Road Tips

Barrett's Quality Eats - Coralville, IA

Last fall, my wife and I were up in North Liberty visiting family and I noticed a new restaurant off Highway 965 just south of the Hy-Vee grocery store.  "What's this place," I asked as we drove by the building with a packed parking lot.  My wife wasn't familiar with it, so she called her dad whose place we had just left.  

"Oh, yeah," he said.  "That's that new place.  We had breakfast there not too long ago.  It's pretty good!"  

Since then, my wife has been back in the area and had been to the restaurant a couple times with other people.  However, we were recently in North Liberty and before we left town I suggested we get something to eat.  "Hey, let's try that one new restaurant," I said.  My wife wholeheartedly agreed and we set off to have lunch at Barrett's Quality Eats.  

Cory Barrett grew up in the small town of Oak Harbor, OH about halfway between Toledo and Sandusky in the northwest part of the state.  As a young boy, he was would help his mother and grandmother in the kitchen as they prepared large meals for the family.  Barrett caught the culinary bug and decided to pursue a degree in culinary sciences at Baker College in Muskegon, MI.  While in collage, Barrett focused on pastry and savory baking techniques.  

In 2004, Barrett's first job out of culinary school was as the head pastry chef at Tribute, a highly popular restaurant in the Detroit suburb of Farmington Hills.  It was at Tribute when Barrett met chef Michael Symon who was the owner of the trendy and acclaimed Lola restaurant in Cleveland.  Barrett and Symon became fast friends and kept in touch as each other's career evolved.

Pictured right - Cory Barrett.  Photo courtesy the Des Moines Register.   

In 2005, Barrett moved to Las Vegas to be the head pastry chef at Okada, an award winning Japanese restaurant in the Wynn.  But in February of 2006, Michael Symon convinced Barrett to join him as the pastry chef at Lola which had moved from its original location in Cleveland's Tremont neighborhood and reopened in downtown Cleveland.  During Barrett's time at Lola, Symon won the Food Network's Iron Chef America contest in 2008 becoming a household name with food enthusiasts across the country.  

After working with Symon for four years, Barrett took on a new challenge as the head pastry chef at The Herbfarm, a sustainable, farm-to-fork restaurant in the Seattle suburb of Woodinville, WA that served nine-course tasting meals.  But after a year working in the Seattle restaurant, Symon was able to coerce Barrett to come back to Cleveland to be the head chef at Lola where he did that for a few months before deciding to move on to be an instructor at his alma mater Baker College.  During his stint as a pastry chef at the various restaurants he worked at, Barrett was a James Beard Award semi-finalist three times in the pastry category.  

As an instructor at Baker College, it gave Barrett more freedom to explore and learn from other restaurants around the nation.  It also gave him the time to participate as a sous chef in 19 episodes of Iron Chef America. In 2016, Barrett moved on to Kalamazoo Valley Community College as a faculty member.  While at Kalamazoo Valley, Barrett participated in - and won - the Food Network's Spring Baking Championship in 2018.   

During his short stint at The Herbfarm out in Washington state, Barrett met a sous chef by the name of Ben Smart.  Smart eventually moved to Iowa to become the head chef at Big Grove Brewery in Solon, IA.  Smart and Barrett kept in touch over the years and Smart kept telling Barrett the virtues of running a quality restaurant in Iowa.  In January of 2020, Barrett was named the co-director of the culinary arts program at Kalamazoo Valley while also maintaining a side business as a caterer and teaching private classes.    

But by 2021 after the throes of COVID, Barrett was ready to take the plunge.  In the summer of 2022, Barrett moved his family to the Iowa City area to look for sites for his restaurant.   In late 2022, he found a plot of land on the far north side of Coralville.  Construction on the restaurant's building started in early 2023 building from the ground up.  In late June of 2023, Barrett's Quality Eats held a soft opening with a full opening on July 5, 2023.  

Also known as Barrett's All Day, the restaurant specializes in hardy, yet eclectic breakfast items, as well as deli sandwiches and salads up to 3 p.m.  For dinners, Barrett wanted to bring a different level to what Iowans call "comfort food" such as sautéed walleye, a dry-rubbed pork chop, braised short rib with celery root purée and carrots, and a crispy fried half chicken served with creamed corn, celery and Maytag blue cheese.  And on Friday and Saturday nights, Barrett's Quality Eats offers rotisserie prime rib dinners.

While people may say that Barrett's Quality Eats is in North Liberty, as I thought it was, it's just inside the Coralville town limit on Crosspark Road.  (see map)  It was about 1 p.m. when we went into Barrett's.  It's counter service at the restaurant where you order and they bring your food to you.  The menus were in a basket next to the cash register where we placed our order.  The young lady at the front counter was very accommodating with our order that we ended up splitting.  And to entice you even more, the fresh basked croissants, muffins, breads and pastries were in cases in the front on a half-wall of green and white tiles.

Opposite the main ordering counter was the coffee stand where a barista made fresh coffee, espresso, mochas, and teas.  My wife ordered an iced tea and the young lady got it for her at the coffee counter.  Barrett's Quality Eats has partnered with a Sioux City-based coffee wholesaler - Stone Bru Coffee - to provide the beans for the coffee drinks served at the restaurant.

It was a nice day and we considered sitting outside in Barrett's spacious patio.  When we looked on the patio, all the tables with umbrellas were taken.  And my wife wasn't really looking to be sitting in the sun baking in the summer heat.  Unfortunately by the time we were leaving, a handful of tables with umbrellas had opened up.  

There are two inside dining areas.  Above right is the larger dining area in the far back of the restaurant.  It featured an array of windows that allowed natural light to come in and make the room bright even without the help of lighting.  Wooden plank banquette seating was along the wall in front of the windows while across the room large booths lined that wall.  

In between the front ordering/coffee/pastry area and the back dining room was a smaller dining area that also had banquette seating along a wall that was adorned with decorative bundt cake pans.  Tables with either two or four seats were along the wall with floor to ceiling windows.  A decorative tile floor gave the room sort of an art-deco scheme.  It matched the tile motif on the front of the main counter and the coffee counter in the main entry way up front.  Music from a diverse mix of artists such as Ringo Starr, Hollis Brown, Kings of Leon, R.E.M., and a surprise play from G. Love and Special Sauce was playing in the background.  

They did have beer offered at Barrett's Quality Eats and I got a can of the Easy Eddy hazy IPA from Big Grove Brewery.   Barrett's also offers specialty cocktails including a special dirty martini that my wife didn't order because it was too early in the day.  A number of white and red wines - mainly from the west coast, but also varieties from New Zealand, Italy and France - were available either by the bottle or glass.  

While standing waiting to order food, I had to peruse the bakery case to check out the pastries and desserts they had at Barrett's.  And I found a blueberry custard muffin that just jumped out at me.  It was a custard filled muffin with blueberry compote throughout the muffin with a dollop of blueberry compote on top.  And it was FABULOUS!!! OH MY GOD!!! This thing was one of the best muffins I've ever tasted.  And it was - OH! - so rich!  But it wasn't cheap - $4.50 for the muffin.  But it was so good that I didn't care.  I would crawl back for a blueberry custard muffin at Barrett's.

I didn't want to get anything heavy for lunch as I knew we would be eating a larger meal later in the evening.   The avocado B.L.T. looked good to me and my wife had said that she got the tuna sandwich on one of her earlier visits.  She proposed splitting a sandwich and getting a salad.  I thought that was a good idea.  The young lady at the front counter said that she would split both the sandwich and the salad for us.  And that's how it was presented to us.  The sandwich was sort of small for what they charged for it ($14.95), but it was pretty good.  The garden salad was also a bit pricey ($12.95) with mixed greens, cucumber slices, chopped tomatoes, carrots and radishes mixed in.  She ordered the red wine vinaigrette to go with the salad.  I will say that it was a lot of greens on the plate to go with the sandwich.  

I'm really hoping that Barrett's Quality Eats makes it.  I thought it was a little expensive for what it was - our lunch with the muffin was over $40 bucks before tax and a small tip for the counter service.   To uproot your family and move 500 miles to open a restaurant at a time when there's market volatility for eateries is quite the gamble on Cory Barrett's part.  While I thought that the food was good for no more than what it was (tuna salad sandwich, mix greens salad), I also thought it was sort of expensive.  But the blueberry custard muffin was well worth the $4.50 we were charged for it.  I don't know if Iowans will pay more for eclectic comfort foods, deli items, and artisan breakfast selections.  Only time will tell...

The Obstinate Daughter - Sullivan's Island, SC

My wife and I went out to Sullivan's Island just north and east of Charleston one day to hang out at the beach.  As she is wont to do, my wife thought she needed something to eat before went out to walk in the surf and sand.  As we were driving up a main north-south road on Sullivan's Island, a restaurant to my left caught my eye, mainly because of the interesting name - The Obstinate Daughter.  Remember how my wife's daughter was at an early age, I got a chuckle out of that.  But I thought that might be a nice place to have lunch.  We parked down the street and walked back up to eat at The Obstinate Daughter.

A couple nights before, we had dinner at the Wild Olive on Jones Island not far from Charleston.  (Click here to see the Road Tips entry on the Wild Olive.)  Going into The Obstinate Daughter, we had no idea that the two restaurants were connected.  Doug Godley and Jacques Larson had been joined at the hip since 2009 after Larson was recruited to run the kitchen at Wild Olive.  The two were wanting to incorporate more of a "farm-to-fork" concept with a new restaurant they had in mind with an ever changing menu that consisted of seafood, Italian, French and Spanish specialties made with locally-sourced items on a year-round basis.  

There was a long time restaurant on Sullivan's Island by the name of Atlanticville that had sort of a rickety side porch with dark dining areas complete with tired decor.  Godley and Larson had a chance to take over the property and they set about a massive renovation of the building turning it into a modern, sea-theme restaurant that people who had gone to Atlanticville in the past wouldn't have recognized the restaurant.  In March of 2014, The Obstinate Daughter opened for business.

The restaurant is not named after one of Larson's or Godley's female children, but is a historic nickname that stems from the Revolutionary War.  General William Moultrie was in charge of the garrison at Fort Sullivan (later re-named Fort Moultrie).  When the British armada - numbering over 2000 soldiers and sailors - came to take control of the city of Charleston in June of 1776, the 435 soldiers at Fort Sullivan fought the invaders off.  Later that year, a London newspaper published a political cartoon depicting the defenders of Charleston as "Miss Carolina Sulivan (sp), one of the obstinate daughters of America, 1776."  The Obstinate Daughter is a revered name in the history of Charleston and South Carolina.  And it's a great name for a restaurant.  

When you drive out to Sullivan's Island, the main road - South Carolina state highway 703 - brings you into the heart of the island.  If you take a left turn at the stop sign at Middle Street, the highway continues up the coast to Isle of Palms.  But if you take a right turn and drive a couple blocks to the south, you'll find The Obstinate Daughter on the left.  (see map)

We were a little confused at first as there were a handful of people who were seated in front of the building where The Obstinate Daughter was located.  It turned out that they were there for BeardCat's Sweet Shop which is one the ground floor of the building.  The stairs to get up to The Obstinate Daughter were located on the side of the building.  

The restaurant isn't all that large - there's a dining area complete with a community table next to an open kitchen.  It had a nautical theme to the decor including square light fixtures with Edison lights hanging by  large ropes from the ceiling.  Being that it was the noon hour, the place was very busy when we got there and no tables were readily available.  

We ended up seated at the L-shaped bar and were greeted by the bartender, Lauren.  The bar area had a low ceiling made from wooden planks and a row of booths and tables were along the wall.  Lauren gave us a couple menus to look over.  I got a blonde ale that they had from Edmund's Oast Brewing Company in Charleston.  Music from artists such as Anderson East, The Teskey Brothers, and John Mayer was playing in the background.  

The lunch menu was pretty limited with just a couple three sandwiches, some pasta dishes, a couple salads, and oysters-on-the-half shell along with peel & eat shrimp available.  They had artisan pizzas on the menu, but they were not available until after 3 p.m. when the lunch menu ended.  I wasn't exactly certain what to get given the paucity of items listed on the menu.

My wife wanted something light and she ended up getting the shrimp roll.  The Obstinate Daughter sources their shrimp from the Tarvin Seafood Company which has two shrimp trawlers based out of nearby Mount Pleasant, SC.  The shrimp was mixed with a mayo base and served on a hollowed out crispy bread roll.  On the side, 4 potato "sticks" made from potatoes sourced from Marsh Hen Mill Low Country produce came with the shrimp roll.  She thought the shrimp roll was delicious, but a little more rich for what she wanted for lunch.   She gave me a bite of one of the potato sticks to try and it was very good.  It was crunchy on the outside with a flaky potato core.  My wife concentrated more on the shrimp roll even for as rich as it was.  

Now, remember that I had no idea there was a connection between The Obstinate Daughter and Wild Olive where I had a wonderful pasta dinner a couple nights earlier.  So, it was sort of weird that I decided to go the pasta route and I ordered the Strozzapreti pasta with a fennel sausage ragu.  When Lauren set the bowl of cavatelli-style pasta in front of me, I knew I had made a mistake.  Not that the pasta dish was bad - it was just huge!  This was a dinner-sized portion served at lunch.  There was no way that I was going to finish all of this.   But it was so good that I made a serious dent in the amount that was served to me. And there was just too much pasta.  Lauren asked if I wanted to have my lunch boxed up, but I told her we were traveling and it wouldn't have been as good warmed up as it was when it first came out.

After lunch, we went out to the beach on Sullivan's Island to walk off all the food we just ate.  The tide was out and there was a brisk wind coming off the ocean.  We were still both stuffed as we walked a couple miles along the beach watching the windsurfers maneuvering in the sea waves.  It turned out there were a couple instructors with three or four students learning windsurfing techniques.  We walked past one of the students who was grappling with her windsail trying to reel it in after getting out of the water.  She told us that she had moved from New Jersey a couple years ago and wanted to learn how to windsurf.  "I'm getting the hang of it," she told us as she struggled with her windsail.  "This is the worst part, though."  We continued on back down the beach as she moved her windsail toward an area where the other windsurfers were also trying to reel in their windsails in the stiff breeze coming off the ocean.  

Lunch at The Obstinate Daughter and our visit to the beach highlighted our day trip to Sullivan's Island.  The food we had was very good, but very rich and filling.  My wife loved her shrimp roll and thought the potato sticks were very good.  I have to agree with her on the potato sticks as I tried a couple bites of one.  My Strozzapreti pasta with fennel sausage ragu was also very good, but there was just too much of it for a lunch entree.  Lauren was efficient as our bartender/server, and the atmosphere and decor at The Obstinate Daughter was very soothing and somewhat interesting.  Even though the lunch menu is pretty limited, I don't know if there's anything better on Sullivan's Island than The Obstinate Daughter.  

Legal Sea Foods - Hingham, MA

I was supposed to have dinner with the owner of one of our new accounts near the south shore of Boston when I was out in New England a few weeks ago, but he got hung up on a job he was doing in Nashville and couldn't make it back in time to meet with me.  Suddenly with an open night on the docket, I started to look around at restaurants in the suburbs south of Boston.  I was looking for a seafood place (naturally, since I was in New England for a week) and one sort of jumped out at me - Legal Sea Foods.  There was a Legal Sea Foods location not far from hotel so I headed over there for the evening.  

In 1904, Russian-immigrant Harry Berkowitz opened a grocery store in the Inman Square neighborhood in Cambridge, MA, near Harvard University.  He named his store Legal Cash Market signifying to his customers that he gave out Legal Stamps - one of the first types of trading stamps that grocery stores have out for years over the first 3/4's of the 20th century.  The grocery store was the core of the neighborhood for over 40 years before chain stores came into Cambridge and started to drain away customers from the Berkowitz family grocery store.  

In 1950, Harry's son George opened fish market next to the family's grocery store and called it Legal Sea Foods.  It featured a counter of fresh-caught fish as well as making available fish and chips that were sold as a to-go item.  Legal Sea Foods became a favorite place for people in and around Cambridge to buy fresh seafood. 

In 1968, George Berkowitz - along with sons Marc and Roger - opened the first Legal Sea Foods sit-down restaurant next to their seafood store.  Featuring a choice of fried or broiled fish all served on paper plates in a no-frills atmosphere where patrons sat communal-style on picnic tables, Legal Sea Foods began to gain a following of faithful seafood fans around the greater Boston area.   

Pictured right - Marc, George and Roger Berkowitz in front of the Newton, MA Legal Sea Foods restaurant circa 1979.  Photo courtesy Boston.com

A second Legal Sea Foods opened in Boston's wealthy Chestnut Hill neighborhood in 1975 featuring more of a restaurant setting with individual tables, and a third location opened in Newton, MA in 1979.  In 1980, a fire destroyed the original Legal Sea Foods location in Cambridge.  But later that year, the Berkowitz's opened their flag ship location in the Boston Park Plaza building in downtown Boston.  The first stop for clam chowder that many tourists wanted to make was at Legal Sea Foods.  And since 1981, Legal Sea Foods clam chowder has been served at every presidential inauguration in Washington D.C.  

Roger Berkowitz took over as the CEO from his father in 1992.  Under Roger Berkowitz, Legal Sea Foods began an aggressive expansion.  The first of now four Legal Sea Foods locations opened in Boston's Logan Airport in 1994.  From there, Legal Sea Foods opened more locations around the greater Boston area.  Today, there are 24 Legal Sea Foods - mainly in Massachusetts, with two in the Washington D.C. area, and one each in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island.  A 25th Legal Sea Foods - and the first one outside of the Eastern Time Zone - is slated to open in Chicago's Marina City later this year.  In addition to the Legal Sea Foods restaurants, the Berkowitz family also operated other concepts such as Legal Test Kitchen, Legal C Bar, Legal Fish Bowl (all of which were victims of the pandemic), and Legal Sea Bar, in addition to a handful of other Legal concept restaurants.  

In 2020, Berkowitz sold Legal Sea Foods to PPX Hospitality Brands, a Boston-based restaurant group that also owned Smith & Wollensky steakhouses with locations in such places as Boston, New York, Chicago, Las Vegas, London and Taiwan, as well as Strega Italiano with two locations in the greater Boston area.  PPX Hospitality is looking to expand Legal Sea Foods to possibly Las Vegas, Florida and possible international locations in the future.  

The Legal Sea Foods in Hingham is located in the Derby Street Shops just off Massachusetts State Highway 3, the expressway that takes you down to Plymouth and then on to where the road meets up with U.S. Highway 6 that goes out to Cape Cod.  It's located on the west side of the shopping center situated between a Talbots and a Williams-Sonoma.  (see map)  I was able to find a parking spot in front of the restaurant.  

I wouldn't call the decor elegant at Legal Sea Foods, but more of an upscale modern.  Circular LED lighting hung in a lounge area next to the bar complete with a large fish mural on the back wall.  There were actually two bars - a high top rectangular bar, and a low-slung long bar in the lounge.  Music by artists such as Chris Stapleton, Dave Matthews, and Hootie & the Blowfish played in the background while I was in there.  

The front dining area featured a line of booths along the wall and double-sided banquette seats with tables in the middle of the room.  The atmosphere was light and comfortable.   

There was a back dining area that was closed off that evening.  There was a partition that separated the two dining areas.  The back dining area had a wall of banquette seating with 4-seater tables interspersed in the area.  

I ended up seated at the high-top bar up toward the front of the restaurant.  The bartender that evening was Thomas, a good guy who made sure that I was noticed and taken care of from the start.  I asked him what hazy IPA they had to offer on tap and he said they had the Legally Hazy IPA from Night Shift Brewing in Everett, MA located just north of Boston.     

I wasn't really that hungry as I had a pretty big lunch earlier in the day, but I knew I needed something.  Thomas has provided me with a menu and I took a quick look to see what they had for appetizers.  They had sushi and specialty rolls on the menu, but then I got to thinking, "Why wouldn't I just go to a sushi bar?"  They had fish tacos as part of their "Starters" menu, but I wasn't certain I was looking for fish tacos that evening.  Main entrees included swordfish cooked with 7 spices, a chili-encrusted yellowfin tuna, linguini and clams, and grilled scallops from the coast of Maine. I was told that Legal Sea Foods shift their chefs around the various locations in the greater Boston area to offer each place a different interpretation of what the restaurant chain has to offer. 

I was sort of in a food funk by this point in my trip to New England, but I still wanted to get some seafood.  I ended up getting some oysters-on-the-half shell and to go along with them I got a bowl of the lobster bisque.  The lobster bisque was very good - it was creamy to the taste and literally melted across the tongue.  The only problem was that there didn't seem to be much lobster meat in the bisque.  Nonetheless, it was a very tasty start.  

The oysters were also a bit disappointing.  Actually, nearly every place I had oysters-on-the-half while I was in New England didn't seem to have very meaty oysters.  A couple of the oysters that were served to me were pretty small and didn't have a lot of meat to them.  But two of the other oysters were possibly the biggest of the ones I had while out East.  Still, I didn't think the oysters at Legal Sea Foods were that great of a value.  

I was still sort of hungry and I was leaning toward the blackened yellowfin tuna filet, but when I told Thomas that I was up in the air even with that choice.  He said, "If you're interested in the blackened tuna, you need to get the Tuna Tataki."  It was on the starters part of the menu and he said it was the best thing they had on the menu at Legal Sea Foods.  

He explained that they blacken a two ounce tuna filet with wasabi and slice the tuna.  Then they add a sesame chili vinaigrette and a citrus soy sauce and then given a quick hit with a heat gun.  It's finished off with a seaweed salad and ginger on the side.  The presentation was excellent and so was the taste of the tuna slices.  With each bite it was a taste explosion.  I think it was definitely more than a two ounce filet, but by the time I was finished I was satiated.  Thomas was correct - even without trying anything else on the menu, I'm not certain there would be anything better than the Tuna Tataki.  

I was a bit apprehensive going to a Legal Sea Foods given that it's a chain.  But it's mostly a regional chain and seems to be still popular with some of the locals.  And there was nothing bad about my visit to Legal Sea Foods.  The lobster bisque - even though it was light on lobster meat - was very good, but the oysters were a bit disappointing.  However, the Tuna Tataki was one of the best seafood items I've ever eaten.  I know I had options for seafood along the south seashore of Boston, but I was more than happy with what I got at Legal Sea Foods.  

Bumpa's - Charleston, SC

One evening during our stay in Charleston, my wife and I decided we needed a good ol' cheeseburger.  We did some checking on line to find who had a good burger in the city and we decided to go to an Irish pub that was located in the city's French Quarter, a family-owned place by the name of Bumpa's.  

Dan and Conor Sullivan grew up in Pittsburgh watching Cheers on Thursday nights.  They loved the fictional Boston bar and especially liked the bar's proprietor Sam Malone.  Dan Sullivan was the first one who said to his brother a number of years ago, "We're going to open a bar someday."  

As the brothers grew older, the talk about running their own bar became more serious. Both had gone into the corporate world after getting out of college.  But when they would get together at family gatherings they both worked on food menus their dream bar would serve.  After 10 years of prodding by his brother, Dan moved to Charleston in 2019 to look for a place they could use for their Irish pub.  

After finding a spot that was originally a warehouse built around 1830, the Sullivans hired a team of renovation experts to do a complete overhaul of the building.  The renovation took about 10 months from start to finish, but during the process the contractor discovered the original windows of the building that had been buried under layers of brick.  The building was completely stripped down to the original brick walls before the revisions began to turn the building into an Irish pub.  

Naming the Irish pub was a no brainer to the Sullivan brothers.  They named it after their paternal grandfather who was given the name of "Bumpa" by a cousin of the Sullivans.  The Sullivan's grandfather was a playful guy, a great story teller, and - according to Dan and Conor - a pretty good boxer.  

Nearing the opening date, Conor had moved down to Charleston, but kept his sales job.  The staff had been hired and were on board after training.  Their projected opening date was going to be March 17, 2020 - St. Patrick's Day.  Then - of course - the world stopped.  

During the early months of the pandemic, the Sullivans continued to pay their staff and gave them homework for the restaurant.  Other restaurants in the area worked with one another as support to keep everyone from going under while they couldn't be open to the public.  By May, to-go orders were allowed to help restaurants sustain some sort of business during the early throes of the pandemic, and by mid-June restaurants in South Carolina were allowed to open with distanced dining.  Bumpa's finally opened on June 22, 2020.  

Parking can be a pain in downtown Charleston, especially in the French Quarter, so we took an Uber from our hotel down to Bumpa's.  The driver let us off at the corner of E. Bay St. and Cumberland and we walked a few steps up Cumberland to the front door of Bumpa's.  (see map)  

Just inside Bumpa's, we found a refurbished space where the builders tried to stay true the original architecture.  The wooden ceiling slats gave the pub a rustic atmosphere.  There was an interesting mix of people sitting at the bar where just one television hung on the back bar.   Prominently displayed on an exposed brick wall near the bar was a portrait of the original "Bumpa" - Dan and Conor Sullivan's grandfather. 

We were seated at a high top table along a side part of the bar that had some booths.  After we had menus dropped off, our server came over to greet us.  Her name was Kassidy and she informed us a few moments later that she was a little uncertain about something we asked her about on the menu as it was just her 3rd day on the job.  But she actually did a good job while we were there.  

Looking over the drink menu, they had a number of specialty drinks and a list of beers on tap and in bottles.  Many of the beers they had on tap were from South Carolina breweries, but they also had beers such as Guinness, Pacifico and Miller High Life available on tap.  I ended up getting a Pixels hazy IPA from Seminar Brewing in Florence, SC.  

My wife ended up getting a Malibu rum with pineapple juice and a shot of Jaegermeister.  I sort of recoiled in mock horror when she ordered the drink.  "Hey," she said in a matter-of-fact manner.  "I'm on vacation, dammit!"  

We had pretty much made up our mind that we were going to get burgers for dinner, but the menu at Bumpa's featured some other interesting items such as a fried green tomato appetizer, traditional fish & chips, a crispy chicken breast sandwich, and a beer-braised short rib sandwich.  But the highlighted item at Bumpa's were their fries that I could categorize as poutine on steroids.  

The fries were offered different toppings and sauces, and available in two sizes - a "case" with two toppings included in the price that could be shared between two or three people; and a "keg" with three toppings that could be shared with a larger group.  And the toppings included sauces such as beef gravy (of course!), butter garlic, creamy mustard, barbecue, and truffle oil.  Veggie toppings included sautéed mushrooms, chopped onions, pickled jalapeños and bread & butter pickles, while meat toppings included chili, grilled chicken nuggets, braised short rib, and a spicy Cajun sausage.  Cheese toppings featured a melted beer cheese, parmesan, crumbled blue cheese, and cheddar cheese.  (But, somewhat surprisingly, no cheese curds.)  I got the photo on the right from Bumpa's Instagram page just to see what one of the concoctions would look like.  

Since we both decided on getting burgers before we went to Bumpa's, we stayed true to form with our choices from the menu.  My wife got the Southpaw burger - two smashed patties, topped with Bumpa's secret sauce, pickled red onions, lettuce, tomato, onion and your choice of cheese.  She asked Kassidy if she could substitute a side salad instead of the fries that came with the burger.  Kassidy said there would be an upcharge, but my wife said that was fine.  

I ended up with the bacon cheeseburger with a side of fries.  The burger came with a peppered fried egg and I asked Kassidy if the chef could make it hard.  I don't like the mess of an over-easy fried egg with my burger.  Pickled onions came on the side.  Our burgers were both fine, a bit over-cooked on the patties, but still good.  Bumpa's uses locally-sourced blended-beef for their burgers and grind the beef in-house.  

For what Bumpa's was, it was fine with us.  The restoration of the early 19th century warehouse was extraordinary and really added to the rustic ambiance of the pub.  They had a good list of craft beers and a full bar with a number of specialty drinks, and the burgers we had were good.  And even though it was only her 3rd day on the job, Kassidy was a wonderful server for us that evening.  For a nice little neighborhood pub to hang out at, Bumpa's would be a great place to visit when you're in Charleston.  

 

 

Field Brewing - Westfield, IN

Out in the Indianapolis area recently for a surprise birthday/retirement party for a friend of ours, after the party was over and the clean-up had finished, we went with the couple to the wife's chiropractic clinic in Noblesville to drop some things off.  My wife and I didn't have any plans for dinner and we sort of figured that our friends would be hanging with his family who had come to the party earlier in the day.  "My family all went home," he said as we finished putting stuff away in the garage at the clinic.  My wife suggested we do something for dinner.  I had mentioned a place that I had eaten at near a lake and they thought that sounded good.  We went ahead of them as they had to go home and drop off some more things leftover from the party.  But when we go to the place, there were three things that were wrong - 1) This wasn't the same place that I was thinking about; 2) My wife went in and checked on the place and found that it was packed; and 3) Their air-conditioning was on the fritz and it was hot in there.  

Looking for a quick Plan B, I remembered a brewpub in nearby Westfield that we had passed by earlier in the day and my wife did a quick look-up on the place.  My wife called them up to see if they had a full bar (they did) and if they had food (they did).  When she asked if they had room for 4, she was told they could get us in right away.  We called our friends and pulled a 180 on dinner plans.  They were up for a visit to Field Brewing.  

Greg and Jackie Dikos aren't your typical brewery/restaurant owners.  Greg is an orthopedic surgeon at OrthoIndy, a large orthopedic medical facility that partners with multiple hospitals and surgery centers in and around Indianapolis.  Jackie is a clinical dietician who is also a marathon runner who participated in the 2008 and 2012 U.S. Olympic trials.  After Greg graduated from the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis in 2008, he took an orthopedic trauma fellowship in Germany for a year.  In 2010, he took another orthopedic trauma fellowship position at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.  

Pictured right - Jackie and Greg Dikos.  Photo courtesy Towne Post Network.

While living in Seattle, Greg and Jackie found a new love for craft beer.  Greg had a degree in biochemistry and had been brewing his own beers at home for a few years.  But the craft beer industry in Seattle was on another plane well above the brewpubs they had experienced in the Midwest.  Most of the brewpubs there offered artisan foods that was much better than the regular pub-style food they found back home.  And there seemed to be a sense of community with the Seattle-area brewpubs where kids were welcome to dine with their parents.  

Moving back to the Indianapolis area in 2011, Greg and Jackie found themselves with two boys and getting settled into the community.  By 2016, the couple realized they could build a brewpub that was similar to the ones they remembered in Seattle with good beer with a dedicated brewer; good food with a dedicated chef; and a place that fit within the community.  

Westfield was a growing area north of Indianapolis nestled in between Carmel to the south, Fishers to the east and Noblesville to the northeast.  They found a piece of ground at the corner of E. Main Street (Indiana State Highway 32) and Cherry Street in Westfield in early 2017. (see map)  The couple had hoped to begin building their brewery/restaurant operation by mid-year and open in early 2018.  But the local city council had some concerns about the brewpub including the fact that they would only have 13 parking spots for the business.  After all concerns were countered by the Dikos, work began on the building in late 2017.  

Hoping to offer a variety of foods from local sources, the Dikos brought in Alan Sternberg who had been a chef consultant after a stint as a head chef.  And to head up the brewing operations, Rian Umbach was hired as the head brewer.   Umbach had been an associate brewer at the Moerlein Lager House in Cincinnati.  Through a couple more delays, they were able to open Field Brewing in early October of 2018.  In 2019, Indianapolis Monthly magazine named Field Brewing the best new restaurant in greater Indianapolis.  (After getting the kitchen up and running, Sternberg left later that year for another job and today Scott Atkins is the head chef at Field Brewery.)  

Initially, the brewpub opened at 7 a.m. and offered grab-and-go breakfast items, as well as gourmet coffee, espresso, and breakfast drinks.  That part of the operation was closed up during the pandemic and didn't start up again.  However, they do offer coffee and espresso for after an after dinner choice.  

Parking is definitely a problem at Field Brewing with just a handful of spots.   There was a parking lot across the street, but it said that it was private parking.  (That didn't stop some people who came into Field Brewing later from parking there.)  But there was a parking lot south of Field Brewing that had signage designating space for patrons of Field Brewing.  That's where we both ended up parking when we got there.  

As you enter Field Brewing, the bar is off to the side.  It wasn't very long - about 8 seats total - and was partitioned off with a half fence to keep minors from coming up to the bar.  The list of current beers was on the wall near the bar.  

The main dining area was part of the large room that contained the bar.  A number of tables with mismatched chairs - many of them were repurposed from old schools in the area - were scattered across the dining space.  It was very well lit with both large windows allowing natural light to come in and large light fixtures hanging from the ceiling.  Light sconces on the wall allowed for additional lighting above banquette seating.  The tables could be easily moved on the concrete floor for larger groups.  To be quite honest, the atmosphere was rather sterile at Field Brewery.   

There is a large outdoor patio/game area just off to the side of the dining area.  Just beyond the outdoor patio was a smaller building that is used for groups, parties or private events.  It had rained earlier in the day and there was still a heaviness to the air with all the humidity.  Other than that, it would have been a nice night to sit on the patio.    

Before we were seated, I decided to go to the restroom and wash up.  Walking back toward the restroom, I was able to see into the large open kitchen they have at Field Brewing.  The kitchen was bustling when we first walked in, but by the time we were getting ready to leave it around 9 p.m., it was pretty quiet.  

We were seated at a table in the center of the dining area and given food menus to look over.  It wasn't long before we were greeted by our server that evening, a really laid-back guy by the name of Mitch.  Mitch was a great server for us all night long.  He asked us what we wanted to drink and I was sort of surprised our male friend ordered a Bull Pen Bavarian Pale Ale.  He and his wife aren't big drinkers and I'm not certain if I've ever seen him drink a beer.  His wife ordered an Amaretto sour, which didn't surprise me as she had the same thing the night before when we went out to dinner.  My wife got her usual Tito's and cranberry juice, and I ordered their Camshaft hazy IPA.  

Our male friend didn't think much of the Bavarian Pale Ale - he was hoping to get a German-style wheat beer, but they didn't have that on tap that night.  Mitch suggested that our friend get a beer flight.  Our friend thought that would be a great idea and he told Mitch what he liked.  Moments later, Mitch came back with five samples - the Luna White IPA (an American IPA and Belgian wheat beer combo); the Cream of the Crop cream ale; the Dopple Dribble doppelbock; the du Champ Ouest (French for West Field) saison beer; and the Red Handed red ale/IPA combo.  While he didn't care for the Luna White IPA or cream ale, he really liked the saison best.  And he declared that it was probably a tie between the doppelbock and the red ale/IPA as his second most favorite.  He ended up getting a snifter of the saison.  

While the food menu wasn't extensive, it was pretty interesting.  Field Brewing's menu changes seasonally depending upon what local food sources they can get hold off.  Appetizers included wings, a soft beer pretzel, loaded fries with parmesan ranch and beer cheese, and a fried chicken salad served on flat bread with bitter greens and herbs, with black pepper, lemon and topped with a Spanish koji fermented hot sauce.  They had burgers made with quality beef from Fischer Farms, a marinated grilled chicken sandwich, and a couple three pasta dishes that included a rigatoni pasta with marinated grilled chicken in a feta cheese/vodka sauce.  That one sounded pretty good to me. 

Our male guest got the Lime Leaf Curry Rice Noods - a complete vegan dish consisting of noodles and rice with a house-made coconut lime/greens curry, stir-fried mushrooms, chopped eggplant, broccoli, and baby bok choy.  He thought he'd better go vegan since his party was catered by one of my favorite Indian restaurants in Indianapolis, Amber Indian Cuisine in Carmel and he'd had a lot of curry chicken and butter chicken earlier in the day.  Our friend thought his noodle/rice dish was outstanding.  

My wife and our female friend got the same thing - the Denver Steak Frites.  It featured an 8 ounce Fischer Farms sirloin steak cut into strips sitting on a bed of hand-cut steak fries drizzled with a smoked house-made Thousand Island dressing.  My wife got a side of grilled Brussels sprouts.  My wife ordered her steak medium-rare and it came out what I would call rare-plus.  But she ate it and she was more than happy with the steak.  I had to try some of her steak fries and they were great - they had a nice puffy inner core with a crisp outer shell.  

I, too, had eaten a lot of Indian food at the party (and there was a lot left over), and I really wasn't certain what I wanted - or even if I wanted anything.  But there was one thing that just jumped out at me when I first looked at the menu - the chile verde meatloaf sandwich.  It came with a spicy tomato mayo and pickled jalapeños.  I thought that would be good without the bread, so I asked Mitch if I could just get the meatloaf on its own.  I also had my choice of sides and I had my choice of mac & cheese, fries, Brussels sprouts or soup.  I really didn't want any of those and was still demurring about even getting a side when my wife said, "Can you just get a side salad for a side?"  Mitch said that would be no problem.  

And I have to say the meat loaf was outstanding in flavor.  The green chile sauce was grilled onto the slice and it was topped with mild pickled jalapeños.  The beef was tender and juicy, and the zippiness of the michelada spicy tomato sauce helped wake up my taste buds.  I would have no problem getting that again if I went back to Field Brewing.  

Knowing that Field Brewing had A) amaretto; B) an espresso machine; and C) vanilla ice cream on their dessert menu, I contemplated getting an affogato for after dinner.  But given all the food I had eaten that day, I wasn't certain that I could eat another bite.  But I would have to think that having affogato with amaretto after having the spiciness of the meat loaf would have just exploded on my taste buds.  Oh well... Next time...

And I hope there is a next time at Field Brewing.  It thought the hazy IPA I had there was very good, and the green chile meatloaf was outstanding.  The service we had from Mitch that evening was exemplary, and everyone loved the food they got.  I can't think of one negative thing about our visit to Field Brewing.  This is definitely an upscale brewpub that focuses on a community feel, something that other Midwestern brewpubs could learn from.  (Photo courtesy Field Brewing Facebook page.) 

LoLo's (Locklear's on Little Oak) - Folly Beach, SC

On our way out to Folly Beach south and east of Charleston to enjoy some sun, sand and surf, we had passed what looked like a little fish shanty along Folly Beach Road.  It turned out that the place - Locklear's on Little Oak, known to the locals as "LoLo's" - was on a list of recommended restaurants given to us by a longtime restaurant server at Amen Street in Charleston.  One afternoon during our time in Charleston, we decided to head out to LoLo's to have some seafood for lunch.   

Kris Kincaid owned Locklear's Beach City Grill that was located on the Folly Beach Pier in Folly Beach.  In addition to owning the popular Beach City Grill, Kincaid also owned Anna Bell's in North Charleston.  Kincaid shut down Anna Bell's in 2014 to concentrate on the Beach City Grill.  But in October of 2016, Kincaid lost his lease at the pier when a large developer wanted to come in and repurpose the building.  Despondent, Kincaid considered getting out of the restaurant business altogether.  

However, about a year later Kincaid became involved with two partners to open Betty Lou's Bistro in Charleston's Ashley Harbor neighborhood.  And at almost the same time, another opportunity near Folly Beach came into play.  

A longtime restaurant by the name of the Anchor Line which was located along Little Oak Creek just northwest of Folly Beach came available.  Kincaid signed a lease on the building, but found that some support pilings on the waterfront along Little Oak Creek were in need of replacement.  The time it took to replace the pilings gave Kincaid some added opportunities to work on the Betty Lou Bistro's location.  Once the pilings were in place, Kris Kincaid opened Locklear's on Little Oak - simply known as LoLo's - in early July 2017.  

Going eastbound on Folly Beach Road into Folly Beach, LoLo's is located on the south side of the road just before the bridge over Little Oak Creek.  (see map)  The building that houses LoLo's is a small shanty with colorful murals and paint schemes on the outside of the structure.  The parking lot is gravel and it's sort of a "park where you can" attitude with people who go to LoLo's.   

Walking into LoLo's, you'll find the small bar area.  Party lights were strung around the beams over the two-sided bar.  They had metal stools - the kind that I find sort of uncomfortable to sit on.  They did have a full bar including wine, domestic and import beers, and a nice list of local craft beers to choose from.  

The dining area was off to the side with banquette seats along the walls and an open space in the middle.  It wasn't very big - the dining room sat, maybe, 28 to 30 people.  Colorful artwork hung on the walls provided by local artists.  Price tags for the artwork were attached to the paintings.  Given that there were a couple three open spaces on the wall, I'd have to say that some of the artwork had recently been purchased. 

We decided to sit out on the screened-in patio.  It had picnic tables with a few two-seater tables.  It was pretty rustic and laid back out in the patio.   

The creek next to LoLo's was bordered by low country marshes.  LoLo's is less than a mile from the ocean as the crow flies, but is about 2.5 miles by boat down the creek and into Folly River which goes out into the ocean.  

Our server that day was a young lady by the name of Madison.  She gave us menus to look over and asked what we'd like to drink.  They had a smoothie machine in the bar area filled with a couple different types of frozen drinks.  One was a Bahama Mama and my wife got one of those.  I got a 16 ounce can of the Bound by Time hazy IPA from the Edmund's Oast brewery in Charleston.  I had a few Edmund's Oast beers while we were in Charleston, but never did visit the brewery.  

Looking over the menu, we saw a number of interesting items starting with LoLo's She-crab soup - a South Carolina staple that is similar to a New England-style clam chowder.  They also had a smoked pimento cheese dip with crackers, as well as a number of fried items - fried green tomatoes, fried buffalo shrimp, fried okra, fried crawdad bites, and fried Brussels sprouts.  The fried Brussels sprouts sounded intriguing to my wife as they were mixed with chimichurri and bacon-bits and topped with a roasted garlic dijonnaise and crumbled bleu cheese.  But when Madison told her that it was a pretty large bowl - and I told her I probably wouldn't help her eat that much of it - she decided against it.  

I wanted seafood and it turns out that LoLo's gets their seafood fresh daily from a seafood market/wholesaler just up the road from them - Cosby's Fish & Shrimp Co.  They had peel & eat shrimp by the pound at LoLo's fresh off the shrimp boat from Cosby's.  The shrimp were large and meaty, and delicious!  We plowed through a pound of the delectable boiled shrimp before I ordered a second pound for myself for lunch.  

But I wanted something else to go along with the peel & eat shrimp.  They had grilled mahi mahi tacos available on the menu and I got those.  The mahi mahi was topped with a cabbage/carrot/scallion slaw and the taco shells were lined with an avocado purée.  The tacos were absolutely scrumptious.  

Flounder is plentiful in the ocean waters near Folly Beach and my wife got the fresh flounder filet with grilled scallops.  The fish and scallops came in a lemon butter sauce.  She couldn't rave enough about the freshness of the seafood.  She said some steamed vegetables would have been good with the flounder and scallops.  But I thought they missed the boat by not providing some crusted bread to go along with the fish to dip into the lemon butter sauce.  That would have made it perfect. 

After finishing up with lunch, we hung around a bit talking with Madison about the restaurant.  We were told that they've been wanting to add on to the building, but there's a tenant who lives on the second floor who has right of first refusal on any upgrades or additions to the building as long as he's living there.  "We do pretty well with what we've got," she said.    

Locklear's on Little Oak came highly recommended and we were not disappointed with our visit.  While the place was a step above being classified as a dive, the rustic nature of the restaurant displayed the laid-back vibe it had.  The seafood we had was fresh and delicious.  And Madison was a fun server for us that day.  LoLo's is not fine dining, but it's great seafood dining.  

The Original Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana - New Haven, CT

When I started to plan my trip to New England, I decided to fly into Hartford, CT and start from there.  My first meeting was going to be a breakfast meeting with an account that I had just outside of New Haven, CT.  One of the places that I've always heard about and really wanted to try was a famous pizza place in New Haven that many people think is one of the best - if not the best - pizza place in all the United States.  I drove from Hartford to New Haven in a driving rain storm to experience the Original Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana - or simply known as Frank Pepe's.  

Frank Pepe was born in Maiori, Italy in April of 1893.  The foothills around Maiori - located along the Amalfi Coast - featured some of the best land for growing grapes, tomatoes and other produce.  Pepe's family eventually moved to nearby Naples and lived by modest means.

In 1909, Frank Pepe immigrated to America entering through Ellis Island with no money and no understanding of the English language.  The young Pepe was sent to New Haven, CT to work in factories alongside other Italian immigrants in New Haven's Wooster Square neighborhood which eventually became the city's "Little Italy" section.  

When Italy entered World War I against Austria-Hungary in 1915, Frank Pepe went back home to Italy to fight in the war.  When the war ended in 1918, Pepe went back to Maiori and met a young lady by the name of Filomena Volpi.  The two married in September of 1919 and it wasn't long after that when the young married couple made their way back to America to work and raise a family.   

Back in New Haven at the start of 1920, Frank started to work in a pasta factory before moving on to work at a bakery on Wooster Street in Wooster Square.  It was during his time at the bakery that he started to make his version of a homeland staple of baked thin-crust bread topped with tomato sauce, grated pecorino romano cheese, garlic, oregano and olive oil, and - at times - anchovies that was baked in a large coal oven at the bakery.  Known as "apizza", but pronounced "Ah-Beets", Frank began to sell the baked tomato pies at the nearby Wooster Market walking among the vendors and crowd with a special headdress that held several pizzas on his head.  He eventually bought a wagon where he could walk the streets of New Haven selling his pizzas.  

Pictured right - Frank Pepe.  Photo courtesy Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana website.  

By 1925, Frank had saved enough money to buy the bakery from the Boccamiello family and established "Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana" selling his tomato pies. Frank still didn't know how to read or speak English, but Filomena did.  She stepped in to do most of the administrative work at the pizza place while Frank started the coal oven every morning like clockwork.  

And it was truly a family business as Frank hired a number of relatives who had come over from Italy to work in the bakery including his half-brother Alessio and Alessio's son, Mac.  Also working in the bakery was his cousin Tommy, and two nephews, Salvatore and Tony Consiglio.  In 1938, Salvatore Consiglio left Frank Pepe's and started his own apizza place just down the street - Sally's Apizza.  To this day, there are people who have their favorite between the two family competitors.

In 1936, the Boccamiello family came back and said they wanted the building back from Frank.  Frank only bought the bakery business from the Boccamiello's, but the Boccamiello's still owned the building.  Undeterred, Frank bought the building next door, a two-story building where he put his pizzeria on the ground floor and the Pepe family lived on the second floor.  The Boocamiello's then opened their own pizza place and named it "The Spot".   

Frank Pepe's new location was huge.  It was said that the seating capacity of his pizzeria made it the largest restaurant in the United States.  Eventually his daughters, Elizabeth and Serafina, his younger sister Rachel, and Elizabeth's husband Ralph Rosselli joined the family business.  The word of Frank's pizza reached far and wide with famous faces showing up to have a Frank Pepe's pizza when they were in New Haven.  Frank's famous White Clam Pizza - made with fresh clams that were shucked at Frank Pepe's, along with olive oil, garlic, oregano and grated Pecorino Romano cheese - quickly became the go-to for pizza aficionados who came from near and far to try Frank Pepe's signature pizza.   

Frank was known as a giving person, helping out the neighborhood when needed with monetary donations or free pizzas.  He continued to work in his pizza place daily up until he passed away in 1969.  His daughters took over the business and they brought in their children to help out at the restaurant.  In 1977, Elizabeth and Serafina bought the Spot next door from the Boccamiello family and decided to renovate the place.  In 1981, the original Frank Pepe's location was opened as "Frank Pepe's - The Spot", basically an annex to Frank Pepe's pizzeria that had the same menu as the main restaurant next door.  

Frank's daughters retired in the early 1990's and passed the business along to their sons and daughters.  The seven Frank and Filomena Pepe grandchildren continued with the pizza place with an eye on expansion.  In 2006, the first Frank Pepe's location outside of New Haven opened in Fairfield, CT and a second one opened in Manchester, CT - a suburb of Hartford - a year later.  Expansion continued into the 2010's and early 2020's.  Today, there are 16 Frank Pepe's locations - mainly in Connecticut with two locations in the Washington D.C area, two in Florida and three in Massachusetts.  

Each of the Frank Pepe's locations has a 14' X 14' custom made brick oven that is similar to the original bread oven Frank Pepe used in the small bakery back over 100 years ago.  The mold for the original cast iron doors on the ovens is used to forge the large doors for the front of the oven and the coal chambers.  The pizzaiolos who man the ovens at each Frank Pepe's location are extensively trained to cook the pizzas properly to make sure that the pizza you may be eating at the Frank Pepe's in Yonkers, NY is the same as the one you're having in New Haven.  

After getting my rental car at the airport in Hartford, I took off south out of the city to head to New Haven.  It was raining hard at times with the car hydroplaning on Interstate 91 on a couple occasions.  By the time I got to New Haven, the rain had let up to a light shower, but it was cold with a temperature in the upper 50's.  I pulled up to Frank Pepe's on Wooster Street and saw that there was a line - even around 3 p.m. on a Sunday afternoon. (see map)  Parking is definitely tight in the neighborhood as there are a number of restaurants up and down Wooster Street.  However, I was extremely lucky as there was a car pulling out of the first spot in the parking lot just to the west of Frank Pepe's.  I quickly took a left turn and pulled into the open spot.  

I didn't pack a coat with me on my trip out to New England because the weather forecast was to be sunny and warm most of the week.  Well, with the exception of Sunday when I flew in and drove down to New Haven.  In a short-sleeved polo shirt standing in line at Frank Pepe's, I was a bit chilled.  And I was getting a little wet from the light rain.  Luckily, the line moved quick enough after a few minutes where I found myself under an awning in front of Frank Pepe's.  

A young lady was canvassing the crowd standing in front of the pizzeria checking to see how many were in their respective groups.  When she came to me and I told her that it was just me, she said, "I may have a solution for you.  Hang on."  

She went inside and came back out to call for a group of 4.  Then she came up to me and said, "I have a table in the building next door that you can have.  It's a table for two."  She told me to go around the corner of the building and through the parking lot next door to the building in the back.  I lucked out again as I was going to be dining in the original building where Frank Pepe started his pizzeria almost 100 years ago.  

Just inside the door, I was directed to a small table in a small room near the kitchen.  A larger dining room had been added off to the side of the restaurant a number of years ago.  It featured white-washed brick walls with historical pictures on the wall, a sky-light and about a dozen tables in the dining room.  The small area between the big dining room and the kitchen where I was seated had - if I remember correctly - five or six tables.  

A cute young lady by the name of Ashley was my server that day.  I have to say right off the bat, she was great.  She was patient with a first timer at Frank Pepe's, she had a good sense of humor and she gave me some good recommendations.  The first good recommendation she gave me was the Fuzzy Baby Ducks New England IPA from the New England Brewing Company from the New Haven suburb of Woodbridge.  

The menu was printed on a laminated sheet that was on the table when I sat down.   All they do at Frank Pepe's is pizza. And the pizzas are all 12" in diameter.  They do have salads available, but that's it.  Now, my former co-worker who traveled New England for our company for a number of years told me a long time ago that Frank Pepe's signature pizza - the white clam pizza - was just to die for.  I was texting him while I was at Frank Pepe's and told him that I was here.  "The clam pizza is legendary," he texted back.  

I was apprehensive about getting the white clam pizza on my first visit, so I turned to Ashley's expertise in the matter.  "We do sell a lot of the white clam pizzas," she told me after bringing me back another beer.  "But I'm sort of partial to our tomato pie pizzas."  After she left me to continue to go back and forth as to what pizza I would get, I began to notice that a lot of pizzas coming out of the kitchen were with tomato sauce.  I'm not certain I saw a white clam pizza come out of the kitchen while I was there.

And because of that, I went with my standard sausage, pepperoni and mushroom with mozzarella cheese.  It was presented resting on wax paper on a cookie sheet - not a fancy presentation, but it worked fine.  The outer crust had char marks and the pizza had that great charred taste to it.  The mozzarella was sort of runny - like Provel cheese on St. Louis-style pizza - and not stringy.  But the pizza was very good.  Was it the best pizza I've ever had?  No, I don't know if I can say that.  But it would have been in my Top 10.  

And because the pizza crust was so thin, I had no problem finishing the whole 12" pizza.  Ashley came over to check on me when I had one piece left to eat and asked if I wanted a box.  "No, I think I'm going to finish it off," I said.  "This will be my lunch and dinner in one meal."  

As I was getting ready to leave to head out to my hotel, I went toward the front of the original Frank Pepe's building to see if I could get a look at the big brick oven.  A lady standing up at the front said, "Sure, if you want to get a picture of the oven, come on in!"  She escorted me into the kitchen on the far side and I was able to snap some photos of the original brick oven that has been working for over 100 years.  It was pretty cool to see.

Walking back to my car, I was walking past the main building at Frank Pepe's.  I decided to take a couple steps back and walk in.  The lady at the pick-up counter asked if she could help me and I said I wanted to take a couple shots of the inside of the restaurant.  She was more than happy to allow me to do so.  I didn't go back and around the corner into the main dining area at the restaurant, but I got a shot of the original dining room from the second "main" location for Frank Pepe's.

I detest the notion of a "Bucket List".  But Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana has long been on my list of places to visit since I started a list on my Google Maps a number of years ago.  The history - alone - is worth the visit to Frank Pepe's, but the pizza was excellent.  It was not disappointing in the least.  I had great service from Ashley and they had a nice list of craft beers to go along with their famous pizza.  I'll probably head back to New Haven at some point as I have an account in the area.  I don't know if I'll try Frank Pepe's again, or maybe I'll head down the street to Sally's is see which of the two are better.  Given the history and the length both have been in business, I have a feeling that you couldn't go wrong with either one.      

Bub City - Rosemont, IL

I had driven into Chicago from Fort Wayne, Indiana and was a bit early for my first appointment.  I was sort of hungry for barbecue and I remembered a barbecue place in Rosemont that wasn't far from my hotel.  I got off the Tri-State Tollway at Balmoral Ave. and pulled into the Rosemont Entertainment District to have a late lunch/early dinner at Bub City.  

Bub City is the second location of a reincarnation of the original Bub City restaurant that was opened in 1989 in what was then an industrial area just south of North Ave and west of Halsted Street in the Clybourn Corridor neighborhood.  The 30,000 square foot restaurant/bar/entertainment facility was co-owned and managed by Rich Melman's Lettuce Entertain You empire of restaurants.  The original Bub City was designed to be a barbecue joint, country-western, shit-kicker-type bar with Melman wanting a restaurant/bar that would scare the yuppies away.  But because it was a Lettuce Entertain You establishment that served barbecue, yuppies still came there in droves to the restaurant.  And because of that, other restaurants and bars soon sprang up in the area.  Melman and his partners in Bub City decided to shut down the restaurant in the mid-90's.  

In 2012, Melman's sons RJ and Jerrod decided to reincarnate Bub City with a new location on Clark Street in Chicago's downtown River North area.  It was 1/6th the size of the original Bub City, but continued to focus on barbecue, country music and a beer-driven drink list.  It still featured live country music three times a week.  

The late country star Toby Keith established a chain of large honky-tonk restaurant/music venues across the U.S. called "Toby Keith's I Love This Bar."  Financial mismanagement in terms of unpaid rents and unpaid back taxes forced many of them to close in 2015 into 2016.  One of those locations was in the Rosemont Entertainment District.  With a big space to fill, the developers of the district reached out to the Melman's to see if they would be interested in taking over the space.  While the restaurant and bar area had a small stage, there was a larger venue next door that was part of the complex they weren't interested in.  However, they went to Ed Warm and Tom DiSanto who owned Joe's on Weed Street, a live music venue not far from where the original Bub City was located.  The Melman's and Warm and DiSanto partnered to open Bub City with Joe's Live next door in March of 2016.   

Parking is available in a ramp directly behind Bub City, but I was able to find parking on the one-way road that goes around the entertainment complex.  (see map)  In front of Bub City is the outdoor stage for periodic live events held during the warmer months.  In the winter months, the artificial grass on the Great Lawn is transformed into an NHL-sized skating rink with festive lighting strung above and around the rink area.  The live acts that play on Thursday nights during the summer months are mostly tribute bands playing the music of bands and artists such as The Who, Bon Jovi, Pink Floyd and Elton John.  Free zumba, yoga and Powerhouse Pilates classes are held at various times on the Great Lawn.  

Bub City is basically one large dining space with tables in the middle of a line of booths.  Colorful Christmas lights were strung across the ceiling going in various directions.  In the middle of the dining area up toward the front was a stage area where country artists will play music Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, usually starting at 9:30 to 10:00 p.m.

There are two bars at Bub City, one if more beer centric with some liquor options, while the other is more whiskey centric with a few beers to choose from.  They're on opposite walls in the main space at Bub City.  Music was piped in via the restaurant's sound system and while I was there I heard songs by the likes of country artists Brothers Osborne, Tyler Childers, and Rvshvd.

On the wall next to the stage were a number of pictures honoring Hall of Fame members of the Windy City Smokeout barbecue contest that has been held annually in Chicago since 2013.  (The 2024 edition of the Windy City Smokeout begins today near the United Center in Chicago.)  Members of the Hall of Fame pitmasters honored on the board included Myron Mixon, Carey Bringle from Peg Leg Porker in Nashville; Scott Roberts from Salt Lick BBQ in Driftwood, TX; and the late Mike Mills from 17th Street BBQ in Murphysboro, IL.  The Windy City Smokeout is one of the top barbecue contests in the U.S. and one of the five largest of its kind.  

I ended up seated at the bar.  The center piece of the bar was a large American flag that was made out of beer cans.  As soon as I sat down a bartender by the name of Mark came up and dropped off a food menu for me.  The beer menu was on a QR code on a drink coaster on the bar.  I perused the beer list for a moment and I ended up ordering a B.C. Haze, a hazy IPA made especially for Bub City by the Noon Whistle Brewing Company in nearby Lombard, IL.  Other beers which they had on tap were provided by local breweries such as Spiteful Brewing, Mikerphone Brewing, Maplewood Brewery, and Pilot Project Brewing, an incubator for fledgling brewers with locations in Chicago and Milwaukee.    

Figuring that this would probably be my only meal of the day, I decided to look more at the entrees.  They had baby back ribs in 1/2 racks or full racks, pulled pork shoulder and brisket on their menu.  They had a combo of all three for about $43 bucks, but I thought it would be too much food.  I really wanted to do a combination of pulled pork and brisket, but they didn't have that available.  They also had fried chicken tenders and chicken sandwiches, as well as burgers, and a pulled pork or brisket sandwich. Bub City also had mac & cheese available either plain, or with pork or brisket added in.  

Two things that they had on the menu that I really wanted to get were the burnt ends and the smoked prime pastrami sandwich.  However, the burnt ends were only available Friday through Sunday, and the prime pastrami sandwich was available only on Friday and Saturday and I was a day early.  Well, poop!  

Since they didn't have the combination plates I wanted, or the burnt ends, and the prime pastrami sandwich wasn't available, I went with the brisket dinner.  Mark asked me if I wanted fatty, lean or half-and-half.  I went with the half-and-half, but Bub City's idea of half-and-half was 3 pieces of lean brisket and one piece of the fatty brisket.  Pickled onions and jalapeños came on the side along with a half-slice of toasted Texas bread.  For my sides, I got the cole slaw and some of their spicy baked beans.  

The thing that sort of got me was that they had just one style of barbecue sauce and it was served in a small ceramic tub on the side.  I caught the attention of the guy who brought the food out to me and asked if I could get another tub of sauce.  The sauce was OK - it was rather neutral to me.  It wasn't overly sweet, nor was it all that spicy.  It had a tomato/vinegar base and - to me - was more like a barbecue ketchup rather than a sauce.  

The brisket was good.  The fatty slice was really flavorful and was very tender.  A fork easily cut through the piece of meat.  The lean brisket was also very good.  The bark on the outside had a distinctive flavor that was enhanced with I would dip a bite into the sauce.  

The sides went from "meh!" to very good.  Unfortunately, the spicy baked beans were the disappointment.  They were not all that spicy - even with sliced jalapeños on the top.  But the cole slaw was outstanding.  Sweet and creamy, I wish I would have had more of the cole slaw than of the baked beans.  

I know a lot of people like Bub City.  It's a popular spot in the city and now out in Rosemont.  But I thought it was a pretty middle-of-the-pack barbecue joint.  They didn't really have much to offer outside of ribs, brisket and pulled pork.  They had no selection of sauces.  The sides were pretty pedestrian - although I will admit that the cole slaw was pretty damned good.  And the service was fine.  As a big party destination - complete with live music in house, next door or outdoors - it's tough to beat.  But if you're just going there for the food, there's other options to try before you try Bub City. 

Wild Olive - Johns Island, SC

During our first full night in Charleston, SC recently, we had been given a list of recommended restaurants in the area by a waiter at Amen Street.  One of them that he highly recommended was a place on Johns Island south and west of Charleston, an Italian restaurant by the name of Wild Olive.  One evening we decided to head out to Johns Island and try Wild Olive for dinner.  

Jacques Larson was an Illinois native who went to school at the University of Iowa studying English and history in the early-to-mid 1990's.  Larson had worked in an Italian restaurant while he was in high school and he worked in various restaurants in Iowa City while going to school.

After graduation, Larson moved to Charleston in 1996 and a year later he helped start up the Peninsula Grill, an upscale eatery in the heart of Charleston's French Quarter.  For seven years, Larson served as the sous chef at the restaurant.  

Larson didn't think that he wanted to be stuck in a kitchen and he began making plans to go to a college on the west coast to get his Master of Fine Arts degree in painting.  He left Peninsula Grill at the age of 30, but was sidetracked by joining an Italian restaurant in North Carolina.  The restaurant was headed by Jimmy Noble who has a number of restaurants under the Noble Food and Pursuits banner in the greater Charlotte area.  Even though Larson worked in an Italian restaurant as a high school student, he never really cooked in one.  It was working with Noble at the Italian restaurant that Larson fell in love with Italian cooking.  

After working in Charlotte for a couple years, Larson decided to immerse himself in all things to do with Italian cooking.  He tried some of the better Italian restaurants in New York City eventually landing a job in one.  He traveled to Italy to learn more by cooking in a restaurant where he also started to learn about Italian wines.  By the time he moved back to Charleston around 2007, he was fully onboard for all things Italian.  

Pictured right - Jacques Larson.  Photo courtesy Charleston City Paper.  

Larson had worked at a restaurant in Charleston for a couple years before he decided to move back to the Midwest and open a restaurant in either Iowa City or Madison, WI.  A week before he was scheduled to leave Charleston to scout locations in the Midwest, Larson was recruited to a new restaurant that had opened just a couple months before to help run the kitchen.  Fred Neuville and Doug Godley had opened Wild Olive in 2009 as an Italian restaurant.  But when Larson joined the kitchen staff, he found that there was only one dish that consisted of pork - a pork chop - when pork was a staple of the Italian diet.  He slowly incorporated more pork based dishes into the menu at Wild Olive.  

In 2010, Neuville and Godley dissolved their partnership in Wild Olive and the restaurant went under Godley's Frankie's Fun Parks corporate umbrella.  Frankie's Fun Parks is a chain of amusement parks with locations in South Carolina and North Carolina.  Under Godley's ownership, Larson flourished in the kitchen and Wild Olive became one of the top food destinations in Charleston.  In 2014, Larson and Godley opened The Obstinate Daughter on Sullivan's Island just north of Charleston offering more of a Low Country menu with Italian mixed in.  

We had made reservations for 7 p.m. at Wild Olive.  Actually, we drove out a little early thinking that maybe we could get a drink at the bar while waiting for a table to open.  And it was probably a good thing that we did go early because we passed the entrance to Wild Olive twice before we realized that it was tucked back off Maybank Highway (State Road 700) just nine miles from downtown Charleston.  (see map)  A small sign in front was almost impossible to see when you were driving by as it was set back from the roadway and it was understandable that you could miss it if you didn't know where Wild Olive was.  

The parking lot in back of the Wild Olive is shared with its neighbor, Low Tide Brewing.  Wild Olive featured a handful of Low Tide beers including an IPA that I got for my first beverage at Wild Olive that I thought was very good.

Upon entering Wild Olive, the main dining room is off to the right side.  Wood paneled walls held a number of historical pictures from the Charleston area while a series of LED lights were pointed at the wood planks on the ceiling diffusing the light in the room.  The kitchen was off to the side of the main dining room and through a double wide opening you could see the hustle and bustle going on in the kitchen.  

In the back corner past the lounge area was another dining area, smaller than the main dining room.  Banquette seating was along the wall with a number of table in the middle of the room.  It was a cozy room with the same lighting scheme as the main dining room.  

Since we were still a little early, the young lady at the hostess stand said that it would probably be about a 20 to 25 minute wait for a table in the two dining rooms.  But she said that she had a high-top table in the lounge.  The lounge was actually very nice - a large communal table under a rack of faux grapes were hanging over the table.  The bar wasn't very big, but it also had a nice cozy feeling to the room.  Music by Jack Johnson, Bonnie Raitt, The BoDeans and others played in the background during our time there.  

The hostess took us into the lounge and pointed to a table around the corner and tucked in the back part of the lounge near the bar.  My wife and I looked at one another, sort of shrugged our shoulders in approval and decided to sit there.  It was actually kind of nice as it wasn't in a high traffic area and there weren't any other tables around us.  Our server that evening was a helpful and fun guy who was introduced by the hostess as Christopher.  But as the night went on, he insisted that we call him Chris.  

The menu will vary depending upon seasons and availability of locally-sourced products.  But most of the main items on the menu stay intact most of the year - Lobster risotto, "Sunday-gravy" lasagna, baked penne pasta with sweet sausage, as well as chicken parm, veal scallopine, and something that I found pretty interesting - a grill elk loin.  I've had elk in the past and it's some of the better game-style meat I've ever had.  

The choices for appetizers were pretty slim, but they included fried calamari, a Caesar salad, and something that jumped out at me - grilled octopus with chopped creamer potatoes, pancetta, capers and spring onions.  The octopus - while not many of them on the plate - was charred and chewy with a great flavor.  There were too many potatoes on the plate for my liking, but it was still a nice little start to the meal.   

Eschewing a salad, my wife got a cup of the lobster bisque.  Creamy and hearty with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar added to the top, my wife declared the bisque to be wonderful.  She offered me a spoonful and I also thought it was very good, as well.  

That evening, Wild Olive had a fish special - a locally-caught wild grouper filet pan-seared and placed on a bed of grilled vegetables with a risotto sauce on the base of the plate.  She got a house Pinot Grigio to go along with the meal.  My wife thought the grouper was outstanding - it had a butter-char to the outside and was light and flaky on the inside.  She especially liked the grilled vegetables as she decided to eat somewhat healthy that evening.  

I went the pasta route with Tagliatelle pasta with a bolognese sauce.  I've been getting really deep into meaty, hearty and creamy bolognese sauces recently, especially paired with wide egg noodles. (I also have made some bolognese sauce at home recently with San Marzano tomatoes in a tomato-cream sauce which turned out pretty damned good, if I say so myself.)  And the tagliatelle pasta noodles with the ground veal/ground pork bolognese sauce was also outstanding.  I had a light lunch earlier in the day because I figured that we'd be eating pasta that evening, so it was no problem for me to finish the whole delicious plate.  For a wine pairing that evening, I got a glass of the house Super Tuscan red they had available.  

For dessert that night, we had to get a slice of their tiramisu.  Freshly baked, the tiramisu was very good.  But it was also very rich.  Still, we somehow made it through the whole piece.  

But there was something else on the dessert menu that screamed my name - the affogato.  It featured their house-made vanilla gelato with double shot of espresso and a slice of biscotti on the side.  But the clincher was that for a $3 upcharge, I could get a shot of Ramazzoti liqueur to dump on top.  I've had affogato many times in the past, but none have been offered with a liqueur before.  And it was dynamite.  The espresso with the gelato was good enough, but the sweetness of the syrupy Ramazzoti liqueur made it even better.   

Everything that I expected Wild Olive to be in a farm-to-fork/locally-sourced Italian restaurant more than exceeded my expectations.  The food was exquisite, the atmosphere was calming and cozy, and the service was exceptional.  We ended up lingering for a few moments to savor the meal we had just experienced and talked with Chris about some other restaurants in the area.  We ate at some very good restaurants while we were in Charleston, but none of them were better than the meal we had at Wild Olive.  (Photo courtesy Wild Olive Facebook page.) 

Surf Seafood - Nashua, NH

Spending the night in Nashua, NH recently, I was on a quest for some really good seafood.  Being in New England for the first time in about 30 years made me want to do nothing but find fresh seafood while I was there.  At the hotel I stayed at, I asked the bartender what seafood place he'd go to if he had a choice.  He didn't hesitate.  "Surf Seafood in downtown Nashua," he said.  A guy seated not far away said, "Oh, yeah.  Surf if probably the best in town."  Going on their recommendation, I headed to downtown Nashua that evening for a meal at Surf Seafood.  

Michael Buckley grew up in the Boston suburb of Brookline, MA.  At the age of 13, he started working at a restaurant washing dishes.  He loved the restaurant business so much that he told his parents that he was going to own his own restaurant someday.  And he would name it Michael Timothy's incorporating his middle name into the name of his dream restaurant.  

During high school in the late 70's into the early 80's, Buckley was an industrious kid.  During the summer months he'd paint houses during the day, work as a grill chef in the afternoon into the evening, then make cider over the weekends.  After graduating from high school in 1981, Buckley ended up working on an eastern Oregon ranch that was owned by his neighbor's brother.  Buckley worked on the ranch from May until December flying back home when his services as a ranch hand were no longer needed during the winter months.  

When Buckley returned, he started to work as a grill cook at the restaurant he'd been working at during his high school years.  He soon went to work as a line cook at The Pearl, an upscale restaurant in Nashua.  From there, Buckley went to work in the kitchen at a now closed Italian restaurant in Nashua.  

Figuring out that he'd have to learn how to work the front of the house since he'd been working in restaurant kitchens since he was 13, Buckley took a second job to wait tables another restaurant in Nashua.  But not long after all that, he heard of a new restaurant that opened in nearby Amherst, NH - Lord Jeffrey.  The restaurant's owner was German and he had a German head chef in charge of the kitchen.  Buckley got a job as a line cook at the restaurant.

While other chefs got their start going to culinary school, working at Lord Jeffrey turned out to be culinary school for Buckley.  The German chef that Buckley worked under taught him the basic foundations of European cooking from making stocks, what to look for in seafood and how to handle fish, and how to butcher meats.  On his off day from Lord Jeffrey, he would go work in a Swiss restaurant where his boss was a co-owner to learn classic German, Swiss and Austrian dishes.   

During this time, Buckley was dating a young lady by the name of Sarah who - when she wasn't going to school at the University of New Hampshire - was waiting tables at Lord Jeffreys.  They had a co-worker who was from Germany and she had worked in restaurants there before coming to New Hampshire.  She had told them of a restaurant where she formerly worked at in Gaggenau, located in the southwest sector of Germany near the border with France.  The German co-worker told Michael and Sarah that she could get them a job at that restaurant if they were interested in going to Germany.  

Not long after that offer was made, the owner of Lord Jeffrey decided to sell the restaurant.  Both Buckley and Sarah decided to make the leap and went to Germany with their German co-worker.  They made it to Gaggenau and went to the restaurant where they were introduced to the chef - a 27-year-old Certified Master Chef.  They weren't hired right away, but one evening while dining in the restaurant, the chef's assistant - who was a 14-year-old boy - ran out of the kitchen crying.  Exasperated, the chef came out to Buckley and asked when he could start.  

The young chef Buckley worked under specialized in both made-from-scratch French specialties to classic German fare and people from miles around came to his little restaurant.   The young chef was a taskmaster in the small kitchen which consisted of the chef, Buckley and a dishwasher.  But Buckley thrived under the demanding pressure in the kitchen calling the experience one of the best of his culinary career.

After working in Germany for four months, the new owners of Lord Jeffrey contacted Buckley and pleaded with him to come back.  The head chef had quit just before Christmas and the new owners were desperate.  They offered to pay Buckley and Sarah's moving expenses to come back and handed him a large cash bonus when he showed up on the first day back at the restaurant.  In 1985 at the age of 21, Michael Buckley was finally the head chef at a restaurant.  

Two years later, Michael and Sarah tied the knot and it was also time for Michael to move on to his next culinary adventure.  He ended up at an upscale restaurant in Merrimack, NH, just north of Nashua to work with a friend who was the head chef.  When the head chef left in 1989, Buckley was elevated to the position.  

Pictured right - Sarah and Michael Buckley.  Photo courtesy NH Business Review.  

In all, Buckley worked at the restaurant in Merrimack for over 7 years.  By this time, he was working on a deal to be a chef at a new brewpub.  But when that fell through he decided it was his time to open his own place.  He left the restaurant in Merrimack and found a spot on Main Street in Nashua in a building that once housed an insurance agency.   The young Buckley family - now with two kids and a third one on the way - pulled out their life savings, cashed in anything worth money, and put down a deposit.  

With the help of his brother and Sarah's father, the trio worked day and night over a four month period to convert the former insurance agency office space into a restaurant.  With more help from friends and family, along with some thrifty purchases of furnishings, the Buckleys opened Michael Timothy's in August of 1995.  He was 31 years old and had been involved with restaurants for 18 years bringing the dream of owning his own restaurant by the name of Michael Timothy's full circle.  (At one point, Michael Timothy's rebranded into MT Local featuring a menu of locally-sourced food.)  

The restaurant was a hit right off the bat and Buckley found himself working long hours to oversee even the most minute detail.  He hadn't even thought about opening a second restaurant, but in 2002 a chance to buy the restaurant right across the street from Michael Timothy's fell into his lap.  Instead of letting someone else come in and buy the restaurant, he negotiated with the owners to take over the space allowing him to work on a concept that would be different from the bistro-style fare he served at Michael Timothy's.  

Even though New England was a hotbed for seafood, there were only a few restaurants with a creative menu that catered to a more discerning clientele.  In late May of 2002, Surf Seafood opened their doors.  It was also the first time in his life that Buckley realized that he couldn't be in two places at the same time.  He learned to delegate responsibilities to make two restaurants work.  It also gave him some much needed time away from the restaurant business for some family time at home.  

From there, in 2005 Buckley opened Buckley's Great Steaks in Merrimack, NH in a restored early-1800's tavern.  After that, more restaurants popped up under the Michael Timothy's Dining Group umbrella - a second Surf Seafood opened in Portsmouth, NH in 2011, Buckley's Bakery and Cafe opened next door to Buckley's Great Steaks (a second location opened in Hollis, NH not long ago), Mike's Italian Kitchen in downtown Nashua was rebranded from MT's Local in 2023, and a new Surf Seafood location opened in Woburn, MA in 2023.  And earlier this year, Buckley - along with his son, Ian - opened Lost Cowboy Brewing Company, 30 years after he almost became involved in a brewpub before owning his own restaurant.  

It was about a 10 minute drive from my hotel to downtown Nashua.  I pulled up to Surf Seafood around 7 p.m. at 207 Main Street (see map).  The parking spots along the street were filled up, so I went down the street to a bank parking lot that appeared to allow cars to park there after business hours.  

Walking back up the street and into Surf Seafood I was met at a hostess stand by a young lady.  The restaurant was semi-partitioned into two parts - a bar area and a dining area.  The bar was a large U-shaped structure in the middle of that part of the restaurant.  There were tables off to the side with banquette seats from the half-wall between the bar area and the dining room.  More tables were off to the opposite side of the bar.  In the back of the bar area was a raw bar/sushi bar that featured seating at its bar, as well.

The dining room was well lit and featured larger tables for bigger groups.  The restaurant was very nice, but not stuffy.  It wasn't a place for a one person diner, so I opted for the bar.  I was lucky - I got the last open seat at the bar.  It was a popular place and they were busy that night.  

There were three bartenders working the bar that night - two men and a young woman.  The young woman was the one who brought a menu over to me and she asked me what I would like to drink.  I asked her what hazy IPA's they had available and she had to go ask one of the other guys what they had.  She came back and said they had the Cloud Candy hazy New England IPA from the Mighty Squirrel Brewing Co. in Waltham, MA.  I have to say it was a very good beer.  

The menu was an interesting mix of small plates, sandwiches, sushi, and raw bar items such as smoked salmon, oysters on the half-shell, and tuna pokè.  They had an extensive list of main entree choices such as a flambéed lobster, shrimp tikka masala, Korean BBQ scallops, and a ramen dish with slow-braised bacon, miso-marinated salmon, with pickled vegetables in a broth with noodles.  The pepper-encrusted ahi tuna sounded especially delicious.  

The raw bar with the oysters on the half-shell sounded good to me, so I asked the young lady to put an order in for me.  I found out later on that they had a variety of oysters to choose from.  A couple had sat down next to me later in the evening as I was almost finished with my meal and one of the male bartenders came over to greet them.  He went through a list of different types of oysters they had that night at the raw bar, then he talked about two or three specials they had off the menu - all of which sounded very interesting.  I was sort of pissed that the girl never gave me any options on the oysters.  The ones I had were OK.  They weren't very big or meaty, and they were a bit gritty.  It was $3.50 per oyster for a four-count of oysters that were served to me.  

I also had to get a bowl of clam chowder while I was there - and I was glad I did.  It had a thick and creamy base with large chunks of clams and diced potatoes mixed in.  It was very rich and it nearly filled me up on its own.  But it was also pretty expensive it was $12 for the bowl.  

I had a lot of options for dinner that night.  As I said, I thought about the pepper-crusted ahi tuna, and the blackened shrimp tacos sounded good to me, too.  The cold lobster roll also was tempting.  But in the end, I went back to the raw bar and got two items - the tuna pokè and two ounces of the pastrami smoked salmon.  

The smoked salmon was served on a small plate with crostini bread, capers, chopped red onions and served with a creamy horseradish sauce that I never used.   The smoked salmon literally melted in my mouth and when pared with the crostini, capers and onions, it was absolutely marvelous in taste.  The smoked salmon was simply outstanding.

The tuna pokè wasn't far behind in terms of both flavor and freshness.  It consisted of a mixture of yellowfin tuna, scallions, chopped avocado, a sweet tamari sauce, wasabi mayo, a spicy mayo, seaweed salad, all of which sat on a bed of sushi rice.  It was formed in a tower and served with light and puffy shrimp chips.  The pokè with its mix was out of this world.  I just couldn't believe how great this all tasted.   

Other than the young lady bartender not filling me in on different choices of the oysters they had that night, nor giving me the off-the-menu specials that evening, my visit to Surf Seafood was off-the-chart.  The clam chowder was excellent, but a bit expensive, I felt.  And it would have been tough to beat both the smoked salmon and the tuna pokè that I had from the raw bar for my main meal.  Surf Seafood was a winner all the way around and I let the bartender back at my hotel know that when I went back for a nightcap later that evening.  

The Breakfast Club - Ankeny, IA

My cousin had come back from North Carolina for our class reunion recently and we decided to reach out to a friend of ours who we had known since we were all in kindergarten.  While our friend couldn't make it to the class reunion, my cousin and I decided to go see her in Ankeny, IA.   I called our friend up the day before and said that we wanted to meet her and her husband for breakfast - with the caveat being that we needed to go to a place that had bloody marys or mimosas.  She didn't even hesitate.  "Oh, The Breakfast Club," she said immediately.  My cousin was staying with her brother in Des Moines, and on a Sunday morning my wife and I picked her up and we drove up to Ankeny to meet our lifelong friend and her husband at The Breakfast Club.

Tom and Anne Baldwin are the owners of the Dark Side of the Spoon hospitality group which owns a number of Des Moines area restaurants such as Annie's Irish Pub, 1908 Draught House, Wellman's Pub and the famous Peggy's Tavern near Drake University.  The Baldwins came up with a concept for a breakfast cafe for adults complete with boozy drinks and innovative twists on traditional breakfast classics.  

At the time, the Baldwins were working with Gusto Pizza co-owners Joe McConville, Tony Lemmo and Josh Holderness, along with venture capitalists Ted Hawley and Tommy Bornstad to put in an Italian restaurant at a to-be determined location in West Des Moines.  The pandemic in March of 2020 scuttled those plans, but the Baldwins shared their vision of an adult breakfast restaurant with the Gusto Pizza owners.  It turned out that McConville felt the downtown was underserved in regard to breakfast cafes.   

Backing off on their plans to open an Italian restaurant, the group found a space that formerly housed a restaurant in the East Village neighborhood in Des Moines.  The changeover to a breakfast cafe was relatively quick given that the nation was still in the throes of the pandemic in late 2020.  However, the restaurant was ready to open in February of 2022 and their opening coincided with the rescinding of the mandate that people must wear masks in public places.  

With McConville as the managing partner, the first month of business saw brisk sales and good crowds.  The Breakfast Club soon had lines out the door with patrons willing to wait for tables to open through the week and especially on the weekends.  The group then looked back west to the West Glen Town Center mixed use complex where they were originally looking at opening an Italian restaurant in West Moines.  The second Breakfast Club location opened in June of 2022.  

With the population growth happening up in Ankeny, the group set it sights on opening a 3rd location in the District of Prairie Trail shopping and entertainment complex.  The Ankeny location opened in November of 2023.  It wasn't long after that when the fourth Breakfast Club location opened in Minneapolis' Uptown neighborhood.  

We were running a little late when we picked up my cousin.  She had already called our friend and told her that we're going to a coming in about 15 minutes late.  The problem when we got to the District of Prairie Trail, we really didn't know where The Breakfast Club was since none of us had ever been there before.  After driving around the property, I took a turn and saw the restaurant on the left.  (see map)  We parked in the lot across the street where a movie theater was located.  

The front dining area was kind of a mixture of modern contemporary decor with some 50's art deco art work mixed in.  Chairs in bright colors were parked at tables that seated four to six people.  The outside dining area just beyond the glass garage doors was a popular place that morning.  

Our friend and her husband were already seated in the large dining room off to the left of the first dining area.  It also featured brightly colored chairs, acoustic panels and large paintings of 80's icons Bruce Springsteen, Billy Idol and Madonna.  My wife - who notices loud dining spaces - noted that for how big and open the room was, the acoustical treatment was helping keep the noise down.  

The bar area was as equally colorful as the main dining area.  Rich pastel colors dominated the counter and light fixtures.  A Tex Avery cartoon was playing on the flat screen on the wall behind the bar.  

After getting caught up on things, we motioned for our server to come back over to take our orders.  Hailie was her name and she was pretty neutral in her demeanor during our visit.  I ordered up a bloody mary, but I noticed that they didn't have any beers to have as a chaser.  It was probably good given that I had never met my friend's husband before and we hadn't seen her in a long time.  Best to let them slowly notice that I'm a latent alcoholic rather than removing all doubt with a bloody mary and a pint of pale ale with breakfast.  

Looking through the menu, I saw a bunch of things that sounded pretty interesting.  In fact, from the top of the menu, I got a bit of a kick out of the offerings.  Starters included breakfast corn dogs which consisted of sausage links deep fried in a maple pancake batter and served with maple syrup and a strawberry glaze.  The Breakfast egg rolls were filled with scrambled eggs, sausage, bacon bits and cheddar cheese.  The Totches had a Mexican flair consisting of tots, chorizo sausage, black beans, with a queso sauce with a salsa verde.  And they had a breakfast poutine with fries, gravy, cheese curds and bacon, topped with an over-easy egg with chopped green onions.  And those were just the starters!  Yow!!

The main entrees featured variations of eggs Benedict including poached eggs on crab rangoon and poached eggs on a cheese papusa with pork carnitas and salsa verde.  (I seriously thought about getting that!)  For main plates they had diverse selections such as a Cajun hash with andouille sausage and a gumbo sauce; hash browns with kimchi and a sriracha sauce; S'mores pancakes topped with Nutella, toasted marshmallows, graham crackers and a chocolate sauce; and a chicken cordon bleu skillet with ham, fried chicken, Swiss and gouda cheese with fried eggs.  

The Breakfast Club also had a cheeseburger, a chicken Caesar wrap, and a BLT for those who didn't want breakfast.  And for those who didn't want an exotic breakfast, they had staples such chicken fried steak and eggs; a breakfast burrito; and chicken and waffles.  There was a lot of stuff that caught my eye that sounded pretty interesting and delicious.

My wife, our friend and her husband all went for the Basic B - two eggs over easy, ham on the side (choices included ham or sausage), and hash browns.  My wife thought toast came with the breakfast, but she was told by the person who served her that toast was not included.  She asked if she could get some sourdough toast and he said it would be no problem.  The only problem is that her sourdough toast never came out.  When Hailie finally showed up to check on everyone, my wife pointed out that she hadn't gotten her toast.  Well, the kid who served the meal to the table neglected to either put the order in or to let Hailie know that she wanted toast.  It was a minor hiccup, but it sort of perturbed my wife a bit.  

My cousin ordered what was basically the avocado on a bagel with two fried eggs and crumbled bacon on top.  Chopped tomatoes and green onions came with the avocado on the toasted bagel.  My cousin neither raved nor said anything bad about her meal.  She was too busy catching up with our friend.  

I decided to go the sweet route for my breakfast.  I really wanted to try the maple battered corn dogs, and the Dutch apple cheesecake French toast looked good (I don't care for apples, but I thought I could just push them off), but I ended up going with the blueberry and cream pancakes.  The pancakes were made with a cinnamon swirl batter and topped with a cream cheese frosting with fresh blueberries in a blueberry sauce.  The pancakes were thick and fluffy - I'd rather have them a bit more thin - but they were fine.  It wasn't quite the picture of the pancakes, cream and blueberries that is depicted on their web site, but it was still all right.  I could only eat about half of the pancakes as they were very filling and very rich.  

My wife wasn't too happy with her breakfast.  The sourdough toast finally did show up, but she thought her breakfast was sort of "meh!"  "I wasn't impressed with The Breakfast Club," she said as we made our way home.  

Me, I thought that The Breakfast Club was pretty interesting.  The food was OK, but the descriptions of some of the were pretty tantalizing.  The only complaint I would have is that they didn't offer any craft beers to go along with some of their breakfast cocktails.  The service was a bit choppy, but I chalk that up to it being a busy Sunday morning.  I would probably go back to The Breakfast Club to try something else at some point - I'm still thinking about the breakfast corn dogs.  But they had some other sweet and savory items on the menu that sounded good to me.