Road Tips

Baroncini Ristorante - Iowa City

My wife has a birthday very close to Christmas and this year it was in the middle of the week.  She really wanted to go to Chicago for her birthday, but I was tethered to the office due to a couple three big year-end deals that I was working on.  She had mentioned sometime before about an Italian restaurant in Iowa City that she always wanted to go, a small place by the name of Baroncini Ristorante.  After I got out of the office that day, we drove over to Iowa City for her birthday dinner.

Gianluca Baroncini grew up in Italy in a family that knew their way around a kitchen.  He loved to cook with his family, so much so that he enrolled in the Italian national culinary institute in Verona.  After graduation, Baroncini worked in the kitchens of two prestigious restaurants in Verona, Il Desco where he was the assistant chef, and Terrazza di Giulietta where he was the executive chef.  

Pictured at right - Gianluca Baroncini.  Photo courtesy The Daily Iowan.  

At the age of 24, Baroncini immigrated to the U.S. to work in restaurants in Washington, D.C. and Miami.  But in a complete change of scenery, Baroncini decided to learn how to fly planes.  He studied aviation aeronautics at Utah Valley University, and upon graduation Baroncini became a commercial pilot for a regional airline.  

But it was during a trip to Iowa City about 10 years ago when Baroncini noticed the dearth of good Italian restaurants in the college community.  He found a small space on S. Linn Street in Iowa City and opened his eponymous restaurant in late May of 2011.  

From the start Baroncini wanted to use only fresh and locally-sourced foods, not only from Iowa but from his home country.  Baroncini wasn't your typical Italian-American restaurant, but a more authentic Italian place where Baroncini once said that he would prepare food in Iowa the way it was truly prepared in Italy.   He focused on pasta dishes and made his pasta fresh in the kitchen each day.

But Baroncini couldn't get past his love for flying planes and once the restaurant had been established after about five years, he started to fly commercial charter flights on a part-time basis in addition to running the restaurant.  What a life - flying planes and running your own Italian restaurant in Iowa!

We parked just across the street from Baroncini just before they opened at 5 p.m.  (see map)  We walked around the downtown area of Iowa City for awhile before getting into Baroncini just after 5.  There were already people seated in the restaurant when we got there.  We were greeted by a young man who asked if we had a reservation.  We didn't, but he was able to put us in a booth opposite the small bar.  

To say Baroncini is cozy and intimate is an understatement.  The space is long and narrow with the front area featuring a number of tables with banquette seating along the wall.  We were happy that they seated us in a booth which is much better than banquette seating any day in my book.  Above the seating area were deep ledges that held Baroncini's prodigious selection of wines - many of them from Italy.  

A young lady came by to drop off food menus for us.  My wife immediately asked her what the specials were that evening.  She sort of stammered and said, "Uh, I'm sort of new here.  I'm just helping out and filling in tonight.  It's my first night."  It wasn't long after that when our real server for the evening, a young lady by the name of Kaylie, came by to greet us and take our drink order.  I ordered a Peroni to start out with and my wife got a Tito's and cranberry.  We were going to have wine for dinner, but we still didn't know what we were going to order.

In the tradition of great Italian restaurants, Baroncini features a number of antipasti plates, along with soups and salads to start out with.  Pasta dishes with a choice of their house marinara sauce, a bolognese sauce, parmesan cheese sauce, or a meatball sauce that was handed down to Gianluca Baroncini from his grandmother were available to go with the pasta dishes.  Entrees such as a grilled veal chop, a pork scaloppine dish, seared Scottish salmon, and a pan-seared beef tenderloin covered in a porcini mushroom and espresso demi-glace.

Starting out, we got the the bruschetta topped with mozzarella and tomatoes.  For a $5 upcharge, we added prosciutto to it.  But because it was happy hour between 5 and 6 p.m., all appetizers were half-priced.  When I ordered, I said, "We'll take the bruschetta with the prosciutto."  Well, Kaylie thought we had ordered both the bruschetta with another appetizer, the polenta with prosciutto.  My wife and I sort of looked at one another and thought, "Did she think we ordered two appetizers?" 

We were able to flag her down and I told her that I wanted to make sure that she knew it was the bruschetta with the add-on prosciutto, not the polenta and prosciutto.  "I'm sorry, you guys," she said apologetically.  "The menu is a little new and I forgot that we had the bruschetta with the prosciutto add-on."  But, she got it correct.  The bruschetta came with toasted bread - the same kind of bread that was served to us initially with an oil herb side.  It was topped with sliced baby cherry tomatoes, fresh chopped basil, fresh mozzarella and rolled prosciutto on top.  Aged balsamic vinegar was drizzled on the plate.  The bruschetta was a great start to the meal.

We both ordered salads after that.  I got the regular house salad.  It was a plate of mixed greens, chopped tomatoes and garbanzo beans that was drizzle in a house Italian dressing.  It wasn't anything spectacular, but it was fine.  

My wife went with the roasted beet and spinach salad.  Orange slices, roasted hazelnuts, and goat cheese was mixed in with the beets and spinach leaves.  A lemon vinaigrette topped the salad.  My wife thought the salad was fabulous.  She ate a little over half of it before she thought she better stop because she didn't think she'd be able to finish her meal after the salad, the bruschetta and the bread we'd had before.

For my main course that evening, I was sort of torn between two things - the agnolotti pasta (sort of a ravioli) stuffed with locally-raised ground beef and parmesan cheese and served in a light sage and brown butter sauce.  But in the long run, I decided upon the cannelloni stuffed with locally-raised ground pork and beef along with spinach, ricotta and parmesan cheeses.  It was served with a creamy béchamel/marinara sauce.    

My wife thought about getting the Australian rack-of-lamb, but ended up getting the tagliolini ai tartufi - a thin fettuccine style pasta topped with an Italian truffle and mushroom cream sauce.  For an upcharge, she got a small filet that was pan-seared and sliced.  

To go along with our meal, I wanted to get a red wine.  The vast majority of wines on the menu are Italian and I'm not as well-versed on Italian wines as I am with West Coast, South American or Australian wines.  But I did see a wine that I was somewhat familiar with - a Zenato Valpolicella Ripasso reserve wine.  It was a big-bodied red that had a bit of a spicy and peppery taste on the tongue.  It was an excellent wine to pair with our food.

As I said before, the food at Baroncini is not your typical Italian food.  The cannelloni was filled with meat and cheese with chopped spinach and the marinara/béchamel sauce gave it an even more creamy texture to it.  It wasn't that I didn't like it, it wasn't exactly what I expected and it sort of shocked me at first.  I asked Kaylie if she could bring me a small bowl of the marinara sauce to cut some of the creaminess of the sauce.  But Baroncini's marinara is a creamy tomato marinara - similar in taste to tomato soup.  Once again, different from what I expected, but it wasn't unpleasant in the least.  

My wife was a little more perplexed about her pasta in the truffle/mushroom cream sauce.  The pasta was sort of balled together - almost overcooked to a degree - and it was sort of tough for her to scoop up and twist on a spoon.  She did really like the sauce and she thought the steak was very good, as well.  She gave me half a thick slice of the steak that turned out to be a 4 to 6 ounce piece of meat.  And it was good.  

As always after a big dinner like this, my wife likes to get a dessert to finish off the night.  (They also had a very impressive list of Scotch to choose from at Baroncini.  I tried to get my wife to get an after dinner drink, but between a couple three glasses of wine and the vodka/cranberry drink she had to start out, she said she didn't need to get a Scotch.)  The dessert list included a tiramisu, a bread pudding with vanilla sauce and topped with ice cream, and a caramelized mascarpone cheese cake.  But she was torn between two items - the vanilla gelato with espresso, and the chocolate hazelnut cake.  We ended up ordering both.

We were in Chicago in the late summer last year and staying downtown.  After a nice meal one evening, we went over to Eataly (click here to see the Road Tips entry on Eataly) and I got a vanilla gelato with espresso.  It was unbelievable in taste.  I love gelato and I love espresso.  What's not to love about that combination?  Kaylie brought out a snifter of the vanilla gelato with a piece of biscotti embedded in the top with blackberries and fresh sliced strawberries mixed in.  She then turned to the bar and grabbed a small container of the espresso and poured it on top.  The espresso coagulated at the bottom mixing in with the rich gelato.  

The chocolate hazelnut cake featured a small round segment of cake that was served warm, topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream with thin chocolate wafers sliced into the ice cream.  Fresh blackberries, sliced strawberries and a dollop of real whipped cream came on the side.  It was finished with a chocolate drizzle.  The cake was sinfully decadent and very rich in taste.  

But the gelato and espresso was the highlight.  My wife had a small taste of mine when we were at Eataly and she couldn't get that out of her mind.  The serving we got at Baroncini was about double the size of what I was served at Eataly and the taste sensation was outstanding.  I really liked the chocolate hazelnut cake, but the vanilla gelato with espresso was completely off the charts.  

My wife was a little upset that we couldn't get into Chicago for her birthday, but she was more than happy with the trip we took to Iowa City to give Baroncini Ristorante a try.  It's not your typical Italian food - it's more like what you'd find in restaurants in Italy.  And that's what chef Gianluca Baroncini has brought to Iowa City.  For nearly 9 years, Baroncini has offered authentic Italian classics and has educated many - like us - as to what you would find at restaurants in his home country.  Baroncini Ristorante is a cozy little place with a great ambiance.  The food was very good, the selection of wine they had was impressive, service was friendly and professional, and the desserts we had were out of this world.  Baroncini Ristorante has made many "Best of" lists for Italian restaurants for a few years and after our visit there, there's absolutely no doubt why. 

Streetcar Grille & Tavern - Kansas City

I was checking into my hotel near the Power & Light District in downtown Kansas City during my last business trip of the year for 2019 when I happened to look across the street at a place I hadn't noticed before.  I asked the guy at the front desk what was across the street with all the beer signs in the windows.  He said, "Oh, that's the Streetcar Grille."  I told him that I was sort of looking for a place to watch some basketball that night and maybe grab a bite to eat.  "Oh, yes sir," he replied.  "They've got televisions and good food.  The club sandwich is outstanding."  After getting settled in my room, I headed over across the street to the Streetcar Grille & Tavern.  (see map)  

Now, I had stayed at that hotel earlier in the year, but the reason I never noticed the Streetcar Grille before was because I was there in May and it didn't open until July.  And the reason why it's called the Streetcar Grille & Tavern is because the KC Streetcar has traveled a 2 mile-long course up and down Main Street since 2016.  Managing partner Kurt Oliver noticed the growth along Main Street after the streetcar started running and a number of hotels that had started to pop up in the area.  A space opened at the corner of 16th and Main that was the ground floor of a parking garage for a nearby hotel and Oliver and his partner took the spot over.

Oliver wanted to project an old time feeling in the place.  He decorated the space with historical pictures of downtown Kansas City - complete with pictures of old street cars - and was able to procure vintage beer signs from some of the breweries he would serve at the restaurant.  And as a nod to the streetcars that run past his new pub from downtown Kansas City to Union Station, Oliver named his place Streetcar Grille & Tavern.  

It was a cold night, but since it was right across the street from the hotel I didn't even bother to wear my coat.  (see map)  It was a slow night at the restaurant - but when nothing is going on in downtown Kansas City through the week, I've noticed that every place is pretty slow.  The dining room at Streetcar Grille had an eerie glow to it enhanced by the dozens of beer signs and the 18 flatscreen televisions that are hung on the wall throughout the place.  

I ended up taking a seat at the bar and was greeted by a convivial bartender who asked if I wanted a food menu when I sat down.  I asked him if he could get the Iowa basketball game on one of the televisions behind the bar and he said, "Oh!  An Iowa fan!  Are you from Iowa?"  I told him that I was and he said that he was a native of Clear Lake in the far northern reaches of the state.  He told me that he grew up an Iowa fan, but went to Iowa State to study hospitality management.  "One of the bosses here went to Iowa State, too.  I worked with him at a couple other places and when he came here to open this place up, he asked me if I wanted a job."  After all pleasantries were swapped, I ordered up a pint of the Boulevard pale ale which is made just down the way from the Streetcar Grille.  

The menu was decidedly upscale compared to other sports bars I've visited in the past.  The appetizers pretty much proved that with items such as mixed nuts glazed with a spicy agave seasoning, a charcuterie plate, seared ahi tuna lettuce wraps, and tater tots stuffed with smoked gouda and jalapeños served with a bacon aioli.  They had different variations of mac & cheese on the menu, as well entrees such as a salmon filet with a chili-sesame glaze, pan-seared jalapeño-mango chicken breasts, and chicken piccata.  Streetcar Grille & Tavern also had a number of unique burgers and sandwiches on the menu. 

I thought about getting one of the burgers, but I'd had a burger the day before with my wife at lunch.  So, it was down to getting a sandwich that evening.  The Conductors Club Sandwich is the one that the guy at the front desk suggested I get.  It came with smoked turkey, ham and pepper bacon for the meats with the usual lettuce, tomato and mayo, all served on a grilled sour dough bread.  It sounded just all right to me, but a couple other sandwiches were talking more directly to me including the roast beef sandwich with cheddar cheese and a horseradish-chive topping.

But in the long-run, I decided upon the reuben sandwich.  It featured house-made corned beef that was chopped up, topped with pepper jack cheese and a poblano-enhanced sauerkraut.  Of course, Russian dressing finished it off, and it all came on toasted marble rye bread.  A side of fries were served in a metal cup lined with parchment paper.  

The reuben was actually pretty good.  I didn't get much of a spicy taste out of the poblano sauerkraut or the pepper jack cheese.  But there was still a surprising "snap" on the tongue with each bite.  The corned beef was piled high in the sandwich and it was very good and very tender.  It was a messy sandwich with the cheese, sauerkraut and Russian dressing oozing out with each bite.  But they had a sufficient amount of napkins for me to use to try and keep clean.  

I contemplated going back to the Streetcar Grille the next evening, but I ended up walking up the street to another place just a couple blocks away.  I liked everything about the Streetcar Grille & Tavern - the atmosphere, the service, the large number of televisions, the beer selection and, of course, the very good reuben sandwich.  As business picks up in Kansas City and I stay downtown because it's centrally located for me to get around to my accounts around the city, I have a feeling that I'll be spending a few more nights at the Streetcar Grille.  

 

Las Vegas - 2020

The company that I had worked with for over 17 years was purchased by a French capital investment group last year.  Through some uncertain times over the past few months, the dust has finally settled for me to realize that the new ownership group and their managers like me and the job that I continue to do for the company enough to keep me on.  I can't say that about some of my colleagues who either were given pink slips or moved on to new endeavors over the past year.  One thing that the French managers of the new ownership group like to do is have meetings in warm places.  We were in Phoenix for meetings last September and again in December.  And a couple weeks ago we had a series of trainings and meetings in Las Vegas.  

Now, I'm a veteran of going to Las Vegas - so much so that my feelings about the destination went from a euphoric high when I would visit there 25 to 30 years ago, to one that made me call the city the world's largest toilet in the last three or four years when I used to attend the Consumer Electronics Show held annually in early January.  I had not attended a CES since 2017 and that didn't bother me one bit.  Missing CES in 2018 was a little strange - especially when I would see coverage of the convention on The Today Show or CNN.  But the past two years have been absolutely blissful knowing that on or about January 3rd if I were still sentenced to go to CES I would have had to completely shut off the post-holiday warm and fuzzy feeling and get on a plane to head to Las Vegas to meet up with my colleagues for a nearly week-long stay, pressing the flesh of people with ebola-type bacteria that they drug from all corners of the earth, and wishing them a very insincere "Happy New Year."  I don't miss Las Vegas - or CES - in the least.  

But I was sort of interested in going out in early February since there was no show and we had been in a streak of non-sunny days at home.  Quite honestly, the weather in the Midwest wasn't as brutal this winter as it has been over the past couple of winters.  But not seeing the sun for a week at a time in late January into early February really grates on my mental standing.  

Flying to Las Vegas was non-eventful - not so on the way back home (I'll get into that later on) - and I got into McCarran International Airport around 2:30 on a beautifully sunny, but unseasonably cool day.  It was very windy and my Uber driver told me that while it was windy and cool this day, the day before was even MORE windy and cool.  I didn't bring a jacket - I just wore pullover sweaters or long-sleeve shirts on this visit - so it was a bit nippy at times when I had to venture out of the hotel.  

I stayed at one of my all-time favorite hotels in Las Vegas, the Mirage, where we were having our meetings/trainings.  Actually, I was supposed to stay at Bally's just down the street as our company evidently got a good deal there.  However, the night before I was to arrive, I got an e-mail from our marketing manager who said that two bedrooms off a suite they were going to use as a meeting room were open and he wanted to know if I wanted one of the rooms.  Sure!  It turned out that it was quite possibly the same room - or a similar room - that I stayed in at a couple of Consumer Electronics Shows in the past.  It was on the 25th floor and offered a great view of the Volcano (still a big hit with the tourists after all these years) and the Las Vegas strip.

But the hotel has become a bit dated from when it first opened toward the end of November in 1989.  The wonderful rainforest in the atrium is still there, but the fragrant tropical flowers were masked by the smell of 30 years of cigarette smoke from the nearby casino.  A number of my favorite restaurants in the hotel have closed or been re-purposed into other eateries.  And it wasn't cheap to drink in any of the bars in the casino, either.  A bottle of domestic beer cost $7.00 - plus tax - and a craft beer - such as the Firestone Walker 805 blonde ale - was $8 bucks.  Plus tax.  So much for the day of the $.99 cent Heineken.

Not being in Las Vegas for 3 years was a bit of a shock to the system.  I used to marvel over the changes from year to year when I would go to Vegas on an annual basis.  But the changes over 3 years left me a little lost.  Lots of things have changed, but in a lot of ways they've stayed the same.  New hotels have popped up, more attractions have opened, and a new state-of-the-art football stadium across I-15 from Mandalay Bay will house the newly relocated Las Vegas Raiders starting this fall.  

And coming in 2021 will be the culmination of two ambitious projects - the MSG Sphere, an advanced multi-media entertainment facility that will seat 18,000 people for concerts and will fully immerse patrons in sound and video for the performance; and Resorts World Las Vegas, a $4.5 billion (yes, billion with a "b") dollar project that will feature a 110,000 square foot casino, over 200,000 square feet of restaurants, 70,000 square feet of shopping, and a huge five-acre outdoor area that will feature 7 unique swimming pools including an 1800 square foot infinity pool.  The complex will also feature a 100,000 square foot LED display on the side of one of the towers on the hotel.

The Las Vegas "High Roller" observation wheel opened in early 2014, so I've seen this before.  However, I found a somewhat new pedestrian mall just off the strip between the LINQ hotel (the former Imperial Palace) and the Flamingo called The Promenade that took you right up to the base of the Ferris wheel.  The Promenade featured a number of shops, restaurants and bars.  It had zip lines above the walkway for people that ended at the observation wheel - the tallest of its kind in the world.  I was able to walk around one evening and see what was new in the immediate area.  I was alternately amazed, amused and disgusted with what I encountered in my walk that evening.   

We were going to have dinner one evening at a restaurant in the Forum Shops at Caesar's Palace, so I wandered over there early to walk through the shopping and restaurant complex.  It had changed dramatically, not only in terms of restaurants and shops from when I was last in there, but the lay-out had changed, as well.  I found myself getting kind of turned around in the place as I was walking through.  After getting through the Forum Shops, I wound up at the sports book at Caesar's watching some basketball and having $8 dollar 12 ounce glasses of craft beers.  Things had changed so much in the casino and sports book area that I didn't even recognize the place from when the last time I was in there.    

I guess that with the proliferation of gambling around the nation - and worldwide - Las Vegas needs to do things like remodel hotels and casinos, and build attractions such as the MSG Sphere and Resorts World to keep its place as the gambling capital of the world.  Restaurants are changing, more bars and entertainment complexes are coming in, casinos are expanding, and more hotels are being built.  I remember when the total of hotel rooms passed 100,000 about 25 years ago and thinking, "Do that many people really come to Las Vegas?"  Today, over 150,000 hotel rooms are available in the city and projections are for the total to go over 160,000 within 3 years.  While Vegas now has increased competition for domestic gamblers, it's still a huge draw for international travelers who like wager money.  

We had meetings up to 6 p.m. both days we were there, but we had a two-hour window for lunch both days.  When I was walking on the Promenade the first evening, I came across an In-N-Out Burger location along the walkway.  (see map)  I made a mental note to go back the next day for lunch.  The inside was packed as it was during the noon rush, so I sat out at a fountain area in front of the place in the sun on a cool day to enjoy my double-double.  I know some people don't like In-N-Out, but every time I'm near one, I have to get one of their burgers.  

I didn't want to linger in Las Vegas any longer than I had to, so I booked a 7:00 a.m. Pacific time flight out on a Friday morning that was scheduled - United Airlines-willing - to get me back to Moline just after 1 p.m. Central time.  My layover in Denver would be a manageable 65 minutes, and possibly longer if a good tailwind got us up to Denver more quickly.  I got out to the airport in plenty of time, had no problem getting checked in, bag checked and through security (thanks to TSA Pre√) and out to the gate.  In fact, from the time I was picked up by Uber at the hotel to the time I made it to the gate, it was just 32 minutes.  We boarded not long after I got there.  

However, in my row - well, it had to be a sight.  The United gods of seat selections had a wonderful sense of humor that day.  Now, I have lost significant weight over the past couple of years and have managed to keep it off.  (Well, I did gain about 10 pounds during the holiday season, but that will go off when the weather gets nicer.)   I sat in my window seat first, then this guy - he had to weigh 350 pounds if he was an ounce - had the middle seat next to me.  He was so big that he had his own seatbelt extender.  Then seated in the aisle seat was a guy who was 6'4" and had to also be well over 300 pounds, as well.  He, too, had his own seatbelt extender.  So, here I was - the smallest of three big guys, literally smashed up against the wall of my window seat.  It wasn't going to be a fun flight.  

As we were taxiing out to take off, the plane sort of veered off to the side of one of the runways to a large open space next to the taxi way.  The pilot did a little 180 degree turn, stopped the plane and turned off the engines.  I thought, "Uh oh, this isn't good..."  

The pilot then came over the intercom and said that due to snow in Denver, there was a ground stop due to poor visibility.  I just shook my head because I always seem to have the worst luck in situations where I think I have outsmarted the elements and airlines.  My personal preference is to never fly through Chicago in the winter time - just because if they have snow flurries, it causes delays.  Or - as in the case of flying through there to Phoenix last December - if a snowstorm is affecting the east coast, Chicago gets completely backed up.  And that's even with nice weather conditions in the city.  So, my rule of thumb is to fly through Denver where they built Denver International with the Colorado weather in mind and have the plans and apparatus to keep runways open when it snows.  

Well, then again...  I suppose if it's snowing heavily and it's blowing, it doesn't matter how many plows you have.  

So, every 30 minutes for the next hour-and-a-half the pilot came on the intercom and said that they were still in a ground stop in Denver.  Once, however, he said that they had lifted the ground stop, but then he came back on and said, "Aahhh, they just ordered another ground stop, folks..."

Now, remember, I'm scrunched against the wall by this huge man who was as big as a house.  And if I would have tried to get up to use the restroom, getting these two big-assed guys out of their seats would have been quite the chore - and quite the sight.  I sat there thinking that I was glad that I didn't stop for an espresso or drink a bunch of water before the flight.  I was that way for FOUR hours!  

Finally at 9 a.m. - two hours after we were supposed to leave Las Vegas and at the same time we were supposed to be landing in Denver - the engines started up again, we taxied to the runway and took off.  I knew that I probably missed my Moline flight at 11:00 a.m.  But then I thought, "Wait a minute.  If this flight is delayed coming in, maybe my Moline flight is delayed, too!"  

However, when we touched down in Denver at 11:45 a.m. Mountain time, I checked the United application on my phone.  Hoping that the flight was delayed, I immediately found out that - nope - it had taken off at 11:05 a.m., 40 minutes before.  However, the app gave me alternative flights.  There was a 5:30 p.m. flight to Chicago that got in around 8:55 p.m. Central time.  But the connecting flight to Moline, was just 35 minutes after we were to arrive.  I sort of winced at that and had a chance to talk with a United service agent.  She looked up my flights and said, "Oh, well, you're scheduled to get in at gate B-16 and the Moline flight is at B-20.  You won't have very far to go."  I knew that if I could make my flight, there was a better than even chance that my checked bag would not.  

Sitting around the Denver airport for 4+ hours isn't the most fun thing to do.  I had a 3.5 hour layover on the way out to Denver that gave me time to check e-mails and make phone calls.  And I tried to do that during this extended layover, as well.  I called my wife and told her not to expect me home until around 11 p.m. - if I make it home at all.  We were supposed to get together with friends that evening, but those plans went by the wayside.  

I get on the plane to take me to Chicago and, of course, I was stuck in the last row.  I had a window seat and the middle seat was vacant, so it wasn't as bad as my Las Vegas to Denver flight.  (Quite actually, I don't know if I've EVER had a flight that was like the one I had earlier in the day.)  

We backed away from the gate at 5:30 p.m., but it had continued to snow and it was getting colder after the sun went down.  The pilot came on and announced that we were going to need to get a quick spray of de-icer before we could take off.   That's happened to me before in Denver and it's usually about a 20 minute ordeal of waiting and then getting de-iced.  OK - I just lost 20 minutes putting me in jeopardy of missing my Moline flight.

However, the pilot came on the intercom and announced that they determined that we had more of an ice build-up than they originally thought.  So, we got a double-drenching of de-icer that took another 10 minutes longer.  I was pretty much resigned to the fact that I was going to miss my flight to Moline.  

As we took off and headed toward Chicago, I thought, "Well, it IS Chicago and they're notorious for having delays especially later in the day.  Maybe I'll make that Moline flight."  

When we landed in Chicago, it was 9:20 - just 10 minutes before my flight was scheduled to leave to the Quad Cities.  But it didn't matter.  I checked the United app and found that we were now coming into gate C-9 - not B-16 as I was originally told - and the Moline flight was still going out of B-20.  If you're familiar with O'Hare, the C concourse is out further away from the main terminal.  You have to go down an escalator and through a 750 foot - or the length of two-and-a-half football fields - underground walkway to escalators to take you up to the B concourse.  And that's not counting the space between the gates and the escalator.  So, yeah - it's a hike.  And it was quite obvious that I wasn't going to make my flight.  

On the United app, I had been directed to choose a flight the next day.  I already had it in my mind that I could just walk to the Hilton-Chicago O'Hare and get a room there if I missed my flight to Moline.  I had checked in Denver to see if they had rooms available for that evening and they did - and they were pretty reasonable, coming in under the limit that our new owners have set for hotel rooms in our travel expense guidelines.  I went back to the Hilton Honors mobile application on my phone to book a room while I was still on the plane.  It turned out that I got an even cheaper rate that evening than what I found when I was in Denver.  

They had a 9:00 a.m. flight to Moline the next morning and the weather appeared that it would be good enough that we might not have any delays, so I chose that flight on the app.  However, I wondered where my bag was and whether or not I'd be able to retrieve it for the evening.  (In my years of travel, I've learned to always pack an extra shirt, underwear and socks - even when I'm driving.)  

By the time we taxied to the gate and started to disembark, it was 9:35.  By the time I was able to get off the plane - I was the second-to-last person off, of course - it was 9:55.  Inside the terminal, I went to the agent at the gate to inquire about the whereabouts of my bag.  I showed her the sticker with the tracking number of my bag that I always put on the back of my passport when I check bags.  (A shout-out to my former colleague Ian who taught me to do that.)  She said, "Well, do you have the United application on your phone?"  I told her that I did.  She said, "You can look it up there."  

Now, by this time, I was tired, irritable, and not in the mood to play hide and seek with my bag through an app on my phone.  I just said, "I'm sorry, but I've been up since 4:30 this morning and I've missed my connecting flight to Moline.  I'm not in the frame of mind to be looking this up on my phone."  Actually, I could have been a little more terse than that.  And I probably was.  

She took a look at my tracking number, typed in the number into her computer and she hesitated for a moment.  "Uh, your bag is in Moline."  

I'm like, "WHAT?!!"

"Hmmm....", she said as she typed in a couple of other things.  "Yeah, it looks like your bag was re-routed on the 1:30 flight out of Denver and arrived here around 4:45.  Then it was put on the 7:30 flight to Moline.  It will be there when you arrive."  

I said, "Well, that's not going to do me a lot of good tonight.  I'm stranded here until tomorrow morning."

"Oh gosh," she said in a somewhat faked - but somewhat sincere - reply.  "Well, you'll have it waiting for you when you get there tomorrow."  

I just stood there and laughed for a moment.  I said, "OK, well, thanks."  And I walked away to go to the Hilton-O'Hare.  

It's a walk through another underground walkway past the main terminal at O'Hare to the Hilton.  Now, I have never stayed at this hotel in all my years of travel.  I usually stay at the Hilton Garden Inn-O'Hare as it's centrally located for me to see accounts in the Chicago area.  But I didn't feel like waiting for their shuttle bus or taking an Uber over there and having to do the same to get back to the airport first thing in the morning.  By the time I made it to the front desk of the Hilton it was about 10:25 at night.  I stood in a line that was five people deep for a moment before I realized that there was a Hilton Honors line with no one in it.  Since I'm a Lifetime Hilton Diamond member, I should be in THAT line!  I just shook my head and walked back out of the line I was in and over to the Hilton Honors desk.  

Since I didn't have a bag meant I didn't have any toiletries.  Or a change of clothes.  I figured that I could get by the next morning with just brushing my teeth before I got back home to do a full cleansing and change of clothes.  I asked the young lady at the front desk if I could get a toothbrush and some toothpaste.  The toothbrush was as close to a throwaway utensil that I have ever seen.  It was so crappy that bristles from the brush were coming off while I brushed my teeth the next morning.  And the toothpaste was in something similar to a ketchup pack you get at a fast food restaurant.  I was glad that I only had to rough it for one night.  

As I was getting settled in my hotel room - which, I thought was sort of tired for a high-end hotel like the Hilton-O'Hare - a  friend of mine had texted me saying that he was stuck in Los Angeles trying to get back to St. Louis, but the snow that was in Denver earlier in the day was now affecting air traffic into Lambert International.  I texted him back and let him know of my ordeal.  He texted back asking me if I was going to rent a car back to Moline.  I told him, no, I would have probably gotten home at 1 a.m. and no one would have been at the Moline airport for me to retrieve my bag.  So, I was just going to stay in Chicago that night.  I felt bad for him.  He didn't get out of Los Angeles until 8:30 Pacific time and he wasn't scheduled to get into St. Louis until close to 2 a.m.  But, at least, I told him that he was going to be able to sleep in his own bed that night.  Not me.  

Spending a Friday night with no change of clothes wasn't my ideal scenario, but I was able to get up on Saturday and get ready with minimal sleep.  For some reason, I'm always apprehensive about flying early in the morning.  I get uptight worrying if I'll miss my alarm, which means I'll miss my flight, which means I'll have another hassle of re-scheduling or re-routing.  I think I had 3 hours of sleep the previous night in Las Vegas and I had - maybe - 4 hours of sleep on Friday night in Chicago.  I was in a veritable haze as I walked back over to the terminal to go through security again and head to the gate.  From the time I left my hotel room to the time I got to my gate, it took me 25 minutes.  I like that when there are no hassles to get through security and to the gate.

The flight to Moline was on time and I got in to the Quad City International Airport around 9:45 a.m.  I went to the baggage claim area and I found my bag behind the locked glass doors of the baggage holding area.  Only there was no one there to open the doors.  The sign on the wall next to the holding area said that I had to go see the agent at the ticket counter.  Well, shit.  

The Quad City airport in Moline is not that large.  I like the fact that I can drive from my home, check in and drop off my checked bag, go through security and be at my gate in less than 45 minutes.  And I still get funky before I have to fly worrying that something will go wrong from my Point A home or hotel departure to my Point B gate.  But, still, the hassle of having to walk all the way down to the United counter to have someone come back and retrieve my bag for me after all I've been through for the previous 24 hours was not what I wanted at the end of my adventure.  

I walked up to the United counter.  There was no one in line to check in and three ticket agents - two ladies and a man - were hanging out and talking.  I immediately went up to the counter and they turned their attention to me.  "I need to pick up my bag in holding," I said.   

One of the ladies said, "Uh, we don't have keys to get in there."  

The other lady said, "Wasn't anyone there?"

I said, "No.  The sign next to the holding area said I had to go to my airline's ticket desk."

The second lady said, "Well, someone should have been there."

At this point, I was about ready to lose my shit.  "You've got to be SHITTING me," I exclaimed.  

The second lady said, "Let me go check.  She should have been there."  And she walked into a back area behind the counter. 

The first lady said, "There should have been somebody there."

I said, "Well, there wasn't."

Then the man said, "If we don't have the key, sir, we can't open the door."

"I realize that," I said in a firm and somewhat angry tone.  "But the sign said to come down here."

"Yes," the man said again in a somewhat snarky tone.  "But we don't have the key."

"Yes, once again," I said as I turned to walk back to the baggage holding area.  "The sign said to come here!"

Now, it was just a two minute walk back to the baggage holding area.  But, to me, it felt like it was an hour walk back.  When I turned the corner, there was a young lady standing at the desk.  I went up to her and she must have gotten a radio call from the United desk wondering where she was and giving her a head's up because there was an asshole coming back to get his bag.  

"Are you the one who needs a bag," she asked as I walked up to the counter with a purposeful look on my face.  I confirmed that, yes, I was the one.  "Which one is yours," she asked.  Well, there were only two in there and I said it was the burgundy bag.  She opened up the glass doors and pulled my bag out of the holding area.  She never asked to see an ID or a tracking number - nothing.  But, I got my bag and I started out to my car.  I was home 20 minutes later and in the shower five minutes after that.  

So, that was my recent trip to Las Vegas and my subsequent adventure getting back home.  It wasn't quite like "Planes, Trains and Automobiles", but it was an aggravating sequence of weather related events that got me home about 21 hours later than I had planned on being home.  Still, it was somewhat nice to get back out to Las Vegas, even though we were stuck in meetings and nighttime events for most of the time we were there.  It's still a fascinating place and a destination that I think every person should experience for a minimum of three days at least once in their life.    

Chula Seafood - Scottsdale, AZ

I was back down in Scottsdale late last year for another round of company meetings.  My sister and brother-in-law who live in the area were in Italy when I was there in early September, so I didn't get a chance to see them on that visit.  They were, however, going to be home when I was there in December and after our meetings were over I lingered in the Valley of the Sun for an extra day to hang out with them and my other sister who has lived in Phoenix for over 40 years.  My brother-in-law and sister picked me up around noon at my hotel in Scottsdale and he started to drive south and west through the city.  As we pulled into the parking lot of a strip mall on the southern edge of Scottsdale, my brother-in-law said, "I thought we'd go to lunch at this little seafood place.  It's not much to look at, but the food is to die for."  Moments later, we pulled up in front of Chula Seafood.  

Chula Seafood actually got their start in San Diego a little over 10 years ago when Jim Heflin started a commercial boating business that would catch fish with a harpoon and hand-line rather than dragging nets across the ocean floor.  They specialized in swordfish, tuna, black sea bass and other high quality varieties of seafood which are handled carefully, chilled and never frozen, then sold wholesale mainly to restaurants up and down the California coast through Chula Seafood's distribution network.  

Chula Seafood got a reputation for having some of the finest quality seafood available.  And Jim Heflin's son, Jon, was living over in Phoenix when Chula Seafood started to get that reputation.  The younger Heflin realized that there wasn't a lot of places selling fresh seafood in the Phoenix area and he got the notion to start running back to San Diego to pick up fresh seafood from the Chula caught on his father's 68-foot boat - which was also named Chula (which is Spanish for pretty and can also mean sexy in Spanish slang) - and bring it back to Phoenix to sell.  

Jon Heflin enlisted the help of a friend of his, Hogan Jamison, to help out with bringing fish back to Phoenix from San Diego.  The two realized they needed to have some place to sell and distribute the seafood to restaurants around the valley.  They found a small spot in south Scottsdale off Hayden Road and it was more set up as a restaurant.  They thought if they could do both distribution and a restaurant they'd have to find someone to come in and run the kitchen.  They found that person in Juan Zamora.

Pictured at right - Jon Heflin, Juan Zamora and Hogan Jamison.  Photo courtesy Phoenix Business Journal.

Juan Zamora had been working in corporate kitchens as a teenager and he just found that path was not what he was wanting for a long term career path.  He then enrolled in Le Cordon Bleu's chef program in Scottsdale and graduated in 2012.  He interned at a restaurant in Phoenix and was looking to go to work for a restaurant group in the area when an old friend called him up and asked him if he'd like to be the sous chef at an established restaurant in Scottsdale by the name of Atlas.  Zamora jumped at the chance and went there instead.   

When Heflin and Jamison started to look for a chef for their new venture, they found Zamora in 2016.  Zamora left Atlas soon thereafter and helped develop the menus made with the fresh seafood trucked in from San Diego.  The three opened the Scottsdale location for Chula Seafood in 2017.  

Of course, word spread like a brush fire that this little place in Scottsdale may have had some of the best seafood around.  The restaurant concept was simple - offer different types of seafood dishes with nods to different types of cuisine.  They had Hawaiian-style poké, Thai noodle bowls, Mexican-style ceviche, and Japanese-style ponzu salads, as well as fresh seafood sandwiches and tacos.  Of course, fish could also be bought by the pound for people to enjoy at home, but most of their business centered around the restaurant.  Last year, Chula Seafood opened a second location, this time in the uptown area of Phoenix where they were able to expand the menu to include po' boy sandwiches, grilled oysters, fish and chips, and sashimi.

When we pulled up to Chula Seafood just off of Hayden Road on Roosevelt (see map), I didn't know what to expect.  But I knew it had to be good as my brother-in-law and sister have eaten in some of the most prestigious restaurants around the world.  (They have a collection of menus from some of their more memorable meals that my sister had matted and framed that they have on display in a hallway in their house.)  The strip mall was nothing special, in fact there was sort of a seedy looking bar a couple doors down from Chula Seafood - the kind with a heavy metal front door and no windows to see in or out of the place.  

But inside, it was a nice little place.  It wasn't all that big, but it had a series of booths and tables that seated probably 3 dozen people, max.  There were a couple tables out in front of the place for dining al fresco, but the strip mall atmosphere didn't make outside dining all that appealing

The front counter is where you order and it also has a cooler with their fresh fish for sale to the public on display.  My brother-in-law was making a beef bourguignon for dinner that evening or I would have glad sprung for some of the tuna they had on display.  It looked fabulous.

We found a seat near the front counter at a high-top table and the menu was on the wall near our table.   As I pointed out earlier, chef Juan Zamora has fashioned a menu that pays homage to a group of Mexican, Pacific and Asian seafood cuisines.  They have a seared albacore tuna sandwich that I considered for a moment, as well as their daily special, a pastrami-smoked salmon sandwich.  That seemed to be a popular choice as I heard other people ordering that at the counter.  Chula Seafood also offered a chef's choice platter of sashimi, as well as a smoked fish platter - both of which could easily feed two people and possibly three.  And every day (Chula Seafood is open Tuesday thru Saturday), they have oysters for $2 bucks each.  Chula Seafood used to be a "bring-your-own-bottle" establishment, but they now offer craft beers and wine by the glass.  

My sister and brother-in-law usually get the fresh fish bowls when they come to Chula Seafood and that's what they were going to get that day.  I thought I'd follow suit and get something along those lines, as well.  I ordered the spicy tuna bowl.  It featured yellowfin tuna that was spiced up - sushi style.  The chunks of tuna were mixed in with some wonderful shishito peppers that had a bit of a char to them.  They were spicy, but not burn your face off hot.  Added in the bowl was some massago roe, chopped daikon, as well as chopped bok choy.  Avocado chunks, sliced picked mushrooms and chopped nori seaweed finished the mix.  It was topped with a spicy yuzu kosho sauce and sprinkled with sesame seeds.  All of that was served on a bed of rice.  I can't even begin to describe the flavors that I encountered as I picked through the bowl with chopsticks.  The spicy tuna was just outstanding on its own, but everything else just enhanced the total flavors that went on in the bowl.  

My sister got the Mexican-style ceviche bowl.  It featured fresh whitefish seafood marinated in lime juice, then mixed with sesame sumac quinoa, jalapeños, chopped red onion, radish slices, corn nuts, pickled squash and drizzled with an avocado mousse.   The ceviche alone looked outstanding, but with everything else that went with it, I could almost imagine the multiple taste sensations that bowl had.  

My brother-in-law opted for the Hawaiian poké bowl that consisted of chunks of yellowfin tuna, shredded cucumbers, chopped radish, pineapple chunks, chopped onions, edamame beans, chopped macadamia nuts, ginger and garlic, then topped with a soy sauce and sesame seeds.  It, too, was served on a bed of white rice.  The deep red color of the fresh tuna just popped out in the bowl.  It looked similar to the fresh tuna filets on display in the case.  Now, I've had poké before (we have a store near our house that has fresh poké and I'll buy a quarter pound of it from time to time to nibble on), but nothing I've had since our trips to Hawaii looked as fresh or as appealing as the poké my brother-in-law had.  

I was just blown away by the offerings at Chula Seafood in Scottsdale.  (I know it's a crappy photo of the front of the place, but it was the only angle that wasn't obstructed at the time.)  All the seafood served is sustainable and harpooned or hand-line caught eliminating the deep sea netting some companies will do and subsequently throwing a lot of fish they caught - and won't use - away.  I have to say my spicy tuna bowl was simply outstanding.  The flavors that were packed into that little styrofoam bowl were just absolutely fabulous.  Chula Seafood's Scottsdale location is a little hole-in-the-wall while I understand the Phoenix location at N. Central and Camelback is a little nicer - and bigger.  But don't let the size of the place or its location in south Scottsdale stop you from going in.  You'll completely forget about everything else once you dig into the fresh seafood at Chula Seafood.  

Pure Eatery - Fishers, IN

On a business trip to Indianapolis in late fall, I had finished up the day with a meeting in Fishers on the northeast side of the city.  I was staying out that way and decided to try and find some place to have dinner.  There were a couple restaurants not far from the hotel - one was an English-style pub and the other was more of a stylish, yet casual cafe that featured locally sourced foods.  Quite surprisingly, I chose the cafe that goes by the name of Pure Eatery.  

Pure Eatery started out in Indianapolis in June of 2010 by the husband and wife team of Jon and Amy Andrus.  At first, the little restaurant located in the Murphy Arts Building in the fun and funky Fountain Square neighborhood just south and east of downtown Indianapolis focused on breakfast and lunch.  Things were tough from the beginning for the Andrus' venture - construction in and around Fountain Square made it difficult to Pure Eatery at times, then Amy found out that she was pregnant with the baby due in September of 2011.  

Faced with the task of raising a family with no health insurance, Jon Andrus decided to join the Navy Reserve to gain health benefits for his family.  But that meant nine months of basic training in South Carolina and Amy would have to move there with him.  And that meant that he'd either have to close Pure Eatery or sell the place.  He didn't have to look too far for a suitor to take the place off his hands - his brother Dave Andrus, Dave's wife Courtney, and their friend Jason Jacobi were interested in taking over the restaurant.  

Dave Andrus had been in the restaurant business for a number of years before he moved to Indianapolis to open a little pizza pub not far from Monument Circle called Pearl Street Pizzeria.  Jacobi was an Iowa native from a small town just west of Cedar Rapids who moved to Indianapolis a few years before to work in management at a couple of downtown Indy restaurants.  The Andrus' and Jacobi saw the potential Pure Eatery could bring and they intended to tweak the concept a bit to help grow the business.  

The restaurant was awarded a license to sell beer, wine and liquor (known as a three-way license in Indiana) in late 2011.  Dave Andrus and Jacobi built a small bar area inside Pure Eatery after they took over in early 2012 and they eliminated the breakfast service to focus more on lunch, evening and late night patrons.  After a dismal first month of sales, Dave Andrus and Jacobi decided to do a complete remodel of the space.  They shut down for a month to retool.  During that time they built a bigger bar, made the restaurant space more intimate, hired a wait staff and got rid of the counter service that Andrus' brother had in place from the start.  When the new and improved Pure Eatery reopened in the Spring of 2012, it turned out that the new concept complete with full bar was going to be a hit.  Sales took off and Pure Eatery became a hot spot in the up and coming Fountain Square neighborhood.  

By 2015, Jacobi and Dave and Courtney Andrus thought that expansion to the north would be a good thing.  Communities like Fishers, Carmel and Noblesville were growing at a fast clip and the opportunity to put another restaurant on the far north side of Indianapolis became a distinct possibility. The trio opened a second Pure Eatery along 116th Street in Fishers in the Spring of 2015.  

Not all of Pure Eatery's story has been successful.  Dave Andrus had previously owned an Irish pub in Lafayette, IN before moving too Indianapolis.  He thought a Pure Eatery would go over well in the college town and the group opened a third restaurant in July of 2017.  But the responsibilities of running not only two Pure Eatery locations in the Indianapolis area along with a new one over an hour's drive away, coupled with opening a second Pearl Street location near the Andrus' home in the upscale Geist area of far northeast Indianapolis turned out to be too much for the group to look after the Lafayette location.  That location closed in September of 2018.  

The Fishers location for Pure Eatery is located in a strip mall on the south side of 116th St., the main road through the town.  (see map)  Pure Eatery really stood out among the other businesses in the mall with their brick facade and four faux second story windows over the entrance.  There are a couple three other restaurants in the small shopping complex, so the parking lot was sort of packed when I pulled in just after 6 p.m.  I was able to find a parking spot out on the far side of the parking lot.

Inside Pure Eatery, I found an open, well-lit space that had a series of tables and booths interspersed throughout the room.  Just beyond some artwork hanging from the ceiling via chains was the bar area.  Bistro-style seating along a curved wooden banquette wall gave it sort of a classy vibe.  Yet, the place was far from pretentious.  

Artwork from local artists was on display throughout Pure Eatery.  I'm not much of an art critic, but I did linger after I finished my dinner to look at some of the interesting items hung on the wall.  

The bar was small, but it featured a distinctive back-bar shelving unit that I found out was made with old barn wood salvaged from a farm in Iowa.  Other wood accents in Pure Eatery also came from salvaged barn boards.  

I took a seat at the bar and was greeted by a pleasant young lady by the name of Katie.  She dropped off a menu and asked me if I wanted anything to start out with for a drink.  I took a quick look at their tap list on the wall next to the bar and decided upon a Bell's All Day IPA.  

Pure Eatery tries to locally source their food when they can and they had a number of items on the menu including pork and chicken that they get from locally-raised farms.  In fact, when I first walked into the place, the smell of roasting pork permeated the air.  It smelled wonderful.  And they had a number of roasted pork items on the menu - roasted pork tacos, a pulled pork sandwich rubbed with ground coffee and ancho peppers, and a pan-seared bone-in pork chop.   Pure Eatery also featured a number of wraps and sandwiches, as well as entrees consisting of a grilled sockeye salmon, a curry tilapia, a Cajun-spiced tuna steak, and a four-cheese pasta dish.  

Interestingly, there was little to no beef dishes on the menu at Pure Eatery.  They only offered an Impossible burger and no regular burger.  They had marinated beef tips for an entree, and they also had a meat loaf sandwich.  I didn't really think I was in the mood for beef that night anyhow as my new sales manager and I pigged out on steak the night before in Chicago.  

As I said, the aroma of roasted pork smell first hit me when I came into the place lingered throughout my decision making process.  I ended up ordering Pure Eatery's version of the Cuban sandwich.  I know that most places in the Midwest don't have anything close to a really Cuban sandwich like I've had in Florida - the sweet Cuban bread is usually replaced by an ciabatta or Italian bread in the Midwest and grilled panini-style.  But if you can get past the fact that it's not the same as what you can get in Florida, some of the Cuban-style sandwiches in the region are not that bad.  I was banking on the flavor of the pork at Pure Eatery being as good, if not better than the smell emanating from the kitchen.  

When I ordered, Katie asked me if I wanted to zip up the taste a bit by substituting dijon mustard for the usual yellow mustard that comes on the sandwich, as well as having pepper jack cheese instead of the normal Swiss cheese.  I signed up for that immediately.  The sandwich was presented to me on a long and narrow plate served with house-made chips and a pickle spear.  The taste of the pork in the sandwich was simply wonderful.  It was much more prevalent in taste over the sliced ham they put on the sandwich with it.  The panini-grilled ciabatta bread had a nice crunchy texture to the outer shell, but it wasn't overly chewy.  The pepper jack and dijon mustard added a bit of a zip to the overall taste, but I wouldn't call it spicy in the least.  It was a killer sandwich all the way around.    

I had my choice of restaurants in the immediate area that evening, but I'm certainly glad that I gave Pure Eatery a try.  In addition to it being a nice little place, the Cuban pulled pork sandwich that I had was excellent.  The service I had from my bartender/server that evening was friendly and laid-back, not pressuring me to order quickly and she allowed me to linger after finishing my meal to have another beer.  Pure Eatery is an enjoyable place and one that I would recommend giving a try if you're in the Fishers area and looking for a nice lunch or light dinner.

LoPiez - Davenport, IA

Anytime a new pizza place opens in the Quad Cities - and it isn't Quad Cities-style pizza - my wife and I are anxious to give it a try.  When we found out from good friends of ours that a new pizza place would be opening up in downtown Davenport that would be a "by-the-slice" establishment with craft beers and margaritas available, we were even more excited.  However, the record setting flood of last spring sort of derailed their opening day plans pushing their official opening back nearly two months as they cleaned up flood waters in and around their building.  On a Friday night with really nothing to do last fall, we decided to head down to LoPiez to check the place out.  

Andrew and Peter Lopez grew up in Davenport and got into the service industry at an early age.  (As an aside, their cousin is Colby Lopez, better known as Seth Rollins, one of the superstar wrestlers under the World Wrestling Entertainment banner.  Lopez/Rollins is a Davenport native and still maintains a residence here.)  In their early 20's, the brothers moved to Colorado and Andrew got a job at Mellow Mushroom, an Atlanta-based pizza chain that was just starting up in Denver.  But he soon found himself working for a Denver-based band as their tour manager and traveled across the nation.  His love for pizza never declined, however, and he was able to try different types of pizza all over the U.S.  His favorite - by far - was the "by-the-slice" style of pizza New York City is known for.

A couple three years ago, the brothers had moved back to the Quad Cites and had been working for the Great River Brewing Company when something just clicked in their heads.  Why not do a New York-style pizza joint in the Quad Cities?  But they also wanted their place to have a rock and roll vibe to it.  And they needed a place for their venture and one came open in late 2018.  

Pictured at right - Peter and Andrew Lopez.  Photo courtesy LoPiez Facebook page.

An establishment called "Panini and Friends", a small restaurant attached to Ruby's, a combination bike shop/bar/restaurant that was profiled on Road Tips here, closed up in late December of 2018 after being open for just over one year.  The small shop was open for breakfast and lunch, but never really caught on the way the owners had hoped.  When that space became available, the Lopez brothers jumped at the chance to take it over.  The lease was signed in early 2018 and they set about turning the spot into a pizza joint with a little bar.  Things were going along pretty well until the nearby Mississippi River started to flood and that caused drains to back up into the restaurant.  They had hoped to by open by the end of April of last year, but on April 30, the HESCO barriers that had been erected to keep flood waters out of the downtown area gave way and the building was surrounded by water.

It took the Lopez brothers another nearly two months before they could get back in to get the mess cleaned up.  Compared to other businesses in the downtown area, they were spared much of the damage that caused some places to stay closed for months on end.  LoPiez finally opened for business toward the end of June of last year.  

We went down to LoPiez just after 7:30 on a Friday night.  Our friends had been touting LoPiez, mainly because their son grew up with the Lopez brothers.  Actually, I had a couple pieces of LoPiez pizza last summer as they sent some to the backstage area at the annual Mississippi Valley Blues Festival that I again helped out with.  But it was delivered more than a half hour after it had been taken out of the oven, so I don't think I really had what I would call a true representation of their pizza.  So we were eager to try Lopiez that evening last fall as we found a parking space in the lot next to the building located at E. 3rd and LeClaire Street in downtown Davenport.  (see map)  

Upon entering the building we found a lively and well-lit place that had a small L-shaped bar upfront with counter service for ordering food.  True to form, rock music was playing in the background, but it wasn't loud or obnoxious.  Decorations were minimal in the space, save for large posters done by local artist/musician Johnnie Cluney that hung on the wall above some banquette seats.  (Cluney is also responsible for the "Welcome to Downtown Davenport" mural the Lopez brothers are standing in front of in the photo above.)  The place was packed and we were surprised to see all different age groups in there.  As we walked in, a couple got up from one of the tables and my wife parked herself there while I went to get us a menu to look over.  It turned out we were pretty lucky.

Pizzas can be ordered by-the-slice, or whole in either 10 inch or 20 inch sizes.  Calzones are also available at LoPiez.  Bread knots topped with an agave garlic butter and parmesan cheese are also available along with a choice of a marinara sauce or LoPiez's El Rancho sauce.   All the standard pizza toppings are available with premium toppings such as fresh mozzarella, chicken, artichoke hearts, bacon and vegan meatballs available for a slight upcharge.  

As I said, it's counter service at LoPiez and the line kept growing with both eat-in and carry-out orders.  We were amazed at the number of large 20" pizzas they sold for carry-out.  It gave me time to kind of figure out the lay of the land with how and what to order.  My wife had heard from our friends that they make a pretty good margarita.  When I went up to order a couple slices for us, I also found that they had Kona Big Wave in 16 ounce cans.  Another score for me!  

Our first pizza slices we ordered was a slice of their Margherita pizza for both my wife and I, and a slice of the Italian sausage, pepperoni and mushroom for me.  After about 10 minutes, one of the kitchen workers came out with slices on paper plates, calling my name.  The slices were large and my wife said she was happy with getting just one slice.  The Margherita pizza was topped with fresh mozzarella, chopped basil and sprinkled parmesan cheese in a tangy sweet tomato sauce.  The thin crust of the slice was especially tasty.  We couldn't figure it out.  Was it garlic in the crust?  Was it butter?  Was it herbs?  Was it all of the above?  I'm not usually that much into the crust of the pizza, but LoPiez pizza crust was very good.

But if you click on the above picture to take a closer look at the sausage, pepperoni and mushroom pizza slice on the right, well, it just didn't taste like I thought it should.  It had fresh sliced mushrooms and pepperoni on the pizza, but it didn't seem to have any outward sign of any sausage.  I thought that possibly the sausage was fine crumbled sausage - like they do for Quad City-style pizza - but after a couple bites I determined that there was little to no sausage on the slice.  

I decided to get another beer and a slice of the sausage, pepperoni and mushroom.  When I finally got to the register to order (the line was seven people deep when I got in line), I asked the guy at the counter if their sausage was ground fine or in large chunks.  "About in the middle of that, I'd say," he replied.  I said I didn't think that I got any sausage on my first slice.  

One of the guys in the kitchen came out and he had a slice that had sausage on it.  "It's like that," the guy behind the counter told me pointing at the slice.  The chunks were noticeable - not large, but not crumbly as the guy said.  I said that I just had a slice that was supposed to have sausage on it, but it didn't have any on it.  When I ordered a second slice with another Big Wave, he said, "I'll give you a beer on the house for that one."  I thought it was a magnanimous gesture on his part.  And he said he would personally make sure that I had Italian sausage on my pizza this time.  

The second slice definitely had sausage on it this time.  And the crust was just as wonderful as the first two slices I'd had.  Now THIS was my perfect slice of pizza.  The mushrooms were fresh and earthy, the pepperoni slices had a salty and spicy taste, and the Italian sausage had that great fennel seasoning to it.  The pizza at LoPiez easily passed my, "Does it taste good with beer?" test.  

Only we had one other problem while we were there.  When the guy from the kitchen came out with my slice, he asked if he could clean up the empty's from the table.  I had drank about a 1/3 of my 16 ounce can of Big Wave and after he picked some stuff up and took off toward the garbage can, I didn't realize until it was too late that he had picked up the rest of the beer that I had not drank.  I was incredulous!  I know it was a free beer, but it was still a lot of beer that I didn't get to drink.

Much to the embarrassment of my wife, I went up to the bar to tell the bartender that the guy had taken my well over half-full beer.  The bartender asked me which guy it was.  I pointed him out standing over near the other end of the bar near the kitchen and the bartender yelled to him, "Hey, did you take this guy's beer?"  

The other guy yelled back, "I asked if I could take the empties and he said, 'Yeah!' " 

"Well, there was nearly a full beer that you took," the bartender said back.  The guy just sort of shrugged and said he was sorry.  The bartender - the same guy who gave me the free Big Wave to begin with - gave me another one on the house.  I pulled three one dollar bills out of my pocket and laid them on the bar.  My wife thought it was a nice thing to do.

Things had settled down by the time we were finished and getting ready to leave.  I walked up to the guy behind the bar who I had been dealing with and thanked him for making things right on the mistakes.  He apologized profusely for the errors and I told him not to worry as it was a crazy night in there.  "We will be back," we told him just before we turned to walk out of the place.  

And since I wrote this entry, we have been back.  We went back on a Friday night and it was packed, as usual.  This time we sat at the bar and had a slice of the sausage, pepperoni and mushroom pizza - this time they didn't forget to put the sausage on it - and a slice of the Margherita pizza.  The Big Wave was cold and tasty with the pizza, and my wife had a cranberry and Tito's with a very generous pour of the vodka.  Actually, they did make a mistake, but it was a good mistake - they made an extra slice of the sausage, pepperoni and mushroom.  The guy came out from the kitchen with it and said, "Hey, we made this one by mistake.  You guys want it at no charge?"  Sure!  

The pizza we had at LoPiez was very good.  The little problems and errors on our first visit notwithstanding, we were more than impressed with every aspect of LoPiez.  The only other quibble I had with the place is that four slices of pizza came to $27.50.  That's a lot for just four pieces of pizza in my book.  We told our friends the next day that we had gone to LoPiez and the first thing they asked was if we were able to get in.  Yeah, it was busy and my friend told me that it was busy all the time.  Well, I can see why - the pizza is wonderful.  Expensive, but very good.  If LoPiez can cut down on the errors, it would still be a good place to go.  But don't forget to take your wallet. 

Northstar Tavern - Bloomington, MN

Up in the Twin Cities late last year, I was searching out a place to eat one late afternoon.  I usually stay in the Bloomington area on the south side of the Twin Cities, so finding new places to try can be sort of tough at times.  However, there was one place that I found that I hadn't been to before and it wasn't far from my hotel.  I drove over the Northstar Tavern to give the place a try.

Jon Norine grew up on the southside of Bloomington before moving away to work in the food service industry.  His wife, Ashley, also grew up nearby and she, too, had worked in restaurants.  The Norine's had always talked about owning their own restaurant and they decided to move back to their home base in the Twin Cities to scout out locations for their dream restaurant.  

The two scouted locations in the southern suburbs of Minneapolis before they finally came across a building in a shopping plaza that Jon Norine used to ride his bike to as a young boy.  The building formally housed a Famous Dave's barbecue joint and the Norine's signed the lease to the place in May of 2018.  

The next five months saw a complete build-out of a new restaurant space guided by one of their partners, Nate Hunt, who kept only the sinks and the refrigeration/freezers in the place during the renovation.  The Norine's brought in another partner to run their kitchen as the executive chef, Ryan Pasiuk, who previously was the executive chef at The Fremont, an upscale sports bar/dance club in Minneapolis's uptown neighborhood.  With everything in place, Northstar Tavern opened their doors for business in October of 2018. 

Pictured right - Ashley and Jon Norine.  Photo courtesy Metropolitan Consortium of Community Developers - Minnesota.

It was a bit after 5 p.m. when I pulled into the parking lot at the Normandale Village shopping complex at the corner of Normandale and 98th Street in Bloomington.  (see map)  I went inside and sort of stood by the hostess stand for a moment before a server showed up and told me that I could sit pretty much about anywhere.  Well, I soon find out that "pretty much anywhere" didn't include one of the open high-top tables near the bar.  He came up to me and said, "This area is going to be reserved in less than an hour.  Are you going to be done by then?"  I figured that I probably wouldn't be - or didn't know if I would be - and I didn't really want to be rushed if I wanted to linger a bit longer to have another beer after dinner.  He moved me to a regular height four-seater in the dining area of the restaurant just past the bar. 

I had done a little on-line scouting of the place earlier on and I expected to find a nice little upscale sports bar/restaurant.  While it was comfortable and cozy, I sort of expected it to be a little more classy than it was.  There was a stone hearth fireplace in the dining room, but there was a corrugated tin awning with the Maker's Mark logo that was above a number of booths along the wall.  It was a popular place with the bar completely full and many of the tables and booths filled with people in for an early dinner - like me.  

My server for my visit was a young guy by the name of Aarin.  He dropped off a food menu and I asked what kind of beers they had to offer.  He produced a beer list that had their current selection of two dozen beers on tap.  Quite honestly, I was sort of surprised that they didn't offer more local beers on their beer menu as they had beers from Deschutes in Oregon, Goose Island in Chicago, and Boulevard out of Kansas City.  They even had Coors on tap.  I think out of the 24 beers they had on tap, only 9 or 10 were from Minnesota or Wisconsin.  I just ordered up a Lagunitas IPA and took a look through the food menu.   

The Northstar Tavern offered a variety of appetizers on their menu.  They had the normal fare - chicken wings, pretzels, and nachos - but they also had fried walleye fingers, a barbecued pork quesadilla, egg rolls that were stuffed with shrimp and candied cayenne-seasoned bacon, loaded sweet potato tots with ground turkey, jalapeños and an avocado cream sauce, and wontons stuffed with roasted jalapeños and an avocado cream cheese.  

They have a unique system of being able to order sandwiches or burgers at the Northstar Tavern.  You have a choice of a protein - grilled chicken, burger patty, grilled salmon, beer-battered walleye, etc. (vegan options were also available).  Then you have your choice of the "set up" which are the toppings on whatever you pick.  They had some suggestions like "The Teriyaki" that consisted of a teriyaki glaze, grilled pineapple, red onions, and a charred scallion aioli; "The Cream Cheese" which had an herbed cream cheese, red onion, cucumbers and mixed greens; "The Buffalo" which had a spicy buffalo wing sauce with a creamy blue cheese dressing, shredded lettuce and tomato slices; and "The Tangy California" which featured goat cheese and avocado slices, with lettuce, tomato, and red onion slices.  Then you had your choice of the "holder" which was a choice of a ciabatta bun, lettuce wrap, tortilla wrap, honey wheat bun, or a pita bread among some of the choices.  

Regular sandwiches such as a reuben, a Philly cheesesteak, and a slow-roasted barbecued pork sandwich were also available at the Northstar Tavern.  And they also had pizza available - both as a build-your-own or featured pizzas such as a meat only pizza with Italian sausage, pepperoni and a candied cayenne bacon spread; or a traditional margherita pizza, or the Vietnamese-style Banh Mi pizza with chopped pork carnitas, pickled onions, cucumbers, and carrots, along with jalapeños, cilantro, and finished with a teriyaki barbecue sauce, and an aioli drizzle that is mixed with Cry Baby sauce, a pickled jalapeño and garlic hot sauce that is made in Minneapolis. 

I have to say the menu was definitely interesting and a couple three things caught my eye.  They had some entrees that included a Cajun chicken and shrimp pasta, and a meatloaf platter with mashed potatoes and gravy.  I seriously contemplated getting the meat loaf almost breaking my rule of not ordering meat loaf away from home as I really could have used a "stick-to-your-ribs" kind of meal that evening.  But in the long run, I ended up getting what amounted to the house burger.

The house burger consisted of a half-pound beef patty topped with a thick slice of smoked cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato and red onion slices, and dill pickles on a toasted brioche bun.  It came with a side of fries in a metal cup and it was all served  on a small metal cookie sheet.   I asked Aarin if I could get some bacon on the burger and he said it was no problem.  

Quite actually, the burger was very good.   It was thick with juices oozing out of the beef patty as it rested on the bun.  The bun held together very well for what turned out to be a multi-napkin burger.  The veggie toppings were all fresh and didn't over power the great beef taste in the burger.  The smoked cheddar and bacon helped give it another gear in flavor.  I had asked it to be cooked medium and it was the perfect temperature when served to me with a hint of pink in the middle of the burger.

The fries were actually pretty good, as well.  I normally don't eat many fries when they're served to me, but the ones at the Northstar Tavern had that great crispy outer shell with a nice warm flaky potato inside.  It was pretty tough to stop eating the fries when I finished with my burger.  

Maybe I was expecting a little more in terms of atmosphere at the Northstar Tavern, but I have to admit that the surroundings didn't detract from the delicious house burger that I had while I was there.  The menu was very interesting, and even though I was a little underwhelmed with the selection of beers they had on tap, I was still able to find one that I enjoyed.  The service that I had at Northstar Tavern was quick, efficient and friendly.   The Northstar Tavern is a nice little place and it's easy to see how it's become a local favorite in their just under 18 month existence.  I'd say give it a shot the next time you're in the area.  

Fox River Brewing Company - Appleton, WI

I had an early morning appointment in Appleton, WI this past fall and I got into town the night before.  I stayed near the Fox River Mall and I took a look on line to see what was in the immediate area for food as I'd been driving most of the day and didn't feel like going far for food that evening.  I found out there was a brew pub attached to the mall - the Fox River Brewing Company.  I thought I'd head over there to check the place out and maybe get a bite to eat.  

I like to joke that whenever I cross over the border into Wisconsin, I immediately get thirsty for a beer.  With a large German-heritage population throughout the state, beer is a way of life with many people who live there - and has been for generations.  The first breweries in the state popped up in the 1830's - long before Wisconsin was granted statehood in 1848 - started by German immigrants whose precise brewing techniques learned in their homeland to carry on the tradition of German-style beers in their new home in America.  By the Civil War, there were over 150 breweries scattered across Wisconsin, and by the turn of the 20th century there were nearly 300 registered breweries in the state.

During Prohibition, many of the smaller breweries went out of business - but not all.  During Prohibition, some made soda pop or root beer, and there were some underground breweries that defied the ban on alcohol to brew and distribute beers in a clandestine manner.  After the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, that paved the way for large scale, mass producing breweries across the state.  Many of the smaller breweries went by the wayside and for years the only beers made in Wisconsin were made by the likes of Miller, Pabst, G. Heilemann (Old Style) and Schlitz.  

The landscape began to change starting in 1985 with the founding of the first microbrewery in Wisconsin after Prohibition, Sprecher Brewery.   From there, the Capital Brewery opened in the Madison suburb of Middleton in 1986, with Lakefront Brewery opening in Milwaukee in 1987.  By the mid-90's, there were six microbreweries across the state of Wisconsin.  Not exactly electric growth, but craft brewing was still in its infancy.

Enter the three Supple brothers - Jay, Joe and John, Jr.  Their father, John, Sr., had left his job as a train engineer in the late 60's and opened up a Shakey's Pizza franchise in the Oshkosh area.  His sons followed their father into the restaurant business and managed other Shakey's locations in the Fox Valley.  In the late 1980's, a capital investment group bought the Shakey's chain and a slow decline of the remaining locations took place with many of them closing in the early to mid-90's.  The ones managed by the Supple family were among those that closed and by 1995 the brothers were looking to do something else.  

They had talked about doing an Italian restaurant in Oshkosh, but it was Jay's wife who suggested they look into doing a brewpub.  The brothers joked that they certainly knew how to drink beer, but they didn't know how to make it.  But they met with Rob LoBreglio who had started the Great Dane Brewery and Pub in Madison in 1994.  The Supples signed LoBreglio to a one-year consultancy contract to help them get started with their own brew pub in Oshkosh.   

Pictured at right - John, Jr., Jay and Joe Supple.  Photo courtesy Oshkosh Beer Blog.

LoBreglio had contacts in the industry to get the needed equipment for the Supple family to start their brewery.  They had procured a building in downtown Oshkosh that over looked the Fox River and hired a chef to run their restaurant which would be called Fratello's, which is Italian for brothers.  LoBreglio helped the brothers find a brewmaster, Al Bunde, who had just graduated from the famed Siebel Institute in Chicago in 1994.  LoBreglio was also an alumnus of the Siebel Institute and the day after Bunde graduated, he was in Madison helping LoBreglio open the Great Dane brewery.   LoBreglio suggested to the Supple brothers that Bunde be their first brewmaster.  The brothers liked Bunde right from the start and hired him to be their first brewmaster.  Fratello's and the accompanying Fox River Brewing Company opened in October of 1995.  

Within the first 18 months in business, things were going so well with the Fox River brewery that the brothers decided to open a second location in Appleton.  They were able to build on to the west side of the Fox River Mall and they opened the second Fox River Brewing Company location in November of 1997.  Steve Lonsway was hired to be the assistant head brewer at Fox River Brewing and handled operation at the Appleton location.

Keeping brewmasters is a problem for many microbreweries and with the sudden uptick in the craft beer revolution, Fox River Brewing Company was not immune to this problem.  Al Bunde left in 1998 and Lonsway took over the operation of both breweries.  Lonsway left in 2002 and Brian Allen came in to take over as brewmaster.  Allen stayed for 7 years before moving on to Mother's Brewing Company in Springfield, MO.  But a young man who first got his start bussing tables at the Appleton location at the age of 16 stepped in to take over for Allen.

Kevin Bowen also helped out in the kitchen at the Fox River Brewing Company, but he was soon fascinated by everything that Steve Lonsway was doing in the brewery.  Bowen graduated high school in 2000 and bummed around for a couple of years before coming back to Appleton.  He came back to Fox River Brewing just after Brian Allen took over and Bowen helped out in the fledgling bottle works the brewery had just opened.  Learning all aspects of brewing from Allen, Bowen eventually was awarded a scholarship to the Siebel Institute in 2005.  Upon graduating in 2006, he was named the brewmaster of a small microbrewery in Wausau, WI.  When that place closed in 2008, Bowen came back to Fox River Brewing to work along side Allen.  And when Allen left less than a year later, the Supples had no problem naming the 26-year-old Bowen as their brewmaster.  

Bowen stayed on for 10 years with Fox River Brewing Company before moving to France to be with his girlfriend earlier this year.  But over his tenure, brewing output increased by two and a half times.  When he took over, Fox River Brewing had limited distribution in the Fox Valley.  When he left last year, Fox River Brewing was found on store shelves all through the state of Wisconsin.  Bowen's successor, Andrew Roth - who had been the lead brewer for Fox River Brewing for 10 months prior - was named as his replacement in August of last year.   

(A large thanks to Lee at the Oshkosh Beer Blog for much of the information on the history and brewmasters of the Fox River Brewing Company.)

The Fox River Brewing Company is located on the west side of the Fox River Mall.  (see map) I probably could have walked over from the hotel, but it was sort of a cool evening and I had only brought a light jacket with me.  Parking was plentiful in front of the restaurant.  

Inside the Fox River Brewing Company, I found a large bar that had zigs and zags giving it a unique shape.  It was a Monday night - usually a slow night for many restaurants - and there were a few people in the place.  The beer list for that evening was on the wall near the bar which touted Fox River Brewing's regionally famous Blu Bobber blueberry ale, their Marble Rye Scottish Ale, the Buzzin' Honey Ale, and their 2 Dams Blonde Ale.

There was a short wall that separated the bar area from a small dining area in the back.  This area was closed off for the evening as there just weren't enough people there that evening.  An open kitchen with a wood-fired oven was off to the side of the dining room and bar area.

I ended up sitting at the bar that evening and was greeted by the very congenial bartender who made some suggestions on beers after he gave me a food menu to look over.  He was meticulous in the description of some of the beers, and when he got to the Shakedown IPA I stopped him and ordered one of those.  

Much of the food at the Fox River Brewing Company was your typical pub food - shareable appetizers, salads, sandwiches, burgers, and wood-fired pizza.  They had tacos on the menu and a handful of entrees including a porcini mushroom and truffle ravioli served with barbacoa beef in a dijon mustard cream sauce, grilled chicken in a pesto with cavatappi pasta noodles, traditional fish and chips, and Pad Thai shrimp bowl.  

I wasn't really up for a burger as I had one the day before with my wife.  But their mushroom/Swiss burger made with ground steak was really trying to get me to order it up.  However, I ended up getting the jambalaya that evening.

I pretty much knew going in that the jambalaya probably wouldn't be all that great and I wasn't all that disappointed when I found it to be just all right.  It featured andouille sausage, smoked chicken chunks, and grilled shrimp mixed with bell peppers, caramelized onions, a black bean with corn salsa and served with a brown rice/quinoa mix with a bit of a tomato sauce and a blackened Cajun seasoning mixed in.  It wasn't authentic Cajun, but it was a nice try at trying to come up with jambalaya at a brew pub in the middle of Wisconsin.  I ate it and was happy enough with my choice.

Now, here's a Road Tips first - after paying my bill and walking out side to get a picture of the outside of the brew pub, I had snapped a couple pictures (one of which is below) and as I was walking back out to my car in the lot, a security guard - a young guy just driving around the parking lot - cruised up next to me and said, "Uh, sir.  Pictures of the mall are not authorized."  

I sort of stopped and said, "Huh?"

Once again, he said, "You can't take pictures of the mall without permission."  

I turned to the young police academy dropout and said incredulously, "You've got to be shitting me!"  

"No sir, I'm not," he replied matter-of-factly.

Now, what was he going to do?  Take my phone from me?  Tell me to delete the picture?  Take me in?  I just shook my head and moved on, crossing in front of his mall security car to get to my car.  

What did he do?  He just sat there as I got into my car, pulled out of the parking spot and moved down the line of cars in the lot.  And he followed me - not closely, but close enough to let me realize that he was behind me.  I drove through the parking lot and he continued to follow me.  I got to a stop sign where I would turn right out of the parking lot and off the property and he came up behind me again.  I took the right turn to go back to the hotel and he sort of sat there at the stop sign probably trying to figure out his next course of action.  I looked in my rear view mirror again as I made my way down the small frontage road away from the mall and saw that he went straight and wasn't coming after me.  

Now, I've been asked just a handful of times by some restaurants as to why I'm taking pictures of their place, but I've never been told that I couldn't take pictures.  (Years ago, I did almost get busted at a store in the Kansas City area that had big signs that said "No Photos!")  I've since been told by more lawyerly types that the security guard was probably correct - you really can't take pictures of private property without the consent of the owner.  But as one person told me, "It hardly ever gets enforced in this day and age of camera phones, Instagram and Twitter."  The consensus among the law scholars I talked to  was that this mall cop was probably a bit too heavy-handed in his enforcement.    

Getting accosted by the mall cop for taking the picture of the outside of the Fox River Brewing Company was just a side light to what turned out to be an OK meal and some pretty good beer.  I pretty much knew going in that their jambalaya would be just all right and it didn't turn out to be anything more or less than that.  I really enjoyed the Shakedown IPA they had on tap at Fox River Brewing Company.  It had a nice forward hoppy taste, but a very smooth finish.  The service and recommendations by the very friendly bartender was very appreciated that evening.  Fox River Brewing Company was a nice find in my travels.  However, it sounds like I need to go to the one in Oshkosh to check that location out at some point.  

The Foundry - Bettendorf, IA

A little less than two years ago, a huge sports complex opened near the intersection of Middle Road and Interstate 80 on the far north side of Bettendorf.  The TBK Bank Sports Complex features indoor and outdoor soccer fields, basketball courts, baseball and softball fields, a bowling alley, volleyball courts, as well as exercise areas and running tracks.  The $50 million dollar project was designed to bring people in from all over the Midwest for tournaments and events.  The only problem was that when it opened, there was really nothing else out there other than the hulking building that was visible for miles as you traveled past it on the interstate.  However, over the past year, a number of developments have taken shape around the complex to add hotels, restaurants, convenience stores and other places to service the people who have driven in from wherever to watch or play sports at TBK Bank Sports Complex.  One of the restaurants that opened last year is a place by the name of The Foundry.  We had been wanting to check the place out at some point, and one weeknight when I didn't feel like cooking, my wife and I headed out there to get something to eat.  

Michael DeWitte is the man behind The Foundry.  DeWitte also runs The Barrel House which has four locations around the Quad Cities.  (Click here to see the Road Tips entry on The Barrel House.)   When the opportunity to put a restaurant near the sports complex came about, DeWitte thought that a family friendly place with a large and varied menu for any appetite, large or small, along with a full bar with craft beers for the adults would be the ticket.  Ground was broke on the building that houses The Foundry late in 2018 and the restaurant opened in June of last year.  

The Foundry is located just off Middle Road on the aptly named Competition Drive next to the sports complex.  (see map)  There's parking in front of the building, but even though it was a weekday night, it was somewhat tough to find an open spot.  We took a parking spot after someone backed out of one just down the way from the restaurant.  

We went inside and were met by a young lady at the hostess stand just inside the bar area.  There was a three-sided bar with large flat-screen televisions on the walls around the room.  The bar area had high top tables and banquette seating along one wall.  The hostess asked us if we'd like to sit in the bar, but I wanted to take a look at the dining room.

The main dining room at The Foundry had a number of booths and tables in the floor plan.  There was a smaller dining room off to the side that could be used for groups or gatherings.  The dining room also had a number of flat-screen televisions on the wall and the tables were regular height.  For some reason the hostess kept pushing us to sit in the bar area, but my wife doesn't like to sit at a high-top if a regular table or booth is available.  When my wife asked if we could sit in the dining room, the hostess curiously gave out a bit of a huff, handed menus to another girl and told her to take us "in there."  My wife and I sort of looked at one another with a quizzical look on our faces as we walked to the table.  "That was odd," my wife said after we were seated.  "I guess I don't know what the deal is about sitting in the bar.  She acted like she was pissed off we wanted to sit in (the dining room)."

Our server for the evening was a pleasant young lady by the name of Rachinda.  She asked if we wanted anything to drink and I saw that they had the Big Grove Easy Eddy IPA on their beer list.  My wife was fine with water for the time being, so Rachinda went off to fetch my beer.  She came back a moment later and said, "I'm sorry, but we're out of that beer."  Plan B was an easy one - they had the Toppling Goliath Pseudo Sue on tap, as well.  They did have that one.  

The menu at The Foundry is vast and varied, something that I have a bit of trepidation with because I've found in my travels that restaurants that have extensive menus geared to satisfy all ages and tastes usually does everything just all right - not great, but OK.  The menu at The Barrel House is sort of similar, but I like their burgers at The Barrel House.  My wife has sort of soured on The Barrel House mainly because she thinks the food selection there is nothing more than glorified bar food.  I could tell as she thumbed through the menu at The Foundry that she thought it was nothing more than a Barrel House - only with even more food to choose from.    

The appetizers were sort of interesting - they had poutine with crumbled Italian sausage mixed in with the cheese curds, fries and gravy.  There was ahi poké on the menu - that's something you normally don't see at a sports bar.  My wife sort of raised her eyebrows when she saw the honey Sriracha Brussels sprouts on the menu.  She loves Brussels sprouts and she thought about getting those.  Avocado egg rolls, mussels steamed in and India pale ale, and fried portobello mushroom planks were other things that caught our eye on the appetizer part of the menu.  

On the main part of the menu, The Foundry featured steaks, seafood, fajitas, pasta dishes and a number of burgers and sandwiches.  They also had a selection of flat bread pizzas as well as pork chops and Korean-style baby back ribs.  Prime rib is available after 4 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and all day on Sunday.  

My wife was having trouble figuring out what she wanted to get.  I sensed that by the description of some of the food on the menu that she was intrigued, but still somewhat fearful that the food would be just "OK".  A couple things caught her eye - the garlic-infused flat iron steak and the lobster and pea cavateppi.  The pasta dish came with chunks of Maine lobster mixed with English peas, sliced portobello mushrooms with cavateppi pasta noodles in a lobster cream sauce.  "That sounds good," she said with a bit of hesitation in her voice.  "But I don't know if it will be."  

I had sort of had my eye on another pasta dish - the four meat cavateppi bake.  It had beef, sausage, pepperoni and ham mixed in a combination of cavateppi pasta and a marinara sauce, then topped with shredded mozzarella and baked.  That sounded really interesting, but I also deemed that I wasn't quite that hungry.

In the long run, I went with the portobello mushroom/Swiss cheese burger.  I asked Rachinda if the kitchen could put some bacon on it, too.  The burger featured two quarter-pound patties topped with Swiss cheese and copious amounts of sautéed sliced portobello mushrooms.  A couple strips of bacon topped the burger.  It was served on a toasted brioche bun and came with a side of fries.  

My wife also decided that the lobster and pea cavateppi would be a lot of food, as well.  Plus she wasn't certain that it would be as good as it sounded.  She ended up going with the Memphis-style pulled pork sandwich.  The pulled pork was mixed with a honey barbecue sauce and a dollop of cole slaw came on top of the meat.  Instead of fries, my wife was so intrigued by the lobster and pea cavateppi that she got a side of The Foundry's lobster mac & cheese.  But she didn't think the lobster in the mac & cheese was real, only imitation lobster.   

My burger was fine - I didn't think it was as good as the mushroom/Swiss burger served at The Barrel House.  The fries were pretty "blah", but I was just concentrating on the burger.  When my wife asked how my burger was, I just sort of shrugged my shoulders and said, "Yeah, it's all right.  Nothing special."  

She sort of thought the same thing about her pulled pork sandwich.  She had removed the top of the brioche bun that it came on and ate the cole slaw and pulled pork without the bun alternating bites with the lobster mac & cheese.  "Ahh, it's all right," she said sort of dismissively of her pulled pork and side.  "But I still don't think that's real lobster in the mac & cheese."  

The other thing was that we thought it was sort of expensive for what we got.  $14 bucks for the burger plus a couple bucks for the small amount of bacon was sort of a wallet hitter, as was my wife's $12 dollar pulled pork sandwich.  I think we were charged $4 bucks for the upcharge on the mac & cheese.  Add in a couple beers for me and one for my wife, and it came to about $50 bucks before tip and tax.  I said to my wife, "Well, when you get a bunch of people out here from out of town and it's right next to the sports complex, they've got a captive audience.  They can pretty much charge what they want."

Our first visit to The Foundry gave us both mixed feelings.  The place was nice, there's no doubt about that.  The craft beer list was more than adequate, and they did have a lot to choose from on the menu.  And the service we had that evening was friendly and prompt.  But the food was just all right in our book.  And we were still sort of perplexed with the attitude we got from the hostess who kept trying to push us to sit in the bar area when we clearly wanted to sit in the dining room.  We'll probably end up going out to The Foundry again at some point, but we won't make it part of our rotation of restaurants we like to go to.