Road Tips

Lucile's Creole Cafe - Denver

Our trade show in Denver had finished the day before and I was getting ready to head out to the airport for a flight back home when I got a call from one of my colleagues who wanted to know if I wanted to head out for breakfast before we left town.  I was definitely up for breakfast, but more so when he suggested we go to a place I had read about in the past - Lucile's Creole Cafe.  "They have great breakfasts," my colleague told me.  "It was kind of a tradition within the previous company I worked for that we'd go out for breakfast at Lucile's the morning we'd be leaving Denver after the show was over." 

Fletcher Richards was sort of aimless after he graduated from college with a degree in sociology.  He hooked on with a logging company in Colorado for awhile, but by 1981 he found himself out of work and searching for something new.  His mother and sister owned a struggling restaurant in Boulder and he volunteered to help out.  One of the first things Richards did was to hire a Culinary Institute of America-educated chef who was New York-born and Jewish-raised.  The new chef had worked at the famed Commander's Palace in New Orleans and he suggested that they feature Creole cuisine.  Richards immediately bought into the concept. Along with the change in cuisine, Richards and his sister found a new spot for their restaurant - a small Victorian-style house and they called it Lucile's after their mother who had contracted polio in her 20's and was confined to a wheelchair, but who was still able to raise six children.  

Creole cuisine didn't go over well with the residents of Boulder, and sensing that the end of the line was near for the little restaurant, the original chef moved back to New York.  In somewhat of a pickle, Richards hired Mickey Samuels who really had no proper chef training other than working as a line cook after he got back to the U.S. after traveling in Asia for a couple of years.  Samuels quickly learned some of the previous chefs' recipes and poured over cookbooks that featured Cajun/Creole cuisine.  Mickey Samuels came up with many of the current day foods that are served at Lucile's and was with the company for a number of years before recently retiring.   

Not long after Lucile's got up and running, Fletcher Richards became friends with Tony Hanks, a Louisiana native.  Both held pilot's licenses and Hanks was looking to do something different than flying crop-dusting planes over the farms of eastern Colorado.  With Richards' blessing, Hanks opened a second Lucile's location in Fort Collins in 1996 using many of the recipes he learned while growing up in the heart of Creole country in Louisiana while also offering some of the more popular dishes that Samuels featured in Boulder.   Lucile's was now on its way to success and Richards opened a Longmont, CO Lucile's location in 1997.  And along with two partners - Brian Heilman and Norman Crandall - the first Lucile's location opened in Denver in 2005 on S. Logan.  The second Lucile's in Denver opened just two years ago in February of 2016.  

My colleague had been to the S. Logan location a handful of times, but we ended up going to the newest location of Lucile's at the corner of S. Ogden and E. Evans on Denver's near south side.  (see map)  In less than 24 hours, the weather in Denver had turned from a beautiful Sunday afternoon with sunny skies and temperatures in the 70's to a full-fledged winter storm complete with large snowflakes, howling northerly winds and temperatures hovering in the low to mid-30's.  I was ill-prepared for the change having only a linen sport coat to wear to shield me from the elements.  Thankfully, the 10 minute drive from our hotel to Lucile's wasn't all that bad as the pavement was too warm for any appreciable snow to accumulate.  

Inside Lucile's we were greeted by a hostess who greeted us near a circular breakfast bar.  The decor of the place featured a number of fleur de lis on the walls, along with other Cajun-style pieces of artwork.  This Lucile's location was open and airy, and well-lit from outside light coming in the numerous large windows throughout the place.

We were escorted into a dining room with wooden floors and brick walls and sat at a table in the center of the room.  They had what appeared to be old-style barn window frames hanging from the wall along with open ductwork in the ceiling.  Our server that morning, Kate, came over to greet us and my colleague got a coffee while I amped up with a quad-shot of espresso.  

Since Lucile's is only open to 2 p.m. at this location, the menu had a number of breakfast items as well as lunch items such as Po' Boy sandwiches, gumbo, and crawfish étouffée.  The breakfast portion of the menu was much more in depth with both traditional and Louisiana-influenced items to choose from.   There were Eggs Sardou - poached eggs with spinach and Gulf shrimp topped with a hollandaise sauce.  They had a blackened salmon breakfast entree, as well as a dish with shrimp, andouille sausage and red peppers served over grits.  And they had a breakfast entree called Eggs New Orleans that featured poached eggs with fried eggplant with a creole sauce and off it was topped with a hollandaise sauce.  

Of course, we had to have beignets.  My colleague asked if we should get four or eight.  I wondered how big they were and Kate said they were good sized.  I said to just get four and if we needed more, we could order more.  Well, she wasn't kidding when she said they were good sized.  The puffy beignets were about 2.5 by 2.5 inches and their billowing tops were covered with powdered sugar.   They were wonderful - some of the best beignets I'd ever had.  But they were very rich and very filling.  We didn't need more than two each.  Between the beignets and the espresso, I was pretty zipped.  

My colleague got the cheese omelet - plain.  It wasn't a very exciting breakfast, but he seemed to like it.  I, on the other hand, got the Eggs Benedict.  I had a choice of potatoes or grits for a side and I got the grits.  The Eggs Benedict were very good and very rich.  Between the beignets and the Eggs Benedict, I knew I wouldn't be wanting any more food until I got home later that evening.  I was having trouble finishing up the Eggs Benedict, but I didn't want to stop because they tasted so good.  

But the thing about my breakfast that got my attention were the grits.  Now, I'm far from a grits connoisseur, but I know what I like in my grits.  They were creamy, yet not very runny.  They had a good consistency and the taste was not as bland as I've found with other grits that I had.  I don't get grits very often - I don't find grits on the menu at many places in the Midwest - but I'd have to say the grits at Lucille's were very good.  

I was happy that my colleague turned me on to one of the Lucile's locations around the greater Denver area.  It was a pleasant surprise to find a place that had Cajun/Creole-influenced breakfasts and they certainly didn't disappoint.  The beignets were outstanding, and the Eggs Benedicts with grits that I had were also very good. We had great service from our server, Kate, and the atmosphere was welcoming, friendly and warm.  If you're looking for something different for breakfast when you're in Denver, Fort Collins or Boulder - one with a Louisiana-twist - then check out one of the Lucile's Creole Cafe locations in those areas.  

 

 

Port City Underground - Muscatine, IA

It seems like we've been heading down to Muscatine a lot over the past couple of years to change things up in terms of food offerings when we go out on little date nights.  One recent night found us heading to Muscatine to circumnavigate the massive construction along Mississippi Drive to try the Contrary Brewing Company.  As we were enjoying our beers at Contrary, we decided to try and find someplace to have dinner nearby.  I did a quick search on my smartphone and found a place that I'd heard about, but we had yet to visit - Port City Underground.  

Sister and brother Lacey Henderson-Mueller and Cameron Henderson used to travel to Chicago with their family and one of their favorite places to eat was the Gino's East on E. Superior.   The Henderson family loved the subterranean ambiance of the original Gino's East and the memories stuck with them for years.  Their mother, Diane, was a good cook who had a good pizza recipe that she used to serve to the Henderson family and friends, and Lacey Henderson-Mueller had some service background working in restaurants.  Lacey had always wanted to own her own restaurant at some point and when an underground space in downtown Muscatine became available in late 2004, she and her brother Cameron jumped in with both feet. 

The family spruced up the downstairs space with carpeting, put in a bar and dining area, and fashioned a kitchen in the back of the place.  By February of 2005, Port City Underground was up and running.  Diane Henderson, who - by day - was a postmaster at a small post office in a nearby town, helped out in the kitchen primarily making her pizzas and breadsticks.  But over the years, the menu expanded to include pasta dishes, sandwiches and salads. 

We were able to find a parking space along W. 2nd St. in downtown Muscatine just down the street from Port City Underground.  (see map)  We were rather confused as how to get to the place and we entered the building where we saw a sign for the place.  We didn't know if we needed to take the steps or the elevator and we ended up walking down a stairway and found that it wasn't the way.  We ended up taking the elevator down and found what is basically the hostess stand near the small bar on the end near the kitchen.  

The dining room is long and narrow with stone walls.   It was cozy and sort of tight in the place, but it was manageable enough.  We had to wait a moment for a table and they sat us at a table that was up front with windows looking out at some stairs that went upward to the street level.  Our server for the evening, a nice guy by the name of Mitch, came over to greet us, drop off menus and get our drink order.  It turned out that Mitch was also the manager of Port City Underground.  My wife got a glass of the James Mitchell cabernet they had on their small, but impressive wine list while I was pleasantly surprised to see that they had Alaskan Amber available for one of their craft beers.  

A good portion of the menu at Port City Underground was devoted to pizza.  They had a handful of appetizers, some salads and soups, some sandwiches and about a half dozen pasta dishes.  They also featured some specials that evening, but I can't remember what they were.

I was in the mood for pasta, but my wife really wanted pizza.  So, I got a pasta dish that sounded interesting, while she got a pizza.  With my pasta entree, I got a small dinner salad.  I let my wife pick the dressing and unsurprisingly she went with the garlic dressing.  The salad featured crisp greens with a large bread stick.  The dressing wasn't all that strong as far as a garlic taste, but it was all right.

My wife got a small specialty pizza - the Man Cave Pizza that featured Italian sausage, pepperoni, ground beef, black olives, mushrooms, jalapeños, onions and extra cheese that seemed to be a mixture of mozzarella, provolone and cheddar cheese.  It was a thin-crust pizza and cut into triangle squares with some caramelization along the edges.  My wife seemed to be happy with it - I had a piece and I thought it was good, as well.  There were a lot of flavors going on with the pizza.  She was able to eat three pieces and she was able to take a couple pieces home with her for a snack in the coming days.  

Even though they didn't seem to have a lot in terms of pasta at Port City Underground, I ended up finding something that sounded good to me.  It was called the Baked Pastizza and it featured rotini noodles in their pizza sauce with a choice of up to three toppings from their pizza menu.  Of course, I got the Italian sausage, pepperoni and mushroom.  It was covered with a cheese blend, including bits of shredded cheddar.  I'm not huge on cheddar cheese in Italian dishes, but it seemed to be a signature of Port City Underground's.  

Once I peeled back the top to allow the steam to rise out of the pasta dish and cool down a bit, I saw a wonderful gooey mess of pasta, sausage, mushrooms and pepperoni in their pizza sauce.  When it finally cooled down a bit to enjoy, I found a very flavorful dish with a lot of flavors going on.  While the noodles and the other toppings were very good, I found the pizza sauce to be a little too sweet for my taste.  Having a piece of my wife's pizza, I found that the sauce was consistent in taste.  It was thick, but it was very sweet.  It wasn't a deal breaker, but we both just found it to distract from the overall good taste of both the pizza and the pasta dish.

Things had settled down enough for Mitch to visit with us as we were getting ready to pay.  We told him that we thought the pizza sauce was a little too sweet for us.  He said, "Yeah, we get that every once in a while.  But there's a lot of people who like it that way."  I told him that for as packed as the place was that night and for how long they've been in business, it appeared that a lot of people liked it that way.  

So, other than thinking the pizza sauce was too sweet, we couldn't come up with any other complaints about our visit and meal at Port City Underground.  It was a quaint and cozy little place, they had a nice wine selection and a small, but surprising selection of craft beers.  The pastizza dish I had was very good, and my wife was more than happy with her pizza - even though the sauce was pretty sweet.  As many trips we've made to Muscatine for dinner over the past few years, we're sort of surprised that we'd never been to Port City Underground before this.  But it won't be our last visit.  

Groveland Tap - St. Paul, MN

I've had the Groveland Tap on my "Restaurants to Visit" list for awhile now, mainly because I was somewhat of a fan of the restaurant group that owned that restaurant/bar and many others around the Twin Cities.  Having some time one afternoon on a recent visit up to the Twin Cities, I decided to head over to St. Paul and have lunch at the Groveland Tap.

In the early 1990's, David Burley and Stephanie Shimp worked together as servers in the restaurant the Nicollet Island Inn, an upscale hotel in downtown Minneapolis.  After their shifts were over, the two would have drinks and talk about their shared dream of running their own restaurants some day.   Both agreed that the Twin Cities didn't have enough places that served good, hearty breakfasts.  Burley and Shimp decided that they should join forces and came up with a business plan to open their own place.  The two couldn't get a loan from a bank, so they scrimped and saved - Shimp sold her car to help fund the start-up of a restaurant.  They found a building that had previously been an ice cream parlor on S. Cleveland Ave. in St. Paul, and in 1993 they opened the Highland Grill, a trendy breakfast cafe that served made-from-scratch foods in their kitchen.

With friends and relatives helping out - sometimes working for free - it wasn't long before Highland Grill was a success and Burley and Shimp set their sites on buying another long time St. Paul institution - the Groveland Tap.  The two then formed their own restaurant group - Blue Plate Restaurant Company - and expanded into a number of other restaurant concepts including The Lowry, the Longfellow Grill, the Edina Grill, Bottle Rocket, and The Freehouse all located around the Twin Cities.  

Pictured right - David Burley and Stephanie Shimp.  Photo by Shari Fleming.

I first became familiar with the Blue Plate Restaurant Company when I dined at the Red Cow, an upscale burger place in Edina in the summer of 2013.  (Click here to read about Road Tips' visit to Red Cow.)  Stephanie Shimp's younger brother, Luke, was a minor investor in the Blue Plate restaurants and he opened Red Cow in early 2013. (Luke Shimp now heads three Red Cow restaurants in both Edina and Minneapolis.)  Later that summer, I dined at The Lowry in the Uptown neighborhood of Minneapolis.  (Click here to see the Road Tips review on The Lowry.)  I've had some of the other Blue Plate restaurants on my radar since then, but the Groveland Tap is the first one I've been to since my visit (and subsequent visits) to The Lowry 4 1/2 years ago.  

The Groveland Tap is located near the corner of St. Clair Ave. and S. Fairview Ave. in St. Paul.  (see map)  The Bottle Rocket is located across Fairview to the east of the Groveland Tap and the two share a parking lot on the southwest corner of Fairview and St. Clair.  It was an unseasonably warm day for mid-fall in the Twin Cities and there were a small group of ladies that were seated out front at one of the tables they have for sidewalk dining at the Groveland Tap.  

Stepping inside the Groveland Tap, I found a small dining area up front with some wooden tables and chairs along with small number of high-backed wooden booths along the wall.  Beer signs and a number of beer spigot handles hung from the walls in the dining area.

There was a back room to the Groveland Tap that also featured high-backed wooden booths, more beer signs and even more beer spigot handles hanging on the wall.  It was a pretty impressive collection of handles at the place.  If I had time, I would have lingered a bit longer to take a look to see all the different ones they had.

I ended up seated at the small bar that's in the center of the place tying the front and back dining areas together.  I was greeted by Andy who was in charge behind the bar that day.  He gave me a menu and I ordered up a Summit Oktoberfest that they had on tap.  They had about 3 dozen different types of craft brews available on tap.  

The menu - while extensive - is actually pretty basic with a number of appetizers, sandwiches, and burgers.  They had their own versions of the Twin Cities staple "Juicy Lucy" cheese-stuffed burger.  And that's what I went with - the Cajun Lucy that was stuffed with pepperjack cheese and jalapeños.  Fries or cole slaw came with the burger, but I told Andy that I wasn't really interested in either.  He said that for a slight upcharge I could get an order of their onion rings.  "They're very good," he said to me.  I went that route.  

Some Juicy Lucy burgers I've had around the Twin Cities have gone from "meh!" to "very good".  And this one at the Groveland Tap was in that very good category.  The cheese oozed out from inside the burger, but didn't explode when I initially bit into it.  (I learned a long time ago to let a Juicy Lucy burger cool down a bit after it's placed in front of me.)  The burger patties were nice and juicy, not overcooked, and it had a bit of a spicy bite with the pepperjack cheese and the jalapeños stuffed in.  Andy also didn't steer me wrong when I picked the onion rings.  They were beer-battered, thick cut and delicious.  I didn't even bother tasting the cole slaw because the burger and the onion rings were a great tasting combination.  

The Groveland Tap is a nice cozy little neighborhood place that has good burgers and a good selection of craft beers.  The bartender was friendly and did a good job of taking care of me that day.  And there's some interesting decor on the walls in terms of their beer spigot handle collection.  The Groveland Tap is nothing fancy, nor is the menu all that exciting.  But it more than makes up for it in terms of the interesting burgers they have and the comfortable surroundings in the place.  

Hacienda Colorado - Englewood, CO

I love the green chili that is served in numerous places in and around Denver.  With the large chunks of pork mixed with tomatillos and peppers (Hatch or Anaheim) in the soup, it's a taste sensation that is a treat every time I go to Denver.  One of my dealers from St. Louis also has a deep affinity for the green chili in Denver and he was telling me that there was a Mexican place in the area that had - what he thought - was the best of the best green chili in Denver.  Out in the Mile High City last fall for a trade show, my St. Louis dealer and two of his colleagues suggested we go try some green chili at one of the Hacienda Colorado locations in and around Denver.  

20 years ago, Tim Schmidt and Jim Hayes were looking to open a Mexican restaurant that featured not only authentic Mexican dishes, but had a Rocky Mountain flair to the food.  They opened their first Hacienda in suburban Lakewood in 1998 featuring a cuisine style they called Mountain Mex.  While they would have the authentic made-from-scratch dishes such as enchiladas, burritos and fajitas, Hacienda Colorado would use locally grown marinated meats and locally grown produce in their foods.  And, of course, they had their own take on the green chili found around Denver and the Southwest.  

Today, there are four Hacienda Colorado locations in and around Denver with a Colorado Springs-area location that opened in 2014.  Tim Schmidt is also a co-owner of the John Elway mini-chain of steakhouses around the Denver area.  (Click here to read about the great burger I had at the Elway's location at Denver International Airport.)  

I had been past the Denver location of Hacienda Colorado a number of times in the past as it's located just off Colorado Blvd. at E. Mexico on the southeast side of Denver.  But my dealer came to pick me up at my hotel and he took me out to the Hacienda Colorado location in Englewood on the far south side of Denver.  (see map)  The facade of the building looked like an authentic Mexican hacienda with gates opening into a courtyard with the front door of the restaurant just beyond.  

Our party of four didn't have reservations, but that was fine as we retreated to the bar for some top-shelf Casa Noble reposado tequila margaritas while we waited about a half hour for a table to open up.  The bar area was more of a contemporary decor than what you'd find in most Mexican restaurants.  We each blew through a couple of excellent margaritas while we waited.

Our buzzer went off and we headed up to the hostess to get our table.  The dining room was also decidedly modern Mexican with large archways in the center of the room.  We were seated at a booth along the side, given menus, and then our server for the evening - Brittany - came over to greet us.  We switched from margaritas to large glasses of Dos Equis Ambar.  

As I said, the guys had been raving about the New Mexico Hatch green chili at Hacienda for a number of years, so I couldn't pass up a chance to try some.  I ordered up a bowl of it and I will say it was fabulous.  It was thick and full of great Southwestern flavors.  The chunks of pork were tender and it had just a little bit of a spicy bite to get my attention.  (A spicy version of this New Mexico Hatch green chili was also available, but this was spicy enough for me.)  I fully understood why they had been telling me this was the best green chili they had ever had.  

We also got a queso dip with chips, as well as some of their fresh guacamole.  The queso dip featured melted goat cheese with chunks of poblano peppers giving it a nice spicy kick.  The guacamole was outstanding as it had chopped tomatoes, onions, and cilantro in it along with fresh garlic.  I was worried that we were filling up on the green chili, queso and guacamole and I wouldn't be hungry when the food came.  

I didn't worry long after they brought out what I had ordered - the mesquite-smoked pork carnitas enchiladas.  It featured two pork enchiladas with onions and cilantro mixed in, then topped with cheddar and Monterrey jack cheese.  One of the guys went the same route as I did, only he one upped the ante - he got it topped with more of the New Mexico Hatch green chili that Hacienda had available as a sauce to put on food.  I had to have them bring some of that out for me to try, as well.  

And the enchiladas were simply outstanding.  The pork was tender and literally fell apart with each bite.  The Hatch green chili sauce had pork in it and it was a great complement to the taste of the pork enchiladas.  But it was so rich and flavorful - I was having trouble getting through the two enchiladas.  

A nice touch for a side with the enchiladas were the real black beans instead of the same old refried beans that many Mexican restaurants serve.  Anytime I can get real black beans at a Mexican restaurant, I take them.  But these came as a regular side with the Mexican rice they served with the enchiladas. 

One of my other guests got the shrimp enchiladas.  The shrimp were flat-grilled in butter and liberally served inside two enchiladas filled with cheddar, Monterrey jack and white queso cheese.  It was topped with a white wine cream sauce and finished with pico de gallo, cilantro, and avocado slices.  It looked outstanding and he said it was.  But he also said that it was very rich and understandably so with the shrimp in the three cheese sauce and the white cream sauce topping the enchiladas.  

My friend seated next to me got the Ultimate Burrito - a humongous burrito filled with a choice of eight different fillings including seasoned ground beef, shredded chicken, chipotle-lime chicken, or mesquite smoked pork carnitas, and a choice of beans.  He got his filled with mesquite beef barbacoa with black beans.  It was topped with a cheese sauce and came with rice.  He ate about half of it before throwing in the towel.  "I don't know what I was thinking when I ordered this," he said apologetically to me since I was picking up the tab.  I told him not to worry about it as I still had some of my very good enchiladas left on my plate.    

I can see why my friends have been raving about the good food at Hacienda Colorado for a number of years now.  Everything is fresh and made from scratch in their kitchens, the Hatch green chili was outstanding, as were the carnitas enchiladas that I had.  We had very good service with the multiple requests we kept coming up with as our dinner went on.  And the setting was comfortable and relaxing.  I've eaten in some good Mexican restaurants in Denver and I'd have to say Hacienda is one of the best I've tried.   

The Farmhouse Restaurant - Fair Oaks, IN

A number of years ago, a friend of mine in Indianapolis was telling me about the Fair Oaks Farm that was located north of Lafayette, IN just off Interstate 65 on the way to Chicago.  "It's quite the operation," he was telling me.  "They have tours and things to see.  And they've got a pretty good restaurant there, too."  I've always kept that place in the back of my mind over the past few years, but another friend of mine told me that he had stopped and had lunch there on a trip from Chicago to Louisville not long ago.  Driving between Indianapolis and Chicago last fall, I ended up stopping at Fair Oaks Farms to have lunch at The Farmhouse Restaurant.  

Mike McCloskey was born in Pennsylvania, but after his father died, he and his five siblings moved to Puerto Rico where their mother was from.  One of his uncles was a veterinarian and young Mike would go out with him on his all-day rounds.  When his mother married a Mexican businessman, she took her family to Mexico to live.  It was in Mexico that Mike McCloskey decided to become a veterinarian, eventually taking veterinary classes at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.  After veterinary school, McCloskey went to the University of California-Davis for a two year post-doctorate program in dairy production medicine.  

It was in California that McCloskey met his future wife, Sue, a New Jersey native who was studying art in college.  The two were married and eventually moved to a farm in California where they bought 300 head of dairy cattle.  Working as a veterinarian consultant with other dairy farmers in the area, McCloskey came up with a new concept of immediately chilling the milk from cattle reducing the amount of bacteria levels.  It was a labor intensive process, but McCloskey was able to find workers similar to the ones he knew working as a student veterinarian in Mexico who bought into his process.

In 1989, the McCloskey's moved to New Mexico and started a new dairy where he came up with a system of using reverse osmosis and membrane filtering techniques to remove lactose from milk.  With the lactose they removed from the milk, they fed it to the cattle as a grain substitute.  McCloskey was so sure of his method that he approached the cooperative that was buying his milk and suggested that they adopt his methods of filtration.  However, the cooperative didn't want anything to do with it basically telling McCloskey his methods were not needed.  

Pictured right - Mike and Sue McCloskey.  Photo courtesy Coca-Cola. 

McCloskey then set about contacting other dairy farmers and retailers in the area with the cleaner milk concept as his calling card.  Soon he had a number of people signed up in a cooperative that he named Select Milk Producers.  The cooperative's efforts turned out to be a success with end users who bought the filtered milk products.  Today, Select Milk Producers sells about $2 billion dollars of products annually.  They also co-own a cheese company - Southwest Cheese in Clovis, NM - and have partnered with the Coca-Cola company to produce and distribute fairlife, a reformulated milk product with higher calcium and protein than regular milk.  (Sue McCloskey came up with the idea of fairlife sitting at her kitchen table one day.)     

In 1999, the McCloskey's acquired some farm land in northwest Indiana along Interstate 65 about halfway between Lafayette and Gary.  Along with some other families they knew, they moved to Indiana to run the Fair Oaks dairy facility with the plan of making it an agri-tourist destination where people could learn about a full-fledged eco-friendly dairy farm.  Today, Fair Oaks Farms has over 15,000 head of dairy cattle, but they also raise pigs and have gotten into raising chickens, as well.  The entire farm is sustainable and eco-efficient, powered by waste from cows and pigs reducing the need for electricity and natural gas.   Over 300,000 people annually visit Fair Oaks farms with well over half of the visitors taking the tour of the farm operation.     

Fair Oaks Farms literally has their own exit ramp off of Interstate 65 (see map).  It's pretty tough to miss seeing the place along the west side of the Interstate.

There are a series of large buildings that arch around a large parking lot.  In addition to the Farmhouse Restaurant, there's a working cheese shop, a gift shop, an education center, a chocolatier, and a dining hall for people on tours to take a break.  Working barns are just beyond the main buildings up front.

I had to use the restroom when I got into the Farmhouse and I found a sort of whimsical room that had posters of old comic books, recreations of old album covers and a circular collage of model cars.   It's one of those place where - if no one else is in there - is nice to linger and look at what they had for kitsch on the walls of the restroom.

The main dining area is a large room with a large fireplace as the center piece along the long wall.  A series of tables and booths were interspersed throughout the dining room.  High ceilings with wooden beams across the room were the most prominent aspect of the room.  

I was seated at a table in the center of the large dining room and I was soon greeted by my server who introduced herself as CiCi.  They had a full bar at the far end of the dining room, but I ended up just getting water to drink.

The menu at The Farmhouse is varied with a combination of comfort food and interesting entrees.  It featured a number of appetizers, soups and salads, sandwiches and burgers, and entrees such as an espresso encrusted pork chop, bourbon glazed salmon, bacon wrapped meatloaf, pecan encrusted walleye, and classic fried chicken.  They also had pizza on the menu at The Farmhouse.

I briefly considered the ground ribeye steak burger they had on the menu, as well as the reuben sandwich.  But I ended up going with a staple of Indiana cuisine, the pork tenderloin sandwich.  It was a thick cut boneless pork chop breaded and deep fried.  The pork came directly from the Fair Oaks pig operation.  It came with grilled onions (I should have asked for raw onions), and a housemade pickle slice.  A side of crispy fries and a side of housemade cole slaw came with the sandwich.  

The sandwich was a deep golden color indicating that they probably left it in the fryer a little too long.  It was crunchy on the outside and it had a bit of a taste from the cooking oil.  But the pork, itself, was tender and the overcooked breading didn't detract much from the taste of the pork.  

The fries were also very good with a nice crispy outer shell and a warm and flaky potato taste inside.  The cole slaw had a bit of sweetness to it, but overall it was pretty bland in taste compared to other sweet cole slaws I've had.  But I didn't concentrate much on the fries or the cole slaw as the thick pork tenderloin sandwich made me pretty full pretty quickly.   

It's easy to see why The Farmhouse is a big draw in conjunction with Fair Oaks Farms. It's a big open space with a menu that can pretty much satisfy anyone who walks in the door.  But, quite frankly, I've had much better pork tenderloins at other places around Indiana and Iowa.  The tenderloin was a bit overcooked and the breading had a bit of the taste of the frying oil.  It was still good - the pork was tender and flavorful - but it didn't really taste as good as some others I've had.  Still, I'm sure that The Farmhouse is a nice stop for anyone traveling between Indianapolis and Chicago who is looking for a quick stop off the Interstate for a bite to eat.  

Fuji Sushi and Grill - Davenport, IA

In December of 2015, a long-time and locally favorite restaurant closed in Davenport.  Riefe's (pronounced REE-fees) Restaurant was open for 69 years - 66 years in the same location - when brothers Rick and Dan Riefe decided to close down the restaurant that was started by their grandfather and father in Bettendorf in 1946 and moved to Davenport in 1949.  Riefe's was famous for their big breakfasts and great comfort food.  (Click here to read about a Road Tips visit to Riefe's from a few years ago.)  The building sat empty for about a year before another restaurateur came forward to purchase the building for a new restaurant - a sushi place.  We sort of laughed at the irony when we heard that a sushi joint was going into the old Riefe's, but when they finally opened in March of last year we were sort of intrigued about trying the place out.  One Friday evening not long ago, we decided to finally give Fuji Sushi and Grill a try.  (see map)

It took about three months for the transformation of an established family restaurant known for their comfort food into a sleek looking sushi place complete with a dance floor for a late night club scene.  It was actually sort of weird to look around the place when we first walked in, given that the outside of the building hadn't changed much - if any - from when it was Riefe's.  It looked like the booths from the original Riefe's in the front dining area were still there, but they had built a small sushi bar where the wall between the dining room and the kitchen once stood.  

The person who waited on us was Michelle Zheng, the owner of Fuji Sushi and Grill.  Michelle is a native of Hong Kong, but her brother, Jeff, is a sushi chef learning the trade when the Zheng family lived in New York for about 8 years.  Along with her cousin, Jessie Chen, the two have stakes in a number of restaurants around the Quad Cities including the Great Wall Chinese restaurant which is located literally across the street from Fuji Sushi.  They also run Panda Garden in Bettendorf, another Great Wall over in Rock Island, and a Chinese place in nearby Geneseo, IL.  

In addition to the the Chinese restaurants she owns in the area, Zheng also owns a sushi place in Bettendorf - Sakura Express - a small hibachi/sushi joint that opened a little over two years ago.  With the success of the sushi restaurant in Bettendorf, the Zheng was confident that she could maintain a bigger sushi place somewhere in the Quad Cities.  And, so far, they seem to be doing very well considering the place was nearly full when we were there. 

To us - who had been going to Riefe's for nearly 25 years - the transformation from a family restaurant to a sushi restaurant was somewhat strange and remarkable at the same time.  While there were still hints of Riefe's in the front dining room, the transformation to a sushi place just seemed out of place to us.  

The back area of the restaurant was also decidedly different from the days of Riefe's.  Japanese artwork hung from the wall, while Japanese-style lanterns hung over the bar area and the booths.  The back dining area at Riefe's is now the late-night dance club that Michelle Zheng put in.  

We decided to sit at the sushi bar.  However, it was unusually high for a sushi bar, and small, too, with only four seats.  We sat on some high-backed chairs and we were still having trouble getting comfortable at the high bar.  My wife - who is a shortcake - was especially having trouble as the counter for the sushi bar was chest high to her.  I remarked that we could almost stand up to eat and it would be more ergonomically beneficial.  While we could easily see the sushi chefs at work, we could also look back into the kitchen

We ordered up some mai tai's from Michelle to get us started and the sushi chefs surprised us with a chef's special they gave us to try.  They didn't really tell us what it was, but we figured out that it was white tuna and cubed mango on what appeared to be a Pringles potato chip.  But it was actually very good and it went well with the mai tai's.  

After my wife ordered up a Kani salad to start, our first foray into the food at Fuji Sushi was a combination of spicy salmon, spicy tuna and crazy tuna rolls.   The crazy tuna roll had spicy tuna in it, as well, but it also came with some crunchies and topped with an eel sauce.  Quite actually, all three of the rolls were excellent.  And they were also quite filling.   

But not filling enough for me to want to try some of their sushi.  We got (from left) salmon, white tuna and four pieces of the smoked salmon.  The smoked salmon was rather mild in its taste - it didn't seem to have that forward smoky taste I usually find for good smoked salmon sushi.  The white tuna was actually pretty bland, but it was still fine when dipped in the soy sauce and wasabi mixture.   However, the regular salmon was to die for.  It was so tender and flavorful, it literally melted in my mouth.  It was like eating a small stick of butter the way it melted on my tongue.  It was some of the best salmon sushi we've ever had.  

After we got over our initial shock and amazement of a sushi place in the middle of what was the old Riefe's family restaurant, we thought the sushi at Fuji Sushi and Grill was very good.  The mai tai's were also very good, close to the ones we used to enjoy on our trips to Hawaii.  Other than the somewhat uncomfortable sushi bar, we pretty much liked everything about our visit to Fuji Sushi.  We're hoping that a sushi place on the west side of Davenport can sustain business as not a lot of specialty restaurants have flourished on that side of town.  But we're thinking that Fuji Sushi has a good chance of making it.  

CityGrille - Denver

Burgers are big in Denver.  My all-time favorite burger joint in the world is the Cherry Cricket in Denver.  (Click here, here and here to read about previous visits to the Cherry Cricket.)  A devastating kitchen fire shut down the Cherry Cricket for a portion of last year and I wasn't certain it would be open when I went out there last fall for a trade show.  (It was - and it was very good.)  But some people in Denver are partial to some of the other very good burger joints in the city and I have received e-mails ([email protected]) from various people over the past few years that I really needed to try the burger at CityGrille.  After I arrived in Denver one sunny fall afternoon and found one of my colleagues at the hotel who had gotten in earlier, it didn't take much to convince him to accompany me to CityGrille for lunch.  

Actually, a former owner of the Cherry Cricket was the one who started CityGrille in 1998.  Dick Salturelli was a marketing executive for the Ford Motor Co. and he'd had enough of the corporate world.  Along with his brother, Salturelli bought the Cherry Cricket in 1976 and ran it until 1991.  In 1998, Salturelli started CityGrille, a smaller version of the Cherry Cricket, and almost immediately it was a hit with the burger loving population in Denver.  For the next few years, if the Cherry Cricket wasn't getting voted as having the Best Burger in Denver in local polls, CityGrille got the nod.  

From the CityGrille, Salturelli opened other burger joints and watering holes around Denver including CityPub and Burger, Blake Street Tavern, and Benders Bar and Grill.  In 2013, Salturelli sold CityGrille to sisters Helen Patterson and Nancy Brady who happened to own the Fork & Spoon restaurant next to CityGrille.  Knowing that they had a great thing going in both spots, the sisters kept the Fork & Spoon focused on their breakfasts that were famous for the large portions, and the wonderful burgers and other food that kept the lunch and evening crowd hopping next door at CityGrille.  

CityGrille is located on East Colfax street, the main east-west drag through Denver, not far from the Colorado State Capitol building.  (see map)  It was pretty much tough to miss the building on the north side of Colfax with a huge "The Best Burger in Denver" banner across the facade of the building.  We found a parking lot behind the building - my colleague was observant enough to see a sign that showed some of the parking spots were reserved for CityGrille behind their building.  

In back of the restaurant was a small outdoor seating area that featured a small number of mismatched tables in a narrow space.  It wasn't the most inviting outdoor space that I've seen, even with the brightly painted countryside murals on the walls.

Going into the back door, we were in a small dining area with a number of booths along the wall and small tables in the middle.  Cozy would have been almost an overstatement for the description of this room.  

We made our way up to the hostess stand and an outgoing and effervescent young lady from behind the bar told us that we could sit anywhere.  We ended up going into the bar area and taking a seat in a booth along the wall.  The bar, itself, wasn't all that big.  It was three-sides and featured about a dozen high-backed metal chairs.

It turns out that they lady behind the bar who greeted us was the same one that was going to take care of us.  I never did get her name, but let me just say this - she was a great waitress.  She was funny, accommodating, gave great recommendations, and was quick as a hiccup in getting our beers out to us.  I got a Dale's Pale Ale to start off the festivities at CityGrille.  

Burgers are definitely the main item on the menu at CityGrille.  All their burgers are made from ground steak and they feature about a dozen different types of burgers on the menu.  They also have turkey, salmon, and veggie burgers, as well as a number of soups, salads, and sandwiches to choose from.  They also had a number of appetizers to choose from including wings, onion rings, bacon-wrapped jalapeño poppers, and mac and cheese bacon bites.  

Like most places in Denver, CitiGrille had the wonderful green pork chili - and, of course, I had to try some.  I got a cup of it and it was very good and very thick.  After I finished that up, our burgers came to the table.  My colleague got the Western burger - a 1/2 pound patty topped with cheddar cheese, bacon, barbecue sauce and onion straws.  I went with the CityGrille Burger - a Swiss cheese and bacon burger with a Caesars dressing.  I asked our server if I could get the dressing on the side and if she could put some sautéed mushrooms on the burger.  She didn't disappoint me as the mushrooms were swimming in the melted Swiss cheese.  And for my side, I got the tater tots.  (When I ordered the tots for my side, our server said, "Yeaaaahhh... tater tots!  Woo!")

Now, this burger was very good.  Was it as good as my gold standard over at the Cherry Cricket?  It's tough to say.  The burger was juicy, flavorful and the taste combination of the fresh ground steak burger with the mushrooms, bacon and Swiss cheese was fabulous.  The lightly toasted bun held together very well with all the stuff going on with the burger.  It was definitely a multi-napkin burger at CityGrille.  And after the cup of the thick and rich green pork chili, then the burger and about half of the tater tots on top of that, my colleague almost had to roll me out of the place.  

I went out front to take a picture of the front of CityGrille and their audacious signage proclaiming them to have the best burger in town.  A guy walking by when I was taking the picture asked, "Is it the best burger in Denver?"  While I couldn't really tell him yes or no, I felt the burger at CityGrille was very good.  I may still like the burger at Cherry Cricket just a bit more, but I'm not certain I've had one or two burgers in Denver better than the one at CityGrille.  It was a fun little place with great service and a nice craft beer list.  If you're in downtown Denver and don't want to venture out to the Cherry Cricket for a burger, CityGrille is a worthy back-up plan - or even one that some in Denver says is even better than the Cricket burger. 

Tin Roost - North Liberty, IA

I had to stop into North Liberty one day late last summer to drop some garden produce off for my step-daughter that she was going to can for us.  I was on my way to Minneapolis and I was heading out of town going toward Interstate 380 and I noticed a restaurant on the left that I hadn't noticed before - a place called Tin Roost.  It looked sort of nice and I almost stopped to go in and check the place out, but I carried on toward the Twin Cities.  However, on a fall Sunday when my wife and I stopped into see her daughter, we decided to head to Tin Roost and have lunch before we headed back home to the Quad Cities.  

Quite actually, the first time I went by the place, I'm not certain the place was fully open - if it were open at all.  It had a soft opening in late August of last year and is run by managing partner Joe Selix.  Selix had worked for Eric Schewmaker and Brian Flynn - the co-owners of Blackstone in Iowa City - as the restaurant's front-of-house manager.  (Both Flynn and Schewmaker also co-own of 30hop in Coralville.  Click here to see the Road Tips review on that place.  Flynn is also an owner of a handful of places around Iowa City including Joe's Place, PiZan, and Donnelly's Pub.)  Selix moved out to Colorado to work in restaurants there for a couple years, but when Schewmaker and Flynn - along with Brandon Pratt - wanted to open their new restaurant in North Liberty, they convinced Selix to move back to the area to partner with them.  The partnership was also able to get a former Iowa City chef - Jeff Sills, formerly of Taste on Melrose - to come back to the area from his gig as a chef in Chicago to head up the kitchen. 

The group was going to initially call the place Tin Rooster, but there was a restaurant in either Texas or in New York - or both (I've read articles that said either place) - that had the same name.  Taking the "er" off the name, but keeping the rooster logo, Tin Roost had full opening in September of last fall.

Tin Roost is located along W. Penn St. at Community Drive a little less than a mile east of the I-380 interchange.  (see map)   Once we got in and asked our hostess how long they had been open, we quickly realized that we would be breaking our long-standing rule of not visiting a new restaurant within the first 90 days of its opening.  (Most problems and hiccups happen at a restaurant in the first three months.  We prefer to let those kinks get worked out on others.)  But this time, we just sort of shrugged our shoulders and followed the hostess to our seats.  

The restaurant was open and spacious and very well lit from skylights and large windows.  The ceilings were high and the floors were made of concrete.  While there weren't a lot of people in there that day, we could tell that the place could probably get a little loud.  

There were a couple of rooms off the bar area that functioned as an over-flow dining room as well as a small room that could be used for small group dining or meetings.  The sign at the front door said that the restaurant could accommodate up to 500 diners.  

The bar area featured a half-circle bar in the middle with tables and booths nearby.  A large number of beers were on tap and a large flat screen television hung over the tappers.  A corrugated metal facing covered the front of the underside of the bar giving it a bit of a modern rustic look.  A circular air duct hung around the perimeter of the bar area.

The outdoor patio/beer garden was rather impressive.  It featured a fire pit along with a number of heating lamps on the deck.  Tin Roost is close to a bike path and they have made the beer garden bicyclist friendly for those looking for a place to take a rest.  It was a tad chilly that particular day and we only saw one couple on the patio while we were there.  

As we were looking over the food menu, our server Ashley came over to ask if we needed anything to drink.  She provided a beer menu for us to look over and I found that they had my favorite beer on tap at Tin Roost - Kona Big Wave Golden Ale.  I immediately like any place that serves Big Wave either on tap or in bottles.  My wife got a glass of the house pinot grigio.  

The menu is decidedly Americana-based with a dose of Southern cuisine mixed in.  It was a pretty short menu, which was OK in my book.  They had appetizers and sharable plates, small bowl selections such as mac & cheese, shrimp and grits, and chicken pot pie, and a handful of entrees including a pork chop, corn crusted catfish, and a rotisserie chicken.  

They had a number of salads on the menu and my wife went with the full kale salad.  For $5 more, she got grilled salmon with it.  The only problem was that they forgot the grilled salmon on the salad.  My wife waited patiently while they grilled up a chunk of salmon for her to put on the place.  We wrote it off to growing pains for the restaurant since it had only been open for about 45 days.  

Once the salmon did show up, this is what the finished product looked like.  Apple slices, peanuts and a lemon vinaigrette were tossed in with the kale.  But the kale leafs were large and not chopped.  My wife was having a bit of trouble navigating through the salad having to cut the kale while trying not to knock anything off the plate.  Even though she liked what she had, she felt that the value was pretty poor.  "$10 dollars for a plate this size for this amount of unchopped kale and some apple slices is too much," she said.  But she felt for the extra five bucks for the salmon helped make up the disparity.

I really didn't know what to get on my initial visit to Tin Roost.  I thought about the crispy chicken sandwich, as well as the Flat Iron steak sandwich.  But I ended up going with the standard cheeseburger - a half-pound beef patty topped with Milton Creamery white cheddar cheese, bread and butter pickles, lettuce and tomato.  A side of fries came with the burger. 

The burger was actually very good.  The cheddar cheese had a great forward taste, but didn't overpower the taste of the beef in the burger.  The veggie toppings were fine with the burger, as well.  The bun was lightly toasted, light, spongy and held together with the very juicy and tasty burger.  I was more than happy by ordering the burger at Tin Roost.

Still, on our first visit, the service was a little choppy.  They forgot the lemon wedges my wife had ordered.  I had ordered a second beer and it didn't show up until I was almost done with my burger.  And it took forever for our server to come back with my credit card after I gave it to her to pay our bill.  Once again, we chalked it up to growing pains in a new restaurant - one of the reasons why we have a 90 day rule before we like to go to new restaurants.  

We've since been back to Tin Roost just before Christmas and the service has gotten much better.   We had a young man who waited on our party of four that evening who was on top of his game.  The menu was still condensed as it was on our first visit, but we were told that they were going to be adding some items after the first of the year.  And they were in the process of putting up acoustic panels to dampen down the loudness in the dining rooms.  Tin Roost is a nice place to get a drink and a basic meal.  It's open and airy, but comfortable enough where you'll want to linger after a meal.