Road Tips

Brew Hub Taproom - St. Louis

When I'm in St. Louis, I like to stay at the Hampton Inn & Suites across I-64 - also known as 40 Highway to the locals - from Forest Park.  Right next to the hotel is a restaurant space that has undergone many incarnations over the past few years.  It has housed a couple of sports bars, a barbecue place, and an Irish pub.  But for a time of about 18 months, it was closed.  Late last year on a trip to St. Louis, I saw there was some activity going on in the restaurant building when I was checking into the hotel.  I asked the front desk clerk what was going into the space and he said, "I hear it's going to be a brewpub."  That immediately piqued my interest and when they finally opened up earlier this year, I decided to give Brew Hub Taproom a try.  

When InBev - the Belgian/Brazilian-based behemoth beverage operation that brewed beers such as Stella Artois, Labatt, Bass, Brahma, and Hoegaarden - bought Anheuser-Busch in 2009 to become Anheuser-Busch InBev, a number of executives at A-B ended up either moving on to new ventures or having their position eliiminated.  One of those executives was Tim Schoen, a 28-year A-B veteran who was in charge of the company's sports and entertainment division.  Like many of his former peers at Anheuser-Busch, Schoen started to look into doing a craft beer operation.  He came up with the concept of Brew Hub what was envisioned as a nationwide network of breweries that could be contracted to brew and distribute beers for smaller craft breweries.  Schoen enlisted a number of other former Anheuser-Busch execs and procured a major cash infusion from The Yucaipa Companies, a Los Angeles-based private-equity firm owned by billionaire Ron Burkle.  

The first Brew Hub facility was built in Lakeland, FL and opened in 2014.  Some of the craft breweries who initially contracted to use the facility were Iowa's Toppling Goliath, and Florida-based Orange Blossom and M.I.A. breweries.  Today, Brew Hub brews private label beers for the BJ's Restaurant and Brewhouse chain, Crooked Can from Florida, Parish Brewing Co. from Louisiana, Big Bend Brewing from Texas, and Green Man Brewing - one of the many brewpubs or taprooms my wife and I tried during our visit to Asheville, NC.  

In 2014, Schoen announced that the second of what would be five Brew Hub regional facilities would be built in the Chesterfield Valley west of St. Louis.  Schoen said the Chesterfield brewery would also serve as the flagship for the network of breweries they had planned across the nation. 

In early 2015, Schoen coaxed Jim "Otto" Ottolini to come to work for Brew Hub overseeing brewing operations for the new St. Louis-area brewing facility.  Ottolini, the longtime brewmaster for the St. Louis Brewing Company - brewers of the popular Schlafly beers - was put in charge of coming up with a line of Brew Hub's own beers. 

When Brew Hub opened their facility in 2014, the growth rate of craft beer across the nation was around 10 to 11 percent annually.  However, within a couple of years there was a trend of flattening or even negative sales numbers with many established craft breweries.  Many small craft breweries who had expressed interest in partnering with Brew Hub to brew their beers suddenly stepped back their commitments.  After brewing nearly 92,000 barrels of craft beer for microbreweries in 2016, Brew Hub saw a 10% drop in craft beers they brewed the following year.  

Faced with a downtrend in the craft brew industry, Schoen had to walk back his plans of building a new facility in Chesterfield.  The Lakeland, FL facility could be reconfigured with a capacity of being able to brew up to 200,000 barrels annually and that would remain the main brewery for Brew Hub.  However, brew pubs with on-site microbrewery facilities continued to pop up, and Schoen saw that has a positive - albeit somewhat crowded - trend.  Turning on a dime, Schoen announced that he would develop a new concept called Brew Hub Taproom serving beers brewed on-site, as well as serving beers from craft breweries that were brewed by Brew Hub in Florida.   He envisioned the Brew Hub Taproom to be a sort of a testing ground for beers that Jim Ottolini would be developing for the Brew Hub brand of beers.  Schoen hired longtime St. Louis-area chef Andy White to head the kitchen and oversee general operations.  And in early March of this year, Brew Hub Taproom opened.  

Now, I had been to St. Louis a couple times already this year and but had stayed in Chesterfield.  On this trip, I had gotten a room at the Hampton Inn and Suites at Forest Park and walked next door to have a late lunch at the Brew Hub Taproom.  (see map)  

Walking into the place, while the floor plan was similar to the previous restaurants in the spot, the decor was definitely spruced up.  While the industrial design elements were still in place, as well as the long curving bar with flat panel televisions on the wall behind the bar, there was a noticeable brewery theme to the place with wooden barrels and stainless steel small batch brew tanks added to the decor.  

The brewing room was off to the side with large windows facing out toward Oakland Ave., 40 Highway (Interstate 64) and beyond to Forest Park across the way.  I was taking pictures of the brewpub and I had taken a picture of the large brew tanks from a window that looked into the brewing area.  One of the guys working near the tanks came out and offered to take me inside to get a snapshot of the tanks in the room.  It wasn't a large area - the brewing room was a long narrow space between two sets of windows.  And it was exceptionally clean in there.  

It was close to 2:30 p.m. when I got in there and I decided to sit at the bar.  I was greeted by Stephanie who offered up a food menu and pointed out the beer menu on a flat screen monitor behind the bar.  Not only did they feature a number of Brew Hub beers that were brewed on the premises, they also had a handful of beers from craft brewers they contracted with the brew and distribute their beers.  They had beers on tap from Melvin Brewing Company in Wyoming, High Heel Brewing from Florida, and Toppling Goliath from Decorah, IA.  They had the Terlingua Pale Ale from the Big Bend Brewing Company on tap - a beer I had tried on a visit to San Antonia a couple three years ago - and I got one of those.  Brew Hub Taproom's 20+ tap selection changes on a regular basis. 

It was a pretty short menu at the Brew Hub Taproom with a selection of salads, appetizers, sandwiches, and artisan pizza.  They had different varieties of mac & cheese dishes on the menu along with "food flights" where you can mix and match different types of tacos, skewers, and dips or spreads served with warm pita bread.  

Quite honestly, nothing really looked all that appealing to me on the menu, save for the double bacon cheeseburger or the duck confit reuben sandwich.  After mentally flipping a coin in my head, I ended up getting the burger.  It featured two ground beef patties served on a brioche bun and topped with two slices of bacon, a beer cheese sauce, and something called Hub sauce that was creamy, but nondescript.  Housemade potato chips came with the burger and they were kind of limp and greasy.  Actually, they sort of tasted fishy.

The burger was all right - nothing special.  The brioche bun was actually kind of spongy and held together very well with the limited juiciness of the burger along with the creamy Hub sauce and the gooey beer cheese sauce.  There was a lot going with the burger in terms of taste so I couldn't really get much flavor from the burger meat.  And it was a messy burger on top of that.  It was definitely a multi-napkin burger.

While I didn't try any of the beer Brew Hub Taproom made in-house, it was good to try the Big Bend Terlingua pale ale again - something that I had in Texas during travels down there.  The food menu was pretty basic with a handful of appetizers, sandwiches and a burger.  And the burger was just all right, in my opinion.  Still, I liked the atmosphere and decor at Brew Hub Taproom.  The brewpub had a slick, contemporary look with a bit of an industrial design mixed in.  Previous restaurants haven't worked out in this spot in the past.  It remains to be seen if Brew Hub Taproom will have enough pull to keep people coming back.  

E3 Chophouse - Steamboat Springs, CO

During our time in Steamboat Springs, we had spent some time along Yampa Street, the street that ran along the Yampa River in the downtown area.  We had passed a large building next to the mountain stream a few times that just had an "E3" on the front of it.  We knew it had to be a restaurant, but really didn't know what kind of a restaurant it was.  We looked it up on-line when we went back to our hotel and found out that it was an upscale steakhouse that had patio dining next to the babbling stream that was the Yampa River.  My wife decided she wanted to give the place a try and we made reservations on Open Table for 2 at E3 Chophouse.  

Dave LaRoche was a Major League Baseball pitcher for 14 seasons for six different teams ending up with a respectable 65-58 career record.  After hanging up his glove, LaRoche became a coach for a handful of teams at both the major league and minor league levels.  During his off-seasons, he called Fort Scott, KS his home where he raised a daughter from his first marriage and three boys from his second - Jeff, Andy and Adam.  Dave LaRoche helped his brother-in-law Dave Regan build Fort Scott High School into one of the top high school baseball programs, not only in Kansas, but in the nation.  All three LaRoche boys played baseball at Fort Scott High School and all three were eventually drafted by major league teams.  

Jeff LaRoche pitched in the minor leagues and was on the roster of the Colorado Rockies during spring training in 2003 until he was released just before the season started.  But Andy LaRoche and Adam LaRoche both made it to the major leagues - Andy was an infielder with 3 major league teams in the early 2000's, while Adam was a 12-year MLB veteran first baseman for six teams over his career.  At one point in their careers, Andy and Adam both played in the same infield for the Pittsburgh Pirates for parts of two seasons.  (Adam LaRoche famously retired from baseball in 2016 during spring training in a dispute with the Chicago White Sox over the amount of time the Sox wanted LaRoche's son to spend in the locker room during the season.  He left behind a $13 million dollar annual contract when he walked away from the game.)  

Jeff LaRoche became a member of the ski patrol at Vail after his retirement from baseball, but ended up on the police force in Glenwood Springs, CO for four years.  Wanting to get back to a ski resort town, Jeff LaRoche became a member of the Steamboat Springs police department in 2009.  Andy LaRoche had effectively retired from baseball after the 2013 season and had moved to Steamboat Springs, as well, and Adam LaRoche went back to Fort Scott full time when he retired in 2016.  

Even though the LaRoche boys had grown up in Fort Scott, they were never far from the farms and ranches that ringed the town.  Adam LaRoche had actually worked on farms during his high school years, but didn't care for the raising of crops as much as he enjoyed the raising of beef cattle.  In 2004, Adam bought some pasture land and started to raise Black Angus beef on a ranch he called "E3 Ranch".   (The name of the ranch is a nod to LaRoche's career as a first baseman and a self-deprecating way of the acknowledgement of committing an error during play is scored "E3".)   He found that much of the beef available on the market was full of antibiotics, hormones and were grain-fed for better flavor with marbling.  He wanted to raise cattle the natural way and use the land to fatten them up.  He eventually came up with the idea of a new way to raise and market hormone and antibiotic-free cattle and he called his venture E3 Meats.  LaRoche began to market much of his meat to other major league ballplayers who were looking for lean, naturally-raised beef to give them a dietary edge.  Soon, E3 Meats were selling and shipping their beef all over the United States.  

Adam LaRoche was also an avid outdoorsman and he parlayed his love for deer hunting into recurring appearances on Buck Commander on the Outdoor Channel which has had episodes filmed on the E3 Ranch.  In addition to LaRoche, the show also stars Willie Robertson (one of the Robertson family members from the popular virtual reality show Duck Dynasty on the A&E Network), as well as country music stars Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan.   The Adam and Andy LaRoche would join their brother Jeff in Steamboat for vacations, skiing and hunting.  Robertson, Aldean and Bryan would sometimes join the LaRoche brothers in Steamboat for hunting trips in the area.  

It was about six years ago when the LaRoche brothers decided to invest in a steakhouse in Steamboat Springs to bring more awareness to the E3 brand of grass-fed beef.  They took over the spot along the Yampa River in downtown Steamboat Springs, heavily renovated the building and opened E3 Chophouse in late December 2013.  Along with Robertson, Aldean and Bryan doing flash marketing during events by wearing E3 branded hats and shirts, the E3 brand has gotten a lot of notice.  And word has it that the LaRoche's are looking to extend the E3 Chophouse brand to Nashville, possibly by early next year.  

We found a parking spot on Yampa Street, just down from E3 Chophouse.  (see map)  We walked in at our reservation time of 7 p.m., but it turned out that we really didn't need the reservation as the place was about half full.  The hostess asked if we wanted indoor or outdoor seating.  Looking around the inside part of the restaurant, we found a space that featured sort of a contemporary Western rustic decor.  The spacious dining area circled around a large curved bar that featured a number of spirits on the back bar along with flat screen televisions on the wall.  It was nice and cozy in the dining room and we weighed that as a seated option for a moment.

It was a sort of cool evening, but there were pole heaters on the patio.  It was my wife's choice since she's the one who gets cold quickly, but she opted for patio seating over the inside dining area.  We were seated at a metal-mesh table along the building side of the patio, but you could still see - and hear - the rushing waters of the Yampa just beyond the patio.  We were given menus and a wine list to look over.

After a bit, our server for the evening, a striking young lady by the name of Lyfe (how's that for a Colorado mountain name?) came over to greet us.  I had to ask her twice what she said her name was and how she spelled it.  It turned out that her mother had once lived in Fairfield, IA - home of Maharishi International University (now known as Maharishi University of Management or MUM) - where she studied to be a deep-tissue masseuse and a phlebotomist.  (Once again, it was sort of hard to hear out on the patio with the water babbling in the background.  I thought Lyfe had told us her mother was a lobotomist - a person who takes out parts of people's brains rather than someone who draws blood from people.)  She was very friendly and open with us as she told us that she had just moved to Steamboat Springs a couple months prior from her hometown of Colorado Springs.  (She gave us a wonderful tip on a brewpub that we eventually visited when we went to Colorado Springs later that week.)

Steaks were the main item on the menu, but they also featured a pan-seared duck breast, Colorado-raised lamb chops, a grilled pork chop and a seafood cioppino with clams, Prince Edward Island mussels, shrimp, and a seasonal fish in a tomato saffron broth.  Appetizers included bacon-wrapped goat cheese-stuffed dates, a white cheddar and asiago cheese fondue served with pretzel bread, and cured meat and cheese charcuterie board.  

I was about ready to order a bottle of the El Enimego malbec wine from Argentina for the two of us, but then Lyfe gave us the dinner specials for the evening.  One included halibut pan-fried in truffle oil and that made my wife rethink her initial decision of going with the lamb chops.  They had a number of choices of wine by the glass and I told her that if she wanted the seafood, I could always just get a glass of red wine because I was definitely going for the beef tenderloin filet.  

Before dinner we got a wedge salad to share.  It was a cool chunk of iceberg lettuce topped with heirloom tomato wedges, blue cheese crumbles and a ranch dressing.  We were also given a metal basket of fresh baked bread with - if I remember correctly - two different types of flavored butter.  Or maybe the butter wasn't flavored at all.  In any event, both the wedge salad and the fresh baked bread were a wonderful start to the meal.

While we were eating our salad and bread, we witnessed a minor commotion at a table across from us where the people were served something wrong.  The lady carried on in a loud fashion - in was somewhat embarrassing - so much so that the manager had to come over to placate both her and her husband.  They appeared to be regulars as the woman pulled the "we come in here all the time" card and the manager acknowledged that they did.  The manager was quick on the spot to address the problem and take care of it - the sign of great customer service.  

My wife ended up getting the halibut special that evening.  It was a nice-sized cut of fresh seafood topped with julienned beets.  A vegetable medley came on the side with a vegetable puree on the side.  She got a glass of the house pinot grigio to go along with her meal.  My wife thought the halibut was outstanding - light, flaky and without a hint of fishy taste.  The truffle oil in which the halibut was pan-seared gave it an exquisite flavor on the outside.  

Now, before I get into my meal, I just want to say that they must have been having problems in the kitchen that evening.  Another table near us had a problem that the manager had to address while we were having our meal.  The food was not cooked to the liking of the patron, but he wasn't as vocal about it as the couple next to us.  The manager took his plate away, came back with another plate later and that must have been fine after that.

So, here's my story...

I went with the 8 ounce grass-fed beef tenderloin filet.  And I ordered it rare, as I normally do.  It, too, was topped with julienned beets and I got an au poivre pepper sauce on the side.  Sides that were available for entrees were extra and included lobster mac & cheese, sweet potato au gratin, asparagus in a béarnaise sauce, and roasted garlic mashed potatoes.  I ended up getting a side of the marsala-glazed sautéed mushrooms.  And I got a glass of the Antigal Uno malbec wine to go with the meal.  

The presentation looked wonderful.  The dish was garnished with what appeared to be a balsamic demi-glaze and the same pureed vegetable my wife had.  The was going to be a great meal, I thought.  

But when I cut into my steak, it was woefully overcooked.  It was nowhere close to being rare - it was more medium to medium-well.  Still, it had some good flavor and the steak was tender.  But it was not cooked the way I wanted.  I said to my wife that I would just eat it and not make a fuss as it appeared they were having problems in the kitchen that evening.    

I continued to eat the steak, but when Lyfe came over to check on us she asked how everything tasted.  My wife said she loved her halibut, but I pointed out to Lyfe that my steak was overcooked.  She immediately apologized and I told her not to worry about it.  It was still a good steak.  She offered to comp us our dessert, but I told her that we probably weren't going to get dessert that evening.  But I did say that I'd take another glass of wine on the house and that would be fine.  

I had eaten nearly 3/4's of the steak when the manager appeared.  He had another 8 ounce filet on a plate with him.  He tried to set it down in front of me and I immediately waved him off.  "No, no, no," I protested in an anguished tone.  "I told her this was fine.  I've already eaten most of it."  When he continued to try to offer me the steak, I said, "Look, I've screwed up my own steaks at home.  It's not the end of the world."  Besides, there was no way that I would be able to eat what I had already eaten AND the 8 ounce steak he presented to me.  

I felt bad that he had to take the steak back, but my wife was completely impressed that they tried to make a perceived wrong right.  "That IS good customer service," she remarked.

"Yeah," I countered somewhat solemnly.  "But he really didn't have to assume that I wanted the steak he brought.  Still, it was a very nice gesture."

When we were finished with our meal - and after Lyfe tried to coax us into dessert one last time - she brought the check out to me.  She said, "We took your steak off your bill, just so you know."  I told her that she didn't need to do that - it was a $48 steak - but I certainly appreciated the gesture.  Now, I usually tip servers on the amount of the meal BEFORE tax and with everything we got minus the steak the meal came to $113 bucks before tax.  I added up the extra $48 bucks for the steak the manager took off the bill and I paid her what amounted to about a 22% tip on $161.  As I told my wife, "The right thing to do in this instance is to tip the server for what the bill would have been and not what it ended up being."  

It was quite obvious that E3 Chophouse was having some problems the evening we visited them.  But the manager was quick to rectify the situation with the diners near us before he tried to give me a second tenderloin filet to make up for the overcooked one that was originally served to me. But I had already eaten a good portion of it - even overcooked to my liking - and it was still good.  My wife completely enjoyed her pan-seared halibut and the wedge salad we shared along with the fresh baked bread we had before the meal were delicious.  And we can't say enough about our server with a great Colorado name - Lyfe - who was helpful in her suggestions on the menu, as well as her tips for other places to go during our travels across the state.  Even though it wasn't the perfect meal for us and it was on the pricey side of what we like to spend for a meal, E3 Chophouse was still good enough that when we go back to Steamboat Springs we will go there again for a meal.  

Pals Brewing Company - North Platte, NE

My wife and I woke up in Colorado Springs during the last part of our vacation in Colorado earlier this year and decided to try to make it to Omaha - a 9 hour drive one-way.  I figured I could make it easily - well, I've done 9 hour drives before for my work and while it was tough, I've made it.  But I was a little worried my wife would have some problems with it.  By the time we got to North Platte, my wife was tired and hungry when we stopped there for gas.  Since most of our trip to Colorado was tied to visiting brewpubs, my wife did a quick search of brewpubs in the area.  She found a place that was - well - I was a little skeptical as to the location.  It appeared to be out in the middle of the country south and west of North Platte.  After gassing up and putting the address into the GPS, it just gave me a general destination to go to.  As we drove down a county highway, I saw something off in the distance - a sort of pole-barn building sitting on a flat plain near the road.  We pulled in and realized we had made it to Pals Brewing Company.  

One day a little over 20 years ago, Paul Oettinger - who was also known as "Pal" to his friends - just happened to be biking down State Street in Madison where he was going to school at the University of Wisconsin.  He saw a small sign in a storefront window that roughly said, "Brew Your Own Beer Cheaper Than You Can Buy It!"  Intrigued because he was becoming somewhat of an aficionado with small batch craft-brewed beers, he stopped into the little shop and found out what he would need to start brewing his own beer at home.  It turned out that he would need $85 bucks for a beginners home brewing kit and $85 bucks didn't exactly grow on a tree for a college student studying microbiology.  But he was able to come up with the money and he began to brew his own beer at home.

After college, Paul Oettinger and his wife, Amy, moved to Kalamazoo, MI which was becoming a burgeoning craft brewery town.  Finding like minded people in a local homebrewing club, Paul Oettinger became fast friends with a man who loved to experiment with different types of tastes in beers.  That's when he really became hooked on homebrewing and it became a passion that was also embraced by Amy.  He had perfected one of his recipes so well that his friends would insist on Oettinger bringing over a couple small kegs of his "Palsbrew" whenever they were invited to a party.   

The Oettinger's had talked about buying or opening their own brewpub.  A microbrewery was up for sale in Kalamazoo, but they didn't buy it.  Nor did they buy a brewpub in their home state of Wisconsin that was up for sale after they moved back to Madison a few years later.  They knew they would have their work cut out for them by starting a brewery in a place like Madison.  

Paul Oettinger's older brother Mark, and Mark's wife Mendy had moved to North Platte in 2006 to be the General Manager of the Walmart store there.  Paul and Amy Oettinger would sometimes come out to North Platte to visit his brother and the two couples would continue to talk about their dream of one day opening a brewpub.  It was during a visit over Thanksgiving in 2015 when it occurred to Mark Oettinger that North Platte was in dire need of a good brewpub.  There were over 175 brewpubs in the state of Wisconsin at that time, but in Nebraska there were less than three dozen.  Paul Oettinger couldn't agree more.  

The Oettinger brothers decided to jump into a brewpub venture with both feet.  Paul quit his job in Madison and moved out to North Platte to pursue his dream.  The Oettinger families found some land south of North Platte in which they built a brewpub from scratch.  They wanted their brewpub to be a little bit of everything - have enough room for outdoor activities and music in the summertime, have a little patio to enjoy a beer on the first warm day in the spring, to have a small tap room that could be used for meetings or special tastings, and to have a menu that wasn't too extensive, but would give people something to nibble on while they enjoyed their beers made from Paul Oettinger's years of homebrewing recipes.  Pal's Brewing Company had a soft opening on St. Patrick's Day in 2017, then opened their doors for normal business in two weeks later.  

As I said, getting out to Pal's Brewing was a bit nerve racking as the GPS was taking us to a general area and not really a destination.  When we saw the building on the flat plain along the west side of the road, we were happy enough to pull into the parking lot.  (see map)  The building didn't look like much from the front - it looked like an industrial pole barn with an awning over the front entrance.  

Inside the building, we found a large space that had a long bar, a brewery facility off to the side, and a number of high-top tables throughout the room.  A guy playing guitar was setting up to provide some music on a Saturday afternoon.

We took a seat at a table toward the corner of the restaurant.  I had to use the facilities before we got settled, and I went into the men's room to find a couple of urinals made out of stainless steel kegs.  They were similar to the ones I've seen at the Lionstone Brewing Company in Geneseo, IL.  (Click here to see the Road Tips entry on Lionstone.)  

After getting back to the table, we were greeted by a young man who came out from behind the bar.  He gave us a food menu and asked us what we'd like to drink.  We had to take a minute because we weren't familiar with their beers.  The beer menu was on a flat panel television on the wall near us and we decided to try a couple of their beers - the Nob IPA and the Palgian Belgian pale ale.  The Palgian Belgian pale ale, well, we didn't really care for all that much.  But the Nob IPA was outstanding.  My wife and I drank at a lot of brewpubs on our trip to Colorado, but we both remarked that the Nob IPA may have been the best beer we had tasted on our trip.  It had a somewhat forward hoppy taste with a very nice smooth finish on the back side.  We were very impressed with the beer.

The food menu at Pals is pretty basic.  No sandwiches or burgers could be found, which was sort of a downer for us.  They had a number of appetizers including Wisconsin cheese curds - both regular and baked.  We figured that they didn't have a fryer in the kitchen as they didn't have wings, mozzarella sticks or french fries on the menu, but they had something called pizza fries that appeared to be nothing more than small bread sticks served with a choice of dipping sauce.  They also had pecan-smoked ribs basted in a barbecue sauce and topped with blue cheese crumbles.  We thought about that for a moment and decided against it.

The signature food item at Pals is pizza.  They have 10" or 14" thin crust pizza (including a 10" gluten free crust for a $3 upcharge or a 10" cauliflower crust for a $5 upcharge) along with 5 different types of sauce, five different types of cheese, six different types of meat, and six different varieties of vegetables.  We ended up getting a 10" thin crust with Mendy's Pizza Sauce - a tomato-based sauce - along with Italian Sausage chunks and Pepperoni slices.  They also had what they called Palsbrew mushrooms - beer-marinated mushroom slice - but my wife wasn't too adventurous in ordering them.  She is coming around when it comes to fresh mushrooms when for years her stomach would turn with the canned mushrooms.  But the beer-marinated mushrooms - as much as I wanted to try them - didn't trip her trigger.    We got the mozzarella cheese on the pizza, but they also had cheddar, blue cheese, goat cheese, or cheese curds for pizza cheese.  

And the pizza was, well, it was good.  Much better than average.  The crust wasn't crisp, but it was chewy and pliable.  There was a ton of the mozzarella cheese on the pizza along with copious amounts of a sweet and tart sauce.  The Italian sausage came in big chunks - just as we like it.  And the pepperoni was salty and spicy, but there could have been more slices on it.  

A young lady from the kitchen brought our pizza out to us and we were both ready to sign up for a couple more beers.  But no one else came out to check on us while we were having the pizza.  It was getting sort of annoying as there didn't seem to be any staff members around either on the floor or behind the bar.  The guy who took our order - we figured he was a manager - finally came back out to the bar area and I had to flag him down to get his attention to get us a couple more beers.  He brought them over to us and asked if we liked the pizza.  We did - and it went together very well with the Nob IPA that we thoroughly enjoyed.  

After we got our bill and paid, we decided to take a look around the backyard of Pals.  We found an area where they had an outdoor bar for events, picnic tables, and a "bags" game area.  It looked like there may have been an area for live music outdoors, as well. 

There was a wrap-around patio on the backside of the building.  It featured a number of picnic tables under an awning and it looked out to the backyard at Pals.  Being that it was Nebraska, you could see for miles in each direction.  There was something kind of relaxing and refreshing within a pastoral setting in the middle the plains.  Quite honestly, we really didn't want to leave, but we had hotel reservations in Omaha that evening.  We were looking at another 4 hours in the car before we'd get to our destination.  

Pals Brewing Company was a great find and a pleasant surprise.  As I said, their Nob IPA may have been the best beer that we tasted on our trip to brewpubs in Wyoming, Colorado and Nebraska.  It had a great hoppy taste, but was smooth on the back side.  The pizza was also very good.  The abundant mozzarella cheese and the sweet and tart tomato sauce was a great combination along with the Italian sausage and salty/spicy pepperoni.  I wouldn't call Pals Brewing Company in the middle of nowhere, but it was out in the country giving it a great laidback rustic feel.  This is a place that I would go back to in a heartbeat and spend some more time enjoying their beers, pizza and country setting.  

Cold Beers and Cheeseburgers - San Diego

While in San Diego for a trade show a couple months ago, our company just happened to stay at the same hotel in the Gaslamp Quarter that my wife and I stayed at when we took a vacation to the San Diego area a little over three years ago.  I pretty much knew that most of the restaurants and shops up and down 5th Ave. were touristy places.  But just around the corner from the hotel was a new place that definitely caught my eye - Cold Beers and Cheeseburgers.  Well, I like cold beer and like cheeseburgers.  It seemed like a match made in heaven for a guy like me.  For a late lunch/early dinner one day while we were there, two of my colleagues went with me to first have some beers, then some food at Cold Beers and Cheeseburgers.

Actually, Cold Beers and Cheeseburgers is a small sports bar chain that originated out of the Phoenix area.  It's parent company - Square One Concepts - has developed a number of concept restaurants throughout the Southwestern part of the U.S. for more than 20 years.  Restaurants such as Bourbon and Bones, The Funky Monk and Waisted Grain are mainstays in the Phoenix/Scottsdale and Tucson areas, while Square One Concepts has also developed Pacific Beach Shore Club and the Bootlegger in San Diego.  The first Cold Beers and Cheeseburgers opened in north Scottsdale in November of 2011 with a second location opening in downtown Scottsdale in January of 2013.  

From there, two more CB-squared (get it? CBCB.  Or, some call it CB&C) locations opened in the Valley of the Sun before Square One Concepts set their sights on a San Diego location in the Gaslamp District.  When the owner of Acqua al 2, a Tuscan-inspired restaurant, sold his business in early 2016, Square One Concepts immediately turned it into the fifth Cold Beers and Cheeseburgers location.  Today, there are 11 CB-Squared locations with another one opening in late 2018 and one more in early 2019 in the greater Phoenix area.  Square One Concepts has plans to open at least three more Cold Beers and Cheeseburger locations in the San Diego areas in the coming months.  

It was just after 3 p.m. when I walked out the back of my hotel and just around the corner to Cold Beers and Cheeseburgers.  (see map)  The front windows of the restaurant were open to the patio along the sidewalk out front.  Large flat panel televisions were hanging throughout the place giving nearly every seat an opportunity to see multiple games if they were on.  I ended up seated at the long rectangular bar and was greeted by one of the bartenders, Scott.  I ordered up my current favorite beer - Kona Big Wave Golden Ale - one of the over 3 dozen beers they had on tap.  (They also have over 40 beers in bottles and over 20 beers in cans.)  Scott served the beer in a 19 ounce chilled mug and I quickly downed that one before the first of my two colleagues showed up about 20 minutes after I arrived.  By 3:30, my other colleague showed up.  Both like their beers and they were immediately impressed with the beer selection at Cold Beers and Cheeseburgers.  

We sat around for about an hour before one of the guys mentioned something about getting food.  We didn't have lunch during the day and I said that if I get something to eat there, I won't be going out for dinner that evening.  My co-workers didn't seem to have a problem with that.  

Looking through the menu, well - of course - they have cheeseburgers at Cold Beers and Cheeseburgers.  They had over 20 burgers on the menu, all starting out with a half-pound of certified black angus ground beef. From there, they had burgers such as the Ring of Fire topped with pepper jack cheese, Buffalo-wing sauce, jalapeños, and spicy mayo; the Denver burger topped with ham and cheddar cheese, along with grilled onions and peppers and finished with a fried egg; and there was the Rocky Point that had pepper jack cheese, guacamole, pico de gallo, jalapeños and sour cream on it.  They had a peanut butter, jelly and bacon burger (uh...no, thanks), a mac & cheese burger, and their own interpretation of the Twin Cities-style "Jucy Lucy" cheese-stuffed burger.  They also had a Steakhouse burger with gruyere cheese, bacon, garlic aioli and a white truffle oil.  They also had a ground Prime Rib burger on the menu.  Appetizers (including mozzarella sticks, tater tots topped with beef chili and a roasted pepper sauce, and Parmesan truffle fries), salads, sandwiches, different variations of mac & cheese dishes, and char-broiled hot dogs were also available on Cold Beers and Cheeseburgers menu. 

I contemplated building my own burger before I ended up getting the All-American burger with onion rings as a side for an upcharge.  (Chips normally come with the burgers.)  The burger was topped with American cheese with lettuce, tomato and onion slices.  For good measure, I had Scott throw on some bacon onto my burger.  Pretty basic, I know - but sometimes too many toppings detract from the overall taste of the burger meat.

The burger was thick and juicy, cooked to a perfect pink middle.  The taste of burger was also very good - juice was dripping with each bite.  It was definitely a multi-napkin burger.  The lightly toasted bun held together very well with the juicy nature of the burger.  The onion rings had a thick breading and were delicious, as well. This was a top notch burger through and through. 

My colleagues went the healthy route - one got the chicken Caesar salad, and the other got the ground turkey burger.  The salad featured chunks of grilled chicken on a bed of greens topped with a house-made Caesar dressing, reggiano cheese, and croutons.  He thought the salad was very tasty.

My other colleague wasn't so lucky with his turkey burger.  It was pretty mushy and tasteless to him.  "Horrible," he said when I asked him how his burger was.  He still ate it, but he wasn't happy at all.  "That's what I get for trying to eat healthy," he told me at the end of the meal.

We stuck around for another beer and I was getting ready to head back to the hotel after numerous beers.  However, our boss called one of my colleagues and inquired as to where we were.  After my co-worker told him where we were, he turned to us and said, "He's coming to join us!"  I decided to stick around and have another beer with the group.  

My boss showed and being that he's not much of a beer drinker, he ordered a Hendrick's gin and tonic.  He also ordered up the pastrami reuben on toasted sour dough bread to eat.  We stuck around with him having a few more beers while he ate his sandwich and a couple of gin and tonics.  He said his sandwich was also very good.  

I'm glad I didn't have far to go to get back to my room from Cold Beers and Cheeseburgers.  After four and a half hours of mainly drinking beers, but having a very tasty cheeseburger along with the beer, I was feeling little to no pain.  While it's more of a sports bar than anything else, they do have cold beers - a lot of different beers - and cheeseburgers - also a lot of different types.  But there's other things there other than beer or cheeseburgers.  But having a name like Cold Beers and Cheeseburgers, well, they do both very well.    

Seedz Organic Cafe - Steamboat Springs, CO

My wife wasn't too whippy on the breakfast our hotel in Steamboat Springs offered, so we decided to look around for a breakfast place one morning.  We found a funky little place along Steamboat's main drag of Lincoln Ave. with a big sign out front that said, "Breakfast" and "Lunch" -  Seedz Organic Cafe.  My wife is always big on organic anything, especially farm-to-fork restaurants.  So, this was right up her alley.  The following is our experience of visiting Seedz Organic Cafe.  

Fawn Racoma was a Midwestern girl who went to San Diego to study art.  She eventually became a personal chef and got her practitioner license in holistic health while in San Diego.  She vacationed in Steamboat Springs and fell in love with the area (much the same way my wife and I did) and envisioned a day when she could make the permanent move to Steamboat.  She did finally make it to Steamboat as the executive chef at the now-closed Sweetwater Grill.  

Pictured at right - Fawn Racoma.  Photo courtesy Steamboat Pilot.  

Before Racoma moved to Steamboat, she had her eyes on a space along Lincoln Ave. that she thought would be a great little place for a restaurant.  When that space became available in 2013, she left Sweetwater Grill after four years as the head chef to open Rootz Organic Cafe & Beverages. The food and juice smoothies at Rootz were all made with naturally grown ingredients, she practiced composting of the food refuse, plates and furniture used in the restaurant were all previously used or reclaimed from second hand stores.  It became a favorite spot in Steamboat for healthy breakfasts and lunches. 

It became such a favorite spot that Racoma realized that the small spot wasn't big enough to do both food and drinks.  She found another spot along Lincoln Ave. - bigger than Rootz, but not by much - that had a full kitchen, more dining space and more parking.  She rebranded Rootz as an organic drink place and moved the food portion of the restaurant over to her new place that she called Seedz.  She added a few items to the menu including traditional breakfast items such as egg dishes, pancakes, and French toast while maintaining a vegan menu, as well as a children's menu.  She continued to use organic ingredients, hormone and antibiotic-free meats, and locally grown foods when available.  Seedz Organic Cafe opened on Memorial Day weekend of this year.  

We pulled into the parking lot of Seedz around 9:30 a.m. one beautiful late summer morning.  (see map)  It was still a little cool outside and the front patio dining area was still in the shade.  Had it been about 10 to 15 degrees warmer out, we probably would have eaten outside.

Inside, we found a small space with a small bar area in the back.  True to the M.O. of Rootz, Seedz featured a number of mismatched tables and chairs in a spot that sat - maybe - 30 people.  

We sat a table near the bar and were met by Danette, our server for the day.  She gave us both a breakfast menu and we took a quick look to see what they offered.  We found a handful of breakfast sandwiches that they call "boats", as well as "towers" that featured one or two poached organic eggs with various toppings including Hatch green chiles, turkey, chicken chorizo, and pulled ham.  The Southern-style tower featured an herbed chicken breast, bacon and sweet onion jam served on an organic biscuit, topped with a peppercorn gravy.  That actually sounded pretty damned good.  

Seedz also featured French toast, pancakes, and a coconut chia waffle, as well as hash platters, scramble plates, and a handful of Seedz own specialty breakfasts with a number of vegetable choices where pulled ham, bacon, chorizo chicken or a chicken breast could be added.  They also had a number of vegan items to choose from on the breakfast menu.  

I got one of the scramble platters with shredded machaca beef.  With the eggs and the shredded beef, it came with diced red peppers and goat cheese.  Warm corn tortillas came on the side with some hash browns.  I ended up getting some of their thick cut natural bacon, as well.  The machaca beef was full of great Mexican flavors and was tender to the bite.  It went extremely well with the scrambled eggs on the taco shells.  

But the highlight of the meal was the bacon.  It was simply some of the best bacon I had ever had.  Slighty salty, slightly chewy, but it had a wonderful flavor that you can't find with most bacon found in grocery stores or butcher shops.  That bacon on a BLT would have been killer.  

My wife went the healthy route and she got the avocado smash on a slice of organic bread.  Ripe sliced tomatoes came with the avocado smash and a fresh greens salad was served on the side.  The bread was slightly toasted and had a crunchy outer crust.  It wasn't too exciting to me, but my wife really seemed to like it.   

Seeds Organic Cafe - a nice little place with healthy choices for food.  But if you're looking for something hearty or sweet for breakfast, they had that, too.   I enjoyed the shredded machaca beef scramble plate, but the bacon I got on the side was outstanding.  My wife was happy with her avocado-smash with tomatoes on crispy organic bread.   It was definitely better than the rubbery cheese omelets and the pseudo bacon they offered at the hotel.  There's a number of breakfast and lunch places in Steamboat Springs, but it you're looking to do something more on the order of a healthy meal, look no further than Seedz Organic Cafe.