Road Tips

The Chuckwagon - Adair, IA

The Iowa Beef Industry Council in conjunction with the Iowa Cattleman's Association named their top burger for 2016 and it belonged to the Chuckwagon located in Adair, IA, a small community about 55 miles west of Des Moines along Interstate 80.  I was going out to Omaha earlier this year and since I'd tried nearly every best burger award winner over the past few years (with varied results), I thought I'd make the time to stop in and have a burger at the Chuckwagon.  

Kim Reha was a native of Adair who started working in the restaurant business at the age of 14.  She had considered becoming a surgical technician, but she found that working in restaurants was more fun.  In 2008, Kim bought the Happy Chef restaurant along Interstate 80 at the young age of 22.  She eventually started to make improvements on the property - the building underwent a wholesale make-over in 2012, and in 2014 she changed the name to the Chuckwagon to commemorate the Jesse James Chuckwagon Days celebration that Adair has each July.  The Chuckwagon eventually beat out 6000 entrants of the Best Burger in Iowa contest for 2016, a 33% increase in the number of nominees from 2015.  

Now, I wasn't familiar with the Chuckwagon as much as I had been familiar with the Happy Chef located on a county road at Exit 76 on Interstate 80. (see map)  I know I had made hundreds of passes by the place since I first went out to Omaha in the 70's, stopping in at the Casey's across the street to get gas a handful of times.  (There's also a pizza place that I've wanted to try in Adair - Zipp's Pizzeria - but they're only open from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. through the week and the timing has never worked out on my trips to and from Omaha.)  When I found out that the Chuckwagon was the old Happy Chef, I immediately knew where the place was.  

Upon entrance into the place, the big plaque proclaiming the Chuckwagon to have the best burger in Iowa in 2016 hangs just inside the door.  The decor to the restaurant is somewhat modern rustic, if that's the right term.  

There are two dining rooms in the restaurant - I was escorted into the south dining room that was brightly lit from the day's brilliant sunshine.  I was given a menu to look over to see what I wanted to get.  In addition to burgers, the Chuckwagon has a wide variety of foods for breakfast. lunch and dinner.  

There isn't a designated "best burger" on the menu and that sort of threw me off.  When the waitress came by to take my order, I asked, "So, which one was the best burger in Iowa?" 

She said, "Oh, well, all of them are."  I was sort of confused because I knew from previous Best Burger competitions that a friend of mine who owned a restaurant had entered that there had to have a specific burger on the menu that was nominated.  "Any of the burgers that you order would be considered the best in Iowa," she explained to me.  I didn't quite buy that considering other "Best in Iowa" burger winners had one burger they served that was deemed as the best, but I went along with her anyhow.  She said that the namesake Chuckwagon burger - a six-ounce burger patty with sautéed onions, mushrooms, bacon, tomato and Thousand Island dressing - was probably their signature burger on the menu.  

I almost went with that before I saw that they had a mushroom-Swiss cheese burger on the menu.  I asked her if she could put a couple pieces of bacon on it.  She asked if I wanted fries with the burger - "We have never-ending French fries", she proudly proclaimed.  I told her I'd take some fries, but I doubted I'd want very many of them.  

After awhile she brought the burger and fries out.  The burger was covered with a blanket of Swiss cheese topped with sautéed mushrooms and a couple strips of bacon criss-crossed on top.  There was a dollop of mayonnaise on the top of the burger that I would have probably told her to hold had I known that's how they dressed the burger.  The bun was lightly toasted and spongy.  

The burger was flat-topped grilled, somewhat fat and juicy.   And the first bite told me this was a fine burger.  With everything that was going on with the different tastes - the bacon, mushrooms, Swiss cheese plus the ketchup and mustard I put on for condiments - I could taste the rich flavor of the burger meat through all of that.  The bun held it all together very well and the taste of the bun confirmed what I always say - the key to a good burger is a good bun.  This was a very good burger.

Judging who has the best burger in Iowa is both subjective and objective.  The judges have a subjective criteria in which they use as a baseline for determining which burgers are the best, but in the long run it's usually an objective opinion that determines the winner each year.  Is the burger at the Chuckwagon the best in Iowa?  I think they acquitted themselves nicely from any doubts that their burger was deserving of the title for 2016.  How did it shape up against the other best burgers?  I've only had six of the seven ones that have been awarded Best Burger in Iowa, but I think the burger at the Chuckwagon would definitely fall within the top three of the winners I've had so far. 

Art Cafe Hemingway - Kapa'a, HI

During our time on Kauai earlier this year, my wife had read about a place that was a combination cafe and art gallery.  She's into that kind of stuff - the combo places that feature both culinary and cultural arts - so we decided to go to Art Cafe Hemingway  for breakfast on our last morning on Kauai.  

Markus Boemer grew up in Germany and was in the advertising field as an art director.  His wife, Jana, was a Czech native who was an educator and a cultural manager.  Shortly after the couple met in the late 1980's, they traveled to Hawaii and the island of Kauai.  They immediately fell in love with the place eventually getting married on Kauai in 1992.  

The couple's love for art had taken them to Switzerland, Italy and France for jobs in advertising and education before Jana Boemer became a curator for a leading photographic gallery in Prague.  The Boemer's wanted to run their own photo gallery and they opened a small gallery in a space that wasn't much larger than a regular business office in the center of Prague.  

One of the first photographers the couple showcased was a somewhat unknown Brazilian by the name of Sebastião Salgado.  His series of photos - "Migrations - Humanity in Transition" - focused on war refugees and peasant workers on the move to find a better life elsewhere.  Almost as soon as the exhibit opened in their small space in September of 2002, the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon happened.  Immediately, some art critics in Czechoslovakia compared the tragedy in the United States to Salgado's photography.

The Boemer's small gallery soon swelled with visitors and they relocated the exhibit to Prague's Manes Gallery.  The exhibit was an immediate "must see" in Prague.  One month, over 47,000 people visited the exhibit to view Salgado's stirring and provocative photographs that of refugees primarily in Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America he took over a six year period.

Pictured right - Markus and Jana Boemer.  Picture courtesy TripAdvisor.

From the popularity of the Salgado exhibit, the Boemer's were then granted space inside the Prague Castle - Supreme Burgrave, a castle that was built in the 9th century.  The castle housed a number of art exhibitions and is the home of a large toy museum.  The Boemer's were able to showcase photographic works from the likes of Wim Wenders, Rene Burri, Helmet Newton and Salgado.  Connected to the gallery was a small cafe that served food while the gallery was open.  

A change in government priorities in the Czech Republic in 2005 caused the Boemer's to lose their space inside the Prague Castle.  Faced without a space to exhibit the photographic art they had in their possession, they commissioned train cars to travel around the Czech Republic and Slovakia, basically taking photographic art to the people.  For three years, the Boemer's "Gallery on a Train" moved to nearly 2 dozen cities annually where over 150,000 people viewed works from Winders, Salgado and Antonin Kratochvil.  After they finished with the train galleries, they exhibited works of photographic art at a large tent in Wenceslas Square in Prague.  One month during the exhibit, over 100,000 people visited the tent.  The Boemer's also exhibited photographic art at universities, hotels and other public spaces.  

By 2010, the Boemer's were tired and looking to do something else with their lives.  Food was also very important to them and the art of food was something that was always on their mind.  Remembering how great life was on Kauai, they sold everything they had in Prague and moved to Kauai in 2010.  They found a two story building along the Kuhio Highway in Kapa'a and renovated it into a restaurant on the first floor with an art gallery on the second floor.  They named the cafe partly after Ernest Hemingway, a world traveler who also shared a gusto for wine and food.  Art Cafe Hemingway opened in September of 2011.   

We pulled into a lot across the street from Art Cafe Hemingway, a big blue two-story building on the west side of the Kuhio Highway.  (see map)   Actually, Art Cafe Hemingway was literally next door to a restaurant that we ate at the day before and Cindy walked over there to get a brochure on the place.  I promised that we'd eat breakfast there the next day so she could satisfy her cultural needs during our trip to Kauai.  

There was a small patio out front of the place.  A woman seated at a table with her husband was wearing an Iowa t-shirt and I said, "Go Hawks!" as we entered the restaurant.  It turned out the couple was from Cedar Rapids.  I had worn my Iowa shirt at Hanalei Bay a couple days earlier and we were stopped by a couple who had lived in Pella, but had retired and moved to Arizona.  Iowans are everywhere.  

Entering the restaurant, we found a rustic and cozy space with a number of small to large tables.  Electronica music was playing throughout the dining area.  All the smaller tables of 4 or 2 seats were filled up, so we were shown to a large table near the entrance to the second floor art gallery.  Three people were seated at one end and we were asked if we wanted to sit at the far end of the table.  We had no problem with that.  

Near where we sat we saw a sign that the art/photo gallery upstairs was "Closed for Renovations".  This disappointed Cindy tremendously who thought it would be cool to eat breakfast, then while away some time in the gallery upstairs.   But there was enough interesting art work on the walls of the dining room that we were able to take a closer look at after we finished our breakfast.  

Art Cafe Hemingway has two menus - a breakfast/brunch/lunch menu that is served from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., and a dinner menu that is served from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.  For the first nearly five years of business, the Boemer's were open Wednesday thru Sunday.  This summer, they partnered with Jeremiah "Miah" Merriman - a South Dakota native who had moved to Hawaii and ended up working in small restaurants that specialized in locally-raised and vegetarian cuisines - to open the restaurant seven days a week.  Merriman (who doesn't seem to be related to famed Hawaiian restaurateur Peter Merriman) runs the restaurant Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, while the Boemer's are back in the kitchen on Thursday thru Sunday.  

The European-style menu features a number of locally raised and sourced foods.  They try to make everything from scratch in the kitchen including their own mayonnaise, relish, sauces, and desserts.  They also are pretty proud of their espresso at Art Cafe Hemingway - they had a full printed page explaining everything from the type of espresso beans they used (Filicori Zecchini specially roasted beans from Italy) to the type of machine they use (a machine by La Marzocco, an Italian company that has been making handmade coffee and espresso makers for nearly 90 years).   I've turned into somewhat of an espresso-snob over the past few years - thanks to my Euro-centric co-workers from Montreal - and I had to try a double espresso.  And it was damned good.  So good that I had to have another.

You're not probably going to find a big hearty breakfast if you go to Art Cafe Hemingway - most of the items are light and healthy on the menu.  I went with a basic breakfast croissant sandwich that featured locally-raised smoked ham and scrambled organic eggs topped with gouda cheese, lettuce and chopped tomatoes.  I also got some fresh-squeezed orange juice to go along with the croissant breakfast sandwich.  It was fine - nothing special.  I've had similar sandwiches in the past, but everything tasted fine.  

Cindy ordered up a platter called "The Sun Also Rises" after Hemingway's 1920's novel.  It featured two scrambled organic eggs with smoked ham, Parmigiana Reggiano and Camembert cheese slices, with sliced baguette and whole-grained bread.  She, too, got a fresh squeezed orange juice and a coffee - the low-octane .  She said her breakfast was good, although she wasn't enamored much with the cheese.  It was light and put something in her stomach that would hold her until lunch.  

While the breakfast we had at Art Cafe Hemingway was sort of expensive, we've found that everything is somewhat expensive on Hawaii.  The young server that took care of us did a good job and it was a nice place to have a meal.  The food was fresh, but the portions were pretty small for what we paid.  And the fresh-squeezed orange juice and the espresso I had were very good.  It was a nice simple breakfast in a nice simple setting.  

Joensy's Restaurant - Center Point, IA

I went to college at the University of Iowa in the early 80's and not far from Iowa City was the small town of Solon.  In downtown Solon there was a bar/restaurant that served huge pork tenderloin sandwiches.  Being young and somewhat dumb at the time (compared to being older and still somewhat dumb these days), I'd accompany friends of mine to Solon to try to finish one of the huge sandwiches in one sitting.  Of course, copious amounts of beer was consumed during the process.  That place is now closed, but there is a similar place with the same name that is open in Center Point, IA - a bedroom community just north of Cedar Rapids.  On a trip past Center Point recently, I decided to stop in and get a pork tenderloin sandwich at Joensy's Restaurant.  

Jim Joens opened the original Joensy's in Solon in 1983 and word spread about the huge pork tenderloin sandwiches that he sold.  Food and travel magazines showcased the Joensy's sandwich and it was featured on national television shows.  In 2003, Food and Wine magazine named Joensy's pork tenderloin as one of the top 100 best meal values in the nation.  

Joens enlisted family members to open Joensy's outlets in places like Cedar Rapids, La Porte City, Sigourney,  and Belle Plaine.  In 1992, Jim Joens contacted his nephew, Doug Joens, to see if he would be interested in putting a Joensy's in Center Point.  Doug Joens had recently graduated from the University of Iowa and was selling insurance in the Cedar Rapids area.  Doug had worked at the Joensy's in Solon while he was going to college and the restaurant business sort of got into his blood.  Joens opened his 55-seat restaurant in Center Point in September of 1992.  

The original Joensy's in Solon went through some troubled times including getting closed for health department violations and being fined for selling liquor to minors.  They eventually closed in 2012.  The building that housed Joensy's was razed and rebuilt into a small brew pub - Big Grove Brewery - that opened in August of 2013.  Jim Joens' son, Brian, opened a Joensy's location in Iowa City and continues to run that location.  

The Joensy's in Center Point is about a mile off I-380 toward the downtown part of the town.  (see map)  It was around 1:30 when I pulled into Joensy's and found a nearly deserted parking lot.

Joensy's decor could be described as folksy Americana - there's a number of ceramic and stuffed pigs on display throughout the place.  Booths line the walls while two and four-seat tables are in the middle.  Whereas the original Joensy's in Solon could be categorized as a dive bar, Joensy's in Center Point is bright, clean and comfortable.  

After taking a seat in a booth, Doug Joens, himself, came over with a menu and I ordered a beer while I looked to see what else they had other than the pork tenderloin sandwiches.  Joensy's also offers dinners such as chicken fried steak, a meatloaf platter, a rib eye steak dinner, and something that I don't see on many menus - Salisbury steak.  They also have burgers, chicken sandwiches, a Philly cheesesteak sandwich, and turkey bacon melt.  Appetizers, soups and salads are also available on the menu at Joensy's.

Joensy's offers two different sizes of pork tenderloin sandwiches - a small that is 5 ounces before it's pounded out and breaded, and a large that is 10 ounces before getting pounded and breaded.  I don't remember if the original Joensy's had two different sizes - I only remember getting the big one on my visits there over 30 years ago.  But I decided to get the small one this time when my server, Linda, came over to take my order.

And it was still almost too big.  The tenderloin hung over the sides of the bun, almost enough pork to make two sandwiches.  Some people will share a large tenderloin and order an additional bun (50 cents extra) to make two sandwiches.  At one point, Doug Joens was talking about making an extra large tenderloin, but given the size of the small I can't imagine how big that could be.  

I had to first cut the extra pork skirt around the bun off before trying the sandwich.  The flavor of the Joensy's tenderloin was very good.  The breading was light and the pork was moist and tender.  I added yellow mustard, pickles and onions to the sandwich and it turned out to be a very good sandwich.  I wasn't able to finish all of the pork tenderloin - there was still just too much meat on the sandwich.  But it was very good.  

The pork tenderloin sandwich I had at Joensy's in Center Point reminded me of my college days when trying to finish one of their huge sandwiches at the original one over in Solon was accompanied with large amounts of beer.   This small tenderloin was still too big, but it was delicious, the service was friendly and efficient, and the small restaurant was comfortable with a lot of little Iowa touches.   Joensy's in Center Point would be a good stop for their signature pork tenderloin sandwich when you're driving between Waterloo and Cedar Rapids. 

Palmer Place - La Grange, IL

A quick shout-out today to David S. who sent me an e-mail touting a place I wasn't familiar with in the western suburbs of Chicago - Palmer Place in La Grange, IL.  "It's obvious from your blog that you like burgers and you like beer," he wrote to me.  "I'm sort of surprised that you haven't been to Palmer Place before."  I immediately put the place on my "Restaurants to Visit" list and went there on a recent trip into Chicago.

I'm sort of surprised that I hadn't heard of the place either since it's been around for 33 years now.  It all started when Mike and Ruth Palmer had traveled to Europe in the summer of 1982 and found themselves loving the biergartens of Germany.  Determined to have their own authentic biergarten in the western suburbs of Chicago, they found a space along La Grange Road in downtown La Grange and opened Palmer Place in 1983.  

Mike Palmer passed away in 1990, but Ruth and her sons Phil and Steve continue to run the restaurant today.  Phil and Steve's children now also work in the restaurant making it three generations of Palmers to work in Palmer Place.  

Now, I had driven by Palmer Place a number of times as it's located along La Grange Road, the main north-south drag in La Grange.  (see map)  In fact, it's located just up the street from Q-BBQ, a wonderful barbecue joint that I visited a couple years ago.  (Click here to read about my experience at Q-BBQ.)  I found a parking space across the street from Palmer Place and made my way inside.  

There's a front part and a back part to the restaurant.  I took a seat in the smaller front part - quite probably the original part of the restaurant.  I was met by my server - Nina - and was given a menu.  They have a large beer selection at Palmer Place - domestics, imports and craft brews - and I got a Goose Island Summertime, a wonderful German-style Kolsch beer. 

The back part of the restaurant is substantially larger than the front part of the restaurant.  There was a bar, a number of tables and a brick wall along two sides.  Windows along the south wall allowed for natural light to come into the room.  

Behind the restaurant and next to the back room of the place was the biergarten.  For some reason the pictures I took of the biergarten didn't turn out - the umbrellas they had and the cloudy skies made the picture too dark.  So, I found this picture on the Palmer Place Facebook page.  It was a bustling and popular place for lunch that particular day.  

Not only did they have a large beer selection at Palmer Place, they had a number of burgers to choose from on the menu - over 30 different burgers.  They had basic burgers and they had a number of interesting and eclectic burgers such as a Wagyu steak burger; the Tuscan burger topped with sautéed peppers, grated parmesan, and basil pesto; the New York Deli burger featured toppings such as corned beef and Swiss cheese: the Belvedere burger was topped with blue cheese, Canadian bacon and grilled onions; and the California burger that was topped with Monterrey jack cheese, guacamole, sprouts, and artichoke hearts.  They also feature two signature burgers - the Ultimate Gourmet Burger that won a Silver Medal at the 2010 Chicago Gourmet Hamburger Hop, and the Benchmark Burger that won the People's Choice Award at the 2011 Gourmet Hamburger Hop.  The Ultimate Gourmet Burger features Wagyu beef and is topped with Nueske's bacon, aged white cheddar cheese, braised onions, sliced beefsteak tomatoes and a slew of other veggies.  The Benchmark Burger featured a blend of ground chuck, short rib and brisket beef, charbroiled and topped with a spice rub, aged Wisconsin cheddar cheese, smoked picante ketchup, a roasted red pepper remoulade sauce, chopped Nueske's pepper bacon, a slew of veggies.  

In addition to their extensive burger menu, Palmer Place also features a number of sandwiches including eight different variations of club sandwiches, grilled chicken sandwiches, a reuben, a pulled pork sandwich, and their signature corned beef sandwich.  Soups, salads and appetizers are also available as well as a handful of entrees such as steaks, ribs, seafood and Ruth Palmer's homemade meatloaf.  

I was really wanting to try the corned beef sandwich, but they had so many different types of burgers that I couldn't really make up my mind which direction to go.  The Frisco burger was topped with ham and Swiss cheese, the Black and Blue burger had Cajun spices and blue cheese on it, and the Breakfast burger featured a fried egg, bacon and cheddar cheese.  I could have gone in any direction and come up with a winning burger.

In the end, I decided upon the 3 Cheese Mushroom burger.  The burger was topped with Muenster, cheddar and provolone cheese and sautéed mushrooms.  I asked Nina if they could throw on some bacon with the burger.  She said it would be no problem.

The burgers at Palmer Place feature 1/2 pound char-grilled patties.  The burger came on a lightly grilled brioche bun with sliced tomatoes and onions as well as pickle slices and a lettuce leaf were all served on the side.  I got fries on the side, but I knew I probably wouldn't be eating many of them.

The burger was big and juicy, the three cheeses melted over the top of the patty.  I threw on the onion slice, pickles and some ketchup and mustard.  The bun was light and fluffy, a great accompaniment to the burger.  

The taste was very good.  I'd rather have flat-grilled burgers, but some places know how to make a good char-grilled burger.  And Palmer Place is one of them.  The patty wasn't dried out and it was very flavorful.  With all that was going on with the cheese, bacon, mushrooms and condiments, I could still taste the charred beef patty.  It was a very good burger, indeed.

With as large of a burger selection they have at Palmer Place, one could eat there every day for a month and still not experience all that they have on the menu.  And the menu at Palmer Place doesn't just stop at the burgers, they have some other interesting items on the menu that I would like to try including their signature corned beef sandwich.  The beer selection was top notch, I felt the service was fine and efficient, and I liked the atmosphere in Palmer Place.  I will be heading back there at some point for either another burger or a sandwich on my next visit.    

El Carrito - Chicago

I was at one of my dealers in Chicago earlier this year and one of the guys hollered at me, "Hey, do you want a taco?"  He had a boat of tacos in front of him and they looked pretty good.  I asked him where he got the tacos from and he said, "A place called El Carrito.  They deliver and we use them pretty regularly."  When I asked if they had a restaurant, he said, "They do.  And it's not far from here."  On a recent trip into Chicago, I happened to be sitting at a stop light and I looked over and saw El Carrito in a small strip mall.  I made a mental note of the location and ended up going there for lunch one day.  

Joe Zureikat was a native of the south side of Chicago who ended up running the Foremost Liquors store in a strip mall at the corner of Peterson and Lincoln Ave.  Zureikat discovered there was a dearth of good places to eat around him and when a spot opened up next to his liquor store, he leased it out with intentions of putting in a small restaurant.  

He wanted a place with good and authentic Mexican street food.  He enlisted the help of Valentine Hernandez, a Mexican native who learned to cook in his hometown of Mexico City.  Together, they came up with the concept of El Carrito - which roughly translates into "The Little Cart" - using only fresh and locally sourced items.  The duo opened El Carrito in May of 2015.  

As I said, El Carrito is in a strip mall next to Foremost Liquors on the northeast corner of Peterson and Lincoln Ave.  (see map)  There was plenty of parking out front when I pulled in around 1:30 p.m.  Inside the restaurant, it's sort of a contemporary industrial decor with a high ceiling with exposed duct work and beams.  Small street carts were either used as displays or functional napkin and condiment holders.  

The menu was on placards above the ordering window.  It featured a number of meats including their carne asada which was grilled skirt steak, suadero (a Mexican-style brisket), pierna en adobo (a pork leg cooked in an adobo sauce), tinga (chicken cooked with chipotle peppers, tomatoes and onions) and something called chicharron prensado - pork meat with the skin on that is cooked in a guajillo sauce with spices.   The meats were available in tacos, quesadillas, burritos, and tortas.  El Carrito also featured fajitas, a grilled tiger shrimp cocktail, tamales, and a dish called pozole - a Mexican stew made with pork, hominy, mild chile peppers, and then served with cabbage, radishes, oregano and tostadas. 

The dining area at El Carrito featured lime green chairs and bright colored table tops.  The tables were sort of haphazardly situated across the dining room.  It was cozy, but well lit with the large windows in the front of the restaurant.  

I got a small basket of chips with the green salsa to start out.  The chips and salsa were $3.49 and both were very good.  The chips were fresh and warm, while the salsa verde was had a great flavor with a bit of a burn on the back end.  El Carrito doesn't serve alcohol, but with Foremost Liquors next door - owned by one of the guys who owns El Carrito - you can go there to get beer or mixings for margaritas and bring it into the restaurant.  

For lunch that day, I got three tacos - the carnitas taco was cooked in a concoction that included fresh herbs, a bit of orange juice, and topped with chopped onions and cilantro; the al pastor pork taco was cooked in three different types of chiles and topped with pickled onions, cilantro and grilled pineapple; and the barbacoa taco featured braised beef cooked in a chimichurri sauce and topped with cilantro and pickled onions.  I had ran out of the salsa verde from eating the chips, so I asked one of the young ladies cleaning up in the dining area if I could get some more green salsa.  She came back with two little tubs - maybe an ounce of sauce each.  Oh well...

Now, I was lucky to get the above picture of the tacos because not only did they look good, they smelled good, too.  I had put some of the salsa verde on the carnitas taco and almost started to take a bite before I snapped the picture of the food.  But the wait was worth it.  All three tacos were fabulous.  The taste combinations of the meats, chiles, spices, veggies, herbs, fruits, and whatever else was part of the individual tacos were all outstanding.  

I'm certainly glad that I found out about El Carrito.  The tacos I had were all very good and I'm sure the other things on their menu would be just as good.  The choices of meats on their menu were varied and interesting.  Everything tasted fresh with a lot of great flavor combinations going on with each taco.  El Carrito is nothing fancy, but the street-style tacos were nothing short of excellent. 

Kintaro Japanese Restaurant - Kapa'a, HI

On our last night on Kauai, we decided to go find a sushi place for dinner.  It turned out there was a Japanese restaurant just down the road from our hotel - Kintaro Japanese Restaurant - that we had passed many times during our trips up and down the Kuhio Highway.  It appeared to be a very popular place during the evenings and we found out why it was so popular while we were there.  

The restaurant is named after a Japanese folklore hero - Kintarō - which roughly translates into "Golden Boy".  Popular in kabuki dramas in Japan, legend has it that as a boy Kintarō was raised on a mountain and he became friendly with the animals that inhabited the mountain around him.  He had superhuman strength, catching a notorious man who terrorized the citizens on and around the mountain.  Kintarō may have been based on the life of a real man who lived sometime during the 9th to 11th century and his legend has grown with generations who have told his story for years.  It is customary for Japanese households to display a Kintarō doll on Children's Day (May 5) with the hope that boys living in the house will garner the strength of Kintarō.  

Kintaro Japanese Restaurant in Kapa'a has been in business for nearly 20 years and is run by the Kim family. It's located along the Kuhio Highway on a little triangle of land that is bordered by Lanakai St. and Papaloa Rd.  (see map)  It was less than a mile from our hotel to Kintaro and while we could have walked the distance, we decided to make the short drive to try the place out.  

When we pulled into the parking lot, it was full.  We contemplated going somewhere else, but then Cindy saw a car pulling out on the far side of the lot.  We pulled in there and went in.  

We were met at the front hostess stand and we were told that it was a 45 minute wait for a table.  We told her that we preferred sitting at the sushi bar and she said, "Oh!  I can get you seated there much more quickly!"  She has us sit in the bar area while we waited for a couple spots to open at the sushi bar.  

The majority of the bar was packed with 20-somethings having fun on a Friday night.  We took a couple seats at the bar and ordered up a couple of mai tai's.  It took awhile for the drinks to get to us - the bartenders were overwhelmed that evening.  

The dining room just off the bar area had an oriental decor throughout.  There were teppanyaki grills located in the back of the restaurant.  There was also a traditional Japanese dining room in the back for private dining. The dining area was cozy and the atmosphere was laid back.  It was certainly packed the whole time we were there. 

It was less than 20 minutes when the hostess came over to let us know that two spots were open at the sushi bar.  We took our drinks and were shown to two seats at the end of the bar.  It wasn't a large sushi bar and there was only one sushi chef working.  Usually, there's at least two, if not three guys working behind the sushi bar at most sushi restaurants we've been to.  

Now, I have to say something about this sushi chef.  When we realized he was the only one behind the counter making sushi, we thought, "Well, it's going to be awhile until we get our sushi."  But it turned out he was the FASTEST sushi chef I've ever seen work a knife.  He looked to be in his late 40's or early 50's and he was slicing fish, packing rice and rolling sushi out at a feverish pace.  It was evident that he'd been making sushi for years and years.  We were just amazed watching the guy do his work.  

We ordered up some spicy tuna rolls.  Less than 5 minutes after we ordered the rolls, he handed them across the top of the cooler to us.  The pieces of the roll were plump and filled with dark-reddish/purple pieces of tuna. 

The tuna in the spicy tuna rolls was ultra fresh and delicious.  The spiciness in the roll wasn't overpowering, and that was a good thing as the taste of the tuna was absolutely outstanding.  We made short work of the rolls and went on to order some regular sushi.

We ordered up a couple pieces each of the tuna, salmon and smoked salmon sushi.  He gave us the salmon and tuna first, the smoked salmon came a little later.  Both the tuna and salmon were outstanding.  They were generous cuts of fresh fish.  The equally generous cut smoked salmon made it over the cooler moments later and while it was good, we thought the fresh salmon was better.  

When we were at Sansei on Maui earlier during our trip (click here to read about our trip to Sansei in Kihei), the couple seated next to us at the bar were eating something cooked.  Cindy asked them what it was and they told her it was kama.  That roughly means "fish collar".  It's something I've seen a colleague order before at a sushi restaurant and it consists of the cheek of the fish.  Cindy asked our sushi chef if they had kama and he said that they had smoked salmon kama that evening.  She wanted to order some of that and that influenced how much sushi we ordered earlier in the evening.  

The cheek of a fish can be the most desired part.  The cheek meat is usually the most tender and less "fishy" tasting of the fish.   The smoked salmon kama was grilled lightly and served with a soy-based sauce.  At first, Cindy was frustrated because she didn't know how to attack the kama.  She didn't know if she needed a fork or if she could use her chopsticks.  I took the kama and stuck my chopsticks in and pulled the fish from the cheek bone.  It was very tender and flavorful with sort of a charred taste from the grill.  Cindy said that she liked the kama, once she got the hang of figuring out how to eat it.  I liked the kama, but I thought the sushi was better. 

The best thing about Kintaro Japanese Restaurant was that we thought it was super cheap.  With the kama, the spicy tuna rolls and the six pieces of the sushi - along with drinks - it was just under $60 bucks for the meal.  Kintaro is called the most popular sushi place on Kauai and we could see why.   The sushi was delicious, the kama was very good and interesting, and we thought it was a killer value.  We noticed there were a lot of locals in the place, but they were welcoming to the tourists like us.  We're happy we tried Kintaro before we left Kauai the next day. 

LaBarra - Oak Brook, IL

One of the more hyped restaurant openings in the western suburbs of Chicago last fall was the new pizza restaurant from artisan baker and restaurateur Rich Labriola, Pizza Barra.  I have eaten at both of his other restaurants - Labriola Bakery Cafe in Oak Brook and in downtown Chicago (click here to read about my visit to the one in Oak Brook) - and was impressed with the food on both visits.   Since my visit earlier this summer, Labriola has changed the name of Pizza Barra to LaBarra signifying a shift in their food philosophy to more of an Italian restaurant more so than just being pizza-centric. 

Rich Labriola's background in the culinary arts began at his parents south side Chicago pizza joint when he was a young boy.  He learned how to bake artisan breads at a young age and ended up studying under world-class bread makers to learn from the masters.  Labriola found that taking the extra step or the extra minute to sift or add ingredients made all the difference in the world.

He opened his artisan bakery - Labriola Baking Company - in 1993 using specially designed baking ovens from Italy and using only the finest ingredients for his breads.  Not long after he started his bakery, he was selling his breads to a number of top-end restaurants in Chicago.  At its peak, Labriola Baking Company was supplying bread to over 700 restaurants in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin.  

Pictured right - Rich Labriola (Photo courtesy Crain's Chicago Business)

Labriola dove into the restaurant business when he opened the first of his two Labriola Bakery Cafe locations in the Oak Brook Promenade in west suburban Oak Brook in 2009.  He sold his namesake bakery in 2013 and opened a second Labriola Bakery Cafe just off Michigan Ave. at E. Grand.  While the Labriola Bakery Cafe in Oak Brook is an upscale cafe, the one in downtown Chicago features a more formal Italian menu in an even more upscale setting.  

For his pizza restaurant, Labriola joined forces with Chris Macchia whose background included stints as the executive chef at The Florentine and Coco Pazzo, two highly acclaimed Italian restaurants in Chicago.  The two came up the idea of having all different types of pizza from Chicago deep-dish style, to a thin-crust tavern style, to a coal oven-baked Neapolitan-style of pizza.  Macchia helped Labriola fashion a menu that used locally grown and sourced items for the pizza they served.  With both Labriola and Macchia well-known in the Chicago restaurant community, Pizza Barra opened to much fanfare in September of last year.  Initial reviews were overly favorable.  (Macchia has since gone on to become the executive chef at Nonnina which was the former Piccolo Sogno Due in Chicago's River North neighborhood.)  

I had a late day meeting with one of my dealers in the Oak Brook area and decided to head over to Pizza LaBarra - which what it was still called at the time - to try one of their pizzas.  It is located on the east side of the Oak Brook Promenade, literally a stone's throw from the Labriola Bakery Cafe off of Butterfield Road.  (see map)  Valet parking is available at peak times, but this was just after 6 p.m. when I was there and there was plenty of parking in the lot out front.  

Walking into Pizza LaBarra, the pizza ovens are prominently on display behind the counter.  There are two ovens - a gas oven for regular tavern-style or deep-dish pizza - and a coal-fired oven for the artisan Neapolitan pizzas the restaurant offers.  

There is a nice outside patio dining area that was nearly full the evening that I was there.  It overlooks a small man-made pond and is fully covered.   

There are a couple of dining areas off to the main dining area.  These are used for private parties or overflow from the main dining area in the middle of the restaurant.  A divider separates the two rooms that can be individually closed off.  A large mural of black and white photographs depicting the melding of Italian and American cultures ran the length of the two rooms.

The main dining room features a large rectangular bar with a window that looks into the kitchen.  It features contemporary decor and a number of booths along the wall.  Wooden floors and a wooden ceiling made the room a little loud and echo-y.  

I ended up sitting at the bar and was greeted by Angel, a pleasant young guy who handed me a menu to look over.  They had a number of beers on tap and I ended up getting a Goose Island Summertime, their seasonal summertime Kolsch.  

The menu has changed since I was there initially - as I said they went more to an Italian-centric menu with pizza now sort of down on the menu.  But I was there for the pizza that night and I got my standard Italian sausage, pepperoni and mushroom - a small thin-crust. I was tempted to get a deep-dish pizza given Rich Labriola's reputation of making great bread.  I could almost imagine how good the deep-dish crust would be at Pizza LaBarra.

The pizza came out and was piping hot.  The chunks of the sausage that Pizza LaBarra sources from DiRusso Italian Sausage Co. were sweet and spicy.  The pepperoni slices were large and salty, and the sliced mushrooms were very fresh.  The sauce they used on the pizzas at Pizza LaBarra was a little sweet, yet had a good tangy taste.  The crust, however, was light, flaky and wonderful.   The overall taste of the pizza with everything wrapped together was outstanding.  There wasn't much I could quibble about with the taste of the pizza.  A small was just enough for me.  I was full after I finished the last of the "honey-pot" squares in the center of the tavern-cut pizza - the best pieces of any tavern-cut pizza.  

I've encountered a lot of great pizza places in Chicago over the years, but I will say that the thin-crust, tavern-cut pizza that I got at Pizza LaBarra would give some of my favorites a run for their money.  The hand-tossed crust was wonderful and the toppings were plentiful and full of flavor.  Pizza LaBarra is a little more upscale than most of the pizza places I like in the Chicago area, but the service I received was fine, and the surroundings and decor of the restaurant was pleasant.  I'm definitely going back to try one of Pizza LaBarra's deep-dish pizza sometime this fall.   

Jimmy's Famous American Tavern - Dana Point, CA

When I was out in Dana Point for a conference earlier this year, two of my colleagues and a couple of other guys we knew decided that we didn't want to participate in the luau they were having for us as part of the conference one evening - mainly because the temperatures were in the low 60's (F) and there was a breeze coming off the ocean.  When my wife and I were in Dana Point last year, we saw a restaurant in Dana Point Harbor that looked interesting, but we never did go there.  The place intrigued me enough that I suggested to the group about going down the hill to go have dinner at Jimmy's Famous American Tavern.  

Jimmy's in Dana Point, it turns out, is part of a now five-location (and growing) chain that was started by David Wilhelm, a long-time restaurateur who reinvented himself after the recession of 2008 and 2009 forced him to close a number of fine dining restaurants that were under his corporate ownership.  Wilhelm is somewhat famous in the Orange County area for pioneering fine dining in nearby Laguna Beach.  He opened his first restaurant CdM in Laguna Beach in 1978, then opened other higher-end concept restaurants such as Kachina in the early 80's, Sorrento Grill in the late 80's and a number of other restaurants that stretched from Southern California to Arizona.  But he's probably most famous for French 75 and Chat Noir, two high-end fine dining establishments that were considered two of the best restaurants between Los Angeles and San Diego.  

Wilhelm was responsible for opening 30 concept restaurants since the late 70's, many of which ended up under the Culinary Adventures umbrella of restaurants headed by Wilhelm.  But the recession of 2008 forced Wilhelm to declare bankruptcy protection for Culinary Adventures and he ended up closing his last restaurant in 2009.  

Pictured right - David Wilhelm

As he was working his way through bankruptcy, Wilhelm worked as a consultant for HMS Host, the contractor for many concept restaurants at airports and shopping malls across the nation.  He was working with HMS Host coming up with a gastropub/small bites menu at one of their restaurants at John Wayne Airport in Orange County when he came to the realization that this was the way people were eating these days.  Wilhelm soon found that "Regional Americana" cuisine was a real thing and something that he looked into to get back into the restaurant business.  

Wilhelm partnered with a developer who was working on the new Point Loma Marina in San Diego to come up with the Jimmy's Famous American Tavern concept as the anchor restaurant for the marina.  He opened his first Jimmy's in 2010, while he opened the Dana Point location in the summer of 2013 in what was the old Ristorante Ferrantelli space in Dana Point Harbor.  That was followed a couple of years later with a location in Woodland Hills outside of Los Angeles in the San Fernando Valley, and this year Jimmy's opened two more outlets - one in Brea in northern Orange County, and one in Santa Monica near the famous Santa Monica Pier.  Wilhelm has said that he plans to open 16 to 18 locations of Jimmy's Famous American Tavern in Southern California within the next five years.   

It was less than five minute walk down the hill to Harbor Drive and a small strip mall area that housed Jimmy's, or J-Fat's as they like to call themselves.  (see map)   Walking inside we found a bar area with a rectangular bar in the middle.  A large cut-out lettered sign that spelled out "Famous" with back lighting was on the wall of the bar area.  

We ended up getting seated at what amounted to a communal table with bench seats in a larger dining area  near the back of the restaurant.  With the wooden beams, concrete floor and the glass garage doors going out to the patio that were closed because of the cool night, it was sort of loud in there.  We were all given menus and I ordered up a Sculpin IPA from the Ballast Point brewery down in San Diego.  One of the guys ordered a bottle of wine, a Reckless Love blend from the Rebel Coast Winery, a relatively newer winery located in Rancho Palos Verdes just up the coast and south of Los Angeles.  Later on, after that bottle was finished, he ordered up a bottle of Syrah from the Plumpjack Winery located in Northern California.  Both bottles were a little pricey, but it turned out that we - as in me and my colleagues - weren't paying for dinner that night.   I'm not much of a wine drinker with burgers, but I did have a bit of the Plumpjack Syrah later in the evening.  

They had an extensive and somewhat interesting appetizer menu at Jimmy's including angus beef meatballs in a spicy Buffalo-wing sauce, whiskey-flamed shrimp with Cajun seasonings, charred Brussels sprouts, and a half-dozen spicy jalapeño deviled eggs served with applewood-smoked bacon.  My colleague Matt offered to order up some appetizers and we were fine with that.  He ordered a plate of the calamari.  It came with a spicy remoulade sauce as well as grilled serrano peppers and a twig of fried sage.  The calamari was pretty good.   

We also got an order of the ale-battered onion rings.  They were large, thick and piled high on a plate.  I had one and I thought the batter was over-herbed.  The taste of the herbs in the batter was a bit of a detraction to the overall taste of the onion rings.  

Entrees at Jimmy's Famous American Tavern range from steaks, pork chops, chicken dishes and a beef stroganoff dish that I damned near ordered up.  Seafood entrees such a Pacific red snapper and a pan-roasted sea bass were also on the menu.  They also had a big bowl of gumbo on the menu as an entree, another thing that I considered before I ordered.

It seemed like everyone was ordering up burgers and the spicy California burger had caught my attention.  It featured green chiles, pickled jalapeños, pepper jack cheese, and finished off with a slice of red onion, a tomato slice and a chipotle mayo dressing.  Guacamole also came on the burger, but I asked if I could get it on the side.  

The burger was thick and came with a knife stuck in the middle of the burger.  First of all, don't put a knife in my burger, please.  Secondly, it was messy.  There was a lot of stuff on the burger and I was worried that it would mask the overall taste of the beef.  I had to cut it in half just to be able to handle the burger.  

And there were a lot of tastes going on with the burger.  The green chiles had a nice smoky kick to their flavor. The pickled jalapeños had a sweet and spicy taste to them.  The bacon was thick and tasty.  But the burger was thick enough that all the tastes melded well with the taste of the beef.  The bun was thick and it needed to be to hold together all that was going on with the burger.  It was a good burger - not great - but fine for what I needed that evening.  

We all remarked that our meals at Jimmy's Famous American Tavern were fine - probably better than the food they were serving back at the hotel that evening for our conference.  The wine list was somewhat impressive as was the beer selection.  While we didn't do much more than just burgers and some fish & chips, Jimmy's appeared to have a pretty extensive - if not expensive - selection of entrees to choose from, as well.  I liked the laid-back atmosphere at Jimmy's Famous America Tavern and it was good enough for what we were expecting from a place like that for dinner that evening.

Emmett's Brewing Company - Palatine, IL

After seeing a dealer in the far northwest suburbs of Chicago, it was early in the afternoon and I thought about stopping somewhere for lunch.  I pulled over and did a quick look up for brew pubs in the area and I found a place that turned out to be not too far away, a place with four locations that I'd heard about before but had never been to before - Emmett's Brewing Company.  

Hunt's Block was the name of one of the first large buildings built west of downtown Chicago.  Also known as "Hunt's Folly" at the time because of it's size, the three story corner building was finished in 1871 and has housed everything from a dry goods store, a bank, professional offices, a ballroom and a billiard hall.  It was a rundown relic when Timothy Burns, along with his sons, Matthew and Andrew, bought the building in 1998 and installed brewing tanks, eventually opening a brew pub the following year.  The Burns family named the place after Timothy Burns' father Emmett, a man who they all revered in life.  

The second Emmett's Brewing Company location opened in Palatine not long after, but that was closed in 2005.  However, it reopened in 2006 and is still going today.  Subsequent Emmett's Brewing Co. locations opened in Downers Grove and last year a new Emmett's location opened in downtown Wheaton in a restaurant that was simply known as The Bank.  

The Palatine location of Emmett's Brewing Company is located in the downtown area in the midst of a number of other restaurants and bars in the area.  (see map)  I immediately recognized the area as one that I had visited previously on a couple of occasions, one to go have dinner at Schnell's Brauhaus across the railroad tracks.  (Click here to see the Road Tips entry on Schnell's Brauhaus.)  It was just after the noon rush when I got to Emmett's Brewing Company and the parking lot in front was sort of full, but I was able to find a spot near the front door that had just opened up.  

There's two parts to Emmett's Brewing Company in Palatine - the dining room and the bar area.  Doors from the bar area went out to a patio that was half-filled with diners on this beautiful day in Chicagoland.  I thought about sitting at the bar for lunch, but I was told by the hostess that there was no service in the bar until later in the day.

I was seated in the dining room, a cozy and ornate area that looked more like someones suburban living room than a restaurant.  It featured high-backed booths, a number of tables in smaller rooms, a fireplace and a number of prints and paintings on the wall.  I was given a menu and I took a quick look through the beer list to see what I'd like to have for something to drink.  I saw that they had something called World's End American Pale Ale that day and I signed up for that.  

In the middle between the dining room and the bar area is a glass enclosed space behind the hostess stand that looks down into the brewery portion of Emmett's Brewing Company.  They have won a number of awards including top-three finishes at prestigious beer festivals such as the Great American Beer Festival and the World Beer Cup.  Also downstairs is a tap room that is used for private dining or events.  

The menu at Emmett's Brewing Company is a pretty extensive and diverse offering.  The appetizers went from pretty eclectic such as truffle fries with garlic aioli, sesame-seared ahi tuna, and portobello mushroom fries to basics such as fried calamari, chicken quesadillas, and an artichoke and spinach dip with pita chips.  Soups, salads and small bites that could be shared such as blue cheese and bacon potato chips, barbecued pork pulled pork sliders, and a baked pretzel twist.  

Emmett's also featured a number of sandwiches and burgers, and a number of seafood entrees as well as steaks, pork chops and chicken dishes.  I was sort of burned out on burgers although their Boursin cheese burger with a portobello mushroom sounded pretty good.  And their entrees just sounded like too much food for lunch, but I did give the braised pot roast with veggies and Yukon potatoes a quick look before moving on.

I ended up getting the Tavern Tacos with seared ahi tuna.  (Steak, battered cod or roasted vegetables were also an option with the tacos.)   The tacos were filled with shredded cabbage, pico de gallo and a spicy Southwest ranch dressing.  I got a side with it and I wasn't too fired up about fries, sweet potato fries or potato chips, so my server - Cynthia, a pleasant lady who was very helpful throughout the meal - suggested I get the cole slaw.  And I'm glad I did.  The cole slaw had that perfect mix of sweet and tangy.  

The seared ahi tuna tacos were also very good.  The tuna wasn't fishy, the cabbage and the pico de gallo both were fresh and delicious.  The spicy ranch dressing was a nice accompaniment to the seared tuna.  The meal was light, it had a lot of different tastes going on, and it was perfect for lunch.  The American pale ale was somewhat hoppy, but it was a great pairing for the fish tacos.  

Now that I've tried Emmett's Brewing Company and I know the extensive menu they have, I can see going to one of the other locations - or going back to the one in Palatine - at some time.  The fish tacos were very good, I was happy with the American pale ale that I had, the service was top notch and it was tough to beat the homey atmosphere at the Palatine Emmett's Brewing Co.  There's a lot of good to very good brew pubs in the Chicago area and Emmett's is one of the better ones that I've encountered.  

Kauai Pasta - Kapa'a, HI

In the mood for something different for dinner one evening when we were on Kauai, someone at the front desk of our hotel made a suggestion of a little out-of-the-way Italian restaurant that wasn't far from our hotel.  We thought Italian would be a nice diversion from the seafood we'd been eating seemingly almost every meal while we were on the island.  We set out to find Kauai Pasta in Kapa'a.

Russell Stokes was born in Oregon and moved to Kauai when he was 8 years old.  His maternal grandmother was Sicilian and he learned a number of great Italian recipes from her and his mother while he was growing up.  After graduating high school in Kapa'a Stokes got a job working in the kitchen at Roy's Poipu Bar & Grill, part of the empire of Roy's Restaurants run by noted Hawaii Regional Cuisine chef Roy Yamaguchi.  (Roy's Poipu Bar has since been transformed into another Roy's concept restaurant, Eating House 1849.)  It was at Roy's Poipu Bar & Grill that he met Karolyn Heller, a double graduate of the California School of Culinary Arts and Le Cordon Blue Academy in France who had moved to Kauai to work at Roy's Poipu.  Heller was also an Oregon native and the two ended up getting married.  

Russell Stokes eventually became the executive chef at Roy's Poipu with Karolyn as the sous chef.  However after working at Roy's for 9 years, he saw a need for an Italian restaurant on the island, a place that was more for the natives and not the tourists.  In 2003, Russell and Karolyn Stokes left the restaurant to open their new place - Kauai Pasta in Kapa'a - using recipes that were handed down by Russell's grandmother.   

Karolyn Stokes' father, Jon, worked as for food and restaurant supply wholesaler in the Portland, OR area before he decided to retire after 27 years.  Along with Karolyn's mom, Rondi, the Heller's moved to Kauai to be closer to their daughter's family.  It wasn't long before Jon Heller was working in the restaurant and he eventually became a partner in the business.

Stokes and Heller opened a second Kauai Pasta location in Lihue in 2006.  Eventually, Stokes and Heller split their two businesses - Stokes taking the Lihue Kauai Pasta location and Heller taking over the Kapa'a Kauai Pasta.  To run the kitchen at the Kapa'a location, Heller brought in Jeffrey Aguinaldo, a Filipino native who - ironically - was the sous chef at Roy's Poipu.  

Kauai Pasta in Kapa'a was immensely popular and the small space was routinely filled with diners and more people waiting outside to get a table.  After Jon Heller took over, he took over another space in the small strip mall and put in the KP Lounge, a bar area that handled overflow and allowed those waiting for a table to have a drink or two.  The KP Lounge quickly became a popular place for locals to hang out.  

Kauai Pasta is located along the Kuhio Highway in Kapa'a, less than a 5 minute drive from our hotel.  (see map)  Coming from the south on the Kuhio Highway into Kapa'a, Kauai Pasta is difficult to see because it's recessed off the road and sort of behind a Taco Bell.  We went by the place once and had to double back to go there.  We found it in a sandstone-colored nondescript small strip mall back off the highway.  Parking in the strip mall was sparse and it was tough to find a parking space.  Eventually, a couple were walking out of the restaurant and getting into their car as we were maneuvering around the parking lot.

There are two doors into Kauai Pasta - the dining room and the lounge.  We took the entry into the dining room and we found a long and narrow room that was dimly lit and cozy.  The place was less than half-full and we were seated immediately at a small table for two along the wall.  The table was very wobbly and we knew we would have to get that fixed or get moved.  Our server for the evening, an even-tempered young lady by the name of Katie, came over to greet us and I showed her that the table at which we were seated was unstable.  She sort of sighed and looked behind us at another table.  She grabbed our silverware and said, "Let's just move you here."  That table was much better.  

The menu at Kauai Pasta was truly Italian-centric with a number of entrees such chicken parm, veal marsala, lasagna and, of course, pasta dishes.  Salads, appetizers - including anti-pasta plates - and pizza made in-house were also available.  There was also a list of dinner specials that evening that included house-made pork sausage with Hawaiian peppers, a penne pasta bake with chicken and broccoli, and a Hawaiian-salted ribeye steak.  

I saw that they had Kona Big Wave Golden Ale on the beer menu and I ordered up a bottle of that.  It was the 22-ounce variety and it was brought out with a small loaf of fresh baked focaccia bread with oil and aged-vinegar. The bread was served warm and was very fresh in taste. 

We ordered up a caprese salad to start out with.  Hawaiian tomatoes are the best in the world and these were absolutely no exception.  The presentation alone was worth getting the caprese salad.  It featured four thick slices of Hawaiian tomatoes with a like number of thick cuts of fresh mozzarella cheese toward the center with four large basil leaves pointing in all four directions on top.  Aged balsamic vinegar was drizzled over the plate.  The caprese salad was outstanding.  

I was deeply in the mood for pasta that evening and I got something on the menu simply called the House Pasta - spaghetti noodles mixed in with a sauce consisting of ground locally-raised beef, ground Italian sausage and chopped mushrooms.  For good measure, I asked Katie if she could add some meatballs to the dish.  I also got a glass of the Joel Gott cabernet to go along with the dinner.  

The dish was fine, not outstanding.  The sauce had a bit of a spicy bite from the Italian sausage, but I wouldn't call it scintillating.  The meatballs were sort of pasty and dry in taste.  I mean, it was all fine and exactly what I was looking for, but it didn't knock my socks off.  

Cindy got a dish that was simply called Pasta Marinara.  It consisted of Kauai Pasta's house-made marinara sauce - the same recipe that was handed down from Russell Stokes' grandmother - along with spaghetti, chopped fresh basil, roasted garlic and parmesan cheese.  It also came with a skewer of grilled shrimp.  She also got a glass of the Joel Gott cabernet to go along with her meal.  She thought her meal, too, was fine - not outstanding, but good.  

We like to engage our server in conversation when we're in Hawaii, but we were having a bit of trouble getting Katie to talk with us.  She was efficient with her service, but her demeanor was very neutral, almost dour.  It wasn't that she was busy - the place didn't get much more than half full while we were there.  She just didn't want to take the time to talk with a couple of tourists from Iowa.  

When we got back to the hotel, we stopped at the bar to have a nightcap at the bar.  We told the bartender that we just went to the Kauai Pasta in Kapa'a for dinner and she asked how we liked it.  Cindy and I sort of looked at one another and I finally said, "It was was fine.  Just all right.  Nothing outstanding."  The bartender told us that she thought the place wasn't the same since Russell Stokes split the two places leaving the Kapa'a location to Jon Heller.  "I like going to Russell's place in Lihue more than the one in Kapa'a."  OK, that may have been good to know before we went.  

Quite honestly, Kauai Pasta wasn't all that bad.  It was a nice and cozy place.  The service was efficient even though our server was sort of neutral to cold in her attitude all evening.  The food was good - not outstanding - but the spaghetti with the meat and mushroom sauce and meatballs was a spot-hitter for me who had nothing but fish tacos and seafood since we'd been on Kauai.  My wife seemed to enjoy the pasta marinara and shrimp dish she had.  The highlight had to be the wonderful caprese salad that we shared before our dinner.  Kauai Pasta was a nice diversion from the seafood diet we seemed to be on while we were on Kauai.  

Pat's Tap - Minneapolis

I've become a fan of Kim Bartmann, the owner-operator of places like Bryant-Lake Bowl (click here to see the Road Tips entry on Bryant-Lake Bowl), and the Red Stag Supperclub (click here to see the entry on Red Stag Supperclub), as well as other restaurants in the Twin Cities such as Barbette and Tiny Diner.  One place that I've had on my culinary radar for quite sometime is a homey little tavern owned by Bartmann and her sister, Kari, along S. Nicollet Ave. in Minneapolis - Pat's Tap.  On a recent visit to Minneapolis for work, I stopped into Pat's Tap for lunch.  

The "Pat" behind Pat's Tap is Kim and Kari Bartmann's mother, Pat.  Her illustrated face is part of the logo featured on the left.  The Bartmann's grew up in Wisconsin where neighborhood and backwoods pubs that featured burgers, cheese curds and pool tables were the social center for friends and family over the years.  Kim Bartmann loved the name Pat's Tap, not only because it was her mom's name and she thought it was a cool name for a bar, but because it's also a palindrome.   Kim Bartmann opened Pat's Tap in the fall of 2011 in the space that was formerly Casey's Bar, a retro neighborhood lounge that had been around for years before closing.  

Kim Bartmann is also big in environmental causes and is one of the local leaders in making her restaurants more energy efficient.  The Red Stag Supperclub was the first LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) restaurant in the Twin Cities (or the whole state of Minnesota, for that matter) and Pat's Tap was the second.  The urinals in the men's bathroom at Pat's Tap are waterless, they used reclaimed furniture for many of the fixtures, they feature a water reduction system in the kitchen and bar, and there's a solar panel array on the roof to help heat water and the building.    

It was a warm day when I pulled up to Pat's Tap near the corner of Nicollet and 35th St. in Minneapolis.  (see map)  The front exterior of the building was sort of a contemporary industrial brick facade.  The patio area out front was full of people enjoying lunch, but I was wanting to eat inside, preferably at the bar.

The inside of the restaurant features a mix of vintage fixtures including a number of old metal beers signs, a vintage juke box, a tiled floor and a tin ceiling.  A number of low and high top tables were interspersed throughout the small dining area.  

The classic-style retro bar looked like a throwback from the 50's.  Kim Bartmann initially felt when Pat's Tap opened that the bar was too sleek.  She wanted it to be more like the trashy and well-worn Northern Wisconsin bars her family frequented when she was growing up.  To me, the bar was pretty cool looking.  There's a vintage four-beer tap in the corner of the bar.  

The centerpiece of Pat's Tap is the skee-ball machine that is in the back corner of the building near the restrooms.  This is a vintage-1950's skee-ball machine that was restored by Kari Bartmann in her garage.  Kim Bartmann said one time that they have to literally drag her away from a skee-ball machine when she encounters one.  The one shown here costs just a quarter a play and I understand it's a popular diversion for people who come to Pat's Tap.  

I took a seat at the bar and was greeted by the bartender that day, Pauley.  He gave me a menu and asked if I wanted anything to drink.  Pat's Tap features a number of local and regional beers on tap and in cans - no bottles.  Cans are easier to recycle than bottles and that's another part of Pat's Tap LEED-certification.  I ended up getting a 16-ounce can of the Summit Saga IPA from Pat's Tap's extensive beer menu.    

The menu at Pat's Tap is an interesting gastro-pub mix of appetizers and salads, burgers and sandwiches, and a number of eclectic entrees ranging from grilled pork chops and grilled chicken legs to mahi tacos and shakshuka, a Northern African/Middle Eastern-inspired dish of poached eggs in a tomato, onion and chili pepper sauce.  Pat's Tap also features cheese and charcuterie boards as an appetizer or an accompaniment to entrees.  

I was leaning toward getting a burger, but I saw a sandwich on the menu that sounded rather interesting - the Bloody Mary Sandwich.  It consisted of two fried eggs with bacon, pepper jam, a Worcestershire Sauce aioli, a slice of an heirloom tomato and served on slices of toasted tomato bread.  That sounded more like a breakfast sandwich and it's also featured on Pat's Tap weekend brunch menu.        

For lunch that day, I ended up ordering the cheddar cheese burger with fresh heirloom tomatoes slices and house-made dill pickle chips.  Pauley explained to me that the cheddar cheese was actually grill-top fried to give it a caramelized layer on top.  I thought that sounded pretty interesting.  House-fried chips came with the burger, but for a $2 buck upcharge I was able to get fries.  

The burger was thick and juicy, but the caramelized Wisconsin cheddar cheese helped bring the full taste to the burger.  The lightly-toasted bun was light and spongy, and was a great complement to the overall taste of the burger.  This was one burger where I went, "Mmmmm...." with the first bite and I did it again about halfway through again.  This was an outstanding burger.  

As I was enjoying my burger, a guy came in and sat a couple three seats down the bar from me.  He announced to the bartender that he was on a burger quest - his favorite burger joint had closed about six months prior and he was on a quest around the Twin Cities to find his new favorite burger.  I interjected that I had the cheddar burger and it was excellent.  He ended up ordering the bacon-Swiss cheese burger with a burger patty that was part beef and part bacon.  It came with onion straws on the burger.  As I was finishing up and paying my bill, his burger came out.   We had briefly compared notes on burger places around the Twin Cities and while he didn't say that the burger he had at Pat's Tap was the best he'd had on his journey to find his new favorite place in the area, he thought it was a very good burger. 

 

Kim Bartmann has hit another home run with the vintage, throw-back Pat's Tap.  From the interesting menu, to the large selection of beers, to the vintage skee-ball game and throwback decor, Pat's Tap was a great place to visit.  The burger I had was excellent and the service I received was also top-notch.  I don't quite think it's my favorite burger in the Twin Cities, but I'd go back time and time again just for the atmosphere great beer menu at Pat's Tap.  

Mahé - Dana Point, CA

I was asked - no, more like I somewhat pleaded - to go to an industry conference in Dana Point, CA earlier this year.  Now, Dana Point is one of my all-time favorite places to visit and my wife and I ate at a handful of restaurants in the area when we were there last year.  (Click here to read about the Dana Point restaurants we went to.)   When I found out this conference was going to be held in Dana Point, I immediately began to angle for the trip with one of my colleagues.  So, it was great to make it back to Dana Point and on our first night there we were part of a small group who went down the hill from our hotel to eat some ultra-fresh sushi at Mahé.  

Mahé is a combination steakhouse/seafood restaurant that also has a sushi bar.  The restaurant opened in the Dana Point Harbor area in late 2008 and is run by business partners Toby Reece and Anthony Andrews.  Mahé gets it name from an island in the Seychelles archipelago in the Indian Ocean, a place Reece and Andrews had visited in the past on surfing expeditions.  Reece's past restaurant experiences included opening restaurants around the U.S. for celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck.  Reece, Andrews and another surfing buddy opened the first Mahé up the Pacific Ocean coast in Seal Beach in 2001 in what was the former Glider Inn, a restaurant that started in the early 1930's that catered to pilots who flew in and out at a nearby airstrip.   

While we were in Dana Point, we stayed at the Laguna Cliffs Marriott Resort where the conference was being held.  Now, I've stayed at the Laguna Cliffs resort two times prior and even took my wife there when we were in Dana Point last year just to show her the place.  The views from the lawn and the deck down to the harbor and beyond were stunning.  It didn't hurt that the weather in the afternoon each day we were there was absolutely gorgeous after the morning marine layer burned off around 11 a.m.   

Mahé is located just down the hill from the Laguna Cliffs resort and it was walking distance from the hotel.  (see map)  My colleague John and I were joined by a new colleague, Matt, who we had hired as a product specialist earlier this year, and a couple of Matt's buddies who were there for the conference.  

Walking into the place, we saw the sushi bar to the right.  We contemplated sitting at the sushi bar, but found that there were only three chairs open.  Our hostess went off to find a table for five that was open.  

The dining room at Mahé was a long and narrow room with contemporary wooden tables and chairs lining the sides of the room. Large windows looked out onto a patio area.  The patio area featured dining spots along with a seating area with a long fire pit.  Mahé also features live musicians on the patio on the weekends.  

Quite frankly, I would have rather eaten out on the patio, but I was overruled.  We ended up at a long table that featured bench seats in a small room off the main dining area.  Asahi beer and sake were quickly ordered up by our group.  

The menu at Mahé features a number of interesting number of starters that include seafood nachos, fried asparagus spears, panko-crusted calamari, and Kobe beef sliders.  Seafood included sashimi-grade seared Hawaiian ahi tuna, pan-blackened swordfish, and a pan-seared salmon that is cooked in a combination of sake and teriyaki.  Steaks such as a baseball-cut filet tenderloin and a bone-in ribeye were on the menu, as well as a couple of chicken entrees.  

But we were there for the sushi.  Matt started to order up a bunch of rolls and sushi - "That's what I do," he told me.  "I just order a bunch of sushi and rolls for the group."  Well, I shut him down pretty quickly and told him that he doesn't order for me.  I wanted to get some salmon and tuna sushi, but I was fine with the rolls that he ordered up.  I couldn't quite tell you what the rolls were - one roll was wrapped in a tempura shell and the other was wrapped in seaweed and char-grilled.  But they were all right.  

The salmon was absolutely fabulous.  It literally melted in my mouth with each piece I had.  The consistency of the salmon was like butter.  It was some of the best salmon I'd ever had.  The maguro tuna sushi, on the other hand, was just all right.  It was a tad fishy in taste and was sort of chewy.  The salmon was the winner between the two.

I was telling everyone at the table how great the salmon was and Matt said, "Have you ever tried top-seared salmon?"  I wasn't familiar with what he was talking about, so he ordered up a plate of 10 seared salmon sushi from our waitress.   The sushi chef takes a hand-held torch burner and sears the top of the fish after it's formed into sushi.  This is called aburi sushi when it's seared on the top.   It was good - a different taste than the raw sushi, which I thought was better in flavor - but it would be something that I'd try again at some point.  

More sushi rolls were brought to the table including the two rolls above right.  One was a double tuna roll with tuna slices on top of the roll.  The other had tuna and some veggies mixed in the roll.  Both were very good, but very rich and filling.  

It was a fine meal at Mahé.  The sushi was very good to excellent - it was tough to beat the salmon sushi they had at Mahé.  The rolls were interesting and I was introduced to aburi salmon sushi that evening.  There was plenty of Asahi, plenty of sake and plenty of laughs all evening long.  By the end of the evening, we were so stuffed it was tough to make it back up the hill to the hotel.  Mahé was a fun and hip place with very good to excellent sushi and a great atmosphere near the harbor in Dana Point.  

Maria's Mexican Restaurant - Moline, IL

On a recent Monday night date night with my wife, we decided to head over to one of our favorite restaurants, the Mediterranean-themed Sultan's in Rock Island.  When we pulled up to the place, we were shocked and crestfallen to see that it was closed - as in out of business.  I hate it when I get all fired up for place to eat at only to find that it's closed - either for the day or - for good, as in Sultan's case.  Suddenly I was in a funk as to where to go eat.  My wife threw out a couple suggestions for Mexican, but we both knew they were closed on Mondays.  Finally, she came up with a suggestion of a place we hadn't eaten at for quite sometime and we we checked to see if they were open - and they were.  We headed over to Maria's Mexican Restaurant in Moline.  

Maria and Luis Esparza came to the U.S. in 1970, but it wasn't until 16 years later that the couple opened Maria's located in the heart of Moline's Old Towne neighborhood.  It was one of the first authentic Mexican restaurants in Moline and quickly became a favorite with the locals.  Maria and Luis' son helps run the place today - and it turned out that he was the one who happened to wait on us this particular evening.  

Now, we've eaten at Maria's a handful of times before.  The first time is still talked about between my wife and I for the immediate aftermath of the dinner.  Something went right through us after eating at Maria's and it was all we could do to get home without having a bodily accident.  The house we were living in at the time was a one bathroom dwelling so the verbal argument in the car of who was going first escalated as we pulled up in front of the house.  We both made it all right and we still laugh about it today.  But it was a number of years before we went back to Maria's.

Subsequent trips to Maria's have not yielded the same "Montezuma's Revenge" problems.  But it's always at the back of our minds when we enter Maria's.  

Maria's is located on 7th Street in Moline across the street kitty-cornered from where the famed Belgian Village Restaurant once was.  (see map)   Maria's is in a nondescript building on the east side of the street with metal bars across the small windows on the front of the building.  While there is a parking lot behind Maria's, we found a spot on the street just across from the restaurant.  

We've been going to Maria's for over 20 years and the place hasn't changed much from the first time we entered the place.  There's two areas in Maria's - it was once two buildings, but they busted out the wall between the main dining area and a back dining area with the bar in it.  The dining room is a little more elegant with high-backed booths, sturdy wooden tables and ornamental lights hanging from the ceiling.  

We sat back in the bar area with a high tin ceiling, faux awnings over booths, neon beer signs and a television playing the Cubs game near the bar.   We took a seat in one of the booths along the wall.  

As I said, one of Luis and Maria Esparza's sons - I can't remember his name - came over to wait on us from behind the bar.  I ordered up a Sol beer and Cindy got a margarita.  He brought back the Sol with a frosted mug, along with a bowl of fresh made tortilla chips and a generous bowl of their salsa.  The salsa was very flavorful and had a bit of a spicy bite on the back end of the taste.  

The food at Maria's is your typical Mexican fare - enchiladas, burritos, tacos, combo plates, etc.  Everything is made from scratch and you can end up having a bit of a wait while they prepare the food in the kitchen.  I've been told that they don't microwave the food at Maria's and that's a plus compared to some Mexican restaurants in the Quad Cities.  

This evening, I went with the beef enchiladas with chile verde sauce.  The beef enchiladas normally come with a red sauce, but I asked if they could do the chile verde sauce on the beef.  He was sort of incredulous that I asked.  "You don't like the red enchilada sauce on the beef," he asked somewhat stunned.  "We make it that way for a reason."  I told him that I knew that, but I would prefer the chile verde sauce that they use on the chicken enchiladas instead of the regular red enchilada sauce.  He sort of turned his head in amazement, said, "All right", and wrote my order down.  It was almost like I hurt his feelings by having the gall to ask for something different than the family recipe they made for beef enchiladas.   

The beef enchiladas were topped with Chihuahua cheese and had a small amount of the chile verde sauce.  I almost asked if I could get more of the green sauce, but given how I had seemed to touch a nerve by asking for the chile verde on the beef enchiladas, I thought I'd better not.  Mexican rice and refried beans came with the enchiladas.  They were filled with seasoned ground beef and had a good taste overall.  Each bite was beef filled and cheesy with a bit of the chile verde flavor mixed in.  

Cindy got the chicken tacos with a side of rice and refried beans.  The tacos were filled with chopped lettuce, chopped tomatoes and sprinkled with chunks of Chihuahua cheese.  She felt the tacos, too, were good.  Not great, but good.   

And that's always been our experience at Maria's.  The food is good, the atmosphere is homey and the service - as long as you don't hurt their feelings by asking to substitute enchilada sauces - has always been good and friendly.  Maria's isn't the fanciest place to have Mexican food, but it's consistent.  And that's what we like looking for in our Mexican food places around the Quad Cities.