at the hotel.  After a couple three years, Patrick Concannon developed an urge to go to Europe and he found work at the acclaimed Provence La Bon Etape hotel and restaurant in the southern part of France.  

After spending a year in France, Concannon moved to San Francisco to work in the kitchen at the Westin St. Francis Hotel, then he moved on the Four Seasons Hotel (now the Island Hotel) in Newport Beach, CA.  Eventually, he moved back to Chicago to help the renowned Charlie Trotter in his eponymous restaurant as Trotter's sous chef.  

But the family business was calling his name and Patrick Concannon went to work as the head of the kitchen of his family's restaurant working along side his mother, his brother Jacob, and sister Josefa.  His influence of Asian and European cuisines mixed with the traditional Mexican flavors made Patrick Concannon one of the up and coming chefs in the Chicago area.  He used an idea from working at Charlie Trotter's to have a chef's table area - called Patricio's - off the kitchen at Don Juan's where he would make special Mexican-based meals combining American, Asian and European influences using locally grown seasonal foods.  

Patrick Concannon went on to open Fahrenheit restaurant in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago, then opened Osterio Ottima with Francesca's head honcho Scott Harris.  (I've eaten there and it's very good.  Click here to see the Road Tips entry on Osterio Ottimo.)  But wanting to do something true to his Mexican heritage in the far south suburbs, Concannon opened Mama Maria's, a taco and tequila bar on S. LaGrange Road in Orland Park next to Osterio Ottima, using a number of the family's Mexican recipes from Don Juan's.  

It was around 2:00 p.m. when I pulled up next Don Juan's.  I parked on Oshkosh near the door and went into the restaurant.  I was greeted by Maria Concannon at a stand in the bar area who, in turn, showed me to a table in the main dining room.  It was a nice open space with a series of booths toward the east side of the room, with a sort of curved wood-paneled ceiling in the middle of the room with tables below.  It actually reminded me more of a supper club than a Mexican restaurant.  She dropped off a menu and said very cheerily, "Enjoy your lunch!"  

Not much longer afterward, a young waiter brought out a basket of fresh made chips and a delicious salsa that had a bit of a smoky bite to the taste.  The chips and salsa were very good.  He asked me if I wanted anything to drink and I ordered up a Dos Equis Ambar that they had on tap.  

I wasn't certain what to get from the extensive menu they have at Don Juan's.  The menu will change seasonally as they try to procure the freshest ingredients.  Some of the things that caught my eye were the Tinga Poblana that featured two tacos (or tostadas) filled with braised pulled pork and a smoky sun-dried jalapeño sauce and finished with caramelized onions, chorizo black beans, queso fresco (cheese) and avocado slices.  The Pollo con Seis Chiles featured an Amish chicken breast that is rubbed with a six pepper paste and pan-fried.  The chile rellenos also caught my eye - you can get them stuffed with either ground beef, chicken or steak.  And going back to their original roots of selling tacos in a tavern a block away, they had a number of street tacos available including a breaded fish taco, a pork carnitas taco, a rock shrimp and bacon taco, and shredded pork tamale in a tomatillo salsa.   

I ended up getting the ground beef enchiladas with their verde sauce - a slightly spicy tomatillo sauce.  They had a lunch special where you could get two of them instead of the regular three that you would normally get.  The enchiladas were very good - the beef was slightly spicy as was the verde sauce.  The enchiladas were topped with plenty of cheese and came with small sides of rice, refried beans and a pico de gallo.  This was more than enough for a late lunch.  

As an added surprise, my server brought me out a flan for dessert.  At first I was a little confused and said that I didn't order it, but he told me that it came with the lunch special.  I haven't had a flan in a long time and this was light and sweet with a good custard, vanilla and caramel flavor.  It came with a small dollop of whipped cream and a raspberry.  Mexican desserts are pretty good, but I usually am too full to enjoy a treat after a good Mexican dinner.  But I was able to fully enjoy this surprise flan.

As I was finishing up, Maria Concannon came by to see how my lunch was.  I told her it was very good and it was the perfect size for a lunch.  I was asking her about the dining room as it didn't seem to be the decor of a typical Mexican restaurant.  She told me, "That's sort of why we did it this way."  She said that she didn't want Don Juan's to "be just another Mexican restaurant".   And that's reflected in the menu with the seasonal offerings.  

Maria said that they did the remodel in the dining room a few years ago, but that the outside of the restaurant was in dire need of some renovations.  "But the city has so many regulations that it makes it tough to do any exterior work to buildings," she told me.  "So, we're just letting it go for the time being."  

It's no wonder that Don Juan's Restaurante has been in business for over 30 years.  As Maria told me, it's not your typical Mexican restaurant using fresh and seasonally available ingredients in their food.  The beef enchiladas with the verde sauce were very good, complete with a slightly spicy taste to the sauce.  The chips and salsa were both fresh and tasty, but the flan was a nice - and tasty - surprise at the end of the meal.  The service was fine, the atmosphere was laid back, and my experience at Don Juan's told me that I will be back at some point.  There's just too many interesting things on their menu to just got there one time and get the full Don Juan's experience.  

Chabert et Fils - Lyon, France

Lyon has long been known as the gastronomic capital of France.  More Michelin-starred restaurants, per capita, are in Lyon than any other French city.   The city was the birthplace of the French Nouvelle Cuisine movement that was spearheaded by local chef Paul Bocuse and championed by other noted Lyonnais chefs such as Alain Chapel and Eugénie Brazier.  With over 2000 restaurants, Lyon is famous for its bouchons - restaurants that feature meat-heavy menus such as roast pork, duck, sausages and beef.  There's even a local association - L'Association de Défense des Bouchons Lyonnais (The Association for the Preservation of Lyonnais Bouchons) - that certifies restaurants as authentic bouchons.  On our first evening in Lyon during a recent trip to France, we went to one of nearly two dozen bouchons who annually receive the certification from the association - Chabert et Fils.  

Chabert et Fils (Chabert and Sons) is part of a four restaurant group that includes Aux Trois Cochons (The Three Pigs), Le Bouchon des Carnivores (basically a butcher shop/steakhouse), and Les 3C - a wine and coffee cafe.  The restaurants are owned by Jean-Pierre Gillin, a restaurateur for over 25 years in Lyon.  His daughter, Stephanie, and his son-in-law, Xavier Midroit, help with the day-to-day operations of the four restaurants.

Chabert et Fils is located in the heart of Lyon near the Place Bellecour, one of the largest public squares in Europe.  (see map)  Located on a peninsula between the Saône and the Rhône rivers, Place Bellecour is known to be the central most part of Lyon as the city's four main roads emanate from the square (all distances from Lyon start in the square) and is home to the a large Ferris wheel.  Interestingly, the 60 meter high (197 foot) Ferris wheel is only operational in the winter months.  It is dismantled in early March - not long after this picture was taken - and reinstalled in late November.   A number of shops and cafes are found in the buildings that ring the outdoor space. 

It was about a 10 minute walk from our hotel to Chabert et Fils on a beautiful and unseasonably warm evening with a full moon coming up in the eastern sky.  In the group were seven of my colleagues and one of the sales managers from our factory.  We had reservations for 7 p.m. and we were seated promptly in a back room along a long table.  We were each given menus and our host promptly ordered three bottles of Saint-Joseph, a hearty red wine from the northern Rhône wine region near Lyon.

 

Like many restaurants in the heart of Lyon, Chabert et Fils is not a large place.  It featured a number of interesting items on the walls and shelves - antique plates, marionettes (Guignol is a famous French marionette that first originated in Lyon, and the term is now used as the name of marionette shows in France), and old pictures of people and buildings.  It was cozy, to say the least.  

We started off the meal getting some opening appetizers - or entreés as they're shown on the menu.  This encompassed anything from salads, soups, beef and poultry dishes.  I like to try foie gras when I'm in France and they had a fresh house-made foie gras served with a fig chutney sauce and a piece of house-made gingerbread that was toasted.  I prefer grilled foie-gras more, but this was still so very good - and so very rich.  But as good as the foie gras was, the scrumptious fig purée was outstanding.  I spread it on the toasted gingerbread along with cuts of the foie gras.  The taste sensation was simply out of this world.  I could have easily made a full meal out of that. 

The colleague next to me got what was basically a poultry liver cake - slices of chicken liver that are baked in a formed cake tin with bread and other stuff.  It was served on top of lentils in a cream thyme sauce.  

My colleague across the table got this interesting opener of small macaroni noodles topped with a croissant with a chive cream cheese layer in between.   

A couple of my colleagues got what was basically a seafood bisque that came with toasted bread and sprinkled with fresh parsley on top.  The soup looked creamy and hearty.  

The salade Lyonnaise was also a popular choice with some of our guys.  It featured fresh lettuce greens topped with house-made croutons, chopped bacon (as in thick bacon) and was topped with a poached egg.  As much as I liked my foie gras, both the soup and the salad made me want to try both at some point in time.  

For our main course, I got the filét au poivre - a beef tenderloin filet in a pepper sauce with a side of au gratin potatoes.  The amount of potatoes they gave me, well, I knew I wouldn't be able to finish them.  I offered them up to other people at the table, many of whom happily took some samples.  The potatoes were crisp and cheesy, and tasted excellent.

The beef was a good sized filet that was swimming in the wonderful pepper sauce.  The filet was tender and had a good beef flavor that was enhanced by the sauce.  I was very happy with what I got.

My colleague next to me got the sirloin steak topped with some seasonings and served with a large side of garlic Lyonnaise potatoes.  (More on the potatoes in a bit.)  He said for a sirloin cut, the beef was pretty tender.  And there was a good sized chunk of meat, to boot.  

One of my colleagues went basic - he got the hamburger.  It wasn't just your basic burger, this was a Lyonnaise-style burger with beef mixed with sausage, topped with Saint-Marcellin cheese, bacon, pickled onions, Savora mustard, and fresh lettuce.  

The hit of the night at the table were the garlic Lyonnaise potatoes that a couple three guys got with their meals.  They, too, came on a large plate - more than what one person could easily eat.  And I'd have to say that they were better than my au gratin potatoes.  The garlic Lyonnaise potatoes were crisp on the outside and almost creamy on the inside.  

A couple of the guys got the beef filled ravioli dish that came with a red wine sauce.  One of the guys got a pork dish with a side of a rice and vegetable medley.  

Of course, with a French meal we have to do dessert.  And, of course, I had to get the crème brulée.  I'm sort of famous in our company for my love of crème brulée and it was a no brainer when I saw it on the dessert menu.  It was outstanding - creamy, sweet and, OH!  So, very rich!  

Above right is a chocolate fudge cake with a side of custard in a caramel sauce.  That looked unbelievably sinful.  They had 20 different desserts on the menu to choose from at Chabert et Fils including cheese or fruit desserts, prunes in red wine, and a rice pudding in either caramel or pink praline sauce.  For those of us who got dessert, we were all pretty happy.

And by the end of the meal, we were all pretty full.  It had been a long day of travel and I was ready to head to bed.  The walk back to the hotel was slow, savoring the outstanding meal that we had.  I didn't understand the concept of what an authentic bouchon was all about until having this wonderful meal at Chabert et Fils.  Actually, I don't know if I've ever had a bad meal all the times I've been in Lyon.  Being the gastronomic capital of France, the number of great restaurants in the city pretty much assure that you will be able to find an excellent meal anywhere in Lyon.  And the meal I had at Chabert et Fils was definitely another memorable one.  

 

 

Saigon Bistro - Davenport, IA

My wife and I have tried to broaden our culinary horizons over the past few months and Vietnamese food has come into the rotation of regular places we like to try.  A place that is about a five minute drive from our house in Davenport is a small place on 53rd Ave. by the name of Saigon Bistro.  On a recent cool and wet evening when neither of us wanted to cook at home, we went to Saigon Bistro.  (see map)

Generally, I'm able to easily find information on restaurants on the Internet - who owns them, history of the restaurant, etc.  But I couldn't find anything on the background of Saigon Bistro, other than they opened quietly in 2011.  Even local business web sites didn't list who the owner was.  So, going into our first visit to Saigon Bistro a few weeks before this particular visit, we didn't know much about the place.  

It turns out that their specialty is pho (pronounced "fuh"), the flavorful rice noodle broth Vietnamese soup that you can add beef strips, meatballs, chicken or seafood to and make it a full meal.  They have a number of pho dishes on the menu at Saigon Bistro, as well as vermicelli - rice noodles with shredded lettuce, shredded carrots, sliced cucumbers, mint leaves, and bean sprouts with either meat or seafood added - kabobs, grilled flank steak, and a number of rice plates with meat, vegetables or seafood that can be added.  They also have bento box meals and banh mi sandwiches on the menu at Saigon Bistro.   

Saigon Bistro is not that big of a place.  It's situated in the corner of a strip mall along 53rd Ave. and seats about 40 people.  We took a table along a short wall that sort of separates two small dining areas in the restaurant.  

I was sort of leaning toward getting the beef pho combo, but the pork vermicelli was looking pretty interesting, as well.  The pork egg noodle soup also sounded pretty good for a cool and misty evening.  And I thought about getting the beef with broccoli rice dish, but I usually like getting that at our favorite little Thai restaurant down the way from Saigon Bistro, Tantra Thai Bistro.  

Cindy wanted to try the spring rolls as an appetizer.  They featured steamed shrimp and steamed pork with vermicelli lettuce, bean sprouts and mint leaves wrapped in rice paper.  They were served with a soy sauce with some other stuff mixed in.  Didn't quite know what was in there, but it tasted good with the spring rolls.  The rolls were very good - there were lots of different flavors going on, but they all tasted good together.   

She got the Vermicelli with scallops for her dinner.   It featured a large bowl of a mixture of chopped veggies and rice noodles with medium sized scallops.  She declared it to be very good.  And there was a lot of it in her bowl, so much that she couldn't finish it all.

I got the beef combo pho with both the meatballs and the thin beef brisket slices.  The brisket slices were well done - as described on the menu - and they were a little tough to chew.  The meatballs were good sized and there were plenty of them in the pho.  And they tasted pretty darned good.  The broth was a little underwhelming compared to other pho's I've had, which - admittedly - hasn't been a lot.  But there was a side of Hoisin sauce that was delivered with the pho, so I used that to help with the overall flavor.  The one thing about it is that this was a large bowl of food for just $8.99, a great value from this small little Vietnamese restaurant.

We've now been to Saigon Bistro three or four times and while we're far from being Vietnamese food experts, the food is always good and flavorful.  And the amount of food we get versus the price is a great value.  The service we've had at Saigon Bistro has always been prompt and courteous, and they've always been accommodating to small requests.  While it's not fine dining, it's still a nice comfortable place to eat.