Road Tips

Preservation Bread & Wine - Geneva, IL

Last fall, I was required to shepherd one of our factory guys from the U.K. around the Midwest.  Thankfully, he was a good guy who I had known from working with a previous company so the nearly 1400 mile journey (then a flight for meetings in Phoenix at the end of the week) was pleasurable enough.  We met up in Chicago to go see dealers there and we ended up our first day seeing one of my accounts in the far western suburbs.  I suggested that my dealer and his wife go out to dinner for us and they suggested one of their favorite places - Preservation Bread & Wine - in Geneva, IL.  My dealer and his wife drove us from their shop over to Geneva to have dinner that evening.   

Lawrence Colburn is a Quad Cities native who grew up in Rock Island.  After high school, he went off to study art in Chicago, but became involved with restaurants working as a highly-trained sommelier in some of the more posh eateries in the city.  Colburn eventually graduated to managing some of the higher-end restaurants in Chicago.  Colburn's love for art, European wines and locally sourced, seasonal foods led to his wish to someday open a restaurant of his own.  

During his days off, he and his daughter, Ella, would ride the trains to some of Chicago's suburbs just to look around at possible sites for a restaurant.  The first time they visited Geneva, Colburn noticed the community had a distinct and welcoming vibe and subsequent weekend visits to the town pretty much reinforced his notion that this was the place to put a restaurant.  In fact, he loved Geneva so much that he moved his family to the area.  

Pictured right - Lawrence Colburn pours a glass of wine for patrons at Preservation Bread & Wine.  Photo courtesy Daily Herald

Colburn found a building not far from the train station in Geneva and renovated the space in late 2009/early 2010.  With everything ready to go, Preservation Bread & Wine opened in June of 2010.  

(In 2016, Colburn took a plunge into another restaurant venture - Atlas Chicken Shack - that is located next door to Preservation Bread & Wine.  It's carry-out only, but there are picnic tables in a small outside walkway between the two buildings.  Colburn sources his chickens from an Amish farmer in northwest Indiana who raises free-range, hormone and antibiotic-free chickens.)

We pulled into a parking lot just down the street from Preservation Bread & Wine which is located on S. 3rd St. in Geneva.  (see map)  Entering the restaurant, I found a small and narrow space with a few high-top tables and a small bar.  I thought, "Wow, this place is really small."  However, it was a beautiful evening and my dealer and his wife wanted to eat out back on the patio.

We went down a long hallway next to the wall and walked out into another four-season room that was a dining room.  And beyond that was a somewhat spacious, yet cozy, outdoor dining area.  Lights were strung above the tables and a small stage was over in the corner of courtyard out back.  They had an open mic night at Preservation Bread & Wine and a young man with an acoustic guitar got up and did a couple songs to start out.  Our hostess who showed us to our seats at a table on the patio went up on stage and did a couple songs with the guitarist later in the evening.  

In the back patio/courtyard area, they had a nice outdoor bar with a wooden arbor above the rectangular bar.  It was much larger than the inside bar.  And it appeared to be a pretty popular spot as it was pretty full most of the time we were there.

This is the small walkway between Preservation Bread and Atlas Chicken Shack.  It, too, was well-lit with hanging strings of lights illuminating the area between the buildings.  

Before she went up to sing a couple songs, our hostess took us to a table on the patio and dropped off menus - both a food menu and a wine menu - for us to look over.   The wine menu was pretty impressive as they had European wines primarily from Italy, France and Spain, but they also had wines from Germany, Croatia and Austria available.  I saw an Argentine malbec on the wine list, as well as a number of wines from the West Coast of the US.   Many of the wines were from smaller and more obscure wineries in California, Oregon and Washington.  I think I was only familiar with 1 or 2 of the wineries they had listed.  But that is one of the hallmarks of Lawrence Colburn's knowledge of wines from around the world.  This place was a wine connoisseur's paradise.  We got a bottle of the cabernet sauvignon from the Cultivar winery located in Napa Valley.  

While the menu features a few sandwiches such as a dill rye reuben, lamb sliders, and a baguette smoked pork loin/pork shoulder sandwich, our guests talked us into going the route they normally go - getting a number of shareable plates.  We took their lead and just started to order a little bit of everything until we got full.  

Our server during our visit to Preservation Bread & Wine was a young lady by the name of Iris.  We warned her in advance that we were probably going to be all over the place with our orders and she may be having to check back multiple times during the meal.  She cheerily said that would be no problem for her and she took our first order of the evening.

The first thing we got was the combination charcuterie board with an accompanying plate of sliced Spanish cheese.  The charcuterie board featured Italian speck - an uncooked, salted and aged pork meat that is similar to shaved ham, soppressata salami, and duck prosciutto.  The Spanish cheeses included a cow milk cheese, a goat milk cheese and a sheep milk cheese.  Slices of apples came with both the charcuterie and cheese boards.   

Next was something my account's wife came up with - the duck spinach salad.  It featured crispy chunks of duck mixed with fresh spinach and dried cherries, and served on a bed of wild rice.  It was big enough where we could all share it, but my dealer's wife was somewhat disappointed with it.  "It's been better on other visits we've had here," she said almost apologetically.  I don't know how it could get much better because I thought it was 

From there we went with the spicy falafel.  They were served on a bed of parsley along with a house-made tzatziki sauce and chopped walnut.  There were a lot of flavors going on with the falafel and there was something definitely spicy in the mix.  The cool tzatziki sauce did a good job of balancing out the spiciness of the falafel. 

One of the more interesting items was the short rib pie.  It was a baked pastry shell stuffed with beef short rib meat, onions and carrots in a gravy.  The short rib pie was delicious.  It had a wonderful savory flavor and the puffed pastry shell was light and fluffy.  

The food just kept coming as we ordered up the pulled pork sandwich.  It came deconstructed with a house-baked bread roll that you could cut and make a sandwich with the pork.  Or you could just pull the bread apart - like we did - and use it to sop up some of the sauce on the plate.  The pulled pork was very tender and had a nice sweet and smokey flavor.  But the bread - actually, all the bread we had that evening - was outstanding.  Colburn hires his in-house bakers only after they go through the 10 week bread-making course at the prestigious French Pastry School located in Chicago.  I could have just pigged out on the bread, but that wouldn't have been good for my diet.  Good bread - good wine, now I get why the place is named Preservation Bread & Wine.  

Finishing out the evening was a flat bread made with a house made fennel Italian sausage with fresh arugula and Cello parmesan cheese.  The flat bread was light and airy, the Italian sausage had that great fennel flavor with a hint of a spice.  It was a very good flat bread, but by this time of the evening - and a couple bottles of wine later - we had pretty much filled ourselves up.  

Two things that I like to do when going out to eat - finding a restaurant that A) has some pretty interesting wines that I'm not familiar with; and B) has a number of eclectic and intriguing food selections that are shareable; and C) is located in an interesting and fun setting.  Preservation Bread & Wine hit all three of those criteria for me.  The food was very interesting and everything we had was very good, the wine was obscure - at least for me - and it was very good.  And it was very tough to beat the nice little patio/courtyard in back of Preservation Bread.  Finally, I can't say enough about our server who we ran ragged with more orders of more food and more wine for the time we were there.  Even though we sprung for the meal, I couldn't help but thank my dealer for bringing us to Preservation Bread & Wine for dinner that evening.  

Lake Church Inn Tavern and Grill - Belgium, WI

Many times when I travel Interstate 43 between Milwaukee and Green Bay, I like to take a little side road off the super highway near Belgium, WI that takes you to the Lake Michigan shoreline just north of Harrington Beach State Park.  (see map)  There's a small parking lot there and I like to get out and walk to the shoreline and look out over the lake for a few moments.  Looking out over water is always a relaxing and tranquil moment for me.  To get to this little spot of heaven on earth, I drive through the small unincorporated village of Lake Church.  In Lake Church is a little bar/restaurant/inn that has always fascinated me - the Lake Church Inn Tavern and Grill.  I've always wanted to stop in and take a look around.  The only problem is that it opens at 3 p.m. through the week (11 a.m. Friday thru Sunday) and I'm usually driving by going to and from the lakefront much earlier than that.  I've always wanted to stop in and see what the place is all about and on a trip to Wisconsin last fall, it turned out that I was there after 3 p.m.  After stopping at the lake front for a moment of reflection, I headed back to the Lake Church Inn Tavern and Grill.   

I really don't know how I found this place, but I've been coming to this area for about 17 years.  I'm guessing I saw that the lake wasn't that far off the interstate on a map one time and I just wondered what would be down that road.  I thought there might be a bar or a lookout, but it turned out to be a pretty primitive boat ramp where a person - if they didn't know where they were in the middle of the night - could literally drive right off into Lake Michigan.  Over the years, I've stopped there dozens of times - especially on nice warm days - to gaze out over the lake.

This is the view at the end of County Highway D.  As I said, it's serene and relaxing with the waves lapping at the concrete boat ramp that dips from the roadway into Lake Michigan.  It's usually just me or maybe someone else who is running their dog along the beach.  There are houses just past a tree line to the north and I'm somewhat envious for the views they have every day.  I usually don't linger much longer than 5 to 10 minutes, but it's usually enough to clear my head and send me on my way.  If there were a chair or a bench there, I'd sit there for a helluva lot longer.  

Doubling back to the Lake Church Inn Tavern and Grill located at the corner of Lake Church Road and County Highway D (see map), I pulled up in front of the place and even though it was 10 after 3 in the afternoon, the place didn't look open.  In fact, the sign in the front window said they were closed.  I was sort of pissed and incredulous that the place wouldn't be open.  I got out of the car, walked up to the red front door and jiggled it.  It opened up and I walked inside.  There was a gray-haired man behind the bar with his back to me and I asked, "Are you open?"

He turned around and yelled back, "Sure!  Come on in!"  He said that he had gotten in there a little late and he hadn't changed the sign from "Closed" to "Open".  "I'll just do that now," he said as he came out from behind the bar to flip the sign.  It turned out the man was Dave Maiman - known as "Uncle Dave" to the locals - who owns the Lake Church Inn Tavern and Grill with his wife Annette.  

I took a seat at the bar and ordered up a beer.  It wasn't long before a guy came in who had been out riding his motorcycle and he sat at the bar near me and ordered a Pabst Blue Ribbon.  Not long after that, an elderly man came in, ordered a Blatz and took it back to a video gaming machine that was in the back corner of the bar.  I sort of chuckled and thought to myself, "I love this place already!"  

It turns out there's a lot of history in the building that houses the Lake Church Inn Tavern and Grill.  The original building on the east side of the main building was a small rooming house originally built in 1848.  That was the year Wisconsin became a state.  

A few years later in the 1860's a larger building was built to the west - that's the building that houses the tavern.  The walnut back bar is the original one and it dates back to the 1880's.  The 10 unit inn just east of the tavern was built in the mid-80's.  There are 8 two queen bed rooms, along with a two bed efficiency room with a small kitchenette, and a one bedroom unit with a full size kitchen and living area.   Rates run from $70 for the two bed rooms, to $80 for the efficiency, to $95 for the one bedroom room with a full kitchen.

After the building in which the tavern was built, the owners at the time decided to build another part of the structure that connected the original building and the building that houses the tavern.  This part of the building is the dining room at the Lake Church Inn Tavern.  A number of historical pictures from the area were hung on the wall in the dining room.  

Another one of the regulars - an elderly man who lived nearby - came in and sat at the end of the bar and ordered a Miller High Life in a can.  He and I started to talk about the building and its history.  He said that, of course, there have been many owners over the years - in fact, his son was one of the owners a few years back.  But this gentleman was a treasure trove of information on the transition of not only the building, but the surrounding area in Lake Church.  

There is a church across the street from the tavern - St. Mary's Church with an adjoining cemetery.   Next to the church was a nunnery which housed the nuns who taught school at the St. Mary's Catholic school.  Both the nunnery and the school were torn down years ago.  The man told me that there wasn't a bathroom in the church and if parishioners had to go to the restroom while at the church, they had to come across the street to use the bathroom at the tavern.  "How ironic is that," the man asked me with a chuckle.  

Caddy-cornered from the tavern to the southwest and across the street from the church was a stage coach station.  The rooms to the side and above the tavern were used as overnight boarding for people who were passing through on stage coaches going to and coming from Milwaukee.   

The man squired me around the tavern and dining room pointing out some of the pictures and explaining some of the aspects of the building.  "The bar used to be on the opposite wall," he told me.  "There was a door on the outside that went to the basement.  They would store food, liquor, beer, whatever down there."  I asked him if this place was a speakeasy during Prohibition.  He shrugged his shoulders and said, "Maybe."  Then he said with a bit more conviction, "Probably.  I mean, there were a lot of places my daddy told me about that you wouldn't think of as having booze during Prohibition that really did." 

He showed me the indentions on the floor of where a set of double doors used to be under the arch in the middle of the room.  "They used to store stuff back in there, too," he explained to me.  "But they had taken the doors off by the time my son had the place to give them a little more room."  I asked him how long ago that his son owned the business.  "I don't know.  20 years, 25 years...", he said as his voice trailed off as he was thinking.  "Hell, maybe 30 years.  Once you get to my age, you sort of lose track of time."

I sat back down at the bar and I picked up a food menu to see what Lake Church Inn Tavern and Grill had to offer.  It was your typical bar food - burgers, sandwiches, and appetizers.  They had dinners such as an 8 ounce beef tenderloin filet, fish and chips, and a sweet & sour chicken sautéed with green peppers, mushrooms and onions in a sweet and sour sauce and served over rice with a vegetable medley.  And - like a lot of places like the Lake Church Inn Tavern in the state of Wisconsin - they have a fish fry on Friday nights.  

It was getting a little later in the afternoon and I was thinking that maybe I ought to try something.  I asked Uncle Dave if he could make something up for me on the grill.  "You don't want me to cook it," he said as he grabbed a pad to write down my order.  "But the cook would be happy to make something up for you."  

I ended up getting the mushroom/Swiss cheese burger that they had on the menu.  I asked Dave to throw some bacon on it, too.  It was served on a spongy toasted bun and came with some dill pickles on the side.  It was actually pretty damned good.  It was juicy and required a number of napkins to help keep myself clean.  The bun held together very well considering it was turning into somewhat of a mess the more I ate.  I finished up the burger and Uncle Dave asked what I thought of it.  "I have to tell you, I've been driving by this place for years and always wanted to come in," I explained to him.  "This burger, alone, was worth stopping.  But the history of this place is just amazing."  

I'd waited a long time to stop in to the Lake Church Inn Tavern and Grill and it was worth it - to me.  Look - it's a dive and they don't have much, if any, of a craft beer list.  Most of their food is basic bar fare, but the history of the place is worth stopping by.  The burger I had was very good and I would have no problem stopping back in there for another burger at some point in the future.  Now that I know about the place, I'll have to time my little mental-break excursions out to Lake Michigan to coincide with when the Lake Church Inn Tavern and Grill is open.  Or maybe I just need to stay some night at the inn next door and enjoy myself a little longer than the short time I was there on my first visit. 

The Rock - Springfield, MO

Springfield, MO is one of my all-time favorite cities to travel to.  I've been going there since the mid-80's and it's always been a fun time on each visit.  I have a new account in the area that has been doing some pretty good business for me and I asked them if they'd like to go out to dinner.  One of them suggested a place that had opened in June of last year on Springfield's southeast side - an upscale tavern by the name of The Rock.  We all met up there after a short drive from their office/warehouse.  

The historic Galloway neighborhood of Springfield for years was known as sort of the "bottoms" of the city.  In and around Galloway Village was a large rail yard, a quarry, a fish hatchery and a park.   The rail yard and quarry went away a number of years ago, and much of the area was designated as a flood plain.  However, the city has made a significant upgrade in the area over the past number of years and in 2014 they declared a segment along S. Lone Pine Ave. as blighted opening the way for urban renewal projects.  A developer came in to put in housing, retail shops and restaurants that would be known as Quarry Town.  One of the spots that was available for a restaurant came to the attention of Tim and Jennifer Bair. 

In 2007, Tim and Jennifer Bair borrowed a combined amount of $140,000 from their respective fathers to open Bair's Sports Grille in nearby Republic, MO.  Failure was not an option for the Bairs who knew that it would financially devastate the three families.  Fortunately, things worked out for the Bairs and Bair's Sports Grille became well known for their great burgers.  The one location eventually grew to four around the greater Springfield area and the Bair's also added a spin-off sports bar called T-Bairz, and a little pub in Republic by the name of The Bent Penny Tavern.  The Bair's worked with the Quarry Town developer and opened up a more upscale restaurant to their Bair's Sports Grille locations.  The Rock Food & Friends at The Quarry opened on June 10 of last year, but most locals know it as "The Rock".   

I pulled into the parking lot of The Rock around 6 p.m. on a weekday evening.  (see map)  The parking lot is elevated behind the building and also is used by other businesses and apartments that are in the immediate area.  One of the more interesting vehicles in the parking lot was this 2007 Lincoln Crown Victoria police-issue car that had Beer Patrol decals all over it.  It appeared to be a rolling advertisement for either a local distillery or for drinking beer, in general.   We sort of marveled at both the ingenuity of the vehicle and the possible problems the driver could get into if he'd been drinking a little before getting behind the wheel to head to another bar.  "Only in Springfield," one of my guests mused looking over he car before we turned to walk into the restaurant.  

The Rock's decor is sort of a contemporary industrial look.  Wooden trusses lined a vaulted ceiling above the bar and dining area.  Limestone wall and corner accents were found around the room with a half-wall separating the bar area with high-top tables from the dining area that had low-tops.  Large flat screen televisions were placed around the room giving The Rock sort of an upscale sports pub feeling.  And there was a very nice deck out in front of the place, but it was sort of spitting rain so no one was using it.  

We sat at a table along the half-wall opposite the bar area and were greeted by McKenna, a young lady who would be our server that evening.  They had Kona Big Wave on tap - I immediately liked the place when I found that out - and I ordered one of those up.  One of my guests got the O'Fallon Hemp Hop Rye, a hoppy amber ale made by the O'Fallon Brewery located in the St. Louis suburb of Maryland Heights.  

The menu at The Rock features a number of appetizers and sharable plates.  One of which was the buffalo cauliflower that came highly recommended by one of the guys.  They were about a dozen deep-fried cauliflower tops that were then rolled into a sweet Sriracha sauce.  Chopped celery, cilantro and scallions were mixed in with shredded gruyere cheese.  It was actually very good.  Other appetizers they had included an ahi tuna poké, and peppadew peppers stuffed with blue crabmeat and pork belly seasoned with Cajun spices and finished with boursin cheese.  Now, I really should have ordered that just to see what that was all about.  

The main menu at The Rock consisted of a handful of entrees including a blue crabmeat mac & cheese, lemon pepper chicken, seafood dishes, and steaks.  They had artisan pizzas made with cauliflower crust on the menu at The Rock in addition to a handful of burgers and sandwiches.   A la carte sides such as quinoa, sautéed zucchini sticks, cauliflower rice, and lo mein noodles were on the menu, as well.

One of my guests got the grilled ahi tuna - sushi grade tuna that was seared and served with two sides.  He got the steamed broccoli and the brown rice to go with it.  I didn't get a photo of that, but it looked pretty good.  But I did get a picture of my other guest's choice that evening - the Slab burger.  It was a 1/2 lb. beef patty topped with grilled ham, cheddar cheese slices, sautéed onions and finished off with an apple habanero barbecue sauce all of which came on a toasted brioche bun.  Fries were supposed to come with the burger, but he asked to substitute the steamed broccoli.  My guest had had the Slab burger before and he said it was already his favorite thing on the menu.  

I went with the ahi tuna tacos.  Fries also came on the side with them, but I wasn't interested in either eating the fries nor substituting them out for another side.  It was the same sushi-grade ahi tuna that my guest had and it was served in a soft flour tortilla with chopped tomatoes, a kale slaw, and topped with a garlic/sweet chile "Boom Boom" sauce.  Shredded cheddar cheese was supposed to come on the tacos, but I had our server hold that.   They were actually pretty good.  They had a very rich taste without a hint of fishiness from the ahi tuna and they were very filling.  They hit the spot very well that evening.  

I've eaten at a number of restaurants over the years in the Springfield area and I'm pretty impressed with many that I've tried. The Rock is a nice addition to the restaurant scene in the area, a nice spot for a meal.  I can't say the food was bad, far from it.  But many of the items were derivatives of popular foods found at many restaurants. I thought my ahi tuna tacos were fine, but my guests seemed to really like their meals.  The Rock has a pretty good craft beer list, and the environment was pleasant and comfortable.  I'd say, sure, check it out if you're looking for upscale barfood in a leisurely setting.  

Frankie's Deli - Oakbrook Terrace, IL

Last year, my wife and I had to go into Chicago for a weekend wedding.  We decided to go in a day early and spend the night out in the Oak Brook area.  The next day, I had a conference call to participate in and then some work to finish up in the morning and she went to get a pedicure and manicure at a local spa.  She came back around 11:30 and announced that she was hungry.  It didn't surprise me.  She had a light breakfast and I knew that she would be ready for lunch sooner than later as she, as a creature of habit, has to have three meals a day.  Me - I'm still trying to do my OMAD (one meal a day) diet that has successfully helped keep my weight down after my significant weight loss I started over a year and a half ago.  She said she really didn't need anything more than a sandwich and I looked up delicatessens in the immediate area.  One place popped up that sort of intrigued me - an Italian market and cafe by the name of Frankie's Deli.  And it wasn't that far from the hotel.  After packing up our stuff and hauling it out to the car, I punched in Frankie's Deli's address on my GPS and headed in that direction.  

Frankie's Deli celebrated their 55th anniversary last year as Italian immigrant Frank Conforti, Sr. and his wife, Connie, opened their Italian market and deli in 1964 at the corner of Belmont and Central in Chicago.  The couple moved their market/deli to the Yorktown Shopping Center in 1976.  Their son, Frank, Jr. joined the couple in the business not long after that.  A couple years ago, the Conforti's were asked to move out of their spot at Yorktown and they thought they may have to close their place down.  But they were able to find a spot at the corner of Butterfield Road and Midwest Road in Oakbrook Village.  (see map)  After some remodeling and renovations, Frankie's Deli reopened at their new location in July of last year.  Both Frank Conforti, Sr. and Connie Conforti work part-time at the market/deli, but Frank Conforti, Jr. runs the day-to-day operations.  

We pulled into Frankie's during the height of the noon lunch hour rush.  The parking lot was packed, but we were able to find a spot that someone had just pulled out of in front of the building.  We went inside to get an idea of what we needed to do to get a sandwich for my wife.  

We immediately found aisles filled with all different types of canned vegetables, sauces, pastas, olive oil, balsamic vinegar - everything you'd need for an authentic Italian feast.  Glassed cases of freezers held pre-made Italian specialties including Frankie's Deli's lasagna that comes in containers to feed anywhere from a family of four to a gathering of 30.  I understand Frankie's is famous for their lasagna that is made from a recipe Connie Conforti got from her family as a little girl.  

The deli line was understandably long when we got to the deli counter.  The menu for sandwiches and paninis, as well as soups and salads were on the wall behind the meat case.  Deli meats and cheeses which included house-made Italian beef and Italian sausage were also available to order from the deli counter.  They had hot and cold sandwiches available, as well as a muffuletta-style panini with salami, ham and provolone cheese topped with an olive spread.  We placed our order, grabbed a couple waters and paid for it all at the end of the deli line.  

Even though it was a nice day outside, we decided to eat inside.  Frankie's Deli had a small dining area that featured vintage historical pictures of the city of Chicago on the walls.  We took a seat at one of the tables in the room and got settled in.   

My wife decided upon the Italian sub sandwich.  They make them assembly line-style during the noon rush because they're such a popular choice.  It consisted of salami, capicola, and mortadella topped with provolone cheese, shredded lettuce, sliced tomatoes and onions and finished with a drizzle of olive oil.  For a side, my wife chose the three-bean salad.  

My wife thought the sandwich was good, but she knew she couldn't eat the whole 8" hoagie.  She offered me half of the sandwich and I couldn't say no.  The hoagie bun was chewy, but had great flavor.  The combination of the Italian meats gave it a nice overall taste.  I may have three or four bites of the sandwich before I called it quits.  We were going out for pizza in downtown Chicago that evening and I didn't want to get filled up earlier in the day.  

We're always on the look-out for a good Italian market and having a deli/cafe attached to the place is a plus.  I'm sort of surprised that I never really knew about Frankie's Deli before this visit as my wife and I have been coming to the Yorktown/Oak Brook area for years before I started to come to Chicago on a regular basis for work.  While the food and cafe are nothing fancy, it was obvious from the crowd in there for the lunch time rush that Frankie's doesn't have to be upscale for it to be successful.  But the Italian products - including pre-made items that can be taken home - would cause me to come back and shop at some point in the future.  Frankie's Deli definitely has it all when it comes to Italian food products.   And they make pretty good sandwiches, too.  

Felix's Pizza Pub - St. Louis

One of my St. Louis accounts had mentioned something to me about Felix's Pizza Pub in the Dogtown neighborhood a few months ago.  I had driven by there a handful of times going to other restaurants in the area and I always wondered about the place.  When I was in St. Louis last fall, I offered to take a couple of guys from my account out for dinner and I suggested Felix's.  Both guys were enthusiastic because they liked Felix's pizza and their selection of craft beer.  Since I was staying at a hotel near the restaurant, we took two cars to have pizza and beers at Felix's.  

Actually, Felix's Pizza Pub has been around for a little over 15 years.  It was formed by a collaboration between two lifelong friends - Steve Kolb and Tom Galbraith - who met while in kindergarten.  In 2004, the two founded Felix's, a upscale pub in Dogtown. One of their first employees, Andy Roesch, decided that he wanted to become a chef and he left to head to the Johnson & Wales culinary school with its main campus in Providence, RI.  

In 2011, Kolb and Galbraith decided to re-brand Felix's into an eclectic pizza-by-the-slice place.  They were able to lure Andy Roesch back to St. Louis after his graduation who grudgingly accepted their offer of a partnership if he would run their kitchen for them.  Roesch had no training in making pizzas, nor did he have any desire to learn how.  Part of the curriculum at Johnson & Wales was a two week course on baking, so that was the only time he was exposed to baking breads.  However, when Kolb and Galbraith described some of the diverse and interesting toppings they wanted to include on their pizza selections, they convinced Roesch to go off to New York to do some research.  Upon returning, it took him awhile, but he was able to perfect the thin crust pizza that makes New York-style pizza so famous.  

In 2014, Kolb (who soon thereafter got married and changed his name to VanderKolb as a combination of his wife's maiden name - Vanderford - and his), Galbraith and Roesch had the chance to expand their place by moving literally across the street to the other corner establishment that once housed Latitude 26, a Tex-Mex restaurant that had recently gone out of business. They were able to expand the menu and the new digs gave them over 1000 square feet of more dining space along with an outdoor patio area.  On top of all that, they re-named their restaurant Felix's Pizza Pub.  

After meeting at their store, I followed the guys to Dogtown to go to Felix's.  (see map)  My past experience with parking in the immediate area reminded me that finding a spot can be dicey, but I happened to find a parking space just down the street on Tamm while the guys parked further down Clayton.   

Inside Felix's Pizza Pub, I found a three-tiered area with the upper level featuring a number of high-top tables, with a short wall that separated that area from the bar.  A number of flat panel televisions were hung on the wall behind the bar and the craft beer list hung at the end of the bar.   

A sloping walk-way went from the front door past the bar and into a lower tiered room.  This area was more cozy and not as lively as the bar area.  One of the guys was telling me that during the annual St. Patrick's Day parade that is held along Clayton, Felix's has a special deal that for $100 per person it's unlimited food, mixed drinks and beer from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. with food served in this room.  "We did that the last couple of years and I think they've lost money on me both years because of all the food I've eaten and the drinks I've had," he told me.  

We sat at a high-top table on the upper tier.  I noticed that they had the Urban Chestnut Zwickel on the board and I ordered up one of those.  Our server, a young guy who had a very laid back demeanor, came back to apologize that they were out of the Zwickel.  Then I noticed that they had the Kona Big Wave on tap.  He said, "I know we have that.  I just served one of those to that table over there."  I immediately ordered up one of those.  

Naturally, pizza dominates the menu at Felix's.  But they did have hoagie-style sandwiches such as a braised beef with pepperoncini's and proved cheese, a blackened chicken with pepper jack cheese, and a pulled pork sandwich topped with a cumin cole slaw.  My friend who has been at Felix's for their St. Patrick's Day celebration said that they have great cheeseburgers available on that day only.  

We decided to get an appetizer to start out.  We considered getting the chicken wings that you could get with a choice of a sweet and spicy Thai chile sauce or in a traditional Buffalo wing sauce with a side of jalapeño ranch dressing.  The pulled pork mac & cheese sounded interesting, as did the caprese bread topped with fresh mozzarella, Roma tomato slices, red onion and basil with a balsamic vinaigrette drizzle.  

But we ended up with going with the good ol' St. Louis standby - the toasted ravioli.  Felix's gets their sausage and cheese-stuffed ravioli from Mama Toscano's - a venerable Italian market and deli located on The Hill in St. Louis that are famous for their ravioli.  The ravioli came in a sweet and tangy marinara sauce along with fresh chopped basil.  And they were very good.  

The pizza selections at Felix's are interesting, to say the least.  The Clayton featured smoked chicken, lettuce, tomato, green onions and feta cheese on a coconut red curry base and topped off with a jalapeño ranch dressing.  The Tamm Ave. also had chicken on it, but it was paired with spinach, pepper bacon and artichoke hearts on an alfredo sauce base.  The Art Hill (the pizzas were named for nearby streets, neighborhoods or locations) featured smoked meatballs with fresh basil, green peppers and a ricotta cheese.  

Pizzas were available by the slice for $5.99, or you could get a 12" or a 16" pizza.  I was sort of confused and I'm glad I was there on my first visit with two guys who knew the drill.  I asked if I could get a "make-your-own" slice or did it have to be one of the specialty pizzas to get a slice.  "Whatever you want," one of the guys said.  "They make 'em fresh by the slice, straight out of the oven."  I still couldn't quite wrap my head around that as most slice places that I've been to in my past only let you order what they've made and are under the heat lamp.  

I wanted to try my old standby - sausage, pepperoni and mushroom - but I was also intrigued by the Franz Park, which was Felix's take on a margherita pizza.  I ended up ordering both to start out with.

The sausage, pepperoni and mushroom pizza featured big chunks of Italian sausage with fresh mushrooms and somewhat zippy pepperoni slices.  The crust on the pizza wasn't limp, but it wasn't cracker thin and crisp.  It was a nice balance between crisp and limp.  The sausage, pepperoni and mushroom was good, and I thought about getting a second slice.  But when I took the first bite of the Franz Hill margherita pizza, I had a culinary epiphany.  

The combination of the sliced tomatoes, ricotta cheese, fresh basil and a balsamic drizzle had such a taste sensation that I suddenly didn't care about getting a second slice of the other pizza.  Everything was balanced out where you could easily make out the flavors of the cheese, tomatoes, basil and balsamic vinaigrette.  It tasted so fresh, so invigorating, and so wonderful that I immediately signed up for a second slice.  And after I had my second slice, I had to stop because I would have embarrassed myself in front of my guests had I ordered a third piece.  It was that good.  It completely overwhelmed the sausage, pepperoni and mushroom slice that I started out with.  

My guests both got a slice of the Dogtown - similar to my slice with Italian sausage and pepperoni, but it also had pepper bacon on it.  One of the guys also got a slice of the Murphy Pie - smoked chicken with blue cheese crumbles and green onions, topped with a Buffalo wing sauce and a drizzle of their jalapeño ranch dressing.  It looked pretty interesting, but I'm not big with chicken on a pizza.  My other guest ordered up slice that consisted of Canadian bacon, pepperoncinis, and mozzarella cheese.  The only problem is that the kitchen forgot to make that one up for him.  But he waited patiently and it wasn't long before he got his slice.  Our server told me that the slice would be on the house for the kitchen forgetting to get it made with the other slices.  

I've discovered three or four good little restaurants in the Dogtown area over the past couple of years and Felix's Pizza Pub is definitely in my rotation from here on out.  I can't stop raving about the Franz Hill pizza - their version of a margherita pizza.  It was so fresh and flavorful that I can't imagine having anything else but the Franz Hill on my next visit.  Felix's also had a very good craft beer selection with 21 beers on tap, but they were out of my first choice that particular evening.  Nonetheless, I was able to find another one of my favorite beers on tap to have.  Service was laid back, but professional.  The atmosphere was lively, yet comfortable.  I was happy to finally try Felix's Pizza Pub and I was not disappointed in the least.   

Smoke Shack - Wauwatosa, WI

I was up in Milwaukee last fall and I was staying at a new-ish hotel on the west side of the city.  It turned out that it was part of the Mayfair Collection, a mixed-use development that featured residential, retail shops, and restaurants.  There was a barbecue joint just across the parking lot from the hotel and I decided to give the place a try.  This is my experience at Smoke Shack.  

Smoke Shack is one of the restaurants under the umbrella of the Hospitality Democracy company originally founded by Joe and Angie Sorge.  In addition to Smoke Shack, other Milwaukee area restaurants they oversee include Onesto, Holey Moley doughnut and coffee shop, Blue Bat Kitchen and the popular burger joint A.J. Bombers.  (Click here to see the Road Tips entry on A.J. Bombers.)  Joe Sorge is a New York native whose family had deep ties to the restaurant business.  Sorge went to Cornell University to study hospitality management before working at a handful of restaurants, then moving to Milwaukee with his wife in 2000.  Sorge started Hospitality Democracy with help from Marcus Investments, a Milwaukee-based capital investment firm with roots in movie theaters, hotels and restaurants.  

The original Smoke Shack opened in 2010 in Milwaukee's Historic Third Ward as a collaborative effort between Sorge, Street-za Pizza owner Scott Baitinger, and developer Robert Joseph.  Smoke Shack's downtown Milwaukee location wasn't large - it could only hold less than 50 patrons - but business exceeded Sorge's wildest dreams after it opened.  

A little over 6 years ago, ground was broke in suburban Wauwatosa for a multi-use shopping, entertainment, and residential district called The Mayfair Connection.   Sorge was approached about putting some of his restaurants in the complex and in late 2016, Smoke Shack, A.J. Bombers, and the coffee/donut shop Holey Moley opened in a shared building.  

In the summer of 2018, it was announced that Joe and Angie Sorge were leaving the Hospitality Democracy group after being bought out by Marcus Investments.  The Sorge's founded their own restaurant consulting firm - SideWork Hospitality Consulting - later that year and continue to work with restaurants in the greater Milwaukee area.    

The Wauwatosa location of Smoke Shack is just north of Burleigh St. next to Interstate 41.  (see map)  There's a parking garage very near the restaurant with lot parking across a four-lane road that feeds cars in and out of The Mayfair Collection.  I walked across the parking lot in front of the hotel and passed by the outdoor seating area at Smoke Shack.  It featured a fire pit and a bar area under a canopy that was fronted by corrugated metal sheets.  It looked like it would be a nice area to hang if the weather was warm - which it really wasn't that fall evening.  

Inside Smoke Shack, the decor was sort of a contemporary rustic theme.  There appeared to be a lot of reclaimed barn board used in the bar and along the walls of the place with corrugated metal panels mixed in.  Opposite the bar was a number of tables in a small narrow nook-type area.  On a wall above a couple tables in an alcove were a number of bicycle handlebars - ram-horn, butterfly, and regular handlebars - that were on wood mounts to sort of parody big-game horns or racks.  I got a chuckle out of it.  

I sat at the bar and was greeted by Erika who was working behind the bar that evening.  She gave me a menu to look over and I took a look at the beer selection they had to offer in the glass-doored refrigerator behind the bar.  I saw that they had Surly Furious IPA in 16 oz. cans and I ordered up one of those.  

It's pretty basic barbecue offerings at Smoke Shack - baby back ribs, pulled pork, brisket, smoked chicken and smoked sausage.  Sides included sweet and spicy baked beans, cole slaw, sweet potato fries, and chipotle creamed corn.  Sandwiches included a brisket Sloppy Joe, a pulled pork sandwich topped with pimento mac & cheese (which was also a side choice), and a sandwich called the "Shack Daddy" that featured ham, brisket and sausage.  They had appetizers on the menu including burnt ends (of which they were out of that evening), smoked chicken wings, and something they called "Kansas City Eggrolls" which featured Iowa pulled pork and Monterey jack cheese with honey mustard and served with Smoke Shack's Kansas City-style sweet and smokey sauce.  

For my dinner that evening, I got the pulled pork and brisket combination.  For my side, I got the baked beans.   They had four different types of sauces to choose from - the aforementioned sweet and smokey Kansas City-style sauce, a Carolina-style mustard and vinegar sauce (of which I don't care for), a Texas-style sauce that was basically the Kansas City-style sauce with a bit of a kick, a house barbecue sauce that - well, I'll get into that later, and a habanero sauce that I figured I'd give a try.

Now, do you ever look at something that is served to you and it doesn't take much to tell you that this may not be very good?  That's sort of how I felt when the barbecue plate was set down in front of me.  I could tell that this would not be a very good meal from the first glance at the meat.  

And my eyes certainly didn't lie - it was pretty bad.  The pulled pork was lifeless and bland.  The brisket was dry and tasted like it had been left in a crock pot a little too long.  Neither had any smoke flavor to them.  And the baked beans seemed like they had opened a can of Van Camp's pork and beans, poured them in a bowl and heated them up.  They were neither sweet or spicy.  

Even the sauces couldn't help this meal.  The Kansas City-style sweet sauce was not very good.  And since the Texas-style sauce was based off the Kansas City-style sauce, even with a bit of a spicy kick on the back side, it couldn't have been saved.  The house sauce - which is supposed to be a little bit of everything - was completely blah in taste.  And I had to try the habanero sauce just to see how spicy it was.  It wasn't spicy at all and it was very flat in flavor.   The meal was highly disappointing.  

I understand that Smoke Shack has won numerous "people's choice" awards for having the best barbecue in Milwaukee since they opened in 2010, but I have to say the meal I had at the Wauwatosa location was some of the most disappointing barbecue I've encountered in my years of travel.  The meat was lifeless and bland with nary a hint of a smokey barbecue taste, the baked beans were akin to the canned variety, and I found their sauces to be pretty flat and underwhelming in their flavor.  While Smoke Shack is a nice place with their rustic decor, their barbecue was pretty mediocre - if that.   And that's too bad as I had high hopes for the place.  

Bourbons Bar & Grill - Coal Valley, IL

For awhile now, my wife and I have been on a quest to find a place that has a good burger along with a good selection of craft beers in the Quad Cities.  She had mentioned a place clear over in Coal Valley, a small community on the far southeast side of the Quad City area.  I read up on it and on a Sunday afternoon we headed over to Bourbons Bar & Grill.  

Troy and Shelly Shehorn lived in the Coal Valley area and loved to go to a neighborhood bar there called Headquarters.   Shelly was an accountant by trade and Troy was self-employed.  A few years ago, Headquarters went up for sale and the Shehorn's thought it would be fun to own the bar.  However, after weeks of negotiations, the deal fell through.  

But the Shehorn's always kept an eye on the property and when it became available for sale in the fall of October 2016, they didn't hesitate this time.  They knew they could do something with the little neighborhood bar in terms of food and drink, focusing on Troy's love for barbecue and bourbon.  But first they had to do some renovations.

The building, itself, dates back to the 1890's with the original tin ceiling still intact.  The Shehorn's brought in over 10 tons of stone for walls and accents, and they installed cedar panels for walls and trim around the stone walls.  They renovated the kitchen and bar area, a meat smoker was installed in the back, and they put up about a half-dozen large screen flat panel televisions around the place.  By March of 2018, Bourbons Bar & Grill was ready to open to the public.  

It was around 2 p.m. when we pulled up to Bourbons which is located near the corner of 1st Street and E. 22nd Ave. A in Coal Valley.  (see map)  We parked in front of the building, but there's ample parking off to the side.   From the outside, the building is pretty nondescript with a couple beer signs in the window.  But upon entering Bourbons, we found a cozy and inviting space that featured a number of tables in the center of the bar with a nice three-sided bar off to the side.  The combination of the lights from beer signs and the glow of the televisions with some accent lighting along the walls gave the bar a colorful glow.

We took a seat at a table toward the back of the dining area of the bar.  Our server that day - a pleasant and helpful lady by the name of Jane - came over to greet us and to drop off a couple menus.  They had a pretty good craft beer list and I saw that they had Kona Big Wave.  I asked Jane if their bloody mary's were good and she said, "Oh, yeah.  We load 'em up."  I ordered a Big Wave and a bloody mary.  The "packed" bloody mary featured a thick and zesty mix served in a salt-rimmed glass.  A skewer of green olives, pickles, salami and cubed cheese came on top of the bloody mary glass.  And it was a very good bloody mary.  My wife got her usual cranberry juice and Tito's vodka - light on the cranberry juice.  

The menu at Bourbons wasn't all that large, but most of the items they had sounded pretty interesting.  Appetizers included jalapeño poppers, fried portobello mushrooms, and fried avocado wedges which caught the eye of my wife.  They had sandwiches such as grilled or breaded pork tenderloins, and a grilled chicken sandwich topped with bacon and a house-made bourbon barbecue sauce.  They had four different burgers on the menu, along with fish and chips, chicken strips, and a four-piece broasted chicken dinner.  Pizzas (I understand they're Quad City-style, which we don't care for) and calzones are also available.  On Thursday night, they have barbecued rib dinners as a special.  

My wife wanted to try their pulled pork sandwich.  They smoke the pork shoulders at Bourbons with hickory and it's slow-cooked and shredded.   The barbecue pork is placed on a toasted brioche bun and topped with their house-made bourbon barbecue sauce, cole slaw and an onion ring.  She had a choice of sides that came with the sandwich which included French fries, seasoned waffle fries, bourbon baked beans, or cottage cheese.  She ended up getting the macaroni salad.  She thought the barbecue pulled pork sandwich was very good.  

Of course, I was looking to try one of their burgers and I ended up getting their mushroom burger.  For some reason, I thought that I would be getting sautéed mushrooms, but the menu said the burger was topped with fried mushrooms.  They were portobello mushroom strips, similar to the ones they serve as appetizers.  The burger patty was topped with provolone cheese and an aioli sauce.  I asked Jane if I could get some bacon on my burger and she said that it was no problem.  I also got a side of onion rings for a $1 dollar upcharge.  

I ended up taking the mushroom strips off the burger and just having it with the bacon and cheese. The burger was very good.  It was juicy and flavorful, and the bun held together well for what turned out to be a multiple-napkin burger.  The onion rings were pretty good as well.  They had an abundance of beer-batter on them - almost too much, even if you like beer-battered onion rings - and I found them to be a little too salty for my taste.  

A few weeks after our first trip to Bourbons, my wife's son came to visit us on a Sunday.  He had just come back from Cincinnati for a factory training session he took part in, and he was telling us that the factory guys took the group out to a couple bourbon bars in Newport, KY, just across the river from Cincinnati.  We were telling him about Bourbons in Coal Valley and he is much more into bourbons than my wife and I are.  But he was intrigued enough that we took him over there for lunch.  

On this visit, he got to look at the over 120 different bourbons that they offer at Bourbons Bar & Grill.  In fact, we had a nice conversation with Shelly Shehorn about her husband's love for bourbon, the trips they have taken that have centered on bourbon-centric bars and restaurants, and she compared notes with my step-son on the more expensive bourbons that are out there.  Once again, I'm not well-versed on bourbons at all, but my step-son was telling her about a Pappy Van Winkle bourbon that one of the places across the river from Cincinnati he went to had for $500 a shot.  Shelly Shehorn said that she was familiar with that bourbon, but they didn't have that particular liquor at their bar.  "We're working up to it, though," she told us.  "We're slowly getting the reputation for good bourbons and we're starting to become a destination for some bourbon lovers."  She said that the highest priced bourbon they have is about $80 bucks a shot.

We've found some pretty good places over in the Illinois Quad Cities over the past few months that have good burgers, a good craft beer list, and good bloody mary's.  I'd have to put Bourbons Bar & Grill toward the top of that list.  The only problem is that it's about a 20 minute drive for us, and with the I-74 bridge work going on, it's even longer to cross the river to go back home.   But to us, it's worth the drive.  The atmosphere is cozy and comfortable, the service that we've experienced on our visits has alway been friendly and folksy, and the food is interesting and a step or two above your typical bar food in taste and quality.  I wish Bourbons was a lot closer to our house because it would be the kind of place where I'd like to hang out.   

Stroud's - Kansas City

Sometimes, I start a blog post and I completely get waylaid by other entries that I'd like to do first.  The next thing I know, I completely forget about going back and doing the original post.  That happened in this instance with this entry on Stroud's in Kansas City.  A friend was traveling to KC last fall and I tried to redirect her to my entry on Stroud's on Road Tips.  However, I couldn't find it.  I went back into my lists of posts and found out that not only hadn't I published the post, I hadn't even finished the thing!  So, as they say, better late than never as I now publish my entry on my visit from the spring of 2018 to the venerable Stroud's in Kansas City.  

In 1933, Prohibition ended in December of that year and it also meant the opening of a small barbecue and beer place by Guy and Helen Stroud in what was then a somewhat rural area on the far south side of Kansas City, Missouri.  Helen Stroud was a lawyer by profession, so she really had no training as a cook.  Nor did Guy Stroud.  But they thought a little road side place outside the Kansas City limits that would serve barbecue and beer would be a popular place.  And, as it turned out, it was very popular.  

The Stroud's ran it as a barbecue joint until 1942 when beef and pork were rationed during World War II.  Chickens were plentiful, however, and Helen Stroud started to make pan-fried chicken dinners that she sold for the whopping price of 35 cents each.  The chicken dinners were such a hit that Helen Stroud ended up hiring two ladies from the South who fine-tuned the process of frying chicken at Stroud's.  

In 1977, Stroud's was bought by Jim Hogan and Mike Donegan, two bartenders at Kelly's Westport Inn.  They acquired a couple of cookbooks with handwritten notes from Helen Stroud and they set out to continue the success Stroud's had with their famous pan-fried chicken.  In 1983, the two had an opportunity to buy another restaurant on the north side of Kansas City, Oak Ridge Manor, whose history as an eating/gathering establishment went back over 100 years.  And someone else wanted in on the deal, too.

Mike Donegan's twin brother, Dennis, had been traveling the country as the lead opening manager for Victoria Station restaurants that were popping up all over the country.  Dennis had just finished up opening two Victoria Station restaurants in Honolulu and decided that he was tired of being on the road.  Dennis bought into the operation and the three bought the restaurant and renamed it as Stroud's Oak Ridge Manor.  In 1992, the Donegan's and Hogan franchised a third Stroud's in Wichita.  Local businessmen Bill Shea and brothers Doug and Troy Farha owned the Wichita location.  

Over the years, Stroud's won many local awards for their pan-fried chicken, but in 1998 the restaurant was recognized by the prestigious James Beard Foundation for their inaugural "American Classics" award.  Stroud's award continues to be the only James Beard recognition given to a restaurant in Kansas City.  

In 2000, the Donegan twins bought Jim Hogan out of his shares of Stroud's.  Then a number of changes took place...

Not long after the Donegan's took control of Stroud's, Dennis Donegan was diagnosed with cancer.  He passed away in 2004 after a valiant three-and-a-half-year battle.  Mike Donegan soldiered on with the Stroud's restaurants.

Pictured right - Mike Donegan

In 2006, Donegan closed down the original Stroud's in south Kansas City, and two years later he opened a new location in the Kansas City, KS suburb of Fairway.  In 2013, the local restaurant group KC Hopps (Blue Moose, O'Dowd's, Barley's Kitchen + Tap) bought into the Fairway location.  (Donegan continued to solely own the Stroud's Oak Ridge Manor location.)  In 2014, the Stroud's/KC Hopps group opened a location in Overland Park, KS.  And in 2016, the group opened an Omaha, NE location - the first one outside of Kansas or Missouri.  However, Stroud's pan-fried chicken didn't go over well with Nebraskan's who love their beef and that Stroud's closed in late 2017.  

In October of 2019, the Stroud's/KC Hopps group closed down the Fairway location citing an uneasiness over proposed development in the area and the high cost of renovating the restaurant and property around the building.  And, of course, it was the Fairway location that I went to in the spring of 2018, pulling up to the place just off Shawnee Mission Parkway just after noon.  (see map) 

The interior of the Stroud's in Fairway had sort of a rustic/farmhouse motif.  Checked table cloths covered sturdy wooden tables throughout the restaurant.  Large windows along the south and west side of the building allowed for the natural light to brighten the room.  

There was a nice bar area on the other side of a half-wall that separated it with the dining room.  I momentarily thought about sitting at the bar as there was an afternoon baseball game from St. Louis on the television, but I soon found out that there wasn't a bartender on duty.  

I was seated at a booth along the west side of the dining room.  A nice lady by the name of Olivia came over to drop off a lunch menu for me.  The lunch menu is basically a condensed version of Stroud's dinner menu which is served family-style with a salad or homemade chicken noodle soup, a choice of potato, their green beans with chunks of ham and chopped onions, a chicken gravy and homemade cinnamon rolls.  The lunch menu does feature some of the evening entree items, but they also feature burgers and either grilled or fried chicken sandwiches, a number of spicy hot chicken selections, salads and appetizers.  Stroud's is also somewhat famous for their house-made chicken noodle soup.  

I wanted to try their two-piece lunch special and I asked my server if I could get two legs instead of the standard breast and leg.  She said it was no problem.  (I was at the start of my diet that has, so far, allowed me to lose over 60 pounds.)  I did get a choice of potatoes and I took the mashed potatoes and, somewhat surprisingly, she also brought out a bowl of their green beans with ham and onions mixed in  A small bowl of the chicken gravy and a cinnamon roll - more of a sticky bun - came with the meal.  I also got a Boulevard Pale Ale to go along with the meal.  

Because the chicken is pan-fried at Stroud's, it takes a little longer for meals to show up.  And that was fine with me.  The chicken was piping hot when it came to the table.  It had a great tasting coating to the outer core of the chicken legs, but they were pretty small compared to fried chicken legs that I've had at other places.  Actually, I should have gotten the breast and a leg because there would have been more meat available.   Hodak's in St. Louis continues to be my gold standard for fried chicken (click here to see the Road Tips entry on Hodak's), and while the chicken at Stroud's was very good, it didn't compare to the fried chicken I've had at Hodak's.  I had a little bit of the mashed potatoes with a spot of gravy to give them a try and they were fine.  But the green beans mixed with chunks of cooked ham and onions were yummy.

While this Stroud's location is now closed, you can still go to the Overland Park Stroud's (see map) and the North Kansas City Stroud's Oak Ridge Manor (see map).  I understand that the staff at the Fairway Stroud's were offered positions at the two other locations in the area, so I'm hoping my friendly server was able to stay on board.  The food at Stroud's is good ol' down-home-style cooking and their fried chicken is nationally renown.  For a place that started out as a small barbecue and beer joint over 85 years ago, their fried chicken has been the common thread legacy that has been enjoyed by generations in the greater Kansas City region.  

Republic - Minneapolis

I have an account in the Twin Cities who I like to go out to eat with.  He's turned me on to a number of restaurants over the years and when I told him that I wanted to go out to dinner on my upcoming visit to Minneapolis, I asked him to figure out a place we could go.  He picked out a place in Minneapolis' Seven Corners area of the West Bank called Republic.  He said it had a great craft beer selection and was one of his favorite places to eat.  We met up there on a cool fall Wednesday evening around 7 p.m.  

The Cedar-Riverside neighborhood on the west bank of the Mississippi River in which encompasses Seven Corners is a historically cultural melting pot of immigrants primarily from Scandinavia, but Germans and Eastern Europeans also moved into the area in the early to mid-20th century.  By the 50's, the area had gotten a little seedy with a number of bars lining the streets.  However, by the late 60's, Seven Corners sort of became the focal point of the counter-culture movement fostered by students at the nearby University of Minnesota.  More bars popped up in the area in the 70's that would cater to students and one of the more popular ones was a place called Sgt. Preston's.  Along with Bullwinkle's and Grandma's, Sgt. Preston's - famous for their 100 ounce "fishbowl" drinks and pizza buffet - Seven Corners was the place to hang on the West Bank if you were a college student.   

Developers, however, began to see the area as much more than a place for college kids to meet up.  Grandma's closed in 2008 and the building was demolished for condo's, Bullwinkle's closed in early 2011 (it reopened in 2016 under new ownership), and a handful of more craft beer-centric establishments began to pop up in the neighborhood.  Undergrads who frequented the bars were being replaced by young professionals and graduate students who were living in new housing that had popped up in the neighborhood.  A new owner had purchased Sgt. Preston's in 2008 and changed the name to Preston's Urban Bar.  The new owner tried to make it more of a craft beer bar, but the aged and tired place couldn't sustain the level of business needed to turn the tide.  But two guys who had been friends since high school - Matty O'Reilly and Rick Guntzel - saw an opportunity in the location when they bought Preston's in the spring of 2011.  

Matty O'Reilly was a good athlete growing up - he even felt he may have had a chance at a professional basketball career until a shoulder injury ended that notion.  He thought that he may become a teacher and a coach, but that really never came to fruition, either.  He had been working in restaurants all through high school and into his college years at Hamline University in St. Paul.  But his cousin, Tom Peterson, was really the one who opened up the restaurant world for O'Reilly.  Peterson had been in the restaurant industry for a number of years helping O'Reilly get jobs at places that Peterson worked for.  In 2004, Peterson and O'Reilly opened 318 Cafe, a small cafe/coffeehouse that also presented live musical performances from time to time.  From there, Peterson and O'Reilly opened Aster Cafe, a slightly larger restaurant and live music venue than 318 Cafe, but with the same m.o.  

Pictured right - Matty O'Reilly.  Photo courtesy Opentable - Open for Business blog site.  

When Preston's came up for sale, O'Reilly recruited his longtime friend, Rick Guntzel, to help him with the venture.  When the two took over the business, they had to do most of the work by themselves as they only were able to get about $25,000 each to put into the place.  O'Reilly and Guntzel took down the dozens of tacky looking beer posters, took out the video games, and the multiple flat-screen televisions that were tuned to sports from the time the doors were opened to the time they were locked.  They found that the original tin panels were still in the ceiling and left them exposed.  But after taking down a huge sign behind the bar touting Preston's pizza buffet, they found a beautiful multi-colored stained-glass window that they couldn't believe previous owners had kept hidden.  He did away with the huge fish bowl drinks that were popular with college students and put in a 32 tap system that would serve craft beers.   And with a new name and concept, Republic opened in June of 2011.  

Not everyone was happy with Republic's appearance at Seven Corners.  The clientele who had been coming there for years for fishbowls and to watch sports didn't like the changes.  O'Reilly and Guntzel had even kept the big game mounts of deer, beer and buffalo heads to kind of keep some reminder of Preston's, but it never really went over with the old regulars.  But it didn't take long for others to discover Republic who soon got a reputation as being a place where students, young professionals and every day people could come in and get a good meal along with a craft beer at a fair price.  And starting in 2013 and every year since, Draft Magazine named Republic as one of the top beer bars in America. 

(In 2016, Republic partnered with SSP America, which operates restaurants at nearly three dozen airports around the U.S. and Canada, to open a location at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport.  Matty O'Reilly was (and/or, still is) also involved in other restaurants around the Twin Cities such as Red River Kitchen, Como Park Eatery (now called Spring Cafe), The Strip Club (steak and seafood), Bar Brigade, and Delicata.)  

I had a bit of trouble finding parking around Republic as there are a number of other businesses in the area.  (see map)   I was able to find some on-street parking on S. 3rd St. about a block and a half away from Republic.  When I walked up through the courtyard where S. 3rd., Cedar and Washington come together and past the outdoor patio, I saw my friend out front talking on the phone.  As I walked past him and gave him a fist bump, he mouthed, "I'm sitting at the bar."  

Once inside, I found a long walnut-faced bar with antique-style lights  overhead that they dimmed later in the evening - it was almost too dark in there to eat.  The very ornate back bar had the wonderful stained glass window toward the top.  A row of high-top tables were opposite the bar along a brick wall.  There was a back dining room and an upstair area at Republic.  It was a weeknight and there was a smattering of patrons throughout the place.  One of the larger tables toward the back had a party of 8 or 10 people who were pretty boisterous.  It was actually a very nice place with stately decor.  

I found where my guest was seated - the only empty seat at the bar with a beer in front of it, I guessed correctly.  He came in to greet me and our bartender came over to greet me.  He gave me a listing of beers they had on tap and I took a quick look through it.  The tap list was pretty extensive - it featured about 60 different types of beers, ciders, sours and seltzers available.  They had beer flights available if you wanted to try different types of beers.  Many of the beers were local or from Midwest craft brewers, but they did have beers on tap from Crooked Stave (Denver), Ballast Point, and Stone (both from San Diego).   

I asked if I could try just a couple and the bartender was amenable to that.  I got a small sample of the Lupulin Hooey IPA out of Big Lake, MN, a small town north and west of the Twin Cities.  I also tried the Bell's Official Hazy IPA which wasn't all that hazy.  But it was good.  I did like the Lupulin Hooey IPA, however.  (So much so, that I picked some up at Total Wine and More the next day to take home with me.)  My guest was drinking the Lulupin Hazy IPA that they had on special that evening for $4 a pint.  It was a seasonal beer and they were trying to get it out of their rotation so they could start putting in other seasonal beers for the fall.  

The food menu at Republic was varied, but it wasn't all that deep.  They had a number of burgers and sandwiches on the menu, as well as a handful of tacos including fish tacos and Korean-style barbecue duck tacos.  The short entree list featured grilled salmon, blackened walleye and a beer-battered fish and chips.  Appetizers such as chicken wings and poutine were available, as were a few salads including a steak salad and a Korean duck salad.

I was sort of intrigued by some of the burgers and sandwiches - the Wisconsin Cleanse Diet burger had cheese curds and melted beer cheese on top of a beef patty.  They also had a ground duck and pork burger on the menu, along with a bacon, fried egg, lettuce and tomato sandwich.  The Rodeo Clown burger featured a beef patty topped with pulled pork, cheddar cheese, an onion ring and barbecue sauce.  It was a pretty interesting menu, to say the least.  

My guest got the buttermilk fried chicken breast sandwich.  It was topped with a spicy cole slaw and served with an aioli on the side along with French fries.  He said the chicken breast was tasty and had a nice outer crunch with each bite.  

In the long run, I figured out that I didn't really want to get a sandwich or a burger, so I went with the pulled pork and rice bowl.  Curiously, however, there was no rice underneath the generous amount of pulled pork in the bowl.  Actually, it didn't really matter to me as the pulled pork was topped with corn strips, and a fried egg, with black beans, red peppers and poblano peppers mixed in.  A large slice of avocado came on the side.  It was actually very good.  The bartender said, "You probably want some Cholula with that," when I ordered it.  He definitely read my mind.  The Cholula added an additional flavor spark to an already yummy dish.  

I have to say that I was impressed all around with my visit to Republic.  Their tap list was extensive with a lot of variety, their food menu was concise and interesting, and the atmosphere was laid back and comfortable.  My guest thoroughly enjoyed his buttermilk fried chicken breast sandwich, while I have nothing but good things to say about the barbecued pulled pork bowl - even though it was advertised as having rice with it, but there was no rice in the bowl.  But that really didn't matter because - along with the corn strips, the black beans and peppers mixed in with a fried egg on top with a Cholula enhancement - it was still a very good meal.   My friend did it again - he turned me on to another great little place to eat in Minneapolis.