Road Tips

Cafe Tacuba - Cedar Rapids, IA

Up in Cedar Rapids one Sunday afternoon to visit my wife's father who is in a care facility in the area, we decided to have a late lunch/early dinner at a Mexican restaurant she had been to before.  We invited her sister to come along to join us at Cafe Tacuba in the New Bohemia district just south of downtown Cedar Rapids.  

Cafe Tacuba co-owners Ozzy Aguirre and Ariel Barrios are no strangers to Mexican cuisine in Eastern Iowa.  Barrios helped start the popular Cedar Rapids Mexican eatery La Cantina in 2011, while Aguirre started Mas Margaritas in 2019 while also involved with La Casita Breakfast Cafe which opened in 2021.  The two have also been instrumental in the start up and ownership of Mexican restaurants in Vinton and Anamosa near Cedar Rapids.  Along with third partner Raul Gomez, Cafe Tacuba had a soft opening in December of last year and opened full time in March of this year.  The restaurant's name was taken from the Tacuba neighborhood in Mexico City where Ozzy Aguirre's family is from.  

Aguirre's vision of Cafe Tacuba was to offer authentic Mexican dishes from recipes that were in his family for generations.  In order to capture the intricacies of true Mexican cuisine, Aguirre flew his grandmother, mother and aunt from Guadalajara and Mexico City up to Cedar Rapids to teach the staff how to make the authentic Mexican food he grew up with. 

Cafe Tacuba is located in the former Suchy building which was originally built in 1906, but extensively renovated in 2012.  (see map)  Before Cafe Tacuba went into the two-story brick building, Des Moines-based Fong's Pizza was a tenant for over 4 years before deciding not to renew their lease in 2022 citing uncertainty in the market.   The space sat vacant for over a year before Cafe Tacuba took over the building.  Everything was set up for them in terms of kitchen, bar and dining spaces, it just needed a special touch of Mexican artwork. 

Entering the restaurant, you'll find a large mural centered on Mexican artist Frida Kahlo along the long wall of the front dining area.  Faux strands of flowers and vines hung from the ceiling in the room.  A large party was in the restaurant when we got there taking up most of the tables with banquette seating along the wall.   

The bar area was pretty small, but featured a well-stocked back bar of tequilas.  In addition to the usual Mexican beers, Cafe Tacuba also had a good selection of local and regional craft beers to choose from.

In the rear part of the restaurant was a larger dining area with more artwork and murals on the walls.  It was here where we were seated and given menus by our server George.   The room featured a wall covered with fake turf, another large mural, and wall segments painted in different colors.  

On a couple of the walls were a couple of phrases in Spanish.  I had to get my translator application out on my phone to see what they meant in English.  One roughly said, "They wanted to bury us, but they didn't know we were seeds."  The other translated to, "Rip me off and wherever you put me I bloom."  It was a guess that the owners of Cafe Tacuba felt they were slighted or disrespected at some point in getting this venture going.

It wasn't long we sat down when a basket of warm chips and some salsa showed up at the table.  The salsa had a nice cilantro and onion flavor along with a bit of a spicy bite.  We plowed through a couple baskets of chips and salsa.  

We also started off with margaritas.  This is the Ozzi margarita which featured top-shelf silver tequila, fresh lime juice, and an orange liqueur garnished with an orange wedge.  The margaritas were very good.  I only had one and then switched to a Dos Equis Ambar beer they had on tap.  

Cafe Tacuba is a full-day restaurant with an extensive breakfast menu of both American and Mexican items along with a whole gambit of coffees, teas, and juices, along with alcoholic beverages such as mimosas and bloody marys.  The lunch and dinner menu is more Mexican with tacos, fajitas, enchiladas, chimichangas, burritos and quesadillas.  Entrees included grilled chicken and steak dishes, pork chile verde, and a number of seafood offerings including ceviche, crab and shrimp enchiladas, and octopus marinated in a garlic and pepper sauce.  Both the breakfast and lunch/dinner menus feature a number of vegetarian items, as well.  

I looked long and hard at the grilled Mahi tacos, but I ended up getting the carnitas verde enchiladas.  On the menu, the verde enchiladas come with chicken, but I asked George if I could get them with the pork carnitas. He said it would be no problem.  The enchiladas were topped with chopped lettuce and red onions.  Rice and beans came on the side, and the beans weren't your usually refried bean mush.  These were real beans in a sauce topped with chihuahua cheese.  I asked George if he could bring some extra chile verde sauce to go along with the enchiladas.  He was very accommodating throughout the meal.  

My sister-in-law also got enchiladas - the enchiladas rojas (red sauce) with chicken.  My wife went with the chile rellenos - cheese-stuffed poblano peppers dipped in an egg batter and deep fried.  The rellenos were covered in a red sauce and cheese.  

My carnitas enchiladas were delicious.  I slathered them in the green chile sauce.  The salsa verde had a bit of a spicy flavor, but it wasn't salty like I've found some green sauces to be at other Mexican restaurants.  The carnitas were juicy and tender, easy to cut with a fork.  I'm not big on refried beans, but the beans in their sauce had a great flavor.  

My wife really enjoyed her chile rellenos, as well.  But there was no way that she could eat them both so she offered me a bite. They were rich in flavor, full of cheese and the red sauce gave them a nice little zippy taste.  

As I was enjoying my enchiladas, I said, "My god, these are delicious!  They're so fresh and flavorful and very authentic!"  

My wife's sister said, "Isn't this place good?  I think it's the best Mexican restaurant in Cedar Rapids!"

I haven't eaten at many Mexican food joints in Cedar Rapids, but I can't imagine others out there that are much better than Cafe Tacuba.  Everything about the place - the artwork, the cozy environment, the friendly and accommodating service, to the specialty margaritas and selection of craft beers was very good.  And that's not even including the fresh and authentic Mexican food that we had.  The carnitas verde enchiladas were outstanding and everyone simply enjoyed their meals at Cafe Tacuba.  If my wife said that we were going back to Cedar Rapids to go to Cafe Tacuba again at some point, I would have absolutely no problem in doing so.   

Ceci Italian Cuisine - New York City

It was a rainy Saturday night in New York City when I was there earlier this spring.  I was going to get together with a former colleague for dinner, but Uber rides were backed up due to the heavy rain and surge fees were driving up the cost of trips on the ride share app.  After a quick conversation, we decided to bag trying to get together and do something on our own.  Just a few doors down from my hotel was an Italian place that I had passed on my way to the trade show - Ceci Italian Restaurant.  I decided to head there for dinner on my own that night.   

Now, within a three square block area around the Hilton Garden Inn Times Square North hotel that I stayed at, I've counted no less than 27 Italian restaurants.  There was, of course, the Chazz Palminteri Italian Restaurant at the hotel, and another couple Italian restaurants across 46th St. from the hotel.  As my former colleague who traveled to New York City for work when we both worked together years ago said to me one time, "There are so many choices of Italian restaurants in Manhattan that if one isn't good, it will go out of business sooner than later."  So, you can literally swing a cat by the tail in any direction in New York City and find a good Italian restaurant.  

Marcello Papa is the managing partner in Ceci Italian Restaurant which has been open since 2010.  In the heart of the Theater District and Times Square, the restaurant caters to theater goers and tourists who flock to the area.  However, when COVID 19 hit in March of 2020, Ceci took a devastating hit when the theaters closed down for 18 months.  Like all the restaurants in the area, it took some time for Ceci to recover.  At first, they had specials that could be picked up at the restaurant with a 15% discount for ordering on-line.  As time went on and vaccines kicked in, Ceci Italian Restaurant came back as strong as ever and continues to thrive today.  

The downpour was not letting up when I left the hotel to go to Ceci Italian Restaurant just a few paces to the west on W. 46th.  (see map)  Thanks to some scaffolding over the sidewalk (there seems to be scaffolds everywhere in New York City), I was able to dip out of the heavy stuff for a moment before darting into Ceci.  

The restaurant space is long and narrow with a bar up front and a dining area with a low-slung tin-tiled ceiling in back.  The exposed light fixtures spread a bright hue around the dining room.  There was a guy seated at the bar who turned out to be Marcello Papa and he asked me how many there were in my party.  When I just said it was myself, he took me back to a small two-seater table in the corridor between the dining area and the front bar.  I immediately felt that I would be uncomfortable dining alone at this table, so I asked if I could sit at the bar.  "No problem, sir," Marcello said as he did an about-face and took me back to the bar.  

I ended up sitting at the head of the bar next to a large screen television that was showing a replay of a Serie A league soccer game from Italy.  Marcello got me set up with a menu and the bartender soon followed up with an inquiry as to what I wanted to drink.  I ordered up a Peroni to start.    

The food offerings at Ceci Italian Restaurant consist of a number of classic Italian pasta dishes, as well as chicken, beef and seafood entrees.   Pasta dishes consisted of lobster ravioli, fettuccine alfredo, linguine carbonara and a penne pasta dish in a tomato cream sauce.  They had a New York strip steak on the menu served with fresh steamed vegetables.  Seafood dishes included a seared grappa-marinated tuna steak, shrimp risotto, and a broiled salmon filet.  Lamb chops, pork osso bucco, and a chicken marsala entree were also available.  Appetizers included baked stuffed clams, fried calamari, and roasted peppers with goat cheese, basil and anchovies.

I ordered up my food and I got a house salad to start out.  It consisted of fresh lettuce greens tossed in a vinaigrette along with chopped cherry tomatoes and black olives and topped with crispy onions.  A basket of fresh warm bread came with the salad.  It was a great compliment to the salad as the bread was soft, chewy and very delicious.   

I ended up ordering the orecchiette pasta with a bolognese sauce.  Orecchiette pasta is shaped like little cups, but look sort of like small ears.  And orecchiette in Italian means small ears.  The bolognese was a blend of beef, pork and veal with a tomato cream base.  Along with my pasta dish, I got a glass of a Valpolicella red blend they had a house wine.  

And the pasta was excellent.  The bolognese sauce was hearty and a perfect meal for a cold rainy evening.  I was able to finish all that I had in the dish.  I was full, but not uncomfortably full.

I was having such a good time just mellowing out at the bar that I didn't notice that they were closing up around 9 p.m.  After Marcello turned away a couple who were hoping to get a meal right at closing time, I said to him, "Oh, man.  I'm sorry.  I'll finish up and get on my way."

He said, "Oh, no.  You take your time.  Maybe you'd like to have some dessert."  

Dessert did sound pretty good and the bartender brought over a dessert menu to look over.  I got the tiramisu and also signed up for a double espresso.  I knew deep down inside that ordering a double espresso would be trouble given the heightened caffeine in it.  (I call espresso "liquid cocaine".)  But I thought it would be fine with the dessert.

When the tiramisu was brought out to me, I saw that it was served in a plastic cup with a base.  I sort of looked at it funny and immediately thought this was definitely not made in-house.  And from the first bite, my speculation was correct - it was a pretty weak tiramisu.  Given how great my meal was, the tiramisu was a disappointment.  But I was right about the espresso - I didn't get to sleep until well after 1 a.m.  I felt a little rough then next day.  

Getting past the pretty "meh!" tiramisu, I really can't say anything bad about my experience at Ceci Italian Restaurant.  The atmosphere was cozy and comfortable, the service I received from the owner Marcello and the bartender was very good as both were very attentive and welcoming to me, and the food was simply outstanding.  The orecchiette bolognese was an excellent down-home Italian meal that helped take the chill off my bones on that cold and rainy evening.  There's tons of Italian restaurants in New York City, but if you find yourself in the heart of Times Square, venture over to Ceci Italian Restaurant and you shouldn't be disappointed.  

Le Steak Frites St-Paul - Montreal

During my recent trip back to Montreal, my French colleague was asking me what I wanted to do for dinner one evening.  I told him that I could be up for about anything.  Like most European people that I know when they come to North America the siren call of a good steak is an urge that can't be denied.  He mentioned that he saw a steak house just down the street from our hotel, about halfway back from the venue where our trade show was going on.  I mentioned that it had been a while since I'd had a good steak in a restaurant, so after we finished for the day we hoofed it on over to Le Steak Frites St-Paul.  

George Despatie was a somewhat famous restauranteur in Montreal, not only known for running his Steak Frites St-Paul steakhouses, and his Giorgio Ristorante Italian restaurants, but he was also the father of the most celebrated aquatic diver in Canadian sports history, Alexandre Despatie.  The young Despatie was a two-time Olympics silver medal winner in 3 meter springboard diving, and he was also a three-time winner in springboard diving in the World Aquatics (formerly FINA) championships.  He also won numerous championships and place medals in the Pan American Games and the Commonwealth Games.  

George Despatie opened his first Le Steak Frites St-Paul on St-Paul Street in Old Montreal in 1986.  The first Giorgio Ristorante opened in 1989.  The restaurants were unique in that they had a "Bring-your-own-wine" (or beer) concept that proved to be very popular.  By 1995, there were 30 Giorgio Ristorante's either owned by Despatie or franchised out.  At the same time there were about a half dozen Steak Frites St-Paul restaurants in the Montreal area that were owned by Despatie and franchisees.  

By 2005, a decline in the restaurant business had forced a number of Giorgio franchisees to go out of business.  The Steak Frites St-Paul chain, however, was still doing very well with up to 10 locations, many owned by franchisees.  Despatie reworked the franchise structure for the Giorgio Ristorante chain which was down to just 7 locations.  

Despatie ended up keeping the Giorgio restaurants on life-support while Steak Frites St-Paul was still doing very well.  He ended up changing some of the Giorgio locations to beer-centric restaurants or small-plate restaurants.  By 2015, he saw the handwriting on the wall and he started to sell off some of the properties in anticipation of retiring.  

In 2016, the MTY Food Group began negotiations with Despatie to purchase the 6 Giorgio and 9 Steak Frites St-Paul locations.  MTY owned a plethora of restaurant chains including Papa Murphy's, Village Inn and Famous Dave's in the U.S., and Turtle Jack's, Big Smoke Burger, and Baton Rouge Grillhouse & Bar in Canada.  In 2017, MTY purchased both Giorgio and Steak Frites St-Paul for less than $500,000 Canadian (about $350,000 U.S.) in what could be viewed as a fire sale for the slowly declining chain restaurants.  Today, MTY owns nearly 60 chain restaurants in Canada and 36 in the United States.  

Now, when I first came to Montreal in 2002, the first meal I had during my interview process with my old company was at a place called Steak Frites in the Montreal suburb of Anjou.  Our company would put up guests at a hotel across the freeway from the restaurant which was situated in a strip mall.  Steak Frites sort of became a de facto company restaurant for us.  That is, until someone came in and bought the strip mall and tore the building down putting Steak Frites out of business.  

However, that Steak Frites was probably not related to the Steak Frites St-Paul.  First of all, they had wine at the establishment with the wine list written on chalk boards hung on the wall.  And Steak Frites had their menu written out in chalk on another chalk board on another wall (in French, of course), while Le Steak Frites St-Paul is more of an upscale steakhouse with proper hand-held menus.  But seeing the Steak Frites St-Paul name on the front of the building when we walked up brought back many good memories of the original Steak Frites restaurant I went to years ago.  

Today, there are just 3 Le Steak Frites St-Paul locations - one in Terrebonne on the northeast side of the city, one in Laval just north of Montreal, and the downtown location we went to on Rue St-Antoine Ouest (W. St-Antoine St.) in downtown Montreal.  (see map) 

We got into Le Steak Frites St-Paul a little after 6 p.m.  It was a 10 minute walk from the Hotel Bonaventure where we had finished setting up for a trade show earlier in the day.  The steak house not a large place, but very nice in its decor.  There was an upstairs eating area that was closed off that evening that could be used for private parties or overflow dining.  There wasn't that large of a crowd in the place, so there was no chance of them opening that room that evening.  The only drawback with the restaurant is that they had metal chairs that were somewhat uncomfortable.  I figured they did that on purpose to keep the tables turning over on a nightly basis so people wouldn't linger after their meals.  

Our server was a young man by the name of Maxime who went simply by Max.  It was then that I found out that Le Steak Frites St-Paul was an alcohol-free/B.Y.O.B establishment.  Somewhat crestfallen that I couldn't get a beer to take the dust out of my mouth or a glass of wine with my meal, I figured that I could get by without an alcoholic beverage for just one meal.  

Max had dropped off menus for us to look over.  Steaks ruled the menu with a New York strip, two different sizes of beef tenderloin filets, a 14 ounce ribeye steak, and a flank steak available.  They also had the traditional steak frites - a shoulder cut steak that isn't as tender as most of the traditional cuts, but is a good value and something that Quebec families cooked in place of the higher priced cuts a number of years ago.  

In addition to steaks, Steak Frites had a number of seafood selections including scallops, a salmon filet and a sesame-encrusted tuna steak.  A slow-roasted lamb shank and a grilled pork loin was also available on the menu.  Many of the appetizers sounded very good including the fried calamari, the braised beef ravioli, the grilled octopus (I suggested that, but my colleague wasn't too keen on that), and the garlic escargot au gratin - garlic-infused snails topped with bread crumbs and cheese.  They also had beef, salmon and tuna tartare in 3 ounce and 6 ounce sizes.  

While I couldn't get my friend to jump on any of the appetizers because he wanted a steak and wanted one bad, we both started out with a Caesar salad.  It was a basic Caesar salad, but instead of bacon bits scattered on the salad, they put a single crispy strip of bacon across the top.  The greens were crisp and fresh with a tangy Caesar dressing with croutons finishing out the salad.  For good measure, a lemon wedge was provided to give the Caesar dressing a bit of a citrusy bite.  

For our steaks that evening, we both got the 10 ounce filet.  While my colleague got his medium-rare, I got mine rare.  I remarked that most French people I've been with get their steaks rare.  He said, "I'm not like most French people."  The steak sat on a bed of green beans and a large amount of fries came in a miniature colander on the side.  I had Max bring me out a side of the au poivre creamy peppercorn sauce, but I was sort of taken aback when he said they didn't have horseradish - either fresh or creamy.  But the au poivre sauce was a fine dipping sauce for my steak.  

The steak was tender, juicy, flavorful and very good.  I was impressed with the cut of meat - they use Canadian Prime beef, the highest grade of the 13 different levels of Canadian graded beef.  And the chef cooked the steak a perfect rare for me - warm on the outside, cool in the middle.  

The fries were the traditional Belgian fries served with both ketchup and mayonnaise.  My former Canadian colleagues got me hooked on fries with mayo a number of years ago and I always forget to ask for mayo on the side with my fries when I have them in the States.  But mayo is regularly brought out with fries in Canada.  

And these fries were scrumptious.  Crispy and light, they were a great complement to the steak.  But I couldn't eat all my fries, so my colleague asked if he could have some of mine.  I was amazed that he had finished his steak and nearly all of his fries.  For medium-sized French guy, he can really pack away the food.  I remarked that I saw poutine on the side menu and wondered why he didn't go for that.  "I thought about it, believe me," he replied.  I had about half of what I had served to me left when he grabbed a handful and put them on his plate.  

We were both impressed with our meal at Le Steak Frites St-Paul.  Our filet steaks were excellent and the Belgian fries that came with them were also superb.  The appetizers also sounded scrumptious, but I couldn't get my colleague to partake in any of them with me.  That wasn't a deal breaker, however, nor was the fact that Steak Frites was alcohol-free and I couldn't enjoy a glass of a hearty red wine with my steak.  Nonetheless, I was able to enjoy the meal without imbibing for just one evening.  Other than the chairs being uncomfortable, it was a nice place to have a meal.  And Max's service was top-notch.  If I go back to a Le Steak Frites St-Paul location on upcoming trips to Montreal, I'll be sure to pick up a bottle of wine to go with the meal.    

Grilled Cheese Bar - Davenport, IA

Down in the Village of East Davenport, a small subterranean restaurant with a rudimentary name caught my eye when it first opened in October of 2021.  It was a little place that specialized in grilled cheese sandwiches.  And when I found out that they also had a full bar in the place, I was really wanting to try the place out.  However, my wife has really been trying to limit the amount of cheese intake over the past couple three years and she just wasn't quite as enthused about giving the eatery a try as I was.  I almost had her convinced to give the place a try when a catastrophe on New Years Day in 2023 almost put the place out of business.  But after it came back from what would have been terminal for most businesses, I still couldn't get my wife to give the place a try.  With my wife out of town for a couple days earlier this year and me not wanting to cook for myself one evening, I made the trek down the hill to give Grilled Cheese Bar a long-awaited try.  

Natalia Mulica was a 2020 graduate of St. Ambrose University in Davenport.  Her dream to own a specialty restaurant that served grilled cheese sandwiches.  That dream came to pass in 2021 when she found a spot in the Village Market Place in the Village of East Davenport.  By October of that year, Grilled Cheese Bar opened and became somewhat of a hit with the younger crowd in Davenport.  But older people who loved the assorted styles of grilled cheese sandwiches the little restaurant had to offer, as well.   Before long live music was also a part of the Grilled Cheese Bar on weekends.  

On the morning of January 1st, 2023, my wife and I had gone out to get coffee (I get espresso) from one of our favorite drive-thru coffee places - Coffee Revolution.  We decided to drive through downtown Davenport as it was a nice day and then head back along River Drive to go through the East Village to take us back up the hill to our house.  However, as we tried to turn onto Mound Street, we found it was blocked by City of Davenport utility vehicles.  What appeared to be a main break had water gushing between River Drive and 11th Street on Mound.  "Uh oh," my wife said as we slowly drove past the parking lot at the corner of River Drive and Mound Street.  "This doesn't look good."

And it wasn't.  Mud, sand and water had run down into the restaurant.  Even the concrete floor had buckled under the weight of the mud and water.  The restaurant had to be closed while the clean up from the mess was started.  But in the ensuing days, Mulica found that the insurance on the business didn't cover flooding since it was a fire service line that broke.  And the City of Davenport wasn't liable for the break, nor was the local water company Iowa-American Water.  

Mulica was determined to come back from this and she started a GoFundMe page where she asked for $20,000 in donations to get the restaurant back on its feet.  The local outlet for Raygun - known for their irreverent and sometimes pithy messages on t-shirts - even came out with their own t-shirt which is pictured on the right.  

Within weeks, Mulica had raised the funds and then some.  After a complete makeover of the restaurant, Grilled Cheese Bar reopened on March 4, 2023 - almost two months to the day after she almost saw her dream literally go down the drain.  

It was a Monday evening when I decided to head down to Grilled Cheese Bar and I found plenty of parking in the lot in front of the establishment just north of River Drive on Mound St.  (see map)  It was a few steps down to the patio just outside of the restaurant.  Although it was a rather nice evening for late winter, there were no patrons sitting outside.

And when I went inside, I found just one table filled with people toward the back of the restaurant opposite the bar.  But it was still pretty early - around 5:30 p.m. - and it was a Monday night - not one of the more popular nights to go out to a restaurant.  

But the restaurant was quaint.  It was a long narrow space with spoked light fixtures hanging from the ceiling and a dark hardwood support beam along one wall.  With southern exposed windows, a lot of natural light filtered into the restaurant.  Off to the side in a little nook area were a number of games and coloring utensils that kids could play with while they were there with their parents.  There was a large floor-standing Connect 4 game included with the board games.  

I ended up sitting at the bar that evening.  It featured six low-backed bar stools with a wooden support intersecting the bar.  They had a fully stocked bar and a good selection of craft beers available in cans and bottles.  They had my beer of choice - Kona Big Wave Golden Ale - available and I immediately liked the place.  Music playing in the background was a mix of 60's and 70's classic rock from the likes of Foghat, Iron Butterfly, and Blondie, but also funk tracks from the likes of Rick James and even some blues music from artists such as Lightnin' Hopkins and Koko Taylor were interspersed with the classic rock songs.  

Katelynn was wearing two hats that evening - she was the bartender and the waitress for the restaurant.  She gave me a menu and I ordered up a Big Wave to enjoy.  In addition to different variants of grilled cheese sandwiches with protein added, Grilled Cheese Bar also features macaroni bowls with a choice of chipotle chicken, barbecue pork, steak or a chicken/bacon/ranch combination.  Sides included fries, potato salad, pasta salad, and mac & cheese.  

They had some interesting grilled cheese sandwiches on the menu including a Buffalo chicken grilled sandwich with American and muenster cheese; a pepperoni grilled sandwich with provolone cheese and a red pasta sauce; a bacon with macaroni grilled sandwich with American and muenster cheese; and a grilled sandwich with artichoke spread, tomato slices, fresh spinach and provolone cheese.  I thought my wife would enjoy that sandwich.  And, of course, they had a basic grilled cheese sandwich with American and muenster cheese called "The Monster".  

I ended up getting the Monte - a monte cristo sandwich with ham, provolone cheese, dijon mustard and mayo on egg-dipped fried bread.  Parmesan cheese was sprinkled on top of the sandwich before it was cut in half diagonally.  A tin cup of Cuban fries came with the sandwich.  

The sandwich was pretty good.  The provolone cheese was oozing out of the sandwich with each bite and it had a very good flavor combination with the dijon mustard and the mayo added to the ham and cheese.  The combination of the cheese, ham and condiments were all balanced in taste along with the nice crispy shell of the bread.  The fries were also good with nice crispy snap to them.  

I have to say that I was sort of surprised at how nice the Grilled Cheese Bar was in terms of both decor and the food that I had.  It was a comfortable and cozy little subterranean place and Katelynn's service was friendly and competent.  And their selection of craft beers coupled with a full bar made it appeal to me even more.  I've tried to get my wife to go with me to Grilled Cheese Bar - even for just a Friday night drink at the bar.  But so far she's resisted.  Hopefully after reading this, she'll be a bit more open to try Grilled Cheese Bar with me.  

The Sandlot - Park Ridge, IL

For over 15 years, I've been driving along Touhy Ave. into downtown Park Ridge.  At the corner of Greenwood Ave. and Touhy is a little restaurant by the name of The Sandlot.  (see map)  It's a basic place, no frills, no liquor or beer service - just a little neighborhood burger joint.  My problem is that I kept passing the place and not giving it a try.  Earlier this year, I had an appointment in Morton Grove and I was heading from my hotel toward the appointment.  It was after 1:00 p.m. and I was a little hungry.  I had some time to get some lunch so this time I stopped in to The Sandlot.  

The Sandlot started in 2012 when Brandon Shapic - who ran a Checkers restaurant in the Detroit area for 10 years - moved to the Chicago area six months prior.  Shapic teamed with Tom Marabanian to open their little burger joint in what was originally a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant.  After the KFC went out of business, the building housed a couple fast food-style restaurants, but nothing stuck.  The building sat empty for a few months before Shapic and Marabanian took it over and turned it into a small sports-themed fast-casual restaurant named after the movie with the same name.  In fact, Shapic and Marabanian had to get an agreement with Paramount Pictures to use The Sandlot as the name of their burger joint.  In addition to fresh (never frozen) ground beef burgers and hand-cut fries, The Sandlot also offers hand-breaded chicken sandwiches, hot dogs and they're also famous for their malts and milkshakes.   

There's not much to the inside of The Sandlot.  Just to the right of the order window is a poster of the movie.  But other than that the decor is pretty neutral in the little restaurant.  The place had a few tables and chairs along the side and probably sat around 24 people, tops.  

It was after 1:30 in the afternoon, but there was a pretty good flow of customers coming and going from the restaurant.  A number of people had called in orders in advance, but a few were waiting on orders that they'd placed at the window.  

The menu is pretty basic with burgers (single, double, triple and even a quadruple burger!), a chicken sandwich, a double bacon BLT, and a hot dog for main items.  Fries are the only side option, while they have pop, bottled water and milkshakes or malts available to drink.  From what I could gather from some of the people coming in, the milkshakes were a hot item.  

The Sandlot is the closest thing to an In-N-Out burger I've ran across in all my travels across the Midwest.  Their "Two-N-Two" is a credible knock off of In-N-Out's "Double-Double" - a flat-grilled burger smothered with American cheese and served on a bed of fresh lettuce and a tomato slice with a choice of grilled or raw onions (I went for the raw onions) and finished with a mayo-based concoction that they called "Sandlot Sauce".  The burger was served in a foil wrapper where melted cheese stuck to the inside of the wrapper.  

The burger was very good.  The bun I didn't care for all that much - it was a bit more hard than I prefer.  But it didn't detract from the taste of the burger and actually held together pretty well with all the cheese oozing off the burger patties.  

I got an order of fries just for the hell of it.  The fries were the thick cut variety and I could tell they used fresh cut potatoes at The Sandlot as the color of the fries was a dark golden hue.  The fries were pretty good, but there was a lot of them.  By the time I finished up the burger, I was pretty full and ended up eating just a few fries.  

I'm sort of kicking myself for not giving The Sandlot a try before this.  For as many times that I've passed the place in the past, it took me this long to finally stop in.  The burger was very good and very reminiscent of an In-N-Out burger found out west.  The fries were OK, but the burger was definitely worth the stop.  The Sandlot is a no-frills, window-service restaurant that has found quite the following in the near northwest suburbs. 

Poutineville - Montreal

Poutine - basically French fries mixed with cheese curds and covered in a brown gravy - is the provincial cuisine of Quebec.  Traveling to Montreal many times over the past 20+ years, I had only had poutine - maybe - two or three times over that period because my former boss usually took us to places that were decidedly non-poutine places.  Having to go back to Montreal a couple months ago for a trade show, our international sales manager from France was going to come over to attend the show, as well.  He studied in Montreal for a year 25 years ago and he fell in love with poutine when he lived there.  We met up at Montreal-Trudeau Airport after our respective flights, and on the Uber ride into the city I turned to him and asked, "Poutine tonight?"  He heartily agreed with that choice for dinner.  I had picked out a couple three places in advance and with the help of our Uber driver, we settled on a place called Poutineville.   

Kosta Kariotakis and Camillo Fresco both grew up in the Saint-Michel neighborhood of Montreal.  Kariotakis' mother would take the leftovers from the previous night's meal and mix it in with classic poutine for his friends.  Kariotakis loved the memories of those meals and thought about wanting to share some of his mom's poutine concoctions on the public at some point.

Kariotakis was in the restaurant supply business while his friend Camillo Fresco owned his own body shop.  Even though there was a 17-year age difference, the two had a good friendship and talked about Kariotakis' dream of opening his own poutine restaurant.  That dream came true when Kariotakis and Fresco opened the first Poutineville in April of 2011 on Beaubein Street in northeast Montreal.

Pictured right - Kosta Kariotakis and Camillo Fresco flank Tom Bountis who helped the two to eventually expand Poutineville to multiple locations.  Photo courtesy Poutineville Facebook page.   

Poutineville was such a hit with their various styles of poutine where patrons could choose from 20+ different featured dishes, or could build their own poutine from 9 different types of meats, along with a like number of choices for vegetables or cheese toppings.  Less than a year after opening, Poutineville opened a second location in downtown Montreal.  

After opening a third Poutineville in Montreal in 2014, Kariotakis and Fresco decided to do something bold by going into the Toronto market and opening an upscale Poutineville with high-end additives such as fois gras, lobster, grilled lamb chops and braised beef.   The Toronto location opened in July of 2014, but upscale poutine didn't quite light a fire under the people of Canada's largest city.  After just over two years of being in business in Toronto, Poutineville closed in September of 2016.  

Also in 2016, Kariotakis and Fresco franchised their first Poutineville to three partners who opened a restaurant in Montreal's Mile End neighborhood.  Today, there are 10 Poutineville locations including one in Trenton, ON, and one in Quebec City, QC.  

The newest of the Poutineville locations is on Bishop Street (rue Bishop) just west of downtown Montreal and near the campus of Concordia University where my dining partner had gone to college for a year 25 years ago.  Bishop Street is well-known for the restaurants that line either side of the street for two or three blocks. It was a 15-minute Uber ride from our hotel on the east side of downtown Montreal to the Poutineville on Bishop Street.   (see map)

At first, we weren't certain Poutineville was open as the outside lights weren't on, but I went up the steps and opened the door and went inside.  We found a small place with a lively and colorful mural on the wall and tables with banquette seating below.  The server that night was a young guy by the name of Billy.  He told us we could sit anywhere - and we were the only people in the place.  That sort of unnerved my French friend who was thinking that maybe - just maybe - Poutineville was not a popular place.  However, as time went on while we were there, more people came in - both to dine or to take food to-go.  60's and 70's classic rock and soul music was playing in the background while we dined.  

After giving us our menus, Billy asked us what we wanted to drink and my colleague got a water - he doesn't drink alcohol.  And that's fine with me, and he's fine with me having a beer or three with dinner.  I ended up getting an Archibald Matante ("aunt" in English), a nice blonde ale from a local microbrewery that was light and refreshing.   

While they have over 24 different types of poutine at Poutineville, the restaurant also features burgers, hot dogs, grilled cheese sandwiches, grilled or fried chicken sandwiches, and sub sandwiches.  For people who may have been forced to go to Poutineville and didn't want to eat unhealthy items, they also had salads on the menu.  

But we were there for the poutine and my colleague from France got the basic poutine - fries and cheese curds covered with gravy.  From his first bite, he was in heaven.  "Man, I have been dreaming about poutine for the past two weeks," he said between bites.  

The funny thing is that he is also on somewhat of a dietary restriction and cheese isn't on his list of foods he can (or will) eat.  He literally ate all the fries with the gravy and left a pile of cheese curds in the bowl.  I said, "Why didn't you order the poutine without the cheese?"

"I like to cheat every once in a while," he said with a slight grin.  "I do have a few, but not all of them."  

Even with over 24 different types of poutines on the menu, I pretty much knew what I was going to get in advance.  They had a list of "World Poutines" including an Indian poutine with butter chicken, an American poutine with seasoned ground beef and American cheese, a Chinese poutine with crispy "General Tao" chicken on the regular poutine, and a Greek gyro poutine with feta cheese.  Some of their signature poutines included the "Hat Trick" topped with hot dogs, bacon and ground beef, the pulled pork with brie cheese and roasted red peppers on poutine, and for those who can't get enough cheese in their diet, Poutineville has a four-cheese poutine topped with cheese curds, Swiss, brie and goat cheese.  That just binds me up just thinking of it.  

I got the "Montrealer" - fries, cheese curds, gravy and Montreal "smoked meat" (basically a pastrami or corned beef) with melted Swiss cheese along with mushrooms and topped with a fried dill pickle.  Of course, I was stupid and got the large size.  There was no way that I was going to even eat HALF of this!  It was a wonderful mixture of a magnificent culinary mess of artery hardening goodness.  I dug in and the taste was just out of this world.  "You can tell this is so bad for you because it tastes so great," I exclaimed between bites.  

I did get through about half the bowl - my French colleague called me weak for not finishing the whole thing.  But he wasn't going to shame me into trying to put more into my mouth.  I didn't want to see another bowl of poutine for at least a year.  However, my colleague had poutine TWO MORE TIMES during his visit to Montreal.  "What can I say," he said as I was with him at a restaurant three night later where he ordered poutine.  "I love the stuff!"   

There's a lots of place to get good to great poutine around Montreal.  I'm sure there are some better than Poutineville, but if you're a poutine rookie, I'd say give Poutineville a try first.  They have a lot of different types of poutine and their regular poutine is pretty good according to my colleague.  My smoked meat and Swiss cheese poutine was also pretty good, but - oh! - so filling.  With Poutineville locations all around the Montreal area, you aren't far from any of their spots for poutine.  

The Dirty Shirley - Rock Island, IL

My wife and I had been interested in trying a place over in Rock Island since it opened in late 2022.  We wondered if it could be one of our rotational joints where we would go out for bloody Marys and burgers on Sunday.  We just hadn't made it over on a Sunday to try it out.  One recent evening, we didn't feel like cooking at home, so we drove over to The Dirty Shirley to check the place out. 

Steve and Jen Thomas had grown up in Rock Island, but both had been living in Colorado since 2014 working in the hospitality industry.  They had always wanted to run their own restaurant and had come up with a concept of serving "dirty" food - recipes infused with alcohol or beer.  The original "dirty Shirley" is a vodka-added variation to the kiddie cocktail that has lemon-lime soda (7Up or Sprite) with grenadine and with a big red cherry to finish it off.  

Steve and Jen moved back to Rock Island in 2022 and leased a small building that had housed a number of restaurants and/or bars over the years.  They started working on some of the food and drinks they were going to feature in the fall of that year and just before Christmas they opened the doors to the Dirty Shirley.  

It's been a tough year for the Thomas family.  They realized that maybe running their own restaurant wasn't the best thing for them.  In December of 2023, a post on Facebook announced that the Thomas' were looking to sell their restaurant, even helping with the financing if the new owner would put down 50% of the asking price.  The Thomas' still own the Dirty Shirley, but recent social media posts have been dire in trying to keep the place open.  

The Dirty Shirley is located on 16th Avenue at the corner of 41st St. in Rock Island at 41st St. (see map)  When I pulled up in front of the place, I immediately recognized the building as it had been a couple other restaurants where I'd had meals at in the past.   I had a memorable burger there when it was called The Cave a number of years ago.  And later on when it was a breakfast place after that - The 14th Avenue Waffle House - I remember the food being pretty good.  

The restaurant is a very small place with a small bar along the west wall with tables and chairs along the east wall.  Our server that evening was a young lady by the name of Nicole.  She was pretty indifferent to us, at first.  We figured it was because she had to be bartender and waitress at the same time.  But later on in the evening, she came out to serve us our food and she was wearing an arm sling.  She told us that she had torn the labrum in her shoulder and was hoping rest could help mend the tissue rather than getting an operation.  We figured that she had to be in some discomfort adding to her un-sunny disposition.  

And compounded on all that for Nicole and her physical problems, a big infrastructure problem developed later on. After we finished our meal, my wife had gone in to use the restroom before we left.  She used the facilities and washed up in the sink before coming out.  As we were getting ready to leave, we heard a crash coming from the bathroom areas toward the back of the building.  A lady came out and exclaimed, "The sink just fell off the wall!"  She had turned on the faucets and the porcelain sink promptly fell off the wall.  As if Nicole wasn't having a tough enough night...

We started off with getting a couple drinks.  Since I wanted to find out if The Dirty Shirley could be in our rotation of burgers, beers and bloody Marys on Sundays, I got myself a bloody Mary with a pint of the Kona Big Wave they had on tap.  The mix was house-made and was a little thin on both texture and flavor.  It was just OK.  My wife got her usual Tito's and cranberry.  

The menu at The Dirty Shirley wasn't all that long, but had some interesting items.  Appetizers included their signature dirty balls - whiskey-infused ground beef and sausage meat balls; as well as stuffed mushrooms and stuffed jalapeños.  Sandwiches included their pickle wrap grilled cheese - The Dirty Shirley's dill pickle wrap mixture with dill pickles on a grilled cheese sandwich.  The Dirty Pig consisted of beer-braised pulled pork with a choice of a house-made barbecue sauce or a house-made Southern Comfort-infused apricot sauce.  And they had a black bean burger option for vegetarians.  

I was there for the burger and I got their signature Dirty Burger that featured a 1/2 pound patty topped with smoked cheddar cheese and bacon, and topped with whiskey-sauteéd onions.  I had a choice between baked beans and house-made chips on the side and I went with the chips.  I could sort of tell they were on a shoestring budget at The Dirty Shirley as they only provided a basket of ketchup and mustard packs rather than condiment dispensaries.  

My wife got the patty melt.  For her side, she asked Nicole if she could substitute the chicken curry soup they had that night.  Nicole said that there would be an up-charge for the soup as a side, and my wife said that was fine.

My burger was very good.  Juicy, full of flavor and somewhat messy, the burger was top notch.  The chips were very salty, but I concentrated on the burger and sort of forgot about the chips.  My wife tried a couple and even she said they were too salty.  

My wife said her patty melt was also very good.   "For a patty melt, this is above average," she said to me.  We were both impressed with the burgers we got.

We're hoping that The Dirty Shirley hangs on or finds a suitable party for new ownership.  It's a nice little place that has a good burger and some interesting items on their menu.  We knew Nicole was having a tough night coupled with her torn labrum, so we definitely cut her a large amount of slack when she was a little late on getting drinks out or getting more napkins for us.  The Dirty Shirley is a cozy little place that has a nice little vibe going for it and we hope it continues. 

 

Havana Central - New York City

In New York City recently, I was walking between my hotel and the place where the trade show was going on in Times Square.  Across the street, I saw a large neon sign with a palm tree and the name "HAVANA" on the side of the sign that stuck out from the front of a building on W. 46th St.  The sign intrigued me so much that I had to go across the street and check out the menu on the front of building.  While I didn't have time to stop in that day, I made it a point to go back to Havana Central for lunch the next day.  

Jeremy Merrin was an e-commerce entrepreneur who was riding high during the dot-com bubble period in the late 1990's.  Getting out of the game before the bubble burst in the early 2000's, Merrin was looking to do something else for his next venture.  He loved going to a Latin restaurant near his home in New York City where he could get a big plate covered with black beans, rice and chicken for not a lot of money.  He started to talk to a Hispanic friend of his who confirmed that while there were a lot of Mexican restaurants in New York, there weren't a lot of Latin restaurants that catered to Hispanics. 

Pictured left - Jeremy Merrin.  Photo courtesy Medium.com

Merrin did some research into restaurants - especially Cuban restaurants.  He had dated a Cuban girl in high school and was fascinated by their food. He found that there wasn't a nationwide presence of Cuban restaurants and choices in New York City - and other large cities, for that matter - were scant.  It was then when he decided to go forward with a Cuban restaurant concept.  

The only problem was that he didn't know the first thing about A) starting up and running a restaurant; and B) how to prepare Cuban food.  Merrin teamed up with Arlene Spiegel, a restaurant consultant and former restaurant owner to help him come up with his concept.  Over the next 9 months Merrin and Spiegel put together a game plan on a Cuban restaurant, as well as hiring a food engineer who came up with the initial menu for Merrin's Cuban restaurant.  Just before opening his restaurant, Spiegel hired his first employee, a chef by the name of Stanley Licairac who learned the art of cooking Latin food from his mother.  

In 2002, Spiegel bought a former deli with counter service on 17th St. near Union Square in Manhattan.  On June 24, 2002, Havana Central opened for business.  Lines formed out the door and down 17th Street for the first few months, even without people being able to sit in the restaurant.  Merrin was able to get the space next to him that allowed him to open a small dining room with a bar area.  When Merrin started to see the sales of alcohol go through the roof, he knew it was time to find a bigger spot.  

In 2005, Merrin opened a second Havana Central location in Times Square, and in 2007 on the Upper West Side on Broadway near 114th Street.  Both restaurants were appreciably larger than the original Union Square location with seating for over 200 people.  In 2011, a 4th Havana Central opened on Long Island in Garden City.  But when the lease on the Union Square location came up in 2012, Merrin decided to close that location because of its size, or lack of it.  A New Jersey location opened in the town of Edison in 2015, but the Upper West Side location closed not long after the pandemic began to subside in 2021.  Today, the Times Square location, the New Jersey location and the Long Island location are the only three Havana Central locations still in business.   

The Manhattan location of Havana Central is located just east of 7th Ave. on W. 46th St.  (see map)  It was just after the lunch time rush when I left the trade show and wandered over to the restaurant.  The burnt orange facade with the ornate gating above the entrance gave it sort of an old world Havana vibe right off the bat.  

Entering Havana Central, the decor continues to send one back in time to the Havana of the 1950's.  Painted plaster walls with art deco posters hanging from them, ornate antique lights hanging from the ceiling, and large urns with palm plants gave the dining area that old world pre-Castro atmosphere.  It was sort of elegant, yet very relaxing.   Salsa music from artists such as La Supreme Corte Orquestra, Grupo Galé, La Sonora Ponceña, and the late Frank "Paquito" Guzmán played in the background giving the restaurant even more of an authentic Cuban feel.  

I ended up seated at the bar which featured an exquisite dark wood back bar.   Lantern-style light fixtures hung just above the bar area.  The bartender that day was a young lady by the name of Isaias who seemed to be more interested talking with two men further down the bar from me.  When she finally came down to greet me, she brought a menu and asked what I wanted to drink.  Even though they had a good selection of rum which was used to make Caribbean-inspired drinks, they also had a number of Mexican-style margarita drinks on the drink menu.  

But I was more in the mood for a beer and they had Hateuy in bottles.  Hateuy (pronounced "ah-TWAY") was Cuba's first premium beer, first brewed by the Bacardi family in their Modelo brewery nearly 100 years ago.  Hateuy beer was the favorite beverage of choice among commercial shippers and sailors who sailed in and out of Havana in the 40's and 50's.  Americans soldiers and naval personnel stationed around the Caribbean during World War II fancied Hateuy over other libations that were offered.  

In the early 60's, Fidel Castro's new communist government took over the Modelo brewery.  The Bacardi family fled the island after Castro's takeover and abandoned all property including the brewery.  Bacardi resurrected the Hateuy brand in the mid-90's thanks to a Cuban refugee by the name of Eduardo McCormick.  McCormick worked at the Modelo brewery in the 50's and he had the original recipe for Hateuy with him.  Hateuy was marketed as a specialty beer rather than a Cuban beer when it was re-introduced in 1998, but discontinued less than 10 years later.  

In 2011, Bacardi announced that Hateuy would continue as a micro-brew under a licensing agreement with Thomas Creek Brewery in Greenville, SC.  It was first introduced to South Florida beer aficionados a couple years later (due to the large Cuban ex-pat population), then was launched in new York City in 2014.  It was a very smooth golden lager that - I felt - had a great flavor.  I immediately liked it.  

The menu at Havana Central featured empanadas, fried calamari, jerk-spiced wings, masitas de cerdo (fried chunks of pork), and maiz estelo Havana - small cuts of corn on the cob dusted with spices and cheese.  There were also soups and salads available including the ensalada de aguacate - avocado slices on a bed of mixed lettuce greens with sliced red onions, sliced green olives and chunky tomatoes finished with a balsamic vinaigrette.  Just reading the description of the salad on the menu made me pause for a moment.  

I've eaten at a handful of Cuban restaurants over the years, but I can't say that I'm much of a Cuban food expert.  Pork, beef and chicken dishes are the main ingredients in many of the Cuban-style entrees at Havana Central.  A couple combinations of salmon and/or shrimp dishes were on the menu, as well.  And they had a couple vegetarian options including a pimento cheese-stuff bell pepper with rice.  I was really eying the pernil asada - slow-roasted marinated pork garnished with pickled red onions and served with a side of rice.   

I learned a long time ago that the wonderful Cuban sandwiches I've had in Miami years ago aren't available anywhere north of Tampa.  I have yet to find the soft sweetened bread that makes the Cuban sandwich what it is anywhere other than Miami.  Most "Cuban" sandwiches I've had feature a panini-style French bread with a crusty outer shell.  It's just not the same.  (Think of Cuban bread as similar to King's Hawaiian rolls and bread.)

But I had an idea that the Cuban sandwich at Havana Central had to be similar to the ones in South Florida because they categorized the bread as "Cuban".  When I finally got Isaias' attention that I was ready to order lunch, I asked her if the Cuban sandwiches were similar to the ones in South Florida.  "We've been told our Cuban sandwiches are very good," she said in a thick Cuban accent.  Hoping for the best, I ordered the Cuban sandwich.  

When the sandwich was brought out to me by someone in the kitchen, I immediately saw that it was the same pressed panini-style French bread with a crunchy outer layer that I could get at any restaurant that had a Cuban-style sandwich in the Midwest.  It was chock full of pulled pork, thick slices of Swiss cheese, shaved ham, and finished with dill pickles and yellow mustard.  

And the sandwich was very good.  Although the bread wasn't the sweetened Cuban bread that I fell in love with years ago.  The pork was very tender and juicy, it overpowered the taste of the ham, but the Swiss cheese was a great compliment to the overall taste of the sandwich.  Still, I was sort of kicking myself for not getting the pernil pork entree I had originally been looking at.  

The great thing about New York City is that there is just about any cuisine available in any given square mile of the city.  And they have to be pretty good or they're going to be going out of business pretty quickly.  And the quality of the food at Havana Central will ensure that it won't be going out of business anytime soon.  Although I was disappointed that the Cuban sandwich wasn't the same as the ones in Southern Florida, it was still very good with the large chunks of tender pulled pork on the sandwich.  Isisah's service was subpar - as I said she seemed to be more interested in entertaining two guys down at the other end of the bar than paying any attention to the fact that I wanted another Hateuy beer at any point of my visit.  But the elegance and charm of Havana Central gave it the feeling like you were really in a restaurant in pre-Castro Cuba in the 50's.  When I get back to New York at some point and am near Havana Central, I'd like to stop back in and get something even more authentic for a good Cuban meal.  

Mac's Speed Shop - Charlotte, NC

Traveling through the Carolinas recently, I had a meeting with an account just outside of Columbia, SC.  (By the way, I wholly recommend Tavern on 6 in Irmo, SC.  I went there with my account and his staff, but I didn't feel comfortable taking pictures of the food and the restaurant since it was my first time being with them.  I will say the fettuccine bolognese was outstanding.)  I told my dealer that I had eaten at Midwood Smokehouse when I was in Charlotte and was planning on going back to try a brewpub when I was ending up back there the following evening.  He said, "We have a Midwood Smokehouse here, too.  It's OK.  But if you get back to Charlotte, you really need to try Mac's Speed Shop."  He explained to me that despite its name, Mac's Speed Shop had - in his estimation - the best barbecue in Charlotte.  So, when I got back to Charlotte the next evening, I had a couple of brewpubs in mind that I had picked out in advance.  But Mac's Speed Shop stayed on my mind.  I liked Midwood Smokehouse, but if he said he liked Mac's better, well, I just had to give it a try.  

Wynn Davis and Hall Johnson (I just love how family surnames become first names for males - and some females - in the south) admittedly didn't know the first thing about running a restaurant, let along a barbecue joint.  But the two did know that there was a dearth of good barbecue in Charlotte in the early 2000's.  They wanted to do their own barbecue place that had an automotive theme, a place where bikers could come in for good food and live music, but also a place that could host a business lunch.  

They found an old building in central Charlotte that was a car wash/garage back in the 1940's.  The name of the car wash/garage was Mac's Speed Shop, so it was a fitting name for Davis and Johnson's new barbecue concept.  Mac's Speed Shop opened their doors in May of 2005 and it wasn't long before more Mac's Speed Shops opened around Charlotte.  

Davis and Johnson later established the Mac's Hospitality Group which oversaw the growth of Mac's Speed Shop outside of the greater Charlotte area.  The Mac's Hospitality Group also developed other restaurant concepts such as SouthBound, a Southern California-inspired Mexican restaurant (NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson is a partner in the SoundBound restaurants); BackStage Lounge, billed as a neighborhood speakeasy; The Studio event space; and The Music Yard, an small outdoor live music/event venue.  

I ended up going to the Mac's Speed Shop in Charlotte's South End neighborhood just north of the corner of South Blvd and Ideal Way.  (see map)  There's a small covered parking area off to the side and I was able to snag the last available parking space when I got there.  

Walking inside, I saw a front bar area that was unmanned at the time when I walked in.  Large garage doors on the front of the building opened to an outdoor patio that was open during the warmer months.  They did have outdoor heaters on the patio, but even though the weather was nice for December, there was no one enjoying the evening on the patio.   

The main dining area with the main bar are located in the rear of the building at Mac's Speed Shop.   A row of booths were opposite the long bar with high-top tables in between.  The music playing in the background was pretty loud with Ten Years After on the sound system when I walked into the main dining room.  Actually, the music they played during my visit was an eclectic and diverse mix of classic and contemporary rock along with some blues mixed in.  I heard songs from Blackberry Smoke, Samantha Fish, and Otis Rush while I was there.

I took a seat at the bar and was helped throughout my visit by three different young ladies who were tending the bar that evening.  One of them gave me a food menu to look through while another asked what I wanted to drink.  I took a look at their beer menu and I saw that they had Wicked Weed beers on tap - we had visited Wicked Weed when my wife and I were in Asheville, NC a few years ago.  I ordered up a pint of the Wicked Weed Perni-Haze, a very good hazy IPA.  

The top of the menu featured Mac's Speed Shop's appetizers and it was a decidedly southern mix of offerings.  Hush puppies were the first thing on the appetizer menu followed by nachos with a choice of either pulled pork or pulled chicken.  Other southern-style appetizers included egg rolls stuffed with pulled pork, cole slaw and mac & cheese; deep-fried pimento cheese; pork rinds, and deviled eggs with bacon and pickled jalapeños.  They also had hickory-smoked wings as part of the appetizer menu.  

There were a number of sandwiches on the menu including a smoked brisket dip, a smoked turkey club sandwich, and a chopped brisket wrap.  They had about a half-dozen burgers on the menu including a bacon jam bison burger.  And they had southern barbecue twist to Mexican favorites including a smoked brisket taco and a smoked chicken quesadilla.  The blackened shrimp tacos sounded really good, but I was there for the barbecue that evening.  

And since Mac's Speed Shop is primarily a barbecue place, smoked meat platters took up most of the main entree menu.  Brisket, pulled pork, St. Louis-style pork ribs, turkey, chicken and sausage were all smoked in-house, and there was also a cedar-plank smoked salmon and corn meal-coated shrimp available as well.  I really wanted to get a sampler platter, but their only option featured a sampler of a choice of 4 meats.  That sounded like a lot of food.  Maybe if someone else was going to eat with me, I would have gotten it.  

In the end, I decided to get the burnt ends appetizer and the pulled pork platter.  I got a choice between a number of sides such as marinated red cole slaw, regular cole slaw, chili (?!), fried okra, and mac & cheese.  I got tater tots and barbecue beans with the meal.  Housemade pickles with pickled onions can on the side along with a couple half slices of grilled Texas toast.  

They had 3 different types of barbecue sauce available at Mac's Speed Shop - a Western Carolina sweet and tangy sauce, an Eastern Carolina vinegar sauce, and a South Carolina mustard sauce.  I've never cared for a mustard barbecue sauce and I'm sort of half-and-half on barbecue sauces with a vinegar base.  Some I've had are very good, some are sort of "meh!"  Mac's Speed Shop's vinegar sauce was sort of in the middle between "meh" and "OK".  It was all right with the pulled pork.  But the sweet and tangy sauce was very good.  I wished that they would have had something like the sweet tangy sauce with a little more spiciness added in.  Especially for the baked beans. 

The burnt ends had the sweet barbecue sauce on them already.  They also came with a side of the housemate pickles.  The burnt ends were tender, easy-to-cut with a fork and very delicious.  

The pulled pork was also tender and very juicy.  The mixture of the vinegar-based and the sweet barbecue sauce with the pulled pork were a good combination of flavors.  Barbecue pork is the main type of barbecued meat in the Carolinas and the places I've tried the pulled pork have all been very good.  

As I said, the baked beans could have used a little more of a zip to the taste, and the tater tots were good.  They even had Cholula so I could give the tots a little bit more of a spicy shot.  

I have to say that I was glad to have passed on going to a brewpub and went to Mac's Speed Shop on the recommendation of one of my accounts.   The pulled pork and the burnt ends were both very good, they had a great selection of craft beers to choose from, the ambiance was sort of fun and funky, and the three bartenders who tag-teamed on waiting on me that evening were friendly, outgoing and very helpful.   The barbecue places I've been to in North Carolina have been very good and Mac's Speed Shop was no exception.  

Puesto - Anaheim, CA

Out in Southern California for the NAMM Show earlier this year, my vegetarian colleague from Montreal was raving about a Mexican restaurant not far from the Anaheim Convention Center.  "Oh, man," he said effusively.  "I can't remember the name of the place, but I've eaten there 3 or 4 times.  Great food and great margaritas."  We had passed the place walking from our rental home to the convention center earlier in the day, and after we finished setting up our booth, we walked back to Puesto to get a late lunch.  

Eric Adler grew up a 2nd-generation Mexican whose father was originally from Monterrey, Mexico and his mother hailed from Guadalajara.  After the Adlers were married, they moved to the San Diego suburb of Chula Vista where Eric and his brothers Alexander and Alan grew up eating traditional Mexican food.  The family eventually moved to La Jolla before Eric headed out east to go to college at Babson College in suburban Boston.  Babson is noted for their entrepreneurial programs and Adler was hoping their business school would give his post-college career a kick start.  

After graduating in 2006, Adler first thought he'd get into real estate and he studied for his Masters in Real Estate back at San Diego State University.  But then he thought sports management might be a good thing to get into, so he headed back east to study at Georgetown University.  As Adler pursued his Masters in Sports Industry Management, he also interned as an event coordinator for D.C. United in the North American Soccer League.  He later interned for the Washington Wizards of the NBA as a hospitality suite coordinator.  

Pictured right - Eric Adler.  Photo courtesy San Diego Magazine.  

By 2010, Adler eventually got into real estate back in San Diego and was settling in on a career selling commercial properties when his entrepreneurial juices got to boiling.  Invited to a function with his brothers, they were munching on tacos made by caterer/chef Luisteen Gonzales.  The tacos that Gonzales made were definitely more upscale than what you would get from a neighborhood taqueria.  He was making his own corn tortillas and was topping them with marinated steak, wild mushrooms and huitlacoche - also known as corn smut which is a delicacy in Mexican culinary circles.  Gonzales would also make costras – griddled cheese that is wrapped around meat or vegetables, then topped with his own unique style of salsa.  

Over a short period of time, Adler attended a number of events where Gonzales catered the food.  He was struck how his tacos reminded him of the food he and his brothers ate while growing up.  While he wasn't initially thinking about opening a restaurant, he began to talk with Gonzales about teaming up to do sort of an upscale taqueria.  Gonzales had absolutely no interest in running a restaurant - he just wanted to cook and do catering.  Adler figured that he probably had enough business acumen to be able to run the day-to-day operations while allowing Gonzales to work his magic in the kitchen.  

With his brother Alan helping out, Eric Adler wanted to have a restaurant where patrons would think they were in Mexico City.  Adler commissioned a well-known muralist from the San Francisco Bay area to create a mural similar to ones he had seen in taquerias in Mexico City.  In February of 2012, the first Puesto - which means "stand" (as in taco stand) - opened in the Mission Valley neighborhood of San Diego.

As the original Puesto was humming along, Adler brought in his brother Alex and two cousins to be partners in the endeavor.  Adler had always thought about expansion - his business model was built on expanding Puesto's locations - and in 2013 he found a great location on West Harbor Drive in downtown San Diego.  From there, locations opened in La Jolla, two in Irvine, up in Northern California in Concord and Santa Clara, and the location in Anaheim we went to which is right across the street from Disneyland and next to the Anaheim Convention Center in the Westin Anaheim Resort.  (see map)

It was around 2:30 when we walked into Puesto.  Although the restaurant was well past the noon rush hour, it took us a few minutes to be seated.  We hung out in the bar area which featured a rectangular bar with a hanging island full of tequilas, mezcals and agave distilled spirits on shelves.  Drop down metal ladders were spaced about six feet apart which allowed the bartenders to climb up to the upper shelves to retrieve the bottles.  

Off to the side of the bar was a small lounge area.  The little corner of the bar featured an ornate leaded glass wall with hanging panels with LED lighting.  

The restaurant seating areas was just past the bar area.  It was comfortably upscale with plants that gave the dining area a bit of character.  

There was another back corner to Puesto that featured elegant LED light fixtures, alcove booths, and a floor-to-ceiling glass wall.  I thought they'd put us in that area, but they seated us at a table toward the back of the restaurant with banquette seating on one side of the table.  

Even though my co-worker from Montreal raved about the margaritas, I was afraid that one margarita would lead to two which would lead to a nap.  However, we found that Puesto also has their own brewery.  The brewery is located in their Mission Valley location under the lead of head brewer Doug Hasker.  They had six different beers on tap including their award winning Puesto Negra beer, a dark Mexican-style beer which won a silver medal at the Great American Beef Festival.  They also had a light Mexican-style lager, a Mexican amber beer, an IPA, a Mexican pilsner, and a seasonal winter bock beer.  I got the amber beer, my boss from Germany got the pilsner, and my colleague from Montreal got the Puesto Clara, the light Mexican-style beer.  My colleague from France no longer drinks, but he has no problem when people around him do.  

As we looked over the menu, we decided to get some guacamole to go along with the chips and fire-roasted molcajete salsa that was brought to our table.  The guacamole was freshly made and featured chunks of avocado, chopped onions and cilantro with fresh squeezed lime and orange juice mixed in.  The guacamole was excellent and I really liked the smokey taste to the salsa.   

The menu was mainly taco-centric, but they did have entrees such as a short rib birria platter and a shrimp platter.  The short rib enchiladas caught my attention and they also had a chicken chile verde enchilada on the menu.  Appetizers included three different types of ceviche including one served with a chile verde sauce (I almost ordered that), one with a citrus pepper salsa, and a shrimp ceviche with passionfruit, mango and avocado chunks.  Actually, I wouldn't have minded to try all three different ceviches.  

I ended up getting 3 tacos - the pork carnitas taco, the ribeye steak taco and the shredded short rib beef birria taco.  They had a Baja fish taco that featured a beer-battered filet that was deep fried, as well as a chicken al pastor taco.  They also had a pork pozole taco and a shrimp taco on the menu.  The most interesting taco was the Maine lobster taco that was mixed with a jalapeño pico de gallo and a black bean sauce.  

But the tacos I had were very good and had some interesting taste sensations.  All the tacos at Puesto come on a blue corn non-GMO tortilla.  From left to right in the photo - the short rib birria taco topped with a Jalisco salsa and guacamole; the ribeye taco topped with avocado chunks, an asada pico with a tomatillo-árbol salsa, and finished with queso fresco - fresh goat cheese; and the braised pork carnitas topped with a tomatillo sauce and an avocado slice.  All three were very delicious.  

My Montreal co-worker is a vegetarian and he was able to find a couple different tacos on the menu - a mushroom taco and the verduras which featured crispy melted cheese, vegetables, sliced nopales (cactus), and avocado.  The mushroom tacos featured garlic-braised mushrooms along with pickled onions and a stone-fruit serrano salsa.  

While my boss from Germany got a couple tacos - the filet mignon taco and the chicken al pastor taco - my colleague from France got the carnitas bowl.  It featured braised pork along with rice, black beans, pickled onions and a vegetable slaw.  A bit of guacamole came on the side and the black beans were drizzled with a tomatillo sauce.  "This is exactly what I needed," he said between bites.  Everyone was more than happy with their meals.  

Between the guacamole, chips, salsa, along with the 3 tacos, I was more than full.  In fact, I was full the rest of the evening and didn't even think about having dinner.   The food at Puesto was outstanding.

We walked past Puesto a number of times during our stay in Anaheim for the NAMM Show.  I thought about stopping in for some of their ceviche and a margarita a couple times, but I could see the place was packed with the after-show crowd.  Nevertheless, the one visit we made to Puesto was enough for me to figure out that the food was excellent.  The tacos I had - the carnitas, the short rib, and the ribeye - were all delicious and each had a distinctive flavor and zest to each bite.   There are tons of taquerias in Southern California, but the tacos at Puesto were remarkable in their ingredients and taste quality.