Road Tips

Baratta's - Des Moines

My wife and I had finished up hanging out at the Iowa State Fair and faced a 2.5 hour drive home.  I asked her if she wanted to eat in Des Moines before we left, or break up the trip and eat around Iowa City on the way home.  She thought for a moment and said, "I'd like to eat here."  I suggested an Italian restaurant on Des Moines' south side that I hadn't been to in over 20 years - Baratta's.  She thought it sounded good and we headed over the Baratta's for an early evening dinner.  

In the early 1920's, Antonio Baratta and his wife Filomena immigrated to the U.S. from their small town of Scala Coeli (which roughly translates to Stairway to Heaven) in the Calabria region of Italy.  They settled in Des Moines and opened a successful tavern in the downtown area after the end of Prohibition.  They raised four children - three boys by the names of Charlie, Mike and John, and a daughter Frances Madonia.

In the 1950's, Antonio bought a house at the corner of S. Union and Kirkwood Avenues on the south side of Des Moines, a heavily Italian neighborhood.  The people who owned the house - the Berard family - once had 10 people living in the small house.  The Baratta family put up a building in front of the house and Antonio and Filomena opened up a small neighborhood grocery store.  It was a true family affair as their children - and sometimes their children's spouses - would work in the grocery store.  

Frances Madonia Baratta owned a small tavern - The Last Chance Tavern - at the corner of 3rd and Locust in downtown Des Moines.  Her older brother Charlie - who had been known as "Charlie Cat" since high school - had made some money has a competitive boxer in his early 20's and he was a natural to be the muscle of the tavern as he managed the place for his sister.  One summer evening in 1950, an unruly customer had picked a fight with another patron and Charlie bum-rushed him to the door.  As the man turned to confront Charlie, "Charlie Cat" hit the man twice and literally put him in the hospital.  Two days later, the man died of his injuries caused by the fight with Charlie.  

Charlie Baratta was eventually charged with the man's death and was convicted of 2nd-degree murder.  When Frances Madonia's liquor license came up for renewal, the city of Des Moines would not extend it due to her relationship with her brother.  The Last Chance Tavern was forced to go out of business.  

Baratta eventually appealed the conviction and a second trial in 1952 exonerated him.  However, legal fees and a wrongful death lawsuit brought forth by the man who died of his injuries in the fight left Charlie in debt over $30,000.  He was forced to declare bankruptcy.  

To get back on his feet, Charlie went to work in the family's grocery store along with his brothers, his sister and their spouses.  He had married a young lady who also went by the name of Frances.  In 1958, Antonio Barrata turned part of the store into a small restaurant.  However, Antonio Baratta applied for a license to sell beer at his establishment in 1958, he was denied because Charlie Baratta worked there.  Charlie had to disassociate himself from the family business for a number of years.  

When health reasons forced Antonio to retire from the business in the late 60's, Charlie Baratta - who was now back in the good graces of local authorities - took over the grocery store/restaurant.  When Antonio died in 1972, Charlie and his wife Frances converted the remaining space of the grocery store into a restaurant.  He eventually connected the Baratta family home that his mother was still living in to the restaurant and expanded the footprint.  He built an addition to the home that he turned into an apartment for his mother to live in.  Filomena Baratta died in 1984 and Charlie turned her apartment into more restaurant space.

Pictured right - Charlie "Cat" Baratta.  Photo courtesy Baratta's web site.  

By all accounts, "Charlie Cat" Baratta found his calling in life.  He enjoyed being a restaurateur and held court each night at Baratta's.  He became a loved and respected south side character in Des Moines restaurant lore.  

In 1988, Charlie Baratta passed away.  He willed the restaurant to his brother Mike and Mike's wife Marge.  Although they had helped out in the restaurant from time to time - Marge was instrumental with recipes and helping out in the kitchen - they had other jobs as Mike worked for the city of Des Moines and Marge worked for an insurance company.  After taking over the restaurant, they quit their day jobs and went to work in the restaurant full time.  And they didn't have far to go to work - they lived directly behind the restaurant! 

However, both Mike and Marge were both nearing retirement age when Charlie died and running a restaurant is a hard job.  By 1993, they were looking to sell the place and they turned to the son of friends of theirs who - as a high school student - was a busboy at Baratta's working for Charlie.  

Pictured left - Marge and Mike Baratta.  Photo courtesy Baratta's web site.  

Joe Gatto was a south-sider who went to school at Lincoln High School.  As a high school freshman, Joe went to work for Charlie clearing tables and learning the restaurant business from the ground up.  Gatto eventually went over to work for Bob Tursi and the Latin King restaurant on Des Moines' east side.  There, he had two classmates - Lisa Wing and Curt Kruger - who worked in the restaurant with him.

Lisa Wing went off to college at Iowa State, but on the weekends and in the summer she would come back to wait tables at the Latin King.  Gatto and Curt Kruger did a little bit of everything at the Latin King from working in the kitchen, to bartending, to waiting on tables.  

After Lisa Wing graduated from Iowa State in the late 80's, she took a job with Richman Gordman, a department store retailer that was similar to what Kohl's is today.  She was there for about 7 months when Bob Tursi called her out of the blue and asked her to come back to the Latin King to manage the restaurant.  At the time, Joe Gatto was managing the kitchen and Curt Kruger was managing the bar area.  Lisa Wing jumped at the chance to get back into the restaurant business and left Richman Gordman just weeks before the retailer declared bankruptcy and closed their doors.  

Not only were Lisa and Curt one-time high school classmates and co-workers, they had become a couple over the years and eventually married.  It was just 3 months after they wed that they got an offer that would change their lives.    

When Mike and Marge Baratta decided to sell their business, they turned to the energetic trio of 25-year-olds who were basically running the Latin King for Bob Tursi.  With Tursi's blessing, they took over Baratta's on a nothing more than a wing, a prayer, a contract with Mike and Marge Baratta, and a few thousand dollars they were able to raise from their parents.  The one thing that the Baratta's asked was for Gatto and the Krugers to keep the name of the restaurant.  That was fine with the trio - they didn't have the money to change the sign out front!  

Officially, Gatto and the Krugers took over Baratta's on May 1, 1993.  For the first week, they were closed as they tried to sort out everything from ordering from food vendors to figuring out the menu to seeing what was going where in the kitchen.  

They turned to family and friends to help them out including Danny Gatto - Joe's brother - who was their first pizza chef.  While the trio didn't do away with everything the Baratta's had on their menu, they did bring some specialties over from the Latin King, as well as coming up with new dishes, and also relied upon Marge Baratta's expertise in helping Danny Gatto with the pizza.  Danny Gatto turned out to be a blessing for his brother and the Krugers in the early days of them owning Barattas.  He continued on to be the long time general manager of the restaurant.  

Their first night was a Saturday night and they hadn't done any advertising other than printing up a few fliers they distributed around the neighborhood.  They had hoped they would have 40 people on their first night.  However, 220 people showed up at the restaurant stretching them very thin.  They were scheduled to be open for brunch the following morning, but couldn't open up because they had run out of food.  The support they had was beyond their wildest expectations.  

It turned out that all three worked well as a team.  Gatto ran the kitchen and was the guy who understood finances, Curt Kruger was the marketing guy who came up with great advertising ideas and ran the bar area, and Lisa Kruger ran the front of house and dealt with the help.  For the first couple years, none of the owners took a salary as they tried to put the money back into the business.  Lisa Kruger had to take a second job working at US Cellular in the daytime selling cellular phones.  She did that for 7 months before they decided to open for lunch at Baratta's forcing her to quit her job and work 100% at the restaurant.  

Baratta's was basically in a residential neighborhood and was hard to find.  In the 90's, they ran ads on the local television stations that played up the fact that they were hard to find, but worth the quest.  The tag line was "Come to Baratta's! (If you can find us.)"  Lisa Kruger even did hand-drawn maps to show people how to get to the restaurant from certain points in the city.  

In 1999, Baratta's began to deliver pizzas to customers on the south side of Des Moines.  It more than doubled their pizza business and proved to be a great addition to their already growing clientele.  

But the restaurant business can put a lot of pressure on people, especially if a husband and wife are involved.  Lisa and Curt Kruger eventually split and Gatto and Lisa bought his shares as part of the divorce.  Curt Kruger went on to start his own construction business while Lisa Kruger and Joe Gatto continued on with Baratta's.  

Pictured right - Joe Gatto and Lisa Kruger.  Photo courtesy Baratta's Facebook page.   

In 2005, Baratta's opened a smaller second location - Cafe Baratta's - on the 3rd floor of the State Historical Building as a lunch-only restaurant.   (That location is temporarily closed as the building is being remodeled.)  Five years later, they took over the catering duties at the Forté Banquet and Conference Center in downtown Des Moines.  They continued catering weddings, banquets and meetings until the venue closed in 2023.  

Joe Gatto became involved in the south side community serving on a committee to help revitalize the Southwest 9th Ave. corridor and serving on a county public works committee.  In 2014, Gatto ran in a special election for the Des Moines City Council 4th ward seat and won.  He's been re-elected 3 times, even amid some kerfuffles regarding his residency and political stances, plus a high-profile case where he got the interim police chief to throw out a ticket for going 78 miles an hour in a 60 mph zone on Interstate 235.  The new police chief reinstated the ticket and Gatto acknowledged that he should have paid it to begin with.  

It had been over 20 years since I was last at Baratta's which was one of the favorite restaurants of one of my old accounts and we dined there on two or three occasions.  In the old days before GPS, getting to Baratta's was a bit of a pain.  As their old commercials said at the end - "... if you can find us." - rang true with me.  The only way I would have been able to find the place was to follow my client to the restaurant.  This time, equipped with a GPS, we had no problem and we pulled up to Baratta's at the corner of S. Union and Kirkwood Ave. just after 5 p.m. (see map)  

The front of Bartata's features the bar and lounge.  This was part of the old Baratta's grocery store back in the day.  The bar area is well-lit, yet comfortable and welcoming.  I seem to think it's been updated since I was last in there over 20 years ago.  

Just behind the bar in the front of the building is one of three dining areas they have at Baratta's.  This area, too, was part of the old grocery store and was understatedly elegant.  

The other dining areas are in the back of the restaurant.  The main room is about twice the size of the front dining area.  I remember eating in this room in the past.  Photos of the Baratta family over the years, as well as pictures of Kruger and Gatto were on the wall between the two dining rooms.  

We were seated in the front dining area and given menus when we sat down.  A few moments later, our server - Debbie - came over to greet us.  I started out with an Exile Citra Sky hazy IPA while my wife got water to start out, but ended up with the house pinot grigio when she got her meal.  

The menu at Baratta's has a little bit for everybody.  The appetizer part of the menu features their house-made onion rings, Cajun shrimp, Buffalo chicken tenders, and cheese-stuffed/panko bread encrusted mushrooms.  They have a handful of salads on the menu, all of which can have protein items such as chicken, shrimp, steak or salmon added to them.  Sandwiches such as sliced capicolla with mozzarella, Italian beef, and a grilled or breaded chicken breast are available; and all-time favorites such as baby back ribs, fried chicken, and an 8-ounce beef tenderloin filet were on the menu.  A Des Moines classic - steak de burgo - was on the menu, as well as chicken livers.  I immediately thought of my sister who absolutely loves chicken livers.  

Italian specialties on the menu include Mike Baratta's peppersteak - sirloin strips with bell peppers, mushrooms, onion, mozzarella and topped with a house marinara; and Chicken Amaggio, a longtime Baratta's favorite that consists of a breaded chicken breast served on linguine with roasted red peppers and mushrooms, then topped with Baratta's Amaggio sauce.  And there was also a classic chicken parmesan on the menu.

Pasta dishes include fettuccine alfredo (shrimp, chicken or salmon can be added), beef and sausage-filled ravioli, penne pasta in a tomato cream sauce, and classic lasagna.  Seafood items include jumbo shrimp scampi served with fettuccine alfredo, broiled salmon, and Seafood Genovese - basically an Italian fruitti de mare consisting of crab meat, black tiger shrimp and sea scallops sautéed in butter and served over pasta.  And, finally, they had pizza - thin crust pizza available in either 10" or 14" sizes.  And a Kid's menu with small portions of pasta dishes, as well as grilled cheese and fries, fried chicken and fries, and macaroni & cheese available.  

We started out with salads and we both got the basic Barrata's dinner salad.  I got a balsamic Italian dressing for mine, while my wife got the creamy garlic dressing on hers.  The garlic dressing wasn't overpowering and I enjoyed the tanginess of the balsamic dressing on my mine.  Freshly made croutons topped out the bed of fresh greens.  

My wife went with the Amaggio pasta with grilled chicken.  My wife asked Debbie what the Amaggio sauce was and she explained it consisted of olive oil, white wine, fresh-squeezed lemon juice, garlic and basil.  It was served over a bed of linguine with sautéed mushrooms and roasted red peppers on top of the grilled chicken.  My wife said the chicken was tender and the Amaggio sauce really had a nice flavor.   

I was sort of up in the air as to what to get.  I thought about the ravioli with marinara sauce, and the Cajun chicken breast with a side of fettuccine alfredo sounded good.  But I ended up getting the cavatelli pasta with the bolognese sauce.  I also had Debbie add mozzarella cheese to it, so the dish was covered in cheese and put in the broiler for a moment to melt and caramelize the cheese over the pasta and meat sauce.

And it was very good.  The problem was that there was a LOT of the cavatelli pasta shells in the dish.  After eating the cheese and the meat sauce with some of the pasta, there was still about 2/3rd of the dish covered with cavatelli pasta.  Debbie came over to check on our progress and saw that I had a lot of pasta left over.  "Wow!  That IS a lot of pasta left.  Do you want more meat sauce," she asked.  I told her that it wasn't necessary as I was pretty stuffed from what I ate.  She offered to get more meat sauce to add to the pasta, but I declined as I told her that it probably wouldn't be as good warmed up at home as it was there in the restaurant.

After Debbie took our dishes away, we were sort of getting ready to get on the road to head home.  However, Lisa Kruger came over to our table and apologized for my meal.  I told her that it was no big deal, but she insisted on giving us a couple desserts to make up for the abundance of cavatelli with the absence of meat sauce.  Once again, we said it wasn't necessary as we were pretty full and still had a 2.5 hour trip back home.  But she insisted.  "You can take what you don't eat back home," Lisa said.  "We can box it up for you."

My wife ended up getting the tiramisu topped with a chocolate drizzle with fresh made whipped cream on the side.  The tiramisu was wonderful, but very rich.  As stuffed as we were from our early dinner, we could stop eating the tiramisu.  

I saw they had lemon cannolis on the menu and I got that for my dessert.  The ricotta cheese had a lemony flavor and chewy lemon candies were on each end of the cannoli.  Fresh made whipped cream came on the side.  We finished one of the cannoli and had Debbie box up the other one.  As we left Baratta's, Lisa Kruger was up front behind the bar and we thanked her again for the desserts.  "We want you to come back," she said.  I told her that it had been 20 years since I was last in there, but promised that it wouldn't be another 20 years.  

It had been way too long of a time for me to get back to Baratta's.  But it was just as good as I remembered it to be.  The food was very good, the portions were more than plenty, and the service - including the customer service - was impeccable.  While it was nice that the co-owner comped our dessert because I had a lot of cavatelli pasta leftover in my dish, it was highly unnecessary.  We were both happy with everything at Baratta's.  With all the choices of Italian restaurants in the Des Moines area, Baratta's should be high on the list of places to visit if you're in the mood for some pasta, pizza or Italian specialities.  

 

Creative Signature Cuisine - Silvis, IL

Our neighbor's tree that partially hangs over our yard had been getting to the point where it needed a good trimming.  They had hired a tree service to come over and trim up branches - mostly on our side of the fence.  We were told that our power was going to have to be dropped while they did the trimming since most of their work would be above our main power feeder line from the transformer pole to our house.  My wife suggested that we get out of the house since we wouldn't have any power and head over to a breakfast place she had been reading about on social media over the past few months.  As soon as the tree trimmers showed up, we took off to head across the Mississippi and over to Silvis, IL to have breakfast at Creative Signature Cuisine.  

Fernanda Lisbeth Verduzco grew up in Poncitlan, Mexico, about 60 miles from Guadalajara, while Jorge Hortado Briseño grew up in the nearby Mexico town of La Barca.  The two met while going to the Valley University of Mexico (UVM) in south Guadalajara to study culinary arts at the Kendall College culinary program the college had there.  Lisbeth got her degree as a pastry chef, while Jorge got his culinary degree in international cuisine.  The couple first worked in Mexico - Lisbeth at a chain of restaurants, while Jorge worked in hotels.

The couple moved to the Quad Cities in 2017 - Jorge worked at various restaurants at hotels in the area initially, while Lisbeth became a pastry chef at Rhythm City Casino in Davenport.  When the pandemic forced the casino to temporarily shut down in March of 2020, Lisbeth decided to start selling her desserts, cookies and personalized cakes to keep an income flowing.  She was doing so well that when the casino called her back to work, she declined.  And as more orders for desserts and cakes came in, Lisbeth decided that she needed a bigger kitchen.

Jorge was looking to do something on his own, as well.  Jorge was trained as a classic chef with sauces, molecular structures and pairing ingredients.  The couple decided to find a spot to do a combination restaurant/bakery.  

Pictured right - Fernanda Lisbeth Verduzco and Jorge Briseño.  Photo courtesy Canvas Rebel.  

In July of 2020, La Michoacana opened in Silvis.  Paired with a bakery - La Canasta - it was the first Mexican-style ice cream parlor in the Quad Cities.  La Michoacana's are found throughout Mexico and there are some disputes going on between three different entities in the country as to which La Michoacana is the actual one.  But it seems that all three co-exist across the country.  American-based La Michoacana franchises began to pop up around the US with many opening in the Chicago area.  Quad City resident Gerardo Chavez felt the area was needing Mexican pastries and ice cream treats.  But a series of delays that included getting equipment that was manufactured in Mexico kept pushing back the opening date for Chavez.  And when they were finally ready to open in March of 2020, the pandemic hit.  

La Michoacana was a big hit as were the pastries at La Canasta.  However, La Canasta owner Lidia Gonzales was looking to cut back after working in the bakery for a couple years and Lisbeth was interested in taking over the space.  Creative Pastry moved into the old La Canasta in April of 2023.  By September of last year, they had fully opened as Creative Pastry and Coffee, a small coffee shop that served pastries, cookies and cakes.

While Lisbeth worked in the bakery, Jorge was coming up with his own menu of foods to serve alongside the pastries and coffee they sold.  They were soon open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, but serving salmon wraps and steak sandwiches confused many of their customers who thought it was just a small coffee shop/bakery.  In March of this year, Lisbeth and Jorge changed the name to its present Creative Signature Cuisine.   

The restaurant is located on 1st Avenue in downtown Silvis, which is also Illinois Highway 92.  (see map)  Actually, I drove by the place because I was confused by the big La Michoacana sign that was on the building.  When we realized that Creative Signature Cuisine was in the same building - but their sign still said Creative Pastry and Coffee on the front of the building - we stopped and parked in front of the restaurant.  

The restaurant was small, cozy, and well lit.  it featured a couple booths and some tables.  Playing in the background was music from 70's soul artists such as Bill Withers, Stevie Wonder and Al Green. The place was clean and had a homey and friendly vibe.  

To the right when you come in the front door is the counter for La Michoacana.  We took a look at the menu and found some interesting ice cream drinks such as a Mangonada which is a pureed drink with mangos and and a sweet, spicy and tangy chimoy tirola sauce.  They also had Tostidos or Doritos with pork skins, pico de gallo, sour cream, cotija cheese, and chopped avocado.  It was definitely a true Mexican ice cream shop.  

Up front was a display case that a young lady - who I determined later on was Lisbeth Verduzco - was filling with cookies and pastries.  Off to the side, she was packaging cinnamon rolls in individual containers.  The pan of cinnamon rolls looked delicious.  It was all I could do from taking one home with me.  

Lisbeth gave us our menus and told us we could sit anywhere we wanted.  We sat at a four-seater table and settled in.  There were two ladies seated behind us who were eating large portion breakfasts.  I immediately said to my wife, "Expect to get a lot of food."  She suggested that we split something and I wasn't too certain I wanted to do that given the interesting menu they had.  

Creative Signature Cuisine featured traditional American and Mexican breakfasts, but also had some items with an international flair.  The chicken poblano omelet was interesting, as was the chilaquiles with shredded chicken.  They had French toast, waffles and leches pancakes.  Fruit bowls, croissant sandwiches and avocado toast with a sunny-side up egg were featured, as well.  Lunch items featured barbacoa burritos and tacos, chorizo toast, chicken wraps, and a shrimp burger - a beef burger patty topped with shrimp, cheese, mixed greens, and a garlic aioli.  They also had penne pasta in an alfredo sauce with a choice of chicken or shrimp.  There were so many interesting items on the menu that I wanted to come back to try some of the things.  

We started out getting a coffee for my wife and a quad-shot espresso for me.  The espresso was very good, had a bit of a bitter taste that some raw sugar was able to smooth out.  We also got a glass of orange juice to go with our breakfast.  

My wife was having a tough time figuring out what to get.  She finally settled upon the breakfast croissant sandwich - black forest ham with arugula, tomato slices, sliced onion, American cheese and a folded egg omelet.  And it was huge!  She had to cut it in half just to be able to eat it.  But she said it was wonderful.   

For a side, we shared the breakfast potatoes.  They were seasoned potato wedges topped with arugula.  They had some fried onions mixed in.  The seasoning on the potatoes gave them a bit of a spicy flavor and they were also very good.  My wife felt a little guilty about eating the potatoes and she asked Lisbeth if she could get a small dish of fruit to go along with her sandwich.  

As we were looking over the menu, the ladies seated behind us got up to leave.  "The French toast is to die for," one of them said as they passed our table while we were looking at the menu.  I was looking at the French toast that was served with mixed fruit berries and a baked meringue with a mixed fruit berry syrup.  Man, that sounded wonderful, but I was looking for something more savory that day. 

I went with the Madame Croque Sandwich - it featured Black Forest ham with Swiss cheese and bacon on toasted sour dough bread topped with two over-easy eggs and a hearty and creamy béchamel sauce.  Parsley flakes and shredded red cabbage straws finished the presentation.  This was an outstanding sandwich.  The béchamel sauce was rich in flavor and had a hint of herbs and nutmeg.  There was a lot to this sandwich and I was almost certain that I wouldn't be able to finish the whole thing.  But it was so good that I couldn't stop.  I was so stuffed at the end of the meal that any notion of getting a cinnamon roll to go went out the window.  

I don't know if I can adequately paint how surprisingly good our breakfast was at Creative Signature Cuisines.  It's a great "mom-and-pop" kind of place run by a young couple chasing their dreams.  The menu was so interesting and the food we had was outstanding with huge portions.  This is the kind of place where I would come back time and time again just to support Jorge and Lisbeth.  Our next visit may be for dinner at some point in the near future.  

Stella - Iowa City

My wife and I were heading back to the Des Moines area recently and decided to stop off in Iowa City for lunch.  We threw around a few places that we knew would be open on Sunday, but most of them had brunch up until about 2 p.m. with set menus.  My wife threw out a place that she had been to a handful of times over the years - Stella.  I asked if that was the one along Melrose Ave. in Iowa City near Kinnick Stadium.  She said that it was and we headed over to Stella to have lunch.

In 1999, Kevin Perez and his brother Derek started the acclaimed One Twenty Six French bistro in Iowa City.  The brothers sold the restaurant in 2006 and a year later they founded (the now-closed) Mama's Deli and Catering.  Derek Perez sold his share of Mama's Deli in 2007 and founded El Banditos, then opened Billy's High-Hat Diner in 2017.   (Both businesses closed during the COVID pandemic of 2020, as did Mama's Deli.)  

In 2008, Perez along with partners Dan Ouverson and former U of Iowa football star and NFL placekicker Nate Kaeding, opened Short's Burger & Shine in downtown Iowa City.  It became an instant hit with many, but I was not too thrilled with the place.  (Click here to read my entry on Short's Burger.)  And subsequent visits to the downtown Iowa City Short's location and their east side burger joint (which opened in 2012) have not been much better.  In fact, I ate at the east side location about six weeks ago and I vowed I would never eat at a Short's Burgers again.  The burger was overcooked and lifeless.  I don't know how people can eat a burger that way and I can't figure out how they stay in business with the inconsistency I've experienced at Short's over the years.  

However, I digress...

In 2010, the three partners - along with Perez's wife Lisa - opened Stella, an American-style bistro in the building that used to house the legendary Melrose Market.   The burgers were similar to the ones that were at Short's with pizza, sandwiches, salads and Cajun specialties such as jambalaya, gumbo, and red beans and rice.  In 2014, Perez and Ouverson opened a pub-style place on Iowa City's south side called Hudson's Tap whose menu mirrored the one at Stella.  

We were able to find parking in the lot on the north side of Stella.  (see map)  This had been the first time I had walked into the building since it was Melrose Market, a great neighborhood grocery store that featured a bakery, a meat counter, and a real homey feel to the place.  (I lived six blocks from Melrose Market when I was going to school at Iowa in the early 80's.  I had a Sunday morning tradition of getting up, going to Melrose Market to get one of their fresh baked cinnamon rolls and the Sunday Chicago Tribune, then go back home and put on the headphones and crank music while I read the paper and enjoyed the cinnamon roll.  Ah!  For those days again...)

Walking into Stella's, well, let's just say it was a far piece from what the old Melrose Market looked like.  It was dark, yet far from dingy in the place.  The low slung ceiling over the booths and tables in the dining room gave it a cozy feeling.  

There is a small bar area next to the front patio at Stella.  They had a number of craft beers on tap and a full bar available.  Tucked back into a corner, the bar sat, maybe, 10 to 12 people and looked more like an afterthought in the design in the floorpan.  

We were seated out on the patio on the side of the building next to Melrose Ave.  The stop sign for the corner of Melrose and Golfview Ave. was right there and it was a little noisy and busy with all the traffic - even for a Sunday afternoon.  

We were given menus by a young lady who said that our server would be with us shortly.  The problem was that no one showed up at our table for nearly 10 minutes.  We were seriously thinking of bagging the place and going somewhere else when a young man by the name of Quan came out to our table.  We guessed they were understaffed that day and as pleasant a guy Quan, we immediately cut him some slack.  He asked what we wanted to drink and my wife got a Tito's dirty martini, while I got a Witch Slap hazy IPA out of Clock House Brewing in Cedar Rapids.  Unfortunately, it took nearly 10 more minutes for our drinks to make it out to the table.  

We could have easily ordered food when Quan brought our drinks out to us, but he hustled off to do something else.  The service was pretty choppy.  

And the items on the menu didn't thrill me all that much.  The burgers on the menu were - item by item - the exact same as Short's Burgers.  As soon as I saw the burgers on the menu, I was about ready to bail.  "Oh, that's right," my wife said to me once I realized that this was just an extension of a place that I had just recently said I would never go back to again.  But I knew they had other things to offer on the menu.  

They had 9" personal thin crust pizzas at Stella, but I didn't want a pizza for lunch.  The Cajun dishes got my attention and I came very close to getting either the gumbo or the jambalaya.  They had grilled chicken breast sandwiches named after Iowa counties including the Appanoose which was topped with capicola, provolone cheese and a muffuletta spread.  That sounded really good to me.  

Stella also had a list of specials that day including a Cajun seafood linguine with shrimp, pollock and crawfish on linguine with a tomato cream sauce.  That got my attention, as did the reuben sandwich.  Stella also had a Sriracha pulled pork sandwich on their specials list, as well as a breaded lemon chicken with a cream sauce and mashed potatoes. 

My wife went with the special menu and got the beet salad.  She had a choice of protein with the salad and she got grilled chicken.  She had considered the fish and chips on the specials menu, but decided she wanted to go lighter.  It featured lightly roasted beets, sliced zucchini, pistachio nuts and feta cheese with grilled chicken on a bed of mixed greens including arugula and finished with a lemon oregano vinaigrette.  My wife declared it was all very fresh and very delicious. 

I wasn't all that hungry and I knew we would be going out to dinner that evening, so I decided upon the smoked salmon tacos - a simple concoction of smoked salmon on soft flour tacos with pico de gallo and a chipotle sour cream on the side with mixed greens.  The smoked salmon tacos were surprisingly delicious.  They were more grilled than smoked, but they weren't fishy in flavor.   And the pico de gallo and the chipotle sour cream gave the smoked salmon tacos an extra "oomph!" in taste.  They were light and filled me up to the point where I knew I had something for lunch, but it wasn't hanging in my stomach.   

I have mixed feelings about Stella.  The service was somewhat erratic and it took us probably 20 minutes longer to eat there than it should have taken us.  But Quan was a nice guy and we gave him the benefit of the doubt during our visit.  While I completely avoided the burgers because of the connection to Short's Burger (as I recently swore off Short's forever after another bad burger on a recent visit), I really enjoyed the smoked salmon tacos.  And my wife was more than happy with the roasted beet salad with grilled chicken as an addition.  I would like to go back and try some of the Cajun offerings at Stella at some point just to see how good it is.  

Eatery A - Des Moines, IA

My wife and I took a couple days out of our busy work schedules to get away to Des Moines for a long weekend and the Iowa State Fair.  We stayed with a friend of ours out in the northwest suburb of Johnston and we were trying to figure out a fun place with good food, good drinks and a good craft beer selection on a Sunday evening.  Our friend was no help.  "I don't go out and eat all that much," she explained.  "The only time I try new places is when you guys come to town!"  I did some searches on line and found a number of places were closed.  But of those that were open that evening, a Mediterranean restaurant by the name of Eatery A kept coming up.  I knew I had either been to Eatery A or had heard of the place, but I couldn't quite figure it out.  I made the executive decision to head to Eatery A for dinner that evening.  

Now, what our friend said about her not knowing much about restaurants isn't quite true because she turned us on to one of our favorite breakfast/brunch places in Des Moines - Motley School Tavern.  (Click here to see the Road Tips write-up on Motley School Tavern.)  And there is a connection between MST (what the locals refer to the place as) and Eatery A.  And that's where I had heard of Eatery A before.  

Jason Simon is the longtime owner of the upscale American restaurant Alba located in the East Village of Des Moines.  When he opened in 2008, a young sous chef by the name of Nic Gonwa was working with him in the kitchen.  It wasn't long before Alba was one of the more popular culinary destinations in the greater Des Moines area.

In 2013, Simon started to seek out locations for a no-frills/straight-forward Mediterranean-style restaurant that Gonwa and he had been talking about doing.  On Ingersoll Ave. along a stretch of the street known for restaurants and bars there was a former Blockbuster video rental store location.  Due to bankruptcy by the parent company, Blockbuster shut down over 900 stores in 2010 including the one along Ingersoll Ave.  In 2011 into late 2012, the building was used as the Iowa headquarters for the re-election of Barack Obama.  After the election was over, the building sat vacant until early 2014 when Simon took over the location for his new restaurant.  

Simon installed Gonwa as the head chef of the new venture - Eatery A - which opened in late summer of 2014.  Gonwa's take on Mediterranean cuisine along with wood-fired pizzas made Eatery A a popular destination right from the start.  In 2015, Nic Gonwa was nominated as a James Beard Award recipient as a Rising Star Chef.   

In 2018, Simon and Gonwa had come up with a new concept for a restaurant, sort of an adult "after-school" place that had comfort food and a laid-back vibe.  After taking over the Chef's Kitchen location in the Beaverdale neighborhood at the end of 2018, Simon and Gonwa opened Motley School Tavern in early 2019.  They named the restaurant after the "motley" bunch of characters Gonwa and Simon had come across in their restaurant careers. 

Gonwa moved over to Motley School Tavern and Simon had to reach out in the chef ranks around the area to replace Gonwa as chef at Eatery A.  He found such a person in Andy Sayre, a veteran of restaurants such as (the now-closed) Baru 66, Echo Valley Country Club, and the acclaimed Mirabelle at Beaver Creek outside of Vail, CO.  A native of Jefferson, IA, Sayre was a graduate of the culinary arts program at Des Moines Area Community College.  Sayre continued Eatery A's unique stylings on Mediterranean cuisine under Simon's leadership and with help from Gonwa.  

I had made reservations for us through Open Table at 7 p.m.  I underestimated the time it took to get from our friends place in Johnston into Des Moines to get to Eatery A and we showed up about 25 minutes early.  Ingersoll Ave. was torn up in front of Eatery A, but we were able to get into the parking lot through a temporary opening.  (see map)  Even for a Sunday night, the restaurant was packed and we were lucky to get the last parking spot in the lot.  

We walked inside and went to the host stand at the very front just inside the door.  I explained to him that we had reservations for three at 7 p.m., but we were early.  As he took a look as to where he could put us, I looked over to my right at the three-sided bar with the large wood-fired oven behind the bar area.  

The bar was actually pretty cool.  It featured reclaimed barn wood and the corners were curved.  The bar top was thick block wood and very elegant looking.  I would have been happy just to belly up to the bar to have dinner.  

There was a dining area in the back of the restaurant area. It also featured reclaimed barn board walls with a series of tables and booths.  Upscale Edison light fixtures hung from the ceiling giving the room a warm glow.

Out front looking through the large windows, there was the patio area.  It was elevated from the street so there wasn't the constant noise from vehicles going by.  It was a beautiful evening and the patio was packed.  The host said that he couldn't sit us out there, but he had a booth next to the bar that was available.  We were more than fine with that.  

After we were seated, our server for the evening came over to greet us.  Her name was Destiny and everyone at our table went, "Ohhhh!  What a great name!"  She thanked us for that and dropped off menus for us to go through.  

Destiny asked if we wanted to start off with something to drink and my wife ordered a Tito's dirty martini.  I got an Easy Eddy hazy IPA from Big Grove Brewery, and our friend got an old fashioned.  "I don't know why I ordered a bourbon drink," she said.  "It just sounded good!"  Eatery A also has an extensive collection of wines from Italy, Spain, Argentina and California.  

The dinner menu featured pasta dishes such as cavatelli with a duck ragu, bucatini with meat balls, and fettuccine with shredded cheese and black pepper.  They had items such as a hanger steak, a duck breast with seared polenta, and skewers of seafood, beef or chicken.  Salads, soups, and appetizers such as calamari, bacon-wrapped dates, and beef kibbeh - basically raw beef carpaccio - were also available.  A charcuterie selection of meats and cheese was also on the menu for an appetizer.  And their wood-fired pizzas featured all the regular toppings, but they also had gyro meat, Italian capicola, Genoa salami, and Moroccan beef kofta available as toppings.   

We started out getting some house-made hummus.  It came with warm pieces of sumac flatbread and featured chickpeas and chermoula blended together with tahina yogurt drizzled on top with fresh parsley flakes.  The hummus was excellent - some of the best I've had and I haven't been eating hummus all that much until, well, just within the last couple of years.  But my wife - who has been eating hummus much longer than that - also said that the hummus was some of the best she ever had.  

We also got three of the oven-baked sides to go along with our meal as either an appetizer or as a side as they came out first.  I ordered the roasted mushrooms - button mushrooms topped with fine bread crumbs and a mixture of herbs.  They were sensational in flavor.  My wife ordered up the warm olives with chopped artichoke hearts.  They were served with marinated tomatoes and thyme with a hint of orange added in.  They were also fabulous in taste.  And our friend ordered the Brussels sprouts.  They were drizzled with a pomegranate syrup and fine breadcrumbs, then roasted in the oven.  All three of the side/appetizer dishes were outstanding.  

For our main course that evening, our guest ended up getting the chicken shawarma.  It was grilled with marinated cucumbers and served with hummus, yogurt and flat bread.  It was finished with some cilantro leaves.  Our friend declared it to be "wonderful".  "The chicken is crispy on the outside, and tender and juicy on the inside.  This is awesome!" 

My wife went with the sirloin tips skewer.  It featured four chunks of beef cooked to a medium rare to medium and served with a peach and almond tabbouleh salad, herbed lebnah yogurt, all topped with a roasted tomato vinaigrette.  The presentation in the bowl was spectacular.  "I hope it tastes as good as it looks," she said admiring the food before she ate it.  Spoiler alert: She said it was as good as it looked.  

As soon as we started to look at the menu, my wife saw something that jumped out at her.  "Oh, look, honey," she exclaimed.  "They have grilled octopus!"  I thought momentarily about the lasagna with the beef and pork bolognese, but I kept going back to the octopus.  It was a no brainer.  It was Spanish octopus with ground chorizo, Yukon gold potatoes, and a parsley/anchovy bagnetto verde sauce.  The octopus was cooked perfectly and I shared a bite with my wife and our friend.  My wife remarked that some octopus she had with me in the past had been too rubbery.  Our friend said that she never cared for octopus for the same reason.  "I never liked the texture of octopus," she said.  "But this is actually very good!"  And it certainly was.     

We had shared the hummus, the sides and bites of each of our dinners with one another that evening, sort of a Mediterranean-style family-style experience.  Destiny came out with a dessert menu and I sort of groaned as I was already pretty full.  They had affogoto - espresso with vanilla gelato, but for some reason I didn't get that.  My wife eyed the Meyer lemon cheesecake made with a red wine and blueberry glaze and powdered chocolate.  She ordered that with three forks.  It was also remarkably delicious.  But I was stuffed after all of that.  

We really didn't know what to expect when we went into Eatery A, but it turned out to be one of the more memorable dining experiences we'd had in a long time.  Weeks after our visit there, my wife and I were still talking about how good it was.  The food was fabulous, the decor and ambiance with remarkable, and Destiny's service was top-notch.  Our friend - who had also never been to Eatery A before - said, "You know, I could just come back here, sit at the bar, get a drink and order up the hummus and pita bread and I'd be set!"  There's a number of interesting items on the menu at Eatery A that I would have no problem heading back there in the future to try something else.  

The Pharmacy Burger Parlor & Beer Garden- Nashville

In Nashville recently, I was seeing an account in the East Nashville neighborhood.  After getting out of the meeting around 12:30 in the afternoon, I decided to find something to eat in the area.  I did a quick look on my phone for restaurants in the area and I had a choice between a Mexican restaurant and a burger joint that were across the street from one another.  The Mexican place was a little taco joint and it was packed.  That gave me the option B for the burger joint.  I found a parking space behind The Pharmacy Burger Parlor and Beer Garden and went inside.  

Cees Brinkman was born in the Netherlands and decided to move to Nashville in the early 90's.  Brinkman owned a couple commercial rental properties in East Nashville and in one of them he was housing some surplus restaurant equipment.  Brinkman put an ad on Craigslist to see if he could make some room in one of the properties and a local bar manager by the name of Terry Raley reached out to him as he was thinking of opening his own restaurant.  

Raley came by the property on McFerrin Ave. and met with Brinkman.  While he was looking over the equipment and telling Brinkman how he wanted to own a restaurant at some point, Brinkman was telling Raley that the building they were in - an old daycare center that had a patio - would be a great place for a restaurant.  Brinkman missed the neighborhood restaurants he remembered back in The Netherlands that were social focal points with pub food and a great beer selection with large gardens where people would meet up on nice days.  He told Raley the building they were in would be perfect for a restaurant like that.  

The two formed a 50-50 partnership and started work on the building that had elements of an old time soda fountain as well as an old-school American steakhouse along with a European-style pub with a foliage covered beer garden.  Brinkman had collected antique apothecary bottles from an old pharmacy building he owned just up the street and they decorated the restaurant with many of the bottles giving the restaurant it's name - The Pharmacy Burger Parlor and Beer Garden.  In December of 2011, the restaurant opened its doors.  

In early 2015, a business dispute over a new restaurant Raley had opened without Brinkman involved put the business partners at odds.  Brinkman took over the day-to-day operations of The Pharmacy Burger at that point.  A series of suits and countersuits made their way through the courts before a judge ruled in favor of Brinkman in 2020 and damages were awarded.  After the court battle cleared, it allowed Brinkman to open a second Pharmacy Burger location in 2021 in the Assembly Food Hall in downtown Nashville.  And after a renovation and expansion of the Nashville International Airport, a third Pharmacy Burger opened in the terminal in 2023.  

Pictured right - Cees Brinkman.  Photo courtesy LinkedIn.

The original Pharmacy Burger Parlor & Beer Garden is located along McFerrin Ave. between W. Eastland Ave./Cleveland St. and Chicamauga Ave. in East Nashville.  (see map)   Parking is a little "iffy" (as in, the lack of it) in the area, but I was able to find a parking space just behind the building.  

Inside Pharmacy Burger, the decor hearkened back to an early 1920's pharmacy or retail establishment with exposed beams and antique light fixtures hanging from squares of tin panels.  The long and narrow room had a community table down the middle with dark wood paneled supports running the length of the building.   Exposed ductwork also ran the length of the restaurant.  Sconce lighting fixtures were above tables along the wall.  Without the lighting in the place, it would have been dark and somewhat dingy.  

The L-shaped bar had the old style wooden stools on swivels.  A row of tables along the wall provided more seating in the bar area.  70's R&B/Funk music from the likes of Chaka Khan, Parliament, Ben E. King and the J.B.'s (James Brown's back-up band) was playing in the background in the restaurant.  

Out back is the beer garden.  It featured low-slung bushes bordering the walkways and the individual patios in the beer garden.  The leafy trees over the beer garden provided abundant shade in the hot and humid Nashville midday weather.  It was definitely a popular place, but I didn't feel comfortable taking up a table by myself with groups of people coming in.  

Just between the beer garden and the main building at Pharmacy Burger is a step-up covered patio with picnic tables.  On the backside of the building was a bar with a concrete top that had some stools in front of an opening to the inside bar.  

I ended up sitting at the inside bar and was greeted by a pleasant young lady who handed me a food menu.   She asked what I wanted to drink and she handed me a beer menu.  They had a pretty impressive menu of craft beers and imports including beers and ciders from Belgium, Spain, Germany, France and the UK.  On tap, they had Duvel Golden Ale, the only bar/restaurant in Tennessee that had the beer available.  They also had the Gaffel kölsch on tap and I considered getting that.  But I saw that they had my new favorite beer from the Bearded Iris brewery in Nashville - the Homestyle hazy IPA.  I made it a point to stop at a liquor store before I left Nashville to get a couple six packs of the Homestyle beer.  

After she placed my beer in front of me, I asked the bartender if this was really an old pharmacy.  "This was a day care center," she said.  "There was a pharmacy up the street and the owner salvaged a bunch of old pharmacy bottles out of the place."  She pointed to the wall behind me and showed me a row of antique pharmacy bottles on a wooden shelf above the mirror.   

Burgers were the main item on the menu, but grilled chicken sandwiches, kielbasa and wursts were also available.  Ground turkey, ground chicken, black bean and impossible burgers were also available for the beef/meat averse.  They had some interesting burgers including the stroganoff burger with a mushroom bechamel sauce and sour cream topping with Swiss cheese.  The Slap burger was topped with American cheese, a chipotle/avocado aioli and grilled jalapeños; and the White Oak BBQ burger was topped with a house-made Coca-Cola barbecue sauce, smoked barbecue onions, bacon, onion straws and provolone cheese.  

The wursts they had on the menu were all ground, cased, and smoked in house.  The jagerwurst pork sausage was mixed with coriander, garlic, mustard seed, nutmeg and ginger.  If I wasn't in the mood for a burger, I may have gotten that.  

They had a couple specials that day - burger tacos and a cream cheese burger.  I got a chuckle out of the cream cheese burger special as it reminded me of the time a colleague of mine ordered a cream cheese burger at the Cherry Cricket in Denver a number of years ago and I rode him unmercifully for that - well, ever since then!  The burger tacos were just that - burger meat in tacos topped with lettuce, tomato and a pico de gallo.  

I settled on getting the Pharmacy burger - a half-pound burger patty that was cooked medium-well, topped with yellow cheddar cheese, shredded lettuce, a tomato slice, onions, pickles and yellow mustard.  Sides available included hand-cut fries, cole slaw, German potato salad, and pasta salad.  But, of course, I got tots to go along with my burger.  They didn't have Cholula at Pharmacy Burger, but they had Crystal hot sauce and that worked fine on the tots.  

The burger was good - not great, but good.  I mean, it didn't seem like it was anything special to me.  The bun was a little dry and the toppings made it a mess, but the bartender/server provided me with a pile of napkins to help clean up.  I had to go to the restroom afterward just to wash my hands from all the mess on them the napkins didn't quite catch.  The tots were a great complement to the burger - crispy on the outside with a soft flaky inner core.  

While I enjoyed the experience at Pharmacy Burger Parlor and Beer Garden, I thought the burger was just all right.  It was nothing that really grabbed hold of me and made me go, "Mmmmm...." after the first bite.  The service I had from the bartender that day was very good as she was friendly and efficient.  The beer garden at Pharmacy Burger is top-notch and it would be a great place to go to hang with friends on a warm afternoon to get a burger and a cold beer from a great selection of craft and imported beers.  Pharmacy Burger was a good find for a burger and beer joint on Nashville's east side.  

 

3 Mile House - Hazel Green, WI

Just over the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi River from Dubuque, IA are a handful of supper clubs, the backbone of rural-style casual-fine dining restaurants in the Badger State.  My wife and I have tried nearly all of them - most notably the Village Bar Supper Club in Kieler, and Chop's Kall Inn Supper Club in Hazel Green.  But there is one that dates back to the 1930's that we have wanted to try for some time and that one is 3 Mile House in Hazel Green.  We took a bit of a road trip one Saturday afternoon in August and ended up having dinner at 3 Mile House.  

As I said, the 3 Mile House lineage dates back to the 1930's when supper clubs were starting to be entertainment and dining destinations that grew out of rural speakeasies from the 1920's.  By the 40's and 50's, supper clubs in the upper Midwest had gotten away from entertainment and had gone to more of a casual upscale dining experience.  

Originally called the High Hat, the building that housed the original supper club was destroyed by fire in the late 1940's.  The owners at the time rebuilt the restaurant and placed it further back from Wisconsin State Highway 35 to allow for more parking in the front.  It was at that point it was named the 3 Mile House as it was exactly 3 miles from the U.S. Highway 20 bridge over the Mississippi River between Dubuque, IA and East Dubuque, IL  

Ownership of 3 Mile House changed over the years but stabilized in 1980 when Paul (Red) and Velma Moor bought the supper club in October of 1980.  It was a family affair as Red and Velma's son Jeff - also known as "Chop" - helped out along with his brothers Julius (also known as "Jube") and Chris, and his three sisters, Peggy, Paula and Audrey.  Shortly before Red and Velma had purchased 3 Mile House, Jeff started dating a young lady by the name of Julie.  Julie also went to work at 3 Mile House as a waitress and it wasn't long after that she married "Chop" Moor.  

When Red and Velma decided to retire in 1997, they sold 3 Mile House to Jeff and Julie who continued to run the restaurant for 20 years before "Chop" decided he wanted to sell the restaurant and do something else.  In late 2017, two friends who had worked together at restaurants around Dubuque - Jesse Elliott and Mark Giunta - came forward to purchase 3 Mile House from the Moors.  ("Chop" was eventually coaxed out of semi-retirement in 2019 by the new owners of the nearby Kall Inn supper club to run the place for them.  They even renamed the supper club Chop's Kall Inn.)

Jesse Elliott had experience working at Ground Round and Red Robin in Dubuque.  While he was at Red Robin, he met Mark Giunta who later left to open his own restaurant.  The opportunity to buy 3 Mile House was just too good for them to pass up and the pair took over ownership on January 16, 2018.   The pair also welcomed long time bartender Will Pearce as a minority owner in the business.  Pearce's daytime job was as a financial planner, but he had worked nights and on weekends as a bartender at 3 Mile House since 1992.  Last year, Pearce bought out Guinta and became a full partner with Elliott in the supper club.  

My wife and I were relaxing on our deck on a beautiful Saturday morning when she made the suggestion that we go up the river to Bellevue and sit outside on the patio by the Mississippi River at River Ridge Brewing.  (Click here to see the Road Tips entry on River Ridge Brewing.)  Then she suggested that we continue on up the river after that and go have dinner at 3 Mile House.  She and a friend of ours went up to Dubuque about a month earlier to go to Jubeck New World Brewing's 10th Anniversary celebration.  (Click here to see the Road Tips entry on Jubeck's.)  After hanging there for awhile, my wife made the suggestion that they go have dinner at 3 Mile House.  (This is the second instance of my wife going somewhere with our friend to a new place we hadn't been to before.  See the entry on the Dizzy Horse for the first time that happened.  And they both happened on the same weekend!)  

As we were seated on the patio at River Ridge Brewing, my wife thought it might be best to make reservations for 3 Mile House.   "We were lucky when we went," she said as she was looking up 3 Mile House's phone number.  "We went early and the place was packed.  But they were able to get us in."  3 Mile House opens at 4:00 p.m. and she made reservations for us at 5:30.  

After having a couple at River Ridge, we drove up the Great River Road to Dubuque and decided to have a beer at Jubeck Brewing.  It was getting close to 5 p.m. and my wife suggested that we get over to 3 Mile House to make sure that we can get in.  I sort of scoffed at the notion of going early, but we drove over the US Highway 151 bridge into Wisconsin from Dubuque and got off at the first exit in Wisconsin.  A right turn at the highway and a quarter mile down the road found us at 3 Mile House located at the corner of Wisconsin State Highways 35 and 11.  (see map)   

When we pulled in, I was flabbergasted.  The parking lot was packed and the restaurant had been open for just over an hour.  We were able to find what was the last parking spot in the lot in front of the supper club and went inside.  The lounge was packed with people either waiting for a table or just hanging out.  My wife went over to tell a guy - who turned out to be Jesse Elliott - that we had made reservations.  He said that it would be a few minutes for a table.  We hung out in the cozy bar area and ordered up a couple drinks - a very dirty Absolut martini for my wife and a Pseudo Sue pale ale from Toppling Goliath in Decorah, IA for me.  

Almost as soon as we placed our orders with Will Pearce at the bar, Jesse Elliott called my name for our table.  Will said he'd have someone bring our drinks out to our table.  The dining room also had a low-slung ceiling with wooden beams criss-crossing the room.  The tables were sort of small and cramped, but it wasn't like people at tables in close proximity were on top of you.  

Our waitress that evening was a tall young lady by the name of Emily.  She was so tall that I had to ask her if she played basketball or volleyball.  She sort of laughed and said, "I used to play volleyball and basketball in high school when I went to East Dubuque."  She said that she's going to Northern Iowa now and plays both in intramurals.  Emily had worked at 3 Mile House since she was in high school.  "Sometimes I'll come back on weekends," she said.  "And, of course, I'm here in the summer time."  

When we sat down and were given menus, there was already the customary relish tray on the table.  It featured chopped veggies on a plate with cheese spread, ranch dressing and braunschweiger (liver paté) in little tubs.  A basket of crackers was off to the side.  We both dove in to the basket and plate to devour the pre-dinner snacks.  

It was a bit later when Emily brought our drinks to the table and she asked us if we had any questions on the menu.  We really hadn't taken a look through it as of yet and she said she would check back.  The menu was expansive and featured appetizers such steak bites served with horseradish and blue cheese, stuffed mushrooms, fried pickles, and - of course, since we were in Wisconsin - deep-fried cheese curds.  Steaks, chicken entrees, ribs, pork chops, seafood and pasta dishes were also available.  3 Mile House also had sandwiches, burgers and seasonal features such as a stuffed lemon herb chicken entree or mahi mahi served with a mango salsa.  Combo dishes such as a beef tenderloin filet with either shrimp or lobster were also available.  

Starting off, we both got a dinner salad before our meal.  My wife got the Caesar dressing while I went with French dressing.  They were both basically the same salad greens with croutons and shaved carrots.  It was your typical supper club-type salad and was good for what it was.  

My wife ordered the 8 ounce beef tenderloin filet for her dinner.  She ordered a side of hash browns with fried onions and melted cheese on the top.  The filet was butterflied and broiled.  The cheese on the hash browns looked more like a cheese sauce rather than melted cheese on top of the fried potatoes.  My wife thought they were just OK.  

They have prime rib on Friday and Saturday night at 3 Mile House and I was leaning heavily that direction.  But when Emily asked me what I wanted, I blurted out, "I'll have the 12 ounce filet. Rare."  That sort of stunned my wife and made me pause for a moment after Emily walked away.  My wife said she thought I was going to order the prime rib.  "So did I," I said.  "I don't know why I ordered the filet."   For a moment, I contemplated getting Emily's attention to change it to the prime rib, but in the end I went with my choice.

But it all turned out well.  The filet was cooked a perfect rare for me and it was tender and tasted great.  Emily was able to round up some ground horseradish for me.  And after I had eaten about half the steak, I saw someone at a table next to us get a New York strip with some sautéed mushrooms.  Man, sautéed mushrooms would have been great!  Oh, well, the filet on its own was excellent.  

For my side, Emily was talking about the au gratin potatoes when she was going through the specials they had that evening.  I figured they must be something special if they highlighted them with the specials that evening and I ordered a side of those.  And they were fine - cheesy potatoes with bread crumbs were basically what they were.  I was more interested in getting through the very good steak I was having.   

I love supper clubs as the food is usually very good, the staff is friendly, and they're homey and cozy little places.  And 3 Mile House checked all three of those boxes for me.  My steak was delicious and cooked perfectly rare with a cool red center.  The au gratin potatoes were a good side to go with the filet.  My wife loved her 8 ounce butterflied filet and she was happy enough with her hash browns with cheese and grilled onions.  Emily was a top-notch server for us that evening, friendly, efficient and fun.  Add 3 Mile House to the list of excellent Wisconsin supper clubs that we've visited.    

Over/Under - Paducah, KY

I don't know what it is about Paducah, KY.  I really like the quaint little town that sits along the Ohio River about two hours west of Nashville.  My wife and I have spent some time in the city and the downtown area has a number of good to great restaurants, pubs and stores.  On my way between Nashville and St. Louis earlier this summer, I decided to get something to eat in Paducah.  I got into the downtown area and was looking for a burger and beer place.  I found something that sounded pretty interesting - a double-story sports bar/restaurant by the name of Over/Under.  

Dru Hardin and Blake Calhoun were longtime friends and business partners who owned a commercial construction company.  They were hired to do a total renovation of a space that would eventually become Grill 211 in downtown Paducah.  (To see the Road Tips entry on Grill 211, click here.)  While doing the renovation, Hardin and Calhoun fell in love with the vibe downtown Paducah exuded.  They thought that maybe they could do something else in their lives at some point - like possibly owning their own restaurant in downtown Paducah.  

The owners of Grill 211 also owned an Italian restaurant just up the street - the Italian Grill on Broadway - before closing that restaurant in 2019.  While still doing commercial renovations around Paducah, Calhoun and Hardin finally made the decision to plunge into the restaurant business taking over the former Italian restaurant during pandemic in 2020.  The first thing they did was to sit down with a friend - Chris Johnson, who was managing the local Buffalo Wild Wings - to make up a wish-list of what they wanted in a restaurant.  Having it be a sports bar was one item on the list, having the best burger in town, having eclectic tacos, and having a number of signature cocktails available from the bar.  

Pictured right - Dru Hardin and Blake Calhoun.  Photo courtesy Paducah Life Magazine.  

With Johnson onboard as the restaurant manager, Calhoun and Hardin did the renovations on the two-story establishment.  They brought in their own chef - Kevin Dowdy - to oversee the kitchen.  With everything in place, Over/Under opened on St. Patrick's Day in 2021.  (After opening and getting Over/Under up and going, Hardin and Calhoun renovated a historical building in downtown Paducah into an upscale tavern by the name of Stella's.  Stella's opened in the fall of 2022.)  

It was around 1:15 p.m. when I pulled up in front of Over/Under located along Broadway, a one-way street in downtown Paducah.  (see map)   There is a common door to a handful of businesses that one goes in to get to Over/Under.  The "under" part of the bar was closed off that day as the main restaurant and kitchen are upstairs.  It featured a small bar with a concrete top and a corrugated tin front.  The walls were made from distressed bar boards with shadeless Edison lighting hanging from the ceiling.  Many of the private parties that Over/Under hosts are usually held on the ground floor of the restaurant. 

There was a sign on the ground floor to go to the elevator to go up to the second floor to the "over" part of Over/Under.  There I found a larger bar with a long, narrow and well-lit dining area.  There was a hostess who greeted me and I asked if I could just sit at the bar.   It, too, was a concrete-topped bar with distressed barn board inlays just below.  Given the renovations that took place, it was a rather impressive little space.  

Toward the front of the upstairs dining area was a small room off to the side that featured a number of high-top tables that sat up to six people per table.  It featured flatscreen televisions on an exposed brick wall with plenty of light coming in from the large windows on the front of the building.  

The bartender/server that day was a young lady by the name of Stephanie.  She handed me a food menu to look through and asked what I wanted to drink.  They had a pretty short tap list and a rather uninspired list of canned and bottled beer.  I ended up ordering a pint of the Cigar City Jai Alai India pale ale they had on tap.

The food offerings at Over/Under included the normal bar appetizers - nachos, wings, jalapeño poppers, and vegetarian cauliflower "wings".   Sandwiches, burgers, wraps, tacos and salads were also on the menu.  I contemplated getting the fried Buffalo chicken wrap for a moment, but I decided to go the burger route.

I ended up getting Over/Under's Smash burger, a 1/2 pound blend of ground short rib, chuck and brisket beef smashed on a flat-grill and served on fresh-baked Texas toast from the venerable Kirchhoff Bakery in Paducah.  (To see the Road Tips entry on the Kirchhoff Bakery and Deli click here.)  The burger patty was topped with American cheese, grilled onions and a special house-made sauce.  I had a choice of sides and - of course - I got tots to go along with the burger.  They didn't have Cholula to go with the tots, but they had some other off brand Louisiana-style hot sauce instead.  

And the burger was very good.  It was more like a patty melt, but it had the consistency of a good smashed burger.  The blend of different cuts of beef gave it a great flavor and it was cooked perfectly.  As I said, it was a very good burger, but it was very expensive for what it was. I know restaurant prices have gone up dramatically over the past couple of years. but $16 bucks for what was a glorified patty melt and a side of tots was a big extravagant, in my book.  

Over/Under was a nice way-station for lunch on my trip between Nashville and St. Louis.  While the menu is typical for a sports bar and doesn't really have anything that sticks out, the smash burger I had was very good.  But I thought it was sort of expensive, and they didn't have that good of a beer selection.  The sports bar atmosphere was very nice and I really liked what they did with the building to transform it from a longtime Italian restaurant into the space that it is today.  Over/Under would be a go-to to watch a sporting event while in Paducah.  Just make sure you bring some extra cash.  

Dizzy Horse - Milan, IL

We've been fans of chef Toby Christianson since he started out as the managing partner/chef at the Woodfire Grill in downtown Davenport in 2008.  The enigmatic Christianson unexpectedly did a 90-degree turn from a casual upscale restaurant to turn it into an artisanal taqueria by the name of tacobar? in 2020.  We liked tacobar? a lot.  (Christianson got the idea for the name of the restaurant from the retort he would instantly get when he'd tell people what he wanted to do with Woodfire Grill.)  But in the summer of 2022, my wife and I went there a couple times only find out that tacobar? was sold out of some of their smoked meats that went on their tacos.  We sort of wondered what was going on, so it was no surprise that Toby Christianson shut down tacobar? in the fall of 2022.  Last fall, we heard he surfaced again to run a restaurant over in Milan, IL, just south of Rock Island. Of course, we were intrigued.  We heard some good things and we heard some bad things about his new restaurant, a chef-driven concept/upscale dive bar that he named the Dizzy Horse.  We made our way over to Dizzy Horse on a recent Saturday evening.  

Toby Christianson grew up in a small Minnesota town and went to school at Minnesota State - Moorhead.  After college he got into the restaurant business and worked at places in Fargo, ND, Grinnell, IA and Muscatine, IA.  When Centro - which had opened in 2004 in downtown Davenport - transitioned over to Woodfire Grill in 2008, Christianson came to the Quad Cities and never left.  

Pictured left - Toby Christianson.  Photo courtesy Quad City Times.  

During his hiatus from tacobar?, Christianson helped out his friend Amanda Kernan and her Girl + Food by Cafe Fresh food truck.   But the bug to run his own place came back in the spring of 2023.   Christianson was looking to find a location that was much smaller and more chef-driven Midwestern/Americana fare than what he had at Woodfire Grill and tacobar?.  The owner of Legends Sports Bar and Grill in Milan, IL announced in May of 2023 that he wanted to put his restaurant up for sale.  Christianson eventually took it over last summer and transformed the place into his vision of an upscale dive bar.  

What to name the place was another task that Christianson had to do.  Next to his new location was a storage building that used to be the home to a Western-wear store.  The store had a sign with a horse on the top that turned in a circle and could be seen for blocks away.  After the store went out of business and the new owners turned it into storage units, they kept the sign with the horse on top.  Of course, the horse got dizzy from turning in a circle 24/7 and that's where Christianson came up with the name.  

After getting his business and liquor licenses from the city of Milan last November, Christianson started out slow having "pop-up" nights on Fridays and Saturdays for the first couple months.  Food selections were limited, but they were interesting such as smoked pork fried rice, jalapeño/bacon wontons, smoked brisket tacos and his famous meatloaf that he carried over from his Woodfire Grill days.  By the end of the year, Christiansen expanded the menu and opened up for longer hours over a four day period each week.

Word on the street about the Dizzy Horse sent throngs of people into his little restaurant.  There were times people would have to wait for a table and by the time they got an open table, Christianson announced that he was out of food for the night.  This happened on a semi regular basis to the point where people were getting upset and giving his restaurant one star on Yelp and trashing it on social media on Facebook and Twitter.  But his most ardent fans knew that Christianson had a vision and made his foods in small batches and smoked pork, brisket and chicken on two small smokers in the back.  As the one star reviews and social media bashing continued, Christianson took it as a badge of honor.  He figured the ones who were giving such a bad review for his place, they didn't know the difference between chef-driven, menu-changing cuisine and heading to a chain restaurant for a meal.  Earlier this year, Christianson came up with a logo of a horse head with a single star at the bottom to signify that he really didn't care what some people thought of his little restaurant.  

We had been wanting to go over to Dizzy Horse for some time.  One evening when I was cooking steaks for a golf outing for a friend, my wife and a friend of ours from Des Moines who was over visiting for the weekend decided to head out to Dizzy Horse for the first time.  My wife brought home half of a smoked pork chile verde burrito that she couldn't eat.  The next day, she was out with our friend and I was looking for something to eat in the fridge.  I found the burrito and I called my wife to see if she was saving it for herself.  When she told me that I could eat it, I warmed it up in the microwave and sat down to eat it.  Oh, my god!  It was outstanding!  The smoked pork with the chile verde sauce was just heavenly.  

A week later on a Saturday night, my wife and I were sort of trying to figure out someplace to go have dinner. We were going to head over to Coal Creek Inn in Coal Valley, IL to get a burger, but just before the I-74/I-280 exit my wife said, "Hold it.  I have a better idea."  She turned onto westbound I-280 and then took the Airport Road/U.S. Highway 67 exit that takes you into downtown Milan.  She pulled up to a parking lot just across the street from the Dizzy Horse around 7:30.  (see map)   

To get into the Dizzy Horse you have to pass a covered patio with patio lights hanging from the rafters.  There are some four-seat tables on the patio, but - quite curiously - they also had lounge chairs with coffee tables that people were eating off of.   

The inside dining area also had sort of a living room motif with comfy chairs and low-slung tables in the middle of the dining space.  I just found it sort of weird that they would have people eat that way in a restaurant.  That's one thing that has rubbed people the wrong way about Dizzy Horse, the seating arrangement with just a few conventional tables and a bar area to sit at to eat if you don't want to have to be bending over to try and eat like you're in someone's living area.  I sure as hell didn't want to eat at one of those tables.  

Since all the conventional tables inside and out were taken by people (and why wouldn't they?), we decided to sit at the bar.  There was a young lady behind the bar that looked familiar to me and she immediately recognized me.  It was Dallas, a perky blonde who has worked the bar area for Toby first at Woodfire Grill, then again when it transformed into tacobar?.   We've known Dallas for years before she started to work for Toby.  My wife said, "I thought that was you when I was in here with my friend last week, but I didn't want to say anything."

Dallas said, "Well, I thought that was you last week, too!  I should have said something."  Dallas gave us some menus to look over and she asked us what we wanted to drink.  They had Kona Big Wave on tap and I took a pint of that.  My wife had Dallas make her an extra dirty Absolut martini.  

Since the menu changes periodically - and Dizzy Horse doesn't have a dedicated web site - you're kind of at the mercy of what Toby has to offer on any given evening when he's open.  And since he changes his menus at the drop of a hat, some item that someone really liked the time before, he may not have it the next time they come out.  And THAT pisses people off on social media, too!  

That evening, Toby was featuring his jalapeño bacon won tons, crispy Brussels sprouts, calamari, and elote corn "ribs" - fresh sweet corn that is grilled and powdered with a chili-lime concoction, and topped with grated parmesan/romano cheese and served with a chipotle aioli.  

The food menu that evening absolutely blew me away.  Toby had a number of delectable items to choose from including a wok-seared Mongolian Beef with fire-grilled cabbage rice; a bourbon-glazed grilled salmon; spicy red chili garlic noodles with wok-seared jalapeño chicken; and his drunken noodles with wok-seared bulgogi beef in a bourbon glaze.  He also had his Dizzy Burger - 3 quarter-pound smashed burger patties with cheese (x 2), bacon and a garlic aioli.  And if you didn't think you had enough cheese on the burger, a side of melted cheese came with the burger to dip it in.  

My wife - for some reason - thought it would be good to start out with an appetizer.  She ordered up some of the crab rangoons.  They were large, crispy creamy crab-filled rangoons served with a somewhat spicy sweet and sour sauce on the side.  I believe there were 8 in basket and they were large.  And they were also very rich and filling.  I had two and said, "No more!"  I didn't want to spoil my dinner.  We ended up taking 3 of them home as Dallas gave us more dipping sauce to go with them.  

They had the same pork verde burrito that night that my wife had the week before.  But this time she went with the barbecue brisket tacos.  They were topped with a cole slaw pico de gallo and chimichurri.  Served on a small cookie sheet on paper, a large amount of fries came with the two tacos.  Even though she said they were great, my wife was able to eat only one of the tacos.  

I was really up in the air as to what to get that evening.  The Oklahoma-style burger sounded great - in Oklahoma, they smash onions directly into the burger patty as it cooks on a flat-grill.  I contemplated the Navajo bread "puffy" brisket taco, and the drunken smoked pork tacos with a bourbon sauce, cider slaw, cilantro and pickled onions also sounded great.  But something I saw on the menu brought me back to the days when Toby ran the Woodfire Grill - the meatloaf grilled cheese.  

The meatloaf at Woodfire Grill was some of the best I've ever had in a restaurant.  I don't think Toby would give me his recipe, but I'm happy with the way I make my meatloaf at home.  I've found that some restaurants don't do meatloaf the way I like it, but Toby's meatloaf was always great.  When Dallas brought the sandwich out to me, I couldn't believe the size.  A bowl of tomato bisque came on the side and another large portion of fries came on their own container boat.  

I cut the sandwich in half and the cheese was just oozing out from underneath the thick-cut house-made bread.  The wonderful flavor of the meatloaf came through all the cheese and the bread just fine.  I dipped the sandwich in the tomato bisque a couple times, but I didn't think it did anything to enhance the already wonderful taste of the sandwich.  

Toby came out of the kitchen as things were slowing down for the evening and we talked for a bit.  I said, "Toby, thank god you are still making the same meatloaf you had at Woodfire Grill.  But, man - this is a huge sandwich!"  

"That's is a big sandwich," he said with a laugh.  "But that's how we do it here!"  

And - oh, man!  Was it filling.  With two crab rangoons, a couple beers and half a sandwich in my belly, I threw in the towel.  And that's not to mention the copious amount of fries that my wife and I were both served.  We ended up taking one of her tacos, half of my meatloaf grilled cheese, the three crab rangoon, and a whole container of fries.  We carried three containers out of Dizzy Horse that evening.  I joked with Toby, "I'd hate to see what your monthly budget for to-go containers is."  I was able to get two meals out of half of the meatloaf sandwich that I took home.  

It was great to finally get to try the Dizzy Horse.  My wife is now a certified veteran as this was her second visit.  I do want to try one of Toby's burgers at some point, and a fresh made smoked pork chili verde would also be on my list of things to try on a return visit.  It was great to reconnect with Dallas who did her usual good job of taking care of us at the bar.  And it was great to talk with Toby again.  His vision of a restaurant is more of a pop-up variety with changing menus of fresh-sourced ingredients, smoked meats, and large portions.  To stay on top of what's going on at Dizzy Horse, when they're open and what they may be featuring on any given day, follow them on their Facebook page.   

Martin's Bar-B-Que Joint - Nashville

When I was in Nashville on a recent trip there, I had an open night after seeing accounts in the area.  I got hold of my former colleague who lives in the city (and who wasn't available to meet up for dinner that evening) and asked him, "If I were to think of getting barbecue tonight, where would you send me?"  He didn't even hesitate - Martin's Bar-B-Que Joint.  It turned out that Martin's wasn't all that far from my hotel in Nashville's Midtown area and had plenty of parking available.  I took off soon after that to go try Martin's Bar-B-Que Joint.  

Pat Martin grew up in the small town of Corinth, MS just over the Tennessee/Mississippi border and about 100 miles east of Memphis.  As a young child, his father's job as a government bond trader moved the Martin family to Connecticut.  But in the summer months, Martin would head back to Mississippi to live with his grandparents.  He learned from his father and grandfather that everything tastes better when it's cooked over an open flame on a grill.  Barbecuing was a big part of his upbringing and Martin would go to Memphis with his father and/or grandfather to have barbecue at Gridley's Bar-B-Q (which closed in 2017).  

His paternal grandmother was also a renowned cook in the Corinth area.  Many of her family recipes that she used were printed in the local Church of Christ cookbook.  In fact, the bulk of the recipes in the church cookbook that was sold to raise money for the church were from Martin's grandmother.  And it turned out that the local Baptist and Presbyterian churches had Martin's grandmother's recipes in THEIR cookbooks, as well!  

When Martin was 15 years old, he bought his first cookbook - The Thrill of the Grill - which he viewed as his primer to get more in-depth with cooking on a grill.  But it wasn't until he moved back to Corinth for his high school years, then going on to college in Henderson, TN at Freed-Hardeman University to study finance that Martin developed his love for smoked pork and the techniques that were being used.  

Pictured right - Pat Martin.  Photo courtesy Nashville Lifestyles

There was a barbecue place in Henderson - about 40 miles north of Corinth - by the name of Thomas & Webb where, as a freshman in college, Martin saw his first whole hog being barbecued on a spit.  The sight was amazing, but the smell of the smoke was even more intoxicating.  When he tasted the pork pulled directly from the hog, he was hooked.  This was West Tennessee whole hog barbecue at its finest.  

Martin befriended owner Harold Thomas and wanted to learn all about the smoking techniques Thomas used to make the whole-hog barbecue.  A religious school, Freed-Hardeman had a strict curfew, but Martin would regularly break it so he could go turn coals in the smoker at Thomas & Webb and to learn from the pitmasters.  

During his time in college, Martin would do his own whole-hog barbecues - usually with pigs that Harold Thomas helped him source - for fraternities and social gatherings on campus.  A summer internship in Chicago before his senior year gave Martin a chance to do whole hog barbecue for colleagues and clients in the Windy City.  

But upon returning to Henderson, Martin was expelled from Freed-Hardeman for non-Christian transgressions.  For his senior year, he transferred to Lipscomb University in Nashville - also a Christian university, but not as strict as Freed-Hardeman.  Martin made friends fast while at Lipscomb with his whole-hog barbecues.  

Upon graduating with a degree in finance, Martin became a bond trader in Chicago and New York City.  But he never forgot his roots in whole-hog smoking.  He decided he wanted to get back to the South and took a job working for a bank in Charlotte, NC.  Newly married and facing a future in finance, Martin would immerse himself in smoking whole pigs on the weekend for his new colleagues and friends.  He soon found that the finance world wasn't really what he wanted to do.  He thought about getting a barbecue rig and traveling around to barbecue contests across the South.  He also thought about going to culinary school, but didn't pull the trigger on that.  But he soon realized two things - 1) he didn't want to work in finance any longer; and 2) his marriage was on the rocks.  He quit the banking business, moved back to Nashville, then found himself divorced not long after moving back to the city.

In the late 1990's, Martin started doing odd-jobs around the area.  Someone asked him if he could lay some sod in a yard of a new house that had just been built and Martin decided to start a landscaping business.  It was also about this time that a young lady he had met during his year at Lipscomb - Nashville native Martha Ann Neil - came back into his life.  The two married and Martin started a landscaping business in 2001.  

Pictured right - Patrick and Martha Ann Martin.  Photo courtesy Lipscomb University.  

Five years after he started the landscaping business, workers were hauling all the company's mowers and other tools to a job outside of Nashville.  The trailer came off the hitch causing the mowers, trimmers and other gear to fly off basically destroying everything.  At that point, Martin realized that he was out of the landscaping business. 

After receiving a check from his insurance agent for the replacement cost of the mowers and other tools, Martin decided to head down to Nolensville, south and east of Nashville, to get some brisket tacos from a Mexican restaurant that smoked their own meat.  However, when he pulled up to the place it was closed.  He went next door to an auto repair shop to inquire about the restaurant and it turned out the owner of the repair shop was also the landlord of the building where the Mexican restaurant was located.  "They're closed," the landlord told Martin.  "They were evicted for not paying rent."  

At that point, something came over Martin and he said, "I'll take the building."  It was a small place, not any larger than 950 square feet, but it perfectly fit what Martin was going to do with it - make it into a West Tennessee whole-hog barbecue joint.  He called his wife and told her what he had done. The one thing that Martha Ann saw when Patrick would do his whole-hog barbecues for friends and clients was the sheer joy he had seeing the look on people's faces when they would eat his smoked pork.  She was fully on board with his change in career.  

The one thing Martin set out to do was to keep the dying art of West Tennessee whole-hog barbecue going.  When he was going to college in the early 90's, there were 12 whole-hog barbecue joints in a town of 5500 people.  15 years later, there were just two barbecue places that did whole-hog barbecue in Henderson.  Martin was determined to keep whole-hog barbecue as a viable form of regional barbecuing with his new restaurant.

The problem was - Martin didn't know the first thing about running a restaurant.  Martha Ann and he navigated through the start-up process like two blind mice having to deal with ordering food, keeping an inventory, getting health department licenses, and dealing with state and local taxes.  And another thing he needed was a worker.  

One evening, Martin was having a beer with a buddy at an East Nashville bar that had live music.  His buddy knew the drummer in the band that night, a guy by the name of Bo Collier who moonlighted as a line cook when he wasn't playing in the band.  After an introduction by his friend, Martin was so taken with Collier that when Collier went back to the stage to play his set, Martin yelled at him from the side of the stage between songs, "Hey, man!  I want to hire you!"  

Collier casually said, "OK, man!"  And when Collier went over to Martin's house to finalize the deal over a barbecue dinner a couple days later, he was blown away with Martin's expertise with a grill.  "You're sitting on a gold mine," Collier told Martin.  

With everything in place, Martin's Bar-B-Que Joint opened on October 16, 2006.  Anticipation from the locals was so high that they sold out of food for the day at 5:45 p.m.  Word of mouth on Martin's barbecue rose to a fever pitch that long lines to get into the restaurant were starting to be a norm.  By the first couple of weeks, Martin realized that he needed more help so he enlisted some friends and family members to work for him until he could hire more people.  

Within a short time, it became apparent that the 950 square-foot structure was too small for the amount of business Martin was doing.  He continued to run out of barbecue early - and, actually, that was his plan as that's what all the good West Tennessee barbecue joints would do.  But for people in the more urban Nashville area, it would piss them off that he'd run out of food.  In 2010, he built a brand new location - much larger than the original building - just across the street and moved in.  He was able to make more barbecue - brisket, turkey, chicken, etc. - but he would still run out from time to time.   

But he also knew that if he was going to grow and expand his business, he needed some help and guidance.  A chance meeting with two guys trying out his barbecue - John Michael Bodnar and Nick Pihakis who had started Jim 'n Nick's Barbecue in Birmingham, AL - put him on the path of expansion.  Bodnar's father Mike Bodnar was the CEO of Fresh Hospitality, a holding and equity company that helped restaurants like Martin's Bar-B-Que Joint expand.  Martin agreed to give Fresh Hospitality an equity stake in Martin's Barbecue Joint after his meeting with John Michael Bodnar.  

One of the things that the partnership with Bodnar and Pihakis did was help create a collective of chefs such as Ashley Christensen, Rodney Scott and Sean Brock, Southern Heritage writers such as John T. Edge, and others who were like-minded in keeping the traditions of Southern barbecue alive.   The group - who called themselves The FatBack Collective - felt that while barbecue competitions were good, it was homogenizing barbecue away from a regional perspective.  The group believed that the type of hog used in the cooking was the key.  They advocated using Duroc, Berkshire, Yorkshire old-school varieties of pigs that weren't raised in feed lots and sold as a commodity, but raised in pastures and allowed to freely roam the fields.  

The group all felt that there were no real secrets in barbecuing, just using the best products possible.  To prove their point, the collective entered the prestigious Memphis in May barbecue contest in 2011 and with a top quality hog and used nothing more than salt, pepper, and smoke in the cooking process.  They got third place.  The next year, they competed again using the same techniques and got 7th place.  The FatBack Collective more than proved their point and continues extoll the virtues of heritage breeding in pastures rather than feed lots, while also supporting farmers and working with restaurants who use their packing partners to offer the best in naturally-raised hogs for barbecuing.  

Along with his partnership with Fresh Hospitality, Martin was able to open his second restaurant in 2011 in the Belmont-Hillsboro neighborhood of Nashville.  A short lived location in Morgantown, WV closed a few years ago, but a large Martin's Bar-B-Que Joint opened in Nashville's South of Broadway (SoBro) neighborhood in 2016.  In 2019, the location on Elliston Place which used to house a Logan's Roadhouse was opened.  Today, Martin's Bar-B-Que Joint has six locations in Central Tennessee, one in Louisville, KY, one in Birmingham, AL, and one in Charleston, SC.   

In 2017, Martin - along with Fresh Hospitality - opened Hugh-Baby's, a fast-casual burger/barbecue joint that paid homage to small town restaurants in Mississippi and Tennessee that Martin remembered as a young boy.  The name Hugh-Baby was chosen in reverence to his uncle Hugh Coleman who was known in the family as Hugh-Baby.  Martin's uncle loved these burger/barbecue restaurants and it was always a treat for Martin to accompany his family - along with Uncle Hugh-Baby - to these places as a youngster.  

For the past few years, Martin has taken himself out of the day-to-day operations of the Martin's Bar-B-Que Joint locations.  However, he is involved with the recruiting and training of pit masters who he has shown the art of whole hog barbecue hoping to keep the West Tennessee heritage alive with his barbecue joints.  His goal is to turn the pit masters he's training into management personnel to grow his 9 location chain of barbecue places around the Southeast.  And as an incentive to the pit masters, he gives them a 20% stake in the location that they're in charge of to give them a sense of pride and ownership in what they're doing.  

And on top of running a barbecue empire and training potential pit masters, Martin is also an author.  In 2022, Martin released his first cookbook - Life of Fire: Mastering the Arts of Pit-Cooked Barbecue, The Grill, and The Smokehouse.  The book focuses on Martin's whole-hog cooking techniques and procedures, as well as family recipes that have been handed down from his grandmother.  Martin was also a fixture at the annual Big Apple Block Party barbecue extravaganza in New York City until the event ended in 2018.  He has been featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, The Today Show, and has had articles and mentions in publications such as Condé Nash Traveler, Men's Journal, and Bon Appétit.  Not bad for a guy from the Mississippi/Tennessee border who wants to keep the heritage of West Tennessee whole-hog barbecue alive!  

The Elliston Place location for Martin's Bar-B-Que Joint was about a half-mile from my hotel.  (see map)  I could have walked it, but I wanted to drive there so I could check out some sights around Vanderbilt University and Centennial Park after dinner. There's plenty of parking to the west side of and behind the building at Martin's.  I realized that the area on Elliston Place was familiar to me as the former location for the venerable Rotier's Restaurant was just across and down the street.  (To see the Road Tips write up about Rotier's, click here.)  Rotier's lost their lease in 2021 after the new owners of their 90-year-old building didn't want to renew their lease and instead they tore down the building for future development on the block where West End Ave. meets Elliston Place.  

Inside Martin's Bar-B-Que Joint, they've done a lot to make it look like a joint.  It's sort of kitschy with old license plates, road signs, farm signs, beer logo signs, pictures - just a lot of busy stuff on the pine wood walls of the restaurant. They had a pretty good sized dining area at Martin's and I would have to say it was less than half capacity when I was in there.  

There's a step-up bar area with booths along the side wall.  I don't know what you call that thing above the bar, but inside of it were flatscreen televisions with more kitsch on the outside of the structure. Music from Hank Williams, Jr., Drive-By Truckers, the late-Charlie Robison and North Mississippi All-Stars was playing in the background while I was there.  

The patio is located off to the side of the front of the building.  The smoking pit house was there, as well, with an outdoor bar area that was unmanned that evening.  Stacks of oak wood were outside the pit house, but I didn't smell any thing cooking while I was there.  

It's counter-service at Martin's Bar-B-Que.  The line was five deep when I got there.  Some people were there to pick-up to-go orders, while others were ordering for dine-in.  A guy who was in front of me in line turned and asked me if I'd ever been to Martin's before and I said I hadn't.  "I haven't either," he said.  "I was wondering what I should get."  We chatted a bit and found that he was also in town for business and was also told that Martin's was the best barbecue in the city.  He seemed like a nice guy and for a moment I contemplated asking him if he wanted to hang out and have dinner.  For a moment.  But, no, I didn't.  It's a guess he feels the same as I do about dining alone on the road and it's nice to have some company from time to time.  

I looked through the menu as I was waiting to order at the counter.  They had a number of smoked meats from pulled pork, brisket, spare ribs, chicken, sausage and turkey.  Sandwiches with the smoked meats were available along with chicken tenders, fried catfish, brisket tacos, and smoked bologna sandwiches.  Salads, smoked brisket chili and Brunswick stew were also available.

I told the guy I was in line with that anytime I'm at a new barbecue place, I always try to get a sampler platter and Martin's had three sampler platters to choose from.  They had a pulled pork and brisket sampler, four bones and brisket, and the "Big Poppa" sampler that consisted of a full rack of ribs, 12 ounces of pulled pork,12 ounces of brisket, 12 ounces of sliced smoked turkey, and a choice of 3 sides.  That was designed to feed six people and I thought that might have been a little too much for me.

I ended up getting the brisket and ribs sampler.  Two sides came with the sampler and I had a choice of a number of items including fries, potato salad, homemade chips, mac & cheese, and hushpuppies.  I got the baked beans and the cole slaw.  I took a seat in a booth in the bar area and placed my number on the table.  I was a little confused about the bar procedure and I asked the guy at the counter that if I wanted a second beer if I had to come back to the counter.  He said that was an affirmative.  The line was always five to seven people deep while I was there and I just decided to order two beers and get it over with.  I got a couple of the Homestyle hazy IPA from the Bearded Iris brewery in Nashville.  I liked the beer so much that I stopped at a liquor store later in the evening to pick up a couple six-packs of the beer to take home.  

I purposely took a table where I noticed there was a squeeze bottle of barbecue sauce.  It was a vinegar-based that was just OK to me.  A small tub of a sweet smoky sauce came on the side.  I didn't realize until later on there were bottles of the sweet smoky sauce on other tables.  But quite honestly, neither the ribs or the brisket needed any sauce.  The ribs had a great rub on them with a chewy bark.  The meat fell off the bone rather easily.  The ribs were very good.  

As was the brisket.  Flavorful and tender, the brisket nearly melted in my mouth.  It also had a tasty bark on the outer shell and had a great smoky flavor.  

The sides were good to very good.  The cole slaw was vinegar-based and a bit bland for my taste.  But the baked beans were very good and had a sweet and smoky flavor to them.  There were chunks of pork and brisket in the baked beans and I didn't need to try and sauce them up as I liked them the way they were.  

My first visit to Martin's Bar-B-Que Joint will not be my last.  We're making new contacts in the Nashville production industry and I'll have no problem heading down there a couple times a year.  The good thing about it, there's a Hilton property right next door to the Martin's Bar-B-Que Joint on Elliston Place so I can stay there and walk to Martin's.  The ribs were excellent, as was the brisket.  I would like to try the pulled pork the next time I go as that's what Patrick Martin is famous for.  He's got a great back story as he finally found his passion in life and he's been very successful at it.    

Graham's Landing - Murrells Inlet, SC

During our stay in Murrells Inlet, just outside of Myrtle Beach during our trip to South Carolina earlier this year, we were looking for a place to have a light lunch - preferably a casual place that had seafood and some craft beers.  My wife was looking up places on her phone and she said, "I think we have a winner!"  She read some reviews on Yelp and it appeared to be exactly what we were looking for.  I pointed the car in the direction of Graham's Landing and headed that way for lunch.

Graham Plummer grew up in Georgetown, SC located between Charleston and Myrtle Beach. (Georgetown is actually a quaint little town once you get past all the industry that lines the main road through town.  We stopped there on our way to the Charleston airport to grab an espresso for the road from a downtown coffee shop.)   Plummer worked at restaurants up and down Georgetown's Front Street for a number of years doing a little bit of everything from washing dishes and mopping floors to waiting tables and cooking in the kitchen.  

In 2012, Plummer was ready to open his own restaurant.  He found a restaurant for lease on the far end of the stretch of restaurants that sit alongside Business US 17 and took over the building.  With the help of his father Greg, who owned a trash management company in Georgetown, Plummer was able to renovate the space allowing him to open Graham's Landing later that year.

In 2018, Plummer had a chance to take over a restaurant space in Georgetown.  His father sold the trash management company and pumped money into the renovation of the restaurant allowing the younger Plummer to open a second Graham's Landing in his hometown in August of that year.  

There are a number of restaurants that we passed along the way to Graham's Landing.  We actually passed it as it sat back from the road with some trees and vegetation around the rustic looking building along Business US 17.  (see map)  From the outside, the restaurant looked like an old general store - and that could have very well been what it once was.  

Inside Graham's Landing, the rustic atmosphere continues from the front of the building.  Plywood paneling was up high on one wall while the wall with the windows had pine wood planks.  It was tough to miss the Tito's Vodka bottle chandelier that was prominent in the center of the front part of the restaurant.  There was a very laid back vibe inside the restaurant.  

The bar area was toward the back with some wooden booths opposite the bar.  The bar, itself, was not that big - an "L"-shaped bar with a corrugated tin front that sat just 8 people.  But it was a full bar as they had liquor, craft beer and wine available.   

The was a nice patio just beyond the bar area.  The back part of the building where the bar and the patio were located looked like it may have been added on to the original building at some point.  Along the north side of the restaurant were a line of tables along the outside wall of the building.  It would have been nice to sit on the covered patio, but the tide was decidedly out and it was smelling a little musky back there.   

We took a table toward the front of the restaurant and was greeted by John, a 60-something (my guess) guy who had a great attitude and was fun to talk with.  We never really talked to him in depth as he was waiting on other tables, but it was my guess that he was a retiree working to make a little more money on the side.  Younger servers could have learned a few things from him, most notably how you interact with your customers.  John got us started with a Tito's and cranberry (with a lime) for my wife and I got a can of the Air Brush hazy IPA from the Grand Strand Brewing Company just up the road in Myrtle Beach.  

The seafood-centric menu at Graham's Landing had a little bit of everything with pasta dishes, smoked ribs, ribeye steaks, sandwiches and burgers in addition to seafood items.  Appetizers included oysters-on-the-half shell, crab cakes, Cajun-fried grouper bites, and calamari along with items such as fried green tomatoes, fried pickles, potato skins and chicken tenders.  A number of soups and salads were available and sandwiches such as a smoked beef French dip, a grilled chicken Caesar wrap, and a grilled, blackened or fried chicken sandwich were also on the menu.  Prime rib is available at Graham's Landing Thursday through Saturday, and linguine with an alfredo sauce or a marinara sauce was on the menu.   

But seafood is the most prevalent item on the menu at Graham's Landing.  Seafood baskets and platters with flounder, oysters, shrimp and other fish varieties were available, as were shrimp and grits, a seared tuna entree, a char-grilled salmon filet, and linguini with local clams were on the menu.  There was a lot of stuff to choose from.  If you wanted seafood, there was a wide selection.  But if you didn't want seafood, there was enough on the menu to go in that direction.

My wife wanted to try Graham's Landing's Manhattan clam chowder.  I was telling her of the Manhattan clam chowder I got when I was out at The Crab Cooker in Newport Beach, CA earlier this year and she wanted to try some.  The Manhattan clam chowder at Graham's Landing had a hearty flavor with a bit of a spiciness on the back end.  It was very good.  

She went with the grilled grouper sandwich for her lunch, only without the top bun.  It came with a side of fries and cole slaw.  She declared the grouper as being delicious.  

I really didn't know if I was all that hungry for lunch, but I knew I needed something or in a couple hours I'd REALLY be hungry.  The had a classic Cuban sandwich on the menu and it said that it was pressed on real Cuban bread, but I've never had luck getting that same bread outside of Miami - even in authentic Cuban restaurants - so I passed on that.  But what I did end up ordering were the blackened tuna tacos.  I asked John to have the chef put more of the blackening seasoning on the tuna and to hold the cheddar cheese that came on the tacos.  

The tuna filets were more like chicken tenders and lightly grilled so they were rare-plus.  They sat in flour tortillas on a bed of shredded cabbage and pico de gallo.  An outstanding mango/habanero sauce came on the side that had a cool citrus taste with a bit of bite on the back end.  I had a choice of fries, tots or cole slaw.  You know me by now - I went with the tots.  And they had Cholulu for me to use on the tots.  

The tuna tacos were very good.  They were light and not filling, and with the blackening spices, the pico de gallo and a bit of the mango/habanero sauce, there were a lot of taste sensations going on all at once.  The tots were a great side to go along with the tuna tacos.  

It turned out that Graham's Landing was exactly what we were looking for in terms of a light lunch.  My wife enjoyed her grilled grouper as well as the cup of the Manhattan clam chowder she ordered to start out.  And I can't say enough about the blackened tuna tacos that I got for my lunch.  John, our server, was a great guy and I feel bad that we didn't have the chance to chat him up while we were there.  Graham's Landing was laid-back and the food was well above par.  It's not as fancy as some of the other places just up the road from there, but it was perfect for us that day.