Road Tips

Las Fuentes - Chicago

I was traveling with one our company's product specialists recently and we had just finished up a meeting with one of our dealers in the Chicago area.  It was getting late in the day, the store was getting ready to close and it would have been at least an hour drive to our hotel.  I suggested that we all go out to get something to eat and one of the store's owners brought up a Mexican place that was just down the street.  We ended up walking over to have dinner at Las Fuentes.  

Las Fuentes has been at the corner of Wrightwood and N. Halsted for 35 years.  (see map)  The establishment is owned by Jorge Albarrán who immigrated to the United States from Mexico in 1978.  Albarrán worked at many restaurants - most notably at the venerable Drake Hotel - as a busboy and server.  After four years, Albarrán saved up enough money to open Las Fuentes (The Fountains).  

Today, Jorge Albarrán has been joined in the business by his sons Daniel, Jorge, Jr., and Gerardo.  The Albarrán family also runs Las Fuentes locations in the north suburb of Morton Grove and in the far south suburb of Alsip.  (I've had the Las Fuentes in Morton Grove on my "Restaurants to Visit" list for awhile.)  

It was just after 7 p.m. on a beautiful early fall evening when we got into Las Fuentes.  The front door is at the corner of the building and it opens into a dining room that was bright and had a festive feel with a number of colorful flags hanging from the ceiling.  

There was a side room that looked like it was an addition to Las Fuentes at some point that had a large rectangular bar and a number of booths.  This was obviously the party room, or quite possibly one of the areas they have for parties or receptions.  

The inside dining spaces were sparsely populated because it was such a beautiful night.   The outside patio was nearly packed with patrons when we walked out.  It featured a long mural along the low wall on one side while the building that bordered the south end of the patio had a very ornate mural of a Mexican courtyard.  Strings of lights criss-crossed over the patio helping illuminate the area at night. And, of course, there's a fountain at the end of the patio.  

It turns out that this patio was one of the first of its kind in Chicago.  Wanting to put in an outdoor dining space, Jorge Albarrán spearheaded a lobbying effort among many restaurateurs in Chicago to get the laws changed to allow for the serving of alcohol on an outdoor patio.  In 1990, the law was changed and Albarrán was able to build the patio in the spot directly behind Las Fuentes.  

We ordered up a pitcher of house margaritas (which were very good) while we looked through the menu.  Of course, there were tacos, burritos, enchiladas, chimichangas and chile relents on the thoroughly authentic Mexican food menu.  Las Fuentes features a number of specialty items including a marinated skirt steak served with sweet plantains and a chimichurri sauce consisting of a mixture of chopped garlic and chopped parsley with olive oil.  They also had a grilled chicken breast topped with a smoky Chipotle sauce, and they had a dish consisting of Black Tiger shrimp topped with a nut-infused molé/poblano pepper sauce.  

While my colleague got the carne asada plate, and one of our guests got the chicken fajitas, I ended up getting the steak enchiladas with the salsa verde.  The enchiladas were filled with tender chunks of steak and served with Mexican rice, refried beans and sour cream.  I needed more of the salsa verde to put on the enchiladas, but other than that, they were very tasty.  

Our other guest got the most interesting meal of the night - the chicken molé plate that featured pieces of grilled chicken breast and fried cactus petals in molé sauce.  A mound of Mexican rice rose out of the molé sauce in the middle.  He thoroughly enjoyed it, but he ended up taking about half of it home with him.  "My wife will eat the rest," he said.  While some people have a problem with a guest taking home food from a restaurant, if I'm popping for the check I have no problem with that.  What are they going to do?  Leave a half eaten plate of food on the table?  That's what I have a problem with.  

I thought the meal I had at Las Fuentes was wonderful.  We had excellent service and it was so nice to be able to sit outside on the patio enjoying the beautiful evening.  There are a number of outstanding Mexican restaurants in Chicago and Las Fuentes is no slouch compared to others I've been to.  I still want to try the one in Morton Grove, but I would have no problem coming back the Las Fuentes in Chicago.  (Photo courtesy Chicago Bar Project.) 

Gray's Tied House - Verona, WI

I've been searching out a number of brewpubs lately during my travels as there seems to have been an explosion of them in the Midwest over the past few years.  And a lot of them usually have pretty good food to go along with their beers to help draw people back time and time again.  A place that I had been wanting to try and finally got the chance to do so was Gray's Tied House in the Madison suburb of Verona.  

Back in the 18th and 19th centuries in merry old England, you'd find two different types of public houses - known as "pubs" - in which one could imbibe.  A "tied house" pub was tied to a specific brewery where only their beer was served.  A "free house" pub served beers from a number of different breweries.  In the 19th and early 20th centuries before Prohibition in America, the tied house concept was adopted by some breweries. You'd find tied houses in places such as Milwaukee and St. Louis where large breweries were located.  But sometimes you'd find them in cities and towns near where smaller breweries were located.  

The Gray Brewing Company got its start in 1856 in Janesville, WI when Irish immigrant Joshua Gray started brewing his handcrafted Irish-style beers.  During Prohibition, Gray Brewing made soda pop and root beer.  Even with the end of Prohibition, the temperance movement was still strong in Janesville and Charles Gray - the fourth generation of Gray's to run the facility - and his wife, Margaret, continued to make soda pop instead of going back to beer production.  

When Charles Gray passed away in 1944, he left his wife with two young sons, Bob and Charlie.  Margaret Gray continued to run the soda pop company - renamed Gray Beverage Company - while raising the two young boys who eventually took over the company.  Bob became the sole proprietor of Gray's in 1986 and continued to run Gray Beverage making their own soft drinks and bottling soft drinks from larger national soft drink companies.

A non-solved arson fire burned down the beverage facility in 1992 and Bob Gray thought that might be the death knell for Gray Beverage Company.  However, his son Fred prodded his father into re-establishing the Gray Brewing Company making beer along with the soft drinks Gray's had become famous for.  Fred eventually took over the family's operation (Bob Gray passed away in 2015 at the age of 78) and today you can find Gray Brewing Company beers in a number of states in the Midwest.  (But, of course, not in Iowa who recently warned citizens that bringing beer, wine or liquor across state lines is illegal.)  And Gray's soft drinks, including their very good root beer, are still being produced in Janesville and distributed around the Midwest, as well.  

Pictured at right - Fred Gray.  

In 2006, Fred Gray opened the Gray's Tied House in Verona to mark Gray Brewing Company's 150th birthday.  Initially, the brewpub sold only Gray's products, but in recent years they opened their taps up to outside craft beers brewed around the Midwest.  Gray's Tied House is located in Verona just off U.S. Highways 151 and 18. (see map)

Gray's Tied House was built to look like a ski chalet with a brick facade and stone pillars with a tall glassed entrance.  The entry opens into a large room that houses an expansive dining area and a bar off to the sides.  Fermenting tanks near the bar area were in a glass enclosed room.  

The inside of Gray's Tied House was very nice and comfortable.  A number of sturdy tables were interspersed throughout the dining area.  It was well lit with a number of canned ceiling lights and the large windows allowed a lot of natural light to come into the area.  There was also a large aquarium that was one of the more pronounced feature of the dining area.  

Gray's Tied House also had two outside patio areas - one that was covered and another one that was on the sunny side of the building.  It was a beautiful day outside, but rather windy so not many people were seated outside.  

I ended up taking a seat at the bar, a large drinking area that was sort of a pentagon in shape, but had three sides.  (Look at the picture and you'll see what I'm talking about.)  I was greeted by the bartender, Jason, who gave me a food menu and a beer menu to look over.  The first beer I ordered was a seasonal Gray's lager they had listed.  Jason came back and said that they were out of the lager.  I then ordered a Gray's Shenanigan's India Pale Ale.  Moment's later, he came back and said they were out of that.  Exasperated by that point, I ended up ordering an IPA from the Tallgrass Brewing Company, one of the "guest" beers they had on tap that day.  

The food menu was pretty extensive with a number of pub-inspired appetizers, soups, salads, and sandwiches.  They also had burgers, wraps, and brick oven pizzas on the menu, along with a number of entrees including pasta dishes, seafood and steaks.  They have a traditional Wisconsin fish fry on Friday nights and Prime rib is served on Saturday nights.  

I know I didn't want a burger, but the fish tacos caught my eye for a moment.  Realizing that they were fried fish tacos, I looked elsewhere at the sandwich part of the menu.  About the only thing that appealed to me was the reuben sandwich.  The sandwich came with fries, but for $3.50 I could upgrade to hand-battered onion straws.  That's the route I took.

And I patiently waited for my sandwich to show up.  One Tallgrass IPA turned into two.  After a couple sips of the second beer, I realized that I had been sitting there for over 20 minutes after I'd ordered my sandwich.  I asked Jason if he could check on my order.  He ran back to the kitchen and came back out to tell me that the automated printer that was supposed to be printing out food orders from the bar wasn't working.  He told me that he'd give me a beer on the house and my food would be out shortly.

Five minutes later, someone came out with my reuben sandwich and the onion straws.  I knew someone had to have screwed up in the kitchen as the onion straws were cold like they had been sitting there for a long time.  The sandwich featured house-made corned beef slathered in Thousand Island dressing and sauerkraut on a marble rye bread.  The sandwich was good enough - not great - as the corned beef was sort of bland in taste.  (That's probably why they loaded the dressing and sauerkraut on the sandwich.)  But the cold onion straws were definitely disappointing.  Jason asked me how the sandwich was and I told him that it was fine, but the onion straws were cold.  He asked me if I wanted a fresh basket of onion straws and I declined.  The sandwich turned out to be more than enough food for me.  He ended up taking the $3.50 upcharge for the onion straws off the bill.  And I got a free beer out of the deal, too.

I have mixed feelings about my visit to Gray's Tied House.  They didn't have two of the beers listed on their beer menu.  They screwed up getting my order in to the kitchen.  The onion straws were cold.  And the reuben was just all right in my opinion.  I'd had better at other places in the past as I thought the corned beef was sort of bland in taste.  But Jason made things right by giving me a beer on the house and taking the onion straws off the bill.  Overall, I felt Gray's Tied House was sort of average at best, but it was a very nice facility for a brewpub.  

Corner Kitchen - Davenport, IA

A couple years ago we had noticed a new strip mall going up on the west end of Davenport's downtown on Myrtle Ave. between 2nd St. and River Drive, across from Centennial Park.  About a year and a half ago, a restaurant opened in the corner space of the plaza next to River Drive.  One recent Sunday morning, we decided to head down to the Corner Kitchen to give the place a try.  

The little strip mall - River View Plaza - was built by Dev Bastola who owns the convenience store just across the street at the corner of Myrtle and River Drive.  Hoping to put a restaurant or two into the two building plaza, Bastola recruited one of his regular customers - Bill Abduli - who was running two restaurants in Muscatine with the help of his son, Lirim.  The restaurants - Riverside Restaurant and Brickhouse Diner - were breakfast and lunch only places that closed daily at 2:30 p.m.  

Bill Abduli immigrated to the U.S. from Greece nearly 50 years ago, landing in Chicago before ending up in eastern Iowa.  Abduli has spent over 40 years in the restaurant business, the last 16 years in Muscatine.  Bill and Lirim Abduli opened Corner Kitchen in April of last year.  The restaurant is different from the ones the father and son run in Muscatine - they serve dinner including steaks, seafood, Italian specialities and chicken - and is open until 8:30 p.m. Monday thru Saturday.  (They're open until 3 p.m. on Sunday.)  

It was just around 8:30 when we pulled up in front of Corner Kitchen.  (see map)  The parking lot is at a pretty good slope next to the building, primarily because the south end of the plaza had to be built above the 500 year floodplain.  It was sort of difficult to keep the car doors open because of the steep degree of slope.   

The dining room at Corner Kitchen was open and well-lit.  The windows let in a lot of natural light and had a nice view across Centennial Park toward the Mississippi River.  We took a seat in a booth in the corner of place and got some menus from one of the servers working that day.

Most of the menu features breakfast items that are served all day long.  It was the usual breakfast fare - omelets, pancakes, skillets, and egg dishes.  I saw something that tripped my trigger - French toast.  It featured six half-slices of egg-battered French toast.  I asked if I could get some blueberries on the French toast and the server said that it would be a slight upcharge.  I waved at her and said, "No problem."  I also got a side of bacon to go along with the 

The blueberries were the canned variety, but that was fine.  And they didn't scrimp putting them on the French toast.  The French toast was rich and flavorful - not as good as I make at home.  But, still, it was very good.  I couldn't finish all six half slices, but I did eat up most of the blueberries.  

My wife got the ham, egg and cheese croissant sandwich.  It featured a hard fried egg (or it may have been two hard fried eggs) with cheddar cheese and sliced ham.  The sandwich was huge.  She remarked that we could have easily split the croissant sandwich between the two of us.  And she liked it very much.  The croissant was moist and flaky which helps with the overall taste of anything mixed with ham, eggs and cheese.  

We were impressed with our first visit to Corner Kitchen.  The food was above average, the menu offered a wide variety of items, and the service was fine.  Corner Kitchen isn't a fancy place, but if you're in the Quad Cities looking for a good breakfast, it would be a good place to get a breakfast where the portions are definitely generous.  Corner Kitchen has just entered the rotation of breakfast places we'll go to in the Quad Cities.  

 

 

 

 

Ankeny Diner - Ankeny, IA

Another burger joint that has enjoyed a nearly perennial status as a finalist for the Iowa Beef Industry Council's "Best Burger in Iowa" over the past few years is the Ankeny Diner located in Ankeny just north of Des Moines.  After a morning meeting in Des Moines and just before I drove back home, I decided to head up the short trip to Ankeny to try the burger at the Ankeny Diner.  

The Ankeny Diner is the restaurant that is part of the Ramada Inn in Ankeny just off of Interstate 35 at the corner of E. 1st St. and SE Delaware Ave. (see map)  Menadue Development, a commercial property management and investment company headed by Ankeny physician/lawyer Dr. Mark Menadue, owns the property that houses both the hotel and restaurant.  Menadue Development bought the hotel 30 years ago, but updated the restaurant into the present day Ankeny Diner in 2003.    

The restaurant has a muted-50's style decor with art deco accents.  The spacious dining room was well-lit and made to look even bigger and brighter with mirrors along the walls above the booths.   

I was escorted to a table in the dining room and given a menu to look over.  They have a full bar with a limited beer selection at the Ankeny Diner and I thought a cold beer would taste pretty good with my lunch on what was a hot summer day.  

There is also a soda fountain at Ankeny Diner that offers milkshakes, malts, root beer floats, and ice cream treats.  There was a lot of mirrors and neon in the soda fountain area giving the small area a well-lit illusion that it was larger than it was.  

Looking through the menu, it's definitely a full menu at the Ankeny Diner.  They serve breakfast all day starting at 6 a.m. (closing at 9 p.m. Sunday thru Thursday, 11:00 p.m. Friday and Saturday nights).  In addition to their burgers they have typical diner foods - sandwiches, salads, soups and a number of appetizers.  They also offer a couple three pasta dishes, as well as a ribeye or a sirloin steak platter.  And like any diner worth their weight, the Ankeny Diner serves up a hot roast beef or a hot turkey blue plate special complete with skin-on mashed potatoes and gravy.  (I'll have to remember that if I'm passing by Ankeny in the colder months around lunch time.)  

But I was there to try the burger.  They have about a dozen featured burgers on the menu at the Ankeny Diner and I ended up getting the bacon/Swiss cheese burger.  I asked my server if they could put some mushrooms on the burger.  She said it was no problem.  A side of crinkle cut fries came on the side.  I knew I wouldn't eat many - if any - of the fries.  

The burger was big and juicy.  It was on a spongy toasted bun, but the cheese was sort of just laid on top of the bacon and mushrooms rather than allowed to melt on top of the patty.  Nonetheless, I took a bite of the burger.

And it was good.  Not outstanding, but it was good.  The mushrooms were canned with a sort of bland taste, but the bacon had a positive flavor on the burger.  The Swiss cheese, however, was also sort of bland.  I really wished they would have allowed the cheese to melt onto the patty to mix in all the flavors.  Melted cheese always tastes better, anyhow.  As I said, the burger was juicy and it was definitely a multi-napkin burger.  

I did end up trying some of the crinkle cut fries and I thought they were undercooked.  They were sort of cool like they had been sitting for awhile, but they were sort of mushy like they had been taken out of the fryer too soon.  That's all right - I wasn't really going to eat them anyway.  

I've tried a number of burger joints across Iowa that have either won or have been finalists for the Best Burger in Iowa contest sponsored by the Iowa Beef Industry Council.  Being that the Ankeny Diner had been named a finalist a number of times, I guess I was expecting more out of the burger I had during my visit.   While the beef patty was juicy and flavorful, the mushrooms they used on it were sort of "meh", and the Swiss cheese wasn't allowed to melt into the patty before the mushrooms and bacon were put on top.  Sometimes I wonder what the judges who go around to these places to see who may have the best burger in Iowa are really thinking.  I've had some bad burgers in places that were declared winners, and had some great burgers in places that didn't win.  I'd have to put the burger at the Ankeny Diner as somewhere in between.  It wasn't the best, but it certainly wasn't the worst of the places I've tried.

Dhaba Indian Bistro - Middleton, WI

Traveling up to the Madison area earlier this year, I was sort of getting burnt out on burgers, Mexican food, and brewpubs that I'd been visiting a lot during the summer.  Staying on the city's west side, I found an Indian restaurant that wasn't far from the hotel.  I thought it was interesting enough to share my experience of dining at Dhaba Indian Bistro.  

The Singh family - father Sital and his son, Sumanjit (a.k.a. "Sonu") are well known in restaurant circles around Madison and beyond as they are also involved with the Taste of India restaurant in Madison, as well as restaurants in Brookfield, WI, Green Bay, WI, and Rockford, IL.  With the Madison suburb of Middleton continuing to grow, a number of restaurants have opened up in that city over the past few years.  The Singh's saw that there was no Indian restaurant in the line-up of new restaurants coming into Middleton and they decided to look for a place to put one in.  They found a space in a multi-purpose retail/restaurant building along Greenway Boulevard in Middleton that used to house an Asian fusion restaurant and opened Dhaba Indian Bistro in September of 2012.  

Actually, you have to turn on to Deming Way from Greenway Boulevard and then take a quick left into the parking lot to get to Dhaba Indian Bistro.  (see map)  The restaurant occupies the far west end of the building.  The place was relatively full when I walked in - a good sign in my book.  I was escorted to a table toward the back of the restaurant by the host that evening who turned out to be Sonu Singh.  

After ordering a Kingfisher beer, I was looking through the menu to check to see what they offered at Dhaba Indian Bistro.  It was an extensive menu with a number of lamb, chicken and seafood dishes.  They also had some biryani items on the menu, and - quite interestingly - they had beef Indian dishes.  You don't see that in a lot of Indian restaurants, but I was told that it is Muslim Indian restaurants that offer beef dishes.  

Of course, I had to order some garlic naan bread.  When the waiter brought it out to the table, I could smell the garlic before he even set it down on the table.  The leavened white bread was pliable and pulled apart easily.  But the garlic taste in the bread was simply wonderful.  I definitely wanted to keep some around to dip in the curry sauce I ordered.

Along with my dinner that evening, I got a cup of the lentil vegetable soup.  It was actually pretty good.  It sort of looked like chicken noodle soup, but tasted more like bean and bacon soup.  I wasn't really certain I needed the soup, but I was glad I got it.  

For my dinner that night, I got the lamb curry.  My server asked me how spicy I wanted it on a scale of "1 to 5" with one being the most mild.  I thought about it for a moment and told him 3.5.  Well, I have to say their idea of 3.5 on their spicy scale would have been more of a 4.5 on my scale.  The curry had a vicious bite, but - to me - it didn't seem to have a lot of flavor.  I wondered if the spiciness masked the overall flavor of the curry sauce.

The lamb turned out to be somewhat disappointing.  Many of the pieces of lamb I was served were very fatty.  More than once I pulled pieces of the meat out of my mouth as it was just too fatty.  Along with the somewhat too spicy curry sauce that didn't have a lot of flavor, the lamb curry was disappointing.  

I'm still not what I would deem an expert when it comes to Indian food.  But I know what I like and I have to say that I was disappointed in my lamb curry at Dhaba Indian Bistro.  The lamb had too much fat on it and the curry sauce was sort of bland.  The spiciness of the sauce could be the reason it was wasn't as flavorful as many other Indian restaurants I've been to.  But the garlic naan was excellent, the service was prompt and professional, and the decor was tasteful and contemporary.  I just wish my meal would have been better than what it turned out to be. 

Obed and Isaac's - Peoria, IL

My wife and I were passing through Peoria on our way to St. Louis earlier this year when I suggested we stop there for lunch.  I had a place in mind - the Peoria location for Obed and Issac's, a Springfield, IL-based brewpub that I had eaten at earlier this year.  (Click here to read about that visit to Obed and Issac's in Springfield.)  But what intrigued me more about the Peoria location was that it was located in a former church in the downtown area.  

Like the Springfield location, the Obed and Isaac's in Peoria is under the Conn's Hospitality Group of restaurants owned by Court and Karen Conn.  After opening the Springfield location in 2012, Obed and Issac's became a popular place - so popular that word spread up the road to Peoria city officials, one of whom went down to Springfield to have lunch there.  He was so impressed with the experience at Obed and Isaac's, he ended up contacting the Conn's to see if there would be any interest in putting a second location in Peoria.

The Conn's were intrigued enough to meet with a couple of local officials in Peoria and the group set out to scout for potential sites around the city.  Given that the Conn's wanted to keep the Obed and Isaac's footprint in a historical building, the search centered on a building that was built back in the late 19th century that once housed a church, then a temple, and most recently was used as an event center near downtown Peoria.  

The Cornerstone Building was a landmark structure built in 1889 and was used as the Second Presbyterian Church in Peoria for a number of years before that church merged with a second church in 1937 to become the First Federated Church of Peoria.   It remained a church for 12 years before it was sold to the local chapter of the Order of the Eastern Star, an organization related to the Freemasons.  An endowment from the late Issac and Ellen Donmeyer allowed the local group to purchase the property.

In 1969, the association tried to sell the property to the Shell Oil Company who planned to tear down the building for a service station.  However, the public protested so vehemently that the local landmark would be torn down for a gas station that the rezoning of the property did not pass.  The building sort of languished for a number of years before a local Peoria businessman bought the building and renovated the space into a banquet facility.  Tough times forced the facility into bankruptcy in 1994 and the operation closed down.  In 1996, Andrew and Ellen Kleczek bought the building and reopened it as a wedding and banquet facility.  There were two kitchen facilities in the building and the Kleczek's leased the basement, first to a Mexican restaurant and then to Pepper's Cafe, a small sandwich shop.  Other lessees of space in the building included an art gallery, a photography studio, and office space. 

In 2014, the Kleczek's were looking to retire from their business and put the building up for sale.  It sat vacant for nearly a year before the Conn's ended up buying the building and set it up for Obed and Issac's.  Behind the building was an open space that was owned by the Illinois Department of Transportation.  The Conn's wanted the space to build a brewing facility and a beer garden.  Legal wrangling went back and forth before the IDOT allowed the Conn's to have a five year renewable lease on the property.  

The main building was designed and built by William W. Boyington, the Chicago architect who designed the iconic Chicago Water Tower along Michigan Ave., along with a number of buildings that were eventually destroyed during the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.  Boyington also designed Terrace Hill in Des Moines - once known as the Hubbell Mansion and currently the official Governor's residence for the State of Iowa.  Boyington's design of the church was influenced by Boston architect Henry Hobson Richardson whose Richardson Romanesque Revival architecture resurrected 11th and 12th century Roman-style architecture found in France, Spain and Italy.  For the facade of the building, architect-craftsman-artist Harvey Ellis used blocks of limestone cut from large stones found around the state of Illinois.  

The Conn's kept all 30 of the stained glass windows, installed the ornate arched woodwork, and installed a bar in the center of the old church.  The spacious women's restroom (and the men's isn't small, by any means) features a large marble memorial that once held the ash remains of the Donmeyer family in a compartment at the top of the memorial as a tribute to the Donmeyer's for endowing the money that allowed the Order of the Eastern Star to purchase the building.  Actually, they seemed to make a big deal about the memorial at Obed and Issac's, but only women could see it.  (The Donmeyer's remains were moved when the building was sold in 1985, but the memorial remains.)    

When the Conn's had the water tested for their brewing process in Peoria, they found that the public water was substandard compared to the municipal water in Springfield.  They installed a reverse osmosis system in Peoria and, according to the Conn's, the beer arguably tastes better than the beer in Springfield.  With an expanded brewing area in Peoria and the Springfield operation at capacity with no room to add on, the Conn's have intimated moving the brewing process to the Peoria operation for both locations.

It's difficult to not see the big building that houses Obed and Issac's in Peoria.  It's situated just off Interstate 74 at the corner of NE Madison and Spalding.  (see map)  Spalding is a one way going north and we went around the building once, back over I-74, and back onto Madison before we saw a large municipal parking lot across the street from the brewpub that offered free parking for Obed and Isaac's.  

We were seated at a table in the dining room by the hostess that day and given menus to look over.  Our server, Jon, came over to get a drink order.  My wife ordered the Peoria Pale Ale for her beer and I ordered Obed and Issac's seasonal American Pale Ale that they had on tap.  However, Jon came back to tell me that the keg blew while they were pouring my beer.  As with most places, that entitled me to a free beer and I ended up getting the Peoria Pale Ale, as well.  It was a forward tasting pale ale, but it was smooth without a lingering hoppy taste on the back side.

The food menu in Peoria appeared to be similar to the one in Springfield - I saw the open-faced roast beef sandwich that I liked so well on my visit to the Obed and Isaac's in Springfield.  They also have a number of burgers and sandwiches on the menu, as well as flatbread pizzas, along with salad plates and a large number of appetizers.  

We'd had a pretty big breakfast before we took off on our trip and we weren't looking for anything heavy.  My wife ended up ordering the GBLT - a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich topped with gouda cheese.  She got a mixed vegetable dish for her side that was topped with Italian dressing.  She thought the sandwich was just all right, but she remarked that the tomatoes were mushy and not fresh.  She told Jon about it when he came back to ask how our meals were and he said he'd let the kitchen know that the tomatoes they were using had probably gone past their usefulness.  

I got the reuben sandwich made with in-house corned beef.  It came on swirl rye bread and was topped with Swiss cheese, sauerkraut and Thousand Island dressing.  A side of pub fries - which were basically battered fries - came with the sandwich.  Although the corned beef was good, I was a little taken aback by the skimpy amount of meat that was on the sandwich.  For $10.95, I guess I expected a more thick sandwich for a reuben.  

One other thing - when Jon came back to ask how our meals were and my wife told him about the tomatoes, I also ordered a second Peoria Pale Ale from him.  Only he never brought it.  We never saw him again the rest of the meal up until he came out with the check.  I noticed that he had charged me both for the free beer I was supposed to get for the blown keg, and for a second beer that I never got.  I brought it to his attention when he came to pick up the payment.  "Oh, man," he said apologetically.  "I completely spaced that out.  Yes, you did order a second beer and we do owe you a free beer for the blown keg."  He took care of the corrections on the bill when he brought it back to us.  

The Obed and Isaac's in Peoria is definitely interesting and a nice place to dine or get a beer.  The food isn't all that great - pretty average for pub food, in my opinion.  But the beer was good and we saw that they had a Sunday brunch with bloody mary's that interested us into making a drive back down at some point.  The service was a little sketchy as our server forgot to bring me a second beer, but he was attentive and responsive up to that point.  I may have to try the Peoria Obed and Isaac's again at some point, getting a burger or another entree to see if I like it as much as I liked the Springfield location.

PerXactly's Bar & Grill - Maquoketa, IA

For the past couple of years, one of the finalists for the Iowa Beef Industry Council's "Best Burger in Iowa" contest was a bar up in Maquoketa, about 30 miles north of Davenport.  I had always been wanting to go there to try the burger and one evening when my wife was next door at our neighbors house for some "women's night out" thing, I decided to drive up to Maquoketa to try the burger at PerXactly's Bar and Grill.  

PerXactly's Bar and Grill is like many small town taverns - it's a neighborhood hangout located just off the two main drags in downtown Maquoketa.  (see map)  It's the kind of place that has domestic beers on tap and a handful of craft beers in the case.  The building for PerXactly's looks like it could have been a garage at some point in time as two corrugated metal coverings flank the front door.  

The inside of the place isn't all that large and features a three-sided bar with the kitchen on the backside.  A number of high top tables were in a small dining area.  Flat-screen televisions, beer signs and sports paraphernalia were hanging on the walls.  The were doing a pretty brisk business when I stopped in just after 7 p.m. and took a seat at the bar.  

The first thing I noticed about the place was the overpowering smell of the oil from the deep fryer.  They really needed to change the oil out, I thought to myself.  And it was sort of smoky from the grill cooking any number of burgers.  Their fan system wasn't able to keep up with clearing the smoke from the kitchen.  

They had a mushroom and Swiss cheese burger on the menu that I ordered up.  I asked the bartender if he could have the cook throw some bacon on top of the burger, as well.  I had a choice between home fries or potato wedges and I took the home fries.  

The burger came out of the kitchen with a knife stuck in the  top of it - a serious no-no in my book.  The home fries were really nothing more than French fries that I figured I wouldn't be eating many of them because of the smell from the fryers.  

It was a good sized burger on a larger than normal toasted bun.  The Swiss cheese was slathered over the top of the burger patty and oozed down along the sides.  The mushrooms were the canned variety and the two strips of bacon were average in thickness.  

The burger, itself, was, well...  It was all right.  I mean, it wasn't bad, but I didn't think that it was what I would call a multi-finalist for the Best Burger in Iowa contest.  It was juicy enough, but the taste wasn't anything special to me.  I've had a few burgers over time and while it was good, there were other Best Burger finalists that I thought had a much better tasting burger.  

A minor surprise at the end of the meal came when I pulled out my credit card to pay for the burger and a couple of beers.  The bartender said, "Uh, we don't take credit cards.  But we got an ATM over there," pointing to a machine along the wall near the restrooms.  Fortunately, I had enough cash on me to take care of the bill and a tip for the bartender.  

Talking with a friend of mine on the phone as I was driving home from Maquoketa that evening, and he asked me what I thought of PerXactly's.  I told him that I liked the bar - it was the kind of place where I felt comfortable in, even though I didn't know anyone in there.  But I felt that while the burger was good, I didn't think that it was worthy of a couple finalist nods for the Best Burger in Iowa.  At least compared to other finalists and winners that I've had over time.  But, all in all, for a small town tavern having a big burger, PerXactly's Bar and Grill was a good place to visit.  

City Butcher and Barbecue - Springfield, MO

In Springfield, MO earlier this year, I sought out a place that I had read about in a local magazine on a previous visit there. This place was a combination artisan butcher shop and a Texas-style barbecue place - two of my favorite places to visit.  It sounded intriguing enough for me to give City Butcher and Barbecue a try.  

Jeremy Smith and Cody Smith both grew up in small towns outside of Springfield, but they weren't related, nor did they know each other growing up.  Both studied at the prestigious (and now closed) Le Cordon Bleu culinary school - albeit at two different locations - and both had held positions at high-end restaurants around the U.S. before moving back to Springfield.  Jeremy Smith was the sous chef at Metropolitan Farmer, a farm-to-fork organic restaurant in Springfield, while Cody Smith was the man behind Le Cochon Charcuterie, a popular artisan meat vendor at a local farmers market.  

Cody Smith actually had a background working as a manager of a barbecue restaurant in his teens.  After attending culinary school, Cody found himself working in Austin at actress Sandra Bullock's now-shuttered Bess Bistro.  It was during his time in Austin that Cody discovered that central Texas barbecue was significantly different than the barbecue he was used to growing up in southwest Missouri.  It was all about the quality of the meats and not necessarily about the sauces or rubs.

Pictured right - Jeremy Smith (left) and Cody Smith (right). Photo courtesy Feast Magazine.  

Once they decided to partner in their butcher shop/barbecue joint venture, Jeremy Smith and Cody Smith traveled to Austin to visit the artisan meat shops and the famed barbecue joints of the city to learn more about the style of barbecue they wanted to bring to Springfield.  They learned about the proper way to season the meat (mainly just salt and pepper), smoking techniques, and how to properly carve the meat.  Cody Smith came up with a number of different types of sausages, cured meats, and unique selections such as duck pastrami to sell in their artisan butcher shop.  The two found a space that housed a former restaurant in the Kickapoo Corners shopping center along S. Campbell Ave on Springfield's south side and opened City Butcher and Barbecue in December of 2014.  (see map)

(In August of 2016, the Smith's opened a satellite restaurant operation - CB Social House - in downtown Springfield.  It wasn't long after the place opened that Jeremy Smith sold his stake in both City Butcher and Barbecue and CB Social House to Doug Riddle who had been the brewmaster at Mother's Brewing Company in Springfield.)

It was around 1 p.m. when I pulled into the lot in front of City Butcher and Barbecue.  The parking lot was full and I was having a bit of trouble finding some place to park.  I thought that it must be a pretty popular place to eat.  But going inside the restaurant, I found it to be less than half full and figured that people must be shopping or eating at other establishments in the shopping center.  

Inside the entry way was an ordering area with the menu on a chalk board on the wall.  Tubs of beer were near the counter and they also had beer on tap.  City Butcher and Barbecue will stay open until the smoked meats run out for the day.  

Around the corner from the ordering counter was the artisan meat counter.  It was small and had exotic sausages and meats, but not a lot of them.  

The dining room was on the same side as the meat counter.  It was a long, narrow space with wooden booths and a long communal table in the center of the room.   There were some picnic tables out in front of the place for outdoor dining, but they were empty that day.  

The drill to order food was a bit confusing.  With any new barbecue place that I find, I like to order a combination platter of two or three meats to try with a couple of sides.  Only at City Butcher and Barbecue, they didn't offer any combo plates.  They sold their smoked meats by the pound or in any increment under a pound, but I didn't want to order up a quarter pound of this and a quarter pound of that.  

They had a brisket and pork belly specialty sandwich on the menu along with an option to get a couple of pork ribs.  Evidently, they had sides available on the menu, but I didn't see the options.  They cut the ribs, pork belly strips and brisket in front of me and placed the sandwich and the ribs on a platter.  I got a beer to go along with the barbecue and took a seat in a booth along the wall of the dining area.  

I pulled the brisket and pork belly - two pieces each - off the sandwich.  The brisket was, in a word, heavenly.  It had a great smoked flavor to it, the salt and pepper rub helped enhance the taste of the beer, it was tender and pulled apart very easily.  It was some of the best brisket I'd ever had.  The ribs were equally as good as the brisket.  The pork meat easily pulled away from the bone on the two pieces I got.  The ribs, too, had a great smoky taste to them, but it wasn't overpowering.  

The disappointment was the pork belly.  The pork was excessively fatty.  I was able to pull some meat away from the fat, but there was a lot more fat than meat on the pieces.  The meat that I had was very moist and  flavorful.  But it was just too fatty.  

City Butcher and Barbecue does offer barbecue sauce at the tables, but quite frankly you didn't really need them.  The ribs and brisket were so good with just the simple salt and pepper rub that I didn't feel the need to put any sauce on them.  And nearly every barbecue pit master will tell you that the best barbecue is the kind that you don't need to sauce up.   

My first visit to City Butcher and Barbecue won't be my last. The ribs and brisket that I had were outstanding, but the pork belly that I tried was just too fatty for my liking.  Other than that, City Butcher and Barbecue offered some of the best barbecue I've had in the Midwest.  Their philosophy of having select cuts of meat to smoke, the use of only salt and pepper to season the meat before it's smoked, and keeping the choices as simple as possible all add to the experience of great barbecue.     

Lexington Avenue Brewing (LAB) - Asheville, NC

During our last day in Asheville, we had been walking around the downtown area ducking in and out of shops and checking out places that we had missed during our visit.  One brewpub that we hadn't visited was Lexington Avenue Brewing and we decided to stop in there for lunch and to try some of their beers.  

Steve Wilmans was living in the Pacific Northwest and owned a recording studio in Seattle.  After selling the recording studio, Wilmans ended up in Los Angeles and hooked up with a distant cousin, Mike Healy.  It turned out that Healy was looking to move to the Asheville area and Wilmans told him that he'd help him with the move.  While  in Asheville, Wilmans saw a vacant building that used to house the local Salvation Army and he thought that it would be a great place to open a recording studio.  Leaving the sun and sand of Southern California, Wilmans opened Echo Mountain Recording Studio in 2006.  

Wilmans and Healy would sit around most evenings enjoying some of the growing number of craft beers that were being brewed in Asheville.   Healy was trying to figure out what to do and one night the two decided that maybe they should open a bar.  Or better yet, a brewpub that featured beers similar to the West Coast beers the two had fallen in love with when they lived out there.  

The two found a place on N. Lexington Ave. in downtown Asheville that was once a livery stable, then had turned into a department store.  The process of buying the building and renovating the space took nearly two years and the Lexington Avenue Brewery - known simply as the LAB - opened in early 2010.  A year and a half later, Lexington Avenue Brewery became the first Asheville-based brewery to win a medal in the Great American Beer Festival in Denver with a bronze medal award for their Three Threads brown porter.  

The success of the LAB meant a significant expansion was needed.  Just to the south of Lexington Avenue Brewing was a 35,000 square foot building that was originally an A&P grocery store.  The space was being turned into condos and retail space, and LAB expanded their restaurant, brewing facility and a taproom into the north side of that building.  The expansion for Lexington Avenue Brewery opened in early 2013.    

Located just south of Walnut on Lexington (see map), Lexington Avenue Brewing has a front section with open windows out to the street.  Garage-style doors can be easily opened during warm weather. 

We decided to sit in the front area at LAB.   Our server, Lauren, came over with a couple of food menus and dropped them off for us.   We ordered up a couple samples of their beers to try before we figured out what we wanted to drink.  The front area at LAB was definitely the place where people wanted to be that day.  

Inside the main area of Lexington Avenue Brewery, the main dining/drinking area was open and spacious, but it wasn't like a big beer hall.  The same style of heavy tables with mesh metal chairs that were out in the front area were in there, as well.  

There was some pretty artwork along the brick walls of the main room.  There was a small stage tucked into a corner that was probably used for live music, but only if it were solo or duo act.   In the far back of the place was a large room that was used for private events or special occasions.  It was much more formal in that room than the rest of the brewpub.

The main bar was next to a brewing room with huge tanks that you could see from the main room.  The bar was a 92-foot serpentine-style design that curved around the north side of the main room.  It was one of the more interesting bars I've seen in a brewpub.  

The beers that LAB was serving that day during our visit were on chalkboards.  My wife got the Lil' Country India Pale Ale and I got the Waves of Grain Amber ale.  Both beers were very tasty.  The IPA was especially good and I ended up getting one of those for my second beer.  It had a forward hoppy taste that was very smooth on the backside.  

The food menu was definitely unique for a brewpub, but probably not for Asheville.  They had a number of gluten free and vegan offerings, as well as about a dozen interesting appetizers.  My wife remarked that the beer-braised pork belly and Brussels Sprouts was intriguing for her.  My eye caught the pork confit tacos with an avocado salsa.  

My wife wasn't all that hungry after a large breakfast we'd had earlier in the day.  She thought about one of the salads they had on the menu, but I ended up talking her into getting the green chili pork nachos.  And that was selfish on my part as I wanted to try their green chili pork.  Unfortunately, the green chili pork in North Carolina is nowhere close to the great green chili pork in Colorado.  The nachos had ground pork, red beans, a white cheese sauce, and chopped peppers, onions and cilantro.  It wasn't a big portion, but my wife was happy enough with what she ordered.  

I ended up getting the house-made pastrami on rye sandwich.  A side of fries came with the sandwich.  It was piled high with thin-sliced pastrami, topped with Swiss cheese and lettuce.  The rye bread had a moist texture and a good taste.  And the sandwich was.... good.  It was just all right, in my opinion.  The pastrami didn't really knock my socks off in terms of taste.  Overall, we thought the beer was better than the food.  

We thought the ambience and decor of Lexington Avenue Brewery was pretty cool, the beer was very good, and the service was impeccable.  The food, however, was pretty basic for what we ordered.  I guess I was expecting more out of a place that was in a wonderful space, had some great architecture, and had a good beer offering.  Still, there wasn't much to complain about on our visit to Lexington Avenue Brewery.  

Sammy's Pizza - Green Bay, WI

I had a couple of meetings scheduled up in Green Bay with an existing dealer and a potential dealer and I got into town the night before the meetings.  In kind of a mood where I really didn't know what I wanted, I checked on-line to see what was near the hotel I was staying at.  I found a place that sort of piqued my interest, a long-time pizza place that had been in business for nearly 60 years called Sammy's Pizza.  

In the years directly after World War II, the iron range mines of northern Minnesota were a first stop for G.I.'s coming back home after the war.  When iron production declined in the early 50's, a number of mines were shut down and miners were laid off.  One of those laid off miners was Sam Perella, who along with his wife, Louise, liked to cook.  Looking at cooking as a chance to keep his family financially afloat, Sam and Louise opened a small cafe in the small mining town of Keewatin, MN in 1953.  

During his times in the mines, Sam had been talking with a number of fellow miners who were Army veteran stationed in Italy during and just after World War II and they kept talking about this pizza pie that they loved to eat while they were there.   Sam eventually went to Chicago for a short while to learn about pizza there.  He came back with some ideas of how to do pizza, and along with his wife, they added some family recipes to the mix to give their pizza a signature style and taste.  Needing a larger place for their pizza restaurant, the Perella's moved to nearby Hibbing and opened the original Sammy's Pizza in 1954.  

At the same time, Louise's sister, Flora, was living with her husband, George Clemo in Iron Mountain, MI.  George had once been a miner in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, but settled in Iron Mountain to work at the Ford automotive plant there.  Visiting the Perella's in Hibbing and seeing the success they were having with their pizza place, George Clemo decided that he needed a change in life and decided to open his own pizza place.  George and Flora decided to not open in Iron Mountain, but to move down the road the larger city of Green Bay.  In December of 1958, George and Flora opened their version of Sammy's Pizza in downtown Green Bay.  

George and Flora ran the small shop in downtown Green Bay for 10 years before their daughter, Bernadine (Bernie), and her husband, Al Crispigna, took over Sammy's as the Clemo's retired.  After 10 years in the small spot on Walnut Street in downtown Green Bay, the Crispigna's opened a second location on Oneida Ave. just south of Lambeau Field in Green Bay, the home of the Green Bay Packers.  Four years later, the original Green Bay location of Sammy's Pizza was closed and torn down for a new bridge that was built on the spot.  

Because the new spot for Sammy's Pizza was so large, the Crispigna's added a number of Italian dishes to the menu including pasta, sandwiches and salads.  Al Crispigna passed away a number of years ago, but Bernie Crispigna, along with her children, Audrey, Paul, and Lori (and Lori's husband, Jesse) continue to run the Green Bay location of Sammy's Pizza today.  (There are now 15 Sammy's Pizza locations that are affiliated with the original Sammy's in Hibbing in northern Minnesota, Wisconsin and North Dakota, but not with the one in Green Bay.)  

Sammy's Pizza in Green Bay was just about a three minute drive - if that - from the hotel I was staying at.  (see map)  The outside of the building had a brick facade and was rather nondescript for a restaurant.  However, at the top of building was a four-foot-high band that encircled the restaurant that had the name "Sammy's" embedded in concrete.  

Inside Sammy's Pizza, I found a very nice and somewhat contemporary restaurant that had only a few half-circle windows that looked out onto Onieda Ave.  While the center of the dining room was well-lit, the booths along the wall were a little more dark and secluded.  There was a half-wall that separated the dining area with the open kitchen area. 

I took a seat in one of the booths and was greeted by Justin, who turned out to be a manager.  I heard him telling someone later on that he was not a Crispigna family member, but he had worked at Sammy's Pizza for over 15 years.  Justin apologized to me, saying, "Sorry that I have to wait on you tonight.  I sent one of our girls home sick earlier this evening.  I'd rather that you have me wait on you than someone who was sick."  I thanked him for that and ordered up a Green 19 American Pale Ale that they had on tap from the Titletown Brewing Co. in Green Bay.  It was fairly hoppy and somewhat earthy in its taste, but I liked it.  

They have over a dozen specialty pizzas on the menu at Sammy's.  But I decided to stick with my old reliable Italian sausage, pepperoni, and mushrooms.  Justin asked me if I wanted fresh or canned mushrooms on the pizza.  I thought it was rather odd that they gave you a choice - who wouldn't want fresh mushrooms in place of canned mushrooms on a pizza?  I ordered up a 10" pizza (12", 14" and 16" sized pizzas are also available).   

The pizza came out in about 15 minutes from after I ordered.  It featured a thin crust with a considerable amount of toppings.  The Italian sausage came in the large chunks just as I like it, and there was a good amount of the salty and somewhat spicy pepperoni slices and, of course, the fresh slices of mushrooms.
The pizza was cut in party - or tavern - squares leaving the four square "honey pot" in the center.  This is the best part of a party cut pizza where all the cheese, toppings and grease coagulates in the center and gives the pizza its best taste.  In many cases, the crust of the pizza is soggy from the grease, but the pizza at Sammy's wasn't all that greasy.  The "honey pot" squares still had a crispiness to the crust.  It was a very good pizza.  

I've eaten at a couple other pizza places in Green Bay over the years and I've yet to have a bad pizza in the city.  I don't know who has the better pizza in town, but I can certainly agree with those who like Sammy's Pizza the most.  The pizza was very good, the toppings were tasty and plentiful, and the crust stayed crispy throughout the whole pizza.  It was a nice setting for a pizza place, they had a good craft beer selection, and the pizza easily passed my "does it taste good with beer?" test.  Sammy's Pizza was a great find during my trip to Green Bay. 

Lynn's Barbecue and Saloon - Eldridge, IA

Just north of Davenport is the small bedroom community of Eldridge.  There's a small public golf course along U.S. Highway 61 called Rustic Ridge and it has a combination clubhouse/restaurant/bar between the parking lot and the first tee.  A little over two years ago the owners added Memphis-style barbecue items to the menu.  My wife and I had been talking about going out there to try their barbecue for some time and one recent evening we decided to go have dinner at Lynn's Barbecue and Saloon.  

Kevin and Sandy Wohlford bought the Rustic Ridge Golf Course in 2001, the third owners of the golf course that began back in the 1970's.  Initially, Sandy was the clubhouse manager while Kevin kept his day job and worked at the course when he could in the spring, summer and fall months.  But improvements to the course in 2006 and a remodel of the clubhouse/restaurant four years later meant that Kevin needed to be more hands-on with the golf course.  The Rustic Grille restaurant was famous for their delicious sandwiches and their Friday night fish fry, and their bar area was a favorite for golfers and non-golfers alike.  

In early 2015, they changed the decor of the restaurant and bar area to more of a barn wood motif and decided to add barbecue to their menu.  They continued with some of their more popular items on the menu, but the focus was more on the Memphis-style dry-rubbed barbecue they began to feature.  They decided to call it Lynn's Barbecue because the Wohlford's middle names were both Lynn.

Now, I'd been out to Lynn's Barbecue with my wife and friends of ours on a couple of occasions to have drinks and to hang out, but we'd never had the food.  While it's easy to see the golf course and the old style water tower with the Lynn's BBQ sign on the side from Highway 61, it can be a bit confusing getting back to the entrance of the golf course/restaurant.  Many people have made the mistake of taking a right onto Country Club Court - like I did the first time I went out there.  But you continue on E. Iowa Street until it curves around toward the parking lot for the golf course.  (see map) 

The outside of the building still has sort of a country/rustic look to it - almost like it was an old barn at one point.  Inside the bar/restaurant, the walls have a faux barn board look to them.  There's a handful of booths along one wall with a various sized tables in the middle of the room. 

The bar is always popular at Lynn's Barbecue and there is a line of high-topped tables near the bar for drinkers and diners.  In the corner of the dining area is a small stage they used for karaoke or live music from time to time.  

There's a patio just outside the bar that looks out onto the No. 1 tee box and onward out onto the first fairway.  It's a quaint little golf course with tree-lined fairways.  It almost makes me want to take up golf again so I can enjoy the outdoors at Rustic Ridge.  

We sat at one of the booths in the restaurant and we were greeted by Taylor, a young lady who would be our server that evening.  She dropped off menus for us to look over.  The beer selection at Lynn's Barbecue is actually pretty good with a number of craft brews to choose from.  

The menu is pretty extensive at Lynn's Barbecue.  As I said, they kept many of the items on the menu when they added more of a barbecue-centric fare.  Burgers, sandwiches, wraps, salads, and appetizers were included on the menu.  But we were there for the barbecue.  They had pork ribs, brisket, pulled pork and burnt ends on the menu, as well as pulled pork and brisket sandwiches.  

I got the beef brisket with a side of baked beans.  The brisket was powdered on one side with a slightly spicy rub that somewhat overpowered the taste of the beef.  It was put on after it was sliced and I thought that was a bit strange.  The barbecue places I've been to in Memphis usually lets the customer add more rub if they desire.   A slice of cornbread with a small tub of honey came with the barbecue.  The brisket was all right - once again, the rub sort of masked the true taste of the beef, but it was tender enough and wasn't dried out.  The cornbread was dried out, but I didn't care about that.  I'm not much of a cornbread person.  The beans were also good and I was able to zip them up in taste by putting some of Lynn's hot and tangy sauce in there.  I wouldn't call it hot as much as a bit of a spicy taste to the sauce.  (They also featured Lynn's original sauce - a sweet Kansas City-style sauce - and a honey-mustard barbecue sauce that I didn't care for as much.)   

My wife got the burnt ends and she thought they were just all right.  She likened them more to beef tips like you'd get with noodles.  They didn't have as much of the rub on them, but they were tender enough.  She got the cole slaw that she thought was sort of bland, and she definitely wasn't happy with her very dried out cornbread.  At the end of the meal, she was like, "Eh!  It was OK.  But I don't think I'd be beating a path out here on a regular basis to have barbecue."

The barbecue we had at Lynn's Barbecue and Saloon was just all right, in our opinion.  They had so much of the Memphis-style rub on the brisket - put on AFTER they cut it into slices - that I really couldn't taste the beef.  My wife thought the burnt ends were sort of like regular beef tips like you'd find in a beef stroganoff dish and didn't have much of a smoky flavor.  The baked beans I had for a side were fine, but better when I added some of Lynn's hot and tangy barbecue sauce to them.  My wife felt the cole slaw was bland, and we both thought the cornbread was way too dry.  Even the honey in the small tubs that came with the cornbread couldn't save the taste.  But it's still a nice place to go get a drink with nice views and a sort of rustic feeling to the place.  And the service was prompt, friendly and efficient.  We'll probably go out to Lynn's again at some point to have drinks again and maybe a burger, but I don't know if I'd get the barbecue.   We really wanted to like the smoked meats at Lynns as there's not a lot of barbecue options around the Quad Cities.  But the barbecue we had at Lynn's was just average, at best.