Road Tips

Tendermaid - Austin, MN

There are a number of loose beef meat sandwich places around Iowa and Minnesota.  People can get a pretty parochial view of the ones they like the best.  It seems that people in Ottumwa, IA feel the Canteen makes the best loose meat sandwiches, while those who grew up in Marshalltown, IA feel that Taylor's Maid-Rite is the best.  Then there are people - like me - who grew up in Newton, IA who think the ones at Mr. Dan's Sandwich Shop - the oldest continuous Maid-Rite diner in existence - are the best of the lot.  Well, there's a number of people who hail from Austin, MN who feel that the loose meat sandwiches from Tendermaid are the best in the world.  On a trip to Minnesota recently, I stopped into Tendermaid to see how good their loose meat sandwiches really are.  

Mildred Coffin grew up in Central Iowa near the town of LeGrand in the early 1900's in a home that had neither electricity or working plumbing.  After graduating from high school in 1928, she moved to nearby Marshalltown to work at a Woolworth's department store.  She met Jerry Thatcher in Marshalltown and the couple soon married.  But being that it was the height of the Great Depression, the two eked out a modest living in Marshalltown.

One of the more popular eateries at the time in Marshalltown was the aforementioned Taylor's Maid-Rite, started in 1928 by Don Taylor, a resident of Newton who liked the Maid-Rite shop there so much that he moved to Marshalltown to start his own.  The Thatcher's ate at Taylor's Maid-Rite many times over the years and as the economy was recovering in the late 30's, they decided to open their own Maid-Rite-style shop in another Midwestern town.

They looked at a handful of industrial towns in Iowa and Minnesota before deciding upon the Southern Minnesota city of Austin, home of Hormel Foods.  Jerry Thatcher diligently surveyed the downtown business climate, walking the streets of the city and counting cars at intersections before finding a spot that he felt would be highly visible with a high traffic count for both cars and pedestrians.   The Thatchers opened the Tendermaid Sandwich Shop in 1938, quickly becoming a social hub for Austin famous for their loose meat sandwiches and Mildred's pies.  The Thatcher's ended up running the Tendermaid for 40 years before selling the business in 1968 and retiring.  (Jerry Thatcher died a number of years ago, but Mildred lived to the grand old age of 101 before passing away in 2013.)  

The restaurant went through a number of owners over the next nearly 30 years before Gary and Sara White took over the little restaurant.  The White's were friends with Jerry and Mildred Thatcher's son, Bob, who lived in the same neighborhood.   When they took over in 1997, they didn't change much - other than adding some condiments to the mix.  They kept the place just about the same as it was when the Thatcher family had it for 40 years.  

One of the things that Sara White did implement was a food eating challenge where people had to consume 10 Tendermaid sandwiches, a bag of potato chips, an ice cream malt and 64 ounces of water in under 30 minutes.  In 1999, a young lady by the name of Amanda Dunning finished 10 Tendermaid sandwiches along with the chips, malt and water in 28 minutes.  That record stood for 13 years before Thomas Herrera finished the task in 23 minutes, but he consumed 11 of the Tendermaid's to take possession of the record.   

In September 2014, Ethan Teske (pictured right - photo courtesy Austin Daily Herald) made the trip from Mankato and devoured 12 Tendermaid's along with the water, chips and malt in 21 minutes.  That record was subsequently broken less than a year later by a St. Cloud man - Jeremiah Foster - who downed 13 of the Tendermaid sandwiches, along with the chips, malt and water.  Foster, who had partaken in over 80 food challenges to that point, finished the feat in 23 minutes.   

I wasn't going to be taking part in any food challenges on this day.  I just wanted to see how good their loose meat sandwiches were.  I found the Tendermaid in the same spot that Jerry Thatcher decreed would be the best spot for their little restaurant nearly 80 years ago at the corner of 4th Ave. NE and 2nd St. NE in downtown Austin.  (see map)  It was just before the lunch rush when I stopped in.  

And it was probably a good thing.  The Tendermaid is not very big.  In fact, it reminded me very much of the Canteen in Ottumwa.  It was a small rectangular counter with about a dozen seats.  There were just about six people in the place when I walked in including two young ladies sitting near me, one of whom was trying her first Tendermaid with her friend who was from Austin.  

The steaming bins were located in the center of the room between the counters.  These looked like the same bins used at the other places like the ones in Newton, Marshalltown and Ottumwa.  The steam was wafting away from the meat in the bin.

The menu was located on the wall on a circa-1970's Pepsi menu board.  They had a hamburger, cheeseburger, chili-cheeseburger, and bacon-cheeseburger on the menu, as well as a number of malts and shakes.  They don't have a fryer at the Tendermaid, so only potato chips are available as a side.  

They also had a specialty sandwich menu over the steam bins.  The Western Burger featured barbecue sauce, pepper jack cheese, and bacon on top, while the Bacon Ranch Burger had - naturally, bacon, ranch dressing and American cheese on top.  The Tender Island Burger was topped with Thousand Island dressing and American cheese.  Condiments and toppings included jalapeños, Sriracha sauce, mozzarella cheese and pickle relish

Judy was my server - it turns out that she is the sister-in-law of Sara White who just happened to be holding court in the center of the business.  I ordered up a Tendermaid with cheese - ketchup, mustard, onions and pickle on the sandwich.  It wasn't all that big and I didn't think of it as much of a good value at $4.15.  I would equate it to the size of a Joey-Rite, what Mr. Dan's Sandwich Shop in Newton calls their smaller Maid-Rite sandwich.  The taste, however, was very good.  The beef was moist and crumbly with a great flavor to it.  The American cheese was melted slightly into the meat and the onions were strong and pungent.  

It didn't take me long to finish my Tendermaid and almost as soon as I finished the last bite of the sandwich, Judy turned to me and asked if I wanted another one.  I gave her a "thumbs-up" to signify that I did want another.  Quite honestly, they weren't all that big and if I were really hungry when I was there, I could easily finish three of them.  The second one was just as good as the first one.  

While I didn't think the Tendermaid loose-meat sandwiches were that good of a value, I still thought they were very good, taste wise.   It's easy to see why people who grew up in Austin think the Tendermaid's are best of all the loose meat sandwich, the same way people who are from places like Ottumwa, Marshalltown and Newton in Iowa think highly of their loose meat sandwich places.  The Tendermaid was a nice little place with a lot of history and a good loose meat burger.  

Hana Ranch Provisions - Paia, HI

On our final day on Maui during our recent trip to Hawaii, we had some time to kill before we went to the airport to fly to Kauai.  We spent some time at the Sugar Museum, then headed back over to Paia to have some lunch.  We had walked past a place on Baldwin Ave. a couple times that caught my wife's eye, a place called Hana Ranch Provisions.  She wanted to check it out for lunch and here's what we experienced.  

Hana Ranch is a working cattle ranch coupled with a sustainable farming operation located just outside of Hana on the east side of Maui.  The original Hana Ranch dates back to the early 1940's when it was a 14,000-acre cattle ranch started by Paul Fagan, a retired entrepreneur who moved to Maui from San Francisco.  When the sugar plantations ceased operations, Fagan turned the land into a Hereford cattle ranch and eventually built a small inn - the Ka'uiki Inn, later known as the Hotel Hana-Maui.  (The hotel property is now known as Travaasa Maui, an all-inclusive resort and spa.)  

Hana Ranch has been sold a handful of times since the mid-80's to investment groups who parceled out tracts of land with each sale.  In January of 2014, a group known as Hana Ranch Stewards, LLC, a subsidiary of Colorado-based Bio-logical Capital, an investment group that oversees sustainable farms, bought 3600 acres of the ranch.   The goal of the company is to provide locally-grown foods for Hawaiians who must import 85% of what they consume on the islands.  

Linh Phu is the culinary manager for Hana Ranch Stewards, and along with Le Cordon Bleu Academy-trained chef Gary Johnson, the company opened Hana Ranch Provisions in October of 2015.  It is located in what was the former Dazoo Korean/farm-to-fork restaurant in the Paia Plaza building along Baldwin Ave. in Paia.  (see map)  Their goal is to only serve foods that are exclusively grown on their ranch near Hana.  What they can't source from their ranch, they turn to local farms and fishermen for the foods they serve.

We walked into Hana Ranch Provisions around 12:30 p.m. and took a quick look at the lunch menu to see if we wanted to dine there.  After seeing some interesting things, we decided to have lunch in the restaurant.  There's a number of tables that were up front near the window that were already filled, so we ended up toward the back of the restaurant along a wall with a number of tables and banquette seating along the wall.  The decor was sort of rustic with large window to the kitchen in the far back.  

 

There's a bar area in the middle part of the restaurant.  It looked like a nice place to belly up for an afternoon drink.  Hana Ranch Provisions runs a happy hour between 5 and 6 p.m. through the week.  

Next door to the restaurant is a small bakery and coffee shop that features pastries, grab-and-go sandwiches, and coffee drinks.  The space also sold locally made ceramics and cutting boards, as well as gardening supplies, cook books and pickles, jams and sauces made from fruits and vegetables grown at Hana Ranch.

On the wall near the bar was a listing of foods Hana Ranch had grown and that were being used in today's meals served at the restaurant.   Basil, beets, kale, tomatoes, papaya, beef and ginger were just a few of the things listed on the board that day.  I understand that they grow their own mushrooms at Hana Ranch and those are harvested in the late summer months for use in the restaurant.  Those have to be delicious.  

Our server that day was a wonderful young lady by the name of Carlie.  She had a breezy and personable demeanor and we immediately liked her.  Like most people in restaurants that we met in Hawaii, she had a bit of a story as to how she made it to Hawaii.  She grew up in Fort Collins, CO and moved to Maui after she got out of college.  She was on the island for 3 years before she got island fever and needed to get back to the continent.  Only this continent was Europe, of which she traveled around for awhile.  And while she was in Europe, she realized that she really missed Maui and decided to move back.  "This is home," she told us.  We were happy for her and jealous of her at the same time.  

The menu at Hana Ranch Provisions isn't very deep and features burgers, fresh fish sandwiches, salads and soups.  Other foods are available when they're able to source them in the restaurant.  We hadn't had a burger while we were on Maui and we decided we'd do that for lunch.  I got a Maui Brewing Company Big Swell IPA to go along with my lunch.  (Carlie had me try some of the Mosaic Mo'Betta American Imperial IPA, a seasonal beer from Maui Brewing, but I found I liked the Big Swell better.)   Cindy found a 2014 Daniel Chotard Sauvignon Blanc Sancerre from France on the wine list that they were serving by the glass.  

For a starter, Cindy wanted to try the beet soup that they had that day.  It was a beet puree topped with drizzled sour cream and some sort of a crunchy noodle assortment.  She was floored with the taste of the beet soup.  She gave me a couple spoonfuls to try and it was sweet and earthy.  I never liked pickled beets until I tried some of Cindy's grandmothers that she jarred each year.  The soup reminded me of some of her homemade beets.

Cindy got the burger topped with avocado slices, pickled caramelized red onions and Swiss cheese all served on a brioche bun.  A small side salad came with her burger.  She was more than happy with the taste of her burger made with grass-fed beef.  

I had the Ali'i (it's basically Hawaiian for "king") burger that was topped with a garlic aioli and Swiss cheese.  It also came with caramelized pickled onions and sautéed locally grown mushrooms on a brioche bun.  I asked Carlie if they had fresh tomato slices in the kitchen and she said that they did.  I had her add those to the burger because I've never had tomatoes that taste as good as they do in Hawaii.  I don't know if it's the soil or the growing season or what.  There's nothing like a good ripe Hawaiian tomato.  A side of locally grown greens came with the burger.  

The burger was - in a word - fabulous.  The taste sensations going on with the burger and all the toppings were numerous.  The burger patty was cooked to a medium temperature giving it a bit of a pink hue in the middle with plenty of juice oozing with each bite.  With all that was going on with the burger, I was very pleasantly surprised that the brioche bun held up very well.  It was a fabulous gooey mess that required a number of napkins during the course of the meal.  

The burgers were so good and the service from Carlie was so superb that we didn't want to leave Hana Ranch Provisions.  But we had a flight to catch to Kauai and it was time to head to the airport just up the road.  My wife is very much into farm-to-fork restaurants and Hana Ranch Provisions may be the ultimate destination for sustainable farm-raised foods on Maui.  This was a great find and one that will be one of the more memorable meals we've had during our trips to Hawaii.  

The Prairie Tap House - Eden Prairie, MN

Up in the Minneapolis recently, I was staying out toward Eden Prairie on the city's southwest side.  I was looking for a place to get something to eat so I did a quick search for a brew pub or a beer bar - something that had a good beer selection along with food.  I came upon something that caught my attention - the Prairie Tap House located in the Eden Prairie Center shopping and entertainment complex.  I took off to go check out the Prairie Tap House.  

Gene Suh grew up in the Twin Cities and ended up in New York City working as the director of a Wall Street financial firm for a number of years.  The money market was a grind for him and he ended up moving back to Minneapolis - just before the market took a deep dive in 2008.  Wanting to do something completely different than working with investments, he got to talking with his longtime friend, Ryan Burnet, who was in the process of opening the first Barrio restaurant in Minneapolis with business partner Tim Rooney.  (Click here to see the Road Tips entry on Barrio.)  Suh decided to look into opening his own restaurant.

The jP American Bistro had closed its doors in 2008 and Suh set his sights on opening a new restaurant in that space on Lyndale Ave. in Minneapolis' bustling Lyn-Lake neighborhood.  In September of 2009, he opened the Lyndale Tap House, a different type of burger and beer joint than others that were opening in the Twin Cities.  Suh had a full kitchen staff - headed by chef Phil Dvorak whose previous stops were at Axel's Bonfire (now known as Bonfire Wood Fire Cooking) and at restaurants within the Blue Plate Restaurant Group (whose restaurants include The Lowry, Groveland Tap, and Edina Grill) - and featured an open charcoal pit grill and a more upscale menu.  It was similar to the gastropubs that Suh had enjoyed when he lived in New York.  

The Tap House concept worked so well that he opened a second location in far south suburban Apple Valley in the fall of 2011.  Situated in a former sports bar, the Valley Tap House featured many of the same menu items and broad beer selections as the Lyndale Tap House.  

In the summer of 2013, Suh took over what was a former T.G.I. Friday's in the Eden Prairie Center and he opened the Prairie Tap House in September of 2013.  In addition to the Tap House restaurants, Suh was also involved with Whisky Park, a cowboy bar he started in downtown Minneapolis in the fall of 2010, until he sold his interest three years later.  (Whisky Park closed about a year later.)   And Suh also owns the very popular Hammer & Sickle vodka bar that opened in the fall of 2013, as well as The Fremont, a sports bar/dance club that he opened a little less than a year ago in Minneapolis' Uptown neighborhood.  

I pulled into the Eden Prairie Center off Flying Cloud Drive and took a right to go around the perimeter drive to find the Prairie Tap House.  I should have taken a left as I went all the way around the shopping complex before finding the place on the north side.  (see map)   I went in and was greeted by a hostess who wanted to know if I wanted a seat in the dining room or to sit in the bar area.  The dining area was laid back and rather quiet with a few diners seated in booths or at tables.  The bar area was much more vibrant, so I opted to sit in there.

I ended up sitting at the large rectangular bar so I could watch both baseball and hockey that they had on the flat screen televisions above the bar.  One of the reasons the bar was so vibrant was that I soon found that they were playing Blingo - a local Twin Cities-produced game that combines trivia and bingo.  I was greeted by one of the bartenders, Shane - a muscular guy who had a friendly demeanor.  They just happened to have Kona Big Wave Golden Ale available on their beer list and I took one of those.  Just because they had my favorite beer available, I already liked the place.  

The menu at the Prairie Tap House consisted of upscale burgers and sandwiches including Baltimore-style pit beef sandwiches.  They also have a number of soups, salads and appetizers, as well as a handful of specialty entrees including Phil Dvorak's take on mac and cheese - called Shells and Cheese on the menu - that features pasta shells baked with a combination of Wisconsin cheddar cheese and smoked mozzarella, along with scallions, smoked bacon, peas and bread crumbs.  They also had an interesting pomodoro dish with chunks of walleye, shrimp, tomato and basil, topped with mozzarella and shaved parmesan in a red sauce.  

Shane was very busy at the bar and I was ready to order dinner at one point.  Trying to get his attention to place my order was another thing.  I finally waved a menu in front of him when he was walking past and was able to get him to take my order.   The bar was too large and too busy for just two bartenders that evening.  

I ended up getting the Tap House Meatloaf - 10 total ounces of meatloaf slices made out of ground pork and ground beef cooked with a glaze made from sweet peppers, then topped with onion straws and fresh chopped parsley, and served on a bed of mashed potatoes with a sirloin gravy.   The meatloaf had sort of a sweet and savory taste quality to it.  It was a bit dried out, but the sirloin gravy helped liven it up a bit.  The onion straws - always a favorite of mine - were a nice touch to go along with the meatloaf and mashed potatoes.  

The only problem with the meal was that I was out of beer and I wanted another one.  Shane was busy and he saw out of the corner of his eye when he was hurriedly mixing drinks that I needed another one.  He sort of nodded toward me and about a minute later he swooped into the cooler to grab another Big Wave Golden Ale.  "This one is on me," he said.  "Sorry to keep you waiting for another one."  I was satisfied with that.  

For kind of not really knowing what I was getting into with my visit to the Prairie Tap House, I have to say that I was more than happy with the food I got that evening.  The meatloaf was a hearty meal - good comfort food for a guy like me who needs comfort food from time to time.  The service I received from Shane was acceptable - he was very busy at the bar and while I wasn't in any large hurry, it did take him some time to get my order taken.  As I said, the bar was too big and too busy for just two guys to man.  But my experience at the Prairie Tap House was enjoyable enough that I'd visit any one of the Tap House locations in the Twin Cities again with no reservations about doing so. 

A Final Visit to the Bohemian Cafe - Omaha, NE

One of my most favorite restaurants in my travels over the years has been the Bohemian Cafe in Omaha.  My brother-in-law turned me on to the place nearly 30 years ago as it was a favorite Sunday lunch place for his family to go to years ago.  Earlier this year, the owners announced that they would be closing the Bohemian Cafe due to a couple factors - the head chef and much of the staff were approaching retirement age, and there has been a declining number of diners over the past few years due to stiff competition in the Omaha restaurant marketplace.  It doesn't appear anyone is stepping up to buy the venerable restaurant, so it will be closing later this evening for good.  (Photo courtesy Omaha World-Herald) 

I've written about the Bohemian Cafe twice on my blog (click here and here, but they were both during the early stages of Road Tips where I was still developing a format and a voice for the blog).  As I said, my brother-in-law was the one who told me I needed to go to the Bohemian Cafe when I first started to travel to Omaha for work just over 30 years ago.  He grew up 30 miles east of Omaha and it was a Sunday ritual for he and his mom and dad to make the trek down U.S. Highway 6 to Council Bluffs, then crossing over the Missouri River to Omaha on the old Ak-Sar-Ben Bridge.  They would then drive to 13th St., take a left and head south about a mile to the Bohemian Cafe on the right hand side.  (see map)  When he was making the trip in the 50's, the Bohemian Cafe was already over 30 years old.  

There were a large number of Czechoslovakian immigrants that settled in Omaha in the late 1800's.  Many of the immigrants were from the Bohemia or Moravia regions and by the late 1880's it was the largest ethnic population in Omaha.  Many of the immigrants were found south of the downtown Omaha district in an area known as "Little Bohemia".  It was an area for commerce, entertainment and faith for the growing Czech population in the area.  

In 1924, Louie Macala started selling sandwiches and dinners in a Czech hotel along S. 13th Street.  Along with his wife, Rose, they moved to another location in the early 30's a little over a block north of the present day restaurant location and renamed their place Louie Macala Cafe.  In 1935, he changed the name to the Bohemian Cafe.  

In 1947, Macala sold the Bohemian Cafe to Josef Libor and Ann Kapoun Libor.  Macala stayed on for a number of years as the restaurant's chef.  In 1959, the Libor's moved the restaurant to its present day space in what was originally a bank, but was a grocery store up to 1959.  Ann Libor was responsible for the old world decor inside and the trademark exterior work including the brightly colored tile.

Josef and Ann continued to run the restaurant up to July of 1966 handing over the reins to Mert and Robert Kapoun, Ann's son.  The Kapoun family consisted of the parents and four children - Ron, Terry, Bob and Marsha.  While the parents worked in the kitchen, the children bussed tables and worked as servers.  In 1979, Ron Kapoun became the head chef in the kitchen.  Robert and Mert retired a number of years ago with Robert passing away in 2007.   The four Kapoun children became co-owners of the Bohemian Cafe and Mert is said to visit the restaurant every day, even into her late 80's.  

A number of longtime restaurants in the immediate area - Piccolo Pete's, Caniglia's Venice Inn, and Mr. C's - began to close in recent years, victims of many of the same problems that are causing the Bohemian Cafe to close.   Terry Kapoun was the one who broke the news to the staff on May 10 of this year that the restaurant would close toward the end of the September.  Some of the staff had been working in the restaurants since the 60's and 70's.  

Initially, it was business as usual for the restaurant.  But with staff leaving to find other jobs, the Kapoun's were forced to close on Monday's and Tuesday's earlier this summer and they no longer have lunch service through the week, opening at 3:30 Wednesday through Friday.   The family was hoping they would be able to sell the restaurant intact and as is to someone, but it appears that didn't happen.  The Bohemian Cafe - in business for 92 years - will close later today.  

I was in Omaha earlier this summer and I had heard back in May that it was going to be closing.  I knew I had to have one last meal in the place.  I figured that I'd be able to get right in after getting into Omaha around 6:30 one evening.  After all, I never had to wait for a table in all the years I'd been coming to the Bohemian Cafe.  

That wasn't the case this evening.  The parking lot on the side of the building and directly behind the building were full.  The larger overflow parking across S. 13th St. from the restaurant was also full.  I ended up finding street parking on William St. just around the corner from the Bohemian Cafe.  

When I went inside, there was a line that stretched nearly out the door of people waiting to get a table.  The lady who took my name told me that it's been like this since they announced they were closing in May.  She said it would be about a 25 to 30 minute wait.

I decided to wait in the bar - the Bohemian Girl - while I waited for my table.  I took a seat at the bar and got a mug of Pilsner Urquell.  As I sat there for a moment, I thought about the times I came here with my late friend Dave Arnold.  We would sit in one of the side dining rooms and eat great, stick-to-your-ribs food, and down many large mugs of Pilsner Urquell.  I hoisted one in Dave's honor and memory as I sat at the bar.

I checked with the hostess after about 30 minutes to make sure that I was still on the list.  The line was just as long as it was when I first came in.  When I checked with her, she said that I could have a small booth near the front of the main dining room.  The place was packed, I didn't know if it would be able to get a seat until later on.  I decided to take the small booth.  I'm not a small guy and it was all I could do to fit comfortably in the booth.  And it wasn't that comfortable. 

Actually, I would have rather been in the smaller of the two dining rooms.  (There's also a dining room for overflow and private events toward the back of the restaurants.)  This was the room I ate in many times over the years.  The booths were always comfortable and the room was cozy.  

The menu at the Bohemian Cafe hasn't changed much - if any - in all the years I've been going there.  They have roast turkey, roast duck, chicken fried steak, Polish sausage, breaded chicken cutlets, Czech goulash, roasted or breaded pork loin, and one of my favorites - Svickova, a Czech-style sauerbraten.  

That evening, I was torn between two of my other favorites - the burgundy roast beef (in a burgundy gravy sauce), and the always unique boiled beef in dill gravy.  It is much better in taste than what it sounds like on the menu.  Since I can usually find other places that serve beef in a burgundy sauce, I decided to go with the boiled beef in dill gravy.

Traditionally before the main entree is served at the Bohemian Cafe, you get a basket of bread - it always seems like the bread is a day or two too old - and a choice of salad or liver dumpling soup.  I don't like liver, but there's something about the Bohemian Cafe's liver dumpling soup.  The broth is light and slightly salty.  Dipping the somewhat hard rye bread into the broth is a taste treat beyond compare.  The liver dumpling in the broth also has this great beef taste to it.  The liver dumpling soup was always a great treat for me.  

Along with the boiled beef with the dill gravy I got dumplings and the sweet and sour cabbage.  They ladled a healthy amount of the dill gravy on the dumplings.  The beef was tender and pulled apart with the cut of a fork.  The dill gravy just helped add to overall the taste sensation.   The sweet and sour cabbage was excellent, as were the dumplings in the dill gravy.  This was a lot of food on the plate.  I couldn't finish it all.  I felt bad leaving the food that I had left on the plate.  

Interestingly, there was an equally long line of people who were in line to pay their bill at the register.  I was talking with a gentleman who was there with his family who said they had been dining at the Bohemian Cafe weekly since the Kapoun family announced they were closing.  I told him that I hoped that this wouldn't be a repeat of the Berghoff in Chicago when they closed a number of years ago causing large crowds - and long lines - to come to their restaurant one last time, only to reopen less than three months later.  That sort of pissed me off, considering we stood in line for over two hours one day to have one last meal at the Berghoff.

It's sort of funny - while my brother-in-law have loved the Bohemian Cafe over the years, our spouse's didn't care for it.  My brother-in-law and sister went there a few years ago after her husband had raved about the Bohemian Cafe for years.  She didn't see what was so special about the food or the place.  I took my wife to the Bohemian Cafe during a trip to Omaha a number of years ago and she, too, couldn't figure out why I loved the place so much.  I relayed that story to the gentleman I was standing in line with to pay and he said, "I guess this place is usually a love or hate kind of place with most people."  

Well, put me and my brother-in-law on the side of those who loved the Bohemian Cafe.  That would also put us in the vast majority of those who visited the restaurant over the years.  I know the closing is much more sentimental for my brother-in-law who experienced countless Sunday dinners with his parents as he was growing up.  But I'll certainly miss the great food, the large mugs of Pilsner Urquell, and the wonderful liver dumpling soup with the somewhat stale rye bread that I dipped into the broth.   It's a shame that no one in the Kapoun family was willing to step forward to continue the family tradition, nor anyone was willing to buy the restaurant as is.  The Bohemian Cafe will continue to be one of my all-time favorite restaurants long after it closes its door later today. 

The Lowbrow - Minneapolis

Up in Minneapolis earlier this year, I was looking for a new place to try for lunch.  Actually, I had honed in a place along Nicollet Ave. - known as Eat Street for all the restaurants up and down the street for blocks - but when I went to go in, it was packed.  I looked across the street at a place that had a sign that said "Burgers - Beers - Brunch".  But the name alone was interesting enough for me to check out, so I went to The Lowbrow for lunch instead.  

Heather Bray and Jodi Ayers met when both were working at the Birchwood Cafe in east Minneapolis over 15 years ago.  Both became interested in the farm-to-fork movement while working at the Birchwood and when they went off in different directions - Bray to Lucia's To Go and Ike's Food & Cocktails; and Ayers at the Wedge Community Co-op and Moose and Sadie's.   They continued to promote farm fresh foods where they worked and they had ideas of their own restaurant they would like to do someday.

That day came in 2010 when they found a space along S. Nicollet in Minneapolis' Kingfield neighborhood.  Opening their restaurant in late January 2011, the name they chose was definitely a misnomer for the food they were serving.  Burgers made from locally sourced grass-fed beef, Wisconsin cheeses, organically grown turkey and chicken, and vegetarian options from locally-grown farms were the core of the foods they had.  On Sunday, the Lowbrow serves what they call a "Wisconsin Style" brunch with traditional items such as pancakes, classic eggs and bacon, and breakfast sandwiches, as well as unique items such as a jalapeño hash, a smoked salmon scrambled egg plate, chorizo breakfast tacos with jack cheese and scrambled eggs, and a good ol' grilled cheese sandwich where you can add bacon, avocado, tomatoes and jalapeños to the sandwich.  

Walking into The Lowbrow I found an open space with a high ceiling featuring exposed ductwork.  There was a small bar up front and a number of tables in the middle of the space with booths along the north wall.  It was far from a dive that the name Lowbrow might connote to most people.

Along the wall on the north side was a large mural featuring the Lowbrow logo, bear with the name of the place across its face.  It was sort of a surreal Northern woods winter scene.  But it was a great mural. 

I took a seat at the bar and was greeted by the bartender/server Krista.  She gave me a menu and asked what I wanted to drink.  The Lowbrow features only Minnesota craft brews and I ordered up a Fulton Lonely Blonde Ale.  

Actually the first thing that caught my eye were the vintage baseball cards from the 1960's, 70's and 80's that were under a polyurethane topping on the bar.  I immediately recognized a handful of baseball cards that I had when I was a little kid, as well as many of the players that would be obscure to most people sitting at the bar.  

Looking through the menu, there's a number of burgers and sandwiches to choose from.  They only featured three entrees on the menu, but I understand that they have nightly specials.  I thought about getting the turkey reuben for a moment, but I ended up getting the "Shrooms and Swiss" burger - a grass-fed burger patty topped with sautéed mushrooms and Wisconsin Swiss cheese.  It also came with a garlic aioli spread and I asked Krista if I could get a couple pieces of bacon on it.  

The burger was thick, juicy and delicious.  The garlic aioli gave a light hint of garlic, but it wasn't overpowering.  The bun - which is a big key to a good burger - was light and spongy, but it held together well with the juiciness of the burger patty.  The thick slice of Swiss cheese was melted onto the top of the burger giving it a gooey consistency and it had a very rich flavor.  The mushrooms were sautéed in butter and were a great addition to the burger.  This was a very, very good burger.  A large order of fries came with the burger as a side, but I may have had only three or four as I concentrated on finishing the rather large burger.

The Lowbrow was a great find for me.  It was a good thing the original restaurant I wanted to go to was full or I wouldn't have walked into The Lowbrow that day.  I probably would have found it sooner than later, but I'm glad I found it sooner.  The burger was excellent, the atmosphere was fun and laid back, and the service I received was prompt, cheerful and efficient.  I would have no problem recommending The Lowbrow for a burger or a sandwich if you're in the area. 

808 Bistro - Kihei, HI

When we were on Maui over six years ago, we had noticed a place called the 808 Deli on S. Kihei Road in Kihei.  We never made it to the deli, but on this trip we noticed another 808-named restaurant next door to the deli - this one with the name of 808 Bistro.  We found out that they did breakfast at the 808 Bistro, so we went there one morning when we were in Hawaii earlier this year.  

Josh and Jim Richardson grew up in Montana and were both in the restaurant industry - Josh as a restaurant manager, Jim as a chef.  The two brothers eventually made it out to Hawaii and settled on Maui working at the popular Ferraro's Ristorante in the Four Seasons resort in Wailea.  But the brothers wanted to do something more laid back than the high-end restaurant and they teamed up with Chad Metcalf to open 808 Deli over 10 years ago.  

After Josh Richardson left Ferraro's to go run 808 Deli, a man by the name of Mitch Edwards took his place as the manager of Ferraro's.  Edwards had restaurant managerial experience at the Ruth's Chris steakhouse in Wailea and the hospitality fraternity on Maui is fairly small and friendly.  The Richardson's and Edwards soon became good friends.  

A small Greek restaurant - the former Greek Bistro - that was next to the 808 Deli had closed in late 2009.  The Richardson's and Metcalf recruited Edwards to come over to their new venture, the 808 Bistro that would take over the former Greek restaurant.  They specialized in breakfasts in the morning, then eclectic and affordable contemporary American dinners in the evening.  In 2011, the Richardson's turned the 808 Bistro over to Edwards to concentrate on the 808 Deli which is still going strong today.  Edwards kept the menu as is and had hoped to convert the restaurant's BYOB policy to a full bar, but it was still a BYOB place when we were there earlier this year.  

The 808 Bistro is located just across from the middle of the three Kamaole Beach Parks in the southern part of Kihei.  (see map)   There's a parking lot on the north side of the building that houses both the bistro and deli.  We walked down a couple of hallways and found the entrance back in an open air area.  We were greeted by our server Chris, a laid-back kinda-surfer dude who said we could sit anywhere.  We took a seat under the covered veranda and he gave us a couple of menus to look through.  We both got fresh-squeezed orange juice to start out.  

There is also an open air patio at the 808 Bistro.  It had a cut stone floor and was sort of tucked back in a corner of a courtyard.  

A small bar area - for the bar that doesn't serve alcohol - was sort of off to the side of the open patio and the covered veranda.  Quite actually, the bar area was pretty nice with a beautiful mural on one of the walls.

The view from the covered veranda offered a somewhat limited view of the Pacific Ocean.  Since the 808 Bistro was back from Kihei Road about 30 to 35 feet - then the beach was beyond the road - it wasn't quite the romantic view that one conjures up about Hawaii.  Still, there was enough of the ocean to make it relaxing.  

The breakfast menu at 808 Bistro is pretty basic.  They had your basic breakfast items, but they also had something called the Whale Pie.  It was 808 Bistro's take on the Hawaii staple - the Loco Moco.  Instead of a hamburger patty on rice, the Whale Pie featured hash browns topped with cheese, then topped with chopped grilled ham, then finished with a couple ladles of a brown gravy, garnished with chopped parsley.  When I ordered it from Chris he said, "Good choice!"  And it was a good choice.  The combo of the gravy, ham, cheese and hash browns melded together for a vibrant taste sensation.  Considering I got hammered on mai tais the night before, this was a wonderful hangover breakfast.  

Cindy went simple - she  went with the basic two eggs over-easy, thick cut bacon, hash browns and rye toast. She was a little peaked from a day and night of too many mai tai's, but she was hungry enough for breakfast.  She declared the food as good, just what she needed that particular morning.  Nothing heavy, but enough to put some food in her tummy.  

Unfortunately, we weren't able to go back to 808 Bistro for dinner during this visit to Maui.  But we'll probably be back at some point in time to visit and I would like to try 808 Bistro for dinner if we have the chance.  It was a neat little place, the service was fine with a laid back waiter, and the food was a spot-hitter on a beautiful Hawaii morning.  The breakfast was good, quick and not that expensive.  808 Bistro was a great little find during our return trip to Maui.  

Chef Klaus' Bier Stube - Frankfort, IL

Frankfort, IL is a far-southern suburb of Chicago and named after the city of Frankfurt in Germany.  German immigrants settled in the area in the 1840's, so there is a strong German heritage in the town.  So, of course, there has to be a German restaurant in the area and on a visit earlier this year to see a dealer in downtown Frankfort, I passed by a large sign on S. LaGrange Road that read Chef Klaus' Bier Stube.  I was hungry and after I called on the dealer in Frankfort, I made my way back to Chef Klaus' and try their German food.  

You'd think a guy by the name of Klaus Ditschler would be born and raised in Germany, but that wasn't the case.  In fact, Klaus Ditschler was born in the United States and the first time that he went to Germany was when he was stationed there with the U.S. Army in the late 50's.  After getting out of the Army, he ended up back in Frankfort opening the first of what turned out to be a handful of German restaurants in the area.  

Pictured left - Chef Klaus Ditschler

The original Chef Klaus' Bier Stube was located in the historic downtown area of Frankfort, it's huge beer garden a huge draw in the warmer months.  Tragedy hit in 2001 when a devastating fire took out the building in which Chef Klaus' was housed.  He had just opened a second restaurant in nearby Peotone, IL, but he wanted to reopen a restaurant in Frankfort.  He was able to find a large space in the Frankfort Town Center on the north side of the town.  Klaus Ditschler also opened Chef Klaus' Country Kitchen in the town of Mokena, north and west of Frankfort with his son, Michael, in charge of that location.  There was also a Chef Klaus' steakhouse that was open for awhile in Frankfort.  

Unfortunately, Klaus Ditschler passed away in 2012 at the age of 77 leaving his restaurants to Michael and his other son, Karl.  Nothing changed in the Chef Klaus' Bier Stube kitchen as head chef Ernesto Luciano continued with the restaurant.  He had worked side by side with Klaus Ditschler for over 35 years - Ernesto's brother, Savano, also worked for Ditschler for over 30 years.  After the death of their father, the Ditschler's eventually closed the Peotone location in April of 2013 focusing on the Mokena and Frankfort Chef Klaus' restaurants.     

You can't miss the sign along S. LaGrange Road touting Chef Klaus' Bier Stube.  It's located on the east side of the strip mall that includes a couple of other restaurants and a grocery store located just north of U.S. Highway 30.  (see map)  There was plenty of parking in front of the restaurant.  

From the front, it didn't look much like a German restaurant.  It had a faux wooden front with a white picket fence in front of the building.  But going inside, it looked like a German restaurant.  An overly kitschy German restaurant filled with carved wooden clocks and artifacts, beer steins, and painted plates.  On Friday and Saturday evenings, Chef Klaus' hosts a duo playing German polka music.  

There was a nice bar area with an old walnut bar and flat screen televisions hung high above the back bar.  They have a number of imported bottles as well as at least 7 different types of German beers on tap.  

Hanging from the ceiling were deer-rack lighting fixtures, models of vintage planes and military jets, as well as a number of hunting and army rifles.   It was some of the most peculiar decorations I've seen in any restaurant - even ones that are trying to be kitschy with their decor.  

There were also a number of World War II memorabilia on display, including some toy soldiers and old weapons on display.  I've read that at one point they used to have some Nazi Germany memorabilia on display, but I didn't see any of that on this visit.  But, then again, my wife says I'm not very observant.  

I was seated near the bar and given a menu.  My server came over to greet me - well, greet is not the operative term here.  She was rather surly with a gruff, "What do you want to drink?"  I hadn't looked at the beer list yet and I said I'd just have water.  She scurried off to get my water and it allowed me time to look over the beer menu.  They had Spaten on tap and I asked her if I could get one of those when she brought my water to me.  She sort of took a deep breath and asked if I wanted a small or a large.  I ordered a large and she wordlessly turned away from me and bellowed at the bartender, "Spaten!  Tall!"  She brought it back to my table and sort of dropped it on the beer coaster, splashing some out of the glass.  She turned and walked away without offering to clean up the spill.  

My server didn't come back to my table for a good ten minutes after that giving me a chance to A) Look over the menu; and B) To realize that my Spaten was sort of flat tasting.  I didn't have the heart - or the guts - to tell her that I thought it was flat.  I just went ahead and drank the beer down without saying a word.

It's a full menu at Chef Klaus' - steaks, roast duck, chicken, seafood, ribs, and, of course, German specialties.  They had Hungarian goulash, Kasseler Rippchen (cured and smoked pork chops), a sausage platter, and nearly a dozen of different types of pork schnitzel dishes - all of which could be made with veal instead of pork.  

When my surly server finally came back to take my order, I got the Jagerschnitzel - a breaded sautéed pork cutlet topped with chopped bacon and imported mushrooms.  She was much more pleasant in her demeanor and I asked her if I could get a tall Warsteiner this time around.  "Coming right up," she said in a cheery voice.

Along with the main entree, I got a relish plate with a liver paté, carrot and celery sticks, three different types of bread including a dark pumpernickel bread that was very good, and a cup of a mushroom rice soup that was also very good and very hearty.  They had a cinnamon honey butter along with regular whipped butter in a small bowl.  There was a lot of stuff on the table long before she brought my jagerschnitzel out.  

I didn't want to overeat the preamble to the meal and I'm glad I held back as much as I did.  When she brought it to the table, my eyes must have gotten as big as saucers.  This was a BIG plate of jagerschnitzel topped with a brown sauce, the chopped bacon and the sliced sautéed mushrooms.  I got a choice of two sides with the jagerschnitzel and I got the potato dumpling in a gravy, and red cabbage.  There was little to no chance that I'd be able to eat all of this meal.  

But I made a pretty good dent in it.  It was somewhat different in taste from other jagerschnitzel dishes that I've had in the past.  I wish I knew my spices and herbs better, but there was some taste in the gravy that was pronounced and very distinct.  I wasn't quite certain what it was, but I liked it.  The pork cutlets were tender and had a good flavor above and beyond the taste of the gravy.  The chopped bacon and sliced mushrooms only enhanced the overall taste of the jagerschnitzel.  The only regret I had was that it was too much food and I couldn't take the leftovers because I was traveling.  

By the time I was ready to leave, my server - who was cold, gruff and testy when I first came in - turned her attitude 180 degrees and turned out to be a nice person.  And it turned out to be a pretty good meal at Chef Klaus' Bier Stube.  And it was a lot of food at a pretty good price.  It was too bad that I couldn't finish all of the meal - everything from the bread, the soup, the schnitzel, even the potato dumpling and the red cabbage (the two bites I had of each) were all very good.  Chef Klaus' was a great find and the big sign out front helped steer me in.  

Sansei - Kihei, HI

When we got back to Maui on our recent visit, we had a long wait to get our bags at the Kahului Airport, then another long wait to get our rental car at Hertz.  Tired and hungry after a long flight from Chicago, I remembered a sushi place in Kihei that was the sister restaurant to one we ate at on the big island of Hawaii over six years ago - Sansei.  (Click here to see the entry on our visit to Sansei on the big island.)  We got to Sansei around 3:00 p.m. only to find that it didn't open until 4:30.  We were sort of crestfallen that we wouldn't be able to get sushi in the afternoon, but we ended up going back there that evening to sit at the sushi bar and have some food.  

Sansei is part of the D.K. Restaurants group that also features d.k Steak House and Vino - both are highly acclaimed restaurants in the Honolulu area.  "D.K." are the initials of Dave "D.K." Kodama, the founder and owner of the D.K. Restaurants.  Kodama is a native Hawaiian who left the University of Hawaii in 1979 and ended up as a bartender in Seattle.  Kodama fell in love with the restaurant business and thought it would be a more fun profession than being an engineer.  

After 3 years in Seattle, Kodama ended up in Aspen, CO, working at a number of restaurants, learning the business and getting valuable culinary training on the job.  He ended up moving back to Hawaii in 1996 and opened his first Sansei in the Kapalua Resort north of Lahaina on Maui.  Sansei specializes in fresh seafood and serving locally grown foods.  It's sort of a contemporary Pan-asian seafood restaurant that also has sushi.

The Kihei location for Sansei is located in a small strip mall across from Kalama Beach Park along S. Kihei Road.  (see map)  A Foodland grocery store is located in the same strip mall and Sansei is a couple three doors down from Cuatro which was one of the best meals - if not the best meal - we had on Maui when we were there six years ago.   (Click here to see the entry on Cuatro.)   There's a pretty good sized parking lot, but we were having trouble finding parking until someone pulled out of a space indicating that this was a pretty popular spot on a Saturday evening.  

Going inside Sansei, it was a lively atmosphere with most of the tables filled with people.  There was an open kitchen along the north wall of the restaurant.  We were told that it would be a 15 to 20 minute wait since we didn't have a reservation.  But when I inquired about seating at the sushi bar, we were told that it would be an even longer wait.  

I noticed a couple of seats open at the regular bar and I asked if it were all right to have food at the bar.  The hostess said that was no problem.   My wife doesn't like to sit at the bar, but she was hungry and given that we would have been sitting at the bar to wait for a spot to open at the sushi bar, she said it would be all right to have dinner there.  

We were greeted by one of the bartenders that evening, Logan.  He looked like an Asian version of comedian David Koechner, only with hair.  Seated next to us were a dressed up couple who came from a wedding where they decided to bag the food they had and go to Sansei for sushi.  Cindy got a mai tai for her drink, and I started out with a Maui Brewing Company Big Swell IPA before getting a mai tai later on.  

We started off with a couple of spicy tuna rolls.  The rolls were huge with a lot of rice wrapped in seaweed.  Cindy remarked that the sushi chef made it look like it was a little face in the plate.  The tuna rolls were sort of spicy, but not that bad.  They had a lot of flavor and were a good start to the meal.

For our regular nigiri sushi, we had tuna, salmon and smoked salmon.  The cuts were thick and the salmon and tuna were very fresh and tasty.  The smoked salmon was a tad disappointing - it didn't have much of a good smoked salmon flavor - but it was still good with a nice consistency to the bite.  We were thinking of getting some more tuna sushi, but we figured we'd had enough since we had a late lunch and the pieces were large compared to other sushi places we'd been to.  

Even though we missed out on having sushi for our first meal when we returned to Maui, we were able to go back for dinner at Sansei that evening.  The cuts of sushi were large and tasted great, the spicy tuna rolls - although having a lot of rice in the rolls - were also very good.  Our service from Logan was prompt, friendly and he had a great sense of humor.  It was obvious a number of locals like Sansei because the bartenders were welcoming to a number of people on a first name basis.  Sansei was just as good at their Kihei location as what we experienced on the big island over six years ago.

Hi-Lo Diner - Minneapolis

On a trip to Minneapolis earlier this summer, I asked a small group of guys from one of my dealers to meet me somewhere for breakfast.  They usually do a great job coming up with interesting places to have breakfast and this one was no exception - the Hi-Lo Diner, a new-ish diner south and east of Minneapolis' downtown area.  I had read about the Hi-Lo Diner, so I was happy to give the place a try that one morning.  

The story of the Hi-Lo Diner starts with two young guys who weren't in the restaurant business, but in the restoration business.  James Brown and Michael Smith partnered up to restore an 1880's Victorian home in the Mississippi River town of Red Wing, MN.  Completing the task by foraging for original woodwork and restoring the house with painstaking detail, the two young men caught the eye of the Red Wing Heritage Preservation Commission who hired the two to restore a 1920's era Craftsman-style home.  Upon completion of that job, they decided to move to the Twin Cities to focus on a growing demand for restoration of homes in historical neighborhoods.  They called their fledgling business Brownsmith Restoration.

The Hiawatha/Longfellow neighborhood on Minneapolis' south east side was run down and crime ridden in the early 2000's with empty or abandoned buildings up and down E. Lake St.  In 2008, the city of Minneapolis started a program to clean up E. Lake by offering incentives to businesses to come in and take over empty buildings.  Brown and Smith purchased a building along E. Lake Street in Minneapolis and opened up a small home furnishings and accessories store by the name of Forage Modern Workshop.  

Pictured right - Mike Smith and James Brown.

By 2012, the transforming neighborhood was still iffy with pockets of crime going on.  Tired of getting broken into several times over the years, the two looked at the potential of an old Taco Bell building across the street from Forage that they had bought a couple years before for pennies on the dollar.  They thought if a business - such as a restaurant - could be there with people coming and going during all hours of the day, that would be a good watchdog for the neighborhood and especially for their business directly across the street.  

But those guys didn't know anything about the restaurant business, so they turned to two guys who did - Jeremy Woerner and Pat McDonough, owners of the Blue Door Pub with now three locations in the Twin Cities.  (Click here to see the entry on the great burger I had at the original Blue Door Pub in St. Paul.)  Woerner and McDonough opened their first Blue Door Pub in 2008 - the same year Brown and Smith had moved to the Twin Cities to start their business.  When Woerner and McDonough looked to put in a second Blue Door Pub location in Minneapolis in 2012, they turned to Brown and Smith to do the extensive buildout and remodeling of a building a few blocks south of Forage.  The second Blue Door Pub opened in late January of 2013 and the four became good friends.  

Pictured left - Jeremy Woerner and Pat McDonough of the Blue Door Pub.  Picture courtesy St. Paul Pioneer Press.

The group didn't want to put a restaurant in the old Taco Bell building, so they decided the best thing was to tear it down and go from there.  They invited 60 friends to tear down the building one day - ironically feeding them all with Taco Bell tacos - and let them have at it in demolishing the building.  After taking away much of the remaining debris from the site, Brown and Smith set their sights on doing something unique with the property.  

The Fodoro Dining Car Company was a New Jersey-based manufacturer of stainless steel-clad/art deco-style modular dining cars that were shipped via rail to places around the United States.  The company folded in 1981, but there were still a number of these dining cars still in business including Mickey's Diner in St. Paul.  Brown and Smith were enamored with Mickey's Diner, a St. Paul institution that is on the National Register of Historical Places.  

Pictured right - Mickey's Diner in St. Paul

Brown began to look on-line to see if any of the old Fodoro dining cars were still available.  He eventually found an article about a salvage broker in Cleveland, Steve Harwin, who bought and restored the old diners.  When Brown talked it over with his partner, Smith enthusiastically agreed to pursue the dining car concept for their restaurant.  They contacted Steve Harwin to see what he had to offer.  

Harwin's first love was restoring sports cars and vintage motorcycles - something he did for a number of years while living in Europe.  But his friends there that had traveled to the U.S. kept gushing about the old dining cars that they saw along America's roadways.  Harwin wasn't familiar with what they were talking about, so when he moved back to the States in the mid-80's he set out to find out what his friends were talking about.  He found his first dining car in Pennsylvania, a run-down, dilapidated structure that Harwin immediately fell in love with.  He bought the dining car and brought it back - via truck with a police escort because it was an oversized load - and began to restore the car.  He eventually bought more cars and started a business - Diversified Diners - that also sold salvaged parts for original dining cars.

Harwin would salvage and restore a couple dining cars each year, painstakingly restoring the diners to their original condition.  Then he would sell them to people - vetting potential owners to make sure that they understood the historical value and integrity of each of the diners that he restored.  Eventually, one of the salvaged diners he picked up was the old Venus Diner outside of Pittsburgh.

The Venus Diner was a double-wide Fodoro dining car that was manufactured in the mid-50's and placed in Gibsonia, PA, just north of Pittsburgh.  The Venus Diner was in business for nearly fifty years, closing in the mid-2000's.  Harwin took possession of the dining car and moved it to his lot in Cleveland in 2007.  It took Harwin nearly two years to restore the diner and he showcased the Venus on his website.   The picture at left of the Venus is exactly what it looked like when Brown and Smith first saw it just before they purchased it from Harwin.  

The diner could be split down the middle and it was loaded - front half and back half - onto two flatbed trailers via crane and driven to Minnesota.  It took another crane to take the halves off the flatbeds and place them on a foundation.  From there, Brown and Smith spent over half a year to fully restore the inside and outside of the diner to its true original state complete with an updated stainless steel outer shell, lights, accessories and signage.  Naming the new diner after the Hiawatha/Longfellow neighborhood it sat in, the Hi-Lo Diner opened in early spring of this year.  

We met up around 8 a.m. at the Hi-Lo Diner located at the corner of E. Lake and 41st Ave. S. a few blocks west of the Mississippi River.  (see map)  There was plenty of parking in the lot to the west side of the diner.  

Inside the Hi-Lo Diner, it's bright shiny and surprisingly roomy.  It's truly like walking back into the 1950's with the restored diner's counter service, old-style fixtures and roomy booths.  

We were seated in a booth looking out onto E. Lake St. and were greeted by our server, Susan.  She dropped off breakfast menus for us (breakfast is served all day long) and poured coffee for those who needed coffee.  One other thing that the Hi-Lo Diner provides is alcoholic beverages and I understand that it's a popular place for third-shifters looking for some food, an adult shake or a bloody mary to help take the edge off after a night of work.  

The signature breakfast item at the Hi-Lo Diner are the Hi-Top plates - basically, it's deep-fried dough (like a donut) with a choice of toppings.  The Po' Boy Dough Boy Hi-Top features shrimp, adobo slaw and a cilantro lime aoili on top of a doughnut.  The Notorious P.I.G. has Cuban-style pulled pork along with a citrus glaze, a sunny-side up fried egg, black bean and sweet corn salsa, and seasoned sour cream topped with finely chopped cilantro.  For those with a sweet tooth, you can get the Venus Pie-Trap - a vanilla bean-custard filled donut topped with a sweet glazing, chocolate syrup, whipped cream, almonds and finished with a cherry on top.

They also have traditional breakfast items at the Hi-Lo Diner - pancakes, waffles, omelets, eggs Benedict, and a lavender créme brûlée French toast dish.  And keeping with the age-old tradition of diners, Hi-Lo Diner features fresh made pies including a lemon meringue, banana creme, and a mixed berry pie.  (Hi-Lo Diner also has a dinner menu that is served between 11 a.m. and 10 p.m., and a late-night "Night Owl" menu that is served from 10 p.m. to close.)   

I thought long and hard about the créme brûlée French toast, as well as the eggs Benedict, but I ended up going with the Hash Stuffed Hash - a glorious mess (I still love that term from the Slakingfool) that consisted of housemade corned beef hash, hash browns, chopped mixed peppers, caramelized onions, all topped with two sunny-side up eggs with a hollandaise sauce.  The overall taste was - in a word - spectacular.  The corned beef was fresh with a bit of a salty taste, the hash browns were real with the great taste of peppers and onions mixed in.  (I love the taste of fried onions and peppers, but my stomach gets to talking to me about an hour after I finish them.)  The hollandaise sauce on top of the eggs made it a pretty messy breakfast, but messy in a great way.  

One of my guests did get the eggs Benedict - two poached eggs sitting on top of smoked Duroc ham and an English muffin, topped with a the same hollandaise sauce that I had on my breakfast.  Two asparagus spears accompanied the eggs Benedict.  He declared it to be delicious.  

But the highlight of the breakfast was when they brought out Yum Yum Yum Hi-Tops for two of my guests - Korean short ribs with an apple-bacon slaw along with wasabi micro greens all topped with a sweet glaze sauce.  It looked interesting - a combination of savory and sweet tastes all in one.  The presentation was phenomenal, and according to the two guys that got them the taste was just as good as they looked.  I couldn't fathom Korean short ribs for breakfast, along with an apple-bacon slaw on top of a syrup glazed donut.  But they just loved the taste of the Yum Yum Yum Hi-Top.  "There's so much going on with different flavors," one of the guys said as he offered me a bite of the short ribs.  I declined, not because I didn't think I'd like it, but more because I was getting pretty full from my oversized breakfast still sitting in front of me.  I couldn't eat the whole thing and I was sort of bummed that I had to leave about a quarter of the breakfast on the plate.  But I did manage to eat all of the delicious corned beef, though.  

The Hi-Lo Diner was a great experience.  The unique aspect of eating in a restored diner car is worth the trip, but the food is excellent on top of that.  The service we had that morning was efficient, friendly and professional - Susan stayed on top of the situation, but was never hovering over us as she filled coffee cups, brought more napkins or checked to see if there was anything else we needed at the end of the meal.  The Hi-Lo Diner is a great addition to the restaurant scenery in the Twin Cities and it will no doubt be successful for years to come. 

The Driftwood - Davenport, IA

Not far from our house is a restaurant right on the Mississippi River.  Over the years, it's been a number of things - a Cajun restaurant, a somewhat upscale eatery, and a sort of bar/restaurant have been in the space over the past 20 plus years.  Earlier this year, new ownership took over the restaurant, cleaned the place up, did some internal refurbishing, and changed the name.  We've been to the Driftwood a couple of times since they opened in May and I decided to write about the place after a recent visit.  (see map) 

When I first ate in the building nearly 25 years ago, it was a pretty good Cajun restaurant.  That place went out of business before another restaurant came in.  That place didn't last long and it sat empty until Jim Sweet - the former owner of The Captain's Table in Moline - bought the property and turned it into The Boat House, a somewhat upscale restaurant that was one of our favorites for a long time.  (Click here to see the entry on The Boat House.)  

Jim Sweet and his son, Dave, and his daughter, Lori Bentley along with another partner ran The Boat House until late 2013 or early 2014 before they decided to close the doors.   It was replaced by a place that sold bar food called The Waterbar.  My wife hated the name of the place - and she didn't care for the food or service that much either.  I thought they had pretty good burgers, but their service was much to be desired.  The Waterbar closed late last year.

One of the former owners of the Waterbar, Chris Adams, was talking with his half-brother, Andrew Hammes, about the closed restaurant and the potential Adams thought it had.  Hammes had been in the restaurant business nearly his whole life working in places owned by his parents in Wisconsin.  Hammes drove by the old Waterbar location and immediately saw the opportunity to reopen a restaurant there as a no-brainer.

After re-taking possession of the building, Adams and Hammes decided to give the interior a facelift.  Originally built in the 1960's as a club house for the local sailing club, the building hadn't been touched since the Sweet family added on to the building in 1995.   The half-brothers found a barn in Southeast Iowa where the owner was willing to allow them to repurpose the barn board if they helped tear it down.  Meticulously, the pair salvaged the boards from the barn to use inside the restaurant.  It took time, but they were able to get enough wood to remake the interior of the restaurant.  The walls, window sills, ceilings and even the cross beams above the main dining room that looks out over the Mississippi River are adorned in repurposed barn boards.  The walls and ceilings were painted, but the sills and the beams have the exposed weathered barn board.  

The view of the river from the outside deck is one of the best in the Quad Cities.  This is part of the longest east-west stretch on the Mississippi, so you can get a good view of Lock and Dam 15, a good view of the Rock Island Arsenal across the river, and an upriver view that includes the large homes on the bluff overlooking the river on the Iowa side, all the way up to the Interstate 74 bridge.  

Because of the great view during the summer months, outdoor seating is seemingly always full.  On this visit, it was no exception.  It was going to be a 30 minute wait to sit outside - on a SUNDAY night!   We decided to sit inside at one of the window tables that looked out over the river.  

The menu at the Driftwood isn't all that extensive.  We've been told that they hope to expand the menu at some point, but they're doing the right thing by making it a short menu while they get their feet planted in the building.  On my first visit (my wife has been there at least three times) I got the "Build-Your-Own-Burger".    There are a plethora of choices for different cheeses, toppings and sauces and I felt the burger I had was very good.  The only problem I had was the service wasn't that good.  However, we also broke our standing rule of eating at a new restaurant within 90 days of opening, waiting for them to get the kinks worked out in the kitchen and with the wait staff.   

On this visit - still less than 90 days since they opened - we had a young lady whose service was also below par.  She was friendly enough, but she got caught up doing other things when we really needed her to check back with us.  My wife remarked that when she was there with a couple of our neighbor ladies a couple of weeks prior, the service was also suffering that evening.  

After ordering up a couple of drinks, I took a look at the menu.  The chicken Kiev - a family recipe that was devised by Andrew Hammes' mother - has caught my eye on both of the visits.  It is topped with a mushroom sauce that sounds delicious.  They have garlic-infused beef tenderloin medallions, a ribeye entree, as well as pork chops and seafood entrees, including a seared salmon dinner served with a whiskey gastrique sauce.  A number of appetizers and salads also are on the menu.  

This time, I got the grilled fish tacos.  (Battered fish tacos are also available.)  They weren't all that big and the tortillas were sort of hard and had the consistency of cardboard.  The strips of fish were small, as well, but it was topped with an avocado cream sauce and a cilantro/tomato pico.  Other than the tortilla shells being hard and chewy, the tacos weren't bad. 

My wife went with the ribeye steak sandwich - it was served open-faced and it came with a creamy horseradish sauce as well as a fresh sliced onion, a sliced tomato and a lettuce green.  She also got a side of the pasta salad with the steak sandwich.   She seemed to like what she ordered - the steak was cooked to a medium with a slightly pink middle.  She offered me a bite of both the steak and the pasta salad after I made short work of the fish tacos and I thought both tasted fine.  Not spectacular, but good.  

Once again, the service at the Driftwood was a little less than desirable.  Our server was slow to check back with us and she completely disappeared when were done with our meal.  We sat for over five minutes with our table bussed and waiting on the check before the girl finally appeared, saw our table and did a 180 back to the kitchen to get our check.  The food on our visits have been good - not great - but we haven't gotten much of any other than burgers, fish tacos, appetizers or the steak sandwich.  But you can't beat the view the Driftwood offers, especially in the summer months.  While it is a little expensive, it's good enough to visit again.  The Driftwood has been a welcome - and popular - addition to the restaurant landscape of the Quad Cities.  

(Update - Things at The Driftwood appeared to be going downhill about a year or so after this post was published.  We had gone there for a meal and the service was downright horrible and we thought the food was overpriced for what it was.  We pretty much took the place off our rotation of restaurants to visit in the Quad Cities and it appeared that many others felt the same way.  Some warm weekend nights in the spring of 2018, we'd go by expecting to see a large crowd on the patio next to the river, but there would only be a few cars in the parking lot.  We weren't surprised when they finally shut down in the summer of 2018.  In it's place, the family of the former Bud's Skyline Inn in Moline are planning on putting in a restaurant called Bud's Riverview Inn.  It was supposed to open in December of 2018, then it was announced that it was pushed back to January of 2019.   But as of March of 2019 it still had not opened.  We will definitely go and put up a blog post on the new place after it opens - if it opens.)  

Dotombori - Des Plaines, IL

I get in food funks when I'm on the road and I had been on the road a lot up to this one evening when I was in the Chicago area.  Staying out by O'Hare, I've pretty much hit all of the restaurants in the area and was thinking about trying something new.  But I wasn't really certain what I was hungry for.  I got in the car and took off toward Des Plaines trying to see if anything would jump out at me for dinner that evening.  Nothing that I saw as I was driving around piqued my interest, so I thought about going to a sushi place that was about 3 miles away.  I punched in the address in my GPS and started to head that way.  At a stop light along Miner St. in Des Plaines, I happened to look over and spotted a sushi place - Dotombori.  It was a small place and I thought, "Hmmm...  I was going to get sushi.  Sushi is right there.  And I haven't been to the place before."  I did some maneuvering around and made my way back to have sushi at Dotombori.  

Dōtonbori is the name of a highly popular tourist destination in Osaka, Japan.  (Sometimes the "n" is transposed with an "m" to make it Dotombori.)  It features shops, restaurants and entertainment venues that makes it one of the more lively destinations in Japan.  When Jay and Suzy Park opened their little sushi place in 2010 in what was an old Subway restaurant, they decided to name it after the lively section of Osaka and bring to Des Plaines authentic Kansai regional foods from Japan.  

I was able to maneuver around the streets of Des Plaines to end up parking on Miner Street just past the corner of Pearson Street where Dotombori stands.  (See map)  I went in and found a seat at the sushi bar.  The interior of Dotombori was stylish, sort of a contemporary Asian decor that featured a number of booths along the wall.  It was tough to see that this place was once a Subway.  

I was given a menu and they had a number of specialty rolls available, as well as a number of cooked entrees made in the kitchen.  But I was there for sushi and I got a large Asahi beer to enjoy while I looked through the sushi menu.  

Sitting at the sushi bar, you get to see some interesting things happen.  It so happened that someone ordered a specialty roll that was wrapped into aluminum foil, then was drenched in saké and set on fire.  They were pretty theatrical in the preparation of the specialty roll.  I got a good chuckle out of it.     

They had a number of different types of tuna sushi to choose from at Dotombori.   I ended up getting a spicy tuna roll, some salmon nigiri and a couple pieces each of regular tuna, chi-toro tuna and a peppered tuna nigiri.  The spicy tuna roll had hot chopped jalapeño peppers rolled in with the tuna - usually a sushi joint will use a spicy sauce on the roll to give it the spicy taste.  But the chopped jalapeños were an interesting - and tasty - twist to the spicy tuna roll.

The salmon was very good, but all three of the tuna nigiri sushi were delectable.  The peppered tuna was the most interesting - it looked a little funky compared to the other pieces of sushi, but it had a nice deep black pepper taste with a hint of a spicy bite on the back end of the flavor.   The fatty chi-toro sushi had a wonderful taste and a good consistency, and the regular tuna was flavorful and fresh.  

Had I not been sitting at the light at Miner and Pearson in Des Plaines one evening and happened to look over to my left, I might not have found Dotombori.  And I'm glad I did.  It was a pleasant dining experience, the service was fine, the atmosphere was comfortable, yet fun, and the sushi I had was delicious.  Dotombori is not a big place, but I didn't feel like I was crowded at all.  This was a wonderful dining experience for me and now that I know that Dotombori is where it is, I'll be back when I'm staying near the airport and looking for a sushi fix. 

Hali'imaile General Store - Makawao, HI

When we were on Maui six years ago, we had a great breakfast one morning at Gannon's Restaurant at the clubhouse of the Wailea Golf Club with stunning views down the course and out on the Pacific Ocean.  (Click here to read about our visit to Gannon's.)   When I was reading up about Gannon's after our visit, I found out that the owner was Bev Gannon, one of the top chefs in all of Hawaii.  She also ran two other restaurants, the now-closed Joe's in the Wailea Grand Champions villas (where we happened to stay when we were on Maui this trip), and the acclaimed Hali'imaile General Store in the Upcountry of Maui.  I was somewhat upset to realize that we didn't even check out anything in the Upcountry on our initial trip and that we missed a chance to eat at Bev Gannon's signature restaurant.  Focusing more on the Upcountry and on the north shore of Maui on this trip, we made a point to have dinner at the Hali'imaile General Store one evening.  

Bev Shanbaum grew up in Dallas as part of a Jewish family that embraced the "eat first" theory in life.  Her mother made great meals and Bev garnered an appreciation - then a passion - for good food.  She thought she would end up to be a cook, but after a stint at the University of Colorado - Boulder she ended up working in the entertainment industry.  She was a personal assistant for singer/actress Joey Heatherton, then became the tour manager for Liza Minnelli and Ben Vereen.  While it was a fun life, she realized after five years that she really needed to follow her heart and go to culinary school. 

After studying at the Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in London (under legendary chefs Jacque Pepin and Marcella Hazan), she returned to Dallas to run her own event and catering company.  However, a man she had met during her work as a tour manager ended up having an even stronger pull on her.  

Joe Gannon was a noteworthy behind-the-scenes name in the entertainment industry, first as the manager for the Kingston Trio, then as the manager of Frank Zappa's record label.  From there, Joe Gannon was road manager for Bill Cosby, then he became a stage and lighting designer for Neil Diamond.  Gannon's work with Diamond made him famous, primarily for the moving stage sets that he used during Diamond's Hot Summer Nights tour in the early 70's. 

Gannon's work with Diamond caught the eye of Shep Gordon, the manager for shock rocker Alice Cooper.  Gordon got Gannon to come to work as the stage and lighting designer for Cooper's rock show extravaganzas that propelled Cooper to international fame in the mid-70's.  When he wasn't working with the Alice Cooper tours, Joe Gannon worked with the likes of Julio Iglesias, Teddy Pendergrass, Luther Vandross, and Barry Manilow.  

Joe Gannon had met Bev Shanbaum when she was working with Liza Minelli in the early 70's and a chance meeting in Dallas in 1979 brought the two together again.  Joe Gannon had been stationed in Hawaii during his stint in the Navy nearly 30 years before and he invited Bev to accompany him to Maui for a visit.  They eventually fell in love and a year later they were married on Maui.  While they were there, they decided to make the permanent move to the island and continue Bev's catering career there.  

The Gannon's settled in Makawao, an upcountry village that was home to many of the island's paniolos - or cowboys - who worked on ranches and plantations in the middle of Maui.  She ran her catering business - Fresh Approach, later changed to Celebrations Catering - out of her garage and she became locally famous for her food.  

Pictured right - Bev and Joe Gannon

Not far from Makawao was the even smaller village of Hali'imaile, home to a large pineapple plantation and processing plant.  Across from the pineapple plant was the Hali'imaile General Store, a multi-purpose business that was all at once a butcher shop, fish market, post office, clothing store, and also sold home furnishings to the plantation workers since the mid-20's.  As the pineapple business became more automated in the early 80's, many of the workers who frequented the small general store had moved away and the general store had basically closed down.  

In the meantime, local officials were strongly urging the Gannon's to get the catering business out of their garage.  Bev and Joe were looking around for a space and they found that the lease for the building that housed the Hali'imaile General Store was available toward the end of 1987.  The Gannon's leased the building, re-purposed the space with a big kitchen and staging area, a convenience store and a gourmet take-out deli with a small portion of the floor plan available for patrons to sit down and enjoy their sandwiches.     

By now, Bev Gannon's prowess in the kitchen was somewhat famous on the island because of her catering business, and on the opening day of the Hali'imaile General Store there were over 100 people in line to get in the door.  They had no wait staff and were thoroughly overwhelmed with the outpouring of support from the Upcountry community.  The Gannon's eventually moved the catering company to another building and turned "The Store" into the sit down restaurant that it is today.  

Along the way, the Gannon's opened a second restaurant - simply named Joe's - in the Wailea area in 1995.  And in 2009, the Gannon's took over the old Seawatch Restaurant in the club house of the Wailea Golf Course in Wailea and renamed it Gannon's, A Pacific View Restaurant (along with the popular Red Bar lounge).  All of the restaurants and the catering business are part of the Bev Gannon Restaurants group.  

(In 2014, Joe's in Wailea was leased to two young chefs, protégés of Bev Gannon, and turned it into a Latin-influenced restaurant.  However, the locals didn't care for the change in cuisine and business suffered.  The two chefs skipped out on the restaurant and left the Gannon's with the lease and a number of bills.  Bev - who had just turned 65 - had already turned over the day-to-day operations of her catering company to her general manager  and she decided to close Joe's rather than reshaping the menu and reopening.)   

Up until the 1980's, Hawaiian cuisine was pretty dull.  Most of it consisted of kalua pork - a whole pig that is traditionally cooked over hot coals in a pit with the pig covered in banana leaves (and it can be pretty outstanding in taste), poi - made from the taro roots that were brought over to the Hawaiian Islands from Polynesians who called them canoe plants, and the loco moco - probably the first late night drunk food available in Hawaii that consisted of white rice topped with hamburger patties, fried eggs and brown gravy.  But Bev Gannon was at the forefront of a new culinary movement on the Hawaiian Islands that emphasized the use of locally-raised meats, fresh-caught seafood, and locally-grown produce that was available year round. 

In the 1980's, Shep Gordon - the same Shep Gordon who managed Alice Cooper, as well as Blondie and Luther Vandross - was living on Maui and reconnected with Joe Gannon.  Gordon was a food enthusiast and he began to embrace the new Hawaiian culinary movement.  He became an investor with the Gannon's in the Hali'imaile General Store, and in 1991 he brought together 12 chefs who worked in restaurants on the Hawaiian Islands that were busting out of the traditional Hawaiian food mold with their takes on using local foods from the islands.   Chefs such as Peter Merriman (click here and here to read about our visits to two of Merriman's restaurants), Sam Choy, Alan Wong, Roy Yamaguchi (click here to read about my visit to Roy's Hawaiian Fusion in Las Vegas), as well as Bev Gannon convened at the Maui Prince hotel (later known as the Makena Beach & Golf Resort which closed earlier this summer after 30 years in business), not far from Gordon's house in Wailea.  There, they shared the names of local produce farmers, ranchers, and fishermen who they began to use on the islands for locally grown food products, and shared "out-of-the-box" ideas for East-meets-West food fusion.  

It was there the dozen chefs began to come up with the concept to promote what was eventually called Hawaii Regional Cuisine.  The HRC movement raised awareness with tourists and locals that it just wasn't all pork and poi on the menus at Hawaiian restaurants.  The group of chefs collaborated with noted food author Janice Wald Henderson to publish The New Cuisine of Hawaii, a cookbook spotlighting the new regional foods they were championing.   While many of the chefs were young at that time, nearly all of them went on to have celebrated and award winning careers in the kitchen.  Yamaguchi, Wong and George Mavrothalassitis - simply known as Chef Mavro - all became James Beard Foundation award winners, while Bev Gannon and Peter Merriman have been nominated for the foundation's award for their restaurants.

It was about a 25 minute drive from Wailea up to the Hali'imaile General Store.   It's located in the Upcountry on the north slope of the Haleakala volcano a couple miles north of Makawao.  (see map)  The parking lot was full, but we were able to find parking across the street in the parking lot of the old pineapple processing plant that is now home to Hali'imaile Distilling Company and Maui Pineapple Tours.  

The inside of the Hali'imaile General Store features a main dining room up front with a high ceiling, an open kitchen toward the back left side of the room, and a small bar up toward the front.  Colorful artwork and fish sculptures livened up the already vibrant room.  

There is a smaller dining room in the back of the building.  More artwork from local artists around the art community of Makawao hung on the walls.  The building had a warm and laid-back old-time tropical plantation vibe. 

While we did have reservations, we probably didn't need it that evening - it was a Sunday night and the place was half-full when we got there around 7 p.m.  We were seated at a table near the front of the restaurant and given menus.  Our server for the evening, a nice young lady by the name of Irene, came by to greet us.  She asked us if we wanted anything to drink and, of course, we both wanted a mai tai.  However at the Hali'imaile General Store they have something they call the "tai mai", it's made with three different types of rum - a shot each of light and dark Old Lahaina Rum made on Maui, and a shot of Sammy's Beach Bar Rum from rocker Sammy Hagar that is also distilled on Maui.  It's flash blended with fresh lime juice, a house-made sweet and sour mix, lilikoi syrup and a citrus zest.  It was marvelous.  

We decided to get an appetizer from the list of starters they had at the General Store.  They had a number of things that we were interested in - the Cajun-dusted calamari caught our eye, as did the kalua pork and goat cheese wontons with a mango salsa.  We also contemplated Bev Gannon's signature crab pizza with a top secret crab spread over flat bread.  They also had raw bar offerings, but we ended up getting the blackened-seared ahi tuna that was drizzled with a sweet and spicy chili sauce.  The taste combinations of the fresh tuna, the blackening seasonings, along with the sweet and spicy sauce were outstanding.  I could have had two more plates of that appetizer alone and I would have been happy with my meal.  

We had ordered our entrees and Cindy wanted to split the HGS House Salad - fresh local greens, orange slices, toasted walnuts, with shaved local onions and topped with a balsamic vinaigrette.  For a $2.50 upcharge, we could have gotten a buttermilk dressing with chunks of blue cheese mixed in.  The salad was great.  There's something about vegetables grown in the lava soil on the Hawaiian Islands that just have an outstanding taste - especially tomatoes.  

Many of the entree plates at the Hali'imaile General Store feature fresh seafood including a horseradish-encrusted fresh catch of the day.  I believe that day it was ono for the fish, but I'm not certain about it.  However, the other half of the dinner menu featured roasted duck, baby back ribs, a braised pork shank, tri-tip, a ribeye steak and roasted chicken.  I wasn't certain what to get - I wasn't really thinking about seafood, but more along the lines of something from one of the Upcountry ranches.  

I ended up getting the grilled rack of lamb - two double-cut lamb chops with a housemade black bean Hunan sauce drizzled over the top.  The lamb chops rested on a bed of wasabi mashed potatoes and a side of grilled locally grown green beans came with them.  

Now, I normally don't order lamb - I've found that lamb that I've had in the past is usually greasy and it doesn't taste very good.   My wife maintains that if the chef knows how to cook the lamb, it should be good.  So when Irene asked me how I wanted my lamb cooked, I looked at my wife, completely dumbfounded.  I tried to search for words because I've never had anyone ask me how I like my lamb prepared.  Finally, my wife bailed me out and said, "Have the chef prepare it the way he would eat it."  Sometimes my wife is such a genius.  I would have never thought of that.  

And the lamb was absolutely great.  It was cooked what I would call a medium-rare plus - not really deep pink, but not fully cooked through like a pork chop.  The lamb was juicy, tender and savory.  The black bean Hunan sauce was an excellent combination with the lamb chop.  The mashed potatoes had a bit of a spicy wasabi taste, but it wasn't a lot.  I would have enjoyed more of the wasabi in the potatoes, but they were fine.  The green beans were also fresh with a nice snap with each cut and bite.  But the lamb chops - boy howdy!  And the malbec blend wine that I had with the meal was a perfect compliment to the lamb.  

Cindy ordered the macadamia nut-encrusted mahi mahi.  It came with a side of mashed purple sweet potatoes - don't think I've ever seen purple sweet potatoes - and flash-fried purple sweet potato straws.  It was all topped with a mango-lilikoi butter sauce.  I've learned on my visits to Hawaii that anything that has lilikoi on it - or in it - instantly makes the taste better.  She also got a glass of a pinot grigio to go with her seafood entree.  

The meal was filling, but there were a couple things on the dessert menu that we really wanted to try.  There was a lilikoi brûlée that came in a deep fried sugar shell that Cindy was interested in.  It came with a mix of blueberries, blackberries and strawberries on the side.  

The other thing that caught our eye on the dessert menu was a lemon bundt cake with a lemon frosting, whipped cream and it was sitting on a bed of blueberry compote - but not like blueberry pie compote.  This was fresh blueberry compote juice.  Now, anything that has a combination of lemon and blueberries - I'm hooked.  But I honestly couldn't say which dessert I liked more - they both were sweet and sour in taste and were both delicious.  

When we decided to go back to Maui, I immediately knew that one night would be set aside for a meal at the Hali'imaile General Store.  The more I had learned about Bev Gannon and her background, the more I wanted to get  to her flagship restaurant in Maui's Upcountry.  Everything about the meal was top notch - from the seared ahi tuna appetizer, to the fresh greens and vegetables for the salad, to both the lamb chop entree that I had and the macadamia-nut mahi mahi my wife had, to the delicious desserts - and I can't forget the great tasting tai mai's they have at the Hali'lmaile General Store - this was one of the most memorable meals I've ever had in my life. 

Jimm's Steakhouse and Pub - Springfield, MO

Springfield, MO is one of my favorite places to travel to and I have a couple of dealers there who have done some pretty good business with me.  One dealer in particular has stepped up and brought more products into his store and I was down there one evening earlier this year to do some training for them.  Afterward, I asked the sales guys if they wanted to go out for dinner.  Well, of course they wanted to go out to dinner.  One of them suggested sushi - there are three or four outstanding sushi restaurants in Springfield (of all places!).  But another one suggested a steakhouse just up the road from the store.  The consensus was that steak would be great and we headed to have dinner at Jimm's Steakhouse.  

Steak and Ale started out in Dallas 50 years ago offering the first type of casual steakhouse experience for a chain restaurant.  At its height, Steak and Ale had nearly 300 locations across the United States offering quality steaks at moderate prices, an unlimited salad bar, $6.99 lunch specials and their never-ending honey wheat bread - formerly called Squaw Bread until they were threatened with a lawsuit by a Native American group.  Through a number of acquisitions and spin-offs, ever-changing attitudes of the public's dining-out habits, and increasing competition on the restaurant landscape, Steak and Ale declined significantly in the first part of the 21st century.  In July of 2008, the parent company S&A Restaurant filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and the remaining 58 Steak and Ale locations closed (along with a number of Bennigan's restaurants).  

And that affected the Springfield, MO location.  The Steak and Ale there opened in 1976 and it was one of the more popular restaurants in the city.  And it affected the livelihood of Jimm Swafford, the general manager of the Springfield Steak and Ale, and approximately 40 employees.  Without any warning of impending doom for the Steak and Ale brand name, Swafford received a phone call from the parent organization that the doors to his establishment must be closed immediately.  

Pictured right - Jimm Swafford.  Photo courtesy Springfield Business Journal.  

Swafford contacted the building's owner, Springfield developer Erret Sechler - a regular diner at the last Steak and Ale location in Missouri - to see if there was anything he could possibly do to save the business.  Since it was part of a chain that was going through liquidation, Sechler's hands were tied.  Plus Sechler, who was once in the restaurant business, had no intention of getting back in.  Swafford could do nothing but help the other employees find new jobs and he was looking at an uncertain future.  

Swafford found work with another restaurant chain, but he would drive by the former Steak and Ale looking forlornly at the building that served so many people for so many years.  He knew in his heart that a steakhouse could be revived in the spot.  For months, he talked with prospective business partners hoping to team up to open the old steakhouse.  But no one was interested in funding what would be a significant amount of money to get the over-30 year-old building up to modern standards.  

Swafford called Erret Sechler to let him know that he was giving up his dream of trying to revive the steakhouse dream he had for the building.  However, less than a day after he called Sechler to give him the news, Sechler called Swafford back to request a meeting.  A handful of days passed with Swafford going through different emotions of what the meeting would bring.  When he finally sat down with Sechler, even in his wildest dreams he couldn't believe what he was hearing.  Sechler missed the old Steak and Ale so much that he was willing to partner up with Swafford, willing to put up over a half million dollars to renovate the old building, he was going to make Swafford the managing partner in the restaurant, and he even wanted Jimm's name to be part of the business.  

After months of renovations that included giving the restaurant decor some life after years dark lighting and dark wood paneling, Jimm's Steakhouse & Pub opened in December of 2009.  Swafford was able to hire a handful of old Steak and Ale employees to work at the new steakhouse, one of whom was Travis Burrell who became the head chef and in-house meat cutter at the restaurant.  

And business took off.  In the first year of business, Jimm's realized double digit sales growth over the last full year Steak and Ale was in business.  In fact, the first three years after they re-opened the steakhouse the company had at least 10% growth each year.   The classic steakhouse on S. Glenstone just south of E. Sunshine (see map) was back and in a big way - Jimm's annually wins multiple categories in local media "Best of Springfield" polls.  

It was around 7:30 when we got into Jimm's.   And while they may have modernized the outer decor of the building and changed the inner decor of the restaurant to give it a little more liveliness, they didn't change the lay-out.  It was a typical Steak and Ale floor plan with a series of smaller dining areas, a bar off to the side, the salad bar room, and little alcove booths.  That's where we were seated when we went to Jimm's that evening.  We were giving menus and it wasn't long after we were seated when our server for the evening, Jeremy, showed up to greet us.  

It's beef, beef and more beef at Jimm's Steakhouse.  They have 10 different types of steaks on the menu including Jimm's Hawaiian steak - a hold-over from the old Steak and Ale days - where they marinate a center cut steak in pineapple juice, soy sauce and sherry wine.  They also have a bourbon-marinated New York strip, the Brewmaster's steak that features an 8 ounce tenderloin filet with smashed red potatoes, sautéed mushrooms, grilled onions, and gorgonzola cheese topped with a cream sauce infused with Samuel Adams beer, and they also have three different sizes of prime rib.  Jimm's goes through over 30 tons of beef annually - a third of that is their prime rib.  

We started off with some appetizers and salads.  One of the guys talked me into ordering the crab-stuffed mushrooms with cheese, as well as an order of the cheesy garlic bread.  The crab-stuffed mushrooms were over-the-top in taste.  The provolone cheese that was melted over the top was light and didn't overpowering the taste of the crab-stuffed mushroom caps.  It was just killer.  

I also got a wedge salad, eschewing the famous salad bar they have at Jimm's.  They cut all their lettuce fresh each day at Jimm's and the wedge salad had a wonderful creamy blue cheese dressing on top of the crisp and cool iceberg lettuce.  

We got a bottle of a 2013 Punto Final Malbec wine to go along with our dinner.  The wine list at Jimm's Steakhouse isn't all that extensive, but it was impressive with what they had to offer and the prices were - in my estimation - very much in line.  The Argentinian malbec was bold and meaty, and it went well with our steaks.

I got the peppered filet - an 8 ounce tenderloin filet that was encrusted in a pepper blend and topped with a brandy peppercorn sauce.  It came with a vegetable medley and I had a choice to get either a baked potato or sweet potato, but I didn't really want either one.  Jeremy said that he could get the chef to do grilled asparagus and that sounded yummy.  

And it was all yummy.  I was about halfway through my steak when I realized I hadn't taken a picture of the plate.  The filet was cooked sort of a rare-plus, a little more pink than I normally like my steaks cooked.  But it was tender, the pepper-crust and the brandy peppercorn sauce gave the steak a forward spicy taste with each bite.  It was an very good steak.  

One guy got the 12 ounce prime rib with a loaded baked potato while my other guest got the Hawaiian steak.  "I've been having this Hawaiian steak for over 20 years," he told me between bites.  "I've tried to make it at home, but I can't even come close to how it tastes here.  I don't know if it's the quality of the meat, the marinade, I don't know what.  This is just so damned good."  

He said when Jimm's opened in late 2009 and he found out they were going to do the Hawaiian steak on the menu, he and his wife went there just to get one.  "I almost cried when I took the first bite," he said as he finished up his meal.  

Jimm's Steakhouse was a very good choice for dinner that evening.  My peppered filet was full of flavor, it was tender and tasty, and I enjoyed it immensely.  My two guests - both longtime Springfield natives - were more than happy with going to Jimm's and with the meals they got.  The crab-stuffed mushrooms caps topped with provel cheese were off the chart for an appetizer.  The service was prompt and professional all night long.  This was a very good meal and I can see why Jimm's is one of the more popular restaurants in Springfield.